A Guide to Selling Exercise Equipment on eBay
Updated: Jun 21, 2021
eBay is a selling platform that connects millions of sellers and buyers worldwide. The platform hosts tons of categories for sellers.
So, if you are an exercise equipment seller and haven't utilized eBay to boost your sales, you should consider getting in on the action.
But, selling on an entirely new platform can be a little tricky. Don't worry, though. This article will help you get started on eBay.
And, by the end of it, you'd know how to sell exercise equipment on eBay. You'd also get to know the techniques that can maximize your sales.
Let's dive into the details.
Why Sell Exercise Equipment on eBay?
The data suggests there are 182 million active buyers on eBay all around the world. eBay is one of the largest online eCommerce marketplaces globally; there are around 1.3 billion product listings on the platform.
These facts should be enticing enough to motivate you to list your exercise equipment on eBay and start selling right now. But, you need to be aware of a few things before you jump in.
Why sell exercise equipment on eBay? Because there's enormous potential within the sports and fitness category on the platform. You can list your products under specific or multiple categories and be visible to prospective buyers within minutes.
How to Price Your Exercise Equipment Competitively?
Even if you have been selling your products outside eBay, you should thoroughly search through the exercise products available on the platform and price your products competitively.
So, invest some time observing what other sellers are offering on eBay.
Consider using the practical tool "What's it worth on eBay." It's a Google Play Store app that tells you the average price of a particular product that sellers have sold in the last few weeks.
Pay close attention to existing listings on the platform and ask yourself whether you want to go the auction or "Buy it now" route.
Create an Account on eBay
Creating an account on eBay is pretty straightforward. Anyone can sign up for an account on eBay and be up and running within a few minutes.
You can also create a business account on eBay, which would be a more professional way to run your operation. So, if you want to sell limit-free, consider a business account.
Understand the Basics of eBay Selling
Before you start uploading your products, it's essential to understand the basics of selling on eBay. Knowing the basics allows you to remain in eBay's good graces while avoiding any bottlenecks in your selling journey.
What are the Types of Listings on eBay?
The initial business model of eBay was only auction-style selling. eBay has since introduced the "Buy it Now" listing where you can sell products at a fixed price.
So as soon as the exercise gear sells, you can ship the order. Similar to how other eCommerce stores work.
How much does it Cost to List Items on eBay?
eBay charges a nominal fee from the sellers. There could be different types of expenses, but the eBay platforms mainly charge a fee on the items listed below.
1. Insertion fees
An Insertion fee is when you pay eBay for uploading your listings. It's a pre-sale fee that eBay charges when you exceed the maximum number of free listings.
As a seller, you'd receive 50 listings free every month. If your listings exceed that number, eBay will charge you 35 cents (USD) for every listed item.
If you opt for a monthly subscription plan, you won't have to pay the full fee.
2. Final Value Price
For every item you sell, eBay takes a percentage out of the sale price. The final value price would depend on the category you'll sell your items under.
For instance, if you list your items under "Sports goods," eBay would be taking 9.35% of your sales price against every item.
And, if you don't list your exercise equipment under any category, the default final values price of eBay is 9.35%.
Optimize Product Descriptions for SEO
One of the most important parts of selling on eBay is listing optimization. When your listings are optimized for SEO, potential buyers can easily find them, which, of course, increases the chances of sales.
The first thing you want to do with your listing is, optimize its description. The trick is to get as detailed as possible about what your exercise equipment offers to the end-user.
As you get more detailed, you provide the eBay platform with enough information to understand what your product delivers.
Use words in your description that your potential buyers would be searching for. Use those keywords wherever possible in the description, but naturally avoid spamming as this will result in a negative experience for the users and will naturally hurt your listings ranking.
How do you find those keywords?
Just do a quick Google search and see the most popular keywords related to your specific products.
Let's say you want to sell "Pull up bars." Your potential customers are m
ost likely searching for more than "Pull up bars."
Put the seed keyword "Pull up bars" into Google and check out the suggestions it provides.
You get a few similar keywords that you can incorporate into your product descriptions to attract the right people.
Alternatively, you can use a free keyword research tool for eBay called "Keyword Tool."
Write a Detailed and Convincing Description
Also, make sure you include every piece of information a potential buyer may need about a product to make a confident decision.
If some information is missing about a feature, it doesn't matter if you offer that feature or not. Your prospect might alternatively buy the product from a competitor that did list all the product features.
So, educating the prospect about the product is essential to get conversions.
For instance, you are selling a door pull-up bar. The visitor would want to know whether the bar can withstand their weight. So, they'd look for the weight-holding capacity on the bar.
Anticipate what a prospective buyer would naturally ask about the product and include that information in the description.
Let's see how to write convincing eBay descriptions.
Avoid errors – Spelling mistakes will make your brand appear unprofessional and make the search engine miss essential words.
While your descriptions should be detailed, don't get into unnecessary stuff. Keep it as to the point as possible and highlight the selling points of your exercise equipment.
Invite potential customers to discuss anything they want.
List the terms and conditions.
List your exercise equipment in the correct category – In this case, "Sporting goods."
Make your description easily skimmable and highlight important words
Write Human-friendly Keyword-rich Titles
Your product listing title is the first point of contact with a visitor. It should use the exact words the searcher is using, and in the same order too.
However, avoid keyword stuffing. It's never a good idea to stuff your titles or descriptions with keywords.
For instance, if you are selling a resistance band for men, your potential customers might be searching for "Resistance band men." So, it would help if you put these words in the same order in the title to help the algorithm show your results near the top.
Capture Quality Photos of Your Exercise Equipment
Your potential customers would want to see what they are going to buy. So, it's almost imperative that you include clear and original pictures of your exercise equipment.
You don't have to buy a camera to capture quality photos. A decent smartphone camera is enough when starting.
However, there are a few things you need to be aware of.
How to take eBay Product Photos?
The most important thing is, you use original photos of your exercise equipment. While you can find stock photos and upload them as your product photos, prospects would easily detect that they are not original.
That could hurt your conversion as people prefer to see original photos of the product they are purchasing.
Capture Your Exercise Equipment with Clear Backgrounds
You don't want a cluttered background to rob the product's spotlight. You can find a wall with plain colored flat paint and place the equipment in front of it.
In a perfect world, you would haul your equipment to a studio with excellent lighting and the space for all sorts of wide shots but for now, play with what you've got available.
Take Pictures from Multiple Angles
Your prospects may want to see your product from multiple angles, so make sure to present your exercise equipment from all possible angles.
Consider snapping several demonstrate pictures so people can see what to expect while the product is in use.
Show the Flaws
If there is a flaw, no matter how tiny, in your product, capture it in a different picture. This will not only minimize the possibility of returns but will also build your trust as a seller.
Upload Your Listings One by One
Take your time to get each listing right. While it can be tempting to upload all your listings at once, upload them one by one crafting each one uniquely. eBay's quick listing tool can help you upload your listings the right way.
Establish Trust with the Buyers
You won't see any shortage of scammers and dishonest sellers on digital platforms these days. So, consumers have become extra careful. This calls for extra care on your part as well.
As a seller, you want your potential buyers to trust you. And, when you establish trust, you're sales will be the first to thank you.
So, what can you do to make prospects feel that you are trustworthy?
Trust is gained via small signals and gestures.
The first thing you should do is fill out all the information about your company, your brand, your listings, and your policies. Uploading a headshot of yourself can be a positive sign as buyers want to see the real you. Remember, people want to buy from people, so don't be afraid to expose yourself.
Another effective strategy to win their trust is uploading positive reviews from your past customers. Customer testimonials can provide the necessary peace of mind to potential customers.
If you have previous reviews, add them to your listing. If you don't, ask you're satisfied customers to write one. Happy customers are always ready to provide positive feedback.
Moreover, if your exercise equipment has any imperfections, inform your visitors upfront. If they find out after the purchase, it won't be good for your business' reputation.
Plus, leave seller feedback (thanking them for a smooth transaction). Be courteous, friendly, and helpful in your comments. It will help humanize your brand on eBay.
To get people to leave positive reviews on your listings, you can do the following things:
Answer all the questions and queries effectively and politely
Avoid cancellation of sales
Track shipments and provide your buyers a fixed delivery date
Offer attractive yet competitive pricing
Report any issues with the buyers to eBay instantly
Reduce Your Margins at the Beginning of Your eBay Journey
This may not sound very attractive as a seller, but it can prove to be an effective strategy when you are just starting on eBay. To attract new customers to your eBay listings, you can reduce your standard rates.
Everybody wants to buy their favorite exercise equipment at the cheapest rate possible. When customers come across your gear while browsing through eBay's listings, the more competitive your pricing, the more sales you'll get.
Once you manage to sell a few of your exercising equipment, people will attest to the build quality, and good reviews will begin to flow in. The more reviews and brand advocates you have, the easier future sales become, but initially, you have to find ways to get your product out there, and unfortunately, low margins are at times one of the best strategies.
Plus, eBay allows sorting the search results by price, so if a browser opts to list the items from low to high-priced items, you'd have a better chance at appearing first if your prices are competitive.
However, you don't need to cut your margins down to the bone. Try offering better deals than your competitors, maybe faster lower-priced shipping.
Moreover, the more sales you generate on eBay, the better your organic rankings will be on the platform.
So, low-priced or not, over time, you'd be able to get good visibility on the platform and establish your brand as a trusted one.
Some businesses rely solely on eBay for income and have built million-dollar companies on the platform; However, we don't recommend being so dependent on eBay just think about what would happen if for one reason or another, eBay bans you or if they flat out seize to exist. Yep, you would go down with them.
Offer 30-day Return Policy
Giving customers a 30-day return policy makes your listing stand out from the competition on eBay and helps your organic rankings as well.
Not only that, but when prospects have the option to return the equipment within 30 days of purchasing it, it gives them the necessary peace of mind to go forward with the purchase.
Moreover, if you offer a 30-day return policy, you'd be eligible for the Top-Rated Program on eBay. This gives you a Top-Rated seal that makes you stand out in the search results.
In addition, if you participate in this program, eBay provides you with other exclusive benefits, including 10% off on the final value fees.
What's the catch?
To become a top-rated eBay seller, you'd need to be active on the platform for more than 90 days. Plus, the program also requires that you sell $1000 within a calendar year, a less than or equal to 0.5 % defect rate and 100 or more transactions.
That said, once you get the top-rated badge, you'll be able to scale your exercise equipment business on eBay relatively quickly.
Offer Free Shipping
Another strategy that will kick sales into gear is offering free shipping. When your transaction history is low, offering free shipping can motivate prospects to buy from you because while you don't have an excellent track record, you're offering one hell of a deal.
Consumers tend to avoid shipping charges. And, if you offer that upfront, they won't hesitate to go through with the purchase.
In addition to that, offering free shipping would make the whole process easier for you because you won't have to calculate the shipping cost for every listed item.
However, it won't be practical to offer free shipping when you are shipping internationally. The cost would be just too much to let you make a fair profit.
Ask for Feedback from Customers
Positive customer feedback makes you appear as a trusted seller and boosts your credibility on the eBay platform.
Your existing customers can boost your sales if you serve them right. But, how?
By bringing new customers to your exercise equipment business, their experience with your business decides whether they'd recommend you to their peers or not.
For instance, they've bought a pull-up bar from you on eBay. Your product was top-notch, and the service was so good that they're itching to purchase from you again.
When someone in their circle needs a pull-up bar in the future, they'd recommend you, and you didn't do anything except for fulfilling a consumer's demand.
So you would be getting referral customers coming from sources other than the eBay search.
So, the point is, if someone buys your product, don't hesitate to ask them for a review, as it can improve your sales on the eBay platform.
Another advantage of getting customer feedback is business growth. Keeping your business on the right track is essential.
Who better to tell you what needs improvement in your business than your customers?
Ask them what can be improved in your product/service or the delivery process, and continue to strive for growth and improvement.