eBay as a Small Business Market Research Tool

How to Get Free Market Research and Information Using eBay

Jun 5, 2008

In addition to being a great sales opportunity, eBay also offers small companies a great free market research tool that can help build a successful e-commerce business.

The Internet offers many small companies the opportunity to sell into a worldwide marketplace with relative ease. An e-commerce website can bring in customers from all over the world and help to build a strong business. A small business that is planning an e-commerce website may find that undertaking research first is the ideal way to establish where the opportunities, and the pitfalls, lie. One interesting way that a small business can undertake market research at minimal cost is through eBay.

This is an excellent way to understand where potential customers may come from and the types of products that are likely to be most popular. This also provides invaluable insight into the ways that customers think and the most common questions or concerns that they might have.

Using eBay as a market research tool is a low cost way to start to get a company or business name known and offers the potential to meet a large and international market place. Many businesses with successful e-commerce websites still use eBay as another sales outlet.

Set Up an eBay Store

Setting up a store in eBay is quick and easy to do, and sellers can take advantage of important eBay features such as postage calculators and contact forms. Working with these features and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each will help to build a good understanding of what features are important to an international e-commerce website. This will help when specifying or building a website.

Other eBay Sellers

Taking a look around other eBay sellers will also provide a useful insight into how other companies handle selling internationally. Many eBay sellers have clear terms and conditions of sale that may highlight important issues, and the feedback facility, whereby customers can leave feedback about sellers, is a useful way to learn of any potential pitfalls to watch out for. Some sellers show any questions that they have been asked and this is a good way to get an insight into what concerns a buyer may have.

This is also a good way to take a look at what products sell and don't sell internationally. In addition to looking at the current 'live' auctions, it is useful to look at completed auctions and explore the items that did not sell. This can give a good insight into where the market opportunities lie, and correspondingly, where there is market saturation.

Sellers' Forums

There are a number of free sellers' forums where sellers from all over the world can meet and discuss a wide range of issues. These forums are broken down into areas of interest and provide a valuable source of information.

eBay is a valuable sales tool, however the opportunities that it provides for research should not be overlooked and the feedback gained will help build a solid and succesful international e-commerce business.

The copyright of the article eBay as a Small Business Market Research Tool in E-Commerce is owned by Kate Pullen. Permission to republish eBay as a Small Business Market Research Tool in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.