Is Biggest Always Best?

Nathan Huppatz

1st Jul 2009

Thats right. You don’t necessarily want to be the biggest Powerseller, or the biggest seller in your category.
Size doesn’t have to be a goal.

Some eBay sellers forget, turnover in itself is not a measure of success.

For a long time I have, in the back of my mind and sometimes the front, wanted to be the biggest seller in my category.

I guess this was for some sort of feeling of importance, a power of position, or something like that. But over the last year or so, things have changed in the Australian eBay landscape and business has to change with it.

My thoughts on being the biggest seller (from a turnover perspective) have disappeared. Why the change?

Well, the change in attitude was due to analysis of our business, the model we work with, and the market we trade in.

Competition

eBay Australia is getting more competitive for sellers. Each year, each month, each day there are more sellers on eBay trying to make some pocket money, spare change, or a living.

Business turnover, business models and product mixes/sales volumes are very transparent on eBay and this opens the door to copycats, and can make it much easier and less risky to enter the market. Many prospective sellers can do the math on some product, work out costs, and see what those products sell for.

Maybe eBay.com has reached more of a saturation point of sellers than we have in Australia, but I don’t think we are far away from that. Selling more for less is not often the answer. So what do you do?

You reinvent, you change, you adapt. You focus on the important things, not just turnover…

If not the biggest?

So, if not the biggest, what sort of seller do we want to be?

Simply, we want to be the best seller possible.

‘Best’ incorporates lots of things, including

• Profitable
• Ethical
• Moral
• Reliable
• Responsive
• Diligent
• Sustainable

Think about it, there are no bragging rights for being the largest seller in your category when the second or third largest is a more sustainable, profitable and reputable business.

This is what we aim to be. If we end up being the biggest seller as a result, well great.

But really, I am not fussed. I focus on the values we need as a business to survive, be profitable, and be reputable in all things we do.

So should you. Your business will thank you for it in the long run.

(This article originally published at www.nathanhuppatz.com)