by Kathy Terrill | May 12, 2018 | Selling on eBay
Did you know that you have an eBay superpower for sales?
So, are you searching for your eBay superpower? Certainly, sales can get slow. Moreover, it can be a daunting task to stay on top of what works to get sales. By and large many sellers are solopreneurs. So, it’s just you running your online business. You read of sellers with six-figure businesses within three months of starting to sell. You’ll scratch your head and wonder, “What is their eBay superpower? And where is mine?”
There are only so many hours in the day.
We all have different life circumstances. In light of that, know the givens in your life. Are you a single Mom? Moreover, do you have physical limitations? Do you have a full-time job? So, are you working a part-time job? Do you live in a rural area? Are you homeschooling? The list goes on and on. If you are a part-time seller, it will frustrate you to compare yourself to a fulltime seller. Moreover, if you are taking care of elderly relatives, your needs are different than a parent with young kids.
eBay Sellers don’t let your day run away from you!
To begin, what are the absolutes in your life?
Note the commitments that must be met daily, weekly or monthly. Put them on a paper calendar or virtual calendar. Next, examine your online business. What are the details of your selling? They may include listing, buying inventory, taking pictures, shipping, ordering supplies, banking etc. Be sure to write all your tasks down. Now with all things considered, what needs to be done daily, weekly and or monthly?
My YouTube Your eBay Superpower For Sales guides you through this process.
In light of what is immovable in your schedule, set up when you’ll do your selling tasks. Chose when you’ll shop for inventory, ship, do product research and more. Some folks love using a paper calendar. I use Google Calendar. I put all my tasks on it. Furthermore, I set up alerts to remind to do my business tasks. Google calendar also has a smartphone app. Google calendar is free. To access it you need a Gmail account. There is no charge for Gmail.
When you are working on larger tasks, organizers like Slack and Asana are invaluable.
Sellers can manage projects with these tools and stay on track when making plans. Organizers are great for tracking progress when researching new inventory. They could also be used to plan expansion onto a new selling platform. For simple note taking, pen and paper work great. The app Evernote is also awesome. It also syncs across platforms. There is a free version.
In closing, your superpower starts with knowing the “must dos” in your schedule.
Then you build your business tasks around that. Your eBay superpower is YOU. You create your schedule. You manage your business. You find inventory, pack and ship it. You find classes and experts to help you better your business. It’s YOU. There is no magic pill for success. It is all about you putting in the work. Of course, there are bumps in the road. Being surrounded by like-minded sellers is a huge help. My members only Social Media Insiders is a power-packed home for sellers getting results. Another place winning sellers congregate, is my Facebook group eBay Selling Basics Nothing But Selling Basics.
Finally, you are your superpower for sales.
Plan and then work your plan. If sales are slow, be willing to learn and grow. Ask for help in my Facebook group eBay Selling Basics Nothing But Selling Basics. You may have missed a recent update that impacts your listings. Never give up. Success is right around the corner.
by Kathy Terrill | Apr 23, 2018 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay
To begin, many, many eBay sellers are solopreneurs.
By avoiding these following top five time wasters, you’ll be on the road to eBay selling success!
Numerous sellers are doing all the tasks to run their eBay business. So the seller is sourcing inventory, researching products and taking pictures. Additionally, they are shipping, doing customer service and social media. So, how on earth does someone get all this done with time left for family and friends? The answer is, avoid these top five time wasters that can consume your day.
The number one time waster for sellers is excessive research.
Before you start a deep dive on prices for items, do a quick search using eBay’s advanced search. This video shows you how.
http://https://youtu.be/ikJu5KFnvH0
If you find your item sells for $20 or less, you want to list as quickly and efficiently as possible. You have a good idea of the selling price already. Put it aside to photograph and list. Move on to the next item. Spending 30 minutes research a $20 item is not an effective use of your time.
Your second biggest time waster is social media.
Social media is a huge help for eBay sellers. There is an abundance of helpful content to be found. Additionally is the perfect way to attract shoppers to your products. However, it can also be a huge time suck. The Journal Of Applied Psychology recently spoke to how we have an altered sense of time when we’re online.Use your clock. Before you hop on Youtube, Facebook or Instagram, note the time. Decide how much time you’re allotting to social media. Stick to your choice. If you don’t, that 30 minutes you need for a listing is gone. Use social media, but watch the clock.
Third biggest time waster is not grouping tasks.
Whether it’s listing, shipping or running errands grouping like tasks will save you oodles of time. I can product source on my way home from the post office as it’s right on the way. Time saved fifteen minutes. Similarly, I can take pictures in batches, and then edit in batches. Time saved an hour. Go through your regular tasks. What can be grouped? Start doing them that way.
Fourth biggest time waster is not prioritizing.
Fourth biggest time waster for eBay sellers is not prioritizing.
Some things are more important than others. For sellers listing and shipping are at the head of the list. Right behind that is customer service. With those done, then look at your time. How much will you allocate today for product sourcing, social media, learning a new skill, and or bookkeeping? Take a bit of your day and write down what needs to do regularly. Then use a paper or electronic calendar and schedule those items. Similarly, do you want to keep a running daily, weekly, monthly to-do list? It’s a wise business practice to write things down and plot your days, weeks and months.
Your final biggest time waster is not saying no.
Unless you have extensive staff and family help, you can’t do everything every day. Step four is a big help in realizing this. Look at what needs to be done to run your business. Unless you’re adept at using scheduler, or have an assistant you don’t need to be active on all social media every day. Select the one most effective for you. Similarly, you don’t need to source inventory every day. Now, as you grow your business that can change. Using the first four steps, discover what is important for your eBay business. Then learn to say no to what is not needed right now.
In closing, we all have different needs and lifestyles. Taking the time to analyze what works for you and what doesn’t, you make the right choices for you. By not choosing wisely, you sabotage your success. Likewise, you’ll be frustrated every day.
By avoiding these top five time wasters for eBay sellers, you’ve cleared the path to your success. Time to list!
by Kathy Terrill | Apr 3, 2018 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips
Twitter schedule tools save eBay sellers precious time.
There are never enough hours in the day for eBay sellers. Time savers are a must for successful sellers. Social media schedulers are crucial. To set up social media on Twitter and Facebook, there are free schedulers like Hootsuite and Buffer. Content must be continually added to these tools. I have recently discovered a set it and forget it Twitter scheduler, TweetEye.( my affiliate link). TweetEye has a free version. TweetEye sets itself apart from other auto schedulers. It’s in a class by iteself, as it has features that minimize the sameness of its tweets.
First of all, set it and forget it Twitter schedulers are a gigantic help for sellers.
They have the capability of pushing fresh content out on social media with minimal upkeep. Twitter is a great way to quickly reveal products to shoppers on social media. The challenge with using Twitter, and other social media, is the time it takes to set them up.
So, enter the solution, ( my affiliate ink) TweetEye. To use TweetEye, you’ll set up an account. Then link your social media. eBay and Etsy accounts can be synched into the tool. There is no need to have an eBay store to link your account. Once set up, click the eBay toggle.
Be sure to use the Keyword function in TweetEye. (Picture courtesy of TweetEye)
Next, you want to select a keyword to sort listings. This is very important. When you select a keyword, TweetEye will pull all your listings with that keyword.
A keyword could be dress, red, shirt, mug, winter etc.
You want to select something fairly broad and that has more than 10 listings. Once set up, as items sell from this matchup, TweetEye will replace with another item. It “refills” the schedule for you. There is no need to continually tweet items. Your TweetEye scheduler will do it for you.
Use numerous schedules to tweet your inventory. You can have one keyword dress schedule, one shirt schedule, one baseball schedule etc. It’s up to you. So, set up schedules with keywords that categorize your listings. Then let TweetEye do the work for you.
TweetEye does your tweets for you!
Once you’ve chosen your keyword, you’ll select the number of items to share. You can pick from one to ten. More than four is best. Next, select your Twitter account. After that, you can attach a bitly account. Now you’ve arrived at selecting your call to action. These are terrific. Call to actions are attached at the end of your tweet. They add variety to your social media. Pick the ones best suited to your items. After selecting your call to action be sure to check the Market Research box. Market Research uses algorithms of what is trending on social media to select the best hashtags for your Tweets.
Call to actions keep your tweets from being monotonous.
Market Trends takes the guesswork out of hashtag selection. Finally, when selecting the time your schedule will post, select a long post delay. I like five minutes. I want my tweets spread out.
Use this complimentary guide from TweetEye to set up your schedule. It takes only minutes. One pro tip. On the page for Market Intelligence UNCHECK show image. When checked TweetEye pulls the image from the RSS feed. It usually looks awful. When unchecked, your image comes from your listing.
Crafting individual tweets and uploading pictures to Hootsuite, Buffer and similar schedulers is great. If you have the time to customize your Twitter, do so. Using TweetEye (my affiliate link) you can run numerous schedules that operate on their own. Set up properly the schedule(s) will continuously pull product posts and tweet them. Occasionally it’s wise to live tweet. My Essential Social Media Cheat Sheet is loaded with ideas you’ll want to use. Twitter is great to push out a lot of product. Search engines can pick up your products from Twitter and help customers find you.
In closing, sellers are very busy.
Tools that save sellers time are not to be overlooked.
TweetEye (my affiliate link) completely automates eBay product posts to Twitter. Many auto-schedulers are very spammy and boring. They spew out, Here’s my newest thing over and over. Who wants to read that? With customized calls to action and market watch hashtags, TweetEye avoids that. Best of all, it has a complimentary version. Let’s get tweeting!
by Kathy Terrill | Mar 27, 2018 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay
eBay Guaranteed Delivery program recently messaged a lot of USA sellers notices. Heads up, sellers. Pay attention to this winning program.
Promotional Tools Attract Shoppers!
eBay sellers want sales. First of all, many factors go into attracting customers. Start with optimized listings, with great pictures and keywords. With an eBay store, sellers access exclusive promotional tools. These are Promotions Manager, Promoted Listings, and Sale Events.
So, what if a seller does not have a store? What options do they have?
Especially relevant is social media. Done right, it attracts shoppers. My Essential Social Media Cheat Sheet offers proven strategies to win in social media. Your complimentary copy is right HERE.
There is an eBay program that offers sellers a boost in sales with or without an eBay store!
Furthermore, it carries no additional fees to sellers. It is eBay’s Guaranteed Delivery program. Dotcom Distribution did a recent survey. It found 87% of shoppers look to fast delivery as key to their decision to buy. So, Guaranteed Delivery gives online consumers what they want. To qualify for Guaranteed Delivery, listings must have same or one business day handling. In addition, a return policy and immediate payment are mandated. Also, sellers must have a record of shipping on time, with great customer service. They DO NOT need to have a store to qualify! HERE are the eligibility requirements in detail. You can print labels with eBay shipping and other services, including Stamps.com. (My affiliate link)
So, once accepted into the program, listings that comply are automatically enrolled. This a total win for sellers. This is why. Shoppers are offered Guaranteed Delivery items in several filters. One is a three-day delivery toggle. Additionally, this toggle shows on devices and computers at the top of product search.
Guaranteed Delivery is featured to buyers! (image from eBay)
So, there are also one to four-day delivery filters for shipping options on computers. Furthermore, these filters are at the top of the filter section. Simply, only Guaranteed Delivery listings show in the filters. So, once in Guaranteed Delivery, qualifying listings appear in more eBay search placements. There is no additional fee to the seller for this added exposure.
My YouTube video, eBay Guaranteed Delivery –The Good, The Bad, The Ugly details the benefits of Guaranteed Delivery. In addition, it includes some bonus search tips.
In conclusion, Guaranteed Delivery is the seller’s best friend.
It has no additional seller fees. Furthermore, it’s a home run with added search benefits. So, if you’re not in now, watch your eBay messages. While waiting, get your listings ready. Once in, enjoy the added search exposure and sales!
by Kathy Terrill | Feb 16, 2018 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay
Sellers of all levels ask the same critical question. “What’s a money maker on eBay?”
No matter if you thrift, do retail arbitrage or buy wholesale, eBay sellers want to know, ” What will sell and make me good money now?” Immediately after discovering popular products, the next question is “How do I get some?” Offering in-demand inventory is important to selling success. Equally vital is having a relationship with good inventory sources. Sellers shop thrift shops, yard sales, traditional brick and mortar stores and buy wholesale. Having more than one source of inventory is wise.
To start, successful sellers discover and then sell in-demand items. They stay on top of the trends, watching pop culture, social media, and retail trends. Most online entrepreneurs develop expertise in several areas. So, sellers become adept at men’s, women’s and kid’s clothing, sporting goods, toys, video games and much much more.
According to DMR, there are over 25 million eBay sellers with over a billion items listed.
There are millions of sellers on eBay!
With the millions of vendors and a vast array of products on eBay, often entrepreneurs will stick to one or two tested inventory categories. While it’s important to develop areas of expertise, to remain successful, it’s good to stretch. Find and test new product lines constantly.
Oftentimes, it’s smart to add categories that relate to listings that are good money makers for you.
For instance, if women’s clothing does well for you, add women’s hats. Are your car accessories popular? If yes, then include motorcycle accessories etc.
Even experienced sellers can walk by unfamiliar hot products. Don’t make the mistake I describe in this video.
In closing, spend time on social media to be aware of popular trends. Develop relationships with reliable sources of inventory. Having more than one source of goods is smart.
Be alert, to new opportunities for product lines you may not have considered.
As much as it’s good business to develop an expertise, don’t neglect to consider all product lines you come across. A few minutes of research can reveal an overlooked gold mine.
Be alert to new product lines that can be big sellers on eBay!
