Have you ever wished for a crystal ball… one which could give you the key which would unlock the secrets to a steady income stream with far less work? By understanding buyer motivation and optimizing selling strategies, a seller has his own version of that crystal ball and with it, the power to influence consumer habits – making them consciously or subconsciously choose to buy their product over a competitor’s.
One method becoming increasingly popular among sellers is exploiting the wealth of sales data available on eBay. Employing an ethical Web Scraper service furnishes sellers with invaluable data; enabling them to set optimum price points, compare like for like products and hone their listings accordingly.
Where to begin?
Online shoppers are becoming justifiably cynical about buying products ‘sight unseen’. The more information you can provide through images and descriptive content, the more confidently they will bid.
According to Forbes the following simple strategies can increase eBay sales:
● Provide clear photos. Ebay recommend placing images on a plain white background if possible or alternatively, crop the photos to avoid distracting buyers with unnecessary clutter.
● Provide adequate descriptive details including dimensions and if possible, weight. Buyers may be interested in your product but may not have time or the inclination to ask for more details; resulting in a lost sale.
● Ship internationally. There is little difference going to the post office to mail goods within Australia or across the world. By opening up your listing to the massive US and European markets, you can increase your visibility exponentially.
● Exploit social media. By sharing listings to special interest groups on platforms such as Facebook, you are targeting your market and increasing your sales opportunities.
The solution may be scraping…
Put aside eBay as a valuable sales platform and view it merely as an information source and you can immediately appreciate its standing as an overwhelming font of statistical and empirical data. With tens of millions of active buyers on eBay at any one time, equating to around one billion transactions per day, it is a veritable limitless matrix linking such things as:
● Products
● Brands
● Sales
● User’s account details
● Seller sales tracking
● Reviews
● Ratings
● Stock levels
● Product sizing
● Product colour
● Images
● Delivery methods
If you are a serious eBay seller then imagine the difference harnessing this information could make to your turnover. By exploiting powerful Web Scraping technology, any seller can now tap this incredible resource – gaining daily reports, with insights into buyer habits and competitors pricing, as well as sold listings and sales tracking.
Why is this so valuable? As a seller, this information enables you to understand the optimum price point for selling a particular item and formulate the ideal marketing strategies to increase traffic and to boost sales.
To optimize the power of web scraping technology, you need first to identify the data points (available web page information) which will best advantage you. An ethical web scraping service can advise you how to pinpoint these based on your unique business model.
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Example
Many of the highest selling products on eBay have the largest competition. One example of this is iPhone accessories such as cases, screen protectors and grip mounts. These are among the top 10 products currently selling on eBay. These products act like honey, attracting multitudes of sellers just like flies. The only way to compete successfully is to understand and exploit sales data to track buyer trends.
This includes:
● High-demand products
● Supply
● Product descriptions
● Effective marketing strategies
● Optimum price points
● Listing layouts
You can also compare ‘like for like’ competitor products and identify the best selling features such as preferred payment and shipping methods and hundreds of other small but influential details, which can be the difference between quick turnover or having hundreds of stagnating products.
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Whether you use eBay as a hobby to make a little extra cash or are a power seller with thousands of listings, the rules to increasing sales are the same. By utilizing available technology and understanding buyer behaviour, you can quickly increase your revenue and make eBay the key to long term financial security.
