Maximum visibility on eBay: Tips from the Popken Fashion Group
Visibility is the be-all and end-all in online retail. Especially on a large marketplace like eBay, it’s particularly important to stand out from the crowd. Your shop and your listings should catch the eye. A good example of this is the international fashion company Popken Fashion Group, which is not only present in its own stores and its own web shop, but also on eBay.
In this episode, Hauke Neehus, Marketplace Manager at Ulla Popken, tells us why eBay is the ideal marketplace for the company and which tools the company successfully uses to increase the visibility of its listings.
Also joining us is René Uhlworm, Senior Category Manager in the “Fashion” category at eBay. He has accompanied Ulla Popken on eBay from the very beginning and knows exactly which tools and strategies our marketplace offers to increase the visibility of your shop and your listings.
We hope you enjoy listening!
**Important Links**
- https://www.ebay.de/str/popkenfashion
- https://www.ebay.de/verkaeuferportal/programme-gewerbliche-verkaeufer/ebay-durchstarter
- https://www.ebay.de/verkaeuferportal/verkaufen-bei-ebay/partner
- https://community.ebay.de/
- https://www.facebook.com/ebayforbusiness.de/
- https://www.ebay.de/verkaeuferportal/news/podcast
** Chapter markers **
- 00:00:00 to 00:02:23 Intro
- 00:02:23 to 00:04:21: Ulla Popken's entry into online retail.
- 00:04:21 to 00:05:49: The importance of pre-loved items on eBay.
- 00:05:49 to 00:07:53: Ulla Popken's participation in the eBay Start-up Program.
- 00:07:53 to 00:10:11: Avoiding classic mistakes when getting started on a marketplace.
- 00:10:11 to 00:24:54: Tips for more visibility on eBay: from listing quality to the shop model.
- 00:24:54 to 00:25:35: Outro
Isabell: Visibility is the be-all and end-all in e-commerce! Especially on a large marketplace like eBay, it’s particularly important to stand out from the crowd, ideally with good quality and high recognition value. And the ones who do that really well are Ulla Popken. Ulla Popken is an international fashion company and, alongside its own stores and its own web shop, is also active on eBay. Why eBay is the right platform for the company and what exactly they do to increase their visibility on eBay — that’s what you’ll hear in this episode.
Hauke: To create recognition value, we use a very clear, consistent language in our product descriptions, in our titles, and basically across our entire eBay presence. That way, every customer, when they open one of our listings, knows: okay, this is a listing from Ulla Popken, and in future also our eBay shop, where we also work clearly with a branding banner and model photos that the customer may already know from catalogs or other advertisements.
Isabell: Hello, dear listeners! The summer break is over, and I’m happy to welcome you back to another episode of “Alles top. Gerne wieder!” the podcast all about retail and e-commerce. My name is Isabell Butterwegge, and today everything is about visibility, using Ulla Popken, or rather the Popken Fashion Group, as an example. Ulla Popken is an international, family-run fashion company specializing in true-size fashion. Their collections are now sold in around 200 stores and through their own web shops, and because they’re also successful on our marketplace, we thought: why not learn a few tips from the big players? Right? And today those tips come from Hauke Neehus. He is Marketplace Manager at Ulla Popken and is responsible, among other things, for the eBay presence. Hi Hauke.
Hauke: Hi Isabell, hi Rene, and thanks first of all for the invitation. I’m glad to be here.
Isabell: You just said it — with us today is an eBay colleague, Rene Uhlworm. Rene is Senior Category Manager on our Fashion team. He works on developing the Fashion category further and also looks after major fashion brands such as Ulla Popken and larger secondhand or pre-loved sellers who want to sell their products on our marketplace, which is also where the connection to Hauke comes from. He has accompanied Ulla Popken on eBay from the very beginning. So Rene knows exactly which tools and strategies eBay offers to increase visibility. Hey Rene!
Rene: Hello Isabell, hello Hauke! Thanks for the invitation. I’m happy to be here.
Isabell: We’re happy you’re both here too. Hauke, when exactly did you enter online retail with Ulla Popken?
Hauke: Well, Ulla Popken has actually existed since 1880, and we also launched our very first web shop back in 1999, and from that developed a large omnichannel strategy, still with a focus on brick-and-mortar retail, but also internationalization and the launch on marketplaces, as well as our own online shops.
Isabell: Then, just like us, you’re celebrating your 25th anniversary this year. How did you get started in online retail back then? Did you start directly on a marketplace or first with your own web shop?
Hauke: Back then in 1999 it all started with our own online shop, and from that it developed first into us going live in other countries with regular web shops, and later the connection to marketplaces came after that. #00:03:13-1# Isabell: Yes, and in 2022 you then started on eBay. Why did you choose eBay?
Hauke: We were actually already represented on eBay through a third-party seller, but because we had also connected to other marketplaces in the meantime, we eventually said that we had enough marketplace experience ourselves to do it on our own and present ourselves appropriately there, and that’s why we decided to discontinue the third-party seller and become active on eBay ourselves. #00:03:40-5# Isabell: And what makes eBay stand out for you? Why is it such a good marketplace for you?
Hauke: eBay is the ideal marketplace for us because we went in with a clear outlet mindset, and on eBay we have a buyer group that is completely different from other fashion marketplaces, and that’s why we thought, since we were already there with the third-party seller anyway, we can do it better ourselves, and it’s been going really well ever since. #00:04:05-0# Isabell: Okay, so that means you have different products in your own online shop and in your stores than on eBay.
Hauke: Exactly — on eBay we don’t sell our full range, but everything that’s currently on sale, then our outlet goods, and more recently also pre-loved items.
Isabell: You just mentioned the keyword “pre-loved.” That’s also a major focus topic on eBay. Could you maybe briefly sum up in one or two sentences what pre-loved actually means?
Rene: eBay started out selling a laser pointer, a defective laser pointer, and exactly — we are the original. When it comes to selling pre-loved items or refurbished items, in fashion this means that you can sell both secondhand goods and items with minor defects. #00:04:53-5# Isabell: And that’s also one of our focus topics right now in the fashion area, which means you’re focusing on that too. Could you say a bit more about our current fashion strategy? It kind of originated with the UK last year, didn’t it?
Rene: Exactly — in recent years. eBay has always been big when it comes to secondhand fashion. The big hype happened three years ago when a reality format in the UK approached our colleagues and said, “hey, we want to outfit our participants in secondhand clothes instead of fast fashion!”, and that hype then spread extremely quickly to us in Germany, without a TV format, and it’s more current than ever. We now had a collaboration with VOGUE during Fashion Week on the topic of pre-loved. So yes, this is the topic right now, and eBay is the original when it comes to pre-loved and secondhand fashion.
Isabell: And that’s probably why Ulla Popken fits so well into the... let me say, into the inventory. Hauke, you started on eBay with the Start-up Program, and maybe for everyone listening, could you summarize what the Start-up Program is? It’s basically a free onboarding program we offer at eBay, and it includes free business consulting and also a free eBay shop. We’d also put the details in the show notes. Rene, why was Ulla Popken, as such a large fashion company, still such a good candidate for the Start-up Program?
Rene: I love this question because I’m an incredible fan of the Start-up team and the program. The thing is: Start-up is the right format both for the big true-size brand and for the small, cool secondhand shop around the corner from me in Berlin. You have to be ambitious and really enjoy eBay, and the colleagues really guide you and simplify the start. That means, no matter where you have to enter your tax number these days or what tips you need on the topic of visibility — for me personally, the team brings our sellers into the eBay Community for real and shows what it means to be live on eBay and work with our other sellers and customers.
Isabell: Yes Hauke, you basically started on eBay with more than 20 years of online experience. What was it like for you, as such a large company, to basically do another marketplace crash course?
Hauke: Well, the Start-up Program was very, very helpful for us because it helped us with the technical integration. It generally gave us a closer look at eBay as a platform, because you have to remember that eBay isn’t necessarily like every other marketplace because it’s such an open marketplace. That means you can’t just approach it like any other fashion marketplace, and the Start-up Program really helped us get an overview: how eBay works, how we can make sure our listings are optimized and things like that? And with all topics we could simply ask questions if we had any problems, and that was very, very helpful.
Isabell: And that’s exactly the topic we want to talk about in more detail too. But before we get to that, I always like to ask our guests what mistakes they made at the beginning, so they can give tips and others can learn from them. So what did you maybe not do quite right at the start, what did you first have to learn?
Hauke: As already mentioned, eBay is a different marketplace from other major marketplaces, and you have to make sure that especially on eBay the community is very important, and it’s one of the few marketplaces where you can rate the seller as such, and these ratings are there for the customer so they can trust the seller. And that was something we first had to learn — that we first needed to get a certain number of good reviews so customers would really think, okay, this is a reputable seller, we’re happy to buy from them again. And that was the approach — we had to become clear on that first.
Isabell: And what did you adapt there, or what did you do differently?
Hauke: We started putting a very strong focus on getting very good customer service, being very accommodating with our customers, responding to every possible inquiry, even if it’s sometimes extremely random and not entirely relevant to the topic. But we tried to help the customers as best we could and made sure that the customer feels very, very comfortable with us, so that they come back and buy from us again.
Isabell: Rene, you were just smiling. Does that match your experiences with other sellers? You work with many different ones.
Rene: It matches completely. There are basically two classic mistakes made by newcomers on eBay. One is underestimating customer care. I mean... you have to remember: when a customer buys on eBay, in the end they say, I bought on eBay. They didn’t say from this or that seller, and that’s why it’s so important to us, and they also ask many questions, but they also have great performance metrics. They return very little to us, and of course that’s very important for our brands, so you’re not constantly dealing with returns and the like, and instead building good customer loyalty, so that we have many repeat buyers. That makes our partners very, very happy when it comes to our customers. But first you have to understand how the “eBayer” ticks. That’s a lot of fun.
Isabell: Then let’s talk concretely about what our listeners can do to give their listings and their shop more visibility, and here I’d especially like to focus on recognition value. Hauke, what do you do so that your buyers recognize your brand on the marketplace?
Hauke: To create recognition value, we use a very clear, consistent language in our product descriptions, in our titles, and basically across our entire eBay presence. That way, every customer, when they open one of our listings, knows: okay, this is a listing from Ulla Popken, and there’s also our eBay shop, where we also work clearly with a branding banner and model photos that the customer may already know from catalogs or other advertisements.
Isabell: So you basically use every placement we offer to make your logo visible in the eBay listing again. Rene, do you have one or two more recommendations for what listeners could implement to get more visibility successfully.
Rene: Following on from what Hauke said: listing quality is the ABCs. You want the item to be found on eBay. eBay is the only open marketplace in Germany with a wide mix of private and commercial sellers and a really great assortment. But visibility is the be-all and end-all, and really making sure your title is optimized, that your item specifics are optimized, is basic ABCs, and I always tell my sellers, put yourself in the customer’s shoes when they’re searching for your item. They type in “blue dress from Ulla Popken,” and nowhere is that described in the item. Then of course it’s a certain challenge to find and sell the item, and keeping that in mind — always keeping the other person, the customer, in view when I create the listing in our system. That’s very, very important.
Isabell: That also matches what we’ve heard from other categories, so listing quality really is the be-all and end-all on eBay, and I’d say it’s also a bit of a blessing and a curse at the same time, because of course it brings a lot of freedom with it. Um, Hauke, how exactly do you design your listing titles and descriptions? You already said that you always put Ulla Popken at the beginning of the title, and for the description you use a template. Do you pay attention to anything else?
Hauke: Exactly — we definitely use the full 80 characters available in the titles and always make sure to include the gender first, so who the target group is for, and also the color, because as Rene said, if someone searches for “Ulla Popken blue dress,” and neither “Ulla Popken” nor “blue dress” appears anywhere in the title, then they won’t find our products. And in the description we also make sure the customer can quickly find their way around our items, which is why we’ve also added a size chart there via this template, so the customer can first figure out based on that: okay, which size would even fit me? Also to minimize customer inquiries, so they can get as clear a picture as possible: is this a product for me, yes or no?
Isabell: Ah, okay, that’s super interesting. Rene, do we also offer templates like that for sellers, which they can use so that, for example, a size chart can be pre-filled directly?
Rene: We offer it indirectly, meaning eBay works together with large and small third-party providers. Or in German, inventory management systems; Plentymarket, for example, or also very popular with our small and medium-sized sellers is AfterBuy. These are programs where you can transfer bulk data to eBay. That means you can list 7,000 items relatively quickly, you can also change the price of 7,000 items relatively quickly, and of course they also provide support for listing quality as well as HTML templates, where a brand can feel at home, show its logo, present a nice appearance, and also ensure that when customers land on the item, they feel looked after.
Isabell: That’s of course also super useful for ensuring a consistent appearance across every listing. Hauke, you just said you would take professional photos into account for every listing. What makes a photo professional to you?
Hauke: Yes, all our product photos are taken in a photo studio and then cut out accordingly when they’re packshots. And when we have model photos, they’re also taken in a professional photo studio. That also creates recognition value for our customers, because they may already know our models from ads or catalogs.
Isabell: And two more questions on that: do you think it’s necessary, whenever you sell fashion items, to include model photos, or is the garment itself enough?
Hauke: A model photo definitely helps the customer immensely, because then they can roughly imagine how the product fits, especially if the item description also mentions the model’s size. That definitely helps the customer, as I said, get a better picture than if they just saw a packshot.
Isabell: And when you take photos, do you use the same photos on eBay that you also use in your web shop or in your catalogs? Or do you make extra photos for eBay?
Hauke: We use the same photos everywhere consistently.
Isabell: That probably also helps with recognition value. Rene, can you summarize the basics of good images in the fashion category for us? So how many images should I add to a listing, for example?
Rene: Um, for the fashion category, let’s say five images and up is basically a must-have to present yourself well. And maybe, if I’m repeating myself, put yourself in our customer’s shoes: would you buy a fashion item with only one image? In the end: no, and that’s exactly what we recommend. Make sure it’s on a white background, and judge for yourself whether you need a model image. Of course, with a true-size brand you can always say, hey, when it comes to fitting, that’s incredibly important. But I would always leave that up to the brand or the seller themselves, whether they need a model shot or not.
Isabell: So, you’re saying it’s not absolutely necessary.
Rene: Exactly. Especially when you’re getting into the whole “pre-loved” topic, you know the classic setup where it’s on a hanger or just on a white background. That’s naturally enough. What matters more is the content of the photos — front, back, the brand logo is very, very popular with our customers, that you cover the whole topic, especially with pre-loved, if there’s a defect, that it’s also photographed. And then you’re slowly getting to your five photos, and then the customer is happy too, and you always have to remember: the better your images are, the fewer returns you’ll have.
Isabell: You just mentioned returns. Hauke, what do you generally do to avoid returns?
Hauke: To avoid returns, as mentioned, we use the size chart, so the customer can look at the product measurements and order their exact size. Then of course we also include fit information in the item description, so we can roughly say how it’s cut, or show that on the product photo on the model, so the customer can get a sense of it. But we also have a very high repeat-buyer rate, which means the customer often already knows what size they need, and we naturally try to optimize that as well.
Isabell: And what return conditions do you generally offer in your listings?
Hauke: Basically the market standard — that means we simply include a return label in the package, and we’re definitely very happy that eBay will soon also offer “bring your own rate,” so we can enter our DHL terms there and the customer can generate the DHL label directly through eBay.
Isabell: I was just about to ask you to explain that. You’ve already given the explanation right away. Very, very good. Rene, is that also our recommendation at eBay? 30 days free?
Rene: In the fashion category, over the last few years the expectation has been to always offer free returns and free shipping. On eBay, of course, our very popular filter in the app is “free shipping,” which is current — things are changing, and there’s no right or wrong, and that’s the nice thing about eBay too. Of course we recommend accepting 30-day returns, because it naturally comes with a certain level of customer service, but, in my view, it’s the optimum for you as a seller, what you need.
Isabell: We just talked about “eBayers” and the eBay Community, and you also said how important good service is on a marketplace or generally in online retail. Do you perhaps have one or two more tips on how to prevent negative reviews?
Hauke: I’d definitely recommend showing patience with eBay customers and taking every inquiry seriously, as well as being accommodating. And what we also like to do is, if a customer had a less-than-ideal buying experience, we’re happy to offer them a private voucher so they can save something on their next purchase. And we want to strengthen the feeling that the customer is very well cared for with us, that we have a sense of community on eBay, and that’s why we communicate with this customer as nicely as possible with vouchers and the like, so they’re satisfied, so to speak, and so we can smooth over negative buying experiences.
Isabell: And that’s exactly what I’d like to talk about more in a moment. In a moment we’ll hear more from Hauke and Rene about the topic of eBay shops and marketing options for greater visibility. But first I’d like to know from you out there: which strategies have worked for you to get more visibility, and what hasn’t worked at all? If you’re listening to us in the Spotify app right now, you can reply to us directly via the Q&A function in the app. Just pull the slider up from the bottom of the app and let’s go! And feel free to write to us in the eBay Community or on our Facebook page “eBay for Business Deutschland”. By the way, we always appreciate your feedback on our podcast, and of course a like or a subscription too, since you’re listening right now. But now back to the topic. Hauke, you just mentioned the marketing tools and said that you use a private voucher. What other tools do you use to draw attention to yourselves and your shop?
Hauke: We actually use almost everything eBay makes available to us, so we use the normal standard ads, then we also use the promoted listings, and then newsletters that we can send to our existing customers or to customers who have bought from us in the past, the private vouchers, as already mentioned, but also the big voucher campaigns from eBay directly, which Rene usually draws our attention to. #00:20:47-3# Isabell: Rene, what tool would you recommend for fashion sellers?
Rene: I have to admit there isn’t ONE tool I recommend. Always try all the tools. Depending on your assortment and your price points, anything can work, and eBay keeps optimizing the tools and offering great things. When something new comes out, try it. At the end of the day, it’s not THE tool, but a nice combination of ads, coupons, and an ideal listing. Then you can be successful on eBay.
Isabell: Now, many marketing tools are only available with a shop, and on eBay we have four different shop models. Could you briefly summarize them for us again, Rene?
Rene: You’re right, there are four shop models on eBay. It starts at 39.95 with the basic shop. Personally, I can only recommend everyone to book a shop, as you already said. It gives you access to various marketing tools, but of course you also have the advantage that you can list X number of items for free with us. Of course, our sales position stays the same, and then it depends exactly on how big you want to become on eBay or how many items you offer. Do you want to list only up to 400 items with us? Then the Basic Shop is ideal for you. Do you say, I want to offer up to 2,500? Then the Top Shop is ideal for you. If you want a bit of an all-round carefree package, the Premium Shop gives you the option to list unlimited items with us for free. Of course, there are also a few other little goodies, like trying out auctions and the like. The fourth one for us is our Platinum Shop, our option for very large sellers with even more benefits.
Isabell: Yes, and the Top Shop is also included free of charge in the Start-up Program for the duration. Hauke, which shop model do you use?
Hauke: We use the Premium Shop.
Isabell: And why does it work so well for you?
Hauke: It works so well because we don’t exactly have few items, and the advantage of being able to list them all for free means we’re very, very happy with it, and that also gives us access to all kinds of marketing tools we want to use, which makes the shop a perfect fit for us.
Isabell: Did you also test different marketing tools for yourselves until you basically landed on your current marketing tool combination?
Hauke: We started out actually only with standard ads, and then over time other measures were added, like promoted listings, for example, and exactly.
Isabell: Rene, before we wrap up, do you have a final tip you’d like to share with our listeners?
Rene: Your best friend is your service status. In your service status, you should be a top performer, or at least above average, because that naturally boosts your visibility, and our customers value that too, because it includes metrics on whether you have many abandoned transactions or whether you don’t answer inquiries in time. And that’s naturally, as we’ve already said, important. Take care of your community, and then of course your service status is your best friend.
Hauke: Exactly — service status is incredibly important, and you first have to get there, to reach top performer status, and it’s definitely important to show persistence and, I’d say, grit your teeth to get there, and it’s also important to nurture your community there.
Isabell: Okay, I’d like to sum that up again. In this episode we covered a lot of different tips. So first of all, do your homework, take care of the basics, and make sure you maintain a consistent, professional presence in your listings. Keep an eye on your service status and be open to trying things out so you can find the right strategy for you. Thank you both very much. But before I let you go, there’s one last question I’d like to ask you: what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Hauke: For me it was a window regulator for a BMW. That was my last purchase.
Isabell: And for you, Rene?
Rene: Super cute! My mom picked out a vacuum cleaner for me on eBay, and I bought it.
Isabell: Are you happy with it?
Rene: Definitely!
Isabell: Lovely. Thank you both so much for this exciting conversation about visibility. I’ve taken away quite a lot, and I hope our listeners did too, and with that I’ll say thank you, and see you next time on “Alles top. Gerne wieder!”.
Hauke: Well, I’d like to say thank you too. It was a lot of fun here, gladly again!
Rene: I can only echo that. I’d be happy to do it again — it was a huge amount of fun! Thanks for the invitation!
Hauke: To create recognition value, we use a very clear, consistent language in our product descriptions, in our titles, and basically across our entire eBay presence. That way, every customer, when they open one of our listings, knows: okay, this is a listing from Ulla Popken, and in future also our eBay shop, where we also work clearly with a branding banner and model photos that the customer may already know from catalogs or other advertisements.
Isabell: Hello, dear listeners! The summer break is over, and I’m happy to welcome you back to another episode of “Alles top. Gerne wieder!” the podcast all about retail and e-commerce. My name is Isabell Butterwegge, and today everything is about visibility, using Ulla Popken, or rather the Popken Fashion Group, as an example. Ulla Popken is an international, family-run fashion company specializing in true-size fashion. Their collections are now sold in around 200 stores and through their own web shops, and because they’re also successful on our marketplace, we thought: why not learn a few tips from the big players? Right? And today those tips come from Hauke Neehus. He is Marketplace Manager at Ulla Popken and is responsible, among other things, for the eBay presence. Hi Hauke.
Hauke: Hi Isabell, hi Rene, and thanks first of all for the invitation. I’m glad to be here.
Isabell: You just said it — with us today is an eBay colleague, Rene Uhlworm. Rene is Senior Category Manager on our Fashion team. He works on developing the Fashion category further and also looks after major fashion brands such as Ulla Popken and larger secondhand or pre-loved sellers who want to sell their products on our marketplace, which is also where the connection to Hauke comes from. He has accompanied Ulla Popken on eBay from the very beginning. So Rene knows exactly which tools and strategies eBay offers to increase visibility. Hey Rene!
Rene: Hello Isabell, hello Hauke! Thanks for the invitation. I’m happy to be here.
Isabell: We’re happy you’re both here too. Hauke, when exactly did you enter online retail with Ulla Popken?
Hauke: Well, Ulla Popken has actually existed since 1880, and we also launched our very first web shop back in 1999, and from that developed a large omnichannel strategy, still with a focus on brick-and-mortar retail, but also internationalization and the launch on marketplaces, as well as our own online shops.
Isabell: Then, just like us, you’re celebrating your 25th anniversary this year. How did you get started in online retail back then? Did you start directly on a marketplace or first with your own web shop?
Hauke: Back then in 1999 it all started with our own online shop, and from that it developed first into us going live in other countries with regular web shops, and later the connection to marketplaces came after that. #00:03:13-1# Isabell: Yes, and in 2022 you then started on eBay. Why did you choose eBay?
Hauke: We were actually already represented on eBay through a third-party seller, but because we had also connected to other marketplaces in the meantime, we eventually said that we had enough marketplace experience ourselves to do it on our own and present ourselves appropriately there, and that’s why we decided to discontinue the third-party seller and become active on eBay ourselves. #00:03:40-5# Isabell: And what makes eBay stand out for you? Why is it such a good marketplace for you?
Hauke: eBay is the ideal marketplace for us because we went in with a clear outlet mindset, and on eBay we have a buyer group that is completely different from other fashion marketplaces, and that’s why we thought, since we were already there with the third-party seller anyway, we can do it better ourselves, and it’s been going really well ever since. #00:04:05-0# Isabell: Okay, so that means you have different products in your own online shop and in your stores than on eBay.
Hauke: Exactly — on eBay we don’t sell our full range, but everything that’s currently on sale, then our outlet goods, and more recently also pre-loved items.
Isabell: You just mentioned the keyword “pre-loved.” That’s also a major focus topic on eBay. Could you maybe briefly sum up in one or two sentences what pre-loved actually means?
Rene: eBay started out selling a laser pointer, a defective laser pointer, and exactly — we are the original. When it comes to selling pre-loved items or refurbished items, in fashion this means that you can sell both secondhand goods and items with minor defects. #00:04:53-5# Isabell: And that’s also one of our focus topics right now in the fashion area, which means you’re focusing on that too. Could you say a bit more about our current fashion strategy? It kind of originated with the UK last year, didn’t it?
Rene: Exactly — in recent years. eBay has always been big when it comes to secondhand fashion. The big hype happened three years ago when a reality format in the UK approached our colleagues and said, “hey, we want to outfit our participants in secondhand clothes instead of fast fashion!”, and that hype then spread extremely quickly to us in Germany, without a TV format, and it’s more current than ever. We now had a collaboration with VOGUE during Fashion Week on the topic of pre-loved. So yes, this is the topic right now, and eBay is the original when it comes to pre-loved and secondhand fashion.
Isabell: And that’s probably why Ulla Popken fits so well into the... let me say, into the inventory. Hauke, you started on eBay with the Start-up Program, and maybe for everyone listening, could you summarize what the Start-up Program is? It’s basically a free onboarding program we offer at eBay, and it includes free business consulting and also a free eBay shop. We’d also put the details in the show notes. Rene, why was Ulla Popken, as such a large fashion company, still such a good candidate for the Start-up Program?
Rene: I love this question because I’m an incredible fan of the Start-up team and the program. The thing is: Start-up is the right format both for the big true-size brand and for the small, cool secondhand shop around the corner from me in Berlin. You have to be ambitious and really enjoy eBay, and the colleagues really guide you and simplify the start. That means, no matter where you have to enter your tax number these days or what tips you need on the topic of visibility — for me personally, the team brings our sellers into the eBay Community for real and shows what it means to be live on eBay and work with our other sellers and customers.
Isabell: Yes Hauke, you basically started on eBay with more than 20 years of online experience. What was it like for you, as such a large company, to basically do another marketplace crash course?
Hauke: Well, the Start-up Program was very, very helpful for us because it helped us with the technical integration. It generally gave us a closer look at eBay as a platform, because you have to remember that eBay isn’t necessarily like every other marketplace because it’s such an open marketplace. That means you can’t just approach it like any other fashion marketplace, and the Start-up Program really helped us get an overview: how eBay works, how we can make sure our listings are optimized and things like that? And with all topics we could simply ask questions if we had any problems, and that was very, very helpful.
Isabell: And that’s exactly the topic we want to talk about in more detail too. But before we get to that, I always like to ask our guests what mistakes they made at the beginning, so they can give tips and others can learn from them. So what did you maybe not do quite right at the start, what did you first have to learn?
Hauke: As already mentioned, eBay is a different marketplace from other major marketplaces, and you have to make sure that especially on eBay the community is very important, and it’s one of the few marketplaces where you can rate the seller as such, and these ratings are there for the customer so they can trust the seller. And that was something we first had to learn — that we first needed to get a certain number of good reviews so customers would really think, okay, this is a reputable seller, we’re happy to buy from them again. And that was the approach — we had to become clear on that first.
Isabell: And what did you adapt there, or what did you do differently?
Hauke: We started putting a very strong focus on getting very good customer service, being very accommodating with our customers, responding to every possible inquiry, even if it’s sometimes extremely random and not entirely relevant to the topic. But we tried to help the customers as best we could and made sure that the customer feels very, very comfortable with us, so that they come back and buy from us again.
Isabell: Rene, you were just smiling. Does that match your experiences with other sellers? You work with many different ones.
Rene: It matches completely. There are basically two classic mistakes made by newcomers on eBay. One is underestimating customer care. I mean... you have to remember: when a customer buys on eBay, in the end they say, I bought on eBay. They didn’t say from this or that seller, and that’s why it’s so important to us, and they also ask many questions, but they also have great performance metrics. They return very little to us, and of course that’s very important for our brands, so you’re not constantly dealing with returns and the like, and instead building good customer loyalty, so that we have many repeat buyers. That makes our partners very, very happy when it comes to our customers. But first you have to understand how the “eBayer” ticks. That’s a lot of fun.
Isabell: Then let’s talk concretely about what our listeners can do to give their listings and their shop more visibility, and here I’d especially like to focus on recognition value. Hauke, what do you do so that your buyers recognize your brand on the marketplace?
Hauke: To create recognition value, we use a very clear, consistent language in our product descriptions, in our titles, and basically across our entire eBay presence. That way, every customer, when they open one of our listings, knows: okay, this is a listing from Ulla Popken, and there’s also our eBay shop, where we also work clearly with a branding banner and model photos that the customer may already know from catalogs or other advertisements.
Isabell: So you basically use every placement we offer to make your logo visible in the eBay listing again. Rene, do you have one or two more recommendations for what listeners could implement to get more visibility successfully.
Rene: Following on from what Hauke said: listing quality is the ABCs. You want the item to be found on eBay. eBay is the only open marketplace in Germany with a wide mix of private and commercial sellers and a really great assortment. But visibility is the be-all and end-all, and really making sure your title is optimized, that your item specifics are optimized, is basic ABCs, and I always tell my sellers, put yourself in the customer’s shoes when they’re searching for your item. They type in “blue dress from Ulla Popken,” and nowhere is that described in the item. Then of course it’s a certain challenge to find and sell the item, and keeping that in mind — always keeping the other person, the customer, in view when I create the listing in our system. That’s very, very important.
Isabell: That also matches what we’ve heard from other categories, so listing quality really is the be-all and end-all on eBay, and I’d say it’s also a bit of a blessing and a curse at the same time, because of course it brings a lot of freedom with it. Um, Hauke, how exactly do you design your listing titles and descriptions? You already said that you always put Ulla Popken at the beginning of the title, and for the description you use a template. Do you pay attention to anything else?
Hauke: Exactly — we definitely use the full 80 characters available in the titles and always make sure to include the gender first, so who the target group is for, and also the color, because as Rene said, if someone searches for “Ulla Popken blue dress,” and neither “Ulla Popken” nor “blue dress” appears anywhere in the title, then they won’t find our products. And in the description we also make sure the customer can quickly find their way around our items, which is why we’ve also added a size chart there via this template, so the customer can first figure out based on that: okay, which size would even fit me? Also to minimize customer inquiries, so they can get as clear a picture as possible: is this a product for me, yes or no?
Isabell: Ah, okay, that’s super interesting. Rene, do we also offer templates like that for sellers, which they can use so that, for example, a size chart can be pre-filled directly?
Rene: We offer it indirectly, meaning eBay works together with large and small third-party providers. Or in German, inventory management systems; Plentymarket, for example, or also very popular with our small and medium-sized sellers is AfterBuy. These are programs where you can transfer bulk data to eBay. That means you can list 7,000 items relatively quickly, you can also change the price of 7,000 items relatively quickly, and of course they also provide support for listing quality as well as HTML templates, where a brand can feel at home, show its logo, present a nice appearance, and also ensure that when customers land on the item, they feel looked after.
Isabell: That’s of course also super useful for ensuring a consistent appearance across every listing. Hauke, you just said you would take professional photos into account for every listing. What makes a photo professional to you?
Hauke: Yes, all our product photos are taken in a photo studio and then cut out accordingly when they’re packshots. And when we have model photos, they’re also taken in a professional photo studio. That also creates recognition value for our customers, because they may already know our models from ads or catalogs.
Isabell: And two more questions on that: do you think it’s necessary, whenever you sell fashion items, to include model photos, or is the garment itself enough?
Hauke: A model photo definitely helps the customer immensely, because then they can roughly imagine how the product fits, especially if the item description also mentions the model’s size. That definitely helps the customer, as I said, get a better picture than if they just saw a packshot.
Isabell: And when you take photos, do you use the same photos on eBay that you also use in your web shop or in your catalogs? Or do you make extra photos for eBay?
Hauke: We use the same photos everywhere consistently.
Isabell: That probably also helps with recognition value. Rene, can you summarize the basics of good images in the fashion category for us? So how many images should I add to a listing, for example?
Rene: Um, for the fashion category, let’s say five images and up is basically a must-have to present yourself well. And maybe, if I’m repeating myself, put yourself in our customer’s shoes: would you buy a fashion item with only one image? In the end: no, and that’s exactly what we recommend. Make sure it’s on a white background, and judge for yourself whether you need a model image. Of course, with a true-size brand you can always say, hey, when it comes to fitting, that’s incredibly important. But I would always leave that up to the brand or the seller themselves, whether they need a model shot or not.
Isabell: So, you’re saying it’s not absolutely necessary.
Rene: Exactly. Especially when you’re getting into the whole “pre-loved” topic, you know the classic setup where it’s on a hanger or just on a white background. That’s naturally enough. What matters more is the content of the photos — front, back, the brand logo is very, very popular with our customers, that you cover the whole topic, especially with pre-loved, if there’s a defect, that it’s also photographed. And then you’re slowly getting to your five photos, and then the customer is happy too, and you always have to remember: the better your images are, the fewer returns you’ll have.
Isabell: You just mentioned returns. Hauke, what do you generally do to avoid returns?
Hauke: To avoid returns, as mentioned, we use the size chart, so the customer can look at the product measurements and order their exact size. Then of course we also include fit information in the item description, so we can roughly say how it’s cut, or show that on the product photo on the model, so the customer can get a sense of it. But we also have a very high repeat-buyer rate, which means the customer often already knows what size they need, and we naturally try to optimize that as well.
Isabell: And what return conditions do you generally offer in your listings?
Hauke: Basically the market standard — that means we simply include a return label in the package, and we’re definitely very happy that eBay will soon also offer “bring your own rate,” so we can enter our DHL terms there and the customer can generate the DHL label directly through eBay.
Isabell: I was just about to ask you to explain that. You’ve already given the explanation right away. Very, very good. Rene, is that also our recommendation at eBay? 30 days free?
Rene: In the fashion category, over the last few years the expectation has been to always offer free returns and free shipping. On eBay, of course, our very popular filter in the app is “free shipping,” which is current — things are changing, and there’s no right or wrong, and that’s the nice thing about eBay too. Of course we recommend accepting 30-day returns, because it naturally comes with a certain level of customer service, but, in my view, it’s the optimum for you as a seller, what you need.
Isabell: We just talked about “eBayers” and the eBay Community, and you also said how important good service is on a marketplace or generally in online retail. Do you perhaps have one or two more tips on how to prevent negative reviews?
Hauke: I’d definitely recommend showing patience with eBay customers and taking every inquiry seriously, as well as being accommodating. And what we also like to do is, if a customer had a less-than-ideal buying experience, we’re happy to offer them a private voucher so they can save something on their next purchase. And we want to strengthen the feeling that the customer is very well cared for with us, that we have a sense of community on eBay, and that’s why we communicate with this customer as nicely as possible with vouchers and the like, so they’re satisfied, so to speak, and so we can smooth over negative buying experiences.
Isabell: And that’s exactly what I’d like to talk about more in a moment. In a moment we’ll hear more from Hauke and Rene about the topic of eBay shops and marketing options for greater visibility. But first I’d like to know from you out there: which strategies have worked for you to get more visibility, and what hasn’t worked at all? If you’re listening to us in the Spotify app right now, you can reply to us directly via the Q&A function in the app. Just pull the slider up from the bottom of the app and let’s go! And feel free to write to us in the eBay Community or on our Facebook page “eBay for Business Deutschland”. By the way, we always appreciate your feedback on our podcast, and of course a like or a subscription too, since you’re listening right now. But now back to the topic. Hauke, you just mentioned the marketing tools and said that you use a private voucher. What other tools do you use to draw attention to yourselves and your shop?
Hauke: We actually use almost everything eBay makes available to us, so we use the normal standard ads, then we also use the promoted listings, and then newsletters that we can send to our existing customers or to customers who have bought from us in the past, the private vouchers, as already mentioned, but also the big voucher campaigns from eBay directly, which Rene usually draws our attention to. #00:20:47-3# Isabell: Rene, what tool would you recommend for fashion sellers?
Rene: I have to admit there isn’t ONE tool I recommend. Always try all the tools. Depending on your assortment and your price points, anything can work, and eBay keeps optimizing the tools and offering great things. When something new comes out, try it. At the end of the day, it’s not THE tool, but a nice combination of ads, coupons, and an ideal listing. Then you can be successful on eBay.
Isabell: Now, many marketing tools are only available with a shop, and on eBay we have four different shop models. Could you briefly summarize them for us again, Rene?
Rene: You’re right, there are four shop models on eBay. It starts at 39.95 with the basic shop. Personally, I can only recommend everyone to book a shop, as you already said. It gives you access to various marketing tools, but of course you also have the advantage that you can list X number of items for free with us. Of course, our sales position stays the same, and then it depends exactly on how big you want to become on eBay or how many items you offer. Do you want to list only up to 400 items with us? Then the Basic Shop is ideal for you. Do you say, I want to offer up to 2,500? Then the Top Shop is ideal for you. If you want a bit of an all-round carefree package, the Premium Shop gives you the option to list unlimited items with us for free. Of course, there are also a few other little goodies, like trying out auctions and the like. The fourth one for us is our Platinum Shop, our option for very large sellers with even more benefits.
Isabell: Yes, and the Top Shop is also included free of charge in the Start-up Program for the duration. Hauke, which shop model do you use?
Hauke: We use the Premium Shop.
Isabell: And why does it work so well for you?
Hauke: It works so well because we don’t exactly have few items, and the advantage of being able to list them all for free means we’re very, very happy with it, and that also gives us access to all kinds of marketing tools we want to use, which makes the shop a perfect fit for us.
Isabell: Did you also test different marketing tools for yourselves until you basically landed on your current marketing tool combination?
Hauke: We started out actually only with standard ads, and then over time other measures were added, like promoted listings, for example, and exactly.
Isabell: Rene, before we wrap up, do you have a final tip you’d like to share with our listeners?
Rene: Your best friend is your service status. In your service status, you should be a top performer, or at least above average, because that naturally boosts your visibility, and our customers value that too, because it includes metrics on whether you have many abandoned transactions or whether you don’t answer inquiries in time. And that’s naturally, as we’ve already said, important. Take care of your community, and then of course your service status is your best friend.
Hauke: Exactly — service status is incredibly important, and you first have to get there, to reach top performer status, and it’s definitely important to show persistence and, I’d say, grit your teeth to get there, and it’s also important to nurture your community there.
Isabell: Okay, I’d like to sum that up again. In this episode we covered a lot of different tips. So first of all, do your homework, take care of the basics, and make sure you maintain a consistent, professional presence in your listings. Keep an eye on your service status and be open to trying things out so you can find the right strategy for you. Thank you both very much. But before I let you go, there’s one last question I’d like to ask you: what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Hauke: For me it was a window regulator for a BMW. That was my last purchase.
Isabell: And for you, Rene?
Rene: Super cute! My mom picked out a vacuum cleaner for me on eBay, and I bought it.
Isabell: Are you happy with it?
Rene: Definitely!
Isabell: Lovely. Thank you both so much for this exciting conversation about visibility. I’ve taken away quite a lot, and I hope our listeners did too, and with that I’ll say thank you, and see you next time on “Alles top. Gerne wieder!”.
Hauke: Well, I’d like to say thank you too. It was a lot of fun here, gladly again!
Rene: I can only echo that. I’d be happy to do it again — it was a huge amount of fun! Thanks for the invitation!
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