by Kathy Terrill | Aug 22, 2017 | eCommerce Tips, Facebook Business Page Tips, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips
It is not too early to start planning your sales strategy to have the best eBay Holiday Selling season ever!
Success starts with great plans and then executing them!
Step #1- Pull Out Your Calendar!
Numerous eBay sellers get themselves in a jam by not planning now for the busy Holiday selling season of November and December.
Look at your calendar and think through the new few months. I plan with Google calendar. Google Calendar is free for use. If you like another electronic calendar or a paper calendar, great! The point is, pull it out and start mapping your course of action for the next few months. With Google Calendar I set alerts to remind me of tasks I need to do.
I create tasks and deadlines for those tasks. With Google calendar I can also make recurring tasks. Do you need to check your shipping supplies weekly or bi weekly? Use your calendar for reminders to order your free USPS Priority mail supplies. Keep an eye on your supply of polymailers, padded envelopes and boxes. When you need to buy more, Bubblefast offers great value on shipping supplies. If you use code esnbes you’ll save 10% on your entire order all year round. Setting alerts and reminder for tasks like ordering shipping supplies will keep you from running out during your busy shipping season. Calendar reminders keep you on track all during this fruitful time of year.
Step #2 Get Organized!
Take time now to organize your shipping station.
Think through your eBay selling and shipping work flow. Are your most frequently used items easy to reach and near each other? Are your boxes and mailers stored so you can see and pick the different sizes quickly? Time spent organizing this crucial part of your sales life, will pay off big time in the months to come.
Do you have a sturdy tape dispenser? (afl)
I bought this dispenser on (afl) eBay and have it ready to go on my desk. You can one yourself HERE (afl). I like that it’s heavy and doesn’t skid around. I also have a tape gun with clear packing tape in it,
Once your shipping area sparkles, tackle your inventory storage. Go through your products bin by bin, shelf by shelf. Make sure everything is listed. Double check that the item’s location is properly entered in your SKU or label organization system. If you’re selling on eBay, you can use the custom label/SKU field to input inventory location information. You the eBay seller see this handy field, your shopper doesn’t. Here is a quick video on how to use the eBay SKU/custom label field.
Tasks are logged on your calendar, your shipping station and inventory storage are organized, next is your social media!
Step #3- Plan Social Media!
Many eBay sellers overwhelm themselves with social media and end up doing none or a very scattered approach. They throw items up on various social platform without thought or planning. Keep it simple. This year pick 1 social media you will focus on. If you do other’s that’s great, but chose 1 to be your main focus.
Think about what is doable for you.
It is better to do 2 posts a day every day than 5 all in 1 day.
Let’s say you want to use a Facebook business page for your Holiday social media plan.
Use my free tips for your Facebook Business page to make sure it’s set to maximize your efforts. Click HERE for your FREE guide.
You could make a goal of 2 posts daily.
You want to mix lots of social content in with your eBay product posts. For instance, let’s say you’re going to be posting Fall/Winter clothing. With those product posts in mind, tips for accessorizing can be great social posts. Recipes and all things food related are very popular on Facebook. Read my popular post Get Likes And Followers o Facebook Immediately for insights on using food to be social with your followers on Facebook. Using the calendar of your choice, create reminders to post daily. Plan what items and social posts to feature. Then daily, weekly and monthly decide what and how you want to feature them for your social media followers and enter reminders on your calendar to keep you on track.
Look ahead at the next few months. Start now with an organized shipping station and inventory storage area. Do the best with what you have available to you. Use your favorite calendar and plan your social media content. Make sure your goals challenge you, yet are doable. Maximize your Facebook Business page now with my free power tips for your page.
Time spent now making a good foundation and a clear social media plan, is the killer punch for a knock out Holiday selling season on eBay!
by Kathy Terrill | Aug 11, 2017 | eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay
eBay sellers are always looking for more sales. So, the question is how to best accomplish it.
eBay sellers always want more sales!
All of eCommerce selling is very competitive. Furthermore, it’s getting more competitive daily. It’s all about getting found in search. So, better search results gets your products seen by more shoppers. More shoppers looking at your items, means more sales. With a faster turn over rate you make your money faster.
eBay has a program that gives it’s Store owners and Top Rated sellers an edge in search and sales. It is Promoted Listings.
Sales power is here with Promoted Listings for single quantity items!
Promoted Listings is eBay’s paid search initiative. So, previously only multi quantity items were boosted in paid search service. As of 8/10/2017 single items, except Motors fulfillment, are eligible for this popular program. Qualifying sellers control what and how they promote their listings using Promoted Listings.
Store owners and Top Rated sellers can create Campaigns through Promoted Listings. Sellers include a few or all their eligible listings. Sellers only pay a Promoted Listings fee if the shopper clicks the item through the promotion and buys the exact item within 30 days of the initial click. Any other items that the shopper buys, benefits the seller with no additional sales fee over the usual listing and final value fees.
So, to use Promoted Listings, go to your Marketing tab in Seller Hub. Click Promoted Listings. Then select “Create A New Campaign” Creating a campaign is the process of selecting listings to be promoted.
Niche each Promoted Listing Campaign.
The reason for tightly grouping Campaigns is that by putting similar items into the same Campaign, it’s easier to analyse data and results. When Campaigns are set up over several categories, you can still get sales but it’s a more time consuming process to evaluate the effectiveness of the Campaign’s results.
eBay recommends that sellers chose the Prevailing Rate when setting up a Campaign. This is the price to get the best search result for the item selected. If the seller has very tight margins it is totally acceptable to select a lower rate. Realize a lower rate will mean the item will not be boosted in search as frequently. A lower search rate can still be effective for sellers. Sellers can also bump the rate they are charged up a bit over the prevailing rate.
It’s worth it to experiment and see if a slightly higher rate brings better sales results. Here is a Youtube from eBay on how to set up a Campaign easily and quickly for Promoted Listings.
The Promoted Listings dashboard shows your Campaign(s). Sellers have data on their overall impressions, click and sales for all their Promoted Listings Campaigns. In addition eBay sellers can access the statistics for each Campaign. Campaign results will vary. For instance, Campaign 1 has a a 1000-1 ratio for impressions to clicks, for Campaign 2 it’s 2000-1. If you note a very high number of impressions with no clicks, it’s worthwhile to analyse the listing(s) for price, quality of photos and keywords. Used this way Promoted Listings is an awesome tool to flag under performing items.
Equip yourself with my Promoted Listings Guide to get awesome sales results. Click HERE for instant access.
Complimentary Promoted Listings Guide!
eBay’s Promoted Listings boosts your listings in eBay search for great visibility and sales. Using it, you are set up with a powerful dashboard to gauge and monitor your sales success. You have strategic data to make powerful changes to your listings to increase your sales.
eBay’s sales powerhouse Promoted Listings has arrived. Get on board now and ignite your eBay sales!
by Kathy Terrill | Jun 11, 2017 | eCommerce Selling Tips, Selling on eBay
eBay sellers have been coming to me for weeks asking, “Kathy, how can I increase my Summer sales?” Are you ready for the answer? The answer is, “Work smart”. Here’s how.
First of all, consider what do people buy in the summer? If you can’t think of anything, then jump on social media. Read what your friends are talking about. So, are they discussing graduation, job hunting, gardening, travel, new films coming out or weddings? Take notes on what they are discussing.
To do these activities, what do people need to own? Write a list. Look for these items when you’re shopping at yard sales, auctions, retail stores and outlets.
What sells on eBay in the Summer?
Next, go through your unlisted inventory. Do you have in demand Summer items sitting in your unlisted pile of inventory? List those items now.
Sort through products you’ve already listed. Do you have products that shoppers would want for Summer activities?
Feature those products now to your Summer shoppers. Don’t forget to promote your Fall-Winter items for your international shoppers and for people traveling to colder climates during the summer. Just as Christmas sell year round, so do Winter clothes!
If you have an eBay store you have an awesome tool to increase Summer sales. It’s the order discount tool, Promotions Manager.
Using Promotions Manager, you can attract summer shoppers to your eBay store and keep your sales strong all summer long.
So, there are essential keys to using Promotions Manager successfully.
Make sure to group similar items together in your Promotion. Creating a Promotion that includes men’s shirts with women’s shoes is unlikely to succeed. A much better choice would be two Promotions. One Promotion for men’s clothing separate from another Promotion for women’s clothing. For collectibles consider grouping items of a similar color or period. Even if the Promotions all offer the same order discount, you want to create separate Promotions for each category of products.
Grouping Promotions with similar items, increases your likelihood of a shopper using your discount.
Group similar products you’re selling on eBay to increase sales.
Once you have your listings in mind for your Promotion, check what your average shopping cart size is. Look at your sales for the past 90 days. On average how much do customers buy from you? Do they typically spend $30, $50, $60 or more? Whatever the typical dollar amount is, you want to select a discount that encourages shoppers to spend more with you, while you still make an acceptable profit.
A discount under 20% is not going to get anybody’s attention.
Look to discount 20% or more. eBay staffers state that there is data showing shoppers love order discount offers. With this in mind create an appealing offer of 20% or more and score sales!
In addition, Promotions Manager can be combined with Promoted listings for more sales. I detail this strategy in The Secret To Boosting Sales On eBay.
An added benefit to using Promotions Manager is that your items will be offered to more shoppers by eBay.
There are other items that are shown to shoppers in addition to what you have in your Promotion, but your Promotion will be displayed frequently to consumers. I explain this, and show it to you in this YouTube.
Don’t settle for a Summer slow down in your sales on eBay this Summer.
Fight back, going the extra mile with product research and attractive order discounts. Be determined to have strong sales ALL Summer long!
by Kathy Terrill | May 9, 2017 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay
As of June 1 eBay is turning off Active Content.What does that mean to sellers? First of all, let’s start at the beginning.
So, what is Active Content?
What is Active Content?
Techopedia explains it
here. Therefore, it is is Java Script or Flash. In older style listings it was used for popular scrolling galleries, cross selling widgets and apps.
Years ago colorful listings with moving parts were considered desirable. That has changed with the modern emphasis on mobile shoppers.
So, to be “Mobile Optimized” or “Mobile Friendly” sellers need lean pared down listing to get sales.
Java script and Flash lead to listings loading slowly. This leads to frustrated shoppers, abandoned searches and shopping carts.
Active content hurts the mobile shopping experience.
Since eBay announced it’s intention to deactivate all Active Content, third party applications are working quickly. They are free of Java Script and Flash. HTML and CSS are fine to use but Java Script and Flash are not. Contact your third party service providers and ask about their products.
Let’s break it down. What should a successful eBay seller do?
eBay emailed sellers information on this topic several times in the past year.
Using the Isdntek testing tool, test a few of your products.
If you discover Active Content, as you have time remove it. It will be deactivated by eBay June 1. Deactivating the content does not remove it from your listing. It makes it inactive. The “dead” content should have no effect. It’s in your listing but it’s not doing anything. The dead content will not effect the loading time of listings.
Jim “The Griff” Griffith discusses this during this April 2017 Facebook Live for eBay For Business
eBay listings are more mobile friendly and safer.
Mobile friendly is ALWAYS good for sellers!
by Kathy Terrill | Apr 26, 2017 | eCommerce Selling Tips, Facebook Business Page Tips, Pinterest Tips for online sellers!, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips
Hundreds of thousands of shoppers are on the internet now. They are looking for that perfect Mother’s Day gift. In short, sellers be ready for this Mother’s Day sale opportunity.
As can be seen, Statista reports Americans spend more than 23 billion dollars on Mother’s Day sale items!
Savvy sellers have their Mother’s Day sales goods ready to go. Prices are researched. Listings are optimized and promoted on social media. Good job!
Some sellers come to me frustrated. They look at their inventory and note they don’t sell lingerie or perfume. Sellers state, ” Kathy, I have nothing to sell for Mother’s Day gifts!”
Mother’s Day Sale gift ideas!
I answer, “Ah, but I think you do.” In the first place, I have three keys essential to success for Mother’s Day sales for all my seller friends. To begin, these three keys work no matter where you sell.
#1 – Equip yourself with my FREE guide What Sells For Mother’s Day. It’s loaded with dozens of products that shoppers want to buy now!
Complimentary guide to what sells for Mother’s Day sale gifts!
#2- With my tips in hand, go through your listed and unlisted inventory.
Sort what items you discover that are best to feature to attract Mother’s Day Shoppers. Are your most attractive Mothers Day items are unlisted? Make it a priority to list those items online now.
#3 – Get busy on social media.
Moreover, who is your ideal customer? In short, do you sell items that a millennial shopping for their Mom would buy? Then, it’s wise to be active on Instagram. Is it a husband in his 40’s or 50’s buying a gift for his wife? By and large you select to post on Twitter and your Facebook Business page.
Get busy on social media with Mother’s Day sale items.
Spend your time wisely.
Use the killer tips in my FREE guide What Sells For Mother’s Day to discover inventory you have that’s perfect for Mom.
To sum it up, your nicest inventory is front and center for shoppers with great listings and social media. To sum it up, welcome Mother’s Day shoppers and sales!
