Joined up writing is a sign of a child progressing at school and in a similar vein it’s becoming more apparent that eBay is growing up too. Take their latest TV advert, it’s all about turning the things laying about your house that you no longer require into cash. Most households have unwanted possessions and increasingly they’re finding their way onto eBay rather than the local car boot sale. This has boosted the value to about £3000 for items that previously may have sold locally for pennies. To complement the TV advert eBay have a Cha-Ching graphic on the home page linked to the eBay house showing typical goods families may be able to sell on eBay.
But that’s not the end of the story – lets think for a moment what eBay are trying to achieve. They’re aiming to gain new sellers, probably these sellers will have previously been eBay buyers, but they could well be brand new to the site. It’s likely that casual sellers will never become full time professional sellers (although a tiny minority might) so why are eBay spending so much money on adverts to attract them? Well the secret is brand loyalty. Anyone who’s seen someone list and sell their first item on eBay will know that it turns them from a casual buyer into an avid eBayer. They may not make much money, but because they’ve made a sale they never forget the experience and go on to become a more enthusiastic buyer.
It’s not just the latest eBay TV advert though, this is a long term aim which eBay have been working on for a number of years. For instance eBay University has just announced the 2007 dates, the selling basics course is firmly aimed at those who want to list their very first item on eBay. Again some attending the course may hope to go on and become full time sellers, but it’s likely that most will sell just a few items as casual sellers. The low cost you pay to attend eBay University in no way pays for the actual cost to eBay, in fact eBay subsidise each and every attendee as the cost is over double that actually charged. With thousands attending each year this represents a significant investment training people the majority of which will remain casual sellers. The upside and the reason the course is so worthwhile to eBay is that again attendees go on to buy more and more on the site.
eBay Educational specialists are another area eBay has invested heavily in, and one that is yet to reap the full rewards. Currently educational specialists are only authorised to teach the Selling Basics course, again aimed at people learning how to sell their first item on eBay. Once again we see eBay putting processes in place to encourage people to sell their first item on the site.
There is a big difference between eBay and other auction sites in their advertising, the others are promoting their sites specifically to buyers on one set of adverts, and to sellers on others, often through different media. eBay however are doing joined up advertising which benefits everyone.
Check out the eBay House, it’s a quick fun engaging experience that your buyers will also be checking out. Don’t forget though, it’s not aimed to get more sellers to compete with you. eBay are aiming for avid buyers to buy from you. As eBay say in the 123 of selling tips – “Once you get going and see the bids rolling in, you’ll be hooked”, and hooked buyers is something we sellers never tire of! 😀
