Gain Customer Experience by Running an eBay Store
When I started building products, both digital and physical, I jumped right in because the products were things I wanted to see in the market, and I assumed others would as well. I now do market research but I don’t necessarily regret starting the way I started. I was younger and learning a ton, so I think jumping right into things was a good way for me to learn a lot of lessons the hard way. For example, just because you build a product doesn't mean it solves a real problem.
Along the way, many folks I’ve met have asked me a question that always caught me off guard. It was some variation of “how did you learn to deal with customers?” For me it didn’t make sense because if you have a product you believe in, then you want people to use it, you want to sell it, and you want to make customers happy.
However, I recently started running an eBay store and it’s given me a range of new experiences in customer service. I’ve seen a broader spectrum of questions and situations than I have running an original product or service. If you’re looking for an easy way to gain customer experience, I highly recommend trying to run an eBay store yourself.
Below is a recent exchange I had with a customer who bought a (working) portable scanner from me.
Luckily, after sharing links to the software and including multiple instructional videos, I received the following feedback:
That’s certainly not the only customer service situation I’ve run into. The following are just a few customer (or potential customer) issues I’ve had to address in the last three months of running an eBay business on the side:
- A customer wanting to return luggage simply because they didn’t like it two months after delivery
- USPS and UPS delays
- Customers filing claims I was 97% sure were false
- Returns on items missing pieces or poorly described because I (admittedly) didn’t know enough about the product I’d sold
- Plenty of technical support questions (like the one above)
- And tons more!
If you’re looking to both fund a product and gain customer experience with one endeavor, starting an eBay store may be exactly what you’re looking for!
