1. The customer is always right, even when they are wrong. It is your responsibility to make sure that the eBay customer is treated like the King or Queen or Prince that they are. Consider it a privledge that eBay is ALLOWING you to sell on THEIR website. If this sounds unfair or harsh to you, you might seriously reconsider the eBay strategy. The way you speak to the eBay customer will determine your success or failure as a 'supplier' aka 'seller' to THEIR customers.
2. Sophio FBS charges a flat rate for shipping. As such, you should be baking in the shipping cost we charge you into your selling price so that you can offer 'free shipping'. This is not a perfect solution for either you or Sophio, but we have found this to be the best practice. To do this profitably you MUST configure your store to disable the ability to sell to PO Boxes, APO/FPO, Alaska and Hawaii (unless you are shipping to them without FBS help) and the US Protectorates like US Virgin Islands and the like, Here is a link to make those changes - http://partscenter.ebay.com - Heere are some screenshots below of how you should configure Parts Center settings.
3. How you manage returns can literally make or break your business. All returns must start in the eBay website. Direct your buyers to create return requests and be sure to remind them to enter tracking numbers into the ebay site to insure a quick refund. Sophio suggests that all returns are sent back to the shipping warehouse. There are tools in the Sophio website that attempt to automate this, but it is not always possible. As such, you MUST turn on the NEEDS RMA feature in eBay. This will give you time to STOP a return from being processed without your manual intervention. You must touch every single Return Request in eBay before processing. The average return rate in Sophio is 10% and you should expect to write off 10% of your returns for losses due to fraud, issues with shippers, issues with 'bad listing data' and other scenarios beyond your or our control. Consider it a cost of doing business.
4. Check your ebay messages EVERY day and throughout the day. eBay is watching how frequently you respond to THEIR customers in your messaging system. If it takes you six hours to respond to a buyers message, then you need eBay's help, they are less likely to help you deal with a problem than if you responded to their customer in minutes after they wrote you. The most important messages to respond to are those from BUYER, not 'price checkers'. If you want to help the 'price checkers' that is great, but focus on the messages from buyers.
5. Check your Sophio Open order report DAILY. There are going to be orders each day that are 'stuck' due to various reasons. These orders will require human intervention for one reason or another. It is YOUR responsibility to contact Sophio support during normal business hours to get help. Sophio does NOT manage your contorl panel.
6. Never ever cancel orders. If you get an order you must fulfill it. It would be better to send the WRONG item than no item at all. Sophio will do its best to help you with these situations. If however, we say 'Sorry, there is no stock' do NOT assume there are no other solutions. If you want your marketplace business to succeed, you will never cancel an order, EVER.
7. When something happens that is unfair or totally beyond your control and eBay has negatively impacted you and your business, CALL EBAY MERCHANT SUPPORT. They are there to help. When you call, be prepared to support your request with facts, not emotion. The number one thing you have going for you when you make the call is the fact that you do NOT control the data in your listings. You have to say to them, "I use the WHI Listing Tool to sell on eBay." Naturally, you cannot use this as an excuse for an issue not related to a listing, but most problems start with 'bad data'. Never at any time elude to the fact that you sold something you did not ship yourself. It is not eBay's problem that you bought a part from Sophio, who bought a part from a supplier, who in turn shipped the wrong item. That is YOUR fault. If you want eBay's help you have to come up with a resaon that convinces eBay that you did all you could.
8. Do not ignore negative reviews. When you get a negative review, always respond to the negative review professionally. For example, a buyer might leave a review that says, "Worst seller ever, ordered a left and got a right..." Your response to that would be, "We are so sorry for the trouble, we offer no hassle returns." Remember, the customer is ALWAYS right, even if it is not your fault. Have a thick skin, it will come in handy!
9. Use the eBay Global Shipping Program. This is activated in the same place where you deactivated selling to PO Boxes. When there are issues with INTL sales via eBay GSP eBay always sides with the seller, because it is eBay who is managing the INTL shipping.
10. Do NOT give away the farm. It is important for you to generate at least 20% gross profit, otherwise you will not make it. We recommend using 'matrix pricing' in the Sophio control panel. This means that you would use a higher markup on low cost items, and a lower markup on high cost items. Think about it. Would you try to price shop a deal on a $3 part or $300 part? Do not forget to add the Sophio FBS flat rate shipping of $9.25 to your price matrix. The fee's for selling on eBay are close to 14% of your gross sale. While this may sound high, we promise you it is less expensive than trying to generate sales at a new B2C site via Google or Bing.
11. Don't forget to update your Paypal IPN settings. This setting will make sure that if you do a refund on eBay, Paypal will update your Sophio site with the transaction id. The link for your IPN setup can be found in the Paypal area of your Advanced Settings.
