Wednesday, September 30, 2009

eBay Certified Provider Fair - Helps Build eBay Customer Support Awareness of 3rd Party Services and Solutions

eCommerce Workflow eBay held its sixth Certified Provider Fair at the eBay Customer Support center in Salt Lake City, UT. The purpose of the event is to expose Customer Support employees at eBay to the software and services available to the eBay Community from external eBay partners qualified to be an eBay Certified Provider.

Over 300 eBay employees attended and viewed product demos, discussed each solution and relayed ideas and feedback on what their eBay sellers needs are. Lots of interest at the Certified Provider Fair on how Certified Providers support SR2 and help sellers adapt and succeed with the new changes.
eBay Customer Support teams were impressed at the range of software and services available to help eBay sellers be more efficient and successful -

Certified Providers in attendance:

  1. Vendio
  2. ShipWorks
  3. Auctiva
  4. Seller Sourcebook
  5. Worldwide Brands
  6. Terapeak
  7. inkFrog
  8. ShipRush
  9. Monsoon
  10. Selling Manager Applications from eBay Developers Program Team

To learn more about the tools and services from eBay Certified Providers, check out the Certified Provider website.

Click here to view photos from the Certified Provider Fair.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Vendio Reviser Special Edition Updates in Bulk eBay Listings with Return Policy & Handling Time

From the Vendable Blog

Later this week eBay will roll out Seller Release 2 (SR2). Although the SR2 release helps increase transparency and improve the transaction experience, many merchants are not in compliance with some of the new changes. In particular, handling times and return policies are required in all Good ‘Til Cancelled (GTC) listings. Millions of items could fail in the listing process from these new policies.

In response, Vendio is excited to introduce a Special Edition of the Vendio Reviser. This special edition has a ONE PAGE option for revising handling time and return policy. Simply sign up, set you eBay token (so we know who you are), select your handling time and add a return policy and we will bulk revise all your eligible eBay items.

The special edition is a flat-rate of $20.00 a month for unlimited revisions!! And it works no matter how or with who you listed your items!

As an added bonus, this offer includes the Vendio Reviser which allows you to revise your items three ways:

1. Bulk Revise Individual Items – revise up to 100 of your items which are displayed on one page (either in list format, filtered or searched by keyword), and you can make common revisions (including descriptions) from this one page. For instance, you can search all items with “DVD” in the title – make description edits on one page and click revise to submit your changes. There are many options to filter and search your items to bring up the items you wish to revise.

2. Find and Replace – Find specific criteria and replace it. For instance, you could “find” all the items that have “BLUE” in the title and revise them “PERIWINKLE BLUE”. There are many find and replace fields that you could use to make revisions to your items.

3. Set Auto Reviser Rules – Auto Reviser rules lets you set strategies. Think of these as automatic revisions. For instance, you could reduce the price of your item by $1.00 every day until it sells, or you could change the category of your item after 3 days and so on.

Reviser provides many methods for you to enhance and edit your existing eligible eBay listings (in addition to allowing you to create specific strategies you design for you specific business requirements) and now with the Vendio Reviser Special Edition, you can bulk revise your handling time and return policy in one easy step.

PLEASE NOTE: If you use Vendio to list your items, good news! Vendio is automatically updating your handling time and return policy!

Also, If you are already an existing Vendio customer who does not use Vendio to list your items, please contact customer service to have this special addition added to your account.

An eBay Certified Solutions Provider since 2004, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution for eBay sellers of all sizes. Vendio offers a series of applications which can be installed on a standalone basis or used to extend the functionality of the Vendio's eBay listing and inventory management solution.

Monday, September 28, 2009

My.ShipRush on eBay Radio - Save Time Shipping Across Mutiple Channels within My eBay



Listen on eBay Radio as ShipRush discusses how their new My.ShipRush for eBay Selling Manager Applications helps eBay sellers save time handling shipping and communications.

Benefits:

  • When used in eBay Selling Manager Applications, My.ShipRush is automatically configured to interact with your eBay account
  • Supports shipping for multiple carriers
  • Print shipping labels (with free shipping plugin)
  • Email notifications to the buyer with shipment status and tracking #
  • Use existing shipping accounts (in most cases)
  • Monitor and manage which items have shipped and which have not
  • Look up sales and shipment information from My eBay
  • See all ecommerce sales activity across multiple channels in one place, My eBay
  • My.ShipRush is free to try and free to use

eBay sellers interested in My.ShipRush or other apps in the "eBay App Store" known as Selling Manager Applications will need to be subscribed to Selling Manager (for free!) or Selling Manager Pro.

Founded in 1992, Z-Firm has been making ShipRush since 1998. The ShipRush mission is to bring big-warehouse shipment automation to small businesses. ShipRush is "FedEx Compatible," "UPS Ready," "UPS OnLine Compatible," and DHL Certified.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Building a Profitable Business on eBay by Worldwide Brands

Article by Worldwide Brands - this is a series of 14 blog posts providing information on how to find inventory and products to sell on eBay from wholesalers with Worldwide Brands and their Product Sourcing Tool for eBay.

Article #3 - Building a Profitable Business

So you’re thinking of selling on eBay, or perhaps you have already started selling through eBay Auctions or an eBay Store. What’s your goal for doing this? Are you out to make money from a single ‘virtual garage sale’? Do you just want to clear your attic? Or are you serious about building a steady income from sales on eBay?

If your goal is to ‘Build a Profitable Business’ then you need to get serious about it from the beginning. There are phases most people seem to go through when building a business with eBay. The sequence may differ from person to person but these are the typical building phases:
  1. Start Up Phase – selling a few products through eBay Auctions
  2. First eBay Store – establishing a niche identity for a group of products
  3. Combined eBay Store AND eBay Auctions – complementing each other

To build a profitable business, you’re going to need Wholesale suppliers to supply products. A common method eBay sellers use is called drop shipping. The eBay Seller creates their auction or store by uploading product images and detailed description and then waits for order the order to arrive. When a browser turns into a customer, the eBay Seller instantly places an order with their drop ship supplier who ships the product from their inventory directly to the customer.

Drop shipping has its conveniences but it also has its draw backs. The wholesale drop shipper has to charge a Drop Ship Fee to recover the cost of the extra work required in handling single item shipments. The eBay Seller earns less profit per item in a drop ship product sale. The eBay Seller is also at the mercy of the drop shipper for the quality of the packing, and the speed of shipment and delivery. Late or damaged deliveries lead to poor feedback and bad eBay Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs).

Expanding Beyond Drop Shippers
The best way to build a business is by purchasing product in bulk quantities. Many eBay Sellers, as they make some cash surpluses, contact selected wholesale suppliers to negotiate small quantities of inventory at better than drop ship prices. This is classified as Light Bulk Wholesale inventory. Typically eBay Sellers do this with the products that are in highest demand. With better wholesale pricing, comes a better profit margin. As business grows, an eBay Seller can then contact their wholesaler and negotiate volume wholesale pricing on high demand products with even better than light bulk margins.

Fulfilling Orders from Your Own Inventory
Depending on the quantity and size of the product, an eBay Seller may find a need for storage space and also staff to pick, pack and ship per the orders received. Many sellers successfully use their own home as a storage facility; however if the need arises, there are two main options available:

  • Fulfillment Centers
    Most cities have companies who act as ‘Fulfillment Centers.’ You can have your inventory shipped to them and they store, pick, pack and ship your orders and manage your inventory for you. They charge a fee for this, of course.
  • Own Warehouses or Storage Unit
    The more profitable and larger you grow, the more likely that you will get into your own warehouse space and employ others to pick, pack and ship for you.
  • Continuous Product Sourcing is essential to growing your eBay business
    Excellent Product Sourcing is required every step of the way in building your profitability and your business. Product and wholesaler selection, wholesale pricing and product demand is critical. An eBay seller needs to make sure they’re working directly with a real wholesale supplier who allow their inventory to be sold on eBay.

The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool can be purchased and used without leaving the Selling Manager section of ‘My eBay.’ Sellers can find products to sell on eBay, within eBay!

With this tool, eBay Sellers can use keywords to:

  • Research the recent Internet-based demand for such a product
  • Obtain a complete picture of the current Supply and Competition status
  • Obtain current pricing information for sales of the product in auctions and in retail.
  • Obtain the direct contact details for verified wholesale suppliers who will Drop Ship or supply in Light Bulk, Volume Wholesale quantities, Liquidation lots and imports.
  • Learn how to successfully conduct continuous product sourcing to grow your eBay business.

Check out Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool today! 7 Day Free Trial is available.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

eBay Workshop Sept 29th - Increase Your Repeat Sales with Buyer Rewards and Email Marketing

Workshop: New Selling Manager Applications - "Increase Your Repeat Sales with Buyer Rewards and Email Marketing"

Host: MyStoreRewards
Date: September 29th, Tuesday
Time: 11AM - Noon PST
Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: It is more cost effective to retain a buyer than it is to attract new buyers. In this workshop, we'll look at how eBay sellers can drive repeat sales, build buyer loyalty and expand their buyer base with MyStoreRewards.

MyStoreRewards is a simple marketing solution enabling eBay sellers to offer cash back and coupons to buyers. eBay sellers can also create custom campaigns and directly market to previous customers and encourage repeat purchases. Sellers can do all of this direct from Selling Manager in My eBay!

MyStoreRewards is an eBay Certified Solution Provider and one of the third party providers included in the new Selling Manager Applications feature. Click here to learn more about Selling Manager Applications. After the material is presented we'll open the board for discussion and questions.

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help eBay sellers.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

eBay Certified Provider Program Goes Global with the Addition of GarageSale by iwascoding



New eBay Certified Provider – GarageSale by iwascoding

The eBay Certified Provider program expands into international territory with the addition of GarageSale by iwascoding.

iwascoding is a German company focused on creating eBay and PayPal solutions for the Mac and iPhone platforms. Their most popular eBay solution is “GarageSale”, a listing tool accounting for over 400,000 auctions a month. US sellers make up over 50% of GarageSale subscribers.

GarageSale is a Mac OS X application providing eBay listing efficiency and post sale management.

Key Features are:
  • Desktop application
  • Integration with other Mac OS X applications (e.g. importing images from Apple iPhoto
  • Supports multiple eBay accounts
  • Built-in photo editor
  • Import photos direct from your camera
  • Over 130 template designs
  • Income report generation (track eBay sales and expenses)
  • Supports 15 international eBay sites, including eBay.com, eBay.de, eBay.co.uk and eBay.ca
  • Supports eBay Motors
  • Network sharing available with Apple’s Bonjour technology
  • YouTube, Twitter, and Google Maps integration for social marketing and networking
  • and more…

GarageSale is available for $34.99.

Target audience – All level of eBay sellers, from New-to-Mid-to-High Volume eBay sellers and Mac users. eBay sellers and Mac users that prefer to manage their eBay business from the familiarity of a native Mac application and value the integration with other Mac based software.

Awards

  • eBay Germany Developer Program awarded GarageSale “Best Newcomer 2005″
  • Mac Life rated GarageSale “Best eBay App” twice in 2005 and again in 2006

eBay Seller Testimonials
“There is no better eBay software program than GarageSale. I'm making enough money using this program to pay my bills! It is easy to use, intuitive, and the development team provides excellent tech support. They also listen to our suggestions and incorporate them into the updates whenever they can. Also the program is extremely affordable. Saves me untold amount of time listing auctions.”

“I have so much confidence in them that whatever program they release in the future I will purchase with no questions asked. I would do that because they have an uncanny ability to know what a MAC user REALLY needs.”

Created in 2004, GarageSale is a robust solution helping eBay sellers list items efficiently, update items regularly and manage post-sale tasks. GarageSale is a Mac desktop application.

Below is a cartoon depiction of the iwascoding crew working on their GarageSale application for eBay. I think you'll appreciate their creativity and sense of humor. :)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Beatlemania is Back: Rock Band and Beatles Items Sales Surge on eBay by Terapeak

Article by Terapeak

In case you haven’t heard, there’s this wild new video game out, where you and a few friends get to be English kids with bad haircuts, who sing cute little pop songs that eventually become more complex, and eventually you pioneer this thing called rock and roll and take over the world… It’s pretty “out there”, but a lot of fun!

Okay, obviously we’re talking about The Beatles: Rock Band, which released just over a week ago, and which features some crazy specialized instrument add-ons, like Paul’s signature Hofner bass and Ringo’s branded drum kit. Not coincidentally, the game also launched in conjunction with remastered reissues of the band’s catalogue — which, here in the office, we’re pretty stoked on. Of course, $250 retail (the cost of the 13-part box set) is a lot of dough to spend on tunes you’ve pretty much heard before — especially when paired with all the Rock Band packages — so for any fan to get in on the action, they’re looking at a hefty financial commitment.

As a result — and you know what we’re gonna say — eBay sales have gone through the roof.

Check out this 30-day All Sites total sales trend:

… and that’s just any listing with the keyword “Beatles” in it!

If total amounts aren’t your thing (fair, considering the new release factor), consider this: in the two weeks leading up to release date, sell-through also shot from 38% to 51%, while bids per listing nearly doubled. And if holiday patterns are any indication… well, that’s only the beginning.

Terapeak’s Hot Media charts for September won’t come out for another couple weeks, but do you remember the following from a couple months back?
… Okay, we still can’t get over how unbelievable that is. Jaw-dropping. Inconceivable.

But don’t be surprised to see some kind of Beatles “lite” version as holiday sales pick up…

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Getting Started with Product Sourcing, a Product Sourcing Checklist by Worldwide Brands

Article by Worldwide Brands - this is a series of 14 blog posts providing information on how to find inventory and products to sell on eBay from wholesalers with Worldwide Brands and their Product Sourcing Tool for eBay.

Article #2 - Your GPS for Getting Started – A Product Sourcing Checklist

Why do people like a GPS? It tells them exactly where to go, when to turn and even when to make that irritating U-turn! eBay and Worldwide Brands recognize that Beginners starting eBay selling may need some help and direction. We have developed a Product Sourcing Checklist with tips and videos to steer you in the right direction for excellent Product Sourcing. This checklist takes you from drop shipping to expanding and growing your business.

Beginners to eBay selling have a rich set of education materials available to them on eBay. All these tools are easily accessed through the dashboard provided by eBay’s Selling Manager. eBay’s Selling Manager is now available free in the “My eBay” section of the www.ebay.com.

One of the application solutions available for purchase through eBay’s Selling Manager is the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool and wholesale drop shipping database. You can source products from within Selling Manager without leaving the eBay selling platform.

Worldwide Brands provides a Getting Started Checklist for eBay Members looking to find products to sell on eBay. Users can access this checklist by selecting the Getting Started Checklist link from the list of menu items in the Worldwide Brands Member Center.

This checklist covers the following eleven important Getting Started steps:
  1. Learn eBay’s Essentials
  2. Decide whether Auctions or eBay Store First
  3. Establish a Legal Business
  4. Get a Business Bank Account
  5. Determine What You’re Going to Sell
  6. Don’t Just Call Your 1st Wholesale Supplier – Prepare First
  7. Start Calling Wholesalers On Your Preferred Products List
  8. Get Ready to Collect Your Money!
  9. Create your eBay Store or eBay Auction listings.
  10. Tell the World Where You Are!
  11. Repeat These Steps to Grow Your Business

The checklist contains more detail for each step on this list. It provides pointers as to what to do and how to get it done quickly. It also has links to useful education videos and helpful resources.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Finding Products to Sell on eBay with Worldwide Brands


Article by Worldwide Brands - this is a series of 14 blog posts providing information on how to find inventory and products to sell on eBay from wholesalers with Worldwide Brands and their Product Sourcing Tool for eBay.

Article #1 - Finding Products to Sell on eBay

Did you know you can now source products to sell on eBay without leaving the Selling Manager section of “My eBay”? The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool is now available within eBay’s Selling Manager. eBay Sellers can access more than 8,000 wholesale suppliers, including drop shippers, representing more than 8,000,000 products. eBay selling has taken on a whole new dimension taking eBay auction listings and eBay Stores well beyond just drop shipping. Once you have purchased a Worldwide Brands Membership, you will have unlimited access to verified wholesale suppliers with details on product category, brands, product types and wholesaler contact details. This puts you directly in contact with the right wholesale drop shipper or light bulk wholesaler with no intervening ‘middleman.’ You can also enjoy video and audio education guiding you on how to enhance your customer experience and eBay selling through real product sourcing.

Why is REAL product sourcing important for eBay Sellers?

Great Buyer Experiences Begin with Excellent Product Sourcing
Successful sales depend on great Buyer Experiences and excellent buyer feedback (otherwise known as your DSR ratings). But a great Buyer Experience begins with excellent product sourcing:

  • Buyers gravitate to your listings when you list the products they are searching to buy. This requires up-to-date internet-based market research and a source of products that can be sold on eBay.
  • Buyers flock to competitively priced products. This requires sources of wholesale supply. You need to find quality at the right selling prices and with sufficient profit margin. Excellent supplier research is critical.
  • Buyers notice products that have tempting images with compelling SEO-rich descriptions. This requires careful keyword research and correct keyword usage in product descriptions. Wholesale suppliers will provide images and basic descriptions, which can be enhanced to improve your listing quality.
  • A Seller needs to have the ability to cross-sell other products within the same niche. When selecting a wholesale supplier, a seller needs to remember this and select their first supplier with a wide range of SKUs in order to list products faster. A customer is more likely to buy from a listing, which shows additional options that they can purchase.
  • Buyers require good deals on shipping and fast shipments to destination. If a seller is going to use a drop shipper or wholesale supplier, they will need to confirm the policies and procedures of those suppliers to ensure timely shipping.

eBay Sellers need to perform all this research quickly. The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool allows eBay Sellers to do all this without leaving eBay’s Selling Manager.

How the Product Sourcing Tool Helps


For the past 10 years, Worldwide Brands researchers have been qualifying and certifying drop shippers and wholesale suppliers willing to work with eBay retailers. Here’s how eBay Sellers already use the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool. Using a selected product keyword, eBay Sellers search:

  • To determine a current demand and supply for a selected product
  • To find associated keywords to use in their auction listings and product descriptions
  • To identify wholesale suppliers who will work with eBay Sellers including Volume Wholesalers, Light Bulk Wholesalers, Drop Shippers, and Liquidation Suppliers
  • To conduct competition and pricing research

This quick video tour will show you how you can save time with this tool.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

eBay Workshop Sept 22nd - Research and Find Products to Sell on eBay, within eBay!

Workshop: New Selling Manager Applications - "Research and Find Products to Sell on eBay, within eBay!"

Host: Worldwide Brands
Date: September 22nd, Tuesday
Time: 11AM - Noon PST
Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: Finding drop ship suppliers and wholesale suppliers that allow their products to be sold on eBay just became 1 GIANT step easier. Now you can access Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool for eBay quickly and easily in your eBay account with the release of Selling Manager Applications for Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro.

Join us in this workshop to discover why finding drop ship and wholesale suppliers is much simpler than you think. We have video, images, and lots of educational content to show you exactly how it works.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider.

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help eBay sellers.

Visit the eBay Workshop Calendar to see all upcoming workshops and also to review past workshops.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

eBay Seller Finds Success Sourcing Inventory with Doba and Managing eBay Listings with Auctiva

Article from Auctiva Education - powerful information for online sellers

To Sherri England of Melrose Best Buy Family Outlet (eBay Store) , there's a certain joy that comes with being able to offer bargain prices for high-quality, name-brand goods people might otherwise be unable to afford.

"It makes me feel good to know I can list items that I get at near-wholesale prices and pass on the savings to buyers," she says.

It's also satisfying that, in doing so, England has grown her business beyond her expectations without sacrificing profits. But the best part, for her money, is that by using the drop-ship sourcing service of Doba, she doesn't have to manage the inventory, or deal with the listing details and delivery logistics.

England has more than doubled her monthly sales on eBay since signing up for Doba's Advanced package five months ago. She first heard about the sourcing service on an eBay Radio broadcast and decided to try the company's free trial after supplies from her overseas source became scarce.

Though Doba's pricing is not as low as having a direct manufacturing source, England finds the drop-shipping service to be cost-competitive and more suited to her needs than other sourcing sites she's tried.

Doba does everything," she says. "It's convenient, because you can push a product to your page without having to buy it first and you can sell items in individual quantities or case lots.

"You do have to watch your inventory lists and check Doba each day and night to see how much quantity is in stock, but Doba provides a listing tool that helps you see right away if something has sold out," she explains.

The one drawback, England notes, is that products sourced through Doba may only be shipped within the 48 contiguous United States. But even for merchants who sell internationally, Doba is still "a good way to supplement other merchandise you already have," she offers.

Because there's no startup investment beyond the membership fee, drop shipping can be a low-risk way for online merchants to expand their product sources. By leaving inventory handling to the drop-ship supplier, sellers can spend more time on product research, marketing, customer service and managing their businesses.

However, drop-ship order fees can cut into your profits, and there's always a risk that hot-selling products will sell out. That's why some sellers opt to work directly with product wholesalers or manufacturers.

But if negotiating with individual suppliers, and purchasing and storing pallets or cases of inventory isn't an attractive option, drop shipping can be a convenient, flexible and profitable alternative. Product sourcing marketplaces, such as Doba, offer customers access to millions of products from thousands of vetted suppliers of brand-name merchandise at competitive wholesale prices.

"We’ve designed our service so that even beginners in online retail can run a successful business," says Brandon Delgrosso, Doba's executive vice president. "Doba is a quick, easy, risk-free way to get started selling online."

"There's still so much to learn," England adds. "But one thing about Doba that's so amazing is they have an education component designed to help sellers be successful with their online businesses. That's so important—I was very happy to know they care about our success.

"I think using Doba selling with Auctiva is a fantastic combination," - Sherri England.

Read the full article titled "Source of Happiness"



About Auctiva - Auctiva is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider offering listing management solutions and features for beginner -to mid-to high-volume eBay sellers.

About Doba - Doba is a product sourcing company connecting eBay sellers and small online retailers with drop ship distributors, manufacturers and wholesalers. Doba is a member of the Better Business Bureau and has been an eBay Certified Service Provider since 2004. To learn more about Doba, check out the FREE 14-day trial membership.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Auctiva Releases New Bulk Listing-Revision Tool for eBay

Auctiva, an eBay Certified Solution Provider, recently announced new enhancements and features to their software for eBay. The new software enhancements allow eBay sellers to manage more of their selling activities with Auctiva.

Auctiva has added new features to provide better functionality and help for eBay sellers as they update listings and selling strategies to adapt to the upcoming eBay policy changes, which take effect later this month. (September).

"Our Auctiva development team tries hard to find ways to help customers be more productive, sell more in their eBay businesses and save money...," - Tony Maxey, Auctiva Product Manager. "We're introducing several new features in this update that many customers have asked us for."

New Features:
  • Bulk Listing-Revision Tool - the new tool will help eBay sellers edit, revise and update their listings quickly and easily to comply with eBay's new policies

"This bulk revision feature will come in handy for all of our users who want the ease of changing one listing or 100, without having to log directly into eBay and revise each listing, one at a time," - Rebecca Miller, Auctiva Product Analyst.

  • Print Packing Slips - generate and print packing slips with your business logo
  • Spell Check - functionality added to Auctiva's listing tool for eBay

For more details on Auctiva's software enhancements, check out their Auctiva Education and Auctiva Community Forums.

Auctiva is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider offering listing management solutions and features for beginner -to mid-to high-volume eBay sellers.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Understanding Trade Reference When Purchasing from Wholesalers by Worldwide Brands


By Chris Malta, Founder & CEO of Worldwide Brands

Wholesale Tips Series - How to find wholesalers, doing business with a wholesaler, what to expect when purchasing from wholesalers and more.

Tip #20

If you want an account with a genuine wholesale supplier, they will first need to determine your credit worthiness. The wholesaler’s credit department will ask you for Trade References. In a Trade Reference, you provide contact details for businesses that have traded with your business in the past. You provide a telephone (fax or email address). The wholesaler’s credit department will contact people you have previously bought from in order to research your purchase, payment and credit history.

If you are a new eBay Seller, you may not have any prior business credit history. You will have no option but to pay up front using your credit card until you have established a good track record of purchasing and paying on time with your wholesale supplier. Remember, this wholesale supplier will become a Trade Reference to help you secure credit terms with other wholesalers (provided your payment history with that wholesaler is good.)

This article concludes the "Wholesale Tip Series" by Worldwide Brands. To read all the articles (1-20) in this series, click here.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

How Researching the “Popularity Factor” can Help You Determine What to Buy in Bulk and Sell on eBay by Vendio


Post provided by Vendio

Many sellers purchasing from wholesales get quantity discounts. While we have thousands and thousands of sellers who use our award winning Vendio Research to determine how to sell a product in hand, Research is also great for determining how to purchase in quantity. In other words, you can use Vendio Research to help you determine what to buy and in what quantities. This is even true of products that are NOT on eBay at all yet. It is possible to bring a new product to the eBay market, and still use Research to help you determine your purchase quantities.


Here’s an example: Let’s say you want to purchase Birthstone Pens and no one else is currently selling them on eBay. Your supplier offers a quantity discount when you purchase 300 pens. Now, typically you might think, I’ll divide 12 months into 300 pens which equals 25 of each month. Simple, right? No, the smarter way to buy in bulk is to first realize that not all birthstones sell the same.

Using Vendio Research, we quickly looked up the eBay data on birthstone sales in the last 90 days. As the chart below illustrates, December birthstones have a 13% success rate, while April has 29%!! What this implies is that you’ll sell more of your April Birthstone Pens. Therefore, if you had purchased a quantity of 25 of each month, you’d be left with more unpopular pens and will need to fix-forward when reordering. Vendio Research can help you determine the “popularity factor” when it comes to purchase choices.




This can apply to virtually any type of merchandise where there is a selection to choose from. For example:

  • What color is more popular for T-shirts, iPods, or even cars?
  • What sports team or Disney actor is the most popular (on eBay)?
  • What sizes are popular sizes for shoes, rings, jeans?


There is an old saying that the profit is made when an item is purchased, so going into a purchase armed with data can help profits. Many sellers will go ahead and research an item in hand, but apply guesswork when it comes to purchasing. With all the data at your fingertips from Vendio Research, there is no reason for you not to quickly gain an advantage with purchase decisions and ensure greater profits.


As an exclusive for the readers of the eBay Certified Provider Blog, Vendio is giving away Vendio Research Free for 60 days! Click here http://bit.ly/eBayCPBlog to learn more.

An eBay Certified Solutions Provider since 2004, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution for eBay sellers of all sizes. Vendio offers a series of applications which can be installed on a standalone basis or used to extend the functionality of the Vendio's eBay listing and inventory management solution.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Is Purchasing Product "At Cost" from Wholesalers a Good Idea? by Worldwide Brands



Article by Chris Malta, CEO & Founder of Worldwide Brands


Wholesale Tips Series - How to find wholesalers, doing business with a wholesaler, what to expect when purchasing from wholesalers and more.

Tip #19

What should Buyers expect when their wholesale supplier offers to sell a product: At Cost? It may mean different things, so do your research carefully. To sell At Cost, a wholesaler will make no profit. When they say At Cost, the wholesaler will be selling to you at exactly what it cost them to buy the goods from the manufacturer.

Think of this, if the wholesaler can’t sell the items to any retailer, how do you expect to sell the items to any of your buyers? You should always use your Product Sourcing tool (from Worldwide Brands) to determine the current demand for the product on the web before you place orders for At Cost items. If people are searching for these items and seem willing to buy, this may be a bargain that you’ll make some money out of. Alternatively, you could be selling 'at cost' or even 'below cost' to get rid of the inventory.




Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

eBay Sales for Julia Child and Cookbooks Are on the Rise by Terapeak


Article by Terapeak

From 1961 until her death in 2004, Julia Child was a celebrated American chef who brought French cuisine to the masses. In 2002, then-unknown Julie Powell created a blog titled The Julie/Julia Project, which detailed her attempts at all 524 recipes from Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking collection.


And in 2009, Nora Ephron made a movie about the two. Titled Julie & Julia, the film, which stars Meryl Streep as Child and Amy Adams as Powell, opened #2 at the box office, earned a glowing review from The New Yorker, and has so far grossed more than $70 million worldwide.


It’s also sold a lot of cookbooks.


Really, this is one of those merchandising fall-outs that should have been predicted a mile away — and surely hundreds of savvy book-sellers out there are congratulating themselves on stocking Child’s best-seller. Of course, many of these crystal-gazers do their business on eBay, and the following results speak for themselves. Just check out these 30-day All Sites trends for “Julia Child” — first Total Sales, then Average Price:

The latter graph, in our opinion, is the far more remarkable one: it tells us there’s extreme demand for Child’s books, which her publishers can’t reissue fast enough.


As for Child’s effect on “bigger picture” eBay sales, you can see in the graph below that total sales for “cookbook” in general have enjoyed a marginal increase over the past 30 days (probably less marginal that it seems, considering that’s a trend based on on nearly 75,000 listings):

Going forward, it’ll be interesting to see if cookbook sales continue to climb, and whether demand for Child’s recipes peters out as more books become available. (The upcoming holidays add even a further wrinkle.)


Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some Beef Bourguignon to go whip up! - Terapeak

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Thoughtful Product Descriptions Create Sales by Infopia

Blog post provided by Infopia

Product descriptions are essential to merchandising and selling successfully online. A picture may speak a thousand words, but rarely tells a potential customer why they should buy that particular product from you. The three following strategies will help you to write product strategies that will sell.


Get to Know Your Customers
Determining who your customers are will help you to determine what they value in a product and what kind of language you should use in the product description. The actual product you are selling will also determine your audience. If the majority of your customers are high level executives purchasing business to business services you will use a much different vocabulary than you would if you were selling family vacation packages.


Create Excitement
Product descriptions should not only give necessary details of the product (size, color, availability) but also create excitement and a desire to own the product. Be sure to answer the following questions in a description:

  1. What makes this product better than others?
  2. Why does your customer need this product?

Example: “Stay ahead of the fashion curve in these boots, This boot features black leather with a scrunch detail at the front. This knee boot is slightly rounded at the toe and features a 3 inch block heel. This will not be going out of fashion anytime this season!”


The Power of Persuasion: Tell a Story
Using the power of persuasion through emotion (Pathos) and appealing to your customers emotions in a product description is a very effective way to sell products. It can be difficult to build a relationship with your customers when you sell online. By using the pathos method of persuasion you will be able to bring back the “human element” online. This is something that can set you apart in the cold world of online selling. The easiest way to create this type of persuasion is to tell a story about the product. Use descriptive words that will appeal to your customers. This is also an effective method of using positive customer reviews.


Example: “I order from you guys all the time and my pit bull (who I write a column about in the magazine NorthSide San Francisco) loves your bully sticks, especially the meaty ones! The 12 inch think last a long time–the only ones I’ve found that do, and I’ve ordered from everyone. I find your quality and prices to be the best.–Susan in SF, CA”

Founded in 1999, Infopia provides (Software as a Service) eCommerce solutions—helping eBay sellers grow their business efficiently and effectively.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

eBay Certified Provider, Doba, Releases New Features and Technology


Doba, an eBay Certified Provider, recently announced a release of their new technology platform.

"This major release is in direct response to the requests from our members for easier, faster ways to find better selling products and more efficient ways to get those products in your sales channels." - Doba

What's New with Doba:
  • A simplified browsing and searching in the Doba catalog through a streamlined product category structure
  • Easier to quickly find the products you are looking for with a faster search engine and additional filtering options
  • Enhanced product export tools to help with your inventory management
To assist Doba members with navigating the new site features, Doba has added a complete set of tutorials. The tutorials are located at the bottom right-hand side of each page and contain useful information about each page. If you find you are stuck or have a question about a certain feature of the Doba catalog, the tutorials should be able to help you out.

Current Doba subscribers can login into their accounts now to see the new changes.

With new technology is comes a few steps Doba subscribers will need to take to ensure their business runs smoothly:
  • You will need to recreate any existing Saved Searches to match the new product categories
  • You will also need to recreate dynamic Watch Lists that are based on Saved Searches
  • Static Watch Lists will not be affected
  • You should spend a few minutes familiarizing yourself with the new capabilities and format of the Data Export Tool
  • Any automated export and input processes may need to be adjusted slightly to work with the new updates
  • The Data Export Tool will also reflect the new category structure for each product
Doba is a product sourcing company connecting eBay sellers and small online retailers with drop ship distributors, manufacturers and wholesalers. Doba is a member of the Better Business Bureau and has been an eBay Certified Service Provider since 2004.