Holiday Tips For Sellers
- Start early and maintain active listings. The holiday shopping and selling season is often about momentum and visibility, especially given the increased level of competition during this period. Start posting holiday listings early and then keep a body of active listings so that you're able to serve repeat buyers, late buyers, and referred buyers. If you let up (i.e. have periods with no active listings), you lose out.
- Use the eBay tools. Tools like Selling Manager and PayPal's automatic shipping label generator can make the difference between being confused and overwhelmed by your holiday workload and being efficient and streamlined. Use the tools that are available to you and keep you holiday business flowing like a stream.
- Make your listings festive. Don't underestimate the role of psychology and marketing in buyer decisions, especially during this time of year. Include an image of a wreath or wrap your items in holiday lights before photographing them. Use basic HTML to add red and green text to your listings. Seem cheerful, happy, and eager to do holiday-oriented business, and you'll draw cheerful, happy, and busily spending holiday-oriented buyers.
- Be more descriptive than usual. Because most buyers during the holiday season are buying for others, and not for themselves, they are more interested than usual in guaranteeing satisfaction. Detailed listings and multiple photos are all big helps during the holidays.
- Offer the services that holiday buyers want. Express shipping, gift cards, and gift wrapping features will all add to your sales volume, especially during the last two weeks of the shopping season.
- Make sure that the gifts you sell are guaranteed. Nobody wants to give a broken gift or a gift that the recipient doesn't like but is stuck with. During the holiday shopping season it is especially critical that sellers post a clear (and generous, especially with regard to time) warranty and exchange policy if they intend to do a brisk holiday business.
- Offer incentives. Seller incentives can be hit-or-miss, but during the holiday season festive extras like a small, free string of tree lights, a little bag of green and red candies, or a free Santa ornament with every purchase can make the difference between making a sale yourself and losing one to a competitor. Depending on the value of the items that you sell, such little extras may represent just a fraction of a percent of the sale price in added expense for you, but can boost sales measurably.
No matter whether you're buying, selling, or both this year on eBay, have a fun and safe trading holiday and best bargain hunting wishes to everyone!
