Can EBay Be Used as a Customer Acquisition Tool?

As we start the 4th Quarter, the busiest time of the year for online shopping, I want to talk about Customer Acquisition as a concept. Sellers who sell on eBay need to change their mindset, even sellers who are presently happy with the world of eBay. My suggestion is quit thinking of eBay as your home on the Internet and start thinking of it as a marketing tool. You are not "eBay sellers" you are online sellers who happen to sell on eBay. Repeat after me; I am an online seller and I sell on eBay. Remember, even if eBay is presently your only sales channel, you are using eBay to bring you customers. This change in thinking is crucial if you are to take control of your business. Change your mindset. You sell online! I know it can be difficult, but eBay is changing and right now we don't have a clue what it will ultimately look like. Look out for your business, eBay is looking out for theirs.

Ebay still brings tons of high value traffic to their site-after all they are the world's largest auction site, but the times "they are a changin" now that eBay has introduced Sponsored Links, purchased Shopping.com (how long before they integrate that site into eBay), and announced they are adding Half.com listings to CORE search, I believe it is becoming clear they want to become to shopping what Google has become to search-Google's recent announcements on GoogleBase and Google Checkout may hasten this change, but that is yet to be seen. Whether or not this actually happens sellers need to start looking at eBay as an acquisition tool rather than a destination. The key to this strategy is to open your own webstore/website for your product. EBay stores should not be considered your webstore but a marketing tool just like CORE auctions. There are many WebStore options at present and many more on the way that offer low cost entry. MonsterCommerce, Yahoo Stores, Amazon Stores (coming soon), and eBay's ProStores offer entry level WebStores. These stores will list your product and facilitate transactions but be aware they are not marketing tools. You will still need to bring shoppers to you.