How you can Obtain Life-long Customers from eBay

 by: Partha Mitra

How do you do this?

It’s as simple as creating a newsletter you can offer along with your eBay ® listings.

In this article I’m going to briefly cover how you can use a newsletter to do the following:

• Turn Your eBay Browsers Into Customers

• Turn eBay Customers Into Life-Long Customers

• This article will be a two part lesson. Watch for my next article (lesson) covering the basics of creating an effective newsletter. It can be very simple to create a newsletter following a few easy steps!

1.Turn Your eBay Browsers Into Customers

Remember that although your initial goal is to turn your eBay ® “browsers” into buyers, you can’t stop there. Many eBay ® sellers assume if they don’t have something the “browser” is looking for, then they aren’t going to sell anything to that person at all. But, that is far from the truth.

You’ve already overcome the most difficult part, which is getting the “browser” to your listings. The important part is to make sure each visit counts. You have to make sure that once you get a visitor to one of your listings, they don’t leave until you have tried everything possible to get their contact information such as name and email, to try and convert them to a future customer.

Let’s say you sell home décor products and someone visits your listings while looking for a particular window treatment. The visitor views the auction they were led to and also visits your “other listed items.” This particular visitor doesn’t find what the item he/she is looking for. So, he/she leaves your auctions and you never have the chance to do business with this person, right? Wrong!

It would be very simple to invite each visitor to your About Me page, with something like, “Click here to visit my About Me page and receive free, weekly tips to help you redecorate your home like a professional designer for half the cost.”

Once the visitor reaches your About Me page, you can provide them with simple instructions on how they can receive your weekly newsletter for free to get the tips they are looking for.

Sounds easy doesn’t it?

It is and, in just minutes, you can have this set up and will be collecting valuable names and email addresses.

2. Turning eBay Customers Into Life-Long Customers

This is so easy, but SO overlooked in the eBay ® industry. If eBay ® is your business, than you have to treat it as such. Like any “typical” business, you try to do your best in every aspect of the sale to ensure your customer will return. However, online it is so easy to get lost in the shuffle.

Once you pick up a customer, you need to be sure to stay in contact with that customer so there is no doubt in your mind that, if they return to eBay ® to purchase something, they will come to you first.

There are auction programs such as Vendio that offer great customer management software. You can easily include a “join my mailing list” link to all of your post-sale emails. Remember, once you sell to an eBay customer, they are your customer so you’re allowed to email them off eBay ®.

You want to present them with an offer such as, “Join my monthly newsletter and receive updates on my product line including notification of newly listed items, and member discounts.”

Doing this allows you to stay in touch with your past customers to keep you fresh in their minds. And it also gives you the opportunity to invite them to your auction listings on a regular basis. But, remember you have to treat your customers well. You have to provide them with good offers so they appreciate you and want to return.

Whether you obtain the names and emails of those who are visiting your auctions, or those who have bought from you, collecting the information of those who are in the market for your type of product is absolutely priceless.

If they are on eBay ® to purchase a product “like” the products you offer, they are more than likely going to purchase this type of product again in the near future. If you offer them sound information and special discounts, as well as keep in touch with them, chances are they will come to you first for their next purchase.