Using eBay to Find Customers

Even after spending time and money creating an e-commerce website, you will still have zero customers when you launch. Acquiring those customers can be a pricey undertaking: It will require additional outlays of cash for search engine optimization, newsletters, shopping engine feeds and online ad-vertising. Fortunately, when you sell on eBay and use the tools the company has created, you have plenty of marketing options to choose from.

By taking full advantage of eBay marketing, PowerSeller Alice Rudolph, 46, owner of Stitches, has seen her needle arts supply store become a fast-growing, successful business earning more than $100,000 a year. "Opening an eBay Store was the best marketing move I made in my business," says Rudolph. Doing so allowed Rudolph to personalize her own Store space and create a unique shopping experience for her customers, and she is very pleased with the results. "My sales have increased by 600 percent [in nine months]," she says. Rudolph uses the advanced search engine optimization, shopping feeds and online promotional boxes that are included for free to sellers who set up an eBay Store.