eBay Sales Slump Solution ShelfTrend!

eBay Sales Slump Solution ShelfTrend!

Have your eBay sales slumped recently?

Ever wonder whether you’re the only seller experiencing a drop in eBay sales? Well, wonder no longer…because ShelfTrend’s new Recent Sales Report can help you get to the bottom of why your sales seem to be bottoming out!

There are lots of reasons for a slowdown in eBay sales.

It’s important to dive in and find out what is going on. Maybe there are just less buyers on eBay for your product right now. Maybe there was a change to eBay’s Best Match algorithm, so not as many buyers are finding your listing. Perhaps your price is too high. Or (worse yet), perhaps your product is losing its appeal.

It all adds up to lots of lost sleep while you fret and fume over the question of what’s causing eBay sales to drop.

But ShelfTrend subtracts those worries from the equation. All you have to do is search by keyword, category, competitor, or product identifier. Then ShelfTrend’s Recent Sales Report will show you the Last 7 Days, Last 30 days, and Month to Date sales for the Top 100 Listings as ranked by Best Match: number of items sold, revenue, and pricing.

ShelfTrend‘s eBay sales data is super-easy to use and understand, too.

Using ShelfTrend’s eBay data is super easy and helps you know why your eBay sales have slowed down!

ShelfTrend boils down the complexities first, doing the analysis for you and presenting you with the results. You don’t even need a spreadsheet!

The information in this report is extremely revealing. ShelfTrend’s Recent Sales Report makes it as easy as 1-2-3 for you to:

  1. Compare your own eBay sales to those of your competitors.

Learn how you could improve your listing, pricing, or even your product to regain lost sales.

  1. Identify who and what is dominating search results and sales. Detailed sales analytics for brands, products, and competitors give you an idea of emerging trends and what’s hot on eBay right now.
  2. Evaluate the overall market.

Use the interactive chart — which charts sales volume, sales revenue, and median price — to understand whether the market is experiencing growth, or if everyone is in the same boat with having a drop in sales.

You can search, sort, and filter — e.g., by listing format or condition — to drill down further.

This enables you to uncover critical insights that could change the way you source, price, and sell.

You can also download Recent Sales data as an Excel spreadsheet to glean even more detailed metrics, including item specifics, buyer location, and — soon — product variant. It’s an invaluable tool for assessing the performance of your products and your competitors.

But wait, there’s more! When you sign up for ShelfTrend and run the Recent Sales Report, you also get ShelfTrend’s other reports:

  • Top 500 Live Listings Report
  • New Listings Report
  • Supply Demand Report

When you run these reports together for the same keyword search, category, or competitor, you get a wonderfully well-rounded, real-time perspective on what’s really happening on eBay — not what you guess or hear rumors is happening.

The story behind this ecommerce market data company is both interesting and inspiring.

ShelfTrend was founded by former eBay executives Anojan Abel and Lisa Wong, who worked closely with sellers. Between the 2 of them, they had nearly 20 years of experience with the platform. Their epiphany came when they were asked to figure out why one seller had seen a recent decline in sales over recent weeks, despite not changing anything about their listings.

The seller suspected that the drop in sales might be due to a change in eBay’s Best Match search algorithm.

If your eBay sales have slowed, do you know why?

But a closer analysis of sales data revealed that in fact, a competitor had snuck in and begun listing similar products at lower prices. Because the seller had no easy way to spot this change in the marketplace, they missed critical activity within their category. The result? A huge disruption of their business!

Realizing that even the most seasoned sellers could be caught off-guard when they’re flying blind, Anojan and Lisa created ShelfTrend to help sellers stay on top of their sales.

They’ve got live marketplace data for more than a billion listings in thousands of categories from over 20 eBay countries. Their goal is to arm sellers with the analytics they need to make data-driven decisions about listing and selling on eBay — and to help them stay ahead of their competition.

Now, thanks to ShelfTrend’s suite of marketplace reports, you can identify, research, and monitor your competitors and their selling activity.

You can also analyze market movements to uncover emerging new products and competitors or gauge shifts in demand.

In addition, ShelfTrend lets you benchmark your business. You’ll know where you stand among sellers of similar products, and you can look for opportunities to improve your search ranking, drops in listings, or price changes.

Furthermore, ShelfTrend helps you find profitable niches by highlighting supply gaps vs. buyer demand.

ShelfTrend quickly identifies what IS selling on eBay!

Look at it this way: You can spend hours on eBay marketplace research and not be able to see the forest for the trees. Or you can let ShelfTrend do the work for you and get actionable results, including their new Recent Sales Report. Try ShelfTrend’s Basic Plan for free at ShelfTrend.com.

Take action with ShelfTrend to reignite your eBay sales!

eBay’s Spring Seller Update Protections Promised?!

eBay’s Spring Seller Update Protections Promised?!

eBay’s Spring Seller Update for 2019 is live. And it contains lots of good news for sellers.

eBay’s Spring Seller Update 2019 is Live!

Here are some of the benefits in eBay’s Spring Seller Update:

  • Expanded seller protections
  • Continued expansion and rollout of Managed Payments
  • Enhancements to marketing tools
  • Marketplace improvements
  • Updates to inventory optimization

However, let’s take a closer look at eBay’s Spring Seller Update. We’ll start with eBay’s promise regarding added seller protections.

In this seller update, eBay speaks to implementing stronger measures against abusive buyers (such as those who claim an item is not as described in order to score a free return). However, they don’t explain how they plan to do so. More clarity on this would be appreciated.

Also eBay now makes it easier to report buyers for specific offenses. Furthermore, eBay will reduce search visibility for sellers who violate eBay’s drop-shipping policy by using another retailer to ship purchased items directly to buyers.

These are welcome improvements, but again, sellers need to know how they’ll translate into safeguards for good sellers. It will be nice to see how eBay adds to these somewhat vague promises of standing behind its sellers.  Sellers will continue to look for strong, clear and effective Seller Protections in future site updates.

I speak to this in my YouTube eBay Spring Seller Update 2019 – What Seller Protection?

Now, let’s move on to the continued roll out of Managed Payments.

Managed Payments adds revenue to eBay. This is cited in eBay’s 2019 1st quarter earnings report. Understandably, eBay is offering Managed Payments to more sellers as quickly as it can. Google Pay is available to shoppers through Managed Payments as of April 2019. Also Paypal is now launching on a test basis through Managed Payments. You can express your interest in Managed Payments here. Most sellers should be opted in by 2021.

In addition, new user-friendly order numbers will be introduced this summer to help you track and manage orders more efficiently.

Last but not least, starting this July, you’ll be able to refund a percentage of the order amount — up to 100% — from Seller Hub.

Now for some really good news.

For starters, Promoted Listings, eBay’s paid search, is now available to sellers whether you have an eBay store or not. Promoted Listings increases your listings visibility in eBay search results. You pay your chosen rate (percentage of the sale price) whenever a buyer clicks on your Promoted listing, then purchases that item within 30 days.

eBay provides guidance for choosing ad rates as well as detailed sales metrics. Sellers create a campaign from your Active Listings page in Seller Hub. Sales are monitored on your Manage Orders page. Learn all about Promoted Listings here.

More goodness for sellers. It’s all about Seller Hub. Starting May 2019, you can bulk-edit and filter Active Listings by Best Offer. Ditto for “Offer to Buyers”, which sends offers to watchers.

Furthermore, you can also edit Volume Pricing into or out of listings from a handy drop-down menu. Now available to all sellers, Volume Pricing lets you set discounts for multiple purchases of multi-quantity items. As of this update, it works with multi-variation listings, too.

Sellers score with more options to the successful tool Volume Pricing!

 

This will have you doing the Happy Dance sellers.

Starting in July of 2019, Good ‘Til Cancelled (GTC) listing fees will be billed by the calendar month instead of every 30 days!

In addition, in your eBay Seller Hub, you can customize your Active Listings page to add the “Start date” column. This will show you how long each GTC product listing has been active on the site. To see your GTC listings’ auto-renewal dates, add the “End date” column. Now, that’s easey peasey. Thanks eBay! While short term listings are not available in the fixed price format, you can create shorter duration listings for auction listings.

There is news for eBay inventory optimization standards.

Category and item specific updates will affect key categories. All the categories are listed here.Be sure to list your items in “best fit” categories as mandated by eBay.

All in all, the Spring Seller Update of 2019 has good news for sellers.

Seller tools continue to evolve with welcome additions to Best Offer and Volume Pricing. More sellers are being opted into eBay’s Managed Payments. Managed Payments offers more attractive check out choices to shoppers. Note Managed Payments for now does not include International Transactions.

The one disappointment is the “new” Seller Protections. It’s great hearing how eBay stands by its sellers. But there is no new program, or step by consequences laid out for bad buyers. eBay promises more consequences to bad buyers. Sellers will watch eBay, to see if they follow through with substance for these “promised” seller protections.

eBay sellers are looking for promised seller protections.

Meanwhile, read eBay’s 2019 Spring Seller Update here, then decide how to make these new initiatives work for your business.

Enter eBay Seller’s Best Friend SellHound!

Enter eBay Seller’s Best Friend SellHound!

Enter the eBay seller’s best friend SellHound!

Over and over sellers say the hardest part of selling is getting their inventory listed quickly and accurately. With the Sellhound App, enter a dream come true for sellers. Sellhound is an eBay seller’s best friend and selling assistant. Furthermore, Sellhound is a way to list, that all you do is take photos of your items. Sellhound then researches and writes descriptions for you.

You’re not dreaming. Here is SellHound.

eBay seller Suzanne Wouk and her team of fellow sellers created SellHound. It is now released as an iPhone app (Android version coming soon). SellHound is an eBay seller’s best friend. It is your virtual selling assistant.

So, what do you do?

SellHound is an eBay Seller’s best friend!

You snap pics of your item. SellHound does the rest. It researches comparable items across multiple marketplaces. Then SellHound creates an awesome listing. Your listing is sent in an email to you. Approve and/ or edit your listing. Once accepted by you, the listing is submitted to eBay.

The approval feature is handy.

You can have a helper do your pictures with the SellHound App. The listing doesn’t go live on eBay, until it’s approved. So, you’re in control all the along the way. SellHound automates your work flow, giving you more time and more listings!

Unlisted inventory is money staring at you.

Additionally, think of the adage,”If it’s not listed, it can’t sell!” SellHound solves that dilemma for you.

Furthermore, SellHound is not a one-trick pony.

SellHound is no one trick pony!

Fetch, their popular price comparison search tool, is built into SellHound’s smartphone apps. That means you can use Fetch as your go to research tool. When you are shopping thrift stores, yard sales and or doing retail arbitrage, in seconds Fetch shows you the sold price for comparable items! And did I mention that Fetch is a free service? Cha ching sellers!

And, it’s not just eBay sellers who are impressed by SellHound.

This cool tool recently won a NEXTie award for Most Innovative Business.

Right now, for a limited time all of SellHounds capabilities are free to users.

Yup, that’s right, FREE! Suzanne and the rest of the SellHound gang value your feedback and really want you to give SellHound a workout. Get those death piles of unlisted inventory listed. While you’re listing with SellHound, let them how it’s working for you!

To that end, they’ve come up with an incentivizer to help get you motivated: SellHound’s “Show Us Your Stuff!” campaign.

Use SellHound’s new mobile app to list an item on eBay; then email that listing’s URL to alicia@sellhound.com. SellHound will feature your listing on their website and in their social media. It’s a win-win, because you get extra marketing exposure for your item while helping SellHound to tell the story of what they do.

In closing, sellers, gone are excuses for unlisted inventory!

SellHound is that extra pair of hands you’ve wanted Now is the perfect time to download SellHound from the Apple App Store. Android users, you’ll have it soon too. Remember, for a short time only, all for SellHound‘s features are available to you for no extra cost. Now truly is the perfect time to kill off your death piles once and for all!

 

 

 

eBay Gives & eBay Takes Away Seller Update 2019

eBay Gives & eBay Takes Away Seller Update 2019

eBay sellers welcome to an Early Seller Update for 2019.

There’s a lot of good news in the update plus two BIG changes. The overall theme to sellers is “Get it sold.” However, as always, eBay giveth, but eBay also taketh away. To begin, grab my complimentary tip sheet to remove the guessing of what impacts you and your eBay business.

So, let’s start with what eBay gives sellers.

Beginning in November 2018, a limited number of sellers could send “Offers to watchers” for items listed with Best Offer. As of today, items no longer need to be listed with Best Offer in order for you to send an offer, and “Offers to Buyers” is being rolled out to all sellers in Seller Hub.

With eBay's Seller Update, Send Offers To Buyers Without Best Offer!

Sellers can send Offers To Watchers, regardless of whether the item is a Best Offer Listing!

 

My experience so far is that about 1 out of 10 buyers accept my offer. Yet you, the seller, are in charge. YOU send the offer and set the price. This function is rolling out during the month of March, What your seller hub!

Improvements to Seller Hub are good news, too.

On your “Active Listings” page, hover over Price, Quantity or Custom Label, then click on the pencil icon to edit that field. This new functionality has been in beta and is rolling out sitewide, saving you precious time. Well done, eBay!

Get all the details in this video, eBay Gives And eBay Takes Away.

Starting in March, you’ll also be able to download Order Reports from your Manage Orders page as a CSV (Excel) file, including a new field showing sales tax collected and remitted on your behalf by eBay.

Furthermore, massive Inventory updates are going live.

eBay is still emphasizing product-based shopping, but with a focus on item specifics rather than listing via the catalog. This is a HUGE change for the eBay platform. heads up sellers. This means eBay is laser focused on Item Specifics for Product Based shopping. Item Specifics are now more important than ever for eBay and Google search!

With the change in catalog listing one Bay, your item specifics matter!

In March, for Electronics, Home & Garden, Health & Beauty, and Musical Instruments, the current “New – Other” item condition will become “Open Box”.  In the Business & Industrial category, “New – Other” will become “Used – Like New”. This clarification helps both buyers and sellers.

Now for some GREAT news: From the Basic level on up, store subscribers will soon get a complimentary subscription to Terapeak!

So, here’s what eBay is taking away: Good ‘Til Canceled (GTC) will now be the only duration option for fixed price listings. For auction listings, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-day durations are still available.

The reason for this change basically boils down to SEO. It can take up to 30 days for items to be indexed by Google and other search engines. Short-term listings may not be picked up.

There are other disadvantages. Short-term listings can lead to buyer frustration when a shopper finds a listing that interests them, but it’s gone when they go back for a second look.

Additionally, links in your social media posts for short-term listings go dead — and if a buyer clicks on that link, eBay will redirect them to another active listing!

If you still prefer short-term listings, you have 2 choices:

  1. Every 30 days or so, end your GTC listing, tweak it, and relist.
  2. Keep your GTC listing live, and simply revise it.

The second option keeps social media links live and retains views, watchers, and sales history. The latter gives you a boost in search every time another multi-quantity and/or multi-variation item sells.

In closing, the bottom line is, eBay is giving sellers more data and tools for driving conversion, but less listing options.

As with all seller updates, read the entire Early Seller Update. My complimentary tip sheet, eBay Gives & eBay Takes Away, will guide you through the nuances. If you prefer video, enjoy my YouTube.

Now you’re equipped to make the best choices for your sales and business!

 

eBay’s Structured Data Professional Repricer StreetPricer!

eBay’s Structured Data Professional Repricer StreetPricer!

Sellers once again its time to listen up about eBay’s structured data initiative.

To begin, eBay CEO Devin Wenig kicked off the structured data conversation at the eBay 20 conference in 2015. Furthermore, he’s been talking about it every year since the eBay Open. It’s also been a crucial part of every Seller Update. Additionally, it is increasingly mandated in categories, as eBay moves toward a product-based shopping experience.

So, what is structured data?

So, what exactly is structured data?

Simply put, structured data is any type of data with predefined attributes. That includes product identifiers such as UPCs, ISBNs, and MPNs. It’s standardized information that enables shoppers to more easily find specific products.

Also, structured data makes it easy to check your competitors’ prices. So if you have SKU-based inventory, it’s time to look at repricing tools. Few eBay sellers use repricing tools. There are lots of Amazon repricing tools, but for eBay, not so many.

Enter the eBay professional repricing tool, StreetPricer.

Founded by Cardy Chung, a top seller on eBay, StreetPricer is a professional repricing tool that can give you a legitimate edge over your competition. You control the repricing; StreetPricer works at your command. Pricing your item right is crucial to boosting sales and profit!

When you shop online, what would you normally do?

You decide what you’re going to buy, and then you shop around for the best price from a seller with a good online reputation. Customers buy on price; we know that. I am amazed by sellers who list their items at unrealistic prices. What are they thinking? Setting the right prices is so easy to do, but so often overlooked.

Simply, competitive pricing equal more sales.

Using StreetPricer to compete, means more sales!

Time and again, you’ve been selling an item…and suddenly, sales slow down or come to a complete stop. Then, you check your competitors’ pricing! Oh no…Once the price is set properly, it starts again, right?

So, consider what is your best business strategy.

Look at your margins. Watch your cash flow. Do regular sales with a sightly lower profit make sense for your business? With StreetPricer you set the parameters for the tool. You are in charge.

I asked Cardy Chung, “Is this a race to the bottom?”

His answer is “absolutely not!”  He explained, “We’ve all had the experience of competing with foolish sellers who brought your prices right down to the floor 2 months ago. Then find he’s been out of stock for 3 weeks, and we’re still listing our items at that foolish price! If your competitors move their prices up, you want to be the first one to know about it. StreetPricer lets you do that!”

Cardy explained, “With the vendor data I have seen at conferences, the number of “ups” vs “downs” in repricing is usually 50-50. It’s a matter of constantly responding and optimizing the pricing according to market. ”

There are some repricers out there that claim to do Amazon and eBay.

Keep in mind  it’s wise to pick software that’s designed for eBay, not Amazon. Lots of Amazon repricers claim they can reprice on eBay, too, but they struggle to deal with eBay’s unique way of organizing its search, item specifics and catalog data.

In closing, if you have a SKU based inventory and not using a repricing tool, you are losing sales.

Streetpricer is the ideal repricing tool for eBay sellers. It understands and responds to the uniqueness of the eBay marketplace. Don’t race to the bottom, rather maximize sales. Armed with StreetPricer you’re competitive and know when to raise your prices. Now that’s music to a sellers’s ears!

eBay Jail Alert Selling Rules Have Drastically Changed!

eBay Jail Alert Selling Rules Have Drastically Changed!

Heads up sellers. This is an eBay jail alert for you.

First, eBay has made a major change to its regulations governing what you can and cannot sell on eBay. Simply, it’s all about how you source and ship your items. Violating this new rule can land you in eBay jail. So here’s an eBay jail alert for you with the straight dope to keep you out of trouble.

Some eBay sellers “scrape” (import) listings from other marketplace sites and list those products on eBay.

There are even third-party tools and applications that help them do so. So, the seller does not own the item or have it in hand, nor are they listing a product from a legitimate drop shipper.

When an item sells, the eBay seller goes to the website from which he or she scraped the listing and buys the product. Then, the item is shipped directly to his or her buyer. In short, the seller is using that other marketplace to fulfill their eBay orders.

THIS IS NO LONGER ALLOWED!!! Here’s what IS allowed…  

eBay’s new rules do not affect sellers whose business model includes drop shipping from legitimate wholesale suppliers or manufacturers. In effect, it is totally eBay-legal to sell an item on eBay whose orders you fulfill through a legitimate third-party drop shipper. Drop shipping means you buy the product from a wholesale source, which then ships it to your customer. My complimentary guide, Stay Out Of eBay Jail! lays it all out for you.

Furthermore, it is also eBay-legal to use Amazon’s Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) service.

With MCF, sellers use Amazon as their warehouse and fulfill all orders through their Amazon account. It’s equally eBay-legal to use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). With FBA  sellers have Amazon store their inventory, and Amazon ships the stored item from their own warehouse when it sells.

So, it’s eBay-legal as well to use other fulfillment services that ship your stored inventory.

What’s key here is that the inventory belongs to you, the seller.

With eBay’s new drop shipping rules, know what is allowed.

Simply, the inventory does not belong to the owner of the warehouse. You are only storing your own merchandise. So, it’s not the warehouse owner’s products being sold and shipped.

What’s NOT eBay-legal as of this month is the practice of taking a listing from Amazon (or some other retail website) and listing that item on eBay.

When it sells, the seller then buys it on Amazon (or that other retail website) and has it shipped to the buyer. Currently, this business model is banned. So, if you get caught doing this, you are endangering your eBay selling status and could even find yourself suspended! Read the entire policy here.

There are potentially severe consequences if you break the new drop shipping rule. eBay states, ” we may remove your listings from search, display them lower in search results, or remove them completely from the site. We may also limit, restrict or suspend your ability to buy, sell, or use site features on eBay..”

To ensure that you understand the new rules, and for more information, watch my YouTube video “eBay Selling Rules Just Changed!”

 

Some sellers who are NOT guilty of this now-illegal practice are being caught by an eBay bot (automated robot scanning the site’s listings).

It flags their account as suspicious and removes their Top Rated Seller status. If you’re  caught in this net, reach out to eBay Customer Service right away. If you’re a US or Canadian seller messaging them through eBay for Business’ Facebook page is one quick way to get a US-based CS rep. Otherwise contact customer service through the eBay site.

In closing , consider this your eBay jail alert. eBay’s product sourcing and listing rules have dramatically changed.

If you drop ship, adhere to the new strict criteria, so you don’t end up in jail!

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