eBay Sellers Christmas Holiday Sales Alert!

by | Sep 29, 2019 | eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

eBay sellers Christmas is less than 90 days away. That is less than 12 weeks. That may seem like a long time to you. It is not.  So, eBay sellers that means it’s time to start preparing for a profitable Q4 right now.

Not sure exactly where to begin for a successful eBay sellers Christmas selling season?

Relax, because I’m here to help you have your best Holiday selling season ever! The first thing to remember is that there’s really no wrong way to tackle Q4, as long as you tackle it. It’s your business; you get to be in charge of how you run it.

So don’t waste time and energy comparing yourself to others.

What works best for another eBay seller may not work for you — and vice-versa. Make the best decisions for your business and your life. It’s your eBay business.

If you’re like most eBay sellers, there are probably 3 things on your eBay sellers Christmas Q4 wish list:

  1. More sales than last year
  2. Get more done in less time
  3. Enjoy the holidays with family and friends

My proven Q4 success strategies can help you achieve all 3 of those goals to have a great eBay sellers Christmas!.

Go to your Active Listings page in Seller Hub, and click on Current Price to sort items by what’s most expensive. Which of your items are new with tags?

You may think an item is not a gift. Remember not everyone has your lifestyle. Your family may not gift power tools, but for someone else, it’s the perfect Chrostmas gift. Think outside the box when it comes to what you think is just right for a gift. Many, many items are giftable! Christmas present are not just dolls, teddy bears and video games!

eBay seller s Christmas is more than teddy bears!

The perfect Christmas gift is more than toys!

Don’t forget that used items also sell as gifts, especially if they’re vintage and/or collectible.

Next, check your unlisted inventory, and get gift-worthy items listed ASAP.

Make a list or spreadsheet, so you can easily keep track of your Holiday listings. Then cast a critical eye at your active listings. Do any of them need their photos redone? Or maybe put into a different order? Make sure your listings are still optimized for search, too, as item specifics may have changed. This recent video Lost In eBay Search shows you how invaluable correct item specifics are.

By now you should be pretty well organized. Check your holiday inventory at the beginning or end of each week, whichever works best for you:

  • What’s selling or sold?
  • Do you need to run a sale?
  • What needs tweaking?

Create promotional campaigns, and make a note of what works — then do more of it!

Finally, to have the ultimate eBay sellers Christmas, plan to enjoy yourself

In between all of the above tasks, take time to bask in the company of family and friends and participate in holiday events.

Build that time and those events into your Holiday plan. You’ll be making memories while your business is making money!

Break out the wassail, and let’s share a toast: Here’s to your best eBay Christmas Holiday selling season ever!

 

 

eBay Back To School Sales Explosion!

by | Aug 17, 2019 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

eBay Back To School shoppers are here sellers!

It may feel as if Summer will never end, but it’s already time for eBay’s Back to School (BTS) retail moment. That’s right: The eBay Back to School selling season is NOW. And it’s going to be HUGE on eBay.

Just how big is eBay Back To School you ask?

So, how big is eBay Back To School Shopping?

For starters, the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts record spending this year: Families with children in elementary through high school will shell out an average of $697 (up from $685 in 2018), while families with college students are expected to ante up an average of $977 (up from 2018’s $942).

Best of all, those families plan to do roughly half of their shopping online. That includes eBay Back To School shoppers!

Furthermore, 85%-90% of those planning to shop online intend to take advantage of free shipping. (There’s a word to the wise!)

But the potential for profit doesn’t stop there.

Back to School encompasses everything from pre-kindergarten to graduate school. It includes children, teenagers, and adults. It’s kids and teachers, but it’s also parents, who shop for themselves while shopping for their offspring.

How can you attract these eager eBay Back To School customers?

If you think you have nothing to offer Back to School buyers, think again! BTS items go way beyond school supplies like pencils, notebooks, and backpacks. They run the gamut from electronics to apparel to accessories.

My complimentary downloadable Ultimate Guide to Back to School Products will help you discover coveted BTS goodies that you already have on hand — and maybe even already have listed!

You’ll be surprised to find out how much of your available inventory is popular with Back to School shoppers.

Once you’ve got a handle on your best BTS items, if you have an eBay store, now is the time to promote those items.

This is one retail moment during which every major retailer offers deals and savings. You can, too! So get smart, seller: Google some of those major retailers for inspiration. Then use eBay’s Promotions Manager to create deals of your own.

For example, you might offer a percentage or dollar-amount discount for buyers who spend more than $X with you.

Create a Promotion with Promotions Manager. Group you Back To School items together. That way, when your shopper lands on one of your products, they’ll be encouraged to buy more from you. Here are more possibilities that might pay off.

Put certain Back To School items on sale, and make a sale event for them.

Consider bundling products together to attract even more shoppers. Feature those special bundles on your social media. You might even want to make a dedicated store category for Back to School Deals and use eBay’s bulk-editing tool to stock it with selected items from your current listings.

In short, offer savings to get sales!

The Back to School selling season runs through mid-September, but the time to take advantage of this retail moment is NOW. Download your free copy of my Ultimate Guide to Back to School Products today to jump-start your BTS selling and cash in on Back to School!

Here’s How To Attract eBay Back To School Shoppers!

eBay Open 2019 Seller Updates Galore!

by | Aug 11, 2019 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

Good news from eBay Open 2019: Policies and initiatives announced at the conference place sellers front and center! These policies impact sellers at all levels.

First, these new policy updates and initiatives unveiled at eBay Open 2019 are important. Furthermore, there are fine points to them that you might overlook.

For all sellers, with or without stores

  • New photo-editing tool! eBay has launched in beta a new photo-editing tool that whites out the background of your pictures. But please note the following important caveats:
  1. This useful tool is still in beta. That means it’s not yet perfected. It also means that not everyone can use it yet.
  2. Only eBay Open attendees currently have access to the beta. To get it, you had to sign up in the Seller Hub area. If you neglected to do so, reach out to customer service to see what, if anything, can be done to enable you to access the beta.
  3. You can only use the white background photo-editing functionality through eBay Mobile for the iPhone. Once the background is whited out, your listing can be saved as a draft and then completed from your desktop or laptop computer. The new whiteout tool will eventually be available on those devices as well. As of right now, the beta version is in a very early stage.
  • Multi-User Account Access! All sellers — with or without a store — can now utilize eBay’s new Multi-User Access (MUAA). Right now, the only part of your account to which you can apply multi-user access is listing. This means you can give an assistant access to the listing section of your Seller Hub.

eBay will add more areas as Multi-User Account Access rolls out, e.g. shipping and customer relations management. The company plans to include all aspects of selling in future iterations of MUAA. The steps to grant access to your seller account are in my complimentary Exclusive eBay Open Update Guide. 

Complimentary Exclusive eBay Open 2019 Update Guide!

New and better seller protections!

  • The biggest news for sellers is the MASSIVE improvements in seller protections. ALL sellers have new protections.Top Rated Sellers have BIG protections that actually put money in those sellers’ pockets.

Top Rated Sellers who offer 30-Day Returns get TWO financial as well as other protections.

Please note that for the following new protections, you DON’T need to offer free returns. However, you must be TOP RATED to receive these protections:

  1. If you get a false Item Not As Described (INAD) return, eBay will credit your invoice up to $6 to cover the cost of return shipping.
  2. If an item is returned in a different condition than when you shipped it (returned without tags, damaged, etc.), you may issue a partial refund for up to 50% of the item’s price.
  3. Negative feedback, defects and opened cases in Service Metrics connected to false INAD claims will be removed.
  4. Negative feedback and defects for transactions in which you give a partial refund will be removed.
  5. This process will be automated in your Seller Hub.
  6. You’re always welcome to call customer service. However, IF YOU’RE A TOP RATED SELLER, it’s not necessary to do so in order to receive the aforementioned protections.

For small to large sellers with eBay stores

Terapeak Product Research! Terapeak has rolled out to ALL sellers subscribing to a Basic or higher-level store. This justly popular and beloved marketplace research tool offers incredible data that will help you with your listings in a variety of ways. Different sellers are finding Terapeak via different routes, as simple access via Seller Hub seems to be in some kind of gradual roll out:

  1. You may now have a Research tab (replacing the Growth tab) in your Seller  Hub; you’ll find Terapeak in the drop-down menu under the Research tab.
  2. Google Terapeak, then log into Terapeak using your eBay user ID and password. You’ll see prompts for doing so on Terapeak’s website.
  3. Some sellers can log in through My Account > Subscriptions.

For Large Sellers With eBay stores

eBay Managed Delivery! For large sellers looking for an end-to-end fulfillment service, Managed Delivery is now available in beta to select sellers. eBay plans to roll it out site wide starting in the US in 2020. Managed Delivery is intended for very big sellers. My best understanding is that you’d want to have more than 1000 SKUs of inventory to send to the various fulfillment centers to make this option cost effective for you. I know one seller in the beta, and he is very, very happy.

Multi User Accounts are live on eBay!

In closing, Devin Wenig and his team have knocked the ball out of the stadium this time around.

There is excellent news for all levels of sellers!  eBay leadership clearly has been listening to the seller community. At the same time, they also are responding to the needs of shoppers.

Finally, what is a savvy eBay seller to do now?

With my complimentary Exclusive eBay Open Update Guide.  Dig in and study the policy changes.  You’re on the fast track to equip your business for more sales!

 

 

 

 

Summer Selling Pain Relief Arrives eBay Sellers!

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

There is selling pain at times for most eBay sellers.

There is too much to do, in too little time. Your home or office is full of unlisted inventory. Furthermore, shipping takes too long. Social media is time consuming. Additionally,how do you sort out what needs to done each day? What’s a seller to do?

The pain from struggling with time management is ongoing! Even here in NYC the city that never sleeps, it can seem as if there are not enough hours in the day. So what’s a busy seller to do? What really works?

Here are my top 3 tips to remove selling pain:

First of all, figure out where your time is going. You can’t begin to manage your time until you know what you’re doing with it. For one week, track what you do with your time each day.

Grab my complimentary time trackers. I’ve developed these exclusively for you, my eBay seller friend.

Relieve eBay selling pain with complimentary time trackers, just for sellers!

Be ruthlessly honest in this initial assessment.  Here are the Top Five Time Wasters eBay Sellers Face.The whole point is to figure out where you are wasting or otherwise making inefficient use of your time. Just remember that nobody works at maximum productivity every minute of every day, and you’re allowed to take breaks. So, don’t be too hard on yourself at this point! There is enough selling pain without adding to it!

Second, review your week-long timeline.

Now you can be judgmental: Is your time being spent where you’d like it to be? Is it being spent on the right things? Is your timeline aligning with your priorities?

Chances are you’ll find room for improvement. For example, could you spend 30 less minutes per day on Facebook and instead use that half-hour to take photos of items to be listed? What other bits and pieces of your day are being frittered away that could instead be devoted to getting something done?

Lost seconds add up to minutes, add up to hours, faster than you might think!

But still, don’t be too hard on yourself. Sure, we could all probably benefit from a little more self discipline; however, it’s equally likely that we could all probably benefit from scaling back what we expect of ourselves. Because when all is said and done, there are only so many hours in each day…and probably something not yet done by the end of every one of them! So, try to be realistic when you plan how to more effectively utilize your time. Additionally, streamlining choices, and getting 30 minutes back each day is a HUGE win. 30 minutes is a lot time for shipping or listing!

Third, set and write down 3 goals for your week. For instance:

  1. List 120 items
  2. Clean out storage closet
  3. 1 product-sourcing trip

Look at your calendar and figure out when and how you can accomplish those 3 things. Then go forth and do them!

At the end of the week (or the beginning of the next week; whichever works for you), take a few minutes to assess: Did you meet your 3 goals? Maybe 2 out of the 3? Maybe only 1? Yes or no? Again, be ruthlessly honest, but stop short of beating yourself up for any shortfalls. If you didn’t get everything done, then you just need to re-tweak your initial plan.

Without looking at what is working and what isn’t, you’ll go in endless circles, repeating the same errors or bad choices.

Maybe you really love Facebook, and it’s a bit of a mental health break for you as well as a marketing opportunity. So give up just 15 minutes, not 30. Furthermore, scale back your listing quota for the week to 100 items instead of 120. It’s important to succeed. You get MORE done that way.

Or say you love product sourcing, but personal and/or household errands are falling by the wayside. How can you bundle errands with sourcing? Is your grocery store close to a favorite thrift store or outlet mall? You get the idea!

So there you have it. Time management can be as simple and easy as 1-2-3. It reduces selling pain!

Complimentary time trackers to end eBay selling pain!

  1. Honestly assess how you spend your time.
  2. Set goals for using your time most productively.
  3. Take action; then reassess; and repeat.

Just remember when you’re setting your priorities that sleep is essential, as is eating, LOL. In addition, be sure to carve out time to spend with family and friends as well as give yourself some time to pause and smell the flowers along the way.

In the long run, you’ll not only get more done, you’ll also be happier doing it.

eBay Sales Slump Solution ShelfTrend!

by | May 15, 2019 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

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!

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