Online retail giant eBay earned $US757 million during the final three months of 2012 \u2013 its best year yet \u2013 prompting an industry expert to issue some key tips to Australian eBay sellers.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the final quarter of 2012, eBay earned $US757 million ($A719.07 million) or 57 cents per share, in what is believed to be the best year yet for the 18-year-old company.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The quarter\u2019s earnings were up by 17% from 2011, on an adjusted basis. Revenue climbed 18% from the previous year to nearly $US4 billion, in line with analysts\u2019 forecasts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n eBay said its mobile applications have been downloaded onto more than 120 million devices, with chief executive John Donahoe saying mobile is \u201cquickly becoming the new normal\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, eBay-owned payment service PayPal added five million account holders in the fourth quarter \u2013 its biggest three-month gain in eight years \u2013 taking the total number of account holders to approximately 123 million.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fourth quarter revenue from PayPal totalled $US1.54 billion \u2013 a 24% increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n eBay Inc spokesperson Adrian Christie told StartupSmart<\/i> while there are no Australian figures available, Australian eBay sellers have been faring \u201cparticularly well\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe uptake rates of mobile have married or mirrored and exceeded some of the North American growth,\u201d Christie says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve also seen increasing exports from Australian sellers; selling to overseas markets from Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christie identifies fashion, electronics, and home and garden as standout categories.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re the main categories we\u2019re seeing large growth in. Fashion has been the fastest growing category for the last couple of years in Australia,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHome improvement [has also been performing well because] more and more consumers are looking to do do-it-yourself renovations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTools and homewares are captured in there \u2013 that category is quite broad.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Christie, businesses are becoming increasingly savvy with regard to how they utilise their staff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThey can use their staff\u2026 throughout the day to do their supply chain \u2013 packaging and shipping off products, rather than just cleaning the physical store,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He has several suggestions for sellers relating to mobile, shipping and online marketing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cA key recommendation is to innovate for mobile first \u2013 tablets and mobile phones. Consider them the first platform you should be creating products for,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAlso, if you have an online store and you have a shipping supplier who can ship products in seven days, perhaps consider a supplier who can do it in two to three days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCustomers are prepared to pay a premium for this.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christie says while there is a temptation for small businesses to simply \u201ccreate a destination and hope people will come\u201d, this isn\u2019t wise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cUse as many traffic drivers as you can. Look at [online] marketplaces\u2026 or listing referrals such as Getprice or Shopping.com,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMake sure you\u2019re social and connect with consumers\u2026 If you are providing a service or product, try to get out there in the community as an expert. Post additional advice on forums.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cConsumers will pay a premium when it\u2019s coming from a reliable seller.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Online retail giant eBay earned $US757 million during the final three months of 2012 \u2013 its best year yet \u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}