The Other Side of Listing on eBay: Mobile Optimization Tips!

All eBay Listings Should Be Mobile Optimized

Ever since smartphones and tablets were introduced to the market, the nature of buying and selling as we knew it was destined to change. In an age where convenience is the forerunner to purchasing power, we have seen a steady change from desktop to mobile in the number of total transactions. Whether you are selling on eBay or anywhere else, one thing is clear - mobile optimization is becoming increasingly important because it affects sales directly.

With smartphones and tablets becoming more integral in people’s lives, the need for sellers to make their stores mobile responsive has never been more important. What’s mind-boggling here is that research shows 40% of users will go to a competitor after a bad mobile experience, yet an alarming 84% of buyers experience difficulty completing a mobile transaction. This is an incredibly high number and shows the opportunity sellers have available. Simply by creating mobile responsive and user-friendly stores, sellers will be able to capitalize on improved sales conversion.

The Importance of Mobile

Based on research conducted by Chain Store Age, "apps account for over two-thirds (70%) of mobile e-commerce transactions in North America, for retailers with a shopping app. This trend extends across most world regions, as in-app sales dominate. Globally, in-app transactions have increased by 22% year-over-year.

"Looking at what is being sold, you can determine how your small business will fare on eBay in the years to come. According to this infographic posted by 16BEST.net, 432,000 collectible items are sold every single day, while mobile is increasingly the device of choice when transactions are carried out. The daily tally of items sold on eBay via mobile in the US includes 360 cars, 12,343 pairs of ladies shoes, 8,640 ladies handbags and 2,160 tablets.

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‍Furthermore, according to OuterBox, as of 2018:

• 50 million U.S. Consumers own tablets.
• 62% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device in the last 6 months.
• One-third of all eCommerce purchases during the 2015 holiday season was made on a smartphone.
• eCommerce dollars now comprise 10% of ALL retail revenue
• 80% of shoppers used a mobile phone inside of a physical store to either look up product reviews, compare prices or find alternative store locations.
• An estimated 10 Billion Mobile Connected Devices are currently in use.

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What factors affect mobile sales?

You might be wondering, what is causing sellers to miss out on mobile sales? Well, this next graphic from comScore nicely sums up exactly why buyers are choosing some sellers over others.

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‍‍We can see above, that the Top 5 reasons cited by consumers regarding mobile usability difficulties in order of importance are:

• Security concerns
• Text readability
• Complicated navigation
• Single screen limitations
• Difficulties with inputting user details

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Security concerns: Fortunately for eBay sellers, the concerns regarding security are overcome by using a trusted payment option such as PayPal. Furthermore, according to eBay’s latest seller update, the website has now fully committed to being active content-free and HTTPS-ready, meaning that security remains a top priority.

Fortunately for our sellers, all 3Dsellers listing templates and store designs are active content-free.

Text readability: Text readability issues can be overcome by using 3DSellers store designer. Text readability can also be checked using Google’s Developer Tools option or eBay’s mobile-friendly checker (both of which will be discussed later in this article). For best results, we recommend using a font size of 12 or bigger. Keep in mind, not all mobile users know how to enlarge the screen to see smaller text. Therefore, it pays to have your content as easy-to-read as possible for your audience. Thus, we also recommend keeping descriptions short, sweet, and to the point, and to use one color font - preferably black on white. Include important information but don't fill up the screen with too much text. Remember, buyers are looking at several listings, not only yours. Keep the product description easy on the eye so it’s simple to read and direct, but it's also important making your descriptions fun.

Complicated navigation: Recently, eBay has encouraged, and in some cases required, the use of catalog data in listings. What’s interesting though is that the benefits are most apparent in eBay’s mobile app, where the data for items appear in a compact and neatly formatted area. This makes it easy for buyers to compare features between items and as well as gives an idea of what is being sold. Therefore, expecting buyers to read through descriptions which give the same details as your other listings may lead to you losing sales to sellers who employ catalog and item specific details in listings.

Single screen limitations: Allowing buyers the option to open a new window when looking at other items they might be interested in within your store, gives you a greater chance of sales. Fortunately, eBay has no limitation for this feature, which some other eCommerce store providers lack. Therefore, take advantage of links for cross-promotion whenever appropriate, for instance, to direct them to detailed product information..  Fixed price listings actually benefit mobile users since they don't have to go through as many screens to make a purchase.

Difficulties with inputting user details: Additionally, not having to enter much data due to the minuscule keyboards of mobile phones means the buying experience is less frustrating. With PayPal firmly integrated with eBay's mobile apps, it means users aren’t forced to enter loads of credit card data in order to make a purchase. Keeping purchases to as few clicks as possible will only benefit a seller by reducing transaction time.

How to check if your eBay listings are mobile friendly?

Fortunately, since you’ve placed your trust with us in terms of designing your listings, you luckily don’t have to worry about having a mobile UNresponsive listings, because that work has already been done for you.

However, if for some reason you haven’t signed up with us, you can still do so here (FREE!). Our Listing Designer also offers sellers simple easy-to-use desktop, mobile and tablet views of their store. Simply click on the respective icons as shown below.

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Alternatively, you can also this eBay mobile-friendly checker to check if your listings are mobile optimized. Although, this will involve you manually changing each and every listing, unlike our listing tool.

 

If you would like a more detailed view to see how your listing appears on a specific device (or specific dimensions for that matter), check out Google Chrome’s Developer Tools’ special feature by following these instructions:

• Open up your eBay store or listing on a Google Chrome browser.
• Click on the 3 dots on the far right-hand of the toolbar (as shown in the screenshot below).
• Click on the “More tools” button followed by “Developer tools” (as shown in the screenshot below).

Click the little icon with a mobile and tablet image (as shown in the screenshot below).

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‍Now you can use the menu to see how your store appears on various devices using the settings outlined in the screenshot above.

Please note: Google’s Developer Tools feature only gives you a close approximation as to how your site will look on a mobile device, but to get the full picture you should always test your site on real devices. Therefore, we strongly advise using a mobile-optimized Listing Designer.

To simplify the entire process and to help you save more of your valuable time, our free listing designer takes away the trouble of optimizing your entire store’s listings for you since it has the option of applying your settings across your entire store. Furthermore, with the click of a button you can test your settings by seeing how your listings appear on desktop, tablet and mobile devices. Give it a try, hey, it’s FREE after all!

Seller Protection

This is arguably one of the most anticipated additions for sellers. Starting June 1, 2018, when sellers offer free returns, they'll have greater control to manage their business, and can decide to issue partial refunds to buyers. For example, if a buyer uses or damages an item and returns it, sellers can decide to issue a partial refund. If a buyer escalates a case, eBay will take care of it allowing sellers to focus on their business. The best part about this feature is that eBay will protect a seller’s reputation from any negative feedback including protection from events outside sellers’ control. Protections from events outside a seller’s control include:

• When sellers ship an item on time and provide tracking, and it arrives late.
• If sellers are impacted by carrier disruptions or severe weather.
• If a buyer retracts their bid or doesn't pay.
• If a buyer changes their order or requests something extra.
• From buyers that have an unusual rate of complaints or returns.
• If the buyer returns an item after they opened it, used it, or sent it back in a condition other than the package it was sent it in.