Get your unbranded stock to pop on eBay

eBay recently announced they will be adding non standard product identifiers next year. This will add better structure to unbranded, generic and custom made products leading to more relevant and diverse shopping results. The idea is that better qualified traffic will be sent to sellers of unbranded products similar to that enjoyed by sellers who stock brand names.

But the new product identifiers alone aren’t going to make much difference if buyers don’t use them to search or compare on eBay (and not many do).

So if you’re going to do the work on your unbranded inventory then the question becomes how do you get buyers and any eBay machine learning decisions to differentiate you in a category flooded by unbranded/generic items?

Here are 4 immediate actions ShelfTrend recommends you consider right now

Create your Brand Do you sell cushions on eBay? Great, so do 500 other people. Invest in a logo that speaks about your cushions. Check out services like 99designs or Fiverr that can help you with this at reasonably low cost. Send these to your manufacturers and negotiate exclusive use so they can’t sell it to your competitors.
Develop your Brand Generate complementary content like high res images, marketing info, features, technical specifications and even a stand alone website to give it credibility and a voice when people start researching on google. Check out sites like WIX, Wordpress or Squarespace to get it online.
Get into the eBay Catalogue early Submit your shiny new brand, content and product identifier code to the eBay catalog team now, so you get the right presence on product reviews. Once your new brand has sales check out the reviews and use them to improve! Send your product info to dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com and ask for an ePID now!
Go multi-channel with a GTIN Take it to the next level and join GS1. If your annual turnover is less than $1m there is a part time plan that can generate your unique GTIN-13 barcode for minimal investment. Send these to the people making your product.

Now you’re on the way to differentiating yourself on eBay and you give yourself increased distribution opportunities through Google, international marketplaces like Amazon, Rakuten and even physical stores.

Whether you do some or all of the above, expect more sellers to develop brands and new competitive strategies. Make sure you invest in the right tools to track new activity and identify it early to give yourself the best chance to compete.

A ShelfTrend brand summary in Cushions today continues to be heavily unbranded stock. We see an opportunity in this and many other categories for those sellers who put in the work to get their stock more attractive!

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