Ebay is a crowded market. Depending on what you sell, you may need to take advantage of every trick or strategy you can get a hold of just to keep your head above water.
Could Your Sales Be Better?
There a products out there that practically sell themselves. Think of some of the Christmas time products like Tickle-Me-Elmo or Power Ranger action figures. These items were all the craze when they hit the market and supply was so short of demand that it created a huge secondary market. These kinds of items may not take much effort to sell but they are also not the kinds of items that are listed in most Ebay stores.
And what you sell does matter. There are plenty of sellers who sell new, unopened products that use nothing more than one stock image in their listing. There are a couple of problems with this from my perspective. First, I don’t see any reason why a seller should use stock product photos when it’s easy enough to snap quality photos from a cell phone or tablet of the actual product being sold. Second, you can have up to 12 photos and while I understand that not every product listing needs to take advantage of all 12 photos allotted, you should at the very least show the product from front and back.
But with some items, especially sealed, new products it may not matter. Or at least not matter as much. I sell old cigarette lighters. Some antique, all vintage, the kinds of things that can’t be described as new but rather, unused at best. And for these kinds of items Ebay buyers want as much information and photographic documentation as possible.
Let Customers See Every Angle Possible
When I walk into a flea market and look at lighters or stop at a kiosk in the mall to browse watches or a million other things I can stroll up to a brick and mortar location and purchase, I may have an advantage and access to more information than I do when deciding to make a purchase on Ebay.
I can ask to see the item and look it over in a traditional store. I can hold the item up to the light and see how the finish glistens if I move it just right. I am able to inspect it from every side to check for hallmarks, patents and manufacturer’s information.
I can also feel the product with my own hands in a physical store. There is no way to actually put the product in the costumer’s hands through an Ebay listing but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use every tool at our disposal to give our customers every detail of information we can to help them make a purchasing decision they will ultimately be happy with and be glad to repeat.
Show Them What They’re Buying
One thing that is very important to me is that my customers understand they are purchasing a working, vintage cigarette lighter. Working is the key because there are a ton of lighters listed on Ebay and those listings may, on the surface, look very similar to the lighters that I have for sale.
But the vast majority of lighters listed on Ebay are not in working condition. They have not had the old degraded flint cleared from the tube or been rewicked when old fibers have disintegrated. The average lighter listed on Ebay may or may not light after you fuel it up.
My lighters all light, they all work and as an added layer of security for my customer’s piece of mind and so they know exactly what they are buying, I include a YouTube video of the listed item while functioning, embedded right in every listing.
How To Embed YouTube Video In Ebay Listings
It’s as simple as it can be. Grab your desired video link from YouTube:
Go to flippertools.com and scroll down to where it says YouTube eBay Listing HTML Creator (updated 2017) under the Ebay Tools heading and click on that:
Paste your video link into the field. Hit OK and then Copy:
The code you need for your listing will now be copied to the clipboard and be ready for the next step.
When creating or revising your Ebay listing, simply paste that code into the HTML tab of the item description. Your video will appear where you place the code.
There are some limitations to the functionality of this HTML creator. It works flawlessly on desktop but can be hit or miss with mobile devices. They advertise that it will not work on mobile devices but will provide a link that can be plugged into a browser to view the video. I have seen several occasions where the embedded video did play when punched through on a mobile device but I’ve probably seen just as many times that it didn’t. And it does, at least, provide the link that can be typed in manually or copy and pasted.
Need Help With Your EBay Store?
There are many other strategies and techniques available to help set your Ebay store apart from the crowd. For instance, there is a website plug-in that can display your current Ebay listings in real time right on your site. It can also display your seller profile and most recent feedback and ratings.
Do you have any questions or comments about tricks or strategies for selling on Ebay? Do you have any advice of your own that you’d like to share with the larger community of Ebay Sellers? Please leave them in the comments section below. Iron sharpens iron and we can all learn from each other.
I would like to invite you to join our email list to the right on any page at DependableFlame.com. We have a lot of ideas in store for the smell list as we move forward.
And last, I can’t forget YouTube, that’s what this whole article was about. Please subscribe to the DependableFlame YouTube channel. I am committed to video documentation of every lighter I put back into service.
An absolute lifesaver. I have some collectables of my own, and when it comes to buying and selling, I’ve always favoured flea markets due to the ability to physically examine what’s on display, but that’s a lot of packing, hauling, and hoping the right person walks by the table. Knowing how to embed a video into a listing so that I can show off what I have to a much larger group of people without all the travel now makes setting up an Ebay store much more appealing. Thanks so much for this!
You bet Val, I am glad to be of help and you have hit the nail on the head, there are millions of eyes scanning Ebay on a daily basis opposed to a local flea market where as you said you are counting on the right person to just come along and buy your item.
The odds of that person walking by a flea market booth don’t seem near as high to me as the same or similar buyer spying out an Ebay listing. Proximity to buyers matters and I would never downplay the importance of eyes on your items over the perceived convenience of keeping it local.
I never realized that sales strategies could differ so much based on the product but it makes sense after reading this article.
What is the best way to provide sufficient information to potential buyers without inundating them with too much information that might overwhelm them?
Hey Matt, I appreciate you stopping by and thank you for the question. I think the key is to perform some modicum of research into the item you’re selling even if you already know some details about it. From there I would make sure to communicate everything about the item that I know and let the potential buyer decide what bits of that information are or are not valuable to them. I don’t think you are in much danger of giving the buyer too much because they can always decide for themselves when they have heard enough. Thank you again for your insight and I hope that you will continue to frequent the site!
This is a great resource for eBay sellers looking to enhance their product listings. The site provides a step-by-step guide on how to embed a YouTube video in an eBay listing, which can help increase engagement and provide potential buyers with a better understanding of the product being sold. The instructions are easy to follow, and the website provides helpful tips on video content and formatting. One question that comes to mind is whether embedding videos in eBay listings is allowed by eBay’s policies. Another question is whether this strategy has been proven to be effective in increasing sales. Overall, I think this website is a valuable resource for eBay sellers looking to improve their listings and boost sales.
Thank you John, I appreciate you stopping by and sharing you insight and especially for including the questions.
Ebay has recently made changes to their platform that allows sellers to add video directly with the photos when listing items on their site. The Flipper Tools application though is still allowed by Ebay policy, mainly I think because it is the inclusion of a link and not a video itself.
To answer your other question, I’m not sure whether the embedded videos actually increase sales but they do provide me with peace of mind that my buyers have a thorough understanding of the condition of the lighters they are buying from me.
This is such a great way to show off what you are selling. Buying used from ebay is such a gamble because you never really get to see what you are buying except from the limited photos of a new item that is not the actual item. When you get it, it may be scratched or damaged and it may not be what you really want. I love how you incorporated the the lighting to show all the scratches and dings in the fantastic vintage lighters. They are really beautiful pieces. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Kathleen, I appreciate you checking out the article and also glad that you see the value of these embedded videos in my Ebay listings. I agree with you about the importance of including the lighter being lit also as this was my main goal when I started was to demonstrate to potential buyers not simply the cosmetic condition of each particular lighter for sale but that they actually worked!
I hope you will continue to frequent the site and please leave any more questions that you may have.