eBay’s Spring Seller Update Protections Promised?!

by | May 4, 2019 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

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!

by | Mar 25, 2019 | eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

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 SellHound‘s 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

by | Feb 27, 2019 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

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.

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!

by | Feb 5, 2019 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

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!

by | Jan 26, 2019 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

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!

Trending New Year’s Hashtags Sellers Want!

by | Jan 8, 2019 | eCommerce Tips, Facebook Business Page Tips, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips

First off, what are trending New Year’s hashtags that sellers want for 2019?

I’ve got some fresh new advice on the best New Year’s hashtags for eBay sellers. Sellers can use these hashtags to start 2019 with great engagement to drive sales. What sellers doesn’t want to start the year with lots of customers?!

To begin, where do you find the hottest hashtags?

How do sellers find the best hashtags for social media?

Look on Twitter for trending hashtags there; you’ll find them in the left-hand sidebar in the desktop version of Twitter.

Hashtags are topics and keywords that you can find on social media.

They’re distinguished by a pound sign before the first word or words. A hashtag is frequently a keyword, and vice versa. A keyword is a word used by a potential customer to find a certain item.

You want to find the hottest hashtags, therefore look for those that are trending.

Trending hashtags reveal what is most popular on social media — i.e., what people are talking about and looking for right now. Can you tie in any of the products you have listed for sale? Using popular hashtags and keywords in your products posts on social media gives them “search  juice”.

So, trending hashtags gets you more views, likes, clicks, retweet and sales.

For instance, sports events and award shows are always big. Are your followers sports fans? Many folks are. Do you have clothing, shoes, home décor, collectibles or other items that they might like? If so, include the trending hashtags in your product tweet. One or two hashtags work best for Twitter.

Check Facebook to see if the Twitter trending hashtag/keyword is popular there as well.

Do a search for that hashtag, and find out. Chances are it is; great, then post your item(s) on Facebook too. Change up your post a bit for Facebook, because you don’t want to spam your followers.

Now investigate Instagram.

There you can include 11 to 30 hashtags with each post. However, do make your posts fresh again for that site, so they don’t come across as spam.

In closing, the artful use of relevant and apropos trending hashtags/keywords gets you views, clicks, and sales. Best of all, using social media this way is absolutely free.

So don’t be shy. Go forth, find the hottest hashtags of the new year, and post – post –post your items on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Get your sales jumping with the hottest hashtags on social media!

PHP Code Snippets Powered By : XYZScripts.com
Exit mobile version