In your quest to build credibility as an eBay seller,
few things are more important than creating and
following consistent store policies. Doing so will
provide your customers with an attractive buying
atmosphere, where they will feel safe making any
transaction.
Whenever I create store policies–whether it be for
an eBay business or an Internet business–I use one
standard: I promise what I can reasonably deliver.
And I deliver more than I promise as often as possible.
If I can reasonably offer to ship everything two days
after payment, I will promise it. But if I get the
chance to ship some items within one day, I take
that opportunity to overdeliver.
Not only is this a more ethical approach–delivering
or overdelivering on all promises–but it is also a
more practical business strategy for the long-run.
Developing relationships with your customers is the
best way to get repeat sales, testimonials, and positive
feedback–the three pillars which will support your
business and increase your cashflow.
You should extend this principle to other policies.
Create a return policy that stipulates when and for
what reasons you will accept a return. Again, you
will want to give the customer certain guarantees,
but at the same time, you don’t want to promise
what you can’t reasonably deliver.
For instance, you may want to stipulate that you
will only accept returns if the item is broken.
You may also want to add that you can only accept
returns within 14 days of delivery.
In addition to a shipping and return policy, you
will want to create a statement of quality assurance.
When I used to sell jewelry on Ebay, I promised my
customers that the metals were solid, the gems were
real, and everything was stamped.
It was relatively easy for me to prove this because
all of my jewelry came with gemologist-certified
appraisals; however, if you aren’t selling something
that can lend you credibility in a similar fashion,
you will need to earn it in the form of testimonials and
positive feedback.
. . .and this is precisely why it is so important for
eBay sellers to create and follow store policies. Not
only will this lend you credibility and subsequently
encourage visitors to bid, but it will also prevent
customers from making unfair complaints against you.
In addition to this, when you overdeliver, your customers
will know it – and they will verify it with feedback
and testimonials.