eBay Seller Hub Dashboard VS Third-party - Which eBay selling tool is right for you?

There is a myriad of great eBay seller management tools on the market today. However, there are very few genuinely remarkable and outstanding tools. Two particular eBay seller tools stand out above the rest. 

Even more so, one of them stands out in such a unique and extraordinary way that it can help you quickly grow and expand your eBay business by automating almost all of your daily tasks through multiple eBay accounts. 

eBay Seller Hub and its benefits

The first eBay management tool I'll be covering, you likely already know, so I might not be dazzling you just yet. However, stick with me throughout this journey..... ok, just until the end of the article, because the second eBay management tool I am going to share with you is an absolute game-changer that you've likely never heard of, and it just may knock your socks off!

eBay's Seller Hub: An overview

If you're selling on eBay, you've most likely already been introduced to Seller Hub. eBay launched Seller Hub in 2015 to answer a seller's need to streamline and manage multiple eBay accounts. 

eBay believed that their "revolutionary" new eBay tool would bring the power of eBay data and the valuable insights it offers directly to eBay sellers to help them manage and grow their businesses and seller status. The power behind eBay's Seller Hub is that it would bring all of this valuable information in one easy-to-view eBay seller dashboard.

eBay's goal was to ensure that eBay sellers would have simple, smart tools - informed by eBay’s treasure trove of data - that can help them scale their eBay businesses and find all the information in one place (a powerful eBay seller dashboard).

Before I introduce the second eBay seller software that will transform everything you know about how to manage your eBay business, streamline your efforts and automate your daily tasks, I will first go over eBay Seller Hub for those who are not familiar with this tool.  

The eBay seller tool, Seller Hub, provides centralized access to pertinent data and quick links to daily tasks. Below are the main topics and tasks your eBay Seller Hub lays out for you.

• Orders, listings, and listing t
• Data and reports for performance, traffic, orders, sales, and taxes
• Promoted Listings, Volume Pricing, Promotions manager
• Offers to buyers
• Terapeak Research
• Payments management
• Shipping, cancellations, and returns
• Under-performing listings
• Feedback overview
• Monthly selling limits
• Seller level
• Messages
• Store Management
  

All of this information above can seem like a lot of data, so one may wonder how it's organized within the Seller Hub overview. 

One of eBay Seller Hub's best features is the ability to move all of the above data, information, and links around the hub using widgets. Each data category is divided into an individual widget that the user can move up and down or left or right across the eBay seller dashboard. This allows the busy eBay seller to view the most important and pertinent information to them at the top of their Seller Hub page "above the fold."

A few tips for streamlining your eBay Seller Dashboard 

Let me share how I have my eBay Seller Hub page set up. The most important information I receive from the eBay seller Hub, and information I want to view daily or even multiple times per day, include the following:

• # of unread messages
• # of orders awaiting shipment
• My monthly selling limits (how many more items I can list)
• My current sales: today, the past seven days, and the past 31 days
• Feedback - any negatives received?
• eBay Seller Level - Top Rated or Above Standard on my smaller accounts
  

Most of the other information that eBay's Seller Hub can provide is either not as important, or I am using another eBay seller management tool to view and work with that information.

Hang in there; I am about to introduce the second selling tool that will mark a critical and pivotal turning point in your eBay business.

But first, take a look at this screenshot from one of my smaller eBay seller dashboard:

Here you can see how I have my eBay Dashboard set up to convert all of the information from eBay that I value the most right into an organized and straightforward overview.

Although there is a lot of other standard data I can access on Seller Hub, like traffic stats, announcements, promotional offers, and lots of quick links for tasks like managing the store, promoted listings, and subscriptions. Personally, I rarely use this other information. So it wasn't any need to have them on my eBay seller dashboard.

This means when the eBay seller dashboard is all set up how I like it, and it's all said and done, I was using the eBay Seller Hub, at a glance, for 15 to 30 seconds, 1 to 3 times per day.  

However, ask yourself this:  

"Do you need more than just a snapshot of your business to manage it in the most time-effective way possible?"

I hope you just said yes because this brings me to finally sharing with you where I now spend ALL of my time managing my eBay businesses.

One more thing before I share the eBay seller tool with you.  

"Do you have, or do you want to have, more than one eBay account?"

I hope you just said yes. Because the tool I am about to show you will give you all of your information from all of your accounts and actually AUTOMATE most of your daily tasks in one easy-to-use platform.  

Are you ready? Drum roll please... 🥁

Managing, automating, and growing your eBay business is now easier than ever.

3DSellers is a trustworthy all-in-one e-commerce management platform that not only works with your eBay accounts but also lets you integrate other popular sales channels. 

In this article, however, we will focus on eBay and how 3DSellers can help you instantly increase your sales, automate mundane tasks, and increase your level of customer service to improve your seller performance. 

3Dsellers eBay Selling Manager Software VS eBay Seller Hub

While a glance at the eBay seller dashboard will give me a great snapshot of my business, a peek at my 3DSellers eBay Dashboard will also give me much of the same pertinent information like sales overview, store limits, statistics, feedback score, top-selling products, and much more. 

Although you cannot customize and move your data around with neat little widgets, like on eBay Seller Hub, I would not be surprised if this feature is in the works. Launched in 2010, 3DSellers has continuously updated its tools with new and exciting features, and the evolution of its Overview tab is no exception.

However, the resemblances between eBay's Seller Hub and 3DSellers' Dashboard are where the similarities between the two tools end.

3DSellers is a comprehensive e-commerce multi-channel management platform that goes far beyond giving you a snapshot of your business. Below is an overview of some of the most popular and valuable features for e-commerce sellers.

Transform your customer support workflow into an efficient powerhouse of productivity

I wouldn't be doing my review on this platform justice unless I started with their most practical, valuable, and unique feature, the 3Dsellers Multichannel Helpdesk.  

In the "olden days," when I was first starting out selling online, about 20 years ago, I had to visit each of my sales channels every day to reply to customer inquiries. And not only that, but I had to visit each and every account within each sales channel. At any given moment, I might have had 3 or 4 accounts on 3 or 4 different sales channels. 

I kid you not; it could easily take me 4 or 5 hours to reply to buyers' inquiries, leaving very little time for growing my business. My customer service suffered significantly because I wasn't always able to spare 5 hours a day for buyer’s inquiries alone. Suffice it to say; those days are over!

Thanks to Helpdesk with 3Dsellers which used to take me 5 hours of logging in, logging out, replying to messages, looking up buyer’s orders, finding their names, order dates, products ordered, tracking numbers, delivery status, etc. 

Now it takes me less than 30 minutes a day. Some days even less because I also get ahead of many issues now with auto-eBay replies and automated messages. (more on that later)  

Imagine opening one inbox for all your eBay accounts clicking on a message. Before you even hit that reply button, you're able to see and access that customer's entire profile:

• Selling Platform and Seller ID
• Buyer ID
• Buyer Name, Email, and Address
• # Of Buyer orders
• Order Price
• Other tickets from the buyer
• Item Ordered, Title, SKU, and Image
• Order and Shipping Dates
• Tracking Number 
• Latest Transactions and more

This will be a game-changer for you, and ONLY 3DSellers has it. This feature alone will save you so much time and allow you to focus more on income-producing tasks while you easily communicate with your buyers.

You and your team will have access to features inside the Helpdesk that compare with industry leaders whose names you may be familiar with, like ZenDesk and Help Scout. You can assign tickets, create common reply scripts, mentions @TeamMember, create private notes, apply custom filters, and so much more!

I could go on about Helpdesk all day, but there are several more impressive features to cover.

The Most Powerful eBay Listing Software

3Dsellers is an all-in-one tool with a feature-rich built-in listing tool. Everything you've come to expect in a listing tool and more you will find inside 3DSellers, to add meta tags and meta descriptions easily, so let me just point out a few additional features that aren't so standard with other eBay tools.

• Easily toggle between your eBay accounts with a drop-down menu 
• User-friendly and customizable listings tab
• eBay inventory management
• Easily add SEO metadata - You don't even have to open the listing to add meta tags and meta descriptions.
• A complete Bulk Actions menu - Where you can Export your items to CSV, Set Policies, Promote Listings, Apply Tags, and more. 
• Quick edits - Inventory, Price, Selling Details, and more. 
• CSV Import - Upload files to perform different actions such as listing creation, editing, ending, etc.
• eBay Catalog 
• Car compatibility for eBay Motors
• Listing design templates - A well-designed listing template can answer buyer questions from the moment they land on your listing and decrease your number of customer service inquiries to answer. Use a template to clearly and professionally show your policies on returns, shipping, payment, and more!
• Inventory Control - my personal favorite, this feature allows you to, for example, set your quantity at any number, like 2 or 3, to show a low inventory and create a sense of urgency for your buyer. Once the item is purchased, the quantity will go back to whatever you have set, granted that the inventory is available. This feature significantly increases sales and how many items a customer purchases. Seeing a low "quantity available" sometimes entices them to purchase more than one. Not to mention that you will be hiding your actual inventory, so this can prevent you from reaching eBay’s selling limits and keep selling. 
• Pricing Settings - Insert selling fees to calculate a selling price for your eBay items, view profit per item, and get more accurate eBay dashboard statistics.

Increase eBay feedback score by 50% or more

Send a couple of well-timed messages to your buyers to kindly request that they also leave feedback for the transaction; it’s a great way to help you improve your seller status. With 3Dsellers Feedback Reminder, you can even make things very easy by supplying them with the direct link to do so in the message. 

Also, leaving feedback automatically for your buyers to let them know that you appreciate them and hope to see them back can cause a good impression. 

These functionalities will yield a direct and immediate increase in your feedback score and seller level. 

Automate customer service, increase your seller status, and boost sales by cross-promoting items

As part of the marketing tab, Auto Messages is one of several tools to help you stay ahead of the competition. Set up automated messages to buyers with real-time tracking updates to reduce the number of shipping inquiries.

These messages will allow you to send a custom message to your buyers after they purchase an item, tell them when you ship the item when the package reaches their local distribution center, when it's out for delivery, and more. 

By doing this, you won't receive those notorious "where's my order?" messages that are clogging up your inbox. You can even cross-promote other products from your eBay to increase sales in the auto message template.

Automatically send, accept or make counteroffers for your eBay listings

Offer a Discount to potential customers sitting on the fence. This encourages them to go ahead and take the leap and make the purchase. I promise they will love you for reaching out to them with this offer, and it will score you some brownie points from the get-go. 

Also, with this feature, you will be able to reach out to potential customers you otherwise wouldn't have even known were lurking on your listing! Whether they added your item to their cart and never checked out, or they've added your item to their watch list, these are potential buyers you would never have otherwise known were interested. 

Set up this feature to automatically send these potential buyers a personal message from you along with the offer of a discount.  THIS FEATURE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASES MY SALES.

A complete suite of tools and resources for your eBay business

There are too many features to continue listing in this article, so below are just a few more features I'll highlight for you now.

• Multi-Channel Compatibility - think Amazon, Etsy, Shopify eBay, and more!
• Copy listings - across different eBay marketplaces
• Create Custom Reports - even set reports to run automatically
• Export Listings to a CSV 
• Create an eBay Webstore
• Image editor - edit and live-update your listing photos.
• Facebook Store- creates an eBay storefront for your eBay items on Facebook for an additional stream of income
• eBay Store Designer
• Resolution Center - efficiently process and view all your eBay cases in one dashboard
• Shipping Tracker - this tool has an organized orders tab where you can see what is waiting to ship, what is on the way, what's delivered, what has a delivery issue that needs your attention, and the ability to set up messages to be sent based on shipping status. 
• PDF Catalog - Creating a PDF of your eBay listings and download to share with your customers and social media. 
  

We've all heard the age-old saying, "Work Smarter, Not Harder."

Conclusion: 

So which are you doing? Are you still using ONLY eBay's Seller Hub? Are you ready to work smarter than thousands of eBay sellers and get your business to the next level? 

I honestly wish I knew of 3DSellers back in 2010 when it launched. But instead, I spent almost ten years trying out many "multi-channel," "all-in-one management" platforms which all failed to deliver. I spent hundreds of hours researching and learning new systems only to find they could not live up to the hype. 

Not to mention the thousands of dollars I spent on these eBay selling tools. I sometimes find it hard to believe even now that I use only one tool (which translates to "I only pay one low monthly fee.")  

Save Yourself! Please, work smarter and not harder and learn from all the time and money that I spent.

You know now what I didn't know then!