eBay Gives & eBay Takes Away Seller Update 2019

by | Feb 27, 2019 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

eBay sellers welcome to an Early Seller Update for 2019.

There’s a lot of good news in the update plus two BIG changes. The overall theme to sellers is “Get it sold.” However, as always, eBay giveth, but eBay also taketh away. To begin, grab my complimentary tip sheet to remove the guessing of what impacts you and your eBay business.

So, let’s start with what eBay gives sellers.

Beginning in November 2018, a limited number of sellers could send “Offers to watchers” for items listed with Best Offer. As of today, items no longer need to be listed with Best Offer in order for you to send an offer, and “Offers to Buyers” is being rolled out to all sellers in Seller Hub.

With eBay's Seller Update, Send Offers To Buyers Without Best Offer!

Sellers can send Offers To Watchers, regardless of whether the item is a Best Offer Listing!

 

My experience so far is that about 1 out of 10 buyers accept my offer. Yet you, the seller, are in charge. YOU send the offer and set the price. This function is rolling out during the month of March, What your seller hub!

Improvements to Seller Hub are good news, too.

On your “Active Listings” page, hover over Price, Quantity or Custom Label, then click on the pencil icon to edit that field. This new functionality has been in beta and is rolling out sitewide, saving you precious time. Well done, eBay!

Get all the details in this video, eBay Gives And eBay Takes Away.

Starting in March, you’ll also be able to download Order Reports from your Manage Orders page as a CSV (Excel) file, including a new field showing sales tax collected and remitted on your behalf by eBay.

Furthermore, massive Inventory updates are going live.

eBay is still emphasizing product-based shopping, but with a focus on item specifics rather than listing via the catalog. This is a HUGE change for the eBay platform. heads up sellers. This means eBay is laser focused on Item Specifics for Product Based shopping. Item Specifics are now more important than ever for eBay and Google search!

With the change in catalog listing one Bay, your item specifics matter!

In March, for Electronics, Home & Garden, Health & Beauty, and Musical Instruments, the current “New – Other” item condition will become “Open Box”.  In the Business & Industrial category, “New – Other” will become “Used – Like New”. This clarification helps both buyers and sellers.

Now for some GREAT news: From the Basic level on up, store subscribers will soon get a complimentary subscription to Terapeak!

So, here’s what eBay is taking away: Good ‘Til Canceled (GTC) will now be the only duration option for fixed price listings. For auction listings, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-day durations are still available.

The reason for this change basically boils down to SEO. It can take up to 30 days for items to be indexed by Google and other search engines. Short-term listings may not be picked up.

There are other disadvantages. Short-term listings can lead to buyer frustration when a shopper finds a listing that interests them, but it’s gone when they go back for a second look.

Additionally, links in your social media posts for short-term listings go dead — and if a buyer clicks on that link, eBay will redirect them to another active listing!

If you still prefer short-term listings, you have 2 choices:

  1. Every 30 days or so, end your GTC listing, tweak it, and relist.
  2. Keep your GTC listing live, and simply revise it.

The second option keeps social media links live and retains views, watchers, and sales history. The latter gives you a boost in search every time another multi-quantity and/or multi-variation item sells.

In closing, the bottom line is, eBay is giving sellers more data and tools for driving conversion, but less listing options.

As with all seller updates, read the entire Early Seller Update. My complimentary tip sheet, eBay Gives & eBay Takes Away, will guide you through the nuances. If you prefer video, enjoy my YouTube.

Now you’re equipped to make the best choices for your sales and business!

 

eBay’s Structured Data Professional Repricer StreetPricer!

by | 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!

eBay Jail Alert Selling Rules Have Drastically Changed!

by | Jan 26, 2019 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

Heads up sellers. This is an eBay jail alert for you.

First, eBay has made a major change to its regulations governing what you can and cannot sell on eBay. Simply, it’s all about how you source and ship your items. Violating this new rule can land you in eBay jail. So here’s an eBay jail alert for you with the straight dope to keep you out of trouble.

Some eBay sellers “scrape” (import) listings from other marketplace sites and list those products on eBay.

There are even third-party tools and applications that help them do so. So, the seller does not own the item or have it in hand, nor are they listing a product from a legitimate drop shipper.

When an item sells, the eBay seller goes to the website from which he or she scraped the listing and buys the product. Then, the item is shipped directly to his or her buyer. In short, the seller is using that other marketplace to fulfill their eBay orders.

THIS IS NO LONGER ALLOWED!!! Here’s what IS allowed…  

eBay’s new rules do not affect sellers whose business model includes drop shipping from legitimate wholesale suppliers or manufacturers. In effect, it is totally eBay-legal to sell an item on eBay whose orders you fulfill through a legitimate third-party drop shipper. Drop shipping means you buy the product from a wholesale source, which then ships it to your customer. My complimentary guide, Stay Out Of eBay Jail! lays it all out for you.

Furthermore, it is also eBay-legal to use Amazon’s Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) service.

With MCF, sellers use Amazon as their warehouse and fulfill all orders through their Amazon account. It’s equally eBay-legal to use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). With FBA  sellers have Amazon store their inventory, and Amazon ships the stored item from their own warehouse when it sells.

So, it’s eBay-legal as well to use other fulfillment services that ship your stored inventory.

What’s key here is that the inventory belongs to you, the seller.

With eBay’s new drop shipping rules, know what is allowed.

Simply, the inventory does not belong to the owner of the warehouse. You are only storing your own merchandise. So, it’s not the warehouse owner’s products being sold and shipped.

What’s NOT eBay-legal as of this month is the practice of taking a listing from Amazon (or some other retail website) and listing that item on eBay.

When it sells, the seller then buys it on Amazon (or that other retail website) and has it shipped to the buyer. Currently, this business model is banned. So, if you get caught doing this, you are endangering your eBay selling status and could even find yourself suspended! Read the entire policy here.

There are potentially severe consequences if you break the new drop shipping rule. eBay states, ” we may remove your listings from search, display them lower in search results, or remove them completely from the site. We may also limit, restrict or suspend your ability to buy, sell, or use site features on eBay..”

To ensure that you understand the new rules, and for more information, watch my YouTube video “eBay Selling Rules Just Changed!”. 

 

Some sellers who are NOT guilty of this now-illegal practice are being caught by an eBay bot (automated robot scanning the site’s listings).

It flags their account as suspicious and removes their Top Rated Seller status. If you’re  caught in this net, reach out to eBay Customer Service right away. If you’re a US or Canadian seller messaging them through eBay for Business’ Facebook page is one quick way to get a US-based CS rep. Otherwise contact customer service through the eBay site.

In closing , consider this your eBay jail alert. eBay’s product sourcing and listing rules have dramatically changed.

If you drop ship, adhere to the new strict criteria, so you don’t end up in jail!

Trending New Year’s Hashtags Sellers Want!

by | Jan 8, 2019 | eCommerce Tips, Facebook Business Page Tips, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips

First off, what are trending New Year’s hashtags that sellers want for 2019?

I’ve got some fresh new advice on the best New Year’s hashtags for eBay sellers. Sellers can use these hashtags to start 2019 with great engagement to drive sales. What sellers doesn’t want to start the year with lots of customers?!

To begin, where do you find the hottest hashtags?

How do sellers find the best hashtags for social media?

Look on Twitter for trending hashtags there; you’ll find them in the left-hand sidebar in the desktop version of Twitter.

Hashtags are topics and keywords that you can find on social media.

They’re distinguished by a pound sign before the first word or words. A hashtag is frequently a keyword, and vice versa. A keyword is a word used by a potential customer to find a certain item.

You want to find the hottest hashtags, therefore look for those that are trending.

Trending hashtags reveal what is most popular on social media — i.e., what people are talking about and looking for right now. Can you tie in any of the products you have listed for sale? Using popular hashtags and keywords in your products posts on social media gives them “search  juice”.

So, trending hashtags gets you more views, likes, clicks, retweet and sales.

For instance, sports events and award shows are always big. Are your followers sports fans? Many folks are. Do you have clothing, shoes, home décor, collectibles or other items that they might like? If so, include the trending hashtags in your product tweet. One or two hashtags work best for Twitter.

Check Facebook to see if the Twitter trending hashtag/keyword is popular there as well.

Do a search for that hashtag, and find out. Chances are it is; great, then post your item(s) on Facebook too. Change up your post a bit for Facebook, because you don’t want to spam your followers.

Now investigate Instagram.

There you can include 11 to 30 hashtags with each post. However, do make your posts fresh again for that site, so they don’t come across as spam.

In closing, the artful use of relevant and apropos trending hashtags/keywords gets you views, clicks, and sales. Best of all, using social media this way is absolutely free.

So don’t be shy. Go forth, find the hottest hashtags of the new year, and post – post –post your items on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Get your sales jumping with the hottest hashtags on social media!

eBay Sellers Merry Christmas Doesn’t Mean Sales Meltdown!

by | Dec 19, 2018 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

eBay sellers, Merry Christmas is just one week away.

If you’ve been watching the calendar, this shouldn’t come as a shock to you. But you still might need to sit down before I spell it out to you: Christmas is just one short week away.  

What does that mean for you and your business on eBay? Does it mean a sales meltdown?

Before we get started, take a few deep breaths. There are tried-and-true strategies to help you make the most of this very limited once-a-year time. I’m going to share them with you.

First, be smart about where you get eBay listing and inventory information.

Sadly there is much bad information on social media that can harm your eBay business.  Avoid losing sales with inaccurate tips. I talk about  this in my YouTube, eBay Sellers You May Not Want To Hear This..

Second, make sure you offer paid expedited shipping options. This includes ALL of your listings. If not, bulk-edit them into your listings right now using eBay’s bulk edit tool. You can also use eBay business policies to accomplish this. There, that was easy-peasy!

Third, quickly review your holiday-appropriate inventory. If it’s not selling, then now is definitely the time to figure out why. Is it priced too high? Are your photos less than stellar, or are there just too few of them? Is your item one of many that may have glutted the market for them? Or is it just not getting found in search?

It’s probably too late to do much about your photos (unless you’re super fast with a camera), but you can definitely do something about the other reasons an item may not yet have sold or is selling very slowly. Here are some options:

  1. If you have an eBay store, Rrun a deeply discounted flash sale using Markdown Manager. Promote your sale on social media with a link to your store. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are your best choices for getting traction — and traffic! — ASAP. You can even run multiple flash sales throughout this final shopping week.
  2. eBay store owners, use Promotions Manager to set up a BOGO (buy one, get one free) or other volume-based discount. Here’s my YouTube Ignite Your eBay Sales With Promotions Manager. 
  3. With an eBay store, create some Promoted Listings, and consider setting your ad rate slightly higher than the trending percentage.
  4. With or without an eBay store, try bundling your holiday items. For example, could you put together a selection of inexpensive items and call it a “Secret Santa Gift Lot”? My hit guide Secret Sauce For eBay Sales transforms slow moving inventory into hot bundles.

Secret Spice for Online Sales turns slow listings into hot bundles!

Yes, ‘tis the week before Christmas, and you’re going to be busy-busy-busy…but don’t let the next seven days be all business and no pleasure.

Whatever doesn’t sell this Q4 can have its listing tweaked in the new year. Those items still be there on your store shelves, but each day of this week will only happen once.

In closing, put these profit-maximizing strategies to work. But don’t shortchange yourself on spending time enjoying family, friends, and all the joys of the season. Best of luck with your last-minute selling.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas eBay sellers.

 

 

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