Give yourself a high-five for asking how you can make more sales online! The e-commerce landscape has changed over the years, and today there are many factors that go into being a successful e-commerce merchant.
The first thing to understand is that you'll get as much out of selling online as you put into it. Millions of shoppers come to Bonanza every month, but there are a handful of things you can do to take advantage of all that traffic. Let's take a look at some of the most basic steps you can take to ensure a successful and profitable booth here at Bonanza.
Optimize Your Profile
Your seller profile is an extension of your own personal identity, and it's where potential customers go to to learn more about you and your business.
- Use your profile page to let your buyers know who you are and what is special about you (for example "I am the fastest shipper west of the Mississippi!").
- Include a profile picture so buyers can see who they are buying from. The best size is 400x400 pixels.
- Be sure that your contact information is clear and visible. Buyers prefer sellers that have a listed phone number, so consider listing yours or setting up a free Google Voice account to list on your profile.
- Include a link to your social pages (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc) so buyers have other ways to learn more about you.
- Lastly, if you've earned feedback as a seller on eBay, import it using our free feedback importer. You can find the feedback importer on your Bonanza feedback page.
Setting up your profile page is an easy way to build trust and connection with shoppers that converts them into buyers. So it's worth the time and effort.
Optimize Your Booth
Each booth on Bonanza is unique, but there are basic principles that apply to every seller. When you're improving your booth and listings, here are some areas to focus on.
- Pricing. Pricing your items correctly is key. Remember, there are no up-front listing or advertising costs on Bonanza. You only pay a small fee when your item sells, so pass those savings on to your buyers by reducing your Bonanza prices accordingly. Otherwise, if you list the same products on other marketplaces, buyers could accidentally purchase on another marketplace (like eBay) where you could pay double the fees you would have paid if it sold on Bonanza.
- Product photos. Double check your product photos to be sure they're sharp, crisp images that give shoppers a great impression. If your photos have cluttered backgrounds, we recommend using a background removal application such as Remove.bg, TouchRetouch, or Background Eraser for a crisp, white background. Here is some useful information on photos that sell.
- Titles and descriptions. Be sure that you have optimized your titles and descriptions for your target audience. Don't waste valuable title space with irrelevant or repetitive words. For example, instead of, "@@@***@@@Super Neat Brand New Apache Helicopter@@@***@@@" try simply "2010 American Apache Helicopter." The second option is more search engine friendly, and it helps buyers find your items faster. If you have ALL CAPS in your titles or descriptions, get rid of them as soon as you can - it looks spammy, and the search engines won't rank you as highly in search.
- Condition and traits. Save the condition and other traits for the description and for the available item trait drop-down windows on each Bonanza listing. Never place conditions or traits in the title of your listing, because it causes search engines to rank your items lower in search results.
- Shipping. Be sure to assign specific shipping rules to your listings. Buyers are an impatient bunch, so if you only have "See item description" as a shipping choice then they won't be able to "Buy it Now" and might abandon the transaction rather than taking the time to email you. HOT TIP: Consider offering free shipping. More than 50% of shoppers cite "items did not qualify for free shipping" as a reason they abandon shopping cart (thanks, Amazon Prime). Many sellers will offer free shipping and increase the cost of the item to absorb shipping costs, as shoppers spend an average of 30% more on an order with free shipping.
- Take a fresh look. View your items as a shopper would, try to anticipate any questions they might have, and then include that information in your listings. Shoppers want instant gratification. If they have to email you for information that could have been included in the item details, you might just lose that sale.
Get Active on Social Media
Social media is a natural way to get the word out about your products to a wider audience.
- Are you including a link to your booth in all your email signatures and social media pages?
- Do your former and existing customers know that you're conducting business on Bonanza?
- Are you posting on Facebook and other social forums that might be interested in the items you're selling?
- Are you pinning your products on sites like Pinterest?
- Have you joined the Bonanza Facebook page?
Questions to Ask Yourself
When setting up your booth and listings, here are some common questions you can ask yourself to ensure success. Don't worry about doing everything all at once - strive for ongoing improvement. Before you know it, you'll have one of the best-looking booths on the Internet.
Q: Do your listings have old text or irrelevant links brought over from another marketplace?
If so, remove them. It doesn't make sense to direct shoppers to another marketplace where you'll likely pay higher fees for the sale. Additionally, outbound links are not allowed on Bonanza. To remove text in many listings at once, use the Bonanza batch-edit tool at Selling > Batch Edit Items > Text editing.
Q: Do you have enough items for sale in your booth?
Every additional item in your booth will increase the chance that an Internet shopper will find and visit your booth. More shoppers coming to your booth means more sales for you.
Q: Have you set up your Bonanza Advertising Program?
Bonanza's advertising program is one of the biggest reasons our sellers make more sales than they could on any other marketplace or platform. We know where buyers like to shop online, and we publish (or "advertise") your items to as many different buying channels we can find. Unlike other selling platforms, Bonanza has no listing fees or upfront advertising costs (you only pay for advertising once your item sells) - so you can learn how to optimize your products for those advertising channels too.
Q: Are you benefitting from the seller tools and promotional options available with a membership?
Bonanza memberships offer features and analysis to help you improve your sales. Memberships offer added features such as more detailed metrics, site customization, live chat support, time-saving tools, wider product visibility, and more. New users get a free 30 day trial (Silver and Gold) and you can cancel at any time - there are no contracts.
Q: Are you offering all the available payment options?
Bonanza now offers you the ability to offer PayPal, Amazon Payments, and Stripe as a payment option. Buyers like choices. Give your buyers more choices and payment options.
Q: Do you have easy-to-understand terms of sale? Do you have a clear return policy?
For many shoppers, buying on the Internet involves a leap of faith. You can ease their concerns by making your terms and return policy as clear as possible. Update your terms and policies atSelling > Booth Settings > Shipping & Returns.
Q: Do you allow shoppers to "Buy it Now" and "Make Offers?"
Shoppers like having options - the more, the better. Visit Selling > Booth Settings > Payments & Purchases to make sure both Buy it Now and Make Offers are enabled for your booth.
Q: Have you specified how long buyers can expect to wait before your items will be shipped?
The last thing you want is an unhappy buyer who was not informed of the transit time for their purchase. Read more about specifying shipping times.
Q: Are you using coupon codes to promote sales?
On Bonanza, you can create coupons that offer a cash or percentage discount to shoppers. You can choose to make a coupon visible to all shoppers that visit your booth, or you can choose to make it private so it's only available to shoppers to whom you've given the code. The possibilities are endless. Go to Selling > Booth Settings > Discounts & coupons.
Q: Are you using the tracking features to analyze shopper traffic?
To learn more about the shoppers that visit your booth, take a look at your item stats or link a Google Analytics account to your booth. You'll see which items are getting traffic and which are not, and think about how you could improve the items that aren't as popular as the others. Set a goal to improve a few of your low-traffic items each day - you'll be surprised at the results.
You're in Control
Bonanza strives to empower you with smart, easy-to-use tools to help you drive sales. But for most sellers, slapping a few items into a booth and then sitting back and hoping buyers will find your products among a sea of similar items will result in slow sales.
Our best sellers realize that the path to success is to optimize your profile, optimize your booth, and continually work to improve your listings - while adding more for sale all the time. Always ask yourself, What can I do today to improve my booth? Put yourself in the best position to succeed, and you will.