Increase sales abroad: hidden potential eBay.de!

Natalia Wiszewska

Estimated reading time: up to 10 minutes

If you run an online store or sell products online, you’re likely interested in expanding your business reach to international markets. One of the most popular e-commerce platforms where you can sell your products abroad is eBay.de.

The German version of this platform sees huge turnovers and attracts many buyers. So why should you start selling on eBay.de and how can you do it effectively? We’ve got some tips!

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Why it is worth selling on eBay.de?

eBay.de is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world. Sellers on German eBay alone complete millions of transactions every day, making it the perfect place for entrepreneurs interested in expanding into foreign markets.

Furthermore, eBay.de enjoys immense trust among German consumers, who are eager to purchase products from both domestic and international sellers.

Another great advantage of eBay.de is its simple and intuitive platform, which allows for easy listing of products for sale. Additionally, eBay.de offers sellers many marketing and promotional tools to help reach a larger audience.

Moreover, eBay.de provides sellers with support in logistics and customer service. With partner delivery services and a transaction rating system, sellers can offer customers fast and professional service, thus building a positive reputation for their brand in the German e-commerce market.

How to start selling on eBay.de?

The process of starting a sale on eBay.de it is relatively simple, but requires a few steps from you

Step 1. Create a seller account on eBay

Once you’ve decided what products you want to sell on eBay, you can proceed to create a seller account. eBay offers two types of seller accounts: personal and business.

Personal account: With this type of account, you have a limited number of items you can list and sell each month. For new sellers, this limit is up to 10 items per month with a total value of up to 500 USD.
Business account: This eliminates those restrictions, allowing you to list a larger number of items with a higher value.

If you plan to sell only one or a few products, a personal account is sufficient. However, if you intend to sell more, you’ll likely need a business account.

Step 2. Provide your personal information

If you already have an eBay account, you can start by logging into your current account and clicking on the “Sell” link in the top right corner of the page. If you don’t have an account, go to the “Create account” page and choose whether you want to create a personal or business account.

Step 3: Choose your payment method

Add your preferred payment method to your account. You need to do this to receive proceeds from sales and pay any fees to eBay. You can choose a credit card, debit card, or bank account. Once you’ve set up your payment method, eBay will automatically charge it for any fees due on the settlement day of your sales.

How to add payment methods?To add a payment method, go to Account -> Zahlungsinformationen -> Zahlungen

Receive payments!

eBay handles all payments for sales through its Managed Payment system – go back to the payment page and click on “Zahlungsoption hinzufügen”. After listing an item and making a sale, the proceeds will be automatically transferred to your bank account.

Step 4. Choose your selling formatOn eBay.de, you have the option to sell in several different ways. You can sell as an individual seller, using options like “Auctions” or at a fixed price. With auctions, potential customers have the opportunity to bid on your products for a specified period. If you choose auctions, bidding periods can last from one to 10 days.

You can also open your own store on eBay.de, which gives you greater opportunities to promote your products and increase sales. As a business, you can offer a more diverse selection of products while sourcing larger quantities for each item.

Below are the most common methods of selling as a business on eBay:

Wholesale: In this model, you purchase products from other brands in bulk from the manufacturer. You then list them for auction at a higher price, keeping the difference as profit.
Private Label: This involves partnering with a manufacturer to produce products with your brand’s unique labeling. You then offer these products under your own brand on eBay and sell them.
Dropshipping: Here, you collaborate with a manufacturer by listing their products on eBay. When a customer places an order, you purchase from the supplier and have it shipped directly to the customer. eBay is an excellent platform for dropshipping as they have less stringent shipping requirements.
Arbitrage: This involves finding products available from other sellers at a lower price. You then buy them from the retail seller and list them on eBay at a higher price, keeping the difference as profit. This model works well when you want to sell only small quantities of products.

Do you not want to sell on eBay yourself? As a manufacturer, you can either list your offers on eBay.de yourself or utilize the above selling techniques for someone else to sell them for you in exchange for a percentage of the sales.

What are the best products to sell on eBay.de?

Germans are relatively open to online shopping and gladly embrace this form of purchasing, so on this platform, you can sell products in various categories – from clothing to medicines to jewelry.

However, it’s essential to remember the specifics of the German market and consumer preferences. German customers value high-quality products and professionalism in service. Therefore, when offering products on eBay.de, it’s important to ensure high-quality descriptions in German and customer service.

How can you find interesting products for your wholesale business? You can also conduct research on eBay! With each listing, you can see how many times a particular item has been sold. If you prefer quick solutions, you can use Droplo Trends to discover the best-selling products online from European manufacturers!

Creating product listings on eBay.de

To create a listing, simply log in to your account and click the “Verkaufen” button, which is located almost on every eBay page in the top right corner. eBay.de will prompt you to enter the product identifier (Product ID) or its name so that your listing can be automatically populated.

Not sure how to start listing items?

Just click here and enter in German what you want to sell. In our case, it will be a bicycle.

You can find a suitable offer at ebay.de to speed up the process or to bypass this stage. Then you need to fill in information such as product status, photos, EAN and others-the method of adding an ad is actually the same as on other marketplaces.

Regardless of whether you’re creating a listing from scratch or using eBay’s assistance, there are several ways to optimize your listing.

Product category: Make sure your product is placed in the most appropriate category; otherwise, it may not be noticed by your target audience.
Photos: Having multiple high-quality photos can help increase sales and reduce negative feedback from buyers.
Title: It should contain numerous keywords but also needs to grab the attention of buyers. Think about what words your customers would enter when searching for this product.
Description: This is your main opportunity to convince buyers to purchase your product! eBay recommends writing at least 200 words and including keywords in the text. This will help display your listing in more search results.
Fill in as many details as possible!

Promoting products on eBay.de – what should you pay attention to?

Like in any online store, promoting your products on eBay.de is crucial for achieving sales success.

Promoting products on the eBay.de platform requires careful planning and strategy. Advertisements on eBay are available in both Pay-Per-Sale (PPS) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) versions.

However, to start with, the easiest way to promote your ads is when listing a product – you only pay when your item sells after someone clicks on the ad.

If you want to add ads later, choose one of the types of ads – Standard or Advanced.

The Standard package has 3 types:

Einfach – Basic
Automatisiert – Suggestions based on daily updated rules
Gebundelt – “Wholesale” ads via .csv or by category

The Advanced package has more options. Here we only have two distinctions: smart and manual.

In our opinion, the best option is the Smart version, which is automatically set and updated by the system. You select the offers you want to promote, and eBay takes care of bidding and directing for you.

However, if you prefer to have more control and don’t want to incur too much cost, choose the standard version. However, here you have many more fields to fill in, which can be quite challenging at the beginning of online sales.

Tax Settlement for eBay.de Store with the Tax Office

Keep in mind that when running a store on eBay.de, you must also consider your tax obligations. In Poland, sales on eBay.de are treated as foreign sales, which entails the need to settle income tax. You can find detailed information on this matter on the websites of the Tax Office or consult with our advisor.

The income tax from sales on the eBay.de platform is calculated based on the revenue generated from transactions. It’s worth noting that there are specific thresholds, exceeding which requires registration as a VAT taxpayer in Germany.

eBay.de vs Logistics – How to Organize Shipping?

Shipping ordered products is a crucial element of online sales. If you want to sell on eBay.de, you need to ensure efficient and professional delivery of the products ordered by customers.

On eBay.de, you have the option to use various delivery methods such as postal shipment, courier shipment, or personal pickup.

It’s important to choose a delivery method that ensures fast and secure shipping while not negatively affecting costs and product prices. Also, pay attention to choosing the right packaging. Carefully packaged products increase positive customer impressions and affect their satisfaction with the purchase.

All these issues can be solved with Droplo Fulfillment Cloud™. Just specify where you’re selling, send the products to our warehouse, and we’ll handle the orders for you! And what about packaging? You can provide packaging with your logo or have us design eco-friendly packaging for you.

Podsumowanie

It’s worth considering expanding your business into the German market through the eBay.de platform. With the immense popularity of the service, consumer trust, and support in logistics and customer service, eBay.de offers sellers excellent conditions for increasing sales abroad.

However, key to success is proper preparation of listings, effective promotion, and awareness of tax and logistics obligations. Implementing appropriate sales strategies and partnering with professional services, such as Droplo Fulfillment Cloud™, can significantly facilitate conducting commercial activities in the German e-commerce market.