Archive for September, 2009
September 30th, 2009
I've had several inbound 'flame mails' about a change eBay made this week as part of their roll out of the SR2 release. I wanted to show everyone what's going on and get a pulse from readers on where you stand.
- Overall 21.3% of eBay listings are top-rated
- The Camera category is the highest with 28%
- The DVD category is lowest with 13.2% (ouch)
- With eBay's first page of results showing 50 items and with a 21% coverage, if a search term has 240 results or more, it's very likely that the entire first page will be eTRS. That's going to make it really tough for non-eTRS sellers as pretty much every eBay search I ever run comes back with > 2k items unless I get extremely specific.
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September 30th, 2009
As announced on Ink at the beginning of the month, the eBay Motors / GM “Click & Buy” Promotion ends today as scheduled. According to the two companies, there are no plans to move forward with a national promotion.
The promotion included more than 1.5 million visits and generated more than 15,000 leads to GM California dealers. According to GM, the leads delivered by eBay Motors achieved a better than national close-rate for GM dealers.
“Our partnership with GM continues on several fronts, including the sale of Certified Pre-Owned vehicles and we are exploring additional opportunities to partner on new car sales, said Rob Chesney, vice president of eBay Motors. “This program succeeded in driving awareness of eBay Motors as a destination for new vehicles. It also confirmed our ability to innovate by building out a custom program that could quickly deliver a high volume of quality leads over a short period of time across multiple automotive brands.”
Chesney went on to say that eBay Motors will continue to test, pilot and implement new car initiatives with OEMs, dealers and other third-party companies as part of its ongoing goal to offer consumers a wide selection of new cars coupled with an easy and convenient new way of buying.
Cheers,
RBH
September 30th, 2009
I was listening to a local TV critic on the radio the other day discuss his favorite new shows so I figured as the eBay Pop Culture Expert, I should espouse my opinion too. That being said, I spent some time watching some new 
programs on the tube. First up was Modern Family, a hotly-anticipated, Arrested Development-like show. It was relatively good and I had some LOL moments, especially with the “cool dad” character saying “I know what WTF means—why the face.” I also caught like half of The Beautiful Life on the CW. The Mischa Barton comeback vehicle was DOA—stilted dialogue, bad portrayal of models (they ate at the craft service table), and of course, MB’s less than adequate acting chops. The show was canceled after 2 episodes. Furthermore, I saw the Glee pilot and enjoyed their recent Single Ladies parodies but I think I will skip Trauma and Flash Forward—LOST annoys me so why would I like the same show on a different network? I am still searching for a palatable program and will continue my quest!
Photo credited to: abc.com
September 30th, 2009
One of the sessions at Shop.org 2009 that I thought it probably best I attend, was the “Twitter and Social Media All-Stars” panel that ran on the first day of the conference.
The panel was moderated by Denise Zimmerman, President & CSO of NetPlus Marketing and had three social media-focused representatives for commerce companies with a strong online presence:
- Tracy Benson, Sr. Director of Best Buy Interactive Marketing & Emerging Media
- Alison Jeske, Sr. Director of Product Management at Drugstore.com
- Kevin Ranford, Director of Web Marketing, 1-800-Flowers.com
I took a couple of videos from this session that I thought would be of interest for folks that are thinking about applying social media to their ecommerce business.
The first video clip below focuses more on the foundation businesses need to put in place when embarking on social media implementation. Kevin from 1-800-flowers.com talks about making sure you know what your customers are interested in before reaching out to them. He also addresses the integration of social media within existing strategies and groups within the organization.
Alison adds that topics will drive the day (for example, swine flu was a hot topic on drugstore.com so they had to have information and conversations related to that). She concludes by talking about individual management of different Twitter feeds on behalf of the company based on conversation topic (much like I manage the eBayInkblog feed but other individuals manage the eBayMotors and KijijiUS Twitter feeds):
The second video sees Kevin and Tracy talk about how each social media platform will have multiple feeds that address different needs (some Twitter feeds are good for “Deals of the Day” for example, whereas others are better for news distribution).
Cheers,
RBH
September 30th, 2009
From the PayPal Blog:
Hi, I’m Judy Chang. On Saturday, Tropical Storm Ketsana struck the Philippines, delivering a month’s worth of rain in just twelve hours. The images seen across the media have been harrowing: A sofa hangs from electric wires. A school bus is toppled on its side. Muddy rivers overflow with people seeking refuge on rafts. Power and water are in short supply and many roads are impassable, further complicating relief efforts.
Weather forecasters say another storm is brewing, and could hit as early as Friday. The government has declared a “state of calamity”, and officials are asking for international help. If you’d like to help victims of the flood, you can donate here.
eBay users can also buy, sell or donate to help those affected by visiting the following eBay Giving Works site.
-RBH
September 30th, 2009
eBay Sellers have a new eBay research tool to track and evaluate their buyer’s behavior. Today, the Sellebrity Company announced Auction Analytics, a new service to monitor and interpret traffic data for eBay auctions. The new service is located at www.sellebrity.com.
“This is not your father’s analytics service,” says founder and CEO, Jason Ritenour. ”Not only are we a serious competitor of Sellathon and Sellerwise, but of Google Analytics as well. Any website, blog, store, or e-commerce system can be either separately tracked or integrated directly into your eBay listings. None of our competitors come even close to the feature set of Sellebrity, where new features are added every month.”
Free for Small Sellers
The Basic Sellebrity Analytics for up to 50 listings per month is free. Customers wishing to upgrade pay only $4.95 for 125 concurrent listings and one (1) eBay user ID. The next tier allows 500 concurrent listings for $9.99 per month and three (3) eBay ID’s. The top tier allows unlimited listings for $19.99 per month for as many as six (6) eBay User ID’s. All plans offer a 50% discount for a one-year subscription.
Multiple eBay User ID’s owned by that user may be tracked all in one account for one monthly price.
Features and Benefits
Sellebrity Analytics has many features not offered by most competitors:
- Real time data
- Online demonstration
- Unlimited time data storage (no 14-day expiration)
- Data Export to CSV
- Free service for 50 concurrent listings
- E-mail heavily customized reports
- Works with visitors with Flash disabled!
- Customizable dashboard
- Custom Goals, Conversions, Campaigns
- New features every month
- World Spy (live view of global visitors)
- Set custom alerts
- Google Maps buyer integration
- IP tagging and IP filtering
- Widgets to put on your web site
- Twitter analytics
- Track customer downloads
- Track custom data for every visitor (usernames, cookies, etc)
- Get your stats via RSS feeds
- FeedBurner RSS stats integration
- Compatible with secure (https) sites
- Track Ajax and Flash events
- Available in 14 languages
Sellebrity also works on blogs and websites. Publishers and content sites can use a widget from Sellebrity’s widget library to show a “tag cloud” of the most popular articles currently on their website. Or they could display a widget showing the languages their readers speak.
Also, eBay sellers can learn searches made from engines such as Google which allow the seller to introduce the most popular terms (especially misspellings) into their auction listings and titles.
Website: http://www.sellebrity.com/
Forum: http://forum.sellebrity.com/
Sellebrity Online Demo: http://stats.sellebrity.com/stats/home?site_id=133305
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September 29th, 2009
All,
Just a quick reminder that Jason Miner hosts another edition of PayPal Radio tomorrow at 5pm ET / 2pm PT. Checking out the PayPal blog post today, it looks like he has a pretty good schedule lined up…
- Tod Cohen, eBay VP of Government Relations will discuss eCommerce Policy
- Monroe Labouisse, PayPal’s North American Director for Marketplaces will discuss Bill Me Later
- eBay seller Beth Cherkowsky of Depression Glass Warehouse will discuss how PayPal can help your charity auctions
You can find out more about the episode on the PayPal blog.
Cheers,
RBH
September 29th, 2009
Admittedly, last week marked my first Shop.org conference and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of attendees. At first I thought the expo itself seemed relatively quiet but that’s because the majority of attendees were sitting in on the regular sessions available throughout the day. Great to see.
I spent a lot of my time sitting in on some key presentations and capturing a lot of video throughout. I plan on rolling it out throughout this week. Here, I managed to take some video of drugstore.com CEO, Dawn Lepore, discuss the recession, and key differences between Amazon and drugstore.com. In the second video, I particularly like Dawn’s acknowledgment that the use of social media by ecommerce companies is not about directly driving sales from customers – rather it is about conversing with customers; enhancing that relationship and building a foundation for the future.
Dawn Lepore talks about how drugstore.com has faired during the recession and addresses Amazon’s place in ecommerce:
Dawn Lepore talks about how drugstore.com is incorporating social media into its ecommerce strategy:
Cheers,
RBH
September 29th, 2009
Starting on Saturday, September 26, 2009, sellers who list Auction-style item(s), and have a 12 month Detailed Seller Rating of 4.5 or higher on all criteria, will receive 33% off the standard Insertion Fee per item listed.
New sellers who don’t yet have DSR ratings are also eligible. DSR rating criteria for this promotion will be based on the previous 12 months.
This promotion started on Saturday, September 26, 2009 and goes through Sunday, October 11, 2009.
Sellers will receive 33% off standard Insertion Fees for Auction-style listings on www.eBay.com, www.eBayMotors.com (Parts and Accessories only) and eBay Canada www.eBay.ca.
All listing durations are eligible. When listing an item with a 10-day duration, the standard $0.40 fee for this extended duration will apply. Listings created prior to September 26, 2009 and scheduled to start during the promotional period, Saturday, September 26, 2009 through Sunday, October 11, 2009, will be eligible to receive the promotional rate.
How does this promotion work with the 5 Free Insertion Fees available every 30 days?
When listing items using the Sell Your Item form, the promotional rate applies after you have used your 5 free Insertion Fees providing you with additional savings when you list more items. If you list your items using eBay tools or third-party listing tools such as Vendio or Auctiva, the 33% off promotional rate applies to all listings during the promotion period. For sellers listing with any tool other than the latest version of the Sell Your Item form (SYI 3.0), the promotional price will not be shown during the listing process. Instead, the discount will be reflected in the “View Account Status” section in My eBay, as well as in your next invoice.
In other news
eBay also anncounced the roll out of Bill Me Later. This is a service through PayPal whereby buyers can elect a payment plan for items they purchase. The seller will receive their payment immediately through PayPal, and the PayPal will handle the risk of the credit transaction.
Learn How To Sell on eBay With The Complete eBay Marketing System
September 27th, 2009
My latest book, How to Make Money Blogging From Home has been a huge success. Although the book is as complete as I can make it, I am a big believer in the theory that you can’t have too much information.
One of my blogging heroes is Yaro Starak who runs a blog called ProBlogger. I was looking at his site and he is offering a great 23 page free eBook called Blog Profits Blueprint. Yes, Yaro is trying to sell something, but his material is great and even if you don’t buy anything from him, the eBook is excellent. Blog Profits Blueprint is not a sales pitch –it contains real “how-to” information.
Here are some of the topics Yaro explains:
- The one vital skill that most bloggers lack, and how YOU can easily acquire it.
- His “Pillar Method” for creating great content that magnetically attracts links and pulls in wave after wave of traffic for months or years to come.
- How he builds multiple, ongoing streams of blog traffic using “Communication Channels”.
Plus, you get access to a LIVE VIDEO that let’s you look over his shoulder as he gives you a guided tour of exactly how he makes money from his blog.
Yaro’s blog gets over 25,000 visitors a day so he really knows what he is talking about.
And don’t forget to check out my latest book, How to Make Money Blogging From Home. We take you step-by-step through setting up your blog and showing you how you can start earning money your first month blogging.
