5 Tips to Save Time & Money Managing Your High Volume eBay Sales

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Every eBay seller’s goal is to make money. And, high-volume sales are your ticket to success. But, now that you’re at the top, you realize that this isn’t an easy feat. When scaling a mountain, you need belay tools and ice axes to reach the summit. Likewise, when you scale Mount eBay, you’re going to need a customized set of tools and processes to make your job manageable. Let’s look at the common issues you’ll face with operations for high-volume eBay sales and how you can solve them.

Tip #1: Work With the Right Product Suppliers

I’ve worked with enough product suppliers and manufacturers to know how quickly your eBay processes can take a nosedive when you choose the wrong one. All it takes is one bad supplier to launch a cascade of poor reviews that ruin your perfect seller rating.

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So, learn how to find manufacturers that can meet your demands and those of your customers. Make sure to detail exactly what you need before you start your search. Keep in mind that you may only be able to work with suppliers that offer lower minimum order quantities (MOQs) in the beginning. But, as you scale, more doors will open.  

For example, when you were selling only a handful of products when you first launched, you may have been limited to drop shippers, print on demand suppliers, and companies that had no MOQs. Now that you’re a high-volume seller, shipping thousands of orders each month, it might be time to implement organized warehousing and upgrade to suppliers that only offer their products with a $500 or even $1,000 MOQ. Often these wholesalers have higher quality products to deliver.

Tip #2: Take Control of Your Inventory Management

If you’re still working from a storage shed behind your house, chances are you’re still using eBay’s built-in listing software. If so, you’re wasting countless hours on unnecessary manual inventory management processes. An inventory manager allows even beginning sellers to automatically list a set amount of available items, relist from warehouse inventory level and stay within eBay value restrictions.

Now, for high-volume sales, you can leverage this software for fully-enhanced operations. Inventory management software saves time you would otherwise spend manually limiting available stock (for the FOMO effect) for each listing within the dashboard. So, the platform will keep your eBay stock at a preferred level at all times.

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Not only does inventory management software help you with sales triggers and basic operations, but it can also simplify the processes for filtering inventory by categories, automatically relisting, and creating bulk pricing actions. This can save you countless hours each week by automating the bulk of your listing work.

Tip #3: Explore and Leverage Third-Party Solutions

Now that you’re selling more products, inventory management isn’t the only process you might need help with. And, maybe you don’t know what’s out there in the way of marketing and management software. But, I guarantee that if you have a problem, there’s a digital tool that can help solve it. So, inform yourself about the various options available.

Free Tools for High-Volume eBay Sellers

If you’re not quite ready to pay for the tools to scale your processes, you can still enhance your operations with free design, marketing, and sales tools. Here are a few that I recommend.

• eBay Listing Designer (offer no longer valid) - Design stunning product listing pages to enhance the buyer experience.
• Thank You Emails (5 messages per day) - Sent automated cross-promotional emails thanking your buyers and increase the chance of repeat purchases.
• PDF Catalog (offer no longer valid) - Create a PDF version of your catalog to send to buyers after a purchase to generate repeat sales.
• Canva - One of the most user-friendly, free image creation tools on the web.
• Grammarly - Make sure your product descriptions are grammatically correct, every time, with a free digital writing assistant.
• Paraphrase-online – Make your product descriptions more engaging by using this online paraphrasing tool.

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Paid Tools for High-Volume eBay Sellers

You’ll know when you’re ready to start spending more on your third-party software. When that happens, here are some solutions that can boost your operations.

• Feedback Reminder - Generate more feedback to improve your rankings and appear closer to the top of the eBay search results.
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• Facebook Store - Automatically post your listings on Facebook to sell more products on eBay.
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• Ebay Web Store - Generate a sleek storefront to display your eBay store listings.
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• 3Dsellers Image Editor (in platform) - Up your photo game with 3Dsellers image editor to remove photo backgrounds and retouch your product images.
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Tip #4: Hone Your Delegation Skills

While there is software for almost every step of the sales process, you won’t always be able to manage your organization singlehandedly. So, for some of the more tedious tasks on your plate, don’t be afraid to outsource the work. I remember my first paid gig I ever had was for a local small business who wanted to list some of their overstock inventory on eBay. I was young and willing to do the work for $5 per listing while the company owners spent their time on more involved tasks.

What Types of eBay Sales Tasks Might You Want to Outsource?

You probably don’t want to outsource tasks like finding the right supplier or hiring a new team member. But, there are countless, tedious tasks that you can delegate to someone else for less than your time is worth. Here are some jobs you might want to outsource:

• Product photography
• Photo retouching
• Listing descriptions
• Competitor research
• Pricing research
• Branding/ package design
• Search engine optimization
• Email marketing
• Page/ catalog design
• Consultation

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Depending on how you run your business, you will need to work with either local staff or remote workers. So, where can you find the right people to outsource your work to?

Local Outsourcing Resources

When you store your inventory on-hand, you make your own products, or you handle the shipping and delivery from your home or office, it might be a better idea to work with an individual or team who can work on-site. In this case, you will need to utilize local resources to outsource your work.

• Who do you already know? In some instances, you might be able to train someone in your personal or professional network to work casually from your place of business.
• Local Classifieds -- Post an ad in your local newspaper or advertising publication to let the community know you’re looking for some help.
• Craigslist - Yes, people still use Craigslist, and you can post directly to the “gig” section of your local page. Depending on the size of your community, there are likely tons of people looking for work on this platform.
• LinkedIn - While the local talent pool on LinkedIn is likely smaller than what you might find on Craigslist or Facebook, you might have more luck finding someone with specialized experience on LinkedIn.
• Facebook - Facebook groups and even your personal timeline provide a great way to put it out there that you need some help. Ask your friends and fellow group members for local recommendations for people who might be able to help you.

Remote Outsourcing Resources

In many cases, you won’t have the need to work with someone in your area. When this happens, you can look for a remote agency or freelancer to help you with your workload.

• Fiverr - Starting at just $5, you might be able to find someone to retouch your photos, list your products, or something else. Take a peek!
• Upwork or People Per Hour - Find a freelancer who specializes in what you need to make your eBay listings stand out.
• RightlyWritten - Order optimized product description pages to use in just one week.
• Pixelz - Have your new product images retouched overnight for less than $1.
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Agencies - There are countless agencies who specialize in various eBay services. Consider interviewing multiple resources to make sure you’ve found the right team to work with.

Tip #5: Follow the eBay Industry Thought Leaders

Since this article can’t possibly cover everything you need to become the best in your eBay niche, I recommend you take some time out to subscribe to the email lists or follow social channels of some of the industry leaders. Pay attention to what the best in the business are doing to enhance their stores and scale their businesses.

If you don’t already have a favorite eBay authority, here are a few to check out:

Prince Patel is crushing it on eBay and Amazon -- he’s got a ton of valuable advice to share. Check out his eBay channel and be sure to subscribe. Chris from @dailyrefinement is another leader who can teach you to make $1,000+ per week selling on eBay and Poshmark. And, of course, make sure to stay updated by following eBay themselves as well as 3Dsellers.

All four of these resources provide daily or weekly tips to help you build your empire in the eBay marketplace. Use the knowledge they share to expand your business and grow your revenue.

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