eBay Tips Newsletter April 2009
1. Message from the Internet Marketing Center Team
Welcome to the Q2 issue of Bidding Frenzy.
Seller beware!
June 15 is the deadline for adopting eBay's latest raft of changes, announced earlier this month.
Yes, eBay is tweaking like mad, and you're going to have to spend time getting used to new formats or policies for:
- Item Page
- Good 'Til Canceled listings
- Dispute process
- eBay Stores
- Fixed Price listings
- Search (here's a link for customizing your search)
Which is where our Advanced eBay Mentoring Team comes in. They're in the marketplace every day. They help sellers build or improve their eBay businesses, but also run their own businesses.
The mentors have been trying out all the new formats to see what's useful and what's not, and to find work-arounds so sellers can find features that seem to have disappeared from sight (like the About Me link on the Item page!).
Despite all the changes, though, the mentors report that their clients are making tons of money. It's all a matter of responding to eBay's changes!
This issue will show you what to watch out for before the June 15 switchover.
And there's some fun stuff too. We'll show you how to easily add video to your listings to give them an exciting extra dimension... AND attract the search engines as well so they can send off-eBay traffic to your listings.
2. Sneaky changes to eBay search
After eBay introduced the Best Match criteria for search last year, sellers had to shift focus to pay attention to DSRs, shipping, competitiveness, accuracy, and buyer satisfaction in general. The time the listing ended was no longer the main criterion for where your product showed in the listings.
Since then, though, eBay has made a couple of changes to its search algorithm... but it's kept these changes pretty quiet. Seeing they can affect how you do business, we figured you should know...
"Time Ending Soonest" is BACK for auctions!
Our mentoring team has noticed that Time Ending Soonest has recently become more of a factor in auction listings.
Your DSRs still weigh heavily on how the listings will be displayed but, all else being equal, your product is pretty much guaranteed to show near the top of the listings for at least a few minutes right near the end of your auction... just like the old days!
It also means that you can go back to a favorite old auction trick -- scheduling your auction to end a few minutes before your competitor's auction for the same thing. Impatient bidders will choose yours instead.
"Recent Sales" is the new magic ingredient for Fixed Price listings
Time Ending Soonest doesn't factor into the Fixed Price search. So if you're listing this way, you're going to need to boost your Recent Sales figures to creep up those searches. A good Recent Sales score is the thing that's going to set you apart from your competition
You need to remember, though, that Recent Sales only count from the last 30 days, so you have to consistently sell for Fixed Price listings to do well.
How can you do this, then? eBay suggests you do the following to improve your Recent Sales:
- List your multi-quantity inventory in Fixed Price with 30-day duration so there's time to build up recent sales.
- If you use the "Good 'Til Cancelled" option your listing will automatically renew (for a fee) every 30 days. Recent Sales will be carried over.
- If your multi-quantity listing sells out or expires, don't create a new listing -- just add inventory and "relist." Recent Sales will be carried over.
- When you relist or revise a listing, don't change the title, item condition, or category, or increase the price. Any of these actions will "reset" the item's Recent Sales.
Well, consider selling your products under an auction listing to begin with.
You'll get the sales exposure you need from being at the top of the search through Time Ending Soonest. The Recent Sales points you'll accumulate will transfer across when you switch over to a Fixed Price listing as long as you don't change the title or main content of the listing .
To keep your new item near the top of the searches, use 3-day auction listings instead of the longer ones until you've build up some sales.
eBay also suggests paying for a Featured First listing upgrade to jumpstart your sales.
You can read more about eBay search here.
As with all things eBay, it's important to remain informed about what's going on so you can be ahead of the curve (and your competition!) when it comes to making the most of this marketplace.
That's why our eBay experts are continuously feeding us the tricks, tips, and strategies they've developed for succeeding on eBay... so we can pass them on to you as they happen. For more in depth information, you may also want to keep an eye out for our entirely updated online version of The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay course, which is due to be released in May 2009.
3. Featured Article: How to embed video in your listings
No need to be a technophobe about adding video to your product descriptions. Advanced eBay Mentor Carson Clark shows you how in this short... um... video.
Why add video?
So now that you know how to include video in your eBay listings, why would you want to?
Video can beef up your listing description in many ways by showing:
- how to use your item
- how to install your item
- different ways your item can be used
- different angles of the item
- condition of the item
- how item moves or sounds
There's no rule against having video on your About Me page either.
You could make a short video introducing yourself and talking about the lengths you'll go to to make each customer happy and explaining your shipping policies. You could invite people to sign up for your mailing list. You could even put the link to your off-eBay website prominently beside or under the video!
The thing is, video is a magnet for eyeballs. People who will just skim your copy will hang on to every word of your video.
Videos also attract the search engines like Google and Yahoo. When you upload your video to an eBay-approved video site (click on "Some Examples"), add keyword "tags" so the search engines will find your video when people search on those keywords.
If you're going to be using the video for a long time, it's also worthwhile to submit a transcript to your video host, if possible. Make sure your transcript contains the same keywords you've tagged your video with, and you'll get extra notice from the search engines... and that means extra traffic to your listing!
How to create video that will capture both viewers and search engines
As easy as it is to shoot a video on your cell phone, you should plan out each video you want to include in your eBay listings. Each video has a job to do, after all, and your videos will be far more effective if you think before you shoot.
- Decide the purpose of your video
Remember, an online video has to be short. Some of the best videos are no more than 30 seconds long, although the average is 2.7 minutes
An online video has to be focused. If your product is unique, you'll want to demonstrate the benefits of owning it. If it's an antique you'll probably want to prove its authenticity and show its condition. If it's common and you have lots of competition, you might concentrate on showing why someone would benefit from buying from you.
It's important to keep this single purpose in mind at all times when you create your video so you maintain focus. You can always make another video for the same listing rather than bombarding your visitors with too much information in one video.
- Base your video on a single keyword phrase
To get targeted traffic from the search engines, you'll want to build your video around a single keyword phrase, then include a few synonyms, as well as your product-specifics, e.g., model name and number, color, size, etc.
People searching on the Internet aren't as product-focused as those searching on eBay, so the keyword phrase you base your video on would be a bit less product-specific than what you'd use on eBay.
If you were the person looking for the item you're selling, what words would you type into the Google search bar? What problem does your item solve? Come up with a couple of phrases and Google them.
Then look at the bottom of the page. In blue you'll see more keyword suggestions. These are terms people have used to refine their searches after entering your keyword phrase.
That's an easy way to do keyword research if you're not already familiar with research tools like Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker. Once you've found a keyword phrase, use it in the title of your video, and use it several times in the script for your audio. - Pay attention to quality
Your video doesn't have to be TV quality, but it shouldn't be painful to watch either. So here are a few tips:
Storyboard your ideas. Each frame of your video can tell part of the story. Make quick illustrations or notes of each point you want to raise, or action you want to take. This will help you visualize what you'll end up shooting and give you a clear vision of how well your message is coming across, as well as making it easier to cut it all together when you edit.
Properly light your subject. This is easier if you are outside and using natural light. If you're inside, try reflecting a couple of light sources with a simple white sheet of card to eliminate sharp shadows. Keep the background neutral so it doesn't steal attention from your item.
Get quality sound. Film in a quiet spot with no echoes, and properly mic your subject. A small space with lots of soft surfaces will give you the best sound. Listen to the output and experiment with the position of the microphone until you're happy with the sound quality.
Practice your delivery. Painful as it is, watch yourself after you've shot your video... and get someone else to watch too. If you're not happy, or if they gently try to tell you to give it another go, do it again. You want to sound natural and relaxed, not stilted or over the top.
Edit. There are a number of editing options available. Windows Media includes a very basic editing tool. If you own a Mac, iMovie is included in your iLife package and is a great choice. You can edit out mistakes and cut for length, then use the editing program to put in fades so your edits don't look jumpy. - Upload. Each video site will give you its own instructions for uploading. If you can submit the script as well, you'll give the search engines more of the keywords they love so much. YouTube has a Closed Captioning option you can use for this.
Include the same keywords in the listing description or About Me page where you're embedding the video, so when people land there they know you've got what they're looking for.
4. Top selling assist eBay tool soon to be FREE
Selling Manager Basic will be free to all sellers as of June 15. It's a sales tool that can manage your listings, send bulk feedback, and print shipping labels and invoices in bulk.
That's a saving of $4.99 a month, and Selling Manager will keep all its current functions.
Where eBay will be making its money, it seems, is add-on applications that'll be available later on this year on a paid subscription basis. These applications will be for things like assisting you with your research, customer support, and shipping, and you'll be able to try them out for free.
When they come on stream, you'll find the applications under the Selling Manager "Application" tab.
eBay will continue to charge for Selling Manager Pro, which has more features. It currently costs $15.99 a month for regular sellers and those with a Basic Store, but it's free to Premium and Anchored Store subscribers.
Even if you don't get it free, our Advanced eBay Mentoring Team recommends spending the $15.99 for Selling Manager Pro if you're selling in any volume. They've found the extra features worthwhile for the cost:
- Automatically list and relist items
- Buyer auto notification; payment received, item shipped
- Auto feedback upon buyer payment
- Restock alerts
5. eBay introduces Smart FAQs
eBay has announced that it's introducing a system where it gathers information from your listings to automatically answer the top 20 questions most asked.
These Smart FAQs essentially bridge the gap between sellers who have FAQs set up already and those who haven't. By providing the service automatically, eBay intends to speed up the bidding and buying process and improve the buyer experience.
What this means is that every seller now automatically has answers to the top 20 most asked eBay questions, not just the sellers who have gone to the trouble of setting up their own FAQs.
It's always a good idea to make sure eBay's systems are working properly for you, so go to My eBay > My Account > Seller Preferences > FAQ to look through your Smart FAQ options. You can:
- Turn on (or off) an FAQ function for each item you're selling
- Turn on (or off) the eBay Smart FAQ function for each item you're selling
- Make modifications to the FAQs -- or add your own -- to personalize them
- Choose how the Smart FAQs will work. You can:
- Direct buyers to the "Ask a Question" email form if you want to answer each email personally -- Recommended if you want to maintain a very personal connection with your audience, no matter how obvious their questions may seem, and you have the time to spend emailing buyers.
- Send queries to a Smart FAQ page to look for their answer, then click "Contact Seller" to send you an email -- Perfect for sellers with a high volume of traffic who can't answer every single question personally, but are happy to correspond with someone who can't find the answer they're looking for.
- Send buyers to a Smart FAQ page where only existing customers can email you directly through the "Contact Seller" link -- Not recommended as you'll probably lose potential customers if they feel they can't ask you important questions personally.
- If you're a PowerSeller or if you already use FAQs, then your Smart FAQs are already turned on.
- You need to keep your item, shipping and transactional information up to date so eBay is always drawing the correct info for viewers.
- If you don't think the eBay Smart FAQs are representing your items properly, you can modify them or opt to use Hosted Support's FAQ Management System instead (which charges a fee).
Check out eBay's announcement about Smart FAQs if you have more questions about the new process.
6. One 35-cent listing -- 120 product variations
Multi-variation Fixed Price Listings will be introduced on June 15. If you sell the same item in different sizes, colors, and even prices, you'll be able to sell up to 120 variations in one listing.
And if you use a Good 'Til Canceled listing, you can list the whole bunch at a mere 35 cents.
The new listing format is available in both Fixed Price and Store Inventory, and it will save sellers a lot of money, as well as the effort that goes into creating a listing for each size or color of an item.
So what constitutes a single item with variations? Here's eBay's example...
... A single brand of a single product in different colors and sizes, with varying prices according to size.
Other possibilities might be sleeve length, neck style, or fabric. It would even be acceptable to have women's, men's, and children's sizes. As long as the possible combinations didn't add up to more than 120 you're okay.
But eBay says that you can't use this format for unlike items, for instance a tee-shirt and a dress shirt. According to their Multi-variable Fixed Price Listing FAQ, the rule of thumb is "...the item description should only require very minor changes if variations were to be added or removed. If whole paragraphs would change in that case, then the different items shouldn't be combined."
Advantages:
- Save time creating separate listings for different variations of the same product.
- Save money paying for those separate listings.
- Give shoppers a more seamless buying experience like that at other shopping sites.
Disadvantages:
- With only one listing, you'll lose the exposure you can get in the search engines from having multiple eBay listings for the same product, and therefore you'll see less traffic from off-eBay.
- When you create a new MVFPL, you lose the Recent Sales attributed to your previous listings for the same products -- and Recent Sales is one of the factors that determine where your listing shows up in eBay's search results.
Multi-variation Fixed Price listings start in the Men's and Women's Shoes category on June 15. In July they'll be extended to Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, and some Home & Garden categories. You can learn more here.
7. eBay's new shipping labels and tracking option
If you've been using PayPal's shipping label service, soon it will be even easier to fast-track your mail by purchasing and printing labels directly through eBay. You pay for the shipping through your PayPal account.
Once the service is available to you (it's being rolled out gradually and only in the US for now), go to My eBay and:
- Choose the "Items I've Sold" view.
- Click each item you'd like to ship, then select "Print Shipping Labels."
- Choose the USPS service options you'd like to use.
- Enter the package weight, verify that the "Ship From" and "Ship To" information is correct, then click "Print."
The process saves time and money (in the form of discounts). And perhaps the best part is that an email is automatically sent to both you and the buyer that details how to track the package.
Keeping the buyer informed like this not only stops a barrage of questions, but can improve your Shipping DSR scores!
Other things to note about the new process include:
- At the moment, the labels are only for USPS, not UPS (you can still do this through PayPal's label printing).
- You can print international labels, complete with all the necessary customs information you would normally include at the post office. You can also choose flat-rate box options, and even order free USPS carrier pick ups (as long as you are shipping at least one Priority Mail or Express Mail package).
- You'll have to continue using the PayPal printing solution if you want to print labels for multi-order shipping, as this isn't available on eBay yet.
- And in case you're worried about printing from your sometimes-unreliable printer... you can reprint a label within 24 hours if something goes wrong.
8. Call eBay for 24-hour help (no kidding)
Really? Twenty-four hour help by phone??
That's right. With absolutely no fanfare it's now available. Click "Contact Us" (near top right of most pages)...
Then you'll be asked to sign in. Next, click "Call Us"...
You'll get a PIN that expires in only one hour, and you'll be given the phone number to call. So before you start the process, make sure you've listed the questions you want to ask.
With everything that's going on now, you'll probably have a few!
9. The new View Item page... with a couple of kinks
The View Item page is undergoing a redesign and everyone's invited to try it out.
If you see this at the top of a View Item page...
... you can switch the page over and see the page in the new format.
The basic difference is that eBay is separating the information it supplies on the page from the information you supply by putting the seller's unique information (like item description) in iFrames. That means your description might have scroll bars. It could also mean that parts of your description might need to be changed. You can read more about the requirements here.
There are a few things to watch out for as you switch over to the new format.
About Me link -- missing in action!
The friendly little "me" link that invites visitors to your About Me page is gone from the new item page.
Considering this is the place
where people were most likely to click on it to find out more about you as a seller, this omission could be a disaster.
Your About Me page is the place where you can collect opt-ins, build credibility, link to your website... and generally apply marketing techniques that will help you build your business, rather than relying on one listing-one sale.
However, there's nothing stopping you from adding your own About Me link to your item description.
When you're writing up your Item Description, switch to the HTML view (you can see how in the video in our featured article). Decide where you want to place your link and add this code:
<a href= http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=YOUR-EBAY-ID" target="_blank">Type your anchor text here.</a>
Your anchor text is what people click on to link. It should say something like "Visit my About Me Page!" You can also use an image instead of anchor text to link to your page. In that case, use this code:
<a href= http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=YOUREBAYID" target="_blank"><img src=" http://www.IMAGEHOST.com/IMAGENAME.jpg" border="0" width="XX" /></a>
Note that these links should be target="_blank" so they'll show up in a new window. Otherwise they won't work.
On a recent discussion board an eBay moderator took note that people were complaining about the missing "Me" and said he would suggest that it be reinstated.
But it never hurts to be prepared.
Big pictures coming
A zoom feature will be added soon which will give viewers a supersized view of your photo when they roll over it. That means you'll want to start sizing your photos to 1000 pixels or larger for good quality blow-ups.
More on this in our July issue.
Tabs
It's common Internet Marketing wisdom that for every time you make people click to get somewhere, you lose about 30% of your audience.
So eBay's added tabs, requiring people to click to see your Shipping and Payments and click again to see your Related Items and Services.
Sigh.
Maybe eBay shoppers are a bit more determined to buy than regular Web shoppers, but they ALREADY ignore S&H information and then complain when sellers do exactly what they say they'll do.
So even though viewers will see brief information on Shipping, Payments, and Returns "above the fold" in the redesigned top frame of the listing page, we still recommend that you include a concise blurb about your shipping and handling policies in your Item Description.
Click here for pictures of the new pages and details about what you need to do to make them work for you.
10. Deadline extended for updating your handling times and returns policies
Last year eBay announced that all items being sold are now required to show handling times for shipping (how quickly the buyer can expect their parcel), and the seller's returns policy.
Like many of the other eBay rules, it's there to give as much information to the buyer as possible, so they don't get annoyed with the buying experience, give up, and go somewhere else.
The deadline for making sure your existing listings show these features is June 15, 2009. Good 'Til Canceled items have until mid-September to show the changes.
You can revise your listings by:
- editing each one manually; or
- using tools like eBay's Seller Manager or Turbo Lister to bulk edit (Turbo Lister is free, and the Seller Manager will be free from June 15, 2009)
Categories exempt from stating a handling time are: Real Estate, Specialty Services, and all Motors listings (including both Vehicles and Parts and Accessories).
Listing formats exempt from the handling time are: Real Estate Ad Format, Half.com listings, Classified Ads.
Otherwise, you only have a couple of months, so it's time to revise your listings!
11. New dispute-resolution process: will sellers get their say?
eBay is calling it a "new, more efficient dispute resolution process for when buyers claim an item was not received or the item they received was different than described in the listing."
Buyers -- and later, sellers -- with issues that haven't be resolved will eventually go through eBay.com rather than PayPal. eBay says this process will allow it to keep better records of buyer and seller abuse. It also means that the dispute system will work regardless of the method of payment (not that there's that much choice anyway).
At the moment it works like this:
- buyer who has not received item or satisfaction from buyer phones eBay or uses web form within 45 days of paying for item
- Customer Support rep reviews case and might or might not contact seller
- seller will be required to provide proof that item was received in good shape or refund the money
- if seller has not done so in five days, eBay will refund the money, then either recover the refund from the seller, or, in some cases cover the refund itself.
How's it going so far?
Word on various discussion boards is that refunds are often given right there and then when a complaint is made. In some cases buyers have been refunded the money AND told to keep the item, and sellers have not consistently been contacted. So it's definitely quicker, and much more like the retail model, if you're the one complaining. But if you're a smaller seller it's still a headache.
It's early days yet, and eBay already has set out pretty comprehensive criteria for when to refund money or contact the seller. You can read here in their FAQs.
The new process is in the experimental stage right now, but eBay plans to have it in place by the holiday season of this year. Until then, disputes can go through either eBay.com or the PayPal resolution center.
12. Final thoughts
Thanks for taking the time to read this issue of the Bidding Frenzy newsletter and as always, we wish you continued success on eBay.
We love getting comments and questions from our readers, and we read every one! If you have any questions or comments about this issue, or want to suggest topics for future issues, please email us at:
ebaynewsletter@marketingtips.com
Until July, happy eBaying!
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