A seller's guide to the silly season

Stock levels:

• Make sure you’re aware of your stock levels. You don’t want someone purchasing the perfect gift from you only to later find out it’s not in stock. Remember, you can always add stock or additional listings if you have extra stock.

Best selling products:

• Make sure you have plenty of stock available for your best selling products. If these items sell well outside of the holiday season, chances are they’ll fly off the shelf in the lead up to Christmas!
• You may also want to consider giving these items a bit of extra promotion during the Christmas rush.

Supplies:

• Make sure you have everything you need to get your parcels out the door – from courier bags to bubble wrap and sticky tape.

All hands on deck:

• Over the lead up to Christmas, ensure you have enough staff to help steer the ship.
• If you’re a one-person band, it can help to rope in a friend or family member for back-up. An extra pair of hands can make packaging goods and getting them out the door much easier. This will allow you to concentrate on maintaining awesome customer service for your buyers.

Make sure your listings and Store details are perfect:

• Have a look through your photos, titles, and descriptions to make sure they’re clear, easy to understand and accurately represent the product you’re selling.
• If you offer pick-up as a shipping option, ensure you have clear instructions detailing when items can be picked up in the lead-up to Christmas. This information should be visible on your listings or your ‘About the Store’ page.

What makes your items great Christmas gifts?

• Sell your products to your buyers – utilise your description to convince buyers why this is the ideal gift for their loved ones.
• There are loads of ways to market yourself inside and outside of Trade Me. For some good tips and tricks on standing out from the crowd, check out our marketing blog post.

Know what the big companies are doing:

• Big companies spend big bucks on researching the ‘up-and-coming’ gifts each year. Take note of what they’re advertising and use their research to your advantage.

Cut-off dates:

• If your postal or courier company has cut-off dates, make sure you’re aware of these so you can plan accordingly.
• If you won’t be shipping for more than a few days you’ll need to temporarily stop your listings or advertise this hiatus period clearly in your description to save any disappointed buyers.

In time for Christmas:

• Make it clear the last day goods can be purchased from you in order to arrive in time for Christmas. This will ensure that buyers are presented with clear expectations.
• When it comes to shipping, it’s always best to overestimate than underestimate shipping durations. Couriers can often slow down during this period, so be sure to keep this in mind when setting your dates.

Returns:

• For returns, ensure you have a clear policy and process in place so that if someone needs to return a gift it’s a quick and easy process for everybody involved.