In a piece called The Why and How of Adding Video to Your eBay Listings, Audrey Tracy makes the case for eBay sellers for video on eBay. It’s based on US data.
Younger shoppers increasingly use online video. As she notes:
“- 43% of US Baby Boomers use YouTube
– 58% of US Gen X’ers use YouTube
– 72% of US Millennials use YouTube
Notice a trend? The appetite for video on YouTube is growing exponentially with each generation. However, small businesses, at least in the US, aren’t keeping pace. Only 9% of US small businesses use YouTube.”
We can all agree that video is increasingly popular online. The only question that needs answering is whether videos help your buyers make a purchase on eBay and it seems the jury is still out on that. The article suggests that a simple smartphone video hosted on Youtube is adequate. And that doesn’t seem quite right if you want to project the right business image.
And as a professional seller, it’s vital to make the call as to whether the time and effort that making genuinely decent and elucidating videos can offer a return on investment. It could well be a no-brainer for top lines. If you can produce a video that you use again and again, just like top-notch images, the investment is often justifiable. But for sellers of many separate items, it’s hard to see that it’s a viable option.
Do you use video in your listings? If not, why not? Can you be persuaded?
22 Responses
Recently started getting some quality videos made. Brilliant results so far in particular on Facebook. Scores ad relevance of 10 out of 10 meaning super cheap per view
Now in the process of getting our full product range done
How would this work?
Surely for used/second hand items, I can’t see it working?
Though, by a video do you mean, good quality video showing the item in question, and focusing on the detail?
I use videos occasionally on Ebay. An example would be a pre owned mixer where you can show the machine in good working order.
I agree with the fact that it is more beneficial in most cases for sellers who will reuse the video to get a return on time investment. It is also a great way to show off the benefits of a product for example if a listing says something like ‘this can be put together in 5 minutes’. It would be great to show this in a video. Also for sellers brave enough to be in the video itself it can help to solidify trust with potential buyers. Some sellers may even be able to use their YouTube channels as a way to drive traffic back to their eBay listings.
I used to be able to import You tube video into all my listings on ebay a few years ago but they removed them all. I am in video games and the video’s simply showed gameplay. I thought it was a excellent way to promote a game, and some of the lesser know titles.
. As it is the actual game the user is playing you are selling and I just provide the hard-copy or DLC to play the game.
You do get video from the eBay catalogue but more often than NOT it is not a good example of the product.
Most the proper games sites have this feature I do on my own. Ebay is actually slightly better than Amazon for it (where your just a price).
you cant even get a buyer to read a few lines of text so what chance a vid and if you upload more than 6 pics few bother to check the second tier on the ebay listing
videos in listings are a great idea.
its ironic ebay are apparently lauding the merits of including them, when its so damn hard to include them on ebay.
basically the only way to get a video in your description is using flash. flash sucks. most browsers now block it by default, so nobody sees your video.
a video iframe would work easier, better, on mobile, for everyone, but ebay dont allow that. cos they aint that keen on video.,
Were yet to be convinced they are a good idea in general for ebay , anyone have the data on videos , do buyers actually watch them , or if they do for how long, how do they effect page loading etc etc, like templates that sellers love and nurture And delude theirselves with
Ebay attempted to implement this a few years back.
its only a minority of listings it would be useful on.
A buyer should not rely on a listing 1000% they need to research. A seller is never going to be able to put ever single detail or every single thing the item is NOT capable off in a description.
Buyer can often find a vid on the net or a review of an item.
With my internet speeds, videos don’t help me at all, although I can see it being useful in a few instances.
you can embellish and decorate your listing to Saatchi & Saatchi standards but if the price is wrong its a waste ot time
it entirely depends on your product.
if you sell 99p keyrings, then video is worthless.
if you sell big-ticket items, video is golden.
In the past having sold dash cameras anbexmple video showing the picture quality gathered quite a few hits.