All You Need to Know while Building a Website like eBay

https://www.biztechcs.com/blog/ebay-clone/

eBay is like that all-rounder school kid who does pretty well in academics, is also good at co-curricular activities, will help other kids with their studies, etc. 

You might have heard about eBay’s philanthropy. eBay community indulges in various charitable projects. It is one of the founding members of Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online. It supports budding entrepreneurs; it is active in the field of education- eBay university helps new sellers find their place in the global market. All these along with keeping up with the growth trend. So basically, eBay is the blue-eyed boy of the online marketplace. 

Just like average kids who would want to be famous like the popular student, entrepreneurs who wish to explore the online trading marketplace look up to eBay for inspiration.

‘I want an eBay-like growing business’ and of course that’s why you are here reading this.

And to help you with that, we are here with a blueprint of eBay Clone Script.

Let’s begin!

All you Need to Know About eBay

The year 1995 witnessed the birth of a popular platform that years later would transform the way we perceive trading.

eBay hit the trail as AuctionWeb- an online auction platform where sellers listed their items for bidding, with the highest bidder acquiring the items. 

Today, the billion-dollar company serves as a traditional online shopping website with thousands of products in addition to offering services like online auction, event ticket trading (stubhub.com), and online classified ads. Sellers even have the option of opening their own stores on the website- that’s one hell of an evolution!

When we talk about B2B and C2C multinational eCommerce marketplace, the business model of eBay has done a decent job. eBay built an online person-to-person trading community bringing buyers and sellers together. Sellers list items for sale, buyers bid on items of their interest and all eBay users can browse through listed items. The items fall under different topics, where each type of auction has its own category.

Look at this image, for example.

eBay for Sellers

Sellers list the products for sale with product images, description, price, and shipping details. Every month, sellers receive a selected number of free listing and for every listing, they pay a fixed charge to eBay.

Value Proposition for Sellers

• The choice to list products and services through fixed-price listings or an auction-style format.
• Ability to list items that are newly refurbished, used, and rare.
• Promoted Listings.
• eBay’s Top-Rated Seller program.
• Insights on optimal listing and pricing through the Seller Hub portal.

eBay for Buyers

It’s just like any other shopping platform where after login, the buyer can search for desired products, compare the price, and finalize the deal.

Value Proposition for Buyers

• Wide inventory at a good value.
• Multiple delivery options.
• eBay’s 110% Best Price Guarantee (in the US for certain categories of products).
• Offerings below $10.
• Money-Back Guarantee and eBay Authenticate

eBay notifies the buyer and seller via e-mail at the end of the auction if a bid exceeds the seller’s minimum price, and the seller and buyer finish the transaction independently of eBay. The binding contract of the auction is between the winning bidder and the seller only.

Revenue Stream from Website like eBay

As of September 2019, eBay’s market value is $33.5 Billion and $22 Billion worth of goods were bought and sold.

So, how does the platform make billions? Let’s find out.

Browsing and bidding on auctions is free. Though eBay earns from the following transaction fees that sellers pay.

• The seller pays a nonrefundable Insertion Fee which ranges between 30 cents and $3.30, depending on the seller’s opening bid on the item.
• A fee for additional listing options to promote the item, such as highlighted or bold listing.
• A Final Value (final sale price) fee at the end of the seller’s auction. This fee generally ranges from 1.25% to 5% of the final sale price.

eBay also makes money through advertising on its classified marketplace and other services. Moreover, eBay is popular in 190 countries. Therefore, it earns a considerable revenue from international trade as well.

Remember in the beginning we discussed eBay being the golden boy online? I think you would like to know what’s the secret ingredient of eBay’s strategy. It could help your business too!

Think out-of-the box: who would have thought about having an online place for auctioning and trading back in the 90s?!

A panoramic inventory: books, accessories, electronics, pet supplies, toys, antiques, rare photographs, you name it and you have it all.

Taking everybody along: eBay involves sellers from diverse demographics thus creating an inclusive marketplace. Enables everyone to flourish by gives opportunities to local businesses and those who are looking for immediate buyers.

Evolution: evolution is at the heart of eBay. See how it transformed from auction platform to online shopping website.

User-centric: customer ratings, money-back guarantee, and programs like SafeHarbor, eBay Top Rated Seller (eTRS), and Verified Rights Owner Program to protect the customers from frauds.

Acquisitions: eBay has secured more than 65 organizations, the most expensive of which was the purchase of Skype.  

So, this is how the multinational company works.

How can you build a similar app and gain success?

Look at the below image. That’s how the eBay clone will function.

To transform the workflow to reality, the first step is to decide which one of the eBay business models you want to choose. The choice of business model is the key factor to determine the success of your auctioning business. Go for a model that is sustainable and profitable.

eBay Clone – Business Model

Yard Sales

Do you have unused furniture dumped in your garage? If yes then yard sales are a great way to make some money out of it. Many are using eBay as a giant yard sale. You can sell your scrap to them and earn cash. Make you not sell any item that eBay prohibits to sell.

Consignment

In this business model, instead of hunting for products; you advertise locally for products that people wish to sell. Once you get the products and find them worthy enough to sell on eBay, you carry out a consignment with the seller. According to this agreement, you will have to pay the seller a percentage of the auction price.  

eBay Stores

eBay Stores allows you to set up an online store. Here, instead of applying the auction format, you can sell products at a set price. Many entrepreneurs prefer this business model as they have full control over the price and the profit they earn. 

Drop shipping

In this model, you have the advantage to skip the task of hoarding products at your home or office. You can even set the profit margins without considering packaging and shipping. Instead, you find a drop shipping partner who will carry the items you wish to sell. Every time you sell an item on eBay, you share the order details with the drop shipper. How do you earn profit here? – you pay a lower, wholesale price to the dropshipping partner and the difference between the price you pay and you receive after selling is your profit! 

Wholesaling

As the name suggests, in this business model, you sell products in bulk instead of individually. This is a B2B model as you sell products to other eBay business owners. How does it work? – let’s say you want to sell 100 chairs. Instead of creating 100 separate auctions, you sell the entire lot for a low price and add shipping charges on the order. This method is simple and quick.

Features of eBay Clone Marketplace

eBay clone app should have all basic features like easy login, order management, shopping cart, payment options, ratings and reviews, and so on. To ensure a user-friendly experience and generate more revenue, consider building a feature-rich clone. Make sure that your eBay clone has these features:

Admin Panel

Dashboard: A user-friendly administrator dashboard for site administration.

Resource Management: A panel for the admin to manage products, customers, vendors, orders, etc.

Discounts: Attract users by sending notifications about special offers, discounts, latest updates, and more.

New Arrivals: Share the latest products on the top view to alert your customers.

User App

Social Login: For a secured login, app users can sign up via their social media accounts.

Add to Cart: A must-have feature in the user app to add the products to shopping cart.

Payment Option: A secure payment that integrates various payment modes.

Order Status: To notify buyers about the status of order. This also includes product confirmation, product shipping, cancellation, and more.

Filter Search: An important feature that allows customers to search as per their requirements.

Vendor Panel

Selling Platforms: For conveniently selling products worldwide.

Product Upload: For vendors to upload products with images and descriptions.

Vendor Management: For the admin to easily manage, add, or delete vendors and their products  

Every platform in the market has the above-mentioned basic features. In a competitive space, you have to make sure that your business stands apart from your competitors. For that consider embedding additional features to improve the ability of your eBay clone.

Latest Trends to make eBay Feature-rich

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

eBay has been using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to boost business. It uses AI in personalization, search, insights, and recommendations. For instance, AI-powered tools anticipate the needs of buyers and recommend products. Machine learning helps sellers identify the best prices. 

You can inculcate AI features to enhance the search option. AI will understand the context of a user’s search and then provide relevant products. In this way, your customers will get a sense of personalization and they are likely to use the app again. You can even enable voice search and navigation on your online marketplace for better customer experience. 

Various Payment Options

Credit card is no longer the ‘only preferred’ payment method. Amazon Pay and Google Pay have become common. What’s trending and becoming normal is cryptocurrency. Businesses that own crypto can also get support from a crypto marketing agency especially if they are new in the industry. The crypto market has a total market capitalization of over $155 billion (on March 15, 2020). Make sure your online marketplace has the latest payment methods covered. 

Multi-language

One of many common trends online is the availability of multiple languages. It gets you a wider customer base thus increases traffic, helps to increase international sales, enhances customer experience, and cultivates trust. To avail of these benefits, you can have the user-side of eBay clone script in multiple languages.

Other than this you can include the following:

• Integrate live chat to encourage support by replying to user queries.
• CRM to keep track of client and sales information.
• ERP for effectively managing customers, vendors, products, orders, and users.
• Integrating social media to let users share on their accounts. This will in a way work as word of mouth publicity.

Must-have Features in a Website like eBay

The process of building an eBay website includes registering your domain, choosing a hosting platform, figuring out all design elements, listing the technological stack, and deciding on an experienced website development provider.

For the success of any website, usability is critical. Good usability increases the performance of your website and boosts sales and revenue of your business. Your eBay clone will get you all the good luck if: it is mobile compatible, accessible to all users, has fast load times, good search feature, and so on. For this, you need to make sure your site has every essential feature added. 

Here’s are some features that an auctioning website with good usability generally has:

User-friendly navigation: for easy search

Shopping cart: for users to add products they wish to purchase 

Track Order: know the status of the product

Payment Method: multiple payment options that are secure

Live Chat: works as a support to users

Category and filter selection: browse products by category

Compare products: a feature that lets users compare the price of products

Rating and reviews: let the user share the reviews on the product

Wrapping Up…

We hope this plan helps you to begin working on eBay clone. The best thing you can do is do research and write down everything that’s in your head to make your idea a reality. If during the process of research, you think you might need professional help, you can contact our developers.