What can you do with your eBay business when you need to take time off?

The holiday season is among us and it’s getting to that time where we all start thinking about taking some time off work to unwind and relax. When working for someone else, this process is slightly easier as you can book your time off, ensure your work is up-to-date before leaving and then hopefully enjoy your holiday work free. However, if you are self-employed and trade on eBay, one question springs to mind when a holiday is due, what should you do with your eBay business?

Being self-employed generally comes with the stigma of holidays being unpaid and business being put on hold until you return. However, if that thought is too daunting, many choose to continue working through their holiday and this scenario is very much the same for online sellers with eBay businesses.

Here are some useful tips that you can use to help ensure that you are spending your well-deserved time off just how you want to be spending it.

Do you want your time off to actually be time off?

If your ideal holiday means being work free, then the best option for you is to end all of your active listings a couple of days before you take your time off. This will then leave you time to pick, pack and dispatch any outstanding orders, to get up-to-date with emails and enquiries and to also let customers know that you will be ‘out of office’. This can be done via Selling Manager Pro which will send an automated dispatch email. You could then schedule your listings to restart a couple of days before you’re due back to help generate business for your return.

However, the fact that this option means that you will have no orders coming in during your time off can be just as much of a negative as a positive – depending on what you want. No orders means no money, which is why it tends to be the least likely option used by successful eBay sellers.

Let your eBay listings run during your time off

This next option means that you would leave your listings active whilst you are enjoying your time off, meaning business and money will still be coming in. However, with this option it is extremely important to make it clear to your customers that you are out of office and unable to dispatch orders and answer emails until your date of return. If this precaution is not done then you may return to a vast amount of unhappy customers and negative feedback. To do this, simply add a note to your listings.

If you want proper time off and to be work free during your holidays then either of these two options are probably best for you. However, if not, then read on for the alternatives.

Using holiday settings

Holiday settings are only appropriate if you sell enough products to warrant an eBay shop. This options allows you to hide your ‘Buy It Now’ listings meaning that although they are still listed, customers cannot find and buy them whilst you are away. By doing this, you are ensuring that you will not lose your search placement that you have worked very hard on achieving.

Alongside this, holiday settings allow you to apply a pre-set message to your listings which states when you are away and informs customers that although they may purchase an item, there may be a delay in processing and receiving the item. This message is then placed at the top of your listings and eBay shop.

If you do not like the idea of a pre-set message, then holiday settings also allows you to can create your very own message to be displayed on your listings instead. This can then give a more personal touch.

Drop shipper

If you are using a drop shipper then you can continue your eBay business as usual by just accessing the internet a couple of times a week. Although this means that you will be working during your time off, this options allows you to relax more than you would be at work. All you need to do is leave your listings running, ensure you have your laptop or smartphone on you with internet access and then check your orders every few days. By forwarding your orders to a drop shipper, your orders will be dispatched and all you need to do is mark them as dispatched to customers.

If you do not use a drop shipper or intend on paying to use one, an alternative option could be trusting a willing friend to dispatch your orders for you during your time off. But again, this would mean working every few days whilst you are away and trusting someone with this task.

I hope these options have assured you that operating an online eBay business can be flexible and allow you to enjoy your well-deserved time off – whether that means being work free or checking your emails every few days!