Technology Toolkit

Guarantees are powerful marketing tools in any arena and they’re particularly helpful in the sometimes uncertain online waters.

Suppose you were shopping on eBay for a particular DVD. You found two auctions ending within the hour and both items were similarly priced. Both sellers had stellar Feedback Ratings. But one offered a hassle-free, 30 day guarantee. The other made no mention of a guarantee, or whether refunds were even accepted under any conditions.

Now, which listing would you be more inclined to bid on? Obvious, isn’t it? You’d probably take the one with the guarantee — just it case. It’s an extra measure of security, should you receive a faulty DVD, or experience a similar problem.

Any kind of guarantee of satisfaction will likely enhance your sales. And the longer and stronger the promise of your guarantee, the more appealing your offer becomes. Guarantees take the onus off the customer. They ensure that you deliver exactly what was promised in the listing.

Guarantee something. If you can’t guarantee the item for any reason, guarantee something else. For example, you could guarantee professional packaging or shipping and/or delivery times or prompt replies to any inquires or friendly, expedient customer service.

The flexibility to return an item for a refund or credit helps alleviate any misgivings about buying or bidding on eBay. It’s a safety valve that reduces anxiety while increasing active bidding.

By offering your buyers a guarantee, you remove any risk they might have had that kept them from jumping in with both feet. When you knock down enough of the reasons for saying no to bidding, you’re in effect making it easy for prospects to say yes. The less resistance, the more action you’ll get. So find a way to guarantee something. It can only help in the long run.

Will some people take advantage of your guarantee unethically? Yes, undoubtedly that will happen. Some people will return merchandise and demand reimbursement for no reason at all. Yes, it’s completely unfair. But so is life sometimes. That’s just the way it is.

It’s a cost of doing business and the longer you are in business and the more volume you do, the more cases you’ll have where you have to deal with a guarantee. So why bother offering a guarantee when you’re going to inevitably be ripped off anyway? A guarantee policy is an asset to you simply because in the grand scheme of your eBay business, you’ll make more money with one than you ever will without.