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.

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.

Best Practices for Selling on eBay by Shopster

Article from the Shopster Blog

Best Practices for Selling on eBay

Whether you are just starting your eBusiness and are new to using drop shippers to sell on eBay, or if you are an old hand at selling online; test out the following tips and watch your sales sky-rocket!

Research

Before you list a product, confirm what other products have sold for. Search completed listings and Terapeak (eBay marketplace research solution) for pricing and other eBay info to increase your sales success.

Pricing

Spend some time learning pricing strategies. The bottom line with pricing is you need to create buzz around your item/listing. You need to price the item low enough to get people excited about what you’re selling, but high enough you are not undercutting your profits. Looking at completed auctions (and Terapeak) for historical pricing data prior to setting your opening bid is a savvy way to figure out your starting bid price.

Selling Formats

eBay has many different selling formats. Fixed price listings, auction style, etc. Learn about them, learn the pros and cons of each and then make a decision on which format works best for your niche. If in doubt, experiment and see what works best for you.

Merchandise your item

When building your eBay listing make sure you have created an eye-catching title. Have an effective and well-written product description and a clear photo of your product. Put yourself in a buyer’s shoes - buyers click and purchase items that grab their attention, so it’s important to spend the time and showcase your product to the best of your abilities!

Customer Service

The key to having a successful eBay business is customer service. Make yourself available to answer customer questions and queries. Good customer service will help you close sales and encourage repeat business. Don’t forget to ask for feedback either. Learn how you can better service your customers next time around – they’ll appreciate the thought and be more likely to buy again from you.

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.

5 Tips to Increase Online Sales by Shopster

Article by Shopster

eBay sellers and online retail store owners achieve success mainly due to their product offerings. With that, most sellers believe that what works offline (in the brick and mortar stores) will also work when they build an online store. But the truth is far from it. The internet offers retailers much more in terms of potential profit, simply because overhead cost is less. But to really use the internet to your advantage, here are some tips to help you out:

1. Offer unique product information. Unlike in real stores, online shoppers won’t be able to touch and feel the products you are selling. They will rely on pictures and the information you provide to help them decide. Manufacturers often provide the basic product descriptions. But you have to remember, these descriptions are also being used by other retailers. If you have the time, create your own descriptions using your familiarity with the product.
2. Encourage consumer reviews. You can do this by adding a feedback form, an application that allows product star ratings, or simply by putting up a page that highlights customer testimonials. Today’s consumers usually look for reviews first before they make any purchase decision. Keep it honest and real to establish credibility.
3. Don’t discount the power of search engine optimization. Add the right keywords and build links to your site to improve your visibility in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Doing so can increase the number of visitors to your online store. The more visitors to your site, the higher the potential for sales.
4. Cross-sell and upsell. Improve your product page such that it features related products you sell online. During the shopping stage, if your potential buyer realizes that the product they are currently looking at is not the one he or she wants to buy right away, then at least offer other options.
5. After-sales service and customer support matter. The real reason people would come back and want to buy from your is based on how you treat your customers. Be transparent about your policies (delivery, return, etc), any guarantees and all costs. Be ready to answer calls and help resolve issues.

Increasing your sales online is about bringing in quality visitors to your eBay Store and listings. Encourage buyers to make a purchase and ensure they have a good buying experience. Hopefully, they will recommend you to others and become loyal customers.

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

Why Dropshipping Works by Shopster

Article by Shopster

Why Dropshipping Works
Business owners who are not familiar with drop shipping are missing out big time. Basically, this is a supply chain management technique that allows retailers to focus on more important aspects of their business.

If you’re thinking about building an online store an selling products online but don’t have the capital to start big, then consider this your best option. First off, you don’t have to purchase any inventory upfront. This also means saving a huge amount on the cost of storage. Second, it removes the hassles of shipping and handling from your end.

Dropshipping entails selling goods on behalf of a supplier. All the backend work involved in order fulfillment are handled by the said dropship supplier – this includes filling the order and shipping it out to the customer.

The trick to making money via a dropship business is finding a supplier with good pricing. Remember, dropship suppliers are not necessarily wholesalers. While there are those that offer items in bulk, some dropshippers are willing to supply to sellers looking for only a small amount of items. You can make profit off the dropshipped items with the difference between the supplier’s price and yours – this is called the profit margin.

Essentially, dropshipping is a good way to enter the retail business because it removes overhead cost while still offering you profit. Here’s a tip: choose items that are popular among young, internet savvy buyers. Plus points if the product is difficult to find in local stores.

One of the most successful dropship items last year was the Nintendo WII. Stocks were depleted in most local stores and the market – the younger audience – had no qualms about making purchases online. This combination made the Nintendo WII a huge seller in the dropship world.

Using popular sales channels like eBay, dropshipping can work for you.

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

How to Write Great eBay Item Descriptions that Sell by Shopster

Blog post by Shopster

Writing eBay Item Descriptions that Sell
Buying online as a rule is an impersonal exercise. While very efficient, it’s essentially, a no-touch experience i.e. the consumer and the seller do not need to make contact for a sale to occur. Because online business owners don’t have any live salespeople to fall back on, they need to guarantee that their site answers any questions a customer might have - hence, why great product descriptions are so critical. A product description is your salesperson, your chance to engage a customer and get them to buy, buy, buy.

3 Tips for writing engaging product descriptions:
Know your audience and write to them
Ensure that your writing style aligns with the audience you’re writing to. If it’s a highly technical audience use the appropriate jargon. Likewise, if you’re writing for a group of grade 6 children – write at a grade 6 level. When writing product descriptions, imagine your target audience and let that guide your language.

Get your customer’s attention
Use attention-grabbing phrases to grab shoppers’ interest quickly and keep it. Don’t be afraid to use strong words, questions, and phrases to do so. Pierotucci does a great job with opening sentences like: “Walk into a room and make an impression”, “Looking hip and cool is easily achieved when you are wearing this fabulous short fitted jacket”.

Tell a story & appeal to emotions to encourage buying behaviour
Once you have a potential customer’s attention, appeal to their emotions to encourage buying behaviour. Then offer logical support to help them rationalize their desire to purchase. Use each product description to paint a picture in your shopper’s mind, tell them a story, and let them insert themselves in the lead role. Use descriptive language and specific examples to get the best results.

Back to our Pierotucci example “Walk into a room and make an impression. Buttery-soft leather adds distinctive class and undeniable comfort to this sleek blazer perfect for work, weekend, and travel." This product description lets me visualize myself wearing this jacket - I can almost feel the leather on my skin, hear the whispers as I walk into a room. This product description does not just make me want this jacket, it makes me feel like I need it.

The moral of the story: Write to your audience, grab their attention, and then engage their emotions to keep it. By keeping these three tips in the forefront of your mind when writing your product descriptions, you stand a much better chance of turning your site browsers into paying customers.

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

Customer Service Tips for the Holidays by Shopster

Blog post by Shopster

Ensure Your Returns Policy Fits the Needs of a Christmas Shopper.

It may still seem far off, but Christmas is only 80 days away! What does this mean? It means you're going to have a lot more business coming to your storefront. It also means you’re going to have to modify how you support these customers over the Holiday Season. Adjusting your Returns Policy is just one thing you can do to get ready for Christmas.

With a typical Returns Policy, customers only have a certain amount of time available to request a return on a product (usually 7 or 14 days). The trick with holiday gift shopping, is that people start buying early (late October is usually when sales start to pick up), but don’t actually open and use the gift until Christmas morning (well after the 7-14 day window). Without a Holiday Returns Policy, you may have upset customers by not accepting returns on products bought as Christmas gifts.

Our suggestion is to post a revised Holiday Returns Policy on your storefront and in your eBay listings. Make sure you announce the change on your home page (or even show the Holiday Returns Policy there so everyone is aware of it) and make the appropriate change to your Return Policy page.

When creating a holiday returns policy, you will want to give your customers a start date - meaning any order made after that date until Christmas will apply to your Holiday Returns Policy. Any orders made after Christmas should adhere to your regular return request deadlines.

You then need to set a cutoff date. In other words, for those orders that fall within your Christmas Return Policy start date, you will need to decide how long after Christmas these customers have to request a return should anything be wrong with the order. An extra 7-10 days should be more than enough.

Hopefully, you will not have to do many returns, however an extended Returns Policy provides customers with additional peace of mind, as they know that they can return a product after it has been opened. A Holiday Returns Policy can also benefit your Christmas sales, because customers are more likely to purchase from an eBay seller or a store that makes allowances for the holiday shopping season.

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

The Benefits of Dropshipping by Shopster

Article provided by Shopster

Dropshipping is a business strategy best utilized by those who want to sell online, but are unable to invest in purchasing inventory, or the storage space to keep it. In basic terms, to dropship is to sells goods on behalf of a supplier who then fills the order and ships it to the purchasing customer on behalf of the seller.

There are several benefits to dropshipping, but the two main ones are: no upfront inventory to purchase and a low start up cost. Dropshipping is ideal for those who want to start a business, but can not afford high start up costs.

Other benefits of dropshipping include:

• Allows the retailer to focus on making sales, and making more money. As it is the supplier that packs and ships orders, once a sale is made the retailer does not have to do anything except focus on making more sales.
• Dropshipping can reduce shipping and handling costs. As the product is delivered directly to the customer it does not have to be shipped to the retailer. Thus saving the cost of that one delivery. The savings can then be passed onto the customer by the retailer.
• It gives retailers the opportunity to test out new products lines without having to buy the inventory up front.

One criticism of dropshipping is that at times it can be challenging to find competitive pricing on an item, especially if it is popular. The base price on dropshipped products is not as competitive as wholesale or bulk, but for the most part the prices are cheaper than what you would find in a store, and the retailer can still offer competitive pricing.

Finding well priced dropship products is possible with research and a competitive niche or growing market opportunity. Watch out for over saturated markets, like the Nintendo Wii for example. While these items are popular with buyers, there are thousands of sellers trying to offer the product at the lowest price, resulting in small (if any) margins.

Shopster is a full business solution enabling eBay sellers to either start or expand their eBay business by connecting sellers to suppliers. Shopster is focused on drop ship product sourcing and listing tools for any level of seller.

Shopster Becomes Certified Provider

Today, drop shipping solution provider Shopster officially joined the ranks as eBay's newest Certified Solution Provider. This means that they have customers who use and recommend their solution, a product that integrates directly with eBay, and staff that know how selling on eBay works.

eBay sellers can use Shopster's product sourcing suppliers to augment their product line, test new products on the site, obtain related products for upsale and cross promotion to their current products. Their eBay Compatible Application allows sellers to quickly and easily list items on eBay that are available from their qualified drop ship suppliers. The solution includes product data, inventory updates, order submission and tracking and dispute resolution through direct integration with their suppliers. Shopster suppliers are carefully scrutinized for product quality, authenticity, service and pricing. eBay welcomes them to the program.

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