by Kathy Terrill | 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.
by Kathy Terrill | 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!
by Kathy Terrill | Sep 25, 2018 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay
Ecommerce has come of age in the last few years. It’s no longer a novel way of shopping; it’s the norm. As a result, eBay and all sites are becoming increasingly competitive.
This is true in every category. So how do you continue to thrive and prosper in your business on the eBay marketplace?
To begin, the answer is deceptively simple: Sell what shoppers want to buy, and do so in such a way that you stand out from your competition. That’s where marketplace research comes in. For hobby sellers, marketplace research can actually be as simple as using eBay’s Advanced Search to filter results to show only Sold items. My YouTube video explains how to use advanced search this way.
But checking eBay for data on sold items has two limitations: First, the data goes back only a couple of weeks to 30 days at most.
Second, there is no easy way to analyze those sold listings for using best practices pertaining to selling your product.
Fortunately, there are tools available that let you take a deeper dive into marketplace research. One of those is Terapeak, which was recently purchased by eBay. In addition to letting you view average selling prices for as long as two or three years back in time, Terapeak crunches eBay data to help you find the best keywords and categories for your items.
But professional eBay marketplace sellers want more from their research! They want data on their competition! Also, sellers looked for a tool with real-time data.
eBay marketplace sellers need real-time competition research.
Enter the robust seller tool ShelfTrend , created just two years ago by longtime eBay employees Lisa Wong and Anojan Abel.
ShelfTrend is super easy to use and provides their data in real time. That can be a huge advantage in letting you spot emerging trends early on, which is especially important during the holidays.
For example, if it looks like Raggedy Anns are going to make a comeback as this year’s hottest Christmas gift, you can run to your local outlet store and stock up right away. You can also source goods on the wholesale site BULQ. They sell inventory by the case and/or pallet with manifests. On the other hand, if it seems that the market for Acme Widget-Go-Rounds is starting to cool off, you might want to hold off buying that shelf of them at your local thrift shop.
ShelfTrend also enables you to keep an eye on your competition.
First, it shows you the top listings in Best Match search results by category or keyword. Then it helps you analyze those listings to glean insights into what’s making them convert so effectively: what keywords are those sellers using; what do they include in their descriptions; which item specifics are they using; how do their pictures look; and more.
This video from ShelfTrend explains how this works.
Knowing what works to sell your product is key to growing your business.
But it’s not enough to merely copy your competition’s successful strategies. Being the 10th seller to offer a product doesn’t add value to the marketplace; instead, take it one step further and figure out ways to stand out from your competition. Maybe it’s offering free returns, or setting a 60-day return window instead of just 30 days. Do your marketplace research homework, then put on your thinking cap.
For starters, ShelfTrend’s New Listings report can help you spot new competitors.
That’s invaluable all by itself because eBay is too dynamic a marketplace for you to just sit back and relax, thinking you’ve got a lock on your niche. What’s more, ShelfTrend’s Supply Demand report reveals areas where competition is low and/or where in-demand products are in short supply. That gives you the chance to pioneer a new niche — or maybe even develop a private-label product.
ShelfTrend offers a free version for basic research.
But with helping you find new hot items and saving you money on those that are cooling off, at $14.99/month for the full monty, ShelfTrend should more than pay for itself each month. Using a more sophisticated, yet easy to use tool like ShelfTrend, you’ll find that marketplace research literally pays off. Additionally, it’s kind to sellers’ bank accounts with no need to opt into a costly yearly commitment.
The bottom line is that in today’s uber-competitive marketplace, you can’t afford not to have this kind of information at your fingertips — especially when it’s so readily available.
You can bet that at least some of your competitors are taking advantage of it, and you should, too!
by Kathy Terrill | Aug 28, 2018 | eCommerce Tips
So, why go to a conference like Retail Global Las Vegas?
First, of all, nothing beats talking one on one with eBay and e-commerce experts. Conversations and workshops with specialists empower both you and your business.
So, that’s why it’s important to attend live events. One knock out Fall seller event is, Retail Global Las Vegas (October 9-11). Furthermore, live events offer attendees opportunities to soak up knowledge and enjoy unique networking opportunities.
Retail Global Las Vegas is not to be missed.
It’s a truly global event. Retail Global features 50+ speakers from around the world. Additionally, there is a worldwide roster of attendees. So, this is THE conference for multi-channel sellers grossing six figures annually. If you’re one of them or seeking to scale your business to six figures, you want to attend.
Retail Global is spearheaded by Phil Leahy. Phil created Retail Global for online retailers using online retailers. Furthermore, he was eBay Australia’s #1 seller in 2007 and 2008. Then, Phil went on to found PeSA (Professional eBay Sellers Alliance) Australia. 2018’s conference is the fourth annual Retail Global Las Vegas. Furthermore, it’s nearly doubled in size since it began in 2015. This year’s list of speakers, sponsors, and retailers reads like a Who’s Who of online commerce. In short, Phil brings unique speakers together for an unforgettable three days,
I’m very excited to partner at Retail Global Las Vegas with Tim Davies.
There are a lot of eBay updates in 2018!
Tim is an online Retail Strategist at Zellis. Additionally, he is the current president of PeSA Australia. He’s known Down Under as Mr. eBay. While serving as eBay Australia’s Manager, Seller Education & Engagement, he launched their Seller Centre and Seller Academy. In short, Tim knows his eBay. Tim and I are excited to pool our extensive knowledge of eBay to create a one of a kind seller event. Tim know eBay AU thoroughly. I have the in-depth know-how of eBay US. Together, we are an eBay “Dream Team”.
For the first time ever, Tim and I are pairing up for a pre-conference eBay Masterclass on October 9!
Tim and I explain in my YouTube video Grow a Solid Business on eBay, about this upcoming joint presentation.
Hands down it’s a must-attend workshop for sellers. It’s filled with content for entrepreneurs of all levels. Our presentation is geared to help sellers navigate the huge recent selling changes on eBay. Recent shifts on eBay include payments, service metrics, marketing and search initiatives. Together, we provide the needed know-how to meet the challenges of scaling a business on eBay worldwide. Use code LOVE100 and save $100 on registration for the entire event on the Retail Global website.
In closing, Retail Global Las Vegas takes place October 9-11, 2018, at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, NV. See you in Vegas, baby!
by Kathy Terrill | Jul 20, 2018 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay
Feeling slow summertime eBay sales blues?
Contrary to what the old song says, there IS a cure for any eBay sales summertime blues. I’ll list the ingredients; then it’s up to you to concoct the mixture that works best for your business.
The first step towards stirring up eBay sales is to check prices.
Keep an eye on prices for your listings on eBay!
Market values can change over time…demand for your item may increase or decrease…new competitors may undercut you; there are lots of reasons why it’s important to stay current on pricing.
Check out my “Advanced Search” YouTube video to learn how to quickly research SOLD prices on eBay so that you know what your item is selling for. If necessary, adjust your pricing. Don’t forget to note whether sold items offered free or paid shipping, so you can take that into consideration. In addition, be sure to check the size and condition of sold items to ensure they’re truly comparable to what you’re selling.
Also, consider shipping. If you’re not yet selling internationally, you’re missing out on millions of potential customers.
Open your business up to that world of possibilities by going global. For heavier items, expensive items, and items shipping to countries that do not yet offer USPS First Class International’s Electronic Delivery Confirmation (eDelCon), opt into eBay’s Global Shipping Program at ebay.com/GSP. GSP users have seen their sales increase by up to 15%!
And it’s easy: With GSP, you create a shipping label through eBay as usual to generate a global tracking number. It’s automatically uploaded to your and your buyer’s My eBay page. Then you ship the item to eBay’s Global Shipping Center in Kentucky. eBay does the rest, including filling out customs forms, paying import fees, and providing international shipping to your buyer.
Small and/or lightweight and/or inexpensive items may be shipped directly via USPS First Class International with eDelCon. eBay Labels and third-party providers automatically generate and fill out customs forms. For more details enjoy my blog post International Sales Mean Cash
Selling internationally increases eBay sales!
So you’ve checked your pricing and are shipping worldwide. Now let’s check your listings’ formats.
It’s best to have a mix of fixed price and auction listings because while some shoppers love to bid, others prefer to Buy It Now.
For fixed price listings, add the Best Offer option. Best Offer lets the buyer know that you’re willing to haggle a bit. If you get an unacceptable offer, always counteroffer, with a note thanking the buyer and telling them how much of a discount you’re offering and why your item is worth it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how many lowball offers can be turned into sales!
You can also send Private Offers in response to questions received through My Messages.
Just click “Reply with an offer” in the upper right-hand corner of the message. Again, add a note explaining your offer is for $X, which is Y% off.
Promotions Manager is free to eBay Store subscribers; use it to create special offers, discounts, and sale events. Store subscribers and Top Rated Sellers can also use Promoted Listings to boost item visibility by 30%.
Pull ahead in sales with eBay Promotions!
With Promoted Listings, you choose an ad rate: a percentage you’re willing to pay if your item sells from its promoted listing. You only pay if a buyer clicks on your ad AND purchases the item within 30 days. Top Rated Sellers receive a quarterly $30 Promotions Listing credit, while Anchor and Enterprise Store subscribers receive a $25 credit. Top-Rated Anchor and Enterprise Store subscribers receive both.
So go ahead and cure those slow summer sales blues.
Now that you know the ingredients — check pricing; sell internationally; vary your listing formats; use Best Offer and Private Offer; try Promotions Manager and Promoted Listings — you’re sure to be able to cook up a recipe for success!
P.S. For even more summer sales success tips, listen to my recent interview on eBay Radio.
