Ebay Sellers - Is It Time To End Your Listings? Maybe! #blogboost

These days, eBay sellers, if they are 1/2 as smart as most of them seem, are reviewing EVERYTHING.. Because Best match is such a mess and finding your way to the top has gotten harder and harder for us "little guys".  

One of the things we've been told by multiple sources (ebay itself and lots of guru types) is that using Fixed Price is the way to go BUT don't leave non-selling items up there forever cause after a few months of no sale, Best Match love, like all so-so marriages, turns to icy distain and your item gets pushed closer and closer to the eBay curb...where NO one will ever see it.

In other words, after 3-4 months in your store, with NO sales and too many lookee-lous it's time to relist. 

But if you have, as I did at one point 1700 listings, or as a couple of my friends have, 2500+ listings or even 5000+ listings..how do you find the ones that need to be "reformed"?

eBay has a new trick up it's sleeve - on your MY EBAY page...check this out! (finally they did something right and since I'm complimenting them it's probably going to be taken away on Monday so use it quick)

I know, you're asking, "WHAT am I looking for?".. see that middle drop-down box? it is called Status.  That's where you normally look to see if anything has bids. Well now it has a new and very useful status i.e. WITHOUT RECENT SALE. 

If your items show up in here, it's time to end them, and rework them and relist them.  Not SELL SIMILAR, NOT RELIST .. Do'em over.  They need it. (because otherwise, they wouldn't be there. would they, now? )  I think, according to MY experience it takes about 6 mos for unsold items to get to that list.  But I'll let you know after more observation.

Ok, go look at yours!!

#blogboost.

eBay meets the 21st century!! MOBILE LISTING!!1

Ok that's some hyperbole up there but really - so many things are now on your cell phone, I've had ebay search for years on a OLD OLD Verizon phone. However, Now I hear that:

A) Apple's gonna migrate the I-Phone to Verizon (HURRAH!!)

B) Ebay has an I-Phone selling App. (and one for the classifieds too!) so now I can sell from any where.. Gives a whole new meaning to "I've got a bridge to sell you!". Cause you can take a picture of the bridge and listed it WAY SIMPLE!! This is sooooooooooooooo NEW SCHOOL...not old school... check this out

Camille Beckman Hand Therapy- I love this stuff

A couple of months ago I mentioned trying some hand cream I got from Kathy Simpson of Kat's Kloset. WELL, I just found out that a mutual friend of hers and mine is also selling the same item but in tubs and in a Rosewater scent - which is a very light, delicate floral. SO...if you haven't tried it yet, quick before she's sold out - go to Galleria Gifts and get some. Here's the link.
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Now, seriously, here is why I recommend this product. I have VERY VERY VERY VERYVERY dry skin. Sahara Desert dry - Death Valley dry. peels off at a touch dry. Understand? DRY... James Bond only wishs his martini was this dry. And it hurts if I bump my fingers or hand or even my toes. Not just hurts but splits - which takes forever to heal. BUT ...since I started using this Glycerin Therapy, my skin is nowhere near as dry and isn't peeling.

Now I don't know the ingredients but I suspect that the handcreams I'd been using has a certain percentage of alcohol as a liquid, purifier etc. And alcohol, even in handcream, dries. That's why it's great for certain types of things but not for hands. SO, try this, you'll like it and I'm sure it will be wonderful on your skin. (and hurry up and buy the rest of the Rosewater scent cause I got that. I want to try Mango and she won't order us any of that til we use up her stock of Rosewater. LOL)

John Lawson's #help ebay Twitter Hash Tag

#HelpEBay
RSS feed for this query

Have you seen the new Twitter hash tag created by John Lawson aka ColderIce ? That's the link to the feed up there ^ . John blogs at 3poblogs - and does a podcast on Wednesdays on talkshoe radio (talkshoe.com) titled BS Walks When Money Talks . John goes out to the edge every week and discusse, sometimes quite animatedly, ALL things ebay and Most things internet sales related. (among other things - he's also a platinum powerseller on ebay and all-round smart man.

Well last week while 160 of eBay's party animals were celebrating eBay Radio's 6th anniversary at a small elegant (?) party at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas - John was hard at work. He dreamed up (had a night mare?) this hashtag to make CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions to eBay execs. So go tweet your ideas with the #HelpEBay hash tag. Let's see if they read it, act on any of them or just continue to drive us over the edge of the earth with STUPID ideas of their own. Ok, politicially correct and also more diplomatic version - with "not very well thought out" ideas of their own.

Beth - Be part of the answer or YOU are part of the problem.

I just read this interview with John Donahoe of eBay - (link is further down) and it made me realize that he's a "leader" like my first boss taught us to be leaders. Boss man's favorite quote at the time was "if you want to lead the tribe, you have to be a chief not an indian. The Chief thinks and plans. The indian just runs around shooting arrows and fighting. BE A CHIEF, think".

I think Donahoe does that but I still think he's wrong for eBay. He moves too slow. He knows there's a "decision" gap where the middle management wants to do something but can't get it approved and yet he's not moving quickly to change that. BUT MY STUFF ON EBAY?? My listings, my picture manager etc? THAT he moves on...mostly to make it slower, harder and more expensive. FREE pictures in all my categories, nice. BETTER exposure for my store items? PRICELESS.

John Donahoe Interview in The Herald Tribune

I'd be interested to hear YOUR thoughts.

Bumps - Auction Bumps Knockout Auctions

I have, over the last several month learned about a new "marketing" method - it's basically a block of "boxes" placed on a website and you allow people to put their auctions or store listings in one at a time. No Charge!

Well I've used the one on Danna Crawford's bump page on www.powersellingmom.com and I found a free sky bump from the bump originator (it's on the sidebar to the right)

Now I found this one on Metzymom's emporium at http://metzymoms.com/


MetzyMom's Emporium>

And this one at www.therivertheranchandthebay.com from Kat's Knockout Block Page

Day 4 DSR BLOG TOUR!! Kat Simpson of KatsKloset.com

I first met Kat about 2 years ago. We shared a yahoo group. Then last summer, I was on a bus at eBay Live with my friend Louise and she introduced me to Kat, who was part of my OBS group. And There was this whoop from the other side of the bus, Ithought the bus driver would run up on the curb! LOL

We have since shared some projects and so interviewing Kat for this one was a piece of cake!
Here is my friend KAT !

1. Where do you sell – please give one link and the corresponding store name or website (any of the venues or your own site!)
I gota pick one? LOL! My own website!

Http://www.katskloset.com

2/.What is your blog topic? The River, the Ranch & The Bay - http://www.therivertheranchandthebay.com
Why did you choose that topic to blog about?

Because I think it's time to encourage sellers to take control of their own businesses and use the venues instead of allowing the venues to use them.

2. Where is your favorite place on the internet?

www.drudgereport.com


3. Where do you “hang out” on the internet – (i.e. talkshoe radio, the ebay powerseller board etc.)

Talkshoe Radio & Google Chat with my friends


4. How are you “handling” the current economic situation? i.e getting a real job, diversifying, expanding to other venues, contracting and reducing the number of venues?

Expanding out to more venues and really looking at every fee I pay to see if I am gaining VALUE for the COST


5 Where do you see your self being in 3 years? (a millionaire, in Tahita, working harder, retired etc.)


In three years, I hope to have transitioned my business to more 'information' sales and less actual product sales.

THANKS KAT!

Now dear reader, if you look over to the right, you'll notice a "gadget". That is the player for the radio show that Kat does on Talkshoe Radio (www.talkshoe.com) on Wednesday night at 8:08 PM Et. I have the honor to be her co-host and also on the 8:30 eBiz Watercooler on Thursday night. THAT is just a 1/2 hour of fun with friends from the eBay radio chat board.

So come on in and visit with us! and definitely shop Kat's stores. She has lots of nice merchandise!

Suceeding inspite of the economy in 2009

Ok, I'm kind of lucky because I don't have to provide ALL the support from my family. BUT I do have to provide half. The half I used to provide by working 8 - 7 in a corporate office for a totally nasty man. For the three years that I've been fulltime on ebay and other venues, it's not been so much of a problem. For the last 3 months? more so.

That's why, for 2009 I've made some plans and outlined some methods for me to try. Now, my big failing is not in organization. It's more in the consistency of the follow thru. I will follow thru initially but then I get bogged down in the minutae of life and next thing I know, it's December 31st again.

So, my first step was to buy Danna Crawford's Powerselling Mom Calendar. She has a DVD/Cd that's about 30 min in length where she explains how she developed this calendar and how she uses it. So, even at $30 I figured "it can't hurt". So I bought one.

And I love it. It's got nice big blocks for each day to write notes in or schedule things in. And it's go, on the top half where there is usually pretty sunset, a cute kitten or some crazy cartoon, Danna had put some motivational phrases on one side and alist of things that need working on on the right side.

And at the top, linkes for goals. $$ on ebay , Other $$ etc. Dream goals and monthly goals. And in the middle a large open space where can stick post-its or write letters to yourself.

Want one for your ownself? On ebay go to ASKDANNA and nab one!! And if you don't like ebay/paypal I'll post a link down there for Amazon.

I've started mine for 2009. My first goal for this year is $5,000 a month in sales (well that's the "dream goal". I've routinely sold around $3,000 a month for the last 3 years. Sometimes more, sometimes less but normally at least $3,000. So I'm looking to increase my sales by 50% this month. To do that, I need to move some stuff out of the store, put some stuff on ebay that hasn't been listed and encourage people to buy buy buy!

And I'm already looking ahead. You make your money when you buy your merchandise by getting the best price. And right now I'm looking ahead to Valentine's Day, Easter and Mother's day. That merchandise needs to be on your website and in your ebay/amazon/bonanzle store 30-45 days ahead of time. So it's time to gear up now for Valentine's day.

Among other things, I have to get better at using the ebay approved "store marketing newsletter.". And that is where I'm off to now. The link to Danna's calendar on Amazon is on the right side on the carousel or it's ASIN number: B001OHV3UO

Are you ready for the Holiday Mailing Season?

Are you ready?

You and I both know that even with the economy in a shambles, WE are giving Christmas presents (holiday presents to celebrate Hannuaka or Kwanza or New Years or Boxing Day or WHATEVER you feel like celebrating.)

So are our customers online! They may not be spending as much as last year but they going to give each other something. So are YOU ready?

Do you have priority mail boxes on hand?
Do you have packing materials - clean, non-smelly, category appropriate packing materials?
Do you have plenty of packing tape? labels? printer paper? ink?

Did you eat your Wheaties this morning? Cause Black Friday, Green Monday, Cyber Tuesday - they are all on the way. And for heaven't sake, you don't want to have to refund a sale because you didn't have the right size box or other supply.

Now do you know the Post Office's and UPS and FEDEX's shipping deadlines? You need to know them and let your customers know them. So, here's a link to the appropriate websites:


The USPS: http://www.usps.com/holiday/welcome.htm?from=home_lgpromo_RedOrnaments&page=Calendar

BROWN! UPS:
http://www.compass.ups.com/article/article.aspx?id=2289

and last but by no means least - Fedex:
http://www.fedex.com/us/holiday/shipping/lastdaystoship.html


So, go print out the schedules if you haven't already. Be sure to order the supplies from whomever you use for that (I've got recommendations for that on another day) and get packing!


By the way - remember to smile every day - it makes the world wonder what you've been up to! and? And HAVE FUN!

MY ITEM OF THE DAY! Little Black Sambo - 1st Edition 2nd printing book

My items of the day - Little Black Sambo book
I always have so many items and some of them get NO attention on ebay so I decided to blog extensively about one each day. TODAY my choice is this one -

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250301480153&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

This is a 1901 edition (first edition - 2nd printing) of The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman. The First Edition First printing had red boards. This one with the tan boards is universally declared (by booksellers all over the internet) to be a 2nd printing.
One of the first library sales I ever went to, was in a small small community library - like, with me and the librarian in the same room, there was no room to turn around. As I was checking out, she asked "did you look at the old books under the tarp?" (DUH NO! How would I have known they were under there? Who would have supposed? NOT ME!)
So, I respond no, and being in a foul mood from not being able to move or breathe in the tight confines, I say something stupid like, "that's ok, I spent enough today". HA, hubby goes over, lifts the tarp and starts pulling out books. And I found this is a bucket of unused paint brushes (no for like housepainter paint brushes, not cute artist brushes).
It's printed with text on the left side and one facing picture to a page. Then the next two pages are blank. It's sewn together and bound with some weird "buckram" spine back. But it's soo cute. And you can see a lot of the little "finger prints" of the little hands that looked at this. It's not library book. It's been in private hands. No markings, no typical librarian damage. But a lot of "unlove" in it's life. Some pages are loose. The first of the 26 illustrations, of the main character, is missing. Lots of finger print stains.
Now think about this. SOMEBODY (who probably is cringing now trying to explain it to granny) donated this to that library. Someon, who obviously didn't love books as a child. (my favorite part of this one is where the tigers chase each other round the try and turn into butter. LOL wonder if the zoo knows about that trick?)
Where are the childhood books you saved? What was your favorite one? Do your Children or heirs understand the value of the books in your collection? Better start righting them notes! (that's what I'm doing. "DEAR SON, don't throw this out, the great great grandfather you are named for brought it with him from Ireland" for example - on my great grandfather's level and plane)
Ok, well think about your book collection and how to protect it from ending up in a bucket of paint brushes in the libary of East Armpit, USA. And come back tomorrow for something else to look at!

Another eBay Faux Pas...do they ever end?

Have you all seen this at the bottom of the eBay search page? I have no clue how long it’s been since I looked al the way down the search page...maybe 4 months – like when I last went to an auction and was looking for comps...but tonight I’m looking for completed prices on some of the less common books we bought yesterday...and found this:

We found other stuff close to what you're looking for

Now, maybe it’s me but...I can call my “stuff” STUFF but I think ebay should be referring to it as “we found more items” or “we found more selections simliar to what you searched for”

And I know I’m being picky when there are soooo many things wrong on ebay right now...but this one, this just annoys me.

I’m not selling STUFF. Maybe John Donahoe sells "stuff" from his closet or his basement. But I go to estate auctions and buy consignments directly from people liquidating estates and my "stuff" is MERCHANDISE and most of it is too expensive to be STUFF. STUFF comes from the dollar store. I’d like to think my “stuff” could go – a lot of it – on Antique Row on Pine St in Philadelphia.

What about the rest of you? Am I just being petty about this? (Don’t answer that, I know the answer...)

Recent eBay changes/unchanges

So, do you really think eBay management actually has a written plan?

No, I don't (thanks for asking)!

First they are going to make us have a handling time - but their editing tool doesn't work. I have 1200 listings (I took down 200 because of the new links policy...we'll get to that in a minute).

Like I said, I have 1200 STORE listings. If you want me to put a handling time, a return policy etc INTO them, you'd think that management would have ordered one of their many fine programers to FIX the edit function. NOT! (nope tried it again today to change 62 auction listings cause I put in the wrong paypal account name....NOPE..didn't get ANY of them to work...SIGH!)

Next (well second on MY list) they want all extraneous links OUT! Including my 3rd party insurance company who offers better, less-expensive, easier to use coverage than the almost as crazy as ebay post office. They want my EMAIL link out (but they want to rate me on my customer service which they insist on funneling thru their glitchy message system. They want my website link out of my ME page (where it's resided peacefully and uselessly for 11 years, cause who the hell reads the ME pages?)

They want any possible links to 3rd party service (like Auction listing or Photoservers) OUT. But wait, they are the ones who told me to use them?????????

I have a newsbulletin - THERE IS NO PLAN! If JD or LN get up and are PMS'ing...we get hit with some new stupid idea.

I have asked for years, WHO is in charge of STUPID IDEAS?? I mean they have "disruptive innovation" right? they must have a Dept. of Stupid Ideas...or maybe a "stupid idea farm"? Where they grow them? Like corn?

I want to be Director of Stupid Ideas. I have as many as any of the management team (just ask my husband and son). The onlything is...I have too much sense to implement my stupid ideas. I usually just float them on the river past husband's head during a baseball game. It's kind of funny to watch him try and deal with that and not lose track of the score. LOL

Seriously, here are some of MY stuppid ebay ideas:

1. Allow buyers and sellers to EMAIL each other - freely - on and/or off ebay - like the adults they are supposed to be

2. Allow sellers to offer any payment method they want - cash, checks, money orders, Paypal, credit card processing, GOOGLE CHECKOUT, Bidpay, Revolution Cash. Money moves merchandise.

3. STOP PUSHING FREE SHIPPING - (nothing's free.) If I offer free shipping I have to raise the starting bid, pay ebay more fees, and eat the rest of the shipping costs. It's hypocritical to keep saying buyers expect free shipping. They don't get it from me on Amazon why should they get it from me on ebay?

4. Set a better example in Customer Service. If ebay management wants me to offer free shipping, they could offer:
a) Free listings
b) free photos - like more than 1?
c) free ebay stores (I could use another $16 in my pocket every month)
d) free design elements, like the "gift" tag, the border on the pictures, the picture slide show they stole when I wasn't looking last month.

So do you still think management has a plan??

So what next?

This blog is titled Ebay - For Fun and Profit but...

Have you set up another venue yet?

I tried I-Offer. Then in May when they were nagging me about signing in more often did, I though " BALONEY " so I deleted all the store listings. Done . In 4 mos there I had one sale for a box of trading cards. Not enough to waste any energy on.

Amazon
I sell books there. Currently only have about 60 listed. THAT changed this week and will change again soon as I add in some. I haven't tried the Pro-Merchant yet but will this month (July 2008). I'm not sure if I'll keep my books on ABE or not after I put them on Amazon. I might. But that's up in the air, right now.

The main attraction from Amazon is the abilty to list my glass and china there. I'll let you know how that goes next month

ABEBOOKS
I had a bookstore on ABE back in 2005 and it didn't set fire to the world but it paid its own way. Then they changed software or platforms or some IT thing. And my sales crashed. After three months I gave up. Based on my friends' sales there, I reopened in April 2008. So far, it's paying it's way again.

There are two things I have to do. One is to synchronize the prices on EBAY in my store with the prices on ABE cause I missed a $74 sale today on ABE by having sold the book on eBay 6 wks ago for $19.95. THAT hurt. It's my own fault too cause I knew the files needed to be doublechecked and prices corrected. And I didn't do it. BUT I will be later today. (7-10-08 I have checked and correct them so everything is sort of inline with the other venues. NOW I have to get more books on Amazon)

ECRATER
I could never figure out how to upload a "file" to them. Gonna look at that again this week too.

And I've found a bunch of places that have shops/shopping carts etc. So I"ll be exploring those and reporting back (in case anyone every reads this)

So where do YOU sell and how do you like it? Comments are public so you'll get some free publicity and maybe even some sales. Post your url. !! Please!