There’s been a lot of often hyperventilated discussion about how local retailers should prepare for the coming of The Grim Reaper Amazon Australia.
So it was with interest we noted here at PhotoCounter a spot of ‘reaching out’ from Ebay, whose algorithms obviously mistook our industry news website for a retailing website. (As you do!) It went something like this:
My name is ….. and I look after Australian SMB retailers and helping them grow their business on eBay.com.au. I am reaching out to you as you have been identified as a retailer in an eBay growth segment. We are offering a 6-month no obligation trial to sell your goods through our platform with your own business store. Normally for a business, a monthly fee up to $54.95 would be applicable depending on how many products you have as well as a listing fee of $3.50 per item that you list onto your store. In this case with the offer we would be waiving both of these charges for you to get you up and running. After the 6 months is over you can continue with the store if you are making enough sales to justify the spend on eBay or if not we will close down the eBay store for you.
You will only be charged a small 8.5 percent on items that do sell through our platform as a final value fee.
I can offer the following:
– Multiple Integrations Options available;
– Free 6 month eBay store subscription (Final Value Fees are payable on all sold items);
– Free built in, mobile-optimised eBay listing template;
– No commitment period.
This makes sense. As we have opined previously, retailers who have most to fear from Amazon are those who have similar, characteristics. And the entity which has the most in common with Amazon is not really a retailer’s bootlace, but rather the other big Electronic Distribution Platform (EDP) which until now hasn’t had any direct EDP competition to speak of.
When you think of it, EBay has a lot more to worry about from Amazon’s arrival than, say, Big W, let alone specialist stores which can offer great product knowledge, slick and personable customer service and a great in-store experience, competitive pricing, a deep range…and can sell through Amazon if they choose to!
Some Camera Shops in the USA have a nice business on eBay, particularly with used cameras and hard to find accessories.
There are also a lot of sketchy customers on eBay so you need to have very good security practices in place before participating in that platform.