Entrepreneurial Selling

Expanding Your Business Using eBay

Written by Brenda Stokes for Gaebler Ventures

Throughout the years, eBay has revolutionized the way business is done. It has enabled businesses to expand in many ways. So how can you expand your business through eBay?

Most everyone who has the Internet knows what eBay is. eBay is an auction site that individuals have used to get rid of their junk in order to make it someone else's treasure.

But eBay is not just for people like you and me to get rid of our stuff. It is also a way for a business to expand its customer base.

eBay offers its members the opportunity to create a storefront. This means that you can sell certain items that you specialize in through this storefront. But how do you make this a success? Below are ways in which eBay has provided doorways for businesses to expand beyond a local presence to a nationwide or worldwide one:

• A merchant offers a single item, brand new, in an online auction. Individuals who click on that auction are able to be linked up to the merchant's website to see similar products or view what the merchant has for sale. The individual can decide to bid on that auction, buy the item (if it's Buy it Now), or browse the eBay merchant's website.
• The "Buy it Now" option enables individuals to bypass the bidding process and buy an item directly. eBay merchants most likely have more than one of that product because it is directly out of their inventory.
• The storefront is a way for an individual to advertise their own products. For instance, someone who creates crafts or makes their own clothes can create an eBay storefront and either auction items or sell them through the Buy it Now option. When the merchant has a storefront, he or she is able to have a link to it on their item's listing page.

Some eBay sellers don't use the storefront feature and they simply sell their items through individual auctions. This works well for some because eBay shows a list of other items the seller is selling at the bottom of the page. This in itself serves as a type of storefront.

You can literally build yourself an eBay empire. You do, however want to do a little research on the site prior to listing your items. You want to see if other items similar to yours are getting bids. It is important that you do this so that you don't lose money in your listing fees. You want to pay the fee and get a return on investment by making the sale.

By being an eBay seller and selling your products, you are gaining a whole new customer base. You can push your existing business by providing links to your website or creating a storefront. You can also include reorder materials, catalogs, and shopping information with the product when you ship it to your customer.

Every business owner should become an eBay seller in order to do business with customers all over the world. In other words, you have not lived until you have sold something on eBay. You are also breathing a brand new breath of life into your business.

Brenda is a graduate of California State University and a professional writer covering a variety of business topics. To learn more about Brenda, check out her website at The Digital Inkwell.

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