Posts filed under 'eBay'
The Internet Merchants Association has announced their conference agenda for 2009 in Las Vegas, NV in conjunction with the ASD/AMD Trade Show. There is still plenty of time to register, so be sure to go to www.imalasvegas.com right now and get signed up. You do not want to miss this conference packed full of information for increasing your online sales!
AGENDA: Updated 3/11/09
NOTE – The IMA is still adding more speakers, so times and speakers are subject to change. In addition to the agenda below, there will be a Networking Suite open at Bally’s on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights where you can meet the speakers and ask more questions!
March 16-18 Internet Merchants Assn. Las Vegas register @ , www.imamerchant.org & www.imalasvegas.com Don’t miss out – Register TODAY!
Continue Reading March 5th, 2009
The eBay message boards are filled with posts by sellers about how eBay’s new Best Match has taken seller’s items and made them nearly invisible to buyers. The result, of course, is a decrease in sales.
Trying to adapt to Best Match is a challenge for sellers and although time and energy should be put into maximizing Best Match results another essential course of action for eBay sellers is to rely less on eBay driving buyers to your listings and figuring out ways to drive buyers to your listings yourself.
I have compiled a list of ways to drive buyers to your listings to supplement Best Match. If any readers have any additional methods, please add them to the list.
Google Base Store Connector
Use Google Base Store Connector to get your listings indexed in Google Search results. Here is a link to the free program that will send your eBay listing info to Google: http://base.google.com/base/storeconnector/index.html
Alt Img Tags
This is a little bit of HTML code that you add to the photos that you have within your eBay listing. Search engines can only read text. If you add this little bit of descriptive HTML code to your images, your images have a descriptive text attached to them and this can possibly aid in increasing your listing’s search engine ranking and Google Image Search ranking.
Continue Reading January 26th, 2009
Feedback is an issue that causes much angst to sellers both on eBay and Amazon. Many times the negative feedback left is irrelevant to the transaction especially when the buyer has not even contacted the seller. So I ask you – Is feedback even necessary in 2009? How many buyers even review a seller’s feedback? On Amazon the seller’s feedback is pretty much hidden, especially if the seller has the coveted “buy-box”. It is also extremely lopsided since so few buyers actually leave feedback on Amazon. On eBay many buyers do not understand the feedback percentages and don’t take the time to review the comments. This is obvious when you see a seller with 89% feedback, yet all their 99 cent junk auctions have bids.
So what other mechanisms could replace feedback and help reduce scam sellers? Both eBay and Amazon already have the mechanisms in place, they just don’t publish the information derived from these mechanisms to the buying community.
Continue Reading January 8th, 2009
Written by Cyn
I applaud eBay management for taking steps to “fix” feedback on the site. The changes are in the right direction, but there are still some things that could be fixed to make feedback more fair for both buyers and sellers. After much thought, I agree with the proposal that sellers should not be able to leave negative feedback for buyers, IF the following changes are also implemented.
First, I propose that eBay do away with “neutral” feedback as it doesn’t do anyone any good. It is unfair to call something “neutral” that really doesn’t have a neutral effect. I understand that eBay feedback percentage is “Positive Percentage” which is why neutrals now effect the score. However, many neutrals are left as a form of communication rather than showing dissatisfaction on the part of the buyer, and therefore should not be used to penalize the seller.
Second, I propose that non-paying buyers be banned from leaving feedback at all. Isn’t feedback supposed to be only for members involved in a transaction? If an item is not paid for, that is NOT a transaction and therefore that buyer has no right to leave feedback. I understand that eBay cannot tell if a buyer has paid unless that buyer pays via Paypal. However, I propose that sellers be on the honor system to mark an item Paid in their My eBay when a buyer pays with a payment form other than Paypal. If an item is not marked as paid, the buyer would be unable to leave feedback. Should a buyer choose to pay with a method other than paypal, they will risk not being able to leave feedback if the seller does not mark the item paid. However, this would just be another risk a buyer takes when paying with other methods. In addition, it would encourage more buyers to use Paypal – and isn’t that what eBay wants anyway?
Third, I propose that for purposes of Seller Performance, feedback be based on all SALES rather than on all feedback left. This is how Amazon uses feedback. For Seller Performance, Amazon uses a negative feedback percentage that is based on ALL ORDERS. So a seller may show 96% on their feedback profile on the site, but for Seller Performance purposes, their negative feedback percentage may only be .08%. Amazon does not include neutrals at all in their Seller Performance figures.
Many happy buyers do not leave feedback at all and a seller should not be penalized because of this choice.
Fourth, a buyer should be given the ability to remove negative feedback. Amazon allows this and makes it very easy for the buyer to do so. When I receive a negative feedback on Amazon, I contact the buyer and work it out with them. Once the buyer is satisfied they then remove their negative feedback. Most buyers who leave negative feedback never contact me first. This gives me a way to resolve an issue and make the buyer happy. The way eBay has now implemented the feedback process leaves me with no incentive to help a customer who leaves a negative with no contact.
eBay – Great start – Now finish the job!
May 28th, 2008
In my opinion, Best Match is one of the most significant changes that eBay has introduced in the last few years. It is designed to change the Buyer experience in a big way. And every time the buyer experiences changes, it presents a challenge for sellers.
There are three types of people in the world of ebay; those that watch a change, those that complain about a change, and those who find a way to make that change work to their benefit. For those of you in the third category, I strongly suggest you listen to a podcast that I had the pleasure to record with Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes. Here’s a link to the article, which will allow you to connect to the podcast:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m04/i11/s01
The runtime is almost a half-hour, which, if you look at Ina’s podcasts, you will note is one of the longest ones she’s ever done. There’s a reason for that. Ina understands how important Best Match is to eBay sellers, and wanted to make sure that we provided as much information as possible to her listeners.
But for those of you who absolutely refuse to invest a half-hour of time in your business, let me give you a couple of key thoughts. First, Best Match is an algorithm, and it’s new. So it’s going to change on a pretty regular basis. What’s NOT going to change is eBay’s commitment to Best Match being the tool that will optimize buyer search. So you need to find the best way to exploit Best Match now, and then you need to regularly go back and re-test, to make sure that those findings are still operative. Second, you must, you MUST, you MUST think like a buyer. That’s a fundamental part of any marketing campaign. But it’s absolutely crucial with Best Match. Remember, eBay is trying to optimize the buyer experience. So they’re going to watch buyers, and they’re going to tweak the algorithm based on buyer reaction. If you can get into your buyer’s head, you can get into their pocket. Third, don’t trust the tools that are out there. While they may give you some general guidance and good ideas, the algorithm is constantly changing, and some tools will not keep up with the pace. So do your own testing. Do comparisons with your competition. Run two of the exact same ad at the exact same time, with only one variable, and analyze the results.
There is one other thing you should consider doing. And that’s joining the IMA (you didn’t think you were going to get away without a quick sales pitch, did you?). We have a very active discussion forum with lots of experienced (and well connected) sellers, complimented with giants in the service provider industry like Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, Brian Lawe, President of MyStoreRewards.com, and others. As changes are made, the Forum is always buzzing with the latest information. The information and ideas you will receive about Best Match alone can make you enough money to pay for your dues ten times over.
So listen to the podcast, understand Best Match, and DON’T JUST SIT THERE!! MAKE IT WORK TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!!
Larry
April 11th, 2008
You may have noticed that recently eBay has been making up definitions for words that have been in the English language for hundreds of years. Only eBay’s new definitions only apply to Sellers, the traditional definitions still apply for buyers.
For example, the word Satisfied in DSR ratings means satisfied to buyers, or at least eBay doesn’t tell them otherwise. However, if an eBay seller has all “Satisfied” ratings, versus “Very Satisfied” ratings, eBay is not satisfied. No, if your buyers are only satisfied, you will lose Powerseller status and be downgraded in search.
The other word is “neutral”. A buyer can rate a transaction as Positive, Neutral, or Negative. The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines the word “Neutral” as “ not decided or pronounced as to characteristics”, which would mean the buyer has no opinion either way. However, eBay, in their dictionary, has decided that “Neutral” means a buyer had a negative experience. When eBay figures a sellers perfomance rating they figure any neutrals as negatives. However, once again, eBay does not tell the buyer about their new definition of Neutral.
Feel free to contribute more new definitions from eBay!
Cyn
April 10th, 2008
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