Smart Moves to Make This Summer to Put the Sizzle in Your Sales

Selling successfully on eBay means paying attention to the change in seasons, the change in what your customers are buying and making the right changes in your business at the right time to ride the wave of momentum towards future fortune.

In short, it’s all about timing.

When many people think about summer, the word vacation comes to mind. But if you’re an online entrepreneur, don’t plan on taking the entire summer off! The summer is a golden opportunity for you to make some smart moves that will set you up to make more profits the rest of the year.

Snap up the sumptuous samplings of available inventory. If you sell unique one of a kind items online, the summer is your oyster. Yard sales abound, flea markets are in full swing, and thrift stores are marking down their inventory. In fact some of my clients bring in a team during the summer, just to help them scour the city yard sales, estate sales and thrift stores several times a week. They do 60% of their product sourcing from May – Sept. With a team help them, they can cover 10 times the territory that they could cover on their own.

With the sunny summer weather comes the desire to clean out the house and have a yard sale. This makes for a product sourcing cornucopia.

Contact suppliers for sizzling hot deals. End of season merchandise, pre-season specials, you name it! Now’s the time to call and ask your supplier what summer deals they have available. Or take a trip and do some local product sourcing. Heading to hot Atlanta? Visit the AmericasMart merchandise mart while you’re there. Check with your accountant about writing off a part of the trip as a business expense.

Last call for holiday importing. Been thinking about importing new merchandise for the holidays? Better get the show on the road – because if you wait past mid-July it will be too late to get it in time for the holiday selling season. Use eBay market research to determine hot selling items and seasonal trends.

Retail resale is real swell during the summer. Lego sets at 90% off. Wet suits discounted 60%. Pre-back-to-school sales preview what will be the hot holiday products. It’s all there waiting for you at your local retail store. By July 5th, brick and mortar stores will be transitioning to their back-to-school inventory. You can pick up some GREAT deals in you local store and bring that inventory online for your global customer base.

Stock up now for the holiday selling season. Even though you’re wearing a bathing suit and sitting by the lake, your need to spend some time thinking, planning and sourcing for the holiday season. If you’ve been tracking the trends for 2010 in your category, you should already have an idea of what will be hot in your category for Christmas. And for some categories, especially the toy category, NOW is the time to head to your local retail store and stock up on those hot sellers you can’t get from a wholesaler.

Use eBay market research to determine hot selling items and seasonal trends.

Clean sweep your product line. Throw open the windows, let the sun shine in and dig in to those boxes of inventory that need to be listed and sold!

Sales Happen When Preparation Meets Opportunity

There’s a Chinese Proverb that says “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

The same is true of your sales. If you use the dog days of summer like one smart puppy and do a little every day to get ahead of your competition. Come fall, when everyone wakes up out of the summer haze realizing that the biggest selling season of the year is right in front of them, and they’re not prepared… you’ll be sitting in your nice clean office, watching your products sell, calm and relaxed and excited about your sales figures this year…

This article has been condensed. Read the full article here.

Since 2004, Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com has provided thousands of online sellers with the skills, knowledge and support they need to build a unique, thriving business on eBay.

4 Surefire Ways to Make More Money on eBay This Spring

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

4 Surefire Ways to Make More Money on eBay This Spring

Spring has sprung and so have online sales! We’ll be hearing about the March ecommerce sales figures in the coming weeks, but early indicators reveal that an early Easter and the arrival of spring weather will bring a boost of online retail sales in the neighborhood of 8-10% over 2009.

For eBay sellers, spring also brought with it some major changes to the way business is transacted on eBay. With the end of the Store Inventory Listing Format, millions of items formerly nestled away in eBay stores, saw the dawn of a new day in eBay’s core search.

For many eBay sellers, the inclusion of “store in core” has been a boon for sales. Many people are finding that inventory they’ve had sitting on their virtual store shelves for two years is now selling.

Other sellers who had enjoyed a sole position in core, while their competitors left their listings in store, have seen their categories explode with many competing products alongside theirs where none were before.

But there’s no doubt about it. No matter what changes you’ve seen in your sales on eBay over the past week or so, with the eBay changes and the arrival of spring, it’s time to refresh your strategy!

Today we’re going to look at 4 ways to get started doing just that!

1. Put Your Spring and Summer Merchandise Front and Center

Walk into any brick and mortar retailer these days and you’ll see the signs of spring. Brightly colored signs, spring products in the hot new colors and a fresh array of merchandise to choose from. Spring is a time or renewal and rebirth, and people are wired for that. They’re also very ready to make new purchases for spring and summer. And the eBay seller who actively markets their spring and summer products is the one who increases their sales! Unfortunately, I see many eBay stores and listings that are not doing any spring marketing at all. Even worse, holiday messages and graphics remain. Fall and winter categories are featured in stores and spring merchandise is buried in sea of fall and winter products.

Take a look at your store and listings. Will customers be excited by what they see when they land on your eBay pages?

2. “Top Up” Your Store Categories

If visitors to your eBay store can’t find your new merchandise, they won’t become buyers. And part of putting your new spring merchandise front and center is rearranging your eBay store categories so that the new in-season categories are featured at the top. Many people list their categories in alphabetical order, but by doing that, you relegate your Spring and Summer merchandise to the bottom of your category list where no one will find it!

Keep in mind that a shopper’s focus is going to be “above the fold” which means you have to engage them with what’s on their screen BEFORE you can get them to scroll down to see what else you are offering. Always put your most popular 5 or so eBay store categories and in-season categories at the top of your store category list. If you have a lot of categories, once you feature your top 5-7 categories you can continue your category list alphabetically.

3. Use Subtitles for Marketing not Product Details

eBay subtitles are the best marketing deal on the web IF you use them for the right purpose. eBay listing subtitles should be used for one thing only – MARKETING. Think of eBay listing subtitles as the banner you hang outside your store or the sign you place on a product that tells people what makes that product different, unique or special than everything else the customer is being offered.

Two important things that every eBay seller must know. eBay listing subtitle keywords are not included in core search, this means that if you are putting item specific keyword data into your subtitle in the hopes that it will help people find your products, it does not contribute at all to that purpose.

For marketing purposes you want to craft what we call in marketing a USP (Unique Selling Position) or a “headline” – that will make people do ONE thing… and that is CLICK on your listing and go to your listing description page.

A listing subtitle has ONE purpose – to get a prospective buyer to CLICK on your listing and go to your listing description page where you then display the product information that will convert that browser into a buyer!

So what should go in your listing subtitle? Anything that showcases what’s different about your product or service. The thing that sets you apart from every other seller. Maybe, you’re selling a “Limited Edition Platinum Retro 60 Series”. Maybe your product is an “Exclusive Set. Only Available on eBay”. Maybe you are fortunate to carry an item that is “In Stock with Same Day Shipping. Sold Out In Stores”. Maybe your item is “Eligible for Bing Cashback”. Or the product your carry is “Winner of the Top 10 Toy Awards”. In many categories these days “We Ship Worldwide” is a USP – there are a lot of eBay sellers who no longer ship worldwide. (Which is the subject for another blog post.) Or your item is “100% Made in the USA”.

4. Use eBay’s Search Visibility Analysis Tool to test and track your strategies

The most important key to success when running a business on eBay or anywhere else is to know what works for your business. Each business has so many variables to it, that you have to apply the strategies and then test them and track them to make sure that they are right for you. eBay’s Search Visibility Analysis Tool will help you test and track changes you make to your listings as well as view the impact they have on your ranking in eBay’s Best Match. For example, the tool will show you how many times your listing has been displayed to buyers and the number of times a buyer has clicked-through to view your listing description. This information is critical to determining why your listings are or are not selling. If shoppers aren’t clicking on your listing, they definitely aren’t buying. With the Search Visibility Analysis Tool, you can pinpoint where the problem in the process is and make changes accordingly.

We’ll we’ve just covered four solid business strategies to increase your sales this spring. There’s only one thing left to do now… apply what you’ve learned and implement!

This article has been condensed. Read the full article here.

Since 2004, Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com has provided thousands of online sellers with the skills, knowledge and support they need to build a unique, thriving business on eBay.

Use Research to Understand Your Competition and Improve eBay Sales by Vendio

Article from Vendio's Vendable Blog

Understand, then Challenge your eBay Competition

Recent eBay changes are now including eBay Store inventory in the main or core search. With this change, it is much more important to understand your competition on eBay. Remaining (or becoming) competitive is truly the only way to achieve success when selling commodity items.

For one-of-a-kind items, auctions still remain the best bet, but for commodity items, you’ll need to stand out from the crowd.

To understand your competition, it's all about research..research and research.

Vendio Research provides competitive data on a seller or product level and it’s a great place to start when developing your competitive strategy.

On a product level (researching by product), you’ll be able to view at a glance all the pricing data and recommendations for listing successfully. In addition, you can view keywords that should be used to drive a products success (what terms are buyers using to FIND the product) and on a competitive level, you’ll be able to see the top sellers by product and view the details on what makes them successful. This will give you great insight. Find out when and how they are listing their items and at what price. Do they charge shipping or offer free shipping? Use the information to create a listing strategy that really works for your product.



In addition to product research, you can type in your competitor’s eBay user ID to get the same great information on a seller level (vs. a product level). You can view their overall strategy and see what’s really driving their success.

I can’t show all the graphs that are available (or this blog post would be loaded with Images). However, you can see from the image that you can view the graphs and trends for many different areas (average selling price, keywords, time of day, categories, etc.).

While Research gives you the “numbers and data”, it does not account for the other reasons a seller may or may not be successful, such as customer service, attractiveness of the listing and policies.

Use Research to actually look at the successful listings and determine how you can improve on what you see.

Can you make your policies friendlier? Can you make your ads more readable? Can you make your ads more attractive. Go into your competitors ads with a “red pencil” and then do the same for you own ads.

There is always room for improvement and better methods to convert browsers to bidders and buyers; it just takes a bit more work than it used to.

And one final recommendation, if you go through the process of researching and understanding your competition – don’t stop there. Make it a part of your normal weekly, bi-weekly or monthly process. Doing it once is great, doing it regularly ensures you can always stay ahead of the “next” curve.

Happy Selling!!

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.

eBay Seller HelloBaby Grows Business with Terapeak Research

Article from the Terapeak Blog

A Terapeak interview with Trevor Ginn of Hello Baby (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/hellobabydirect)

How long have you been selling on eBay?
I’ve been selling on eBay as Hellobabydirect for about 18 months. Before that I was working for Auctioning4u who were the UK’s largest eBay trading assistants. All in all I’ve been selling on eBay as a business for about 4 years.

What got you started there?
At Auctioning4u I provided consulting services to businesses to help them use eBay as a sales channel. With online sales experiencing strong growth most of my clients were doing pretty well, much better than me it seemed. I was itching to give it a go as I was sure I could build a successful online retailing business.

I choose baby products as my research showed that the industry had healthy margins and was not as competitive as areas like electronics. I also wanted to be in an industry which I knew something about (my first daughter had just been born), was largely non seasonable and mostly recession proof.

What sort of things do you like to sell?
We sell a wide range of baby and nursery items. Items range from small toys nursery and baby safety items like safety catches to larger, more expensive items like prams and cots. We sell a lot of our items internationally, especially to Europe as the strong Euro makes our products good value for our friends in the Eurozone. We sell on eBay and other online channels.

How do you use Terapeak to help build your business?
We use Terapeak to research products and also to investigate the tactics and best selling product of our competitors. eBay data, provided by Terapeak, is the only source I know of actual sales data about online sales. Other, very expensive, reports from companies like Mintel make broad statements about market sectors, but this is not much use when a merchant is looking to make purchasing decision at the brand or product level.

When we are analyzing new products we will use a product search on that particular brand to establish what items are selling well and then drill down to individual products to establish average selling prices. We then put the sales data into a spreadsheet which allows us to calculate the profit we can make from selling the item by taking into account cost like sales tax, PayPal and eBay fees. This process saves us from buying product for which the market is very competitive and there are poor margins.

We also make extensive use of the seller report. This allows us to see the products which our competitors are selling successfully and how their business is performing.

Terapeak Tips from Matt – What else Hello Baby can do to build their business using research?

Trevor mentioned a good portion of his business is targeted at international marketplaces. A lack of availability for products in certain regions can create excellent opportunities to sell your goods for a higher price. Terapeak’s International Report compares statistics for 6 eBay marketplaces around the world including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Australia.

The International report provides charts detailing buyer and seller location and helps identify which eBay site represents the highest potential margin.

I (Matt with Terapeak) would recommend Trevor try using the International report for some of his products and see if he can expand his offerings into more eBay sites around the world.

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.

Mercent, an eBay Certified Provider, Wins "Technology Enabler of the Year" Award

eBay Certified Provider, Mercent, chosen as the “Technology Enabler of the Year” by AlwaysOn.

The “Technology Enabler of the Year” award honors a privately-held, emerging technology company creating new business opportunities in high-growth markets through its technology. More than 500 digital media companies were nominated for the “Technology Enablers” category.

Mercent was named as the “Technology Enabler of the Year” by the AlwaysOn editorial team for their market growth, market opportunity, quality of innovation and customer traction. More than 500 digital media companies were nominated for the “Technology Enablers” category.

“We’re honored to receive this award from AlwaysOn and couldn’t have achieved such success without our customers and dedicated team of Mercent professionals,” - Eric Best, CEO of Mercent. “We’re proud to be noted as an industry and technology leader in the online channel management sector.”

Mercent helps the world's leading online retailers promote their products across ecommerce channels including online transactional marketplaces like eBay; comparison shopping engines; and affiliate networks with their Mercent Retail software.

Mercent Retail is designed for multi-channel retailers, providing merchants the power to reach more than 250 million customers with targeted products, advertisements and promotions through online marketing channels.

Read the full announcement from Mercent.

Mercent is an eBay Certified Provider integrating large retailers with eBay using the new Large Merchant Services (LMS) API, providing the ability to handle the scalability requirements of large sellers, including catalogs and transaction volumes and back end integration with current systems including POS.

Sales of Disney Items on eBay Increase During the Holidays

Article by Terapeak

A week ago, we blogged about the holiday toy racket, which year after year provides one of the more reliable markets on eBay. But what if you were to boil that phenomenon down into one single brand? (Perhaps in a wicked witch’s cauldron, or as part of a poisonous apple?)
That brand would be Disney.

For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Company has been one of Hollywood’s biggest money-makers, and a source for some of the world’s most sought-after merchandise. And, naturally, that fervor tends to reach its peak around the holidays.

For starters, here are Terapeak’s current top 5 Hot DVDs on eBay:



Those numbers, of course, come on the heels of Disney remastering several of its classic animated films this year, and sales have continued to rise since October. Also in the Terapeak top 20 Hot DVDs on eBay are: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Alice in Wonderland.

How about a Terapeak product report? Well here is a 90-day All Sites search for “Disney” total sales:



Now that’s an extremely broad search, but you can see how the demand for just one keyword rises!

Finally, to show just how annual “Disney Demand” is, here are a pair of two-year category trends. First is a total sales trend for the Collectibles > Disneyana > Contemporary (1968-Now) category:



And second, a total sold listings trend for Toys & Hobbies > TV, Movie & Character Toys > Disney:



Those are some pretty serious peaks and valleys, and it’s easy to see how they match up with the holiday season. So with close to a year before next December rolls around… imagine all the Disney schwag you’ve got time to collect!

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.

5 Tips to Prepare for a Successful 2010 - eBay Radio with WhatDoISell.com

Listen on eBay Radio as Lisa Suttora, CEO & Founder of WhatDoISell.com, shares her insights and tips on how eBay sellers can create a prosperous 2010!

“5 Tips to Prepare for a Successful 2010”

• Look back at 2009 and assess your business
• Review your financials and create goals
• Organize inventory and workspace
• Analyze inventory and reprice or remove slow selling items
• Find new or fresh products and expand in your current niche

Check out www.bizplan2010.com to receive these tips and more from Lisa Suttora. Lisa's Top 10 Tips for a Successful eCommerce Business.

Since 2004, Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com has provided thousands of online sellers with the skills, knowledge and support they need to build a unique, thriving business on eBay.

eBay Certified Provider Spotlight - INFOPIA

Infopia is an eBay Certified Solution Provider providing a comprehensive tool/solution for ecommerce retailers and eBay sellers since 1999.

Many of eBay’s larger sellers (Gold, Platinum, Titanium and Diamond) use a solution such as Infopia. Infopia helps sellers prevent overselling through accurately managed inventory for multiple locations and channels. Infopia allows for multi-channel inventory management, and enables sellers to create set automated listing rules or strategies.

Unique features to Infopia's multi-channel solutions are:

1. Salesforce integration
   Create a 360 degree view of your buyer. Know who your buyer is, issues they may have had with your product, spending habits and create targeted marketing for increase in repeat purchases.
2. Configurator
   Infopia is the only company with the ability and is allowed by eBay to offer the Configurator. Basically the Configurator allows an eBay buyer to custom create an eBay listing to their specifications. Think creating a computer and picking the accessories and upgrades you want.
3. Trade-In Program
   Sellers can take advantage of Infopia’s trade-in program capabilities and accept previously owned items and put the value of that item toward a new purchase on eBay. Example, a seller can accept trade-in of an old golf club from a buyer and give the buyer cash or credit it toward their new golf club purchase on eBay.

Infopia centralizes and automates an eBay seller’s business through a single all-in-one solution:

• Manage listings and descriptions from a single inventory database
• Supports eBay checkout
• Immediate Payment for Fixed Price listings
• Manage order processing, including checkout, payment, authorization and more
• Manage shipping with integrations for UPS, FedEx, USPS and Endicia

Benefits of Infopia:

• Centralize your multi-channel business in one place
• Reduce UPIs
• Attract customers with custom, configurable listings
• Expand buyer base with the Infopia trade-in system
• Maximize your profit potential with detailed analytics
• Automate online business management

eCommerce sellers interested in using a solution such as Infopia to manage their business can contact the Certified Provider and decide if they offer the right tool for their business.

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

New eBay Research App for the iPhone from Terapeak

New! eBay sellers can easily determine their products success rate on eBay (and more) with their iPhone! Terapeak just launched their new eBay market research app for the iPhone.

“The Terapeak iPhone app has been in the works for a long time, and it's a tool we feel will add a whole new dimension to conducting market research. Now you'll be able to take Terapeak with you wherever you go -- to garage sales, trade shows, thrift stores, and more!” - Terapeak







Terapeak helps answer the questions:

• What is the value of my item?
• Will my items sell?
• When should I list my item?
• Which features should I use to list my item?

• Similar to the web version of Terapeak, the new iPhone app will enable eBay sellers to see average prices, listing totals and sell-through rates for each search they perform.
• Results are viewable and sortable by end price, start price and number of bids. The results can also be filtered by category, minimum end price and maximum end price. All of this eBay data is easily accessible with your iPhone.
  
  Tereapeak’s iPhone app will be available free to anyone with a paid Terapeak subscription. Also, anyone who signs up for Terapeak before the end of December can take advantage of this offer.
  
  To access the application and get started, all you'll need to do is download it from the iPhone App Store and enter your Terapeak username and password.
  
  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.

New to eBay Selling Manager Applications is Research for eBay by Vendio.

New to eBay Selling Manager Applications is Research for eBay, by Vendio.

Selling more profitably is simple with Research for eBay. For nearly 8 years

Research for eBay from Vendio has given smart sellers the upper hand in the eBay Marketplace. Now eBay sellers can access this powerful research tool within their eBay account! Research for eBay is an application sellers can subscribe to and add to their "My eBay" as part of Selling Manager Applications.

With Research for eBay, eBay sellers will know which items to sell, when to list them, how to list them, and which keywords to use in the listing.

Benefits of Research for eBay:

• Know what, when, and how to list items to for the best sales
• Retrieve accurate data from proprietary clustering technology
• Determine which keywords drive the highest amount of traffic to your listings
• Watch your competitors and stay ahead by learning their strategy
• eBay Motors and Parts and Accessories data included at no additional cost

Research for eBay can increase the sales volume of your eBay listings and reduce relisting costs. Know what to sell, how much it may sell for, when to sell it and how to market the item all before you list. Save time and money.

Below are screenshots of Research for eBay in action. Take a look.


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.

Vendio now brings eBay sellers Research for eBay as part of the eBay Selling Manager Applications feature. Checkout Research for eBay!

Infopia on eBay Radio - Enhancing a Multi-Channel Solution

Listen on eBay Radio as Infopia discusses new enhancements and upgrades made to their all-in-one solution automating eBay sellers and online merchants businesses.

New Enhancements

• Upgrades to Third Party Checkout
• Integrated with PayPal Express Checkout
• Faster eBay listing with eBay Product Catalog integration
• Sales History Maintenance (improve eBay rankings and visibility)
• Full customer history records with Salesforce

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

eBay Workshop Nov 10th - "Top 5 Last Minute Christmas Research Tips"

Workshop: Top 5 Last Minute Christmas Research Tips

Host: Terapeak

Date: Nov 10th, Tuesday

Time: 11AM - Noon PST

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: The busiest shopping days of the year are rapidly approaching (Saturday before Christmas, Black Friday, Cyber Monday…) and you're going to want to be ready to sell! What are the hottest items and opportunities for your eBay business this holiday?

Spend an hour with us and discover how to use research to plan your biggest sales month of the year! We'll review the top five research tips that can help your sales soar.

Join Matt and Denise from Terapeak Marketplace Research to learn about last minute Christmas research. After the material is presented we'll open the board for discussion and questions.

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Service Provider and one of the third party providers included in the new Selling Manager Applications feature.

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

Increase Sales and Use "Make an Offer" on Fixed Price Listings - by Auctiva

Article from Auctiva Education (Education for eBay Sellers)

Whenever I think about eBay's Make an Offer option, it brings to mind Clint Eastwood's classic "Dirty Harry" movie line, "Go ahead, make my day." Only now I'm saying to my potential eBay customers, "Go ahead and make me an offer!"

Today, I want to encourage all eBay sellers using the fixed-price/Buy It Now format to include Make an Offer. Don't worry about your bottom line suffering. There's no additional eBay fee to add this option to your listing. It hurts nothing, and you can always decline an offer by including a friendly note to the buyer.

I've gotten a few e-mails lately from worried sellers who are not making sales. When I venture into their listings, I often find they have many items that are overpriced that don't include the Make an Offer option.

Sellers, please keep in mind this advice from eBay University: "Think like a buyer!" Particularly now, when shoppers are spending more time looking for bargains online, showing that you're flexible about pricing can work in your favor.

Say you're in the market to buy an item and you see the item priced high from two people, but one of them has the Make an Offer option. Chances are, you are indeed going to "make an offer" to the seller who clearly wants your business, and you are going to walk away from the other one. Which seller would you rather be?

Take the positive approach
Now, occasionally, someone will make an offer that seems silly and unreasonable. So what? It happens. You may feel insulted, but I suggest you turn it around into a social, future customer opportunity!

Write them back with a decline or counteroffer and include a note, something like: "I sure wish I could sell it to you for that price. Heck, I wish I bought it myself at that price! I can't blame you for trying, but realistically, I can't let it go that low."

Communicating instead of ignoring those offers is simply good business practice. It's a golden opportunity to open up the lines of communication and establish a future or repeat customer.

Encourage bidders to make your day by including Make an Offer in all your fixed-price listings.

This article has been condensed. Read the full article here.

eBay Workshop Nov 3rd - 12 Sales Boosting Strategies to Put More Jingle in Your Holiday Season

Workshop: 12 Sales Boosting Strategies to Put More Jingle in Your Holiday Season

Host: Lisa Suttora, Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com

Date: November 3rd, Tuesday

Time: 11AM - Noon PST

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: The holiday season is upon us! And holiday shoppers are headed your way. But will YOU be ready when they arrive? With new holiday shoppers coming online each year and return buyers coming back for more, NOW is the time to ready your store, listings, and marketing for prime time!

Please join Lisa Suttora, ecommerce strategist, and Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com as she shares 12 sales boosting marketing strategies that will get you ready for holiday buyers and put more jingle in your holiday sales!

Since 2004, WhatDoISell.com, an eBay Certified Service Provider, has provided thousands of online sellers with the skills, knowledge and support they need to build a unique, thriving business on eBay.

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

Be Memorable - Use Effective and Creative Design on eBay

eBay Sellers can stand out from the crowd by creating a recognizable brand. eBay buyers, especially previous purchasers, should be able to remember a seller, who they are, what they offer, quality of their products and customer support. Sellers can attract buyer attention and provide assurances with a professionally designed listing on eBay.

The new item page on eBay still allows sellers the opportunity to get creative and stand out! Sellers can preview their custom designed listing templates and see how their template “fits”.

Great design not only creates a professional presence when selling online, but also establishes a recognizable brand. Buyers will be more likely to remember “who you are” with unique and memorable design.

Benefits:

• Create effective design
• Build a recognizable name/brand on eBay to suit your target buyer
• Compete effectively with your competition
• Establish professionalism and quality of your business and items for increase sales

Consider enlisting effective design and marketing services of an eBay Certified Provider to help grow your current eBay business. eBay Certified Providers work with all levels of eBay sellers from beginners to advanced PowerSellers to online retailers.

Certified Providers:

Custom Design
As Was

Pre-designed eBay Listing Templates
Seller Sourcebook
Vendio
Auctiva
inkFrog

Proof - How eBay Research Improves Sales and Success by Terapeak

Article by Terapeak

Terapeak Case Study: The proof is in the product!

Over the past several months, Terapeak has been conducting studies that analyze the impact of market research on eBay sellers’ sales and success rate. We’re very grateful to all those who participated, and with the results from our first group of sellers now compiled, we’re excited to present the outcomes!

A little background first: the group of sellers was selected randomly, and features sellers specializing in collectibles, home safety products, antiques and more. Eight performance indicators were tracked for three months for each seller. Statistics related to each indicator were compared on a pre- and post-Terapeak basis, and were then used to determine a percentage of growth or decline.

Some sellers showed improvement in nearly every business facet, while the improvement of others focused on specific statistics. And when averaged across the entire group, every indicator showed at least some improvement.

Here’s a breakdown of the group averages and best results:

As you can see, those are some pretty impressive numbers!

Read the full Terapeak article here.

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.

True Blood, True Value: HBO’s Vampire Series Best-Selling DVD on eBay by Terapeak

Post provided by Terapeak demonstrating how to use eBay market research to determine sales trends, popularity and average sales price.

As if that other vampire-riffic phenomenon couldn’t get any bigger, we were peeping the Terapeak Hot DVDs section this morning and noticed a TV series atop the list…



For those keeping score, your crazy-colored vampire eyes don’t deceive you: that’s HBO’s True Blood laying a whuppin’ on the former undead champs.

But unlike Twilight, which has more than its share of detractors, we’ve heard almost exclusively good things about the HBO series. Now in its second season, the show stars Oscar-winning actress Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress, and chronicles the mystifying events of a small town in Louisiana.

Below is a 90-day total sales trend for “True Blood,” produced by Terapeak’s All Sites package:



We’re not actually sure what’s produced such a spike — the DVDs were released several months ago, and the show’s second season only just began — but then we also haven’t had a chance to really bite into the television series… (hah!)

Maybe if there weren’t so many freakin’ Twilight books to finish?

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.

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.

eBay Certified Provider Spotlight - CHANNEL VELOCITY

Channel Velocity helps brand name manufacturers, large retailers and distributors sell on eBay by providing a fully turnkey outsourced listing management solution since 2002.

Basically, it translates to a manufacturer or large retailer handing over their inventory to Channel Velocity to manage:

• Warehousing
• Listing
• Payment Processing
• Customer Support
• Shipping
• Returns and Replacements
• Marketing

Options available to sellers interested in outsourcing their eBay selling to Channel Velocity are:

Full Outsourcing: Channel Velocity can sell items for a manufacturer or large retailer on eBay under the current company name. The eBay Store and eBay items will fall under the company’s brand. (i.e. Channel Velocity warehouses, manages, sells and ships items for Phillips Electronics on eBay under the company name of Phillips. The eBay buyer is unaware Phillips has handed off their eBay selling to a 3rd party).

Or, Channel Velocity can take on inventory from a manufacturer, retailer or distributor and warehouse, sell and ship those items on eBay under Channel Velocity’s eBay account. This is to help manufacturers get the best value for their liquidation merchandise without appearing to compete with their resellers (aka no channel conflict).

Partial Outsourcing: Typically involves Channel Velocity working with a manufacturer or reseller client who has fulfillment and operational capabilities. Often, the client also can handle customer support and warranty handoff. Channel Velocity will generally oversee the listing and marketplace management, marketing and design, payment processing and technology as the core services.

Benefits of Channel Velocity:

• Quickly and easily add eBay as an online channel
• Turn excess inventory into cash
• Value added services include testing and repackaging of products that are refurbished to ensure buyer satisfaction
• Save time by outsourcing: just ship the product and receive a check and a report from Channel Velocity

Consider Channel Velocity if you are a manufacturer, retailer or distributor interested in eBay as an added sales channel but unable to manage eBay selling. Also, Channel Velocity is a good fit for large eBay sellers who may need a service to warehouse, ship items and manage returns for them.

Channel Velocity is an eBay Certified Solution Provider providing the services and software multi-channel businesses need to increase profitability, ease of adoption, and efficiency. Channel Velocity has solutions for asset recovery for used and excess inventory, multi-channel management software, online trade-in programs, and branded outlets on eBay.

eBay Certified Provider Spotlight - CHANNELADVISOR

ChannelAdvisor helps eBay sellers and retailers sell online with solutions designed to efficiently distribute products across multiple online channels and drive shoppers to those products. They provide multi-channel inventory management, online ad creation, shopping comparison site feeds and all post-sale activities (on eBay and other channels).

ChannelAdvisor offers two packages for eBay sellers -

1. Marketplaces: Application centralizes eBay inventory, image hosting, listing creation, listing to eBay and automates re-listing inventory based on rules and amount of product sold.
2. Premium Marketplaces: Application includes features in the Marketplaces application along with lowering costs and increasing profits for retailers selling on eBay by automating time-intensive tasks such as Best Offer and Second Chance offer. eBay sellers are also able to reduce business costs through more efficiency and reduce headcount while retaining buyers through automated feedback, shipment tracking, profit and loss reports by category and manage sales on multiple online channels.

Benefits:

• Automate messaging to buyers and winning bidders
• Maximize ROI on listing fees with Best and Second Chance Offers
• Accurately track and share inventory across multiple eBay accounts and marketplaces
• Create custom shipping zones and provide applicable rates to offer flexible shipping policies and enhanced customer experience.
• Order history tracking builds a record of customer relationships for future marketing efforts
• Checkout (Third Party Checkout) includes automated invoicing calculating shipping, taxes and up selling additional eBay items
• And more…

ChannelAdvisor is an eBay Certified Solution Provider helping eBay sellers manage, grow and report on their eBay and multi-channel businesses since 2001.