Insights
Our insights draw from our vast experience & industry knowledge to provide you with information that in turn you can use to your benefit, from advanced eBay tips to a guide to packaging in the mobile phone industry we cover an array of topics we think you will be interested in. If you think you have an idea for a piece of content please let us know!
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November
With winter nearly upon us, it’s the perfect time to start waterproofing your parcels and thinking about taking extra care with your packaging.
October
Find out when Black Friday and Cyber Monday fall this year and discover the difference between the two.
May
Despite having had to navigate through some difficult years recently, the UK is once again thriving as a hotbed of entrepreneurialism.
April
You know those incredible trinket-filled 'junk' shops you find down backstreets when you're on holiday? The ones with shelves, boxes and rails full of one-of-a-kind items you've never seen before.
March
The abominably-named 'Brexit', as you know, refers to Great Britain withdrawing from the European Union - a decision which we can all influence during the June 23 referendum.
February
Sending a parcel might seem like a pretty simple thing to do, but things do inevitably go wrong every now and then. Parcels can be confiscated, damaged or even lost in transit - all to the frustration of you and the intended recipient.
With the British economy back on the up and optimism growing, new businesses are cropping up everywhere; around 600,000 of them per year, in fact - many of them in the retail industry.
January
With 2015 now firmly in the past, the world is looking ahead to this year with fresh optimism. This is true not only for individuals hoping to get healthy, wealthy and tobacco-free, but also for businesses.
When it comes to Christmas, few place more importance in present-giving than us Brits. One study predicted the average shopper's spending total to be around the £500 mark in 2015, with a per-gift price of £36 - higher than anywhere else in Europe.
December
It's fair to say the UK is a nation of drinkers, with only one fifth of British adults choosing to avoid alcohol altogether. Whether it's a glass of wine with dinner, or a few beers in the pub, it seems we can't get enough.
November
Everyone likes receiving a package through the mail. It could be an exciting new gadget that you ordered from China two months ago and assumed would never arrive, or a gift you weren't expecting in the first place.
With the dust now having settled on the high-profile Consumer Rights Act 2015 introduction, businesses and sole traders are starting to get a clearer picture of what they can expect from it.
October
Everyone likes receiving a package through the mail. It could be an exciting new gadget that you ordered from China two months ago and assumed would never arrive, or a gift you weren't expecting in the first place.
With the dust now having settled on the high-profile Consumer Rights Act 2015 introduction, businesses and sole traders are starting to get a clearer picture of what they can expect from it.
September
As an online retailer, especially a small business, the terms you come across when setting up and running your online store can boggle the mind.
August
Setting up a website or online shop is pretty simple. The advances in technology and growing popularity of online shopping, combined with competitive parcel delivery rates, have all made online selling anyone's game.
With 2014 a record year for new business registrations, it appears people across the UK are in full entrepreneurial spirit. When the internet makes it so easy to get up and running, it's not difficult to see why.
July
As a small business it can be difficult to know where to start when marketing your brand online.
June
Studies show the average Brit spends close to £2,000 online every year - about £600 more than the Australians occupying second place.
Helping keep costs down on your overall shipping fees enables you to stay competitive, especially in an arena like eBay where these prices can make or break a purchase.
May
If you have chosen WordPress as your website CMS over perhaps Magento or Shopify, you're going to need an ecommerce plugin to turn your site into a fully functioning web shop.
The internet has revolutionised retail. No longer are aspiring entrepreneurs required to invest big before they can display and sell their wares.
April
In order to be successful in the fickle and fast-moving world of e-commerce, businesses must be prepared for every peak and trough.
For small businesses, calculating shipping rates is a key consideration when setting up a website or online shop.
March
Whether or not to ship globally is often a prominent question for small businesses and online sellers. International shipping can seem a huge undertaking, full of pitfalls, causing many sellers to avoid it completely.
There can be a lot to take on board when stepping out into the world of retail, and sometimes the biggest decision in today's technological era is whether to open a physical bricks-and-mortar store, or a digital-only shop.
February
The advent of the internet has brought about great changes for small businesses. Combined with the instant benefits offered by social media, retail start-ups need no longer be held at the behest of larger firms to get their products in front of customers.
So you've set up shop on Etsy, eBay or Handmade at Amazon, you've uploaded your carefully chosen photos and created item descriptions, and are now ready to sell your crafty wares.
January
Whilst smaller operators may struggle to capitalise on discount events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and post Christmas sales in the same way as big retail brands, it's still possible for SMEs to ride the publicity wave of these big, headline-grabbing events.
December
With Christmas just around the corner, the last couple of months will have been especially hectic for most businesses. Retailers of all sizes are enduring what is by far the sector's busiest period of the year.
For many smaller businesses, Christmas isn't just about capitalising on an opportunity to boost profits - it's an essential part of survival.
November
New services and approaches are emerging regularly to fill the gaps left by the high street banks, which entrepreneurs can use to their advantage. Here are just a few options.
The following tips will show you how your business can act on this to take full advantage of being British when selling outside of the UK.
October
John Donahoe, has always claimed that the two businesses are "better together", so it came as a slight surprise when it was announced at the end of September that PayPal would become a separately traded company at some point in 2015.
Intellectual property law can seem like a bit of minefield for small business owners, especially when just starting out. In truth, however, it's an area well worth being clued up on
September
Enthusiastic entrepreneurs across the country are choosing now to turn their business dreams into realities. When so much is at stake, though, getting it right first time is crucial. The following tips should help to ensure that is the case.
August
When buying or selling on eBay, it pays to be popular. Whether you're one of the dominant sellers in a certain sub-category or well-known as a reliable, quick buyer, eBay users both stand and fall on their reputation
With social media potentially increasing sale values, it shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that these sites are making a significant impact in ecommerce.
July
No longer are sellers bound to sell their wares on a generalist marketplace like eBay when there are more than a handful of specialist websites - from arts and crafts to fashion - that may prove to be more lucrative for both parties.
If only there was a way to load hundreds of items with a single click, or a way to include photos and descriptions without even needing to be online. Wouldn't it be great if eBay could make it easier to list things? Well... yes, you guessed it. Introducing the Turbo Lister!
June
Are the amount of depots a courier has a key difference? Find out the advantages there may be for the couriers with local depots.
Contacting the seller is a great way to resolve any questions and eBay's 'Contact Seller' button can actually be turned into a major asset in an eBay sellers' arsenal. Here's how you can do it.
May
Buy It Now has become as ingrained a part of eBay as the auctions upon which it first made its name. Despite this, some prolific eBay users have still not quite managed to get to grips with the feature, or decided it doesn't quite suit their needs. To think this, however, is to discard some of the huge opportunities that Buy it Now could offer.
When you're a small retailer competing against huge companies like Amazon, it's not easy to get shipping costs right. Here are some tips on how you can cut down your postage and packaging costs, so you can reduce the amount of non-converting customers.
April
eBay fully recognises the importance of being able to cater for professional or at least semi-professional sellers and has laid out a few useful tools to help them strike the big bucks! Here's what you need to know...
With 100,000 Brits moving to Australia every year chances are you know someone who's out there! But what should you send them to remind them of back home?
Consumer behaviour changes constantly throughout the year so it makes sense to adapt your approach accordingly. With this in mind, here are some tips...
March
Does posting a script to yourself actually make a difference, though, or is it one of those urban myths that simply refuses to go away?
Having to give gifts not just on Mother's Day but also birthdays and Christmas can sometimes leave the creativity reserves running dry. But, there are plenty of options for more heartfelt gifts that also provide a departure from the norm.
February
Trends are a big part of successful eBay trading and without following them, you're unlikely to make much real progress. How can the entertainment industry help you?
As much as we'll tell our friends that we're "not all that fussed" about Valentine's Day, deep down we know that nothing quite beats putting a smile on the face of someone we love on February 14.
January
Exporting is an involved process and there are many factors to take into consideration, but once you know the basics, it's not too difficult. It's certainly an avenue that is worth exploring. Here's our beginner's guide to exporting products.
Whether this is for one big item or a huge number of smaller ones, retailers may find themselves needing to send something a little larger. So what exactly can you fit in our XXL parcel?
December
The likelihood is that when someone wants to buy something specifically, they'll search the whole web and not just eBay. For this reason, it's very important to make sure your eBay shop is optimised for search engines.
stuck for ideas? You're forgiven. Tastes and interests among the younger generation may have changed a little since your own sleepless nights on Christmas Eve, so we'll give you 25 - yes, 25 - suggestions to get you started.
November
There is a huge market for rare trainers, so can be quite an enticing business with which to get involved, but there are a few considerations which need to be addressed in order to start off on the right foot.
October
eBay is among the most popular of ecommerce sites, having been responsible for a huge number of part-timers becoming fully-fledged retailers in just a matter of months. So what is needed to turn eBaying in your spare time into a full occupation?
It is possible to package your valuable electrical items in such a way that will ensure they are as secure as they possibly can be, which will hopefully save you from a lot of heartbreak.
September
The mobile phone market continues to grow at an exponential rate. No longer are we using this hand-held gadget solely to make calls; we use it to control our life.
The benefits of becoming a Top-rated seller on eBay are vast and only expanding with every month of growth for the flourishing global ecommerce sector.
When sending goods abroad, most people are naturally a little bit anxious that their parcel will reach its intended recipient unblemished, in one piece or even at all. How can you avoid problems when sending your parcel abroad?
If life boasts a more delicate process than the packaging of a fragile item, I'm sure we'd all love to hear it. It's natural to ponder the likelihood of a fragile item travelling from one place to another without falling apart.
On September 3, 1995, the still fledgling internet was to change forever. Software developer Pierre Omidyar created a new subsection on his business website for a social experiment.
International shipping is a term used to describe all types of postage, irrespective of type of vessel used; however, it was originally coined international shipping because mail was of course, delivered exclusively by ship.