MYT Apparel is a retailer that has sold more than 225,000 items on eBay, growing a reputation as a trusted ecommerce seller within the clothing industry. Modern Retail spoke to Ibrahim Mayat about his top tips for eBay for retailers.
What are your top tips for success on eBay for retailers?
“A priority for every eBay business should be to establish trust with your customers at every point of a sale. Whilst this sounds easy, it’s easy to get wrong.”
Get the price right
“It starts with pricing. When we launched our product on eBay, we consulted completed eBay listings of similar products for price guidance. We priced slightly lower, to make sure that we were competitive compared to other sellers, but not too low that our customers would think we didn’t know the market.”
Effective imagery
“It is also vital that we took quality photos of items from different angles. The reality is that no one wants to buy something they haven’t seen. “
Optimise product descriptions
“Lastly, considerable time should be spent optimising descriptions. Not only does this leave buyers without any unanswered questions, but it also helps with SEO.”
How do you approach sourcing the right products to sell?
“Like any business, you have to do your research. We attend trade shows around the country and thoroughly research which products we think our customers want to buy.
“After that, it’s a question of how and where to get them. We work with wholesalers, sourcing companies, trade agents and manufacturers. Working with manufacturers and wholesalers means that we save on storage as we can work on a dropshipping basis, whereby we don’t have stock to hand but can transfer customer shipment details to either the manufacturer or wholesaler.”
How important is positive feedback and how do you aim to get this?
“Positive feedback is essential for an ecommerce business – it’s an extremely cost-effective way to develop customer trust, engagement and future sales.
“But it also plays an important role internally. Great feedback reaffirms that your hard work is paying off and it helps bring the team closer together, strengthening organisational culture. Honest feedback also enables us to develop and improve our own performance.”
What have been the greatest challenges of selling online and how have you overcome these?
“Many ecommerce businesses are capital light, meaning they don’t have huge reserves and require a certain amount of sales to ensure overheads are met. When we started, product returns or refunds proved difficult, as sales may have already been used to cover overheads. We’ve looked at how we pay certain outgoings and fund our business. For instance, revenue-based loans through companies like iwoca, can enable us to stay in control of our finances. These products allow businesses to repay their loans in line with the seasonal flow of their businesses, which is incredibly helpful for an e-commerce business like ours. This means a lean sales month or a month with high returns won’t leave us caught short.”
Learn more about eBay for retailers
How to transfer eBay listings to Etsy
Holly brings a wealth of experience in both print and digital publishing. As Modern Retail’s Content Editor, Holly is passionate about helping independent retailers to thrive in today’s ever-changing market.
