Christmas Profits Begin in July: Your Holiday Planning & Prep Starts Here

Blog post by Lisa Suttora, CEO & Founder of WhatDoISell.com

Christmas Profits Begin in July: Your Holiday Planning & Prep Starts Here

Ready to make some money this holiday season? Then grab a glass of lemonade and sit down to read this post. Because what you’re about to read will be key to your holiday income success.


Starting on July 5th, with the kick-off of the back-to-school shopping season, the countdown begins to 2010 holiday sales. There are almost 9 weeks from July 1st to September 1st, when 38% of online shoppers will begin their holiday shopping.

If you wait until Fall to starting thinking about and preparing for the holidays, you’ll find yourself in catch up mode from September to December, and as a result leave a lot of holiday money on the table.

Preparing begins with the actions you take in July.

Every year at this time, I begin helping people prepare for holiday sales.

Unfortunately not enough people take action early on. And there’s nothing worse than rounding the holiday bend in November and watching sadly as your holiday sales slip by.

Don’t let this happen to you! The time is now…

To get you started, I’ve listed some of the holiday prep steps you’ll take this year:

• Creating a holiday inventory list
• Choosing your affiliate products & signing up for the programs
• Creating a holiday marketing plan
• Ordering last-minute inventory
• Organizing your physical products
• Snapping up packaging supplies on the cheap
• Creating holiday advertising graphics
• Planning your website and blog “seasonal decor”
• Creating holiday gift sets
• Setting up your holiday blog/ sales pages if you are an affiliate marketer
• Setting up your email marketing campaign
• Bringing in seasonal help

Now if the thought of putting together a plan for the holiday selling season feels overwhelming to you and you’re wondering how you’re going to find time to add yet another thing to your already overloaded schedule, there’s relief in sight.

With 15 holiday selling seasons under my belt (whew!) – 7 offline & 8 online! I have the planning and action steps for holiday income success down to a science. Stay tuned, for the upcoming announcement about this year’s Holiday Selling Guide and use this link to sign-up for announcements.

eBay Workshop July 29th - "How to Use Content Marketing to Attract, Engage & Retain More Customers!"

Topic: How to Use Content Marketing to Attract, Engage & Retain More Customers!

Host: Lisa Suttora, ecommerce strategist and Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com
Date: Thursday, July 29th
Time: 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: Content is still king on the web! Unfortunately many online sellers overlook this free, highly effective marketing strategy. Discover how to use content to:

• Drive targeted buyer traffic
• Convert more sales
• Retain existing customers
• Give your business a unique presence on eBay

Join ecommerce strategist Lisa Suttora, Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com, as she discusses several creative ways to use content marketing to successfully promote a business in any online niche market.

You’ll learn how to integrate content with eBay’s marketing tools, as well as how to leverage your content on today’s top social media sites.

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help an eBay seller grow their business.

Preparing for the Back-to-School Sales Rush on eBay

Back-to-School is just around the corner. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), American consumers will be spending $38.4 billion on back-to-school merchandise in 2010. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Retailers are pegging it at a higher amount, approximately $55.12 billion with each American family spending $606.40.

Here are some tips for starting your eBay marketing campaign for back-to-school season:

• Discounts. Discounts. Discounts. One of the prime reasons consumers will want to buy from you is because you are offering a good deal. Create promos for products, give special discounts on themed items and offer savings on bulk shipping.
• Advertise early. Back-to-School season marks a big event for most retailers. It is also the start of the third quarter of the year as well as the fall season. Several advertisers will start their online marketing efforts early and so should you. The second week of July is the ideal time to start. (Start now!)
• Communicate to your customers why they should buy from you. Competition can be tough and the big retailers will definitely be your major contenders for school supplies and other must-haves. So, hype on what makes your eBay store/inventory different – be it the price or your delivery options.
• Target the right audience. During Back-to-School season, you actually have two major audiences: the students and the parents. Between the two, it’s the parents that have control of the budget, but do not discount the purchasing power of the students.
• Highlight the right products. School bags, backpacks, shoes, shirts and school supplies are the top sellers during this season. Make sure you are offering a good deal on the bare necessities such as pens and paper products.

Happy selling!

Article from the Shopster blog

Shopster is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider providing additional product and inventory for eBay sellers through drop shipping. Shopster has customers in 22 countries and provides full service drop shipping to both the United States and Canada.

eBay Workshop July 20th - "Create eBay Motors Parts Compatibility Listings with Auctiva"

Topic: Create eBay Motors Parts Compatibility Listings with Auctiva

Host: Auctiva

Date: Tuesday, July 20th

Time: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: Auctiva has added support for eBay Motors Parts Compatibility!

Learn about Auctiva's new Parts Compatibility Tool, which gives users a fast and simple way to create parts compatibility listings on eBay Motors. We'll walk you through two different ways to create these listings, including screen shots of what the process looks like.

Get all your questions answered about Auctiva's new Parts Compatibility Tool as well as their other products and services.

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help an eBay seller grow their business.

eBay Sales for LeBron James Items Increase After New Team Announcement

After an incredibly successful 8 year career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James announced he would be changing teams. On July 1st James effectively became unemployed and held millions of basketball fans in suspense while he deliberated over which team – of the handful that were courting him – he would move to. On July 8th people finally got their answer, James will join the Miami Heat for the 2010-11 season.


For us, the effect of the decision is just as interesting as the decision itself. So how has the team change affected merchandise sales? Below is a trend of all the Lebron James eBay listings over the last 30 days – taken from Terapeak Marketplace Research. All seems normal until the day the news breaks and listings more than double in the aftermath.


Its fascinating to watch the market after a major event, and as the NBA raked in about $4 billion dollars this year – it’s safe to say this is big. In less than a decade, LeBron has become one of the most prominent players of his time – and he is certainly among the biggest player franchises.


According to Terapeak, eBay has sold nearly $5 million dollars worth of LeBron James merchandise over the last year. That’s a whole lot of jerseys, hats, and action figures. A trading card from 2003, James’ rookie year, sold one week ago for $30,000 dollars – not bad for a little piece of cardboard.

Blog post from Terapeak Blog.

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a full, 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.

eBay Workshop July 14th - "How to Alter/Edit/Update Your eBay Listings in Bulk, in Seconds!"

Topic: How to Alter/Edit/Update Your eBay Listings in Bulk, in Seconds!

Host: Frooition
Date: July 14th, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m. PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: Making changes to live eBay listings can be a daunting and expensive task, especially if you have hundreds/thousands of listings to alter. This workshop will show you how to take the pain out of bulk revising items using Froo! Bulk Revision. We will also introduce the new eBay Parts Compatibility functionality in Froo! Bulk Revision tool.

The Froo! Bulk Revision tool will save you time and money – we will show you how! The workshop demonstrates how to use the app as well as explaining how the app can improve your listings.

Topics include:

• Introduction to Bulk Revision
• How to find and replace (Titles & Descriptions)
• Adding Item Condition to your listings per new eBay policy
• Bulk altering prices
• Altering your PayPal address
• Change quantities
• Add eBay Parts Compatibility to your listings
• Typical scenarios

Frooition has currently developed three eBay Apps; check them out in the eBay App Center.

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help an eBay seller grow their business.

Why Keywords Still Count on eBay and in Search

Why Keywords Still Count
Keys to making the 55 characters in your listing title add up to profit

What's in a word? Well, when it comes to the titles of the items you post for sale or bid on eBay, there could be gold in them thar' words—or not. The truth is your potential to get your item seen—or, better yet, bid on, or purchased—depends upon how well you choose your words.

In listings on eBay, "keywords" are those words and terms that buyers search for, found within your listing title. If you haven't given much thought to this aspect of marketing your goods, or if you wonder whether you're making optimum use of your item titles, consider these keys to choosing keywords, why they're critical to your sales success and why you should literally make every word count.

Understanding searches and indexing
At eBay (as well as within the major online search portals), listings are "indexed" in a search engine that identifies the words within the item title. When a user performs a search using a particular word or term, the search engine uses the index to locate and return a listing of items that match the user's search terms.

You're listing in the vast sea of offerings at eBay. Your challenge is to be seen among the millions of other items up for bid or sale.

55 characters or less
When you list on eBay, your listing title is limited to 55 characters, including spaces. Each word needs to serve a purpose, both as an effective search keyword and also as an accurate descriptor of your item for sale. Yes, you'll want to include a bit of marketing "pull" in your title to help encourage potential buyers to take a closer look.

For now, begin crafting your title to include as many pertinent keywords shoppers are likely to search for. Here, you need to know your commodity well, and know what terms buyers are using to locate these sorts of items. Review other active listings or closed listings to see what words others have used—did those words translate into a sale? Also, look for effective keyword combinations and other details that will help your listing get more hits.

As a guiding principle, you'll want to include as much of the following information within your listing title:

• Brand name
• Item origin
• Year (or period) of production
• Manufacturer
• Item color, size and other descriptive attributes
• Item condition

While that may seem like more than can be communicated within 55 characters, consider this example:

Polar Lights Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine model kit 2000 MISB

In the above example, a model kit of the iconic Mystery Machine van from the Scooby-Doo cartoon is being offered. Note that the title includes manufacturer (Polar Lights), item identification (Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine), item type (model kit), year of production (2000) and item condition (MISB, or Mint In Sealed Box). And, after all of that, there are still four characters of the available 55 left to use.

Don't get cute
Simply enough, don't waste valuable title space on words that do little to describe your item or properly identify it to buyers. Useless words like "cute," "adorable," "desirable" and the like often do little to help attract, let alone convince, any buyer. Words like "rare," "hard to find" and so on are not only unneeded (especially when buyers are already aware of the scarcity of an item) but they can also expose a seller's misguided (or, at best, misunderstood) attempt to wrangle a higher price. And, visual come-ons like "L@@K" and its sort are nothing short of obnoxious and should be avoided always.

Remember you're working to specify recognizable and understandable terms within your item titles, the sort that search engines have indexed and for which buyers are searching.

Condensed blog post from Auctiva Education

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

World Cup Fever on eBay - Vuvuzelas and Can Jersey Sales Predict Who Will Win?

World Cup Fever on eBay - Vuvuzelas and Can Jersey Sales Predict Who Will Win?

It is interesting to find out what impact world events have on the eBay marketplace. We can look at the impact by researching the eBay marketplace and see where there is an increase in searches, sales and price of items related to a world event. Market research gives us the opportunity see the ecommerce sales reach of recent world events on eBay, almost in real time.

Let’s look at the World Cup. Obviously this is a huge event. I know this because most people I know have stopped working to watch or are Tweeting game results and Facebooking "Gooooaaaallll". It is easy for one to stay in touch with the event without actually being there or even watching the game thanks to social media. We can also stay in touch with the World Cup when we research the eBay marketplace and find out the impact here.

I will be using the Terapeak for eBay market research tool to look at trending and sales on eBay for World Cup related items.

Let’s start with the Vuvuzela. What is it? The vuvuzela is a long plastic horn producing the annoying sound heard at soccer matches in South Africa. The noise or sound it makes is similar to a giant swarm of bees. One South African columnist even described it as "the horn from hell."

Where can you get one? Here in the States, it seems to be pretty hard to come by unless you go online, which is great for eBay sellers!

Look at the chart below, we can clearly see the rise in listings and sales for the vuvuzela around the time the World Cup started on June 11th. Although I am looking at this data on July 7th, this information is/would have been available to me to view back in June. An enterprising eBay seller with vuvuzelas to sell could easily have researched this information and potentially jumped on the hot sales trend. I am sure many eBay sellers did exactly this.

As the World Cup starts to come to a close and they enter the finals, vuvuzela sales do seem to be declining. Who is buying all the vuvuzelas anyway?


The majority of vuvuzelas purchased on eBay came from Germany. The German team is still in the World Cup (as of the time when this blog post is written) and their fans are rallying around and making noise with their vuvuzelas.

World Cup Team Jersey Sales. Can they predict who will win?

Looking at the charts below, we can see Spain has more World Cup jersey sales than the Netherlands. Could this be an indicator of who will win?

Team Spain

Team Netherlands

It will be interesting to see if these numbers spike in the next week or so, depending on which team wins.

Promoting Your eBay Store Offline

Article from the Shopster blog

Having an online eBay store shouldn’t limit your world to just the web. One of the most effective ways to deliver traffic to your eBay store is to do a bit of offline marketing. And it’s not just about traffic, we’re looking at increasing credibility and customer trust. Knowing you have a physical presence can help you make a connection with customers who aren’t as comfortable with buying online.

Here are a couple of tips on advertising your eBay Store via traditional means:

• Include the eBay Store web address in marketing collaterals such as brochures, mailing labels, posters, letterheads, fax cover sheet and more.
• Add your URL to your business card. Don’t just give away your number when you hand out business card, send them that message that you want them to visit your site as well.
• Give out promotional products to your existing client base as well as to potential new clients – of course all displaying your website address. Pens, bags, bumper stickers, promotional products go a long way in the advertising world. They often have an extended reach, not just to your target audience but to their friends, family and other people who see the product when being used.
• Display it in your physical location. If you have an actual retail store, put the URL up on your store window or have signage made indicating the time of business operations and hat you’re also open 24 hours on the web.
• Include the URL in your newspaper / magazine ads and even in radio and television ads. You’ll have the tri-media effect working for you and you’re doubling the effect of traditional advertisement you are already paying for.
• Update your phone book listing. Most businesses are listed in a telephone directory, other take out a bigger space in them. If you’re one of the businesses that has paid for a bigger or a highlighted listing in the local yellow pages, you might as well list your web address there.
• Give out printed discount coupons or gift certificates for use on your website. How you deliver this to your intended audience is entirely up to you. You can have it done as a cut-out add in the newspaper, you can send it by snail mail, however you do it, it should only be claimed on the website.

Let your creativity go to work in exploring ways to advertise your eBay Store and make your brand more visible in the real world.

Happy Selling!

Shopster is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider providing additional product and inventory for eBay sellers through drop shipping. Shopster has customers in 22 countries and provides full service drop shipping to both the United States and Canada.

What You Need to Know to Take Advantage of eBay's Best Match

Best Match on eBay is a complicated search algorithm that helps buyers shop from the best sellers on eBay first. It has been eBay's default search for more than a year now.

The main criteria that affect your ranking for any type of listing in any category via Best Match are:

• Seller track record
• Competitive pricing and shipping costs
• Relevance of the listing to what the buyer is looking for

eBay says there is no "silver bullet" that will get you ranked on page one, but I guarantee there are some definite areas that you need to look at and fix if you want a fighting chance at beating the competition. These variables are not consistent across all categories and eBay constantly updates them as it learns more about how the buyers search and what they are looking to purchase.

Auction-style listings are treated a bit differently than fixed-priced listings in Best Match search. The main ranking factor for auctions would be time ending soonest. This means that doing research using a tool like Terapeak on "best ending times" is still in effect for this type of listing.

For fixed-priced listings, the main factor is sales-to-impressions ratio, also called "Listing Performance Score." An impression is when a buyer sees a page that includes your listing. Newly listed fixed-priced items get a temporary bump in search to help level the playing field. Also, time recently listed is an important factor for fixed-price listings in the following categories: Art, Antiques, Coins & Paper Money, Collectibles, Dolls & Bears, Pottery & Glass, Toys & Hobbies, Stamps, Sports Memorabilia, Cards & Fan Shop and Entertainment Memorabilia. Hey, I didn't say this was going to be easy.

Grouping identical items into one listing not only helps you save on fees, but it may also increase your sales-to-impressions ratio.

Best Match love
Here are some factors that will help your items get some Best Match love and a possible bump in search:

• Price competitively: You can utilize the completed listings on eBay to find out what successful listings similar to yours are selling for on eBay.
• Shipping cost: This doesn't always mean free shipping, although that helps in many categories. This also has to do with keeping your shipping costs within an acceptible range.
• Impressions versus sales: Grouping identical items into multi-quantity/multi-variation fixed-priced listings not only helps you save money on fees, but it may also increase your sales-to-impressions ratio for your listing.
• Relevancy: This refers to keywords in your title and attributes. My last article talked quite a bit about locating the right keywords to have in your title. You can pick up a refresher course here. Also make sure you fill out as many item attributes as possible using Item Specifics.
• Your seller rating: Seller ratings include Top-rated, Above Standard and Standard. Being a Top-rated seller will give you an increase in search. Now, that doesn't mean that someone who isn't a Top-rated seller won't be ahead of you due to relevancy, pricing, or other factors, but it does give you a competitive advantage.

Even with all of this there is no guarantee, but these are the factors we know are included in how you rank in eBay's Best Match. Your best option right now is to utilize your built-in Store and eBay Reports and completed listings to consistently check on these factors and test them on your inventory. Of course there is another way…

Use the eBay Search Visibility Analysis tool in My eBay to find out how a specific item of yours is being ranked on the first page of search for:

• Price range
• Shipping cost range
• Free shipping (or whether you need to offer this for a page-one bump)
• Format (should you offer auction-style or fixed-priced?)
• Seller rating (for this item, in this category, will being a Top-rated Seller provide you small advantage or a big advantage for showing up on the first page?)
• Catalog product details (is this an item that utilizes features from eBay's catalog?)

Search visibility analysis provides information on factors that affect where your listing ranks in search results.

Condensed blog post from Auctiva Education.

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