50 Tips to Boost eBay Sales - From Jenny How's Blog
My friend and colleague Jenny How has posted a comprehensive list of "50 Strategies for Boosting Your Online Sales." I'd like to elaborate on two of her points - underpromise and overdeliver. What does this mean anyway?
It means that you shouldn't make promises you can't keep. The concept is to have your customer set their expectations lower that your plans for service.
For example, your shipping policy might be, "Item ships within 24 hours." You might want to revise it to, "Item ships within 3 business days." You may very well ship every day, but life gets busy, unexpected things happen, and from time to time you won't be able to keep that promise. Your customer would rather be pleasantly surprised when his order arrives early, rather than be disappointed that is does not arrive when expected.
Use the 5 Whys to explore the cause and effect of "underpromise overdeliver" as related to your customers. (The 5 Whys is a method used to get to the root of a problem - you ask why 5 times.)
Example:
1st Why: Why did my customer leave negative feedback? Because he was mad didn't receive his item as quickly as promised and it was a gift for someone. It didn't get there on time.
2nd Why: Why didn't he receive his item as quickly as promised? Because I was too busy to ship his order in the time promised.
3rd Why: Why were you too busy to ship his order? Because I have too much to do and can't keep up with all my shipping.
4th Why: Why can't you keep up with your shipping? Because I am trying to be competitive and offer shipping within 24 hours on all orders.
5th Why? Why are you trying to ship everything within 24 hours? Because it sounded like a good idea at the time.
So, good ideas can backfire. Better to underpromise and overdeliver than to have an upset or disappointed customer who is going to leave a negative feedback.
Rise to the Top of eBay's Best Match - Powerful Tips!
eBay recently changed its default for results on Best Match. 80% of buyers NEVER change how search results are displayed. You want to be at the top of these search results to catch the "lazy" buyers who aren't going to change the search result order, and get the clicks.
Watch this 10-minute video about how to optimize your listing in eBay's Best Match Results. A summary:
1) Your listing's title is much more important than ever - certain words result in more clicks.
2) Learn how to use eBay Research Labs (FREE) to optimize key words in your title and strategically use all 55 characters in your item title.
3) Learn how to determine what words "buyers like" when they search for a particular product.
This video is well worth watching, and only takes 10 minutes.
May 19 was a big day for eBay sellers. Not necessarily a good one. The new feedback system was implemented - sellers can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. I've already been slammed.
I offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on everything I sell. Granted, sometimes I eat the cost of an item, but that is the cost of doing business. I received an email from a customer who was not happy with her item. I admit, I made an error fulfilling her order. I was wrong, I new I had made a mistake, and I quickly issued a full refund for her items. This refund cost me $40.
After I refunded her money, she left me a negative that she was disappointed that I didn't refund her money AND give her a free replacement product. She never mentioned that she wanted a replacement - only that she wanted a refund. The kicker here is that she has only been a registered user on eBay for 4 months, and has a FB score of 4. Obviously a newbie.
As a seller, I feel very vulnerable, powerless, and taken advantage of with this new system. I did my best (and paid $40 out of my pocket) to please this customer, to stand by my 100% satisfaction guarantee, and to make things right for her. She slammed me with a neg, and all I can do at this point is leave a comment under her neg, which I did. My comment, "Refunded customer full amount as soon as aware of error - our apologies for inconvenience."
How is the new system working for you? What can we do as sellers to deal with unfair negatives like this one? Suggestions? Has this happened to you yet?
Golf, or polo style shirts are a men's wardrobe staple. Men wear them to the office, as casual sportswear, around the house for every day wear, and of course, to play golf. Golf shirts have been the core product in my eBay store since 2003 and I've sold over 10,000 of them.
Check out my new eBook, "The Golf Shirt Bible - How to Profit Selling Golf Shirts on eBay." This 40-page eBook explains all the nuts and bolts of selling men's golf shirts including brand names;, top selling tournament logos, best selling fabrics, colors, and sizes. You'll also learn important details to include in the description and key words to drive more traffic to your auctions.
With summer right around the corner, now is the perfect time to experiment with selling golf shirts in your eBay store.
I'll round out the month of May with some link love to Goofy Auctions. This site is hilarious. Dave, The Goofy Professor, who is also an eBay seller, takes charge of broadcasting the goofiest auctions he can find on eBay. Goofy uctions showcases all the weird, offbeat, and totally bizarre listings on eBay. Most of them are oddly shaped food products. Freaks of nature, if you will. Some listings include:
Find eBay Inventory for Free by Playing the Drugstore Game
One question I see again and again on my eBay groups and forums is, "How can I get my inventory cheaper to increase my profit?" If you are buying new items to sell, one way to save significantly is to learn to use manufacturer's and store coupons, store discounts, rewards programs combined with clearance sales to get your inventory for practically nothing. Granted, this business model takes some time, effort, and planning, but if you're willing to spend the time crafting your strategy, you can make it work.
Here are some excellent sites that explain the various rewards programs and techniques for mastering the Drugstore Game.
Bottom line: Increasing your profit on eBay isn't necessarily about increasing your sales or selling more. It can also be about paying less for what you are already selling.
Need Help With a PayPal Issue? Here is Who to Contact!
I was helping a fellow eBay seller with a Paypal issue this week, and learned about an actual contact person at Paypal who can help with disputes. The information was posted on a thread on the eBay Power Seller's Board. He is also a guest blogger on the eBay Chatter Blog. Also known as "The Dispute Resolution Guy," Colin Rule has helped sellers work through complicated and unfair Paypal disputes.
eBay members involved in the discussion confirm that Colin has helped them and resolved sticky Paypal disputes. You may also want to read thru Colin's posts on the eBay Chatter Blog for some valuable insights into resolving Paypal disputes. And be sure to bookmark his blog, or save this information somewhere in the event you need some Paypal help in the future.
The latest rage in laptop computers has made its way to eBay. The Eee (triple e) notebook computer by ASUS is showing up on eBay for a starting price of $299.00.
If you aren’t familiar with the Eee notebook computer, it is going to revolutionize the way we access the internet. This microcomputer is about the size of a personal DVD player with a 7 inch (diagonal) screen. It is small enough to fit in a briefcase, purse, or even coat pocket – saving travelers time in airports when going thru security check points.
The system operates with a touch pad and is portable, packable, durable, and perfect for travelers or anyone needing internet access on the go. It includes Windows XP Home Edition, 8GB of memory, a webcam, stereo speakers, microphone, Ethernet access, and weighs only 2 pounds. The batteries last for 3 ½ hours before recharging is needed.
The Eee is a Godsend for travelers who just need to check email, check bank accounts, or write a blog post. The price is more than reasonable for all it can do, and the fact that it can be replaced fairly inexpensively (compared to traditional laptop comptuers) if lost or damaged in transit when traveling.
