Most ATFs use eBay to sell used vehicle parts and improve their sales but are they using the online market place to its full potential? We asked Laura Richards, Category Manager – Vehicle Parts and Accessories at eBay to provide us with some top tips for selling recycled vehicle parts successfully.
eBay connects buyers and businesses around the world, empowering people and creating opportunity through Connected Commerce. eBay is one of the world’s largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and unique selection.
At eBay, our doors are always open. We’ve got our fingers on the pulse of the nation’s shopping habits with 23 million monthly unique visitors to ebay.co.uk every month – a third more than London’s Oxford Street. A car part is purchased two seconds on the site and a motorcycle or scooter is sold every five, so it is a busy marketplace!
Our aim is to partner with you to help you grow your business and we have put together some eBay top tips for selling recycled vehicle parts successfully on eBay.co.uk.
Sell around the globe
With 21 international sites and a wider presence in over 100 countries worldwide, eBay is a fantastic marketplace to sell on, particularly if you are looking to expand your business overseas. There is a world of opportunity for UK businesses to take advantage of, with countries like France, Italy, Germany and Australia topping the list of destinations for vehicle parts. Our selling tools make it easy and seamless to sell internationally, with features like our Global Shipping Programme which handles oversea shipping for UK sellers.
Gain rich selling insights
eBay’s new ‘Seller Hub’ is the place to go for a complete and up-to-date view of how your business is performing. We have brought together tools and data to help you run your business more efficiently and make better decisions:
- Tools and recommendations to help grow your business
- All your selling activity in one place
- Improved tools to help you get more done
- Easily accessible business performance data
- Tools and recommendations to help grow your business.
Increase the visibility of your product
Promoted Listings is a feature that puts your merchandise in front of more active shoppers, boosting item exposure and increasing the likelihood of sale and you only pay for the placement when your item sells. This is available in all vehicle parts categories.
Easily manage customer returns and enquiries
- Vehicle compatibility
Buyers are encouraged to enter their vehicle details in to eBay’s ‘My Garage’. This stores the vehicle details for the next time the buyer goes to shop for vehicle parts. The car ‘Parts Finder’ automatically pre-populates the vehicle tokens from the owner’s car information that is stored in their ‘My Garage’ when a part is searched for. This means the relevant product will be surfaced higher in the search results page.
Businesses selling in vehicle parts categories are encouraged to use vehicle compatibility lists in their listings to gain the following benefits:
- Higher search rankings: Search will identify the vehicle tokens in the title and vehicle compatibility list and your listing with surface with a confirmation that the part is for their vehicle next to your listing title e.g. Ford Focus 1.6 2008-2011 TDCI MK 2 Engine (Fits: Ford Focus 2008 [MK II])
- Fewer returns requests: In the case where a buyer has gone through the motions of inputting their vehicle tokens and with the businesses adding relevant product information in the title and vehicle compatibility, the listing surfaced to the buyer will be more relevant to the buyers requirements. They are also asked to confirm their vehicle on the parts finder within the listing. In the case where you need to display more granular purchasing information to the buyer, it is recommended to use the ‘fitment notes’ column within the vehicle compatibility list. The fitment notes are shown at the top of the ‘View Item’ page and within the compatibility table that confirms the part fits the vehicle, as shown below:
Item Specifics completion
All information inputted within the ‘item specifics’ field is searchable. Please input the genuine part number where available in the ‘Manufacturer’s Part Number’ field and complete the ‘Reference OE/OEM reference’ field if you know the part may have superseded part numbers or match other part numbers for different vehicles. This is because buyers search using part numbers as well as by product and vehicle.
The item specific ‘Brand’ is a very important field to complete as the search will also reference this field when returning listings in the search results page. For genuine parts use the manufacturer e.g. Audi and for aftermarket parts use the aftermarket brand, e.g. Brembo.
Images
As a general rule, adding a second image will increase conversion by 7%, then every additional image increases conversion by 3%. Use a bright, light, clean background and take detailed photographs of part numbers, any defects and the product at all angles. You can have up to 12 images per listing so take as many as you can. Around 70% of shopping in vehicle parts and accessories is done via mobile and the buyers as a first option will be able to swipe through the images as well as seeing the price and delivery time.
Customer service
eBay encourages the use of contacting buyers through member to member messaging after they have purchased from you to let them know you are there to help should they need to follow up. It is often best practise that a businesses will follow up with a ‘Thank you note’ and ‘Request for vehicle registration’ to the buyer after the purchase. Should you need to raise a dispute with a buyer, eBay’s customer service agents will be able to review customer service messages to see where they can support if you have provided the correct product with a good service experience to the buyer.
Delivery times
Listings that obtain the ‘Fast & Free’ symbol will have a higher weighting in search results. Buyers will want a same day, one day or two day option as well as a free standard courier option of three working days or less, which you will need to implement in order to obtain the symbol. If collection in person is the first shown method, the symbol will not be shown on the listing or receive the search benefit.
For more information on starting up or maximising your current sales on eBay.co.uk please visit www.sellercentre.ebay.co.uk where you will find webinars on multiple selling topics and further tips to be successful on eBay.