Undeniably, eBay is one of the most diverse selling platforms in eCommerce. Primarily, its massive user base makes it a perfect avenue for dropshipping. However, we must know how to utilize eBay properly in order to maximize our profit potential.
Therefore, the eBay Seller Hub is here to help us optimize our dropshipping business. In this article, we’ll learn about navigation on the platform so that we can maximize eBay’s features and services. With the eBay Seller Hub, we’ll learn how to scale our business and welcome massive profits.
What Is The eBay Seller Hub?
Essentially, the eBay Seller Hub is a store management dashboard for online sellers. Here, we can access various tools and data analytics – all in one place. For instance, the hub provides marketing guides, sales analytics, product research tools, and more.
With the eBay Seller Hub, we can gain insights into how to run our online stores on the platform efficiently. Plus, it provides all the support that is necessary to optimize our eBay selling channels.
How To Access The eBay Seller Hub
Before exploring the eBay Seller Hub, we first need to create an eBay account. However, we can only access the eBay Seller Hub dashboard after we list our first item for sale.
To list an item, click the ‘Sell’ tab and provide the product’s details. When listing an item, we set the product title, import the item from the supplier, add descriptions, and more. Subsequently, the eBay Seller Hub is best used after listing several products in our stores.
With the eBay Seller Hub, we can easily manage customer orders and analyze sales performances. All we need to do is click the ‘My eBay’ tab on the upper right corner of the dashboard, and select the ‘Selling’ button. Then, these sections will become visible for us to explore:
- Overview
- Orders
- Listings
- Marketing
- Performance
- Payments
- Research
Additionally, we can hover over the sections’ tabs to expand the menus. Now that we have access to the seller hub, let’s explore how these features can help us when running our eBay dropshipping business.
How To Use The eBay Seller Hub & Scale Your Dropshipping Business
To maximize the full potential of our eBay online stores, we’ll learn how to utilize the eBay Seller Hub. In this section, we’ll cover the various sections of the seller hub:
So, let’s begin exploring how these sections can help our business efficiency.
Overview
Primarily, the Overview tab serves as the homepage of the eBay Seller Hub dashboard. Through this section, we can access the following features:
- Feedback
- Monthly Limits
- Tasks
- Selling Announcements
Feedback
When running a dropshipping store, customer testimonials about our products and their shopping experiences are crucial. So, eBay provides a Feedback feature where we can monitor and control customer reviews. By having access to what our buyers have to say, we can identify what works well for us and what needs improvement.
Monthly Limits
Another Overview feature is the Monthly Limits. In this subsection, we’ll find our account limits, such as monitoring limits and quantity limits. By having these figures, we’ll know how much financial inflow and how many products we can still add to our eBay stores. If we want to add more products beyond our current limits, we can request an increase in capacity once a month.
Tasks
Under the Tasks subsection, we can monitor pending actions, such as unread messages and unfulfilled orders. Moreover, we have access to notifications about customers’ feedback and suggestions about product specifications.
Having this feature is crucial in running our eBay business because we want to address customer queries promptly. In addition, this enables us to reduce and ultimately avoid any delays or unfulfilled orders to attain a high level of customer satisfaction.
Selling Announcements
Lastly, under the Overview features, we have the Selling Announcement. In this section, eBay notifies us about the latest updates within the platform.
If we wish to filter what eBay announcements appear on our dashboard, we can customize our choices. All we need is to click the ‘Customize’ button on the upper right of the screen and choose the aspects that we want to hide. Some examples of the features we can customize include Today’s feedback, Growth recommendation, Awaiting shipment, and more.
Orders
Following the Overview tab is the Orders section. Essentially, the Orders tab provides in-depth information about our customer orders. So, here are the features under this section:
- All Orders
- Awaiting Payment
- Awaiting Shipment
- Paid And Shipped
- Cancellations
- Returns
- Requests And Disputes
- Shipping Labels
All Orders
To begin, we have the All Orders section. Here, we’ll see all orders placed by customers, regardless of their status. With this feature, we can easily monitor all orders in our stores and see which ones need action.
Awaiting Payment
Meanwhile, the Awaiting Payment section shows all orders with pending payments. With the help of this section, we can monitor the cash inflows in our stores by knowing which orders are settled and which are awaiting payments.
Awaiting Shipment
Another essential part of running an eBay store is the shipping times. Thus, the Awaiting Shipment feature allows us to track customer orders that are yet to be shipped. This aspect is crucial, as we don’t want delays in delivering packages to customers.
Paid And Shipped
Once customers settle their payments, the seller must ship the orders immediately. So, the Paid and Shipped section enables us to monitor customer orders that have been settled and are in transit. This feature allows us to relay the status of orders to customers quickly and inform them that their orders have already been shipped.
Cancellations
For different reasons, some customers cancel their orders before shipment. That’s why, the eBay Seller Hub has a Cancellation section where we can see canceled orders. This section allows us to monitor orders that should not be shipped.
Returns
Essentially, the Returns section monitors customer return requests due to defective items, customers’ change of mind, and more. So, it’s important that we can manage all returns under one screen so that we can address them promptly.
Requests And Disputes
Under Requests and Disputes, we can monitor customers’ refund requests for several reasons. For instance, this section monitors claims about lost packages, undelivered packages, and more. Once again, it’s crucial to settle customer concerns as soon as possible to gain their trust in our business.
Shipping Labels
For requests and disputes, the Shipping Labels section gives us all information about orders that require labels, such as return to sender. As such, these labels are necessary to proceed with the next steps following the request or dispute. Moreover, shipping labels ensure that packages are delivered to their proper destinations on time.
Listings
Under Listings, we can manage our store inventory and add new items to sell. Thus, our product listings are well-monitored, and we’ll know what items are doing well in sales conversions. By clicking on this tab, we will access the following features:
- Create Listing
- Inventory
- Active
- Unsold
- Drafts
- Scheduled
- Ended
Create Listing
With the Create Listing section, we can search eBay for new product ideas that we can import to our stores. From there, we can add new products under diverse categories. Remember that we must have optimized product listings to maximize our sales conversions.
Inventory
Meanwhile, Inventory shows the available products for sale. In this section, we can monitor the number of items in stock, which gives us insights into the products that sell best. As such, we can restock best-selling products that are low in stock or eliminate items that don’t sell well.
Active
On the other hand, the Active tab displays all product listings that are currently live in our eBay stores. Plus, this section shows fixed prices and the value of items with bids or reserves met. Moreover, the Active section lets us access products with offers waiting for responses, with watchers, and with questions.
Unsold
Next, the Unsold section on the eBay Seller Hub lets us search for unsold products according to their titles, categories, listing status, and more. Then, this section gives us the option to relist, relist a fixed price, or sell similar unsold items. Besides that, we can review unsold items’ photos, titles, custom labels (SKU), current prices, availability, and other selling metrics.
Drafts
Then, the eBay Seller Hub provides us with the Drafts section, where we can revise and optimize our product listings before offering them in our stores. Some of the information we can set include the photos, titles, shipping costs, start price, and more. Here, we can resume, delete, or copy draft products and their details.
Scheduled
Under the Scheduled section, we can set the start date of a product listing. Meaning, we can add a product now, but we can set a later date for its availability in our eBay stores. Through this feature, we can manage our product listings well, as we can introduce new products at regular intervals.
Ended
When we list a product on eBay, we need to set its end date. Thus, we have the Ended section to inform us about product listings that have lapsed their availability period. Once products belong to this section, customers can no longer access them in our eBay stores.
Marketing
The eBay Seller Hub’s Marketing section allows us to manage the marketing aspects of running our online business. Remember that we need to establish a strong marketing strategy for our business to stay ahead of the competition. To help us attain this, we can utilize various marketing tools, such as volume discounts, sales events, coupons, and more.
Under this tab, we can establish branding, merchandising, and advertising options. With that said, here are the subsections of the Marketing section:
- Summary
- Promotions
- Buyer Groups
- Advertising Dashboard
- Subscriber Discounts
Summary
For the Marketing’s Summary section, we can see our store banner, promotions tab, and manage promotion option. Here, we can access other aspects of marketing under one dashboard.
Promotions
Next, the Promotions section details various techniques to market our eBay stores. Additionally, we can also find the existing promotions that we have and see how they work for our online business.
Remember that promotional offers help us attract customers to our stores. Thus, it’s essential to utilize suitable methods for our eBay business.
Buyer Groups
Furthermore, the eBay Seller Hub’s Buyer Groups section contains shoppers who qualify for discount codes. Typically, these buyers are our previous customers. Essentially, eBay provides us with information regarding customers’ purchase histories, so we’ll identify repeat buyers.
Advertising Dashboard
Now, let’s proceed to the Advertising Dashboard. Here, the eBay Seller Hub offers Standard and Advanced campaign types. Under the Standard campaign, we can select from Simple, Bulk, or Automated types, where we only pay every time we sell a product. On the other hand, the Advanced campaign is a pay-per-click promotion that targets top product search results.
Subscriber Discounts
One way of promoting our eBay business is by providing discounts. Hence, the Subscriber Discounts section allows us to set coupons, codes, vouchers, and similar promotions for our subscribers. Doing so can entice more customers to visit our stores since we’re welcoming them with loads of worthwhile offers.
Store
Another section on the eBay Seller Hub is Store. This section allows us to manage different aspects of our eBay stores, including:
- Edit Store
- Store Categories
- Store Newsletter
- Subscriber Discounts
- Manager Subscription
- Time Away
Edit Store
Under the Edit Store tab, we can set our page name, logos, descriptions, and other information. Likewise, we can optimize our store’s appearance by adding professional images and informative text. Remember that our storefront is the first thing our customers see, so it’s vital that it is appealing and well-organized.
Store Categories
Essentially, Store Categories lets us set up diverse product catalogs in our stores. In this section, we can create new categories and tag items according to their classifications. Plus, we can set the buttons for these categories for more straightforward navigation.
Store Newsletter
Frequently, eBay stores offer discounts to customers when they provide their contact details. Thus, we can set up our Store Newsletter and let buyers subscribe to them. Then, we can promote our products to customers by sending them newsletters along with special deals and discounts.
Subscriber Discounts
Speaking of discounts, we assign deals and perks under the Subscriber Discounts section. Here, we can personalize the discounts we provide on our eBay stores.
Manage Subscription
Moreover, the Manage Subscription tab offers exclusive services, depending on our store subscription. In particular, there are different subscription levels, such as Starter, Basic, Premium, Anchor, and Enterprise. Finally, subscribing to eBay stores allows us to enjoy discounts, branding, and management tools.
Time Away
When we become inactive on eBay for a while, the system will automatically record our absence and display it in our stores to inform customers. To manage this feature, we have the Time Away section. Here, we can monitor our stores’ inactivity on the platform.
Performance
Next up, we have the Performance section. When we grasp how our eBay stores perform, we’ll quickly know what aspects to work out. This feature can improve our inventories and optimize our stores further.
Remarkably, the Performance tab in the eBay Seller Hub gives us insights about the following features:
- Summary
- Seller Level
- Sales
- Traffic
- Service Metrics
Summary
The Summary is a dashboard that showcases all features under the Performance section. Here, we can track different insights regarding how our stores perform in terms of sales, traffic, and more. With the help of this section, we can identify what works well for our business in terms of sales conversions and similar metrics.
Seller Level
Subsequently, eBay evaluates our seller performances every 20th day of the month. According to our sales history and service quality, eBay assigns us a Seller Level. Specifically, we can be categorized as low-standard, above-standard, or top-rated standard.
In order to attain a higher status, we must comply with eBay’s dropshipping policies. Also, massive traffic and substantial sales can help us achieve higher satisfaction ratings. All in all, our goal is to attain the highest seller level to help our business establish a trusted reputation in the market.
Sales
After the Tasks, we have the Sales section. Here, we can access sales insights. Specifically, this subsection enables us to monitor our stores’ sales on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.
By analyzing our sales, we’ll understand if our business is performing well in terms of sales conversions. In this way, we can check out what strategies and products work for our business.
Traffic
Meanwhile, the Traffic category provides insights about audiences and conversions. Specifically, we can generate reports on the number of listing impressions, click-through rates, page views, sales conversion rates, etc.
Even though eBay has free organic traffic, the tight competition requires us to strategize how to reach more customers than other sellers. To achieve this, we can utilize marketing techniques and search engine optimization.
Service Metrics
Undeniably, our customer service capabilities speak about our business quality. Thus, the eBay Seller Hub has a Service Metrics feature, allowing us to monitor different services in one dashboard.
For instance, we can access the reasons for customer returns, such as ‘Item not as described’ or ‘Item not received.’ In this way, we’ll know what aspects of our eBay business need improvement.
Payments
With the eBay Seller Hub’s Payments tab, we can efficiently track our managed payments and spending. Essentially, the eBay managed payments feature is a new payment processing solution for sellers on the platform.
Using this feature, we can manage multi-currency payments, access funds faster, and integrate multiple worldwide eBay sites. So, here are the important sections under the Payments tab:
- Summary
- All Transactions
- Payouts
- Reports
- Taxes
- Payout Settings
Summary
On the Payments’ Summary page, we can see all financial transactions in our eBay store. Thus, we won’t worry about tracking our stores’ expenditures with this feature on eBay.
All Transactions
Under All Transactions, we can access the overview of the status of our cash inflows and outflows. Therefore, we can easily monitor financial transactions under one screen. Remember that we need to check our financial state from time to time, so we’ll know how much we’re gaining from our products.
Payouts
Notably, getting paid for our sold products on eBay is straightforward. Under the Payouts section, we can track pending and successful payments to our accounts.
Reports
When we want to get hold of our payment histories and other transactions, we can go over the Reports section. This section gives us comprehensive insights into what’s happening in our eBay stores, specifically about payments. Plus, we can download financial statements using this feature.
Taxes
One of the responsibilities of online sellers is to fulfill tax obligations. This is also the same when running a dropshipping store on eBay. Thus, the Taxes section gives insights into the different taxes and their values. Then, we need to incorporate these taxes into our products and settle this legal obligation accordingly.
Payout Settings
When receiving payouts, we can set up an account where eBay can credit our earnings under Payout Settings. For instance, we can connect our checking account, MasterCard, Visa, or other acceptable payment methods. On a final note, we must set our payout accounts, so there won’t be delays in receiving earnings from our sales.
Research
Finally, we can opt to explore the Research tab to help us with our product-finding task.
Subsequently, the eBay Seller Hub’s Research feature provides services that can help us optimize our product listings. For instance, the section offers listing improvement suggestions, restocking advice, and sourcing guidelines.
So, here are the different product research tools on eBay Seller Hub’s Research tab:
- Terapeak Product Research
- Terapeak Sourcing Insights
- Learning Resource
Terapeak Product Research
Specifically, eBay offers the Terapeak Product Research tool, which gives us insights into current trends in the market. Plus, this product-finding tool provides reports about sales performances and selling techniques that can help us achieve success.
However, this tool is only available to eligible seller store subscribers. Nevertheless, this sourcing insights tool gives us optimized suggestions to address customer needs and inventory gaps.
Terapeak Sourcing Insights
On the other hand, Terapeak Sourcing Insights lets us access sales metrics for every product category. Plus, this tool helps us analyze target audiences, trending categories, and product sales performances. In this way, we’ll know the best products to sell in our eBay stores.
Learning Resource
For eBay Seller Hub’s Learning Resource tab, ‘Getting Things Right’ and ‘Great Listing Practices’ options are available. Additionally, this section provides the Seller Center, Community, and Seller Customer Service.
With these features, we’re well-guided about the latest product trends in the marketplace. Plus, it’s a great place to learn how to better scale and optimize our business.
Reports
On to the last feature on the eBay Seller Hub, we have the Reports tab. Here, we can access files and information that can give us insights into our business. Plus, this section enables us to manage our eBay stores more efficiently through these functions:
- Downloads
- Schedule
- Learning Resources
Downloads
Under Downloads contain reports that give us insights about our eBay stores. Moreover, we can generate audit reports and other important files on this page. Thus, allowing us to work offline with our downloaded files.
Schedule
For convenience, we can set our eBay stores’ reporting. Notably, the Schedule section will enable us to automate our reports and streamline business tasks. Thus, we don’t have to manually download reports since the system will automatically fulfill tasks on specific schedules.
Learning Resources
When getting started with different reports, we can review the Learning Resources section. Remarkably, this section guides us on how to work with reports. In fact, we can check out the Seller Center, Community, and Seller Customer Service if we need assistance with our reports.
3 Tips To Increase Your eBay Dropshipping Profits
Yay! Now, we can confidently navigate through the eBay Seller Hub. But, of course, optimizing our online business on eBay doesn’t end there. So, to help us multiply our profits while dropshipping on eBay, here are three worthwhile tips we need to know:
Let’s see how these tips work for our eBay online business.
Keep Up With The Trends
One of the most crucial aspects of running a dropshipping business is keeping up with the trends. In order to list winning products, we need to identify our target market’s needs and preferences. Aside from Terapeak Research, we can discover best-selling items using these methods:
- AutoDS Product Research Marketplace
- Google Trends
- Search Supplier Best-Sellers
- Spy On Competition With Manual Research On eBay
Let’s highlight one of the product research methods. The AutoDS Product Research Marketplace is an automatic product-finding solution that offers a wide range of items to dropship. With this tool, we can filter our searches according to warehouses, prices, ratings, shipping days, and more.
The best part is that it offers us a section with proven winning products, where we can find current seller’s, Facebook ads, and product sources. Additionally, it allows us to import products in just one click, helping us establish a comprehensive product listing.
Optimize Promotional Tools
Another way to bring our eBay business to greater heights is by optimizing our promotional tools. Although eBay has free organic traffic, the vast competition on the platform divides the audiences. That’s why we need to utilize effective strategies to improve our store visibility and product rankings on customer searches.
As promotional tools are essential parts of optimizing our business, we’ll identify the best ones for our eBay stores:
- Promoted Listings Standard
- Promoted Listings Advanced (PPC)
- Create Coupons
- Order Discounts
- Volume Pricing
- Create A Sale Event
- Best Offer
- Send Offers
Next; we’ll discuss how these tools can benefit our eBay stores.
1. Promoted Listings Standard
With eBay’s Promoted Listing Standard, our ads become available throughout the platform. So, every time customers’ clicks convert into sales, we need to pay for the ads.
2. Promoted Listings Advanced (PPC)
On the other hand, the Promoted Listing Advanced (PPC) enables us to compete at the top search results on eBay. This promotional tool works on the premise that whenever our ad is clicked on, we pay a certain fee to eBay.
3. Create Coupons
Another way to attract customers to our eBay stores is by creating coupons. In this case, we can offer discount codes that customers can use to redeem exclusive deals. Also, coupon codes can be shared through social media platforms, so we can reach more audiences by offering these promotional materials.
4. Order Discounts
Meanwhile, order discounts automatically provide markdowns when customers fulfill the conditions of the promotion. For instance, we can have a ‘$5 off voucher’ or ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ offers in our stores.
5. Volume Pricing
Using the volume pricing technique, buyers must purchase multiple volumes to receive a marked-down price. For example, we can offer a ‘$50 discount on at least five pieces’ or ‘15% off for orders $200 and above.’ Essentially, it’s similar to offering lower prices for bulk orders. Ultimately, this helps us increase our average order value.
6. Create A Sale Event
Undeniably, sale events entice customers to purchase from our stores. To do so, we can offer discounts on special occasions and specific times of the day. As specific examples, we can have ‘Black Friday Deals’ or ‘Holiday Sales,’ which customers will love.
7. Best Offer
When dropshipping on eBay, we can provide the best offer promotion, allowing customers to negotiate for more reasonable prices. With this feature, customers can accept, decline, or counteroffer our provided promotion. In a way, this is a fun and interactive method of attracting buyers to purchase from our eBay stores.
8. Send Offers
Some customers add products to their carts but abandon them after a while. So, to help us convert their added items into sales, we can send offers to customers. To do this, we can go over our active listings and click on ‘Send offers – eligible’ to make this promotion available.
Automate Your Business Processes
On top of everything, automating our business processes is an excellent way to increase our dropshipping profits. With business automation, dropshipping tools save us from tedious tasks, making our business processes faster and easier.
As a leading dropshipping automation software, AutoDS offers convenient features for our eBay business. Here are some easy-to-use automation tools that we can utilize:
- Product Imports
- Inventory Management
- Price/Stock Monitoring
- Price Optimization
- Automatic Order Fulfillment
- …and more!
All in all, automating our business means that our eBay stores run 24/7. With the ever reliable AutoDS dropshipping software, our eBay business continues to gain profits while we’re away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The eBay Seller Hub Free To Use?
Yes, the eBay Seller Hub is free to use. As eBay already incorporates this feature with most of its subscription plans, you will just need to pay your eBay store fees.
Do I Need To Opt-In For The eBay Seller Hub?
Preferably, you need to opt-in for the eBay Seller Hub to enjoy all the benefits it offers. In particular, this feature allows you to manage different aspects of your eBay store under one dashboard.
What Are The Different Features Of The eBay Seller Hub?
The eBay Seller Hub offers the Overview, Orders, Listings, Marketing, Performance, Payments, and Research tabs. These sections allow you to optimize your eBay store processes and maximize your profit potential.
Conclusion
Alright! Now, we can utilize the eBay Seller Hub as an all-in-one solution for managing our eBay stores. With efficient and easy-to-use features, we can enjoy huge profits with hassle-free business processes.
Remember to use the essential tips when running an eBay store to ensure your business scales in no time. Once again, we need to list trending items and utilize effective marketing strategies to reach wider audiences. On top of everything, dropshipping automation is the ultimate secret to eCommerce success.
Well, the eBay Seller Hub is only one of the significant features that can help us optimize our profit potential. To continue learning about how eBay works, here are articles that provide insights and guidance:
