Posts filed under 'IMA'
Good morning from San Antonio. It is good to be home, but now I have to get to work putting all this new information to work in my business!
If you missed the last day of the conference, you missed out on some great information. Michael Levit from Vendio was the first presenter “Cross Channel Selling Costs and the Effects of eBay’s New Pricing.”
Mike spoke about the importance of creating and running your own website store. Get your webstore established now, as internet retailing is only going to get more competitive in the future. He gave us valuable information on how to market a webstore through SEO, SEM and CSE’s (comparison shopping engines).
Next up was David Platt from Infopia presenting “Converting Browsers into Buyers”.
David cited a survey done amongst internet shoppers that pinpointed the 6 Problems Encountered Shopping Online. He also gave us several do’s and don’ts on creating a website as well as how we can learn from the websites of the big companies who spend thousands of dollars on research.
The last presentation I was able to attend was presented by Suzanne from AGenius Marketing on “Building a Successful Website.” Suzanne gave a great presentation about keeping your website fresh, how to choose a designer and shopping cart and the importance of continually testing your site.
There was so much information presented in these seminars that I am glad I took detailed notes as I know that I gained thousands of dollars worth of information from just these three speakers. I hope everyone reading this blog will seriously start making plans for IMA’s conference next year. Your investment will be returned tenfold.
Cyn
March 6th, 2008
Good morning again from Vegas. Day 3 of the conference was a whirlwind of new information and new people. Some of the presentations were very detailed, while others were more basic. I was happy to find out we had registered several new members of IMA as a result of our free seminars for ASD/AMD members on “Getting Started in E-Commerce”! Great job everyone!
The first presentation was on Market Intelligence, by Tim Williams from QL2. QL2 is a company that has helped many very large, well known retailers with market intelligence in order to increase their market share.
Market Intelligence is information relative to the markets you are trying to penetrate. This consists of information you gather inhouse as well as information gathered by third parties. We learned how and why to monitor our competitors as well as how to monitor brand perception. The very detailed information will help us be more competitive in the fast changing e-commerce world.
The second presentation of the day was “Analyze your Business Using Web Statistics” by Sagerock and Engine Ready. They gave a lot of useful information about analyzing your CPC campaigns in order to increase your conversions while decreasing your marketing budget. After hearing all that’s involved in managing your own SEO and CPC ad campaigns, I’ve decided it might be best to hire a professional to do this, unless you are a numbers person and really like working with statistics.
I missed the Endicia Presentation on the USPS changes, however I did talk to the Endicia rep for a little while and found out that the post offices just received the new, larger, flat rate box this week. So if you are interested in these boxes, check with your Post Office as they may have received them.
During lunch we attended round tables with the companies of our choice. This was an awesome opportunity to sit with a representative and ask questions specific to our businesses, as well as make valuable contacts.
The next presentation was “Amazon Best Practices for Selling Online”, which was a good, basic overview of the third party selling opportunities that Amazon offers. These include Marketplace, FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) and Webstores. Amazon stated that 26% of the total units sold on Amazon last year were by 3rd party sellers. Third party sellers are considered a significant and important part of their business.
The next presentation was Expanded Seller Protection by Paypal. I didn’t attend this but did talk to two Paypal Reps. One thing I learned, that I didn’t already know from the announcements, is that Powersellers will be protected against a fraudulent payment if they can show they shipped the item to the address on the Paypal Payment. The key word here is “shipped”. However, INR’s will still require proof of delivery.
Next up was a Q&A with eBay. Many issues were raised about feedback, Best Match and UPI from the audience. What I understand from what the eBay reps said is that all of these changes are evolving. eBay is monitoring the changes to see if they have the desired effect. If they do not, or they have unexpected undesirable effects, they will make changes to the changes.
The last presentation was given by Brian Kane of Microsoft “Microsoft Office – Interesting Elements of Office Relevant to the On-Line Merchant”.
Brian spoke about their small business website available at www.officelive.com which offers free basic websites. In addition, they now offer a program that will list both to eBay and to your officelive website. This includes a robust email marketing program as well. The presentation included many slides on the new Office 2007 products. It was interesting to see all the changes and new features now available in the 2007 version.
The last session of the day was the IMA Business Meeting hosted by Steve Grossberg, President of IMA. Steve pointed out that IMA has reached its 16 month birthday. He thanked the Events committee for all their work in making the conference a reality, as well as all committee members and Board Members. IMA has just begun, but is gaining momentum daily and every member can be proud of their Association.
The Board of Directors Election was held and 3 new board members were elected:
- Kim Wren – Wren Storage
- Cathy Aggelopoulos – Visibility Unlimited
- Cynthia (Cyn) Lizana – Texcyngoods
The meeting was adjourned and the Hospitality Suite was opened. We had a drawing for door prizes. All prizes were donated by IMA Members and most of the prizes were items we used in our TalkMarket videos, so there was a wide selection of awesome prizes given away. The Grand Prize was a complete eBay design package, worth $1600, donated by our Hospitality Suite sponsor, Frooition!
Cyn
March 5th, 2008
Howdy. Day 2 was very fast paced – my head is still spinning from all the information that was presented by the speakers as well as conversation with other members.
Upon registration, some of us received canvas tote bags compliments of BuySafe with the IMA logo on one side and the BuySafe Logo on the other. In my bag was the book “eBay Power Seller Secrets- 2nd Edition” by Debra and Brad Schepp. This was exciting to me as I am quoted in this book! I will be available for signings later today 
The first presentation was given by Matt Singer of TalkMarket – How to Create an Effective Video Presentation. We learned tips and tricks to create an effective video designed to keep the potential buyers attention and convert them to a sale. Video marketing is the new internet marketing vehicle. If you’re not doing it – it is something you need to seriously consider!
The next presentation was by Justin from Google – Optimize your Existing Adwords Account to Increase ROI. This was a very fast paced presentation that was very technical. IMA will be obtaining the PDF presentation to post to our members. Because this was a very technical presentation, I can’t say I understood everything, but I took lots of notes because I know this information will come in handy down the road. Others who are using Google Adwords were amazed to find out they were not using all of the tools at their disposal.
The next two presentations I missed as I was working on my video for TalkMarket. They were the Wall Street Panel and SEO by OrangeSoda Marketing. Hopefully we’ll get some other attendees to write about these presentations.
While I was practicing for my TalkMarket video guess who walked into the room? Ina from AuctionBytes! It was exciting to meet her and talk to her. She said she will follow up with me to possibly include a link to my video in one of her blogs or newsletters! Also helping me was a very nice lady from Vendio, Crystal & Darol from 4Ever Funky Footwear. I haven’t seen my video yet as they were still editing it last night, but I’m very excited about it. Several attendees had videos made and we will hopefully see them today.
The last presentation was the KeyNote Address by eBay. Unfortunately, Stephanie Tilenius was unable to make it, so the presentation was given by Jim Ambach, VP Seller Experience. He did a great job. This presentation talked a lot about the recent changes that have been made by eBay as well as the future changes they’ve already announced. I got the distinct feeling that eBay IS listening to sellers, although they may not agree with everything sellers believe should happen. I also believe that eBay is trying to bring back buyer with these changes.
That sums it up for Day 2.
Cyn
March 4th, 2008
Howdy everyone! Beautiful weather today in Vegas – the sky is blue and the mountains are gorgeous.
Yesterday consisted of walking the tradeshow and meeting up with other IMA members at the Hospitality Suite. I think just about everyone was there, or so it seemed from the roar! The Events Committee did an excellent job making sure there was plenty of food and drinks for everyone.
I met a gentleman from TalkMarket last night and discussed their marketing strategy. It sounds like they have a great concept with video listings being marketed to hotel guests. We will learn more today at their presentation.
Steve introduced me to Kimberly Maul, writer and editor of MerchandEYES Blog, the officisal ASD/AMD blog. We are discussing linking our two blogs in order to bring more information to readers of both blogs.
Today will be a busy day with more tradeshow walking in the morning and then seminars in the afternoon. I will post again tomorrow morning with information from the seminars.
Cyn
March 3rd, 2008
Congratulations to all the members of IMA who sell on Amazon. According to the Nielson ratings, Amazon had more unique visitors than Ebay for the month of December. According to an article by “The New York Times” dated January 14th, 2008: “Amazon has opened its site to independent sellers, while eBay’s auction model is running into problems with fee-fatigued sellers and buyers wary of fraud and counterfeit items.”
“Now the latest audience figures from Nielsen Online confirm that the e-commerce traffic crown has changed heads. For the month of December, for the first time, more Americans clicked over to Amazon.com (59,624,000) than eBay (59,374,000)”
To read the complete article including some very interesting comments in the NY Times.
Jennie
February 4th, 2008
This is a question that most full time Ebay sellers will be asking themselves over the next month or two. The “best match” finding 2.0 changes to Ebay’s default search in March 08, and the May 08 removal of a sellers “mutual feedback” privileges will cause unknown changes to many Ebay sellers bottom lines. (I am leaving out fee changes because they can be calculated.) I know of one seller locally who has already closed his doors, and started selling off his inventory. He felt it was too big a gamble with three small children to continue counting on Ebay as his sole source of income. Buy out companies have been quick to take most of his stock of brand new Budweiser mugs off his hands.
If you use Ebay as a part time source of income, you will probably be OK waiting to see how your income changes. For sellers who have made a full time commitment of resources and time to build a business on Ebay, the wait and see approach will probably not work. I personally have two building leases, and several buyers who depend on me. Not to mention year long advertising contracts that cost quite a bit each month. For me, waiting to see what happens to my Ebay income isn’t going to work very well. I have to plan for the worst, and hope for the best.
I plan to sell off as much inventory as I can this month, and stop buying additional stock until I see how “Best Match” is going to change my sell through rates. I have also created a selling account on Amazon. Amazon has a very vital marketplace where you can usually sell your items at a higher price than you can get on Ebay. Amazon has no upfront fees, handles the payment processing (no paypal fees), and the final value fees are 12% to 15% which is just slightly higher than Ebays new fee changes. But Amazon handles more of the customer service tasks, and there are no listing fees. For more advice on selling through Amazon’s marketplace see the IMA forum. For more information about the differences in selling on Amazon vs. Ebay try this link.
There are also niche marketplace websites if you are selling in a collectibles category. Many niche marketplace websites have also seen a surge over the past year in sales, and sellers. The best way to find them is through collectors newsletters or the IMA forum.
For all the Ebay sellers who face extreme business changes over the next few months, I wish you the best and hope all your planning in the next few months bring you a better overall marketplace experience for the coming year.
Jennie
February 3rd, 2008
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