What makes a successful eBay listing? Is there a formula that allows your product to reach more buyers through search rankings? Given our experience with helping e-commerce businesses create powerful eBay listings, we're always excited to answer any questions that help online merchants move the needle on eBay.
Ready to boost sales? Here’s a list of seller best practices we created by partnering with eBay to help you succeed.
This may seem obvious, but we often encounter eBay listings where sellers miscategorized their products or default on eBay's suggestion when creating a listing. So, what's the harm here?
Miscategorizing an item prevents a listing from reaching the right buyer and is against eBays search manipulation policy.
Here’s what to do: after naming your listing, eBay automatically offers an aggregated recommendation based on keywords—review it to ensure it makes sense. From there, choose the appropriate Search Category and the Browse Category that fits your item. Then, make modifications based on the criteria of what you're selling to reach the right buyers.
You'll also want to specify your item's condition accurately, whether it's new, used, or refurbished. Always add accurate photos or anything else that positions you as a trusted eBay seller.
Our next tip for improving your selling on eBay concerns your listing and how it impacts SEO. Always clearly describe your item and use search terms and keywords intentionally.
Using eBay listing templates with different colors and interactive content, including GIFs and videos, is tempting. However, adding assets like these may cause pages to load slowly, prevent them from loading, or not appear on mobile devices.
As a result, eBay is currently moving away from templates that provide an unpleasant shopping experience to help sellers follow listing best practices.
The visual presentation of your item is crucial to winning the sale, increasing rankings, and mitigating customer complaints. Avoid using out-of-focus pictures or sideways images. Instead, focus on presenting your item professionally.
Items sold with variations should take advantage of the free 12 pictures offered with every listing. For example, if you're selling a product in multiple colors, present those products visually and in your description under one description. Doing this puts you at an SEO advantage because searches might be looking for items like "blue KitchenAid," etc.
Being clear about your terms and conditions is an essential best practice to follow when becoming a trusted eBay seller. State your terms clearly and make them easy to follow and easy to find.
Additionally, specify your shipping and handling services to avoid miscommunications with buyers. Keeping shoppers informed by providing tracking info and using a Multichannel Inventory Tool will also help to keep your customers informed and satisfied.
PayPal is required for sellers to avoid having unpaid items that could otherwise go unnoticed. Regardless, you should also offer other means of payment to ensure your customers can easily convert as an eBay best practice and improve returns.
We know eBay sellers must earn the most from every sale. However, the price of your product could be why
Every experienced eBay seller has encountered a return or lost a sale because they didn't offer free shipping.
If it makes sense financially, offer customers free shipping to stay competitive and win sales. Anecdotally, we've seen plenty of SellerActive customers experience increased sales after providing free ground shipping.
Your listings will stand out more if you also provide a trustworthy return policy. As a rule of thumb, eBay recommends offering customers a 30-day free return period to improve seller rating.
Last but certainly not least, avoid any action that may compromise your seller's reputation.
Should you encounter a problem, a customer will open a case in eBay's Resolution Center when they have an issue. There, you'll find a description of what happened and a spot to reach a fair resolution. (Common topics include misrepresented items or undelivered packages.)
As a best practice, avoid getting eBay involved by taking action and responding within three business days. Doing that will preserve your rating and show eBay that you’re a trusted seller.
DOWNLOAD OUR CHECKLIST: STEPS TO BECOMING AN AMAZON AFFILIATE
You'll become a trusted seller by following every step we've covered, but running a successful eBay store is always more challenging than it appears. Nevertheless, we hope our list helps you understand how to make a great listing while increasing your search rankings.
Should you need additional help with your eBay store, we offer a powerful listing and pricing management platform for sellers like you. Start automating inventory, adopt a repricing strategy, and take advantage of our listing tools by starting a free 14-day trial of SellerActive today!