It’s holiday season but what do you do with your eBay listings whilst you’re off enjoying a well earned rest?
I love a good holiday! In fact, I’m on holiday right now. There’s nothing like getting away for a few weeks and putting your feet up with the cares of the world left behind you. Sun, sea, sand, a G&T at the beach bar…. perfect!
But wait! It’s all very well having a break but if you don’t think about what to do with your eBay listings before leaving, you could end up spending most of your time worrying about what’s happening back at home, or even trying to find an internet connection to send emails to buyers explaining why you haven’t posted their items yet. This will not result in a very relaxing holiday for you let me tell you.
So, back in June I covered some options to allow you to keep your business running whilst you have a break. If you missed it you can recap here.
But today I want to explain 4 quick further options to consider if you are in the mood for a proper break from it all.
Option #1: Shut up shop completely
Part of the reason why an online seller’s lifestyle is so great is that it grants you the freedom to go on holiday whenever you choose to. But to take full advantage of this you will need to be aware of the different options that are available to you, particularly when it comes to your eBay listings when you are on holiday.
To keep your eBay selling at its most successful you have a few options:
The first option is perhaps the safest one (but also the scariest one!) when it comes to avoiding any sales of items that you will be unable to post while away.
By ending all your listings, you can be sure that no one will even accidentally find your products, as they simply won’t appear in a search. If you have an eBay shop you could also leave a message to explain that you are currently away but will return on a certain date to continue to sell your products.
Although this option will certainly prevent any misadventure when it comes to buyers making purchases, it can also unfortunately potentially lose you business, as anyone searching for your products in the meantime will be unable to see them. What’s more, once you return you will of course have to re-list everything.
Option #2: Close any Buy It Now listings
eBay does offer ‘holiday settings’ for your listings if you have an eBay shop and one of these settings allows you to make any fixed price listings invisible to potential buyers.
This setting will not affect any of your normal auction-style listings if you have them, so you will need to ensure that these auctions are set to end after the time that you are back from your holiday.
By preventing possible buyers from seeing your fixed price listings you shouldn’t suffer from any negative feedback from anyone wanting to make a purchase right away but then not receiving their goods.
Of course this also means that just like option one, buyers searching for your fixed price listings will simply be unaware of your existence.
But at least you won’t need to recreate the listings when you return, as they will simply be waiting for you to turn off your holiday settings making your listings visible again.
You may also wish to consider that you will be unable to reply to any questions regarding your auction-style listings while you are away (unless you have access to an internet connection). While this is unlikely to cause you negative feedback, it could potentially frustrate buyers.
Option #3: Display a holiday message
Another method that can be found within the holiday settings of your eBay shop is to leave a holiday message on either your listings, within your shop, or both. This message will tell visitors when you will return so that they can still make a purchase, but will know not to expect to receive their products until the specified date. As your auctions can still gain publicity through searches this option does have certain advantages.
The settings for this, and other holiday settings can be found by clicking on the link to ‘My eBay’ at the top right hand side of the eBay website, and then clicking on ‘Account’ followed by ‘Subscriptions’ and then the link that says ‘Manage Your Shop’.
You will see a link that says ‘Change holiday settings’ that will provide you with the ability to turn on or off your shop holiday settings. When setting a holiday message for your shop you can create some custom information for your clients, however in listings you will be restricted to eBay’s default message filled in with the date that you return.
This might sound to you like the best option so far. Prospective buyers can still see your listings and even make purchases knowing that they will receive the product upon your return.
Option #4: Leave your listings as they are
The fourth and final option is simply to leave your listings running as they are.
This could be a reasonable solution if you are only away for a few days, but remember that your buyers may get frustrated if they pay for an item only to be forced to wait for two weeks before receiving it and with no prior contact or warning.
So which option should you choose?
There are positives and negatives for each possible solution. You know your own eBay shop better than anyone else, so have a think about the best option for your own clients and why not have a play around with the holiday settings to see the effect that they have on your listings.
The most important thing for you to remember is that you don’t want to be constantly worrying about eBay when you should be relaxing. If shutting up shop completely will help to put your mind at ease then don’t be afraid to go for this option.
If you are going on holiday shortly – have a good one!