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.

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. :)

Terapeak's International Research Determines Item Success Across the Globe

Terapeak, an eBay Certified Provider, launched a new feature in their eBay market research tool allowing sellers to easily search and view reports on the success of items across six eBay international sites. You can read the full announcement here.

Terapeak's new international search tool allows an All-Sites Terapeak subscriber to search six eBay sites at once (.com, .ca, .co.uk, .com.au, .de, .fr) and receive comprehensive reports comparing sales from each site. It’s a feature we (Terapeak) feel very excited about, as global sales opportunities continue to open up across the eBay platform.

As an example, Terapeak has conducted a few popular eBay searches to see how sales stack up across the different eBay sites for iPod Nano, Wii and Twilight.

90-day international search for “iPod nano“

You can see results for certain keywords vary from site to site. Look at the discrepancy in average price and sell-through between Australia and Canada. Although eBay.ca returns a reasonably small sample size, price and sell-through on the busier sites are also significantly up from those in Australia — eBay sellers really need to consider item placement and international visibility.

90-day international search for "Wii"

The search term, “Wii” encompasses many different products — from consoles to games to accessories. The sample size for this search is big enough to assume a reasonable level of balance across the board. You may conclude Germany seems like a good place for Wii sellers (highest average price by far, second-highest sell-through), while the UK (lowest prices, lowest sell-through) lags far behind.

90-day international search for "Twilight"

Judging by sell-through rates, there appears to be a higher demand for the Twilight series books in both Australia and France and reasonably consistent pricing (except in France) across the board.

Using eBay market research will help an eBay seller to increase sales through an effective listing strategy.

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.

Shipping Made Fast and Easy by eBay Certified Providers

Following up on the topic of Shipping from eBay’s Webinar, we’d like to provide more information on how eBay Certified Providers provide the tools and assistance eBay sellers need.

Our Certified Providers have created tools completely automating the shipping work flow, shipping communication and posting of tracking information into My eBay. Their solutions offer features and options not available through eBay and PayPal.

Benefits:

• Support multiple carriers
• Endicia and Stamps.com integration
• Bulk package tracking
• Bulk label printing
• Bulk invoice printing
• First-Class Mail International printing
• Auto email to buyer with tracking info
• Auto email to buyer and seller confirming package delivery
• Post tracking info into My eBay for seller and buyer
• Support international shipping
• Shipping carrier cost comparison
• Email management
• Package shipment auditing – claim entitled shipping refunds

Certified Providers:

ShipRush
ShipWorks

Please contact the Certified Provider direct and fully discuss your needs to decide if they offer the right tool for you. Or you may post a question on our eBay Certified Provider Discussion Board.

International Sales Workshop 1/9 (MyStoreCredit)

Member Workshop: Take Advantage of Booming International Sales
Host: MyStoreCredit (MyStoreMaps)
Date: Wednesday 01/09
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Pacific time

Description: In this workshop, Antoine Hall, VP of Operations from Certified Solution Provider MyStoreCredit, Inc., will discuss how to monetize the increase in international buyer purchases on the eBay.com website using their MyStoreMaps service. Learn simple, but effective ways to turn international shoppers into international buyers.