How to use eBay to promote your website

The debate that is seen most frequently in public sale forums, as well as in the mind of any entrepreneurial web entrepreneur, is whether it is better to sell on eBay or through your own website.

The economics of selling on the web

An important part of economics has been devoted to understanding the behavior of costs. Let’s examine it for a web-based business. It’s basically a choice between eBay fees and the costs associated with owning and maintaining your own website.

eBay fees are variable. This means that they have a direct relationship with the number of units you sell. So you pay only for what you use. So if you don’t put any ads or don’t sell anything, you don’t have any cost.

While setting up and having your own website, it becomes a fixed cost. This means that regardless of whether you sell a unit or not, you will have to pay those expenses.

You don’t have to be a math whiz to figure out what this means. This end result comes down to one word and it’s called “volume”. If you are selling products in high volume and have a steady base of loyal customers, then your own website is a better alternative. On the other hand, if you have lower volume and want to keep costs in check, eBay is your most profitable bet.

What about using eBay to build volumes?

A large percentage of web based businesses fail. In fact, some people estimate the failure rate to be 97 percent. Web businesses fail not because they don’t offer a better deal or price, but because consumers don’t trust them. This is where eBay succeeds; is trusted by millions of online shoppers who know that if eBay is involved, there’s little chance anything will go wrong or go against what was promised.

But the best part of this story is that after a few transactions, the buyer starts to trust you and that is the moment when you can make them your own captive customer without having to pay eBay fees.

When you start your business, you should try to sell on eBay and interact with customers, providing them with excellent service and making sure there are no complaints. Once these customers have seen and experienced the quality of your services, they are sure of what they are going to get, you can win them over to your website.

This means that eBay is, in effect, your marketing agent. Think of the thousands of dollars you were planning to spend on promoting your website. Wouldn’t this cost a lot less and at the same time help you gain a lot more momentum and build volume faster?

So this is what not to do:

· Do not include any links in the auction: eBay is smart enough to understand that if you list something for sale on your website and at the same time offer it cheaper on your own site, soon buyers will start flocking to you and eBay will go out of business. Remember to trust, which is what eBay does. It adds credibility to your resume until the buyer realizes you are a genuine seller.

· Do not include links in your eBay store: For the same reasons mentioned above, make sure there are no links to your website in your eBay store.

· Don’t set bad expectations: Some people tend to take this strategy too far. Don’t engage in discount selling to gain customers by taking losses. Although at first you will think that you are doing it right since your customer database will seem to be growing at an exponential rate.

But really, all you would have done is attract the wrong kind of customers. Most of them will be bargain hunters, who will switch their allegiance when they see a higher price from you. The key to this is to set a price that you can offer consistently, if not lower it once they come to your website.

· Keep track of the rules: eBay is constantly updating its rules regarding buyers and sellers. You need to make sure you’re on the right side of eBay’s rules to avoid damaging your entire credibility. You can subscribe to a newspaper or newsletter to make sure you’re up to date with the latest happenings on eBay.

Part One: Winning Customers on eBay

· About my page: Here is the Achilles’ heel in eBay’s arsenal. Although they may prevent you from marketing yourself in some way, they cannot prevent the buyer from knowing more about you. So here’s what eBay does: It gives you a page that lets you write everything you need to write, including posting your link on your website. But when dealing with the buyer, make sure you don’t say outright that you can make your purchase there. Instead, get them to click on the link by offering a value-added service or free gift like “this is where you can track your package delivery.” These will get them to click on your link.

· The package: The next most important area that the customer is addressed is the package that you send. eBay simply passes the order to you and passes you the payment. You don’t know what you’re sending. So use the package to let a client know you exist. Submit your brochures describing your entire product line and your prices outside of eBay, which should be listed as less. If you’re using inaugural discounts, make sure they’re for first purchases only. But without the listing fees, you should be able to set a competitive price. If you add the trust of buyers to your level of customer service, what you have is a formula for success.

· Related products: Another strategy that can be used effectively is to sell a related product on eBay and offer the other related product through your own website using the package or link to tell the customer. Once again, this will get you a customer on your website, and eBay has just done the marketing for you.

Part Two: Keep Customers For Life

· Database: It is often said that in web marketing, a database is the most important tool. Once you do this strategy for a couple of months, you will have an enviable database. You would have made a profit or at least break even and your customers will remember the brand 100% if they pay attention to who they buy from. It can be used to understand customer needs and analyze what they are likely to buy, and even conduct market research to improve your product line.

· Junk mail: The next step in the database is to get the buyers’ permission and put their email IDs on your mailing list. Use it to drive sales of unsold inventory by offering discount coupons, which will keep you in touch with them and keep them interested. Make sure they can comfortably unsubscribe if they don’t want to receive your emails.

· Loyalty programs: Offer points for every purchase made, then pay back a portion of the earnings upon reaching a certain number of points. This is based on the principle of customer lifetime value. If you can get the customer to stick with you through a loyalty program, it will be much more profitable as it becomes a constant source of cash flow.

· Affiliate Programs: Now you not only reward customers for shopping with you, but also pay them for connecting their family and friends to your own website. Affiliate programs can work wonders, if there really is no sales involved. Your friends and family may have wanted to buy the products anyway, but they will buy from you because your loved one benefits. And yes you are charging a Similar price and great service, they may want to be your regular customers.