5 Top Tips For Running an Ebay Business
Ebay has grown over the years from a small scale auction site into one of the largest globally recognised and respected consumer led sales sites. From  small scale part-time home-based sellers to larger businesses there are many advantages to using ebay to reach your customer base.
Setting up an ebay store provides your business with what is essentially your own mini-sales website. Without much of the hassle and expense of building your own tailor made site.
Build up your feedback – Any ebay business stands or falls on its positive feedback. If you have any negative feedback then however cheap or high quality your goods are you will struggle to establish yourself and you will find buyers are reticent to trust you with their hard earned cash. 
Positive feedback can be achieved in a variety of ways the simplest and most obvious is to provide a good service. You can also boost your score by selling loss-leading items giving good value and boosting your reputation as a good value seller or by simply buying things using your profile, paying promptly and thus getting positive feedback from other ebay sellers.
            Write your listings carefully – Be honest. Ebay is largely self regulated by its users via the feedback system so a ‘warts and all’ description is always best. You will garner more kudos through accurately and honestly including any blemishes in your descriptions than by trying to hide or gloss over them. Indeed many sellers (especially of second hand goods) include photographs of any blemishes to highlight them and thus wipe out any feeling of grievance that may subsequently be come up from a misled buyer.
Be detailed, include all the information that makes your item unique and defines it. Don’t write whole listings in capitals or bright flashing colours as although they may seem to stand out that they stand out they can be confusing and tiresome on the eye of the buyer who is scrolling through multiple listings.
            Find out what sells – Market research is important to any business and ebay is no different. Make time to search under “Completed listings” to see what is selling well and what price certain items are fetching ensuring you can price competitively.
            Get your packaging right – Your service doesn’t end when someone clicks buy. The transaction is complete when a happy customer has received their goods and gives you positive feedback. Pack anything fragile with as much protection as possible to ensure it is safeguarded in transit. Make time to address, label and package your goods professionally. The way your goods arrive will reflect your business so typed labels, a compliment slip with your business details and a receipt will elevate your service above part-time sellers.
Remember postage costs. List the postage prices separately and clearly and state the type of delivery offered for the price.
            Patience – Like anything else an ebay business needs time and dedication to become a success. Build a customer base by consistently delivering quality and building up your feedback. Taking yourself seriously and treating every aspect of your business professionally is the first step to others taking you seriously. Once established consider using ebays free turbo-lister software to list multiple items quicker and with more ease.

Accounting for growth

Over time a successful business will grow and to keep your customers satisfied and to fulfil your potential you need to be aware of this and plan accordingly.
There is a delicate balancing act to consider between satisfying demand and managing your outlay on extraneous business costs. Think through everything carefully balancing benefit against cost.
Consider your growth; do your products have a shelf life? If they are gimmicky or have a fad based following the likelihood is an initial boom can be followed by a bust period while you search for the ‘next thing’ In these cases a warehouse stocked full of unsaleable products is commercial disaster as you will have tied all your capital up in soon to be obsolete or devalued stock. However, if your product has a durable or timeless appeal then hiring storage space or a commercial workshop is a natural progression and a necessary step in the growth of your business. This is a big step and should only be undertaken when you have outgrown your current operation. Most ebay businesses can start out at home or in cheap storage units so a tailor made or custom larger space is a risk. Minimise the risk by ensuring you have enough repeat business to pay your overheads out of your business turnover not your personal savings.
Consider whether an investment in stock is really an investment, will it keep its value? If you have to move it on quickly can you afford to do so cheaply?
Time management is essential as your business grows. Whilst you may be swamped in orders with product hungry ebayers clicking on buy it now do you practically have time to fulfil these orders? Business will suffer if you don’t have time to pack and dispatch your goods within your specified dispatch deadlines.
Invest in packing and labels, don’t be caught short with goods to dispatch and no way of getting them packed as your service will suffer in this eventuality so consider part-time staff. As your business grows you will spend your days packing and dispatching goods if you manage your time poorly. Time your auctions to end at the same time each day so you can start each day with a clear idea of what needs doing and make one trip to dispatch your goods in one bulk shipping. Dispatch your goods once a day in bulk. Build a cut off time into your work day after which orders are fulfilled the next day.
Keep clear and detailed records of absolutely every business transaction. A good accountant can be invaluable here. As business grows as you will be liable for tax on your earnings and you will have to register self-employed.
Remember what got you here. Never sacrifice customer service and good value for money for speed or short-term gain as these are the stanchions of your business and with only a little sloppiness and bad attitude you can wipe out months or years of hard work.