by Kathy Terrill | Oct 19, 2016 | eCommerce Selling Tips, Facebook Business Page Tips, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips
Facebook has over 1 billion daily active users! Online eBay, Etsy and Amazon sellers often come to me scratching their heads and ask me,
“Kathy, how can I get more followers and likes on Facebook?”
My answer is simple, “Share food and recipes!” Want instant engagement with followers? Show them FOOD!
No matter what you sell online, let it baby clothes, antiques and collectible or auto parts, there is a food that your ideal customer loves and likes to see!
If you sell products for young children, how about healthy snack recipes for your social media followers on Facebook?
Post Healthy Snack Ideas If You Sell Kids Clothing!
Do you sell sports and fan gear? If yes, then you can feature food and recipe ideas for tailgating parties on your Facebook Business page!
Are housewares and serving dishes and flatware your product line? Holiday cooking offers a wide array of recipes for you to feature.
Share Holiday Foods!
You can share your own recipes and pictures of foods as your prepare them. There is an abundance of great food content on Facebook that you can easily share with your fans and followers.
Post food regularly and see what selections your followers like the most. Your Facebook Business page has insights so you can see which of your posts gets the most attention from Facebook users, As you learn what gets likes and follows you’ll then be able to search and find more of the same. This targeted strategy helps you gain followers and interaction with your Facebook followers.
Enjoy finding great food and recipe posts that you and your Facebook community will enjoy! Yum! Yum! Yum!
by Kathy Terrill | Aug 24, 2016 | eCommerce News, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips
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!
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!
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
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!
by Kathy Terrill | Jul 13, 2016 | eCommerce News, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips
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!
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 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!
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!
Don’t YOU miss out on this multi billion dollar retail season!
by Kathy Terrill | Jun 17, 2016 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, Selling on eBay
eBay sellers do you know there is a secret weapon that can increase your sales?
This weapon is so secret many eBay sellers don’t even know that they have it!
Can you guess what it is?
It’s building HTML links to similar products or eBay store category.
You’re thinking “You want me to add HTML?” .I’ll explain.
Not All HTML Is Bad
With sellers streamlining their listings to be optimized for mobile, HTML has gotten a bad rap in recent years.
HTML is necessary to tag text and elements in your listing to be read on the world wide web. What you don’t want is EXCESSIVE HTML that bogs down your listing. Excessive HTML can make listings load slowing on mobile devices. A brief to the point listing loads fast and engages shoppers, which can translate to better sales!
In the past many sellers have build HTML links to their ENTIRE store to place at the bottom of their description.
The idea was that this eBay HTML store link helped to direct shoppers to browse the seller’s store. With experimenting I have found rather than include a link to my entire store I get better results with an HTML link to the specific eBay store category that the listing relates to.
An HTML Link To A Store Category Can Bring Sales!
For instance if you sell men’s shirts, you can build a link to men’s shirts, or men’s clothing . If your clothes are broken down by size you could build a link to other clothing in that size. The point is to pick an eBay store category directly related to the item the customer lands on. Also keep in mind when you’re selling a plate in a specific pattern. Why not include a link to the bowls in the same pattern at the bottom of your listing? An HTML link adds a mere 2-3 lines of HTML to your listing. To compare, most scrolling galleries add 12-20 lines of text!
Good HTML store links encourage your shopper to further browse and shop with YOU.
Your shopper may decide they don’t want the green shirt in their size you sell, but thanks to your HTML link they find a red shirt in their size you stock and BUY it!
Well chosen HTML links can keep shoppers in YOUR store shopping rather than hopping back to eBay search and OTHER sellers items! eBay‘s policy on building links changes June 1, 2017. The video below is complaint with this new policy as outlined HERE by eBay.
I walk you step by step through the process of building and placing an HTML link on your eBay listing in this short informative video.
Test and see what works for you!
Here’s to a summer sizzling with sales!
by Kathy Terrill | May 11, 2016 | eCommerce Selling Tips, Selling on eBay
I did a recent poll in 2 large eBay seller Facebook groups that I founded. I asked the sellers, what was the number 1 pain point for them as new sellers on eBay. I was thinking they would mention sourcing inventory, or book keeping.
Want to know what they thought their number 1 weakness was as a new eBay seller?
It was shipping!
The Number 1 Pain Point For New eBay Sellers!
When starting to sell on eBay, shipping can be overwhelming. It need not be. Let me break it down for you.
Before your start to list your eBay item, put it on a postage scale with ALL the packing materials you plan to use and weigh them. In addition to the weight I see, I add an extra ounce to account for the packing slip and business card I insert with my packages.
Boxes and wrapping can be found for free with many local businesses if you ask.
Some neighborhoods have free cycle for boxes and packing materials. It is wise to buy a postage scale. A good postal scale can be had for under $40. Bubblefast is a wonderful family run company that sells shipping supplies and postal scales. If you use the code ESNBES you can save 10% on any order!
Reliable postage scale from Bubblefast!
If you are watching your money very closely while you start your eBay business you can make a trip to your local post office with your item(s) and packing materials and weight them there.
Using a bathroom scale is not advised as they are inaccurate for packages that need to be weighed to the nearest ounce.
After your weigh your items, be sure to measure the box or mailer you plan to use to ship your products in. Now you’re ready to fill in the shipping portion of your eBay listing!
You’ll want to fill in the description area and return policy. Now you’re at the shipping portion of your eBay listing.
To make sure you use every bit of real estate that eBay gives you in your listing use the powerful tips from my hit eBay selling guide The Secret To eBay Search For Sellers!
My popular eBay selling guide The Secret To eBay Search For Sellers walks you step by step through your entire eBay listing. My guide hands you the tools to get the most out of every portion of your eBay listing!
Stand out on eBay with The Secret To eBay Search!
In the shipping portion of your listing, fill in the weight and dimensions of your item.
Select the shipping service you plan to use. Starting off most new eBay sellers find USPS the simplest to use. Depending on your neighborhood many postal employees will take your packages while they service your route. Check with your local carrier to see if they are able to do this. You can mail domestic US items in a mail box when you print and use labels through eBay shipping. You can also schedule a package pick up on the USPS website!
Chose what level of service you want to offer when you ship your eBay item.
Are you shipping 1st class package, parcel post, media mail and or Priority mail? 1st class now goes up to 16 ounces here in the US! Often you’ll find for lighter weight items such as DVDs and CDs first class will be cheaper than media mail, so be sure and check on the USPS site and calculate your prices! eBay offers sellers calculated shipping. Enter the weight. dimensions, and shipping service. After submitting the necessary information click calculated in eBay‘s shipping details and let eBay calculate the shipping for you. eBay will charge your buyer the correct amount for the weight, dimensions and service you’ve selected.
You can offer more than 1 mail service to eBay shoppers!
Shoppers Love Shipping Choices!
An upgrade in mailing service with a nominal fee can be a great option to offer your shoppers. Let’s say I have a 10 oz blouse that I am shipping 1st class mail to my US shoppers. In the shipping area of my eBay listing I can click OFFER ADDITIONAL SERVICE . With the drop down menu that eBayshows me I can select an upgrade of Priority Mail and /or Priority Mail Express. Calculate what you will charge your customer, or click calculated and let eBay do the math!
Measure and weigh your eBay item before you list.
Buy a postage scale or use the one at your local post office. Use the USPS site to calculate the correct price to mail the item you plan to sell, or with the dimensions and weight entered on eBay, use the eBay shipping calculator and let eBay to do the math for you.
Using my hit guide The Secret To eBay Search For Sellers as your listing guide and taking the time to choose the right shipping service for your item, you are on your way to successful selling on eBay!
Congratulations and get ready to pack your eBay sales!
