Peak season: the time of the year that’s on almost every eBay seller's radar. So, whether it's your first Black Friday on eBay or you're an old hand at this, this busy trading period can present a great opportunity to grow.
According to research by eBay Ads, this year will be particularly busy for sellers, as the cost-of-living crisis accelerates the search for bargains. In fact, half (50%) of consumers plan to use Black Friday offers to save money on gifts. Six in ten (60%) also believe that good value for money is the most important factor when it comes to shopping for Christmas goods this year.
So, how can sellers adapt to spikes in demand to ensure your business remains resilient and able to reap the rewards of this busy time? For newer sellers, our top tips are a great way to maximise your performance over the peak shopping season. For seasoned sellers, we’re sure you know what you’re doing – but why not refresh your memory anyway!
1. Optimise your listings
Listings are at the heart of everything. They’re essentially window displays for your items, with each detail impacting buyers’ decisions to view and (hopefully) purchase. It’s therefore key to get the basics right – and this eBay Academy course will help you to do exactly that.
Once you’ve mastered the essentials, our Promoted Listings suite of products are a powerful way to help your items stand out in the eBay marketplace. But you can also master your inventory and get your items in front of the right people by taking into account this key criteria:
- Number of listings - more listings and inventory can help to build your eBay profile
- Listing type - ensure you have a high volume of stock in your range or add new products to your range of listings on a regular basis
- Stock behind the listing - where possible, make sure you have enough items to meet the demands of buyers
- Sense of value - use tools such as coded coupons to drive value
Why not also check out Terapeak: our product research tool that can help you see where there is extra demand on eBay, as well as providing listing insights on things such as pricing and value.
2. Embrace best-in-class deliveries and be mindful of disruption
Delivery is important all year round, but even more so during the peak shopping season. Once you’ve optimised your listings, you should look to offer best-in-class delivery services that provide customers with the convenience they’re looking for during busy periods. It's ultimately by satisfying your customer that you will retain their loyalty.
Offering the following four pillars of deliveries could make your listings more attractive to potential buyers:
- Free delivery option - a free delivery option within 3 days
- Click and collect - eBay can provide access to nearly 3,000 UK wide locations
- Next day delivery - a fast next day delivery option for under £10 with same day handling
- Return in 30+ days - returns within 30 days or more (either free or paid for by the buyer)
Please also note that deliveries during this period may be subject to delays, owing to strike action called by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at Royal Mail and Parcelforce.
So, be sure to read the latest information for sellers, which includes the steps we recommend you take to minimise the impact on your business and how we’re protecting your performance.
3. Remember our Global Shipping Programme
eBay is a global platform. So, why not take full advantage of our global reach and seller protections to boost your sales and grow your business?
With instant access to 138 million buyers*, our Global Shipping Programme (GSP) can help you grow your sales by up to 18%** without changing how you ship. Items just need to be posted to our UK Shipping Centre, and we handle the rest from there to allow you to focus on your domestic sales, while we take the hassle out of the international ones.
For any information about selling internationally, check out this article to find the answers to sellers’ most frequently asked questions on Cross-Border Trade.
4. Access Capital for eBay Business Sellers (provided by YouLend)
Shopping periods like Black Friday and the run up to Christmas can be the biggest opportunities in the calendar year to take your business to the next level. We started our Capital for eBay Business Sellers programme – in partnership with YouLend – over a year ago to help sellers access funding and do exactly that.
Here’s two main ways the programme can help you maximise peak:
- More stock: It goes without saying that you’ll probably need to source more stock to meet growing demands during peak season. As well as enabling you to make bigger stock orders of existing items, business capital can make it easier to take up new opportunities with new brands and maximise growth during this period.
- Invest in staff: It’s important to have the necessary personnel during busy periods, so your business isn’t held back by the hours in a day. Using funding support to hire seasonal staff can help transform your peak season – you could think about agency staffing, overtime, freelance support and even permanent hirings. And remember, eBay Academy is a great resource for getting your new hires up to speed quickly.
5. Boost traffic to your eBay Shop using social media
Social media can be a great tool to tell shoppers who they are purchasing from and drive more traffic to your listings and eBay Shop. This becomes even more powerful with the new features that are now available in Shops – like the ability to use video to showcase your products and build your brand.
As a small or medium sized seller, using social media is your chance to get your story out there and build a connection with consumers – something that’s key to brand recognition. Once you’ve got the recognition, you can then look to engage potential buyers with promotions, such as coded coupon campaigns.
There’s a plethora of things sellers can do with social media in the run up to peak season, but the first thing to keep in mind is consistency. Make sure you are posting at least 3 to 5 times a week to ensure your target demographic is up-to-date with what you have to offer.
Finally, be sure to use the channel that suits you best to tap into the demographic of your targeted buying group and extend your reach.
6. Safeguard your business with enhanced seller protections
Small businesses, like yours, are the beating heart of eBay. So, we’re always striving to protect our community of sellers as much as we can – especially against abusive buyer activity or events that are outside of your control. That’s why Top Rated and Above Standard sellers can take advantage of an enhanced selection of protections and refund options.
A great example is being able to give a partial refund. If a return ever comes back used or damaged by the buyer, or with missing parts, you can simply issue a partial refund and retain up to 50% of the refund value to cover the issue! And did you know that when you issue a partial refund, we’ll:
- Automatically remove negative or neutral feedback, defects, and open cases in your service metrics relating to that claim.
- Protect you from any chargebacks.
This is just one way we protect sellers, and keep our marketplace safer.
If you want more information on any of the above tips, check out eBay Academy to discover how you can use our tools and features to build and grow your brand. You can also watch our Prepare for Peak webinar on demand, where we go into all of the above in more detail.
Sellers old and new, what are you doing in preparation for peak season this year? Comment any tips and tricks below!
*https://investors.ebayinc.com/fast-facts/default.aspx
**eBay internal data based on the performance of a sample of eBay business sellers for a 3-month period prior to and after joining the Global Shipping Programme 2021/2022.
