eBay Tips Newsletter November 2009
HAPPY THANKSGIVING... AND WARM WISHES FOR YOUR BEST HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON EVER! 1. Why eBay's recent search outage is GREAT news for you  If you were on eBay last Saturday Nov. 21st, you might have discovered to your horror that your keyword searches were yielding no results! According to eBay, the unprecedented outage was caused by an unexpected surge in listings. As of Saturday, there were 200 million listings on eBay, which is a 33% increase from this time last year. eBay has announced that they will be refunding listing fees to sellers who missed out on sales due to the search outage. They'll also remove negative and neutral feedback that resulted, so if you felt any consequences, you should already have received a message from eBay. It seems crazy that eBay could be knocked out by the huge number of listings. But on the other hand, it means the activity on eBay is ramping up in preparation for a tremendous eBays holiday season. Even though we're in a recession -- because of the recession in fact! -- more people are shopping online than ever before. In fact, according to Forrester Research, online retail sales are supposed to reach $44.7 billion this holiday season, which is 8% more than what shoppers spent last year. But the question you've got to ask is, "WHY are so many people turning to the Internet for their holiday shopping needs?" Well, in our current economic situation, it should come as no surprise that what people are looking for this season is really great deals. ... And where's the first place that pops into most people's minds when they think of "great deals online?" You guessed it: eBay. In this issue's feature article we are going to share three hot tips on how you can capitalize on the expected surge of traffic that will be heading to eBay in the weeks to come. Make sure you read this article and implement as many of those tips as you can! This holiday shopping season is when you stand to make the most sales you'll get all year -- so the time to prep your eBay business to guarantee you make serious profits is RIGHT NOW. 2. Three tips to maximize profits during eBay's busiest season  We're standing at the edge of what is shaping up to be the busiest holiday shopping season the Internet has ever seen.
So, for some great ideas on how you can take advantage of this huge surge of shopping traffic to eBay over the next few weeks, we turned to our in-house eBay expert, Carson Clark. Here are his tips on how to make sure you earn maximum profits. 1. Make sure your listings are primed for the sale "Look for your listings that aren't selling -- and fix them now!" Carson advises. In the coming month, your listings stand to be seen by more people than ever before. So not only should you try to get as many listings up as possible, you also need to make sure they are in top condition and have been written and designed specifically to generate maximum sales. Put aside a few hours to go over your listings, paying special attention to the following:
2. Offer shoppers the bargains they're looking for Why is the online shopping world seeing a boost in sales while the offline retail world is still in a downward spiral? It's because people are turning to the Internet for great bargains this holiday season. So if you want to convert these shoppers into devoted buyers then you have to give them the deals they're looking for. Here are some ways you can do this:
Now is the time to get in touch with your previous customers and remind them you exist! These people are highly targeted visitors. After all, they've already bought from you once -- chances are good they'll do so again, especially if you give them some added incentive. If you haven't been actively building an email list (which is something you should start doing, STAT), don't worry! Carson shared a nifty little trick with us that will help you build a mailing list in just minutes! "Just go to your PayPal account and click on your 'History' link," he says. "That will show you every single email address of anyone who has ever bought something from you." There you have it -- an instant email list! HOWEVER, Carson points out that you can't just spam the people on this list with a message saying, "Come see my listings." That goes against the CAN-SPAM act. What you can do is send all your previous customers a special holiday message thanking them for their patronage and wishing them the best of the season. If you make the holiday greeting the main thrust of the email, then you can include a subtle link at the bottom suggesting they check out your current listings "as they make wonderful holiday gifts."  Another thing you can do with an email like this is encourage people to add you to their "Favorite Sellers" list. Make it easy for them by including the link right in your email. All you have to do is go to one of your listings and click on your link under "Seller Info" in the upper right corner. On your "My World" page, underneath your profile picture in the upper left corner, there's an "Add to favorite sellers" link. Copy that link and paste it right into your email -- and your previous customers can easily add you to their Favorite Sellers list. ... And once that happens, you can freely email them with new listings and store updates whenever you want! (Just don't overdo it, though, or you might find yourself kicked to the curb.) eBay offers you lots of great tools to send professional-looking messages that are sure to impress. Check out the great email templates available through your "Manage My Store" links and your "Marketing Dashboard." There you'll find all the tools you need to make a great, seasonally-themed email that will wow your past customers and encourage them to see what's new in your eBay store. As Carson points out, please remember that Christmas isn't the only holiday being celebrated in the next month or so. There's also Hanukkah, which starts on December 10th. And of course, there's also Kwaanzaa, which occurs on December 26th. The more people you include in your holiday message, the more people will reward you for it in the form of sales. So those are our tips to help you make maximum sales this holiday season. Try to implement them as quickly as possible so you can make great profits and ring in the New Year right! 3. Mark December 4th on your calendar! Attention, everyone who bought the 2009 version of Insider Secrets to Making Money on eBay! On December 4th, our in-house eBay genius, Carson Clark, will conduct an exclusive webinar called "How to Master the New eBay" -- and you need to join in. In the webinar, Carson will discuss all the recent changes to the eBay landscape and reveal what you have to do to make great money in eBay right now. And if you're brand new to eBay, you'll discover how to set up your eBay business the right way so you can start generating huge profits in record time. And best of all, you can watch as he takes you through the steps! Carson will show you...
HOWEVER: this exclusive webinar is available only to people who have bought our Insider Secrets to Making Money on eBay course in 2009. So if you have been thinking about getting hold of our popular eBay success manual, now's the time to do it. Simply click here to claim your copy now -- and we'll talk to you on Dec. 4th!
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