Richard Ambrose leaves eBay for new challenges
July 1, 2009
Richard Ambrose is leaving eBay after six years with the company.
As Director of Trust and Safety for eBay UK, Richard was the media face of eBay, appearing on TV and radio to talk about the company and to defend sellers and the ways they make money online.
With over 1000 feedback (and no negs!) Richard knows eBay inside out. He was a valued and valuable member of the community, spending his own time on boards and forums talking to buyers and sellers and taking their concerns back to eBay’s internal teams. We’ll miss his wisdom, his advice, and his no-messing style.
Richard will be traveling and freelance-writing, with trips planned to Greenland and the US. We’re looking forward to reading about his adventures, and wish him the very best of luck.
eBay confirms refunds for Michael Jackson tickets
June 27, 2009
eBay have announced today that they will be extending the terms of the Buyer Protection Programme to cover all buyers of Michael Jackson tickets. The statement, made in eBay’s press centre rather than the more widely read Announcement Board, says “eBay is committed to ensuring that no buyer is left out of pocket as a result of the unique nature of the event, and will ensure all buyers on the site can receive a full refund for their ticket purchase.”
Yesterday, eBay advised buyers of Michael Jackson tickets to contact the seller they had bought from. Other secondary tickets sellers, such as Seatwave and Viagogo, said yesterday that they would ensure all buyers receive a refund.
Exact details of eBay’s scheme are unclear and more information is promised next week but it seems likely that eBay buyers of Michael Jackson tickets will not be left out of pocket.
Boomerangs – Easy returns goes live on eBay
June 23, 2009
eBay have enabled Easy Returns on the site to enabling buyers to inform you they wish to send items back for a refund.
A drop down allows buyers to select a reason for the return, although they can if they wish enter a message to the seller to expand upon why they’re returning the item.
The page kicks off with the message “Please use this form to make use of your right of withdrawal according to the Distance Selling regulations” (DSRs), although even eBay advise that the DSRs only apply to fixed price formats and not to purchases won on auctions. There is no option to differentiate between the returns policies for different selling formats.
Although many sellers (including myself) choose to allow returns on auctions as well as it makes good business sense, many do not. The page doesn’t mention that only business sellers are obliged to accept returns and that private sellers are under no obligation to offer exchanges or refunds.
The link to Easy Returns is from the drop down in My eBay and appears for 35 days from the sale of an item. After 35 days the buyer may still have legal obligations to offer returns but the buyer will have to contact the seller directly.
I’m wondering how long eBay measure returns for before they start to impose limits which can affect your account status. Possibly in the future if the number of requests for returns exceeds a certain amount it could affect Buyer Satisfaction Ratings and even Seller Discounts.
Currently eBay have given no indication that returns monitoring will affect your seller account status, but it’s almost certainly a metric that they’ll be measuring over the next few months. Easy Returns have gone live for purchases on eBay UK and eBay Germany, but expect to see them rolled out to other sites around the world in the near future.
Multi-Variation listings now live for shoes
June 16, 2009
If you’re a shoe seller you can now start listing Multi-Variation listings on eBay UK using the Sell Your Item form.
If you create a new listing in a relevant category (currently shoes) the option to change to a Multi-Variation listing will appear and you can start the listing flow. The first thing you’ll need to do is decide on the attributes you wish to use – for shoes suggested options are size and colour. Then after adding item specifics as normal you’ll need to create a SKU code (Stock Keeping Unit) for each variation.
The SKU that you choose will appear as a custom label which isn’t normally visible on eBay listings. You can however view them, while listings are live and post sale, in TurboLister, Selling Manager Pro, and some third party management tools.
Once you have created the variations you’ll then need add pictures and enter the available quantity and price for each option. Once you’ve done this you’ll be returned to the normal listing flow to complete the description and launch your first Multi-Variation listing on eBay.
Creating a Multi-Variation listings isn’t much different to creating a new listing, but you’ll want to know exactly what quantities you have of each variation and images of different colour options before you start listing. It also makes sense to have a gallery image showing all colour options to ensure buyers know they have a choice.
Think carefully about your Multi-Variation listing titles. Don’t include colours or sizes as if you run out of stock of one variation you still want search results to be relevant. Use the variations and item specifics to ensure the different attributes are picked up in search results and keep the title generic to the particular product on sale.
If now you don’t need to include colours and sizes in your titles consider using spare characters to call out services such as “Free post” or “Next day delivery”. It’s a good opportunity to differentiate yourselves from your competition.
It will be interesting to see how quickly sellers start migrating listings to Multi-Variant listings. It should in the long term cut down on inventory management and the number of active listings sellers have to monitor, although it’s yet to be seen how easy it is to pick and pack orders and how the post sales information is presented to sellers.
If you launch any Multi-Variation listings and have any more tips please do add them in comments below.
Are your listings ready for June 15th?
June 8, 2009
Back at the end of March, eBay UK made their announcement about what would be changing for eBay sellers this summer. The new rules and features launch on June 15th, so here’s our checklist: make sure your listings are ready!
Urgent changes
- Mandatory dispatch time: all listings must show a dispatch time.
- Free postage and packing in some categories: if you list in Video Games, Mobile & Home Phones, Consumer Electronics, Computing, Photography or Clothes, Shoes & Accessories, then check the list to see if your sub-category is affected (not all sub-categories are). If so, you must offer free P&P as one option for your domestic postage, though you may choose to charge for an upgraded service. If you’re a non-UK seller listing on eBay UK, this includes you.
- Category changes, which will mostly affect sellers in Clothing, Home & Garden and the Motors’ categories (not an exhaustive list, so check your own cat.s aren’t listed).
Some sub-categories are being done away with and all listings will be moved into the parent category: live listings should move automatically, but make sure you update your listing templates or new listings in vanished categories could (in my experience) end up invisible to buyers. And check your Item Specifics too: previous category changes have seen them wiped out.
New features
It’s not going to be possible to plan for these in advance, because they don’t go live til the 15th/16th, but at least be ready for the cool new stuff when it happens.
- Multi-variation listings: time for a little stock-take, maybe, so you can get all those colour/size variants listed as soon as possible.
- Free pictures in Clothing Shoes and Accessories & Home and Garden. Most business sellers will be using their own hosting, but the advantage with eBay’s is that you get the slideshow at the top. Worth considering.
- Custom item specifics
- Easy returns
- Smart FAQs: have a run through your ASQs – do the same questions come up again and again? If so, that information should probably be on your listings… but Smart FAQs may also be useful to you.
eBay have put out a timetable of when the various changes are supposed to go live on the site: we share their optimism that everything launches smoothly 
IE8 Accelerators, Web Slices and eBay
June 7, 2009
Having been an avid Firefox user for years I’m starting to enjoy using Internet Explorer 8. It’s got a couple of really cute features that are ideal for using with eBay.
IE8 eBay Accelerator
The first is the IE8 eBay Accelerator. This allows you to highlight text on any website, click the Accelerator icon, move your cursor over the eBay icon, and be presented with buying options on eBay.
The example shown is a DVD and instantly I can see a better buying option on eBay without even leaving the site I’m currently browsing. This instant price comparison tool can be used by highlighting any text on any site on the web.
The only disappointment is that the eBay Accelerator is a manual add on to IE8, so limited to users who happen to find and install it.
IE8 eBay Web Slices
The second feature of IE8 (that’s great for monitoring auctions that you’re bidding on, or watching) is Web Slices. Essentially a Web Slice is a small part of a page saved in your browser favourites that you can view without loading the entire page.
In eBay search results, hovering your mouse over a listing (using IE8) gives you the option to add that item to your favourites bar. Once added to your browser there’s a refresh icon so that you can see an instant update of bids on the listing without even viewing the eBay site.
Unlike Accelerators, Web Slices are available for all users to use as soon as they upgrade to IE8.
Have you upgraded to IE8 and are you using either Accelerators or Web Slices yet? Do you use them for eBay or do you have any other favourite sites that they’ve proved useful for?
More details emerge on eBay’s new buyer protection policies
May 29, 2009
More details are emerging on the theory and practice of eBay’s new ‘dispute resolution’ process, and frankly, they are not good news for sellers.
Firstly, we see the process in action. I heard this week from a TameBay reader we’ll call Bob, who bought a mechanical item through eBay which arrived with an important component missing. Bob had checked with the seller before purchase that the part was included, and so was extremely frustrated when the seller failed to put things right. He’d opened a SNAD claim with PayPal, but was contacted by eBay and offered a full refund if he closed the PayPal claim.
I asked Bob what eBay had done to verify his claim. He told me: “I contacted the seller through eBay messages. All contact with him was through eBay messages and I had the impression that eBay customer services had access to all this when I was talking to them. I was asked if I was able to buy a replacement part, but in this case I have been unable to identify the machine maker to source one.”
And what had they asked him to do with the goods? “I still have the machine, and nothing was said about what I should do with it.” This is significantly different to PayPal’s policy, which did require buyers to return the item to the seller.
Changes to eBay UK user agreement
Yesterday, eBay UK announced changes to their user agreement to make allowances for this new procedure.
Under eBay Buyer Protection … there may be instances where a seller doesn’t resolve a claim and we find in favour of the buyer, in which case eBay will pay the buyer and invoice the seller for the transaction amount. Where a seller fails to comply with the eBay Buyer Protection policy, eBay may also remove any special status associated with the account … and/or restrict or suspend the seller’s account.
The threat of negative feedback used to worry eBay sellers, but the threat of losing your money, your goods *and* your seller account under this new policy is a very real one. My advice to sellers in dealing with unhappy buyers has always been “don’t let it get as far as a PayPal dispute”: this now goes double under eBay’s new dispute procedure.
The best advice for sellers now is to be upfront about your own dispute resolution procedures: dispatch emails, packing slips and/or invoices should carry at least your contact details and advice on what to do in case of any problem. And if buyers have a problem, deal with that problem: if someone contacts you with an issue post-sale, don’t fob them off. Most buyers, most of the time, will go to the seller before they go to eBay – make sure you take that chance to put things right.
The new UA is effective from 8th July for existing eBay UK members. If you don’t want to accept it, you can, of course, close your eBay account.
Marks out of 10 for feedback
May 20, 2009
eBay are testing more changes to feedback with new feedback flows to be presented to selected sellers customers over the next four to six weeks in the US. eBay Ink has some screen shots as well as an interview with Brian Burke, eBay Director of Seller Standards & Feedback.
Options could include scrapping the almost universally hated Detailed Seller Ratings (no surprise there – regularly getting 4 stars out of 5 for free shipping pretty much shows they’re not working that well). Coming in with a marks out of 10 score is the simple question “How likely is it you would recommend this seller?”
Click image to embiggen
That, to be honest, is possibly the most important feedback question that could be asked. Forget the fact buyers may have overpaid for postage, returned the item for refund or even had an item go missing or damaged in transit. It’s all about how the seller handles their customers and did they leave the customer happy enough to recommend them to others.
Having said that just how many more changes to feedback will there be? DSRs have come and they may well go, for selected sellers if not for all. DSRs are a pain for buyers to complete, especially for multiple purchases and some sellers still feel victimised that they can’t leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers if they feel it appropriate.
The good news is that regardless of the test results there are no feedback changes planned for this year. Tests normally result in changes though, so what sort of feedback changes would you like to see? Do you want to be ranked out of 10, have you grown to like DSRs, or is there another feedback option that you’d prefer?
Court tells L’Oreal: eBay isn’t responsible for fakes
May 13, 2009
A French court has ruled that eBay is not liable for counterfeit L’Oreal products sold on the site, mirroring a Belgian court’s decision last August.
L’Oreal sued eBay in four countries, but this is a major win in France for eBay, having been fined €38.6million in a similar case against LVMH group and €20,000 against Hermes.
eBay do enough by “putting in place means to fight counterfeits on its online platform, has fulfilled its obligation in good- faith” and the judge went on to say “The court considers that preventing counterfeits will only be effective through a close collaboration between rights holders and eBay”
I guess it’s time for L’Oreal to sit down with eBay and work out how to allow their products to be sold on the site whilst getting to grips with the VeRO program to remove counterfeit products whilst leaving genuine items available for sale.
Edited to add…
“This is a clear legal victory for eBay and an important victory for consumers. We are delighted that eBay’s meaningful efforts to fight counterfeits online have been recognised by the court. Today, 99% of all items listed on eBay are genuine products and we continue to work hard to ensure eBay is a safe and trusted place to shop.
We are also delighted that our status as an internet hosting provider has been acknowledged, and we welcome the invitation to resolve the outstanding matters in an amicable way; we have always believed that cooperation is the best way to fight counterfeits. Ongoing dialogue and collaboration, rather than litigation, is the only way to effectively identify and remove any counterfeit items which do appear on our site.”
- Richard Ambrose, Head of Trust and Safety for eBay UK and Ireland
Did you spend your £50 on AdCommerce?
May 9, 2009
So the AdCommerce promotion is pretty much over, but the big question is was it successful for you (if you were one of those who got a £50 free trial) and will you be continuing to use Adcommerce in the future?
Already the placement of Adcommerce has slipped on eBay, it’s now below the listings, below the Sponsored (off site) links and appears below the page navigation as “Sponsored Results”. It’s not exactly the most prominent position on the page and I would have thought it better to offer adverts keeping buyers on eBay before adverts sending them off to third party ecommerce sites.
Will I be using Adcommerce again? Probably not. In an attempt to learn how it works (and to blow through my free £50) I achieved just over 50,000 impressions with a miserly 26 clicks costing £4.82.
The cost isn’t the issue (especially as it was free), it’s the lack of clicks and the lack of conversion data. If I could be sure a reasonable percentage of the 26 clicks resulted in a sale it would be worthwhile continuing. If Adcommerce received more clicks that resulted in shop traffic it might be worth continuing. Currently though I see little or no benefit whatsoever.
Other sellers may have had more success, I’m guessing that for products where buyers browse, click through rates would be significantly higher than for computer products where a buyer pretty much knows what they want already.
One of my biggest problems was only being able to advertise keywords in relevant categories and if I had the product available buyers would always see my eBay listing higher up the page then the Adcommerce advert at the bottom. If I could have spammed other categories results may have been better.
I’d be really interested to hear other people’s results – did you receive a reasonable number of clicks? Did you see any uplift in visitors to your shop or in sales which you can attribute to Adcommerce? And possibly most interesting of all did you manage to spend all of your £50 voucher?
Isn’t it about time buyers got some privacy?
May 6, 2009
eBay UK announced today that winning auction bidders will have their IDs hidden after the end of the auction as well as during it. Sellers will of course be able to see their winner, and the anonmymised bid history page giving limited details of buyer activity over the last 30 days will be visible to all members. This brings eBay UK into line with other global eBay sites. eBay cite research from 2007 which showed that their making bidder IDs anonymous led to a 90% reduction in fake second chance offers.
No doubt those who think that shill bidding is still eBay’s biggest ever problem won’t like this. We’ve rehearsed those arguments often enough round here: those of us on the other side think that stopping people paying out money to receive absolutely nothing at all should be a higher priorty. The twain shall ne’er meet. But what’s really bugging me about today’s announcement is this sentence:
Feedback pages will show the same information as now – buyers and seller IDs, with comments visible to all.
Comments – and item numbers. If I want to see what you’ve bought on eBay, I can.
I seem to be saying this a lot recently, but eBay is the only ecommerce site where this happens. It’s the only ecommerce site with a “search by bidder” list – which also shows Buy It Now purchases, and means that I can go stalk you, check out what you’ve bought me for Christmas and how much you paid for it. It means that my mother can see the risque underwear I bought, my Labour-supporting friends can see I got Margaret Thatcher’s autobiography, my nephews can see what they’re getting for their birthdays, my partner can see that my shoe and camera lens collections have been augmented *again*… a whole bunch of people can see a whole bunch of stuff that is frankly none of their business.
There are ways to make all this more difficult: sellers can make their listings private, which means that buyer IDs don’t show up on individual listings. Buyers can make their feedback private: though if you search by bidder, though, you can still see what they’ve bought. And of course, you can always get a buying ID, or a series of secret buying IDs, so that the right things stay private from the right people.
The problem with private listings is that they’re forever tainted with the thought that “something dodgy” is going on. They’re not the norm on eBay, and even when they’re for a buy it now so shill bidding can’t be happening, there’s still that hint in some people’s minds. And really, why should I have to have a series of different IDs, with all the verification hassle that now is? I just want to shop, and I don’t want anyone else – not my sellers, not my family – to be able to nosey at that.
It’s time to dump the ability to track buyers across eBay once and for all. Shopping should not be public domain information. Get rid of search by bidder. Get rid of buyer visibility on BIN items. Get rid of any item number or other transaction record in buyers’ feedback. Make – I’ll say it again – shopping on eBay like shopping on every other ecommerce site out there.
eBay UK’s big announcement: mandatory free P&P expanded, easier returns
April 16, 2009
eBay UK have finally made their biannual announcement of changes affecting sellers for spring 2009. Much of the content is the same as the eBay.com announcement made earlier this week, but there are a few tweaks just for the UK.
Free P&P in lots more categories
As of 15th June, sellers in selected categories in Video Games, Mobile & Home Phones, Consumer Electronics, Computing, Photography, and Clothes, Shoes & Accessories will be required to offer free P&P as their first domestic postage option. Currently, this doesn’t apply to all the subcategories of each of those sections, so do read the full list on eBay’s page; for CSA, for example, only the accessories’ subcategories and clothing & shoe care are included.
eBay are sweetening the pill very slightly by offering a 20% Final Value Fee discount to sellers in those categories; we’d hope to see this made a permanent offer, otherwise eBay will rightly be accused of making extra profit on those included P&P charges.
As with other free P&P categories, sellers will be free to offer other, pay-for shipping options.
“Easier returns”
A new returns process will make it easier for buyers to say they want to return an item, and for sellers to process that return.
- Buyers who pay with PayPal will see a return link (presumably in My eBay) for 35 days after purchase. Note that this is longer than the eBay minimum of 14 days to return an item.
- When a return is requested, sellers will receive an email alert and have the opportunity to accept or reject the return.
- Sellers will be able to set a separate returns address and specify a default message to be shown to buyers returning goods.
- Sellers will be able to refund payment and reclaim FVFs from the same place.
Only items paid for with PayPal will be included in the new returns’ process. We’ll be looking more at returns and the handling of them in the next few days.
eBay Resolutions comes to the UK
eBay UK will have its own version of the eBay Resolutions dispute process revealed on .com earlier in the week. Substantially the same as the current PayPal dispute process, this will roll out over “coming months” and is expected to be available on all transations by Christmas 2009. Intriguingly, eBay UK actually mention that “we will also better monitor and prevent buyer fraud or abuse”, so perhaps those serial lost-in-the-post claimants will be less ready to claim in future.
Variant listings and changes to the choice policy
As announced by Mark Lewis at Catalyst, and as per eBay.com, from 15th June variant listings will be available in the adults’ shoes categories. In “late summer” (Mark said July 15th, so it seems the schedule’s already slipped), the feature will be expanded to selected Clothes, Shoes & Accessories categories, and Home & Garden categories. There’s no mention at all of the rest of eBay in this; I’ve heard roll-out side-wide in 2010 mentioned, but for now, that seems to be just a rumour.
Free photos in Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
CSA sellers will now get free Gallery Plus, Picture Pack, Supersize and additional pictures. With the new view item page pushing seller-generated content further down the page, having more pictures above the fold should be a plus.
A new Copy Web Files tool will make it easier for sellers to import pictures from another web server into eBay Picture Services; scroll to the bottom of this page for the current scanty details. We’ll be watching with interest to see if eBay will just allow the import of any pictures from the internet, or whether they’ll require an FTP connection to the server in question to prove legitimate use.
Smart Answers actually are smart!
There’s more information on how the new Smart FAQs will work; I’m particularly liking the idea that eBay could answer questions for me:
As you’ll have already provided the information about your item to eBay, we use that information to answer your buyers’ questions. This information includes item details, P&P information and transactional details. As long as your item details are up-to-date and accurate, eBay can accurately answer questions for you. For example, if a buyer asks “Do you ship to country X?” we check the shipping destinations provided by you and send the buyer an answer.
As ever, this won’t suit all sellers (you might want to except buyers from your normal requirements, after all) but for some, it will be exceedingly useful.
More product pages
Not quite so extensive through the media categories as on .com, but expect to see product pages expanded in Movies & DVDs, Music, Mobile Phones, Consoles, Digital Cameras and Camcorders.
Category changes
Changes to some subcategories of CSA, H&G and Collectables. More details on these in early May (so much for 60 days’ notice!). The Cars, Parts & Vehicles category will be split into two categories: Vehicles and Parts.
So, good, bad or indifferent? How will the changes affect your business? Leave us a comment.
eBay.com’s big announcement: what’s in it for sellers?
April 14, 2009
eBay.com made its first biannual announcement of 2009 today. This is part of the new strategy to limit disruption to sellers by making two big rafts of changes each year, rather than constant piecemeal adjustments to the platform. The changes are due to take place from 15th June (actual implementation time may, however, be later and in some cases isn’t yet fixed).
There is a lot of detail in the announcement, and I would encourage all sellers to read it for themselves. Here are the highlights, and no doubt more information will be forthcoming over the next few weeks:
Multiple variant listings
Sellers will be able to offer variants of products – for example, shirts in different colours and sizes – within the same listing. It will be possible to vary the price (but not the shipping) for different items in the same listing. This is as announced by Mark Lewis for eBay UK at Catalyst last month.
Multi-variant listings will be available in Mens’ and Womens’ Shoes categories from the week commencing 15th June, and for the rest of Clothing, Shoes and Accessories plus Home and Garden from mid-July. Rollout across all categories is planned, but currently has no implementation date (the rumour I hear is 2010).
Amazonification of product pages
There will be an expansion of product pages: frequently used to group identical items in Music and Electronics (e.g. all the copies of one particular CD), expect to see these in Books, Movies & DVDs, Music, Video Games, Cell Phones, and Tickets, with more categories to follow. More sellers will be chasing the highlighted “value box” at the top right
The new view item page which eBay have been testing for the past year will roll out to “most” buyers by mid-June. “Photo zoom” is coming later this summer, together with an animated countdown timer for auction listings.
Dispute resolution moves from PayPal to eBay
eBay are touting this as a “new dispute resolution process”, but in fact, it looks very much like the old PayPal dispute resolution process, only hosted on eBay instead of PayPal; eBay themselves say that they will “retain substantially the same definitions and policies that PayPal uses to resolve item not received and item not as described disputes”.
Buyers will have the current 45 days to file a non-receipt or SNAD claim with eBay. Exactly how this will differ from filing a claim with PayPal isn’t immediately apparent, except that buyers will be able to file the dispute whatever payment method they have used. Once the claim is filed, buyers “may” be given the option to contact eBay by phone (we’ve heard from some people involved in the testing process that this has been done). The case is then reviewed by an eBay Customer Service rep, who will consider transaction details, buyer and seller track record, shipping information and item location; if the buyer’s claim warrants further investigation, the CS rep will contact the seller. eBay say:
We’ll be taking a more active role, and in certain cases when we determine the seller was not at fault we may refund the buyer at our own expense.
Optimistically, it’s possible that this new process might stop serial non-receipt claimants on eBay. Sellers, though, are going to see it as the loss of yet more control over the transaction, with eBay likely to be just as trigger-happy with refunds as PayPal are.
The new resolution process applies to eBay.com only; there’s no news when or if it might roll out in other countries. The transition process from PayPal disputes to eBay disputes begins Q2 2009 (i.e. now) and the change should be complete before the holiday selling season. I have no doubt that sellers will have a raft of questions about this, so leave us a comment and I’ll do my best to get more info as required.
A year in the wilderness
April 10, 2009
I can’t believe it’s a more than a year since I first spoke to Stuart about his suspension from eBay. You might recall the sorry tale of several thriving eBay accounts suspended in March 2008 because they were associated with a NARUed account belonging to an ex-business partner of Stuart’s. A classic tale of “computer says” no, I caught up with Stuart recently to see how his year off had been treating him, and what he might do if and when his eBay accounts were reinstated.
How difficult was it to get your website going without eBay traffic? what did you do?
At first, I just thought the world had ended as 90% of sales came from eBay. But having no real choice but to get on with it, I picked myself up and started to get all the stock listed on the websites (two at the time). Within less than a week, our gardening site had tripled its turnover. Within a month, we had taken more than the past year’s worth of sales we had done from the site. It just shows what can be achieved when you stop relying on eBay for sales.
I then started to learn about SEO, site design, Google Adwords, newsletters and more. There is so much to learn and it’s always changing and evolving which I love. You can try anything and most of the time, it costs very little. The design and look of the site is very important: photos, graphics, colours all make a massive difference. I have learnt so much it surprises me sometimes when I talk to people just how much I now know.
I also applied to sell on Amazon which gave us an immediate uplift in sales. It was easier to list and sell on Amazon, although the jewellery side of the business its quite expensive at 25% commisson. We find however it’s a great way to gain regular customers for our website as we give each one a discount code for it.
We now have six trading websites and also six blogs as well: these really push customers to the site. We have plans for at least six more and will approch each one better and quicker than the last as we learn more. It does take about six to twelve months to really get them going so we have a sort of production line going to keep the flow of sites running.
How do you find off-eBay trading differs from on-eBay? which do you prefer?
I found off-eBay easier in fact: no stupid emails from customers asking questions about the listings. It’s easier to display what you want on a website, where you want it, in the form you want it. We are always changing the sites as we learn, so if we have customers keeping asking the same questions, we add it the site. For example customers on the gardening site kept asking about delivery charges, so we displayed it in the item listing and they stopped asking.
Trading through a website is much easier than eBay as there is no changing the goal posts all the time. And just look at the amount of traffic directed to your eBay store from eBay: that could be traffic going to your site!
What do you know now that you wish you’d known then?
I know now not to put all my eggs in one basket. It nearly ended our business and our income in one go and I worry just how many other people could get caught out like that and not be able to turn it around.
I also wish I had know just how much money we could take from our websites with no selling fees, for example Jan 09 website trading was five times the sales of Jan 08 on eBay!
How do you advise other eBay traders to ensure against what happened to you? is it possible to prepare for eBay suspension?
Yes I think its possible to prepare for a suspension by having other sales avenues to. eBay is easy just put the product there and they come (I know its not quite that easy but you know what I mean) and it feels like easy money. We never thought this could happen to us so it could happen to anyone. Just think about the amount of time you spend each week on ebay and put half to a full day down to your own site, or another sales avenue like Amazon.
And the $64,000 question – will you be going back when your suspension is lifted?
Well we are in the process of sorting the account suspensions out at the moment; two of them have already been reinstated, and we’re now sorting the rest. If I’m honest I feel left out by not being on there, if nothing else than picking up a bargin for myself. The plan for the business is just to sell a few key lines on there to have a presence for the business, and to hopefully push more traffic to the sites by promoting the brands through eBay. Rather than 90% of our business, it will be more like 10% if that.
Since I talked to Stuart, he’s told me that he’s back trading on eBay. Though I wouldn’t wish a suspension on anyone, I can’t help thinking that eBay did Stuart and his business a huge favour, and that both have grown stronger through becoming so much more self-reliant. I still hear plenty of eBay traders saying that they neither want nor need a website, and I wonder what would happen to them if they were in Stuart’s position? I hope they never have to find out.
Is free post ever free?
April 8, 2009
With the recent incentives to offer free post, it’s more than likely we’ll see eBay expanding the number of categories for which it’s compulsory in the near future.
The one argument sellers often put forward against free post, is that currently they don’t pay fees on postage charges, but that in my opinion is of less importance as a simple fees adjustment is all that’s needed. The question really is how desirable is free post and packing both for buyers and for sellers.
Amazon: The utopia for free shipping
Without a doubt free carriage is a great incentive to add more items to your order. With a tiny order value of just £5.00 to qualify for free Super Saver Delivery on Amazon UK it’s a reality for many buyers already, and that doesn’t include those who’ve paid £47.97 for unlimited next day deliveries with Amazon Prime.
Free postage removes an excuse for buyers not to make a purchase, and knowing that the price you see is the price you pay simplifies the buying decision.
3rd Party Sellers
eBay however is in a different situation to Amazon, who have the advantage of scale. The thousands of smaller merchants who make up eBay’s seller base, simply can’t negotiate the same rates as Amazon from carriers.
Even on Amazon as soon as you start to purchase from 3rd party sellers on Amazon delivery charges start to mount up. For a book the delivery cost is £2.75 per item, and if you’re purchasing rare or used items delivery charges start to stack up.
Multiple items
On of the biggest concern I have with compulsory free postage on eBay is that buyers have a dis-incentive to purchase multiple items from one seller. That includes both adding additional items from the sellers shop and buying multiple quantities from one individual eBay listing.
To give an example I have one particular product line for which the packed weight is 2.5kg. The most cost effective way to ship on a tracked delivery is via courier, however I can combine shipping for up to 12 units (up to 30kg) for the same price.
As soon as I include the cost of shipping in the purchase price of a single item (there’s no such thing as “free” post!), customers who buy more than one unit will pay additional and unnecessary costs. Buyers will end up over paying for shipping and currently there’s no way on eBay to give a discount off the purchase price for multiple items.
99p No Reserve Auctions
eBay was built on their auction business and it’s a fact that 99p NR auctions are still one of the best ways to achieve the best end price on eBay. Offering free post could leave sellers with an item sold at less than what it will cost to ship it and it’s likely many will simply increase their start prices to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
An eBay where the standard start price is £4.99 No Reserve just doesn’t have the same appeal.
Service differentiators
If carriage is included in the item price buyers will have no easy way to distinguish between a £10.00 item which will be delivered in a weeks time via Royal Mail Standard Parcels and an identical item for £14.00 which will be delivered tomorrow by a 24 hour courier.
Both sellers may offer both delivery options but it’s the seller who offers the worst option as standard who will appear to buyers as having the best price.
Sellers including fast and guaranteed delivery services as standard will either simply be priced out of the market or be forced to use the slowest, untracked, cheapest service to compete. That’s not going to be a great buying experience. Even if sellers offer the cheapest possible delivery method with an optional upgrade to next day delivery I suspect many buyers will expect the service but will not opt to pay for an upgraded delivery method.
If eBay force sellers to provide free delivery, unlike Amazon who with Prime guide their most loyal customers to the premium delivery options, the best eBay sellers will be forced to offer the worst possible delivery options in order to compete, or may simply be driven off the site entirely.
What do you want?
As a buyer what’s important to you? Do you prefer a quick and secure delivery or are you happy to wait days or even a week to receive your purchase to save a few pennies? Let us know in comments below
[CA Catalyst] eBay UK: the shape of things to come
March 30, 2009
This afternoon’s keynote speech at ChannelAdvisor Catalyst by Mark Lewis, MD of eBay UK, and his team had some good news for sellers about changes to come this year.
Perhaps best of all was the news of just how changes will be made in the future: Mark acknowledged that last year’s process of constant alterations to site specifications was difficult for sellers to work with. Vowing that eBay UK wants to be a better business partner and easier to work with, he announced that in future, major changes will be made in two “annual releases”, meaning that sellers can make all necessary changes to their listings in one hit. Better still, eBay UK will aim to announce these changes 60 days in advance, so that sellers have plenty of time both to plan for and to implement them.
This year’s annual releases will take place in June and September: it was acknowledged that these are pretty close together, and in future years, it’s hoped to spread things out more evenly. But there are changes eBay want to make this year: June is just about sixty days away, so the announcements need to be made soon, and September was chosen to be well in advance of the holiday shopping season.
Raphael Orta gave us a sneak preview of some of the changes being announced in the first round.
- Multiple variation listings will finally allow sellers to offer a choice of colours, sizes, fits etc. etc. in their listings. Multi-SKU listings have been on the cards for a long time now, and are something that many sellers have asked for time and again.
- Free pictures
- Smart FAQs will build on the FAQs currently available to sellers to display when potential buyers use “ask seller a question”. There will also be the option to turn off questions altogether.
- Easy returns: eBay will introduce a simple way for buyers to notify sellers that they wish to return an item, and to print off a “returns slip” to send back with their item. I’d guess that “easier returns” will worry some sellers, but I suspect that it won’t increase returns rates much, and that any small increase that does happen will be more than made up for in buyer confidence.
- Free shipping: there are currently visibility incentives to offer free P&P (i.e. advantages in Best Match): financial incentives are also to be offered (no indication of just what these might be). Giving sellers a financial incentive to offer free P&P should finally put to bed the old argument that eBay only want it to push FVFs up, and should encourage more sellers to experiment with including shipping in their item price.
Free shipping will also be mandated in more categories this year: there was no official announcement of which categories this might apply to, though I’m hearing a rumour that tech will be one of those affected.
In response to a question on free P&P, Richard Ambrose said that there are no plans to change DSRs for these transations, either to make a “5″ compulsory, or to make the DSR unavailable.
More than the details of the actual changes – which are all pretty sketchy at the moment; a full official announcement is expected in the next few weeks – I have to applaud the sense that’s limiting major eBay changes to just two tranches a year. Last year was a hellish round of constant listing editing for many of us: we can’t and won’t go through that again, and now it seems we don’t have to.
Another way to pay eBay: Adcommerce
March 19, 2009
eBay UK has announced the launch of its new Adcommerce product which allows sellers to buy text links at the bottom of eBay search results using a bidding system mirroring Google’s Adwords.
Clearly part of eBay’s aggressive attempts to monetize the eBay site through the increased use of advertising, sellers (including those with imperfect DSRs) can enjoy enhanced prominence in search and get traffic by buying text advertising.
How does it work? You choose a search term and category you want your ad to appear in, add descriptive text and a picture. You then bid against other advertisers: high bids win. eBay information pages live here.
Traffic can be channelled to a Shop homepage, Feedback page, an item list (such as all your items) or your MyWorld page. One fairly disappointing aspect of the system is the inability to send your text ads to a specific Shop category or Shop search page. Equally, the adverts positioned at the bottom of page aren’t particularly prominent and are certainly less obvious than third-party ads displayed at the top of search results.
Also, as anyone who has had any experience monitoring and optimising a CPC campaign with Google will know, getting the most out of and getting best value from a system such as this can be both time-consuming and complicated. It also begs the question: if you’re going to invest in some search engine marketing, why do it on eBay? It’s only a small leap to take that money to Google and reach out to a bigger audience.
Has anyone tried using the new Adcommerce product? Any perspectives are most welcome. Will you be taking the plunge with Adcommerce?
eBay Analyst Day: Scot Wingo talks to Tamebay
March 12, 2009
Scot Wingo is the CEO of ChannelAdvisor and a veteran ‘eBay watcher’. He was ‘in the room’ for eBay’s presentations in San Jose yesterday. Happily, he’s agreed to answer some questions. (Don’t forget, you can meet Scot at the ChannelAdvisor Catalyst event later in the month)
Q: We’ve heard a lot of what eBay executives presented today before, haven’t we? Was there anything new?
A: There was some new boldness around PayPal. On the eBay marketplace side, the items I noted as new were:
- eBay guaranteeing transactions – there were no details, but it’s an interesting idea and could help with trust on the site.
- Secondary market – eBay rolled out some new terminology that I thought was uniquely eBay (or in other words, I’ve never heard anywhere before). In this secondary market, see the picture, they pointed out the huge liquidation market they can get to now. Well, most people just call it end of life or liquidation so it’s interesting they came up with a fancy new name for this. Also on this chart, it wasn’t said, but I’m left wondering what the big grey bubble is. Is that Amazon? Did they really intend for the Amazon bubble to be bigger than their two bubbles combined?
Q: As a veteran eBay watcher, what are your most significant impressions of the day?
A: They are clearly moving PayPal from the back burner to the front burner and even called it their ‘second core’ business, which is an oxymoron of course. It’s pretty easy to see that the company could very easily transition from a portfolio of companies, to the PayPal company that happens to have a declining marketplace and a telecomm software as pieces that hang on.
The eBay marketplace side was disappointing as they didn’t sign up for a big number there and basically capitulated that they will be down in 09, flat in 10 and up in 11. This business unit does $5b today in revenue and they said it will do $5-7b in 2011. The low end of that range is pretty scary if you are an eBay seller. In essence, eBay could very well be a flat channel over the next three years. Even at the high end of the range, the growth over that period will be materially slower than ecommerce so the message to diversify couldn’t be clearer to me.
While I hope they are successful, I don’t think the changes they highlighted today to the marketplaces business are near fast enough and drastic enough to turn things around. If I were Amazon and watched that today, I would have been cheering that I had three more years before my competitor got really serious about competing.
The one bright spot in the day was the technology talk given by Mark Carges, the new CTO.
Q: You saw eBay’s top talent in action today, are you confident that they’re a team that can successfully lead a company that so many people in the US and Europe depend on?
A: I think the folks that presented are all smart, capable leaders. I’m not in the ‘Fire Donahoe’ camp, for example. I worry when I remember that eBay has 13,000 employees. When I talk to employees at eBay, there are so many layers between the folks at analyst day and the folks at the bottom of the org chart and the messages we heard today don’t make it out to the troops and don’t get executed the way the top folks would like. That’s why I think eBay probably needs some kind of cultural change to really shake things up and enable them to execute faster.
Q: The presentation seemed to be quite ‘US-centric’, is there anything in particular that professional eBay sellers on this side of the pond should be latching on to?
A: I noticed a couple of international datapoints of interest.
- They talked about no listing fees for c2c sellers.
- They showed the PayPal penetration rate in the UK as being second only to North America.
- They are showing advertising growing 2X from 08-11, I’ve been watching eBay.co.uk and you guys look to be enjoying some really vibrant advertising over there. I can’t decide if I like the 2 banners on the front page or the 3-5 sponsored listings BEFORE the eBay listings.
Q: How favourably do you think the Wall St. analysts present received the information?
A: Wall St. analysts tend to be in three camps:
- Perma-bulls – always positive on a company, they will find datapoints that support their case. Most likely they will highlight PayPal, and look at the value of the company’s different pieces to show that it is undervalued even if you assume marketplaces is a train wreck.
- Perma-bears – always negative – there were plenty of datapoints to support a bearish case.
- Middle of the road – Let’s face it with the stock at an 8yr low, it’s not too risky to recommend the stock. There’s more probability that it will go up than down right now. So I think you’ll see this camp seriously think about an upgrade here and they will use management’s guidance to support it. The trick eBay will face here is that if they can’t executed on the growth rates they put out there today – and I think they are actually pretty aggressive given what we’re seeing out there – then the management team could really be on the hook (read: sacked) if they don’t deliver.
The Advance of Adverts on eBay
March 12, 2009
One thing that I’ve noticed on eBay since I have been paying much closer attention to it in the last week or so, is the dramatic increase of adverts on the site. Gone are discreet adverts here and there. I’m seeing large chunks of the homepage above the fold given over to adverts for the likes of the National Lottery and Sky. Across the site there are more, more prominent third-party adverts. The quality of adverts too, seems to have diminished: gaudy naff looking ads for gambling sites seem to be acceptable nowadays (although some would say that there’s nothing new there).
I’ve also been inundated with reports and screengrabs of text link ads at the start of search. Text links at the bottom of search results or for searches with null results are bad enough, but at the top? Adverts can be the first thing a searching buyer sees. No matter how you slice it, it’s a kick in the teeth for all the eBay customers who have paid for listings and listing enhancements.
eBay claim that these adverts aren’t shown universally. In fact, they should apparently only be visible to people who aren’t signed in, who haven’t been on the site for a while or who don’t have a cookie for buying or selling (but I’m not sure that’s the case because so many active sellers are reporting seeing these ads, ones who haven’t cleared their caches, are active sellers and are signed in).
Even if it’s working as eBay intends this is the scenario: a new or dormant eBay user (or one who has just cleared cookies for whatever reason) ventures back to the site, does a search and gets ‘sponsored links’ rather than well displayed, relevant listings that might reactivate and win back a buyer for eBay and eBay’s sellers.
The advance of adverts raises three questions for me:
Doesn’t it all look desperate?
Ads can be a very attractive source of revenue. That’s why they’re there: to make eBay money. And with the advance of adverts, we can only assume that eBay wants to make more money from ads. Are things so bleak for eBay that padding out the balance sheet with ad revenue is the only hope?
Isn’t it a distraction?
eBay’s core business is still about people buying and selling stuff. These ads take traffic from eBay and ads in search results are particularly egregious. I for one have been distracted by these ads and made a purchase elsewhere. How much leakage is tolerable?
Where does it stop?
Ads at the start of search are intended to be shown quite sparingly now. But what if they were universal? What if rather than 2 text ads, 5 were shown pushing inventory below the fold? eBay UK has not been open regarding its plans and where they will stop. Could we see text links on item pages?
Hello Everyone
March 4, 2009
Dan Wilson reporting for duty. I’m TameBay’s ‘guest editor’ for March 2009. I know some of you. But then again there are lots of TameBay people I haven’t met, read comments from, chatted with over the years. I’d say, for a starter, I’d like to say ‘Hullo’ to everyone here. Especially people who have never commented on TameBay. Why not say ‘Hullo’ back? Whether veteran or newbie, you’re very, very welcome.
I’m house-sitting. I may have a party on the quiet one night (bring a bottle btw) but I’m not rearranging the furniture and if anyone wants to vandalise the valuable ancestral portrait by the fire, I’ll be jolly cross. Chris and Sue are the guv’nors. I’m keeping this place ticking over, watering the plants, feeding the cats, sorting the post, putting out the rubbish.
And I guess I should be honest:
- I’m a bit out of touch. The latest eBay developments may well have passed me by. I’m getting back up to speed, but I will appreciate background and extra briefings. I may not get the nuances. Be patient.
- I like good humour. Generous behaviour, funnies, intelligent debate and clever insight work for me. I hate stuck records. Say something new. It’s fun.
- I’m not a professional eBay seller. I’m a businessman, sure. But not a retail seller like most of you. I make a living by doing lots of different things: writing, consulting, jobbing. I’m not employed full-time by anyone.
But most of all: if you have something to say, why not go for broke and suggest a story? I’m not saying every suggestion will be a goer, but why not express your views? Contact TameBay in the usual way and I guarantee I’ll reply to every serious suggestion.
I’m looking forward to it. Business as usual. But a bit different. Welcome all.
Time for a break
March 3, 2009
It’s been almost two and a half years since Chris and I started blogging and we’ve decided it’s time to take a much-needed rest. We’ll will be taking the rest of March off blogging to recharge our batteries and pursue some other projects.
eBay sellers know that taking a break can be difficult – it’s no easier for bloggers. But we’re fortunate enough to be able to leave TameBay in the capable hands of Dan Wilson.
For anyone who doesn’t already know Dan, he was the community manager at eBay UK until 2006, he’s the author of Make Serious Money on eBay UK, and he’s been known to have a thing or two to say about eBay himself. Not to mention that setting up TameBay was his idea in the first place. We have every confidence that you’ll all have a great time. 
Chris will be back at the end of March to report from ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst event.
eBay UK free insertion, FVF increase for private seller 99p auctions
February 26, 2009
eBay UK have just announced that insertion fees for private sellers on auctions starting at 99p or less are to be abolished. At the same time, Final Value Fees are being increased to 10% across all price tranches (regardless of starting bid), up to a maximum FVF of £40. eBay say:
We’re continuing our commitment to moving the cost of selling on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie away from front end fees so that the majority of fees are paid only when you successfully sell an item.
The changes do remove some of the risk from selling on eBay: when you’re a private seller and can look at every 10p, there can be little more depressing than a seller invoice when you haven’t sold anything. But don’t get too excited: if you’re selling something that finishes for more than a tenner, or you’re listing in the media categories, your fees just increased. Here’s how they compare (for non-tech, non-media categories):
| Selling price | Old fees | New fees |
|---|---|---|
| 99p | 19p | 10p |
| £4.99 | 54p | 50p |
| £9.99 | 97p | £1.00 |
| £29.99 | £2.72 | £3.00 |
| £99.99 | £6.40 | £10.00 |
Media categories already had free insertion fees, with FVFs at 9%, so that’s a straight increase had 5p insertion fees with FVFs of 9%, so that will be a fee increase on any item sold at more than £5.00.
The new fees will apply from 12th March. Please note: fee changes apply to private sellers listing auctions on eBay UK only. There is no change to the fees for business sellers or BIN listings.
Though “risk free” selling will undoubtedly appeal to many private sellers, I can’t help thinking that by pushing them towards 99p auctions, eBay are forcing them to take another, more costly risk: that their items will sell for much less than they would have with a higher start price, or on Buy It Now.
I’d imagine that the kind of items private sellers are likely to list – and I have no actual data on this whatsoever – are going to be clothing, children’s toys, DVDs, CDs, books. In other words, the kind of thing that is replicated in thousands right across the eBay site. These kind of ‘commodity’ items do not do well at auction: if you start them at 99p, you’ll be lucky to finish at £1.04. Buyers don’t need to compete to win because there are a dozen or more all the same. Moreover, they don’t want to wait to see if they’ve ‘won’ a 99p DVD; it’s easier to use BIN and get on with their lives.
What a push towards 99p auctions might do, though, is to restore eBay as the place to grab a bargain. eBay’s home page used to carry links for items “ending soon, no bids” – and a short browse would uncover a gem or three which could be picked up for pence. I’d bet on that link or one like it being restored to eBay UK’s home page in late March; let’s hope it brings the buyers back with it.
17 visits + live model = a sale : hot tips for fashion sellers
February 24, 2009
You might remember Stuart from his suspension by eBay last year. Since his eBay shops were forcibly closed, he’s been concentrating on his websites, building them from the ground up to replace the income that eBay took away. Today, he’s sharing hot tips from a recent fashion industry conference.
I attended the Fashion Online conference by Drapers magazine and picked up some great tips and ideas about online trading in the fashion business. Some of the top names in ecommerce fashion were presenting: the MDs of ASOS, M and M Direct and Figleaves. There seemed to be an air of optimism that online sales would be the answer to your prayers if you were struggling on the high street. I am not sure this is true as it takes a good deal of money, time and will to be successful online.
Community helps sales
Community was a big part of the discussion from many of the speakers: ASOS, the second largest fashion retailer in the UK, launch their community this week, and then later in the year their own marketplace. There was also a presentation from two invitation-only sales sites where community was becoming a big part of what they do.
The more you can do with your site, the more reasons you give people to shop, the better and longer they will stay.
Delivery more important than price
There were some interesting points made about delivery: as sales grow, the demand for better delivery also grows. According to IMRG, delivery is now the second most important factor for customer satisfaction; first is product range and interestingly price has now dropped to sixth place. It was also announced that HDN have signed a deal with Paypoint for using their sites for drop off and collection points. This sounds like a promising idea that could not only help delivery but also local shops too.
“17 visits to a site for every transaction”
Search as always is a hot topic and was featured by many in their presentations. On average there are 17 visits to a site for every transaction that takes place; Google showed that it takes on average six searches before a customer converts. It’s not all about getting millions of customers to your site, it’s converting the customers you do get more effectively: sometimes it the smallest of things that make the biggest difference. If you track your conversions on your site and you have a bigger than 30% bounce rate, you have a problem. Just try new things all the time, it was said on average, Google have 50+ experiments going on at any one time on their homepage and we all know how sparse that is.
Model or mannequin?
Finally presentation which is kind of linked to search seemed to be high on the agenda. ASOS rate presentation and the ‘sticky’ effect as the most important aspects of their site, and are investing a lot of money in these areas.
The MD of Figleaves, who took over in early 2008, talked about the interesting problem of ‘retina pollution’: their site had too much choice and too much going on. They have now cut their brand range from 350 to 150, so rather than have ten similar pairs of knickers, they would only have three. That I think is a good approach to have and something I will be following with our buying from now on; it’s not all about the biggest range.
The old ‘model or mannequin’ question was raised again, and there is no question that a human model sells clothing online more effectively. Different models can also make a massive difference: Figleaves have been trialling the same products with different models and certain models sell clothes better than others. And none of those headless, limbless shots either – they just don’t cut it. Clothes need to be shown on real people.
In summary
- it’s not all about getting millions of people to hit on your site, its about getting some there then keeping them in as many inventive ways as possible.
- presentation is very important and gone are the days of any old picture will do; even if you sell on eBay the presentation of your product can make an enormous amount of difference to your sales
- look at your range, maybe consider slimming it down and present that range better as you have more time to spend on it with fewer products.
The future is good for online sales in 2009, predicted at £50billion and in clothing there is massive growth and possibilities as it is still very much an untapped market.
eBay and Amazon directors to speak at Catalyst UK
February 19, 2009
“Hitting high growth on the world’s online marketplace” will be the topic for Mark Lewis, eBay UK MD, when he speaks at ChannelAdvisor Catalyst next month. Unsurprisingly the eBay session where Mark spoke last year was one of the most well attended sessions, and one at which he announced free gallery and the move towards lower cost insertion fees. I’d expect it to be equally well attended this year, eBay haven’t made any platform or pricing changes so far in 2009 but if there are any in the pipeline I’d expect to Mark give a preview.
Amazon Director, Matt Henderson will be hosting another Catalyst session. Amazon is the de facto 2nd choice marketplace for sellers looking to expand off eBay, and although they don’t report GMV generated by sellers, analysts estimate that 2008 third-party seller GMV was between $5 and $9 billion. Amazon overall grew 21% faster than e-commerce last year so this is definitely a site worth utilising.
There’s also a session from Silverpop about email marketing, this looks interesting one as I used to hate the medium – but love it now. It’s a great recession proof tool and the trick is of course to send emails to people that actually want to receive them, and of course to have content that grabs their attention.
Catalyst is always a good opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues (and even competitors ), plus the content is invariably superb. The dates are 30-31st March, the venue is The Brewery, London, the topic is “Don’t just survive. Thrive”. It’s looking set to be a great conference.
Prostores make importing eBay listings easier
February 11, 2009
ProStores have just released the latest upgrade which makes setting up your own shop on the Internet easier than ever for eBay sellers.
Possibly the most attractive upgrade is the ease with which eBay fixed price listings can be imported into ProStores enabling you to get set up for business in just minutes. Not only will ProStores import your eBay listings but it’ll regularly sync with eBay to ensure your stock levels are always up to date.
Other updates include a new tabbed design to present the most important information up front to your customers (that sounds suspiciously like the new view item page on eBay), making the product image, price and attributes, and a more prominent “Add to Cart” button more visible.
The shopping cart itself has been upgraded giving a smoother checkout flow and search pages which have no matching products now have a ‘Featured Products’ display and an ‘Advanced Search’ box that includes search tips to keep buyers on your site.
ProStores costs start at just $9.95 a month, although in reality that limits you to just 20 live products in your store. Most serious sellers will start straight off with the Business package at $29.95 allowing you to stock up to 10,000 products.
ProStores has always been a US based product, eBay integration is with eBay.com only. Also prices will be displayed in US $ although there is a third party currency converter add on which will allow buyers to select their country from a drop down.
ProStores is great for US users with the eBay.com integration, but for users in other countries it’s a fairly expensive way to run an online store. It would be great to see a similar product available in the UK, but currently standalone ecommerce packages look a better more flexible and more cost effective option.
