Did you know that there are over one thousand eCommerce marketplaces? While eBay and Amazon are still by far the largest, the likes of Etsy, AirBnB and Blablacar are growing fast in the crowded, peer-to-peer space. Global marketplaces are giving way to niche and local marketplaces where products are specific to interests and tastes, such as SidelineSwap, which sells sports gear and Trampolinn, which lets you exchange your home for fellow travelers in Paris. What is the significance? What this means is that users no longer just have to worry about their feedback in Amazon and Etsy, but also in other marketplaces as well. I’m willing to bet everyone reading this article has more than one account going somewhere, this means you have more than one reputation, which makes reputation management for ecommerce market places quite the task.
It’s not easy managing online reputation these days. For example, I have Facebook, LinkedInn, Twitter, AirBnB, eBay, Amazon, SidelineSwap and supermarket accounts. To be perfectly honest, I probably have other accounts as well and I don’t even know what they are. As an online seller, I have to be conscious of the feedback and reputation I’ve built elsewhere, because they’re going to affect my sales.
What do I look like online and how do I find out? If an enhanced reputation means higher sales, how do I do it? Your online reputation is just like your first impression – If its good ýou’ll create a relationship, even if there are more than a few flaws.
Five things you should know to make sure your Amazon profile is performing at a high level:
(1) Be Clear as Crystal:
Make sure you use relevant, clear and precise product titles. Many people find products through a search in the search bar – if you’re not spelling out what your selling, no one will find it.
(2) Rankings Matter:
Amazon uses price, availability and sales history to advance listings. This is one of the reasons reputation is so important – the better your reputation, the more advanced your listing will be. Products online are like products in real life; people are going to scope out the first few and decide between those, and only after that there is a chance that they scroll down.
(3) Be Active:
Many sellers mistakenly assume that they are subject to Amazon’s algorithm for listings. No matter what you do, you’ll have to live with where Amazon ranks your listing. That’s not entirely true. If you’ve got a better picture or better data you can actually contact seller support and they may decide you’ve got a better listing and advance you.
(4) Picture is Worth a Thousand Words:
All products should be taken with a 500×500 resolution, set against a white background and take up about 80% of the photo. Put a pen in the picture to give an idea of scale.
(5) Think Like a Buyer:
Stand back and assess your items as if you were a buyer. If you don’t like the look of your storefront, odds are, neither will they. Better yet, ask a friend who’s not afraid to tell the truth.
Of course, you can easily get on board with eRated (you don’t know how it works? It’s simple and we love it) and start selling in other marketplaces with a universal reputation. Why only have one storefront when you can open a second in another town for free – without having to worry about creating a reputation from zero?
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Matt Godwin is VP Partnerships for eRated. eRated is a simple solution for online sellers and marketplaces. By managing your reputation with eRated, you can get the most out of your feedback from all the platforms you operate in and keep track of all the good things people are saying about you! Don’t miss a beat – follow them on Facebook and/or Twitter.
