eBay Top December Sales Tips!

by | Dec 5, 2018 | eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

December is upon us. That means it’s time for eBay top December sales tips. Sellers put your pedal to the metal!

eBay top December sales tips for sellers

Most important of the eBay top December sales tips, is keep adding fresh merchandise to your store shelves. So, of course don’t stop listing altogether. But do concentrate now on selling and shipping what’s already listed.

In fact, at this point, SHIPPING is your most important activity. And it’s crucial to do it right.

Big-volume multi-channel sellers cite shipping as one of their top concerns for successful sales and happy customers, especially repeat buyers. Why?

The answer to that question is as easy as 1-2-3: because if their item does not arrive (1) fast; (2) in one piece; and (3) appropriately packaged — including being dry! — your customer is NOT going to be happy.

And an unhappy customer is the last thing you want!

Top eBay sales tip to keep customers happy!

Luckily, in most cases, making customers happy doesn’t have to be difficult. It just takes some thought, care, and attention to detail. Here are top tips for successful holiday shipping.

‘By now you should have reviewed your shipping workflow and revised it if necessary. But if you’ve been putting that off, or just want a quick refresher course, read my recent blog post. Remember, saving 5 minutes of packing time per item adds up quickly!

You also should be offering paid shipping upgrades, including overnight express delivery.

Again, if you’ve been procrastinating, sit down at your computer — desktop or laptop — and bulk edit your listings to add those additional shipping options.

Most importantly, pack each item appropriately AND attractively so that it arrives in one piece, dry, and looking its best!

Remember, ‘tis the season for snow, sleet, and just plain rain. Boxes are highly susceptible to moisture, and even polyvinyl mailing envelopes rip or may leak.

So pack your items for shipping with wet weather in mind.

eBay top sales tips includes think of the weather when packing!

For example, clothing should be sealed in plastic bags; if you typically wrap apparel items in tissue, do that first, then seal the wrapped garment in a plastic bag. Ziplock bags work particularly well for this, and store brands are typically not expensive. You should also put clear tape over the addresses on your shipping label (just don’t tape over the bar code).

As for other items, don’t expect even the biggest, reddest FRAGILE sticker ever to protect your goods. Because it won’t; by some accounts, packages bearing FRAGILE stickers may even be treated MORE roughly than other packages!

Instead, pack everything so that it can be dropped 4 feet without breaking.

(Hint: Test this with a generic item you don’t mind destroying, NOT your sold item!) That means lots of bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and possibly using a box within a box for super-breakable stuff. When in doubt, add more bubble wrap and another layer of peanuts! If the bubble wrap doesn’t seal the item away from moisture sufficiently, put the bubble-wrapped item into a plastic bag before placing it in its nest of packing peanuts.

Speaking of bubble wrap, it’s made with different sizes of bubbles for a reason. Multiple layers of the small bubbles protect differently than do the large bubbles, and it doesn’t necessarily correspond to the size of the item. Some items will ship most safely swathed in small bubbles with an outer layer of large bubbles. Experiment to figure out what works best. Very delicate items may even need to be carefully swathed in soft cotton batting rather than bubble wrapped.

Air pillows are another type of what shipping professionals call “void fill solutions”. Certain types of corrugated boxes are more protective than others, too. All of these packing materials (and much more) are available from Bubblefast.com.  Use code esnbes and save 10% on your entire order.

Now you’ve got your marching orders…pa-rumpa-pum-pum…and a recipe for happy customers:

  1. Keep streamlining your workflow to make shipping faster and easier

  2. Offer paid shipping upgrades, including overnight express delivery

  3. Pack each item appropriately, and make sure it’s weatherproof

So put the shipping pedal to the metal, and get those sold items flying out the door!

3 Ways To Supercharge eBay Holiday Sales!

by | Oct 22, 2018 | eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

The Holidays, Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwaanza are just around the corner. Together, they comprise the year’s most profitable retail moment.

But how do sellers supercharge this year’s eBay Holiday sales?

There’s plenty of competition for customers’ dollars. So, what can you do to stand out in the e-commerce crowd, so you can garner more sales? Here are my three top tips for outselling your competition.

#1 – First, remember that when it comes to shipping, buyers like choices.

Give shoppers choices this Holiday shopping season!

So offer them options: For example, you might ship USPS First Class for free while providing paid upgrades to USPS Priority Mail and USPS Priority Express.

Be sure to also give your buyers the choice of having their package shipped to them overnight. That could make all the difference when it comes to scoring a last-minute sale!

Overnight shipping is not just for higher-end purchases, either. I once had a buyer pay $20 to have a $9.99 item shipped via USPS Priority Express Mail; it was that important to them to receive their item ASAP.

Giving buyers their choice of shipping class is especially important if you’re eligible for eBay Guaranteed Delivery. Guaranteed Delivery is eBay’s promise that an item will be delivered in three days or less. Do try to qualify for Guaranteed Delivery if you can. It gives your listings additional visibility. Buyers can even filter search results to see only items within the Guaranteed Delivery program. The more shipping options you offer, the more Guaranteed Delivery filters your listing shows in. More visibility means more sales.

Not sure what it takes to participate in eBay Guaranteed Delivery, or hazy on the details of requirements and benefits? Get the full scoop at ebay.com/GuaranteedDelivery.

Here’s my video “Did You Know eBay May Pay For This So You Don’t Have To”. It has important information on eBay’s Guaranteed Delivery for you.

#2 – Second, consider bundling complementary products together to generate additional sales.

Welcome shoppers with eBay Holiday bundles!

You can even make your bundle holiday-centric; why not have it include, say, a cheerful gift bag and colorful tissue paper? Learn more about bundles in my online class Secret Spice for Online Sales. It includes a bonus PDF with 60 bundling tips you can use right now!

#3 – Third, think mobile.

Be ready for Holiday shoppers by being mobile optimized!

More than 60% of all eBay transactions are touched by mobile. That means the majority of eBay shoppers are shopping via their mobile devices. So your listings have to look good on smartphones and tablets, not just on desktop and laptop computers.

To ensure your listings will do so, use the Mobile-Friendly checker at the upper right-hand corner of the description box in the Sell Your Item (SYI) form. Then every week, spot-check at least one listing in each of your main selling categories to see how it looks on a mobile device. Check out your competitors’ listings as well; whose look better?

Here’s an infographic to give you a better handle on these 3 holiday selling tips. Use them wisely and well to boost your Q4 profits.

Here are 3 Ways To Supercharge Your eBay Holiday Sales!

Let the eBay Holiday shopping begin! With these three ways to supercharge your eBay Holiday sales, you’re ready! Fa, la, la, la!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

eBay Inventory Sourcing Made Easy!

by | Oct 3, 2018 | eCommerce Selling Tips, eCommerce Tips, Selling on eBay

Yes, Virginia, eBay inventory sourcing for 4th quarter can be easy.

However be forewarned, the holidays are coming up fast. If you don’t stock up now on in-demand products, you’ll miss out on the most profitable quarter of the year.

First, sourcing profitable eBay inventory is always a challenge.

But never more so than when it comes to Q4. It’s the time that every seller in every marketplace is looking to score gift-worthy goods. What to do?

Sellers are looking to source great Holiday eBay inventory!

So, some sellers shop the clearance racks at their local retailers. Others scour the shelves at discount retail outlets like Tuesday Morning or Big Lots to find flippable bargains. Still others thrift or hit estate and garage sales (which are hard to find by now in cooler parts of the country). Then there are other savvy sellers that go wholesale.

Wholesale has traditionally been hard for small sellers.

A pallet of merchandise is just more stuff that can easily be handled without a warehouse. Then factor in the expense and logistics. With wholesale, there is arranging for shipping, finding enough storage space, and getting everything listed in a timely fashion. But now you can buy in bulk without being overwhelmed using BULQ. That’s  BULQ with a Q.

BULQ offers liquidation goods by the pallet or the case.

Merchandise is closeouts, overstocks, and returns from leading US retailers and manufacturers. Retailers include Target and Home Depot. A case is a large box that most sellers can comfortably accommodate. Both cases and pallets come with a detailed manifest. It’s guaranteed to show you exactly what you’re getting. So, if that itemized list is not at least 98% accurate, BULQ will refund the difference. And yes there are scores to be had even in the competitive category of toys!

BULQ also takes care of delivering the goods directly to your doorstep, shipping anywhere in the continental USA for a surprisingly low flat rate.

In addition, their all-American customer support is behind you throughout every transaction. Best of all, you can browse and buy from BULQ.com even in your jammies. Then pay via credit card with just one click. Or you can put lots on your Watch list for further consideration.

This is the time of year when major retailers clear out excess inventory quickly.

Knowing this smart sellers act fast and score seasonal and giftable goods. BULQ offers their pallets and cases at auction as well as for fixed prices. They upload fresh merchandise three times a day: 11am PT, 2pm PT, and 5pm PT. Kind of like Dr Pepper’s “10, 2, and 4”, except that the only thing BULQ will fatten up is your profits! If you need to do some quick research of hot products ShelfTrend has answers for you.

Whether you shop clearance sales, discount retailers, thrift shops, or estate sales, NOW is the time to stock up for a successful holiday selling season.  If you’re looking to save travel time to stores and sales, BULQ  is a click away. It offers a great way to source in-demand Holiday eBay inventory.

Remember act fast. If it’s a great case on BULQ it will sell fast.

 Snatch up gift worthy gifts as major retailers regularly clear out goods. Bring on great inventory and bring on the sales!

Win Big On eBay Using Competitor Research

by | 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!

 

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