My Ecommerce Journey

7 12, 2016

My Ecommerce Journey: 10 eBay SEO Tips to Help Boost Sales

By |2020-01-07T15:49:27+00:00December 7th, 2016|Categories: eBay, Marketplaces, My Ecommerce Journey, Tips|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: 10 eBay SEO Tips to Help Boost Sales

The first few weeks of my ecommerce journey have been exciting, but my sales have been slower than expected. This week however, l have had a few sales which helped boost my confidence as well as my coffers! Are you also struggling with sales on eBay? Then you may be in need of some eBay SEO tips. As with bricks and mortar stores, in order to get a sale you need people to visit your store. In the eBay world, a major factor to attracting traffic will be how effective your SEO is... SEO is Search Engine Optimisation by the way; if you didn't know that then you definitely need to keep reading these top 10 eBay SEO tips! My Top 10 eBay SEO Tips Tip 1: Include your keywords in your store name Your store name should include all your keywords. Don't worry if you have already set your store name as this can be updated. Check out this great article from SEO experts Moz for more information around keyword research. Tip 2: Use a full store description which includes your keywords Your shop [...]

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21 04, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: Getting Started with Amazon FBA

By |2018-12-14T12:18:14+00:00April 21st, 2015|Categories: Amazon, Marketplaces, My Ecommerce Journey, Tips|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: Getting Started with Amazon FBA

Last week, we looked at how to sell successfully on Amazon. This week's blog will continue to focus on Amazon and look at how to help sellers getting started with Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), which continues to do well according to a recent report by Baird Equity Research. What is FBA? You pay a little fee each month and in return, Amazon takes care of packing and shipping your orders. You send your inventory to Amazon so that every time you get a sale, they send pickers through their warehouse to select the product and send it to its new owner. If anything goes wrong with the order or delivery, Amazon takes care of things. They also offer help in the way of 24/7 customer support in the languages of the marketplaces it sells in and provide tracking information. Advantages of FBA Frees Up Time: You can’t put a price tag on having time to grow your business and focus on strengthening it. Storage Space: It’s entirely taken care of, and you don’t have to worry about stepping over boxes to reach your bed [...]

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9 04, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: How to Sell Successfully on Amazon

By |2018-12-14T12:18:14+00:00April 9th, 2015|Categories: Amazon, Marketplaces, Multi-channel Ecommerce, My Ecommerce Journey, SellerExpress, Tips|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: How to Sell Successfully on Amazon

With reports this week suggesting that an increasing number of sellers are now opting to move more of their inventory from eBay to Amazon, this week's blog will focus on how to sell successfully on Amazon. In previous blog posts, we detailed how you can set up a seller account on Amazon and how you can source products to sell. This week, we are going to look at how to sell successfully on Amazon and ways to boost your Amazon sales and profits. Seller Tip 1: Improve your Amazon SEO Think of Amazon as a search engine and you’ll have a better idea of how to strategically approach selling online. Familarise yourself with the ins and outs of Amazon’s search engine algorithm, and you’ll be in a better position to get your search terms, keywords and copywriting in order. Seller Tip 2: List your items correctly Now you know how Amazon's search engine algorithm works, take some time to research your competition. Search your items and note how you rank compared to the competition in terms of listing description as well as price. Seller Tip [...]

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2 04, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: 9 Tips to Help Promote Your Online Business

By |2018-12-14T12:18:15+00:00April 2nd, 2015|Categories: Amazon, eBay, Marketplaces, Multi-channel Ecommerce, My Ecommerce Journey|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: 9 Tips to Help Promote Your Online Business

Ask 10 online merchants what the secret to great business practice is, and you’ll likely get 10 different answers. The variety and breadth of responses says, according to us at SellerExpress, that there’s no one right way to be an ace seller, but rather a number of ways. And because of that, we’ve come up with 9 tips to help promote your online business to superstardom. 1. Work the Email Lines You know the saying, ‘The squeaky wheel gets the grease’? It’s true in every aspect. People pay attention to those who are making noise, and the trick is to have something worthy to say when everyone’s looking your way. Email campaigns are one of the best ways of doing this…as long as you’re carrying one out with a valid message, and not just waving your arms around. Highlight an upcoming sale or discount code, ask for feedback or just remind buyers of what they left in their shopping carts. 2. Get Unbiased Feedback Feedback is important, full stop. But before you get to amassing reviews from your buyers, go in with your best foot [...]

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26 03, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: How to Make a Living on eBay

By |2018-12-14T12:18:15+00:00March 26th, 2015|Categories: Amazon, eBay, Marketplaces, My Ecommerce Journey|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: How to Make a Living on eBay

My eBay sales have been going fairly steady and l've managed to make a profit on my cycling gear and some items l had lying around the garage. One question l see being asked regularly is, can you make a living on eBay? There are two main groups of sellers on eBay: casual sellers, who use eBay as a way to supplement their wages and professional sellers, whose main source of income is eBay. This week, l'm going to look at how you can make the leap from being a casual seller to a professional seller and make a living on eBay. Is it possible to make a living on eBay? In the UK, ecommerce sales reached a record £45 billion in 2014, so with the right product combined with time and effort, it would certainly appear to be possible. Let's do the maths. Let's say your target is £20,000 per year and you're aiming for a £5 profit for each item. That means you need to sell 4,000 items a year which works out around 11 items a day and 333 items per month. 11 items [...]

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19 03, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: How to Handle eBay Claims and Disputes

By |2018-12-14T12:18:16+00:00March 19th, 2015|Categories: eBay, Marketplaces, My Ecommerce Journey|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: How to Handle eBay Claims and Disputes

There is a worrying trend of an increasing amount of claims being raised by buyers against sellers. The way eBay is currently set up is skewed toward the buyer, with a money-back guarantee if the buyer doesn't receive the item or the product doesn't match the listing. Hopefully you'll never need this advice and your transactions as both a buyer and seller will go smoothly. In this week's blog, l'll be looking at how sellers can protect themselves and the process of resolving disputes. Talk about a resolution eBay’s Resolution Centre is a communication tool that can be found within the My Account section of eBay (last option on the left navigation menu). Its purpose is to help buyers and sellers track, manage, resolve, or close any existing disputes. Information posted in this tool is accessible by the seller, buyer and eBay Customer Support. Sellers can use the eBay Resolution Centre to report a buyer, who has purchased an item but hasn't paid for it, whilst buyers can use the tool if they have paid for an item but didn't receive it, or the item [...]

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12 03, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: How to Source Products to Sell on Amazon

By |2018-12-14T12:18:16+00:00March 12th, 2015|Categories: Amazon, eBay, Multi-channel Ecommerce, My Ecommerce Journey, SellerExpress, Webstores|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: How to Source Products to Sell on Amazon

Last week, we expanded our selling platforms by setting up a seller account on Amazon. Now the account is set up, we need products to sell.  This week, we are going to look at the best approach to sourcing products to sell on Amazon, eBay or even eventually our own webstore. 1. Do your research Do lots of research ahead of time; learn what consumers have been interested in and what they’re currently interested in. Find out what the hot sellers are and use the information to extrapolate for the future. It may seem like a basic, self-evident step, but you’d be surprised at how many merchants ignore it. Tools such as Terapeak can help you discover new selling opportunities and see the hottest product makes, models, and listings. The software also lets you set revenue and margin goals and helps you build optimised listings. Irish footballer Roy Keane, once said, "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!". While we may not agree with everything Roy says, this is certainly one we would advise to follow when starting up in ecommerce. 2. Get by with a little [...]

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5 03, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: A Beginners’ Guide to Selling on Amazon

By |2018-12-14T12:18:17+00:00March 5th, 2015|Categories: Amazon, Marketplaces, My Ecommerce Journey, SellerExpress, Tips|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: A Beginners’ Guide to Selling on Amazon

I’ve been selling on eBay now for the past six weeks and feel comfortable with the selling process and how the platforms works. I’m now going to make the move into selling on Amazon for the first time and create a beginners' guide to selling on Amazon. I'm hoping l can tap into the huge potential customer base. In 2014, Amazon sales of third-party products doubled from 2013 to more than two billion items sold worldwide. Why sell on Amazon? Your products are easier to find and buy on Amazon Convenient, trusted shopping experience for customers Security and fraud protection for you and your customers Access to Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) Sell your products on multiple Amazon Marketplaces Expose your brand to millions of Amazon shoppers Promote the products you sell on Amazon through keyword targeted ads with Amazon Sponsored Products     (Source: Amazon Services Europe) How to set up an account The Amazon.co.uk marketplace enables individuals and businesses to sell new, used, collectable and refurbished items alongside Amazon’s new inventory. The big difference between Amazon and eBay is that there is no auction option on [...]

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25 02, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: eBay Global Shipping Programme

By |2018-12-14T12:18:17+00:00February 25th, 2015|Categories: eBay, Marketplaces, My Ecommerce Journey|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: eBay Global Shipping Programme

If you're selling on eBay you may have received an email informing you that you've been opted into the eBay Global Shipping Programme (GSP)—note, you can opt out through postage preferences within your site preferences. In last week's blog, l looked at three ways to increase your eBay profits, this week l'll be looking into the eBay Global Shipping Programme which has been updated this week (details in this blog by Tamebay) and examine the advantages and disadvantages of the programme. What is the Global Shipping Programme? The GSP was introduced by eBay is 2012 with the aim of simplifying shipping to approved international countries. Sellers package the item and send it to a eBay shipping hub. After that, eBay takes responsibility for the item and sends the package to the buyer and handles returns. It is a similar model to Amazon's, Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). Some sellers are already shipping internationally and have no need for the service. But for other sellers who have previously just been selling domestically, it is a way to grow sales and let eBay take care of some of [...]

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19 02, 2015

My Ecommerce Journey: 3 Ways to Increase Your eBay Profits

By |2018-12-14T12:18:17+00:00February 19th, 2015|Categories: My Ecommerce Journey, News, Tips|Comments Off on My Ecommerce Journey: 3 Ways to Increase Your eBay Profits

The majority of businesses exist to make a profit; this is especially true in the world of ecommerce and specifically eBay. Consequently, one of the main questions sellers want to know is, how can l increase my eBay profits? My selling experience to date has given me some food for thought and l've come up with a few areas you can examine and increase your eBay profits. 1. Reduce postage costs As a relative newcomer to selling on eBay, l was surprised to see a large number of online merchants are able to offers free shipping when currently Royal Mail charge £2.80 for a small parcel second class. Recorded delivery of an item first class (my current default postage method) is £4.30 which takes a chunk of my potential profits but gives me the protection that my item will be delivered. On top of that, there are sellers fees and Paypal commission. Can the item be sent as a large letter? Large letters can only weigh 100g and be 35cm x 25cm in size. This could significantly boost profits with the difference between a large [...]

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