Quickly & Easily Get Ready For The Best 4th Quarter Ever!

Quickly & Easily Get Ready For The Best 4th Quarter Ever!

Christmas is a little over 100 days away sellers!

eBay and Etsy sellers with these 3 simple strategies you can start equipping yourself for the best 4th quarter of online sales ever!

Are you ready? Let’s Go!

1st simple strategy for 4th quarter success is to take notes!

Take Notes!

Take Notes!

It’s wise to take notes on what inventory of yours sells when. Record what promotions you offered and when. Pay attention to which sales worked and which didn’t. Note what bundles worked to sell products. Bundling is an awesome way to get your products seen and sold during the Holidays! My hit online webinar Secret Spice For Online Sales walks you easily through the process of turning your inventory into bundles that sell! The notes you take this year, will be a deep reservoir of knowledge for you to use for 4th quarter 2017!

2nd simple strategy for 4th quarter success sellers is to check your inventory!

Check your inventory!

Check Your Inventory!

If you have not done a hands on inventory of all your stock in the past few months, now is the time to do it!

An accurate count of inventory now will save you from out of stock headaches in November and December. While indexing your inventory start thinking what promotions will work best. Using the 1st strategy of taking notes, record what items will group together well for eBay Collections, Etsy treasuries. Think about what products you want to feature on your Facebook business page, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram during the Holidays!

The next simple step for selling success is check ALL your shipping supplies!

Check Your Shipping Supplies!

Check Your Shipping Supplies

Look at what your sales volume was last year. Note your current sales. Calculate the difference.

Examine how fast you go through mailers, boxes and tape now.

Looking at the increase in sales you experience  typically for the Holidays you’ll have a good idea of how much and what shipping supplies you need on hand now. Order your supplies now.

The free USPS Priority envelopes, boxes and labels often take 2 and 3 times longer to arrive in November and December. Now is the time to stock up. If you use polymailers, padded envelopes, packing peanuts and tape consider the family owned company Bubblefast. They offer a wide variety of shipping supplies and with the coupon esnbes you’ll save 10% on your entire order!

Sellers, take in depth notes all through the Holiday season, check and log all your inventory and stock up on all your Holiday shipping supplies. These are crucial steps for selling success.

Take the time to do these easy and simple steps NOW.

Laying a firm foundation with these basic steps for you business moves you forward towards your BEST 4th quarter of sales EVER!

 

#1 Genius Hack To More Sales on eBay!

#1 Genius Hack To More Sales on eBay!

Did you know there is a super fast way to promote what you’re selling on eBay? Not only does this promotion work for many sellers it’s also FREE!  By now you’re thinking, “Kathy, Kathy what is it?” You may also be thinking, “What’s the catch?”

It is totally free and there is no catch.

It’s using Facebook, but NOT just any old way.

Let’s start.

You don’t need an eBay store to have a Facebook Business Page.

Get improved search without an eBay store! #eBay

Get improved search without an eBay store!

It can be easier for you to set up a Facebook Business page for an eBay store, but it is not mandatory for having a Facebook business page. Click here  for Facebook’s information to set up your page.

Your page is now set up! There is no charge from Facebook for maintaining a business page.  Maximize your page with my FREE Sales Power Tips For Your Facebook Business Page. Click Here for yours!

Now go to ebay.com’s page on Facebook. Click on eBay’s Facebook page. This is the page that is eBay’s corporate’s face to the world. This page is geared toward buyers. The first thing to note is that the Facebook page has over 10 million likes.

10 million likes! That is an enormous number. Facebook controls who sees your posts. When you post on Facebook only a fraction of your followers see your content. Who sees it is based on Facebook’s algorithm. If you have 100 friends only a small handful will see your post. The more your friends like and comment on your content, the more people will see it. The same is true of eBay’s page. However, the page is starting with over 10 million people who like their page. Even if a post only reaches a fraction of the page’s fan base, that’s a nice number!

Drum roll, please.

As a seller, you are allowed to post five products a day on eBay ‘s Facebook page!

Sellers, you are getting FREE access to their 10 million people fan base!

You may post a listing,  a Promotion created through  Promotions Manager, a link to a store category, a link to a Store search and a link to your store header. The link cannot take shoppers off eBay. Links to Twitter, your Facebook Business page etc are not appropriate.

You do NOT need to be a store owner to take advantage of this amazing offer.

If you have a Facebook Business page, when possible, it’s best to post from your Facebook Business ID. Sellers doing so report an increase in likes for their Facebook Business page.

Get your Facebook Business page ready for traffic and likes from customers. My The Ultimate Guide To A Facebook Business Page For Sellers will do just that! Click HERE for yours.

I have been testing posting along with many sellers in the Facebook group eBay Stores Nothing But eBay Stores. Many, many sellers are reporting sales of the items they post in this manner.

Posting on eBay’s Facebook page is free. It takes minutes. It can help your items to sell faster!

 

The Secret To Boosting Sales on eBay!

The Secret To Boosting Sales on eBay!

I’ve just returned from the exciting eBay seller event eBay OPEN in Las Vegas!

When you get eBay sellers together, you know that they are interested in hearing about increasing their sales!

2 of the eBay OPEN workshops for sellers dovetailed nicely. The 2 workshops were Marketing On eBay and Using eBay Stores To Build Your Business. Both workshops were targeted to eBay store owners.

Nick Shah, a Group Manager at eBay for B2C Seller Growth was joined by eBay‘s Gaurav Jain, Adi Behara and Deepak Pillai in the Marketing on eBay workshop. Dylan Henryson eBay‘s Senior Director of COO Seller Experience and Kevin Clark spoke at the Using eBay Stores To Build Your Business presentation.

Both teams explained the 1-2 punch for eBay store sellers of using paid Promotions integrated with Promotions Manager.

Powerful eBay Sales Combination!

Powerful eBay Sales Combination!

For paid promoted listings, the Marketing on eBay presenters clearly explained that eBay store sellers ONLY pay the promotion fee IF the item selected is sold from a customer clicking and buying through the promoted link. If a customer finds the promoted item from a Google search, or through social media work the seller does and buys through those searches, the seller DOES not pay a Promoted Listing sales fee for those sales.

eBay‘s Promoted listings is NOT pay per impression.

Dylan Henryson in the eBay Stores presentation compared Promoted Listings to Google adwords. Dylan emphasized that with eBay‘s Promoted Listings the seller only pays for the sale from a customer clicking and buying the item through the Promoted listing. There are no fees for impressions without purchases.

Gaurav Jain pointed to Promoted Listings as a powerful tool to increase the visibility of seller’s eBay Store listings, eBay store categories and the seller’s entire eBay store.

Let’s say you sell coffee mugs. When you promote 1 multi quantity mug, most sellers  find increased traffic and sales to that eBay store category and their entire eBay store. The promoted mug works to increase customer traffic overall in the seller’s eBay store

Get Customer Traffic With Promoted Listings!!

Get Customer Traffic With Promoted Listings!!

You’re only paying a fee when the customer clicks the promoted link. The residual traffic is a bonus!

Promoted Listings are available for multi quantity fixed price items in an eBay store in certain categories. Click Here for the FAQ information from eBay.

If the seller only sells 1 of a kind items I have discovered a work around. Let’s say you sell coffee mugs. You have no multi quantity fixed price items as your mugs are each unique and one of a kind. Go on eBay, or a local retailer and buy 2 of an interesting mug. Go on eBay and list the multi quantity mug. Then go to your growth tab in Seller Hub, click the Marketing tab to access Promoted Listings and select your promotion rate and launch your promotion.

This short video from eBay shows you how to set up a promotion in Promotions Manager

Test different promoted items and categories and see what works best for you and your eBay store. eBay gives you the data you need in your Promoted Listings dashboard.

Ready for part 2 of the 1-2 punch to increase your eBay store sales? Part 2 is using Promotions Manager.

Deepak Pillai stated that eBay has data showing that sellers using Promotions Manager see a 10% increase in sales across their entire eBay store. He further stated that 75% of shoppers are looking for some kind of deal, sale or promotion.

Shoppers Looks For Deals,Sales And Promotions!

Shoppers Look For Deals, Sales And Promotions!

eBay is a very competitive marketplace.

Online selling competition will only increase. When you showcase an item in a Promotion through eBay‘s Promotions Manager you greatly increase the likelihood of a shopper browsing and buying from you. An effective promotion with Promotions Manager helps to keep the eBay shopper in YOUR store. Experiment to see what groupings and what promotions in Promotions Manager work best for your items.

I find micro niching promotions effective.

To get ideas of content I look at shopping blogs and brick and mortar retail to see how they are grouping products. I also use Terapeak to investigate my competitors and see what Promotions they may be using.

Deepak Pillai encouraged sellers to use Promotions Manager to get traffic during retail moments (Back To School, Christmas etc), to put the spotlight on newly arrived inventory and to clean out stale inventory.

Adi Behara pointed to the importance of firing Promotions with Promotions Manager at the best time to get traffic. He reminded sellers that eBay spends enormous amounts of money to bring shoppers to eBay around retail moments. Targeting Promotions to these moments has immense value. Promotions in Promotions Manager also have social sharing buttons for the sellers to use to gain additional traffic from Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

eBay helps sellers target their Promotions with a retail calendar in Promotions Manager.

eBay Retail Calendar!

eBay Retail Calendar!

eBay Retail Calendar

Back to School shoppers are on eBay now! With my FREE The Ultimate Guide To Back To School Products target your inventory for Back To School shoppers and score sales!

Use fixed price multi quantity listings in Promoted Listings. Combine that with Back To School promotions in Promotions Manager now to increase your eBay store sales! Click HERE to get your free guide!

Adi Behara emphasized that every eBay store is different and it’s important to test promotions and tweak promotions.

Promoted listings done right are an effective tool for sellers to drive traffic to their eBay store. Once there, targeted promotions through Promotions Managers fired at the right time converts shoppers to buyers!

All the eBay staff at both presentations at eBay OPEN emphasized the importance of sellers testing and finding the right combination for for their shoppers. Both Promoted Listings and Promotions Manager offer data and suggestions to help sellers make effective choices.

eBay Store Owners using these Promoted Listings and Promotions Manager see increased traffic and sales!

eBay gives sellers the tools to increase visibility and sales with 1-2 punch of Promoted Listings and Promotions Manager!

 

 

The Ultimate Guide To eBay OPEN Las Vegas 2016!

The Ultimate Guide To eBay OPEN Las Vegas 2016!

It’s 8 days and counting to the eBay OPEN event in Las Vegas!

It is sure to be a time of celebration, renewing old friendships and making new ones.

eBay OPEN is also a great opportunity for learning and honing seller skills.

eBay OPEN starts on Tuesday July 26th. If you arrive on Monday July 25th there is an informal get together for all eBay sellers hosted by Stephanie Young Inge at Harrah’s Carnival Court starting at 8pm and going til… Stephanie asks that you RSVP so that she has a idea of total attendance. Click HERE to RSVP to Stephanie.

Registration for the event is at the Venetian Hotel July 26th from 12pm-6pm. There is a welcome reception from 4-6pm.

The reception offers an awesome opportunity to mingle with fellow eBay sellers including the SHINE award sellers and eBay staff.

July 27th kicks off eBay OPEN with much anticipated messages from eBay CEO Devin Wenig and eBay‘s Sr VP of North America Hal Lawton. The eBay General Sessions offer opportunities to hear eBays plans and vision for the 4th quarter of 2016 and the future.

July 27, 28 and 29th feature workshops on important topics to sellers. Workshops offer eBay seller opportunities to hone their skills for listings, buyer’s experience, global shipping and more. Tuanh Decroix eBay‘s Lead Product Manager promised me in the Listings and Orders Workshops her team will be covering how to streamline the listing process. She was excited to share that her team will be revealing some new fabulous features coming soon to eBay sellers! Click HERE for registration information for all the workshops.

Some eBay teams will have areas in the exhibitor hall. Those without areas will be floating around the convention to be available to sellers.

Tuanh assured me that her teams are accessible to sellers after and between workshops to help all sellers get their questions answered.

Look over the eBay OPEN workshops. Think about what you want to focus on. If you are attending eBay OPEN with eBay seller friends, consider attending different workshops and then compare notes.

Consider What You Want To Focus On

Consider What You Want To Focus On

Reach out to the eBay team that is most important to your eBay business. eBay staff is available face to face to sellers for 3 days to answer questions and help you with your eBay selling. If you are feeling shy, feel free to ask me introduce you to any staff that you want to talk with.

Click HERE for the current agenda for eBay OPEN.

eBay OPEN has 3 days of speakers, workshops, meals, Happy Hours and one heck of a party Thursday night with the Grammy winning band Fray. eBay OPEN also has event sponsors.

Sponsors offer sellers awesome learning opportunities. Click HERE for the complete list of eBay OPEN Sponsors.

During eBay OPEN there is time to walk the exhibitor hall and meet the event sponsors.

Sponsors offer awesome tools and products to the seller community.

Sponsors Offer Awesome Tools For eBay Sellers!

Sponsors Offer Awesome Tools For eBay Sellers!

Do you want some shipping tips? Visit with Mark and Robin Le Vine of Bubblefast. Mark and Robin are extremely knowledgeable about packing and shipping. They can help you know the best envelope and or box to safely ship your products.

If you want to talk listing, then you want to visit listing tools Inkfrog and Sixbit.

Do you want to learn how to research hot products on eBay? Stop at Terapeak’s table. Marco Alvarez of Terapeak assured me that he and the Terapeak staff are ready to give all interested eBay sellers 1-1 hands on tutorials on using Terapeak for product research.

Will Seippel and Robbin Levin of Worthpoint will show you all the amazing new tools that Worthpoint has for identifying and pricing collectible products, Robbin Levin let me know that Worthpoint is offering hands on training on all their tools at their table for eBay sellers.

Looking for product sourcing ideas? Then be sure and stop by BULQ and discuss how their pallets can possible help you and your eBay business.

There are many amazing sponsors offering sellers hands on tutorials and in depth product information.

You can’t come?

Lee Mirabel and Jim “Griff” Griffith will be broadcasting live from eBay OPEN on the acclaimed eBay Radio Show on Voicemarketing.com.

Betsie “eBetsy” Bolger the Creative Director of eBay Radio shared with me that eBay Radio will be live on Tuesday 7/26 from 4-5pm PT during the meet and greet reception. Lee and Griff will also be live on Wednesday and Thursday 7/27-7/28 from from 12-1:30pm PT. Betsie said the programs are PACKED with eBay execs you don’t want to miss hearing from.  You’ll hear live from your favorite eBay sellers and event sponsors.  I’m honored to be a guest on Wednesday at 12:30PT. Included in eBay‘ OPEN’s festivities will be eBay Radio hosting eBay’s Best Outfit competition! Click HERE during broadcast times to listen LIVE. eBay Radio can also be enjoyed on their iphone and Android apps.

eBay is also offering a free virtual attendance to sellers! Click HERE to register for FREE for the eBay OPEN Virtual conference.

During the event on 7/27-29 once registered for free at the above link,  sellers can attend eBay OPEN via their desktop computer and/or devices LIVE.Virtual attendees will miss all the 1-1 learning but get access to a lot of terrific content!

In addition to live coverage with the stellar eBay Radio Show team and OPEN Virtual Conference, you can also follow eBay OPEN on Social Media following the hashtag #eBayOPEN.

eBay OPEN is 4 days jam packed with networking, parties, workshops, Happy Hours, eBay Radio live broadcasts and many, many, many learning opportunities.

Take 10 minutes now and scan the agenda. Look at the workshops.Look at the Sponsors. Think about what eBay staff you want to speak with. Put the Sponsors in order of who you want to spend time with. 1-1 tutorials are a priceless opportunity for learning.

Take lots of notes. Take lots of selfies. Reach out to eBay staff and sponsors.

The best part of eBay OPEN is that it brings together an amazing group of people, eBay sellers and staff!

Those of us fortunate to attend, see you soon!

 

#1 Way To Score Back To School Sales On eBay!

#1 Way To Score Back To School Sales On eBay!

Do you know what the #1 way to score Back To School sales on eBay is?

The answer is to PLAN!

Effective planning and then executing your sales plan is crucial for success!

Back To School is a multi billion dollar sales season!

Back To School Is A Multi Billion Dollar Sales Season!

Back To School Is A Multi Billion Dollar Sales Season!

Sellers the time to get ready is NOW.

Are you thinking that Back To School is just about paper and pens?

Don’t fall into that trap and lose the opportunity to merchandise your items to eager shoppers!

Perhaps you’re thinking that Back To School shopping doesn’t start until August. Back To School advertisements are on the airwaves now. The shopping has begun!  Keep in mind that schools across the United States begin at many different times.

Don’t lose sales by starting your merchandising too late.

Don't Look Back To School School By Starting Too Late!

Don’t Lose Back To School Sales By Starting Too Late!

Back To School retail is products for students from Pre K- College. That covers a lot of ground. Sellers don’t forget teachers are shopping too. Savvy Back To School retailers are advertising clothing, electronics, dorm room supplies and more starting now.

You can compete with the big boys if you start organizing your inventory this month. I’ve spent weeks researching what customers want to buy during the Back To School shopping period.

I complied The Ultimate Guide To Back To School Products for you. It’s loaded with over 80 products that Back To School shoppers buy.

Click HERE to get your guide for FREE.

The Ultimate Guide To Back To School Products!

The Ultimate Guide To Back To School Products!

With The Ultimate Guide To Back To School Products in hand, take time to go through your eBay inventory. Select items to feature for Back To School.

With your curated items, create Back To School eBay Collections. Using tips from my blog post How eBay Collections Can Help Your Sales To Surge create tightly niched eBay Back To School Collections. Start sharing your niched  eBay Collections on social media to generate traffic to your items. Your niched Collections can also be found by eBay search and featured on eBay to shoppers!

Next week I’ll give you more power tips to get you Back To School Items searched and SOLD!

Step #1 is grab my FREE The Ultimate Guide To Back To School Products and start sorting your products!”

Don’t YOU miss out on this multi billion dollar retail season!

 

5 Minutes To Increased Sales on eBay And Etsy!

5 Minutes To Increased Sales on eBay And Etsy!

Sellers will come to me looking to increase their sales on eBay, Etsy and their own website. They will ask me for help.

I will ask the seller, “What are your goals?”

What Are Your Goals?

What Are Your Goals?

They will answer me “To sell more.” I will work with them to help them to be specific. Are they looking to increase their sales by 10, 20, 30% or more?

How do you achieve this goal of increased sales?

You can set aside 5 minutes a day to put your sales plan into place! That’s right just 5 minutes. To increase sales on eBay, Etsy or your own website, do you need to increase inventory, speed up the listing process, promote on social media and or hire help?

Once you have a goal, then work backwards to see what steps you need to put into place to achieve it.

You are sabotaging your success if you don’t have a clear plan.

Don't Sabotage Yourself!

Don’t Sabotage Yourself!

So back to a seller’s plan of increased sales.  A rule of thumb to increase sales by 20%, one would have to increase one’s inventory by 20%.

So I then ask the seller, “Do you have the cash reserve to purchase more inventory?”

If the answer is yes, we proceed. If it’s no, then we come up with ideas to raise cash. I work with the seller to increase their sales and cash flow. For some sellers it may be wisdom to take a loan.

Once the inventory cash is set aside, then it’s time to decide whether to acquire inventory locally through retail arbitrage, thrift shops and yard sales. Sellers can also chose to locate and develop relationships with drop shippers and wholesalers.

Exploring inventory sources can be done in 5 minute time chunks while you run your business.

Once the inventory is located and paid for, the next step begins.

Where are you going to store the inventory?

Where Do You Store The Inventory?

Where Do You Store The Inventory?

Do you need to reorganize your inventory storage area?

To prep your inventory area do you need family and or outside help? Should a storage facility be used to store inventory? Think it through considering the time and money involved.

While obtaining inventory and deciding the best way to store it, it can be smart to start a social media campaign on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram letting your followers know the goodies you have arriving soon! You can feature pictures of you preparing the inventory area to interest your followers in what is coming!

Your new eBay and Etsy inventory arrives.

Your Inventory Arrives!

Your Inventory Arrives!

You sort and store it. Log your inventory noting where everything is placed, so that you can easily lay your hands on your items when it sells.

Now the photographing and listing begins, anticipating your eBay and Etsy sales!

Successful sales growth on eBay and Etsy starts with a plan. Chose the percentage you want your business to increase. Calculate the necessary funds to successfully execute your plan. Investigate and choose the necessary inventory sources.  Start a social media plan including your followers in the soon to arrive new stock. Sort and store inventory as it arrives. List inventory and continue interacting with your followers, sharing your new inventory with them. You can plan and execute in small 5 minute chunks of time.  Don’t sabotage your plan with non action.

Keep tabs on results with sales and promotions, adjusting tactics to successfully sell your inventory.

With a well laid plan, and then necessary adjustments, you’ll enjoy nurturing healthy and steady growth for your eBay and Etsy business.

Then, onward the next step of your plan!

5 Minutes To Increased Sales on <a href=

5  Minutes To Increased Sales On eBay & Etsy!

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