Archive for April, 2010

Here is an email I received today from one of my readers. Since eBay moved to  include all store listings in search, I have been getting one or two emails like this every day:

“I just wanted to comment that my Ebay business has all but dried up since Ebay enacted their new system where Stores get equal exposure as Buy It Nows. I have a store but had all my auctions as Buy It Nows, not store listings. I did a lot of business that way. Now I am lucky to get one or two sales a week vs the 15 -20 I was steadily getting before the change. I can’t believe it had such an impact and I have good search exposure since I am a Top Rated Seller and have 100%. It has been unbelieveable.”

I have had much the same experience, although it has gotten slightly better the past week. But the first couple of weeks, my sales crashed. I went to eBay Search to find my listings and even though I am a top rated seller and my Fixed Price listings had a good sales history, my listings were buried.

I think the problem may be that a lot of sellers (including me) had identical store and fixed price listings. When the changeover happened all of those listings went into the search engine therefore doubling a lot of the listings. I have been going through and removing duplicate listings as it doesn’t make sense to pay for both.

If you have duplicate listings you have two choices. You can remove one of the duplicates or you can change the title slightly so it doesn’t show up as a duplicate. Now your product will show up in two different places in search.  If my business doesn’t pick up soon, I am going to try that.

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The Complete eBay Marketing System is a printed instruction manual that will teach you all aspects of selling on eBay and running a full-time eBay business.

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Celebrity fashion stylist Annabel Tollman—who counts starlets Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Simpson, and Michelle Trachtenberg among her many Hollywood clients—is also a major eBay addict: “I’m constantly shopping the site when I’m supposed to be concentrating on something else,” she says. Recently, she found a way to justify her addiction. Tollman is teaming up with the online marketplace to launch Fashion Voice, a new hub featuring shopping tips from a variety of top stylists and fashion experts.

It turns out celebrity fashion stylist Annabel Tollman—who counts starlets Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Simpson, and Michelle Trachtenberg among her many Hollywood clients—is also a major eBay addict: “I’m constantly shopping the site when I’m supposed to be concentrating on something else. My old assistant was forever getting mad at me, telling me to stop procrastinating when I was on eBay!” she says.

Recently, she found a way to justify her addiction. Tollman is teaming up with the online marketplace to launch Fashion Voice, a new hub featuring shopping tips from a variety of top stylists and fashion experts, including Britt Bardo, Estee Stanley, Rebecca Weinberg, Kate Young and eBay’s own Karen Bard and Constance White. Tollman is also kicking off a series of videos packed with styling tricks and shopping pointers to help curate eBay’s 19 million daily fashion offerings. Her first video, “What’s Your Vintage Era” features Tollman’s advice on how to find and wear vintage fashion, using style icons through the decades as inspiration. 

Here, Tollman took time to share vintage shopping strategies as well as her must-have list for spring.

The Inside Source: You identified Old Hollywood Glamour as a favorite trend on the eBay fashion site, choosing a gorgeous shimmery cocktail dress and chain mail bag (pictured above) as your picks. What was the process you used to find those items?

Annabel Tollman: Well, I never really know exactly what I’m looking for as I’m shopping, but that said, there are certain keywords that I love, like “lace”, “floral”, and “sparkly”. So if you search for “cocktail dress” and “sparkly” you’re going to get a ton of options. I also like to refine by era. My two favorites are 1920-1938 and 1947-1964.

TIS: What is it about those particular time periods that appeals to you?

AT: I feel like the way that they used color and pattern in the Depression era was so refined. I love the amount of detail that went into the clothes. I also like the idea of faded glory—this stuff adds a bit of romance to everyday. People had fewer clothes, but they were handmade pieces. You don’t find that level of detail on clothes today—or at least the ones that I can afford! If you walk into the Dior boutique now, you’ll find exquisite pieces, but a dress might be the price of a car.

In terms of the ’50s, I love the femininity and frothiness of the clothes—and the exuberance. The nipped-in waist and full skirt is a silhouette that really works for me. You have to watch it though, because some of the bright prints can start to look a little kitschy.

TIS: Any styling tips for making vintage work?

AT: You can’t go head-to-toe vintage or you’ll look like you’re wearing a costume. Balance something frothy with something tougher to make it feel more modern. Two of my closet staples are a great army jacket and a great leather jacket, which instantly bring down the fanciness of whatever else you’re wearing and make any outfit look cooler.

TIS: What are the things you search for (and buy!) over and over again?

AT: I collect evening bags full stop. For me, they’re one of those things that really transform an outfit. Plus, they’re usually not terribly expensive and they make amazing gifts. A lot of my evening bags get around a bit—they tend to go out on the red carpet with my clients! I also love paste jewelry, which can look so sweet in hair, on a bag, really wherever.

TIS: Buy It Now vs. Auction?

AT: While bidding on an auction can definitely be exciting, if I want something, I want it today.

TIS: Any secrets for scoring hidden gems?

AT: Just keep going. Shopping eBay isn’t linear process; it’s more like navigating a spider’s web, so once you starting clicking around, hitting “More Like This,” or checking out what else a vendor has, you can find so much more. Start with something you like and then just keep on delving deeper. And if there’s a specific seller you like, make sure to add them to your favorites, since clearly they have a good eye and good sources.

TIS: What’s on your eBay shopping list right now?

AT: I’m always looking for Alaia, though I tend to wear his little wool dresses with tights in the winter. Now it’s all about cotton sundresses from the ’50s, which come to the knee and cover up a multitude of sins. I can never get enough party dresses. I love the Miss Hannigan look—kimonos and negligees and that sort of thing. I actually found a beautiful silk negligee recently for layering and belting with a tank dress. It’s perfect for summer when you want to slip on something easy. And I’ve also been buying a lot of 20′s and 30′s crepe tea dresses lately.

Tollman shares more specifics—and styling tricks—from her eBay wish list.

clockwise from top left:

Vintage 1950’s Kenneth Tischler Cotton Sundress (buy it now price, $149) “Love the divine peach color and the V at the front of this one. Wear it with a flat gold sandal and a tan clutch. This is the perfect summer dress to throw on and dash out the door.”

Christian Dior Vintage Silk Day Dress from the Early 50’s (buy it now price, $925) “I mean, just heaven. I would wear it with beautiful antique diamond or paste earrings—very delicate and pretty.”

Vintage Purple Deco Lace Dressing Gown (buy it now price, $899) “I know Saint Kate of Moss got slammed for wearing a robe, but luckily, you don’t have to deal with paparazzi! I would wear this over a tank and jeans for Mary-Kate Olsen cool.”

 Vintage 40’s Floral Pink Bias Cut Nightgown (buy it now price, $149.99) and Vintage 30’s Satin and Chantilly Lace Bias Cut Nightgown (buy it now price, $74) “I’d put a tank top underneath and wear these as dresses.”

Vintage 80’s Black Leather Motorcycle Jacket (buy it now price, $159.99) “I like that this leather jacket is so short. Sleeves always look better pushed up on any sort of jacket. I would put this over a ball gown or pretty dress, or wear it over a heather grey sweater and jeans. It’s your 24/7, 365 [days per year] jacket.”

Vintage 50’s Cotton Sundress (buy it now price, $249) “This dress is heaven. I don’t usually wear black in the summer, but this could be very sophisticated with nude accessories. I love the shape of the top and the straps.”

Emily Hsieh is a freelance writer and editor in New York City who has contributed to publications including Lucky, Allure, InStyle, and People.

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Yesterday (April 27, 2010), eBay announced the set of changes that will roll out this Summer (July 27, 2010) – this is their second set this year and they are already talking about a third set coming in the Fall. I would classify this release as very incremental – nothing earth shattering here, but as a package there are some good improvements that have a (hopefully) minor impact on sellers and a large positive impact on buyers.

There's a lot of material available on the changes so I'm going to focus on highlights –  if you want details:

• eBay announcement is here
• eBay details are here
• Auctionbytes coverage is here
• eBay blog coverage is here

Summary of changes

• eBay is adding buyer claims to the eTRS designation in addition to the DSR stars
• eBay is making item condition required
• They are eliminating featured first – thus putting the final nail in the coffin of all featured listings.
• They are making email communications anonymous (this is the third time on this one, maybe it will stick this time)

Impact on sellers

The macro impact on sellers for this release is pretty minor.    If you are a seller that doesn't respond to claims, don't provide condition and drive a lot of sales off featured first listings, this is a bad release for you, but frankly that's probably a good thing – that's a good transition to the buyer view.

Impact on buyers

If I had to give a short summary of 10.2, I would call it the "catching up on the buyer experience" release – especially around the trust side of things.

Some of these probably surprise many people that aren't hard-core eBayers that they are holes that were not plugged already.  For example, why would you ever allow a seller to list an item and NOT provide condition?  Certainly that sets up buyer expectations to be horribly missed.

As eBay focuses on NPS (more details on this later), I think they are finding some common themes that I would call legacy loopholes and are working to close them.

Deep thoughts on 10.2

I'm a software guy, so I think in terms of major (2.0 -> 3.0), minor (2.0 -> 2.1) and very minor (2.01 -> 2.02).  This is a 'very minor' release in my view.  That's not a knock on eBay or anything – it's very hard to do three major or even two major and a minor release a year at eBay's scale. It will definitely be interesting to see if the last (10.3 or 'Fall') release is minor or major (I doubt it will be 'very minor').

In isolation, it's great that eBay remains focused on improving the buyer experience and that they are fixing some of these long standing problem areas.

I'm also glad to see featured finally get phased out (although this view isn't popular with a lot of sellers).  My reasoning is that the family of upgrades like 'featured' exist to subvert the relevancy of the eBay search engine.  If the search engine is doing it's job (ahem), then the best items will automatically be surfaced and featured will, by its very nature, be less relevant.  Google has proven over and over again that relevancy is what searchers/buyers want and respond to and it's great to see eBay getting this religion finally.

All that being said, I continue (starting to feel like a broken record here – sorry long-time readers!) to believe that the eBay search engine isn't improving at a pace it needs to. 

Out of isolation, eBay is losing share in e-commerce and massively to Amazon. The search experience is the key to closing that gap and it's disheartening to have a release where search hasn't taken a step forward (other than the minor featured piece).

In fact, with the 3/31 changes that rolled out, eBay's search engine took some steps backwards as the flood of listings came on the site out of the store format.  But that's a tale for another post (coming soon).

SeekingAlpha Disclosure -I am long Google and Amazon. eBay is an investor in ChannelAdvisor.

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Only one week left to ChannelAdvisor Catalyst and we are officially sold out (second year in a row)!  We do have a wait list so that if there are any cancellations we can accommodate people in the order they get on the queue. The link to the waiting list is here.

Everyone at ChannelAdvisor is really looking forward to seeing all of our customers and retailers that are interested in learning more about what's going on in the World of e-commerce channels.  We have a couple of interesting surprises in store and a lot of exciting content this year, so get some sleep this weekend and get ready to learn a TON next week.

I'll attempt some live blogging of the eBay presentation, Google's presentation and a few others.

Holy cow, I guess I need to start working on my presentation..

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Bloomberg April 22, 2010, 2:38 PM EDT

An Internal Revenue Service agent was found liable for back taxes and penalties for not reporting income on nearly 2,000 transactions on EBay Inc., the online auction site, according to the U.S. Tax Court.

Andrea Fabiana Orellana failed to report $41,842 in income in 2004 and 2005 from sales of designer clothing, shoes and other items, according to a Tax Court summary opinion. Orellana is liable for $12,428 in unpaid taxes and $2,486 in penalties.

Orellana, who represented herself, sold items under several names, including “BlackTheRipper,” the court document said. She could not be reached for comment…..  Read Rest of Story at Bloomberg Business Week.

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I am always telling my readers the importance of claiming income and paying taxes because the IRS can and will catch you if you don’t. Its interesting to see that the IRS has their own tax cheaters.  Well the head of the IRS is Treasury Secretary Timothy Gietner, who it was learned did not pay taxes on his self-employed income for two years. Perhaps IRS Agent Orellana thought –”Hey, if my boss can do that, why can’t I?”

Agent Orellana claimed that she didn’t have a business, but she was just cleaning out her closet.  That must be some closet if it resulted in $41,842 in sales.

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The Complete eBay Marketing System is a printed instruction manual that will teach you all aspects of selling on eBay and running a full-time eBay business.

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Making earth-conscious choices for your children and pets can improve their health and the health of the planet. Fortunately, there is a virtual “green market” out there of innovative products that prove you can make small, environmentally-conscious changes with a big impact. Want proof?.

There are more ways to go green than simply with your own clothes, habits and home. Making earth-conscious choices for your children and pets can improve their health and the health of the planet. Fortunately, there is a virtual “green market” out there of innovative products that prove you can make small, environmentally-conscious changes with a  big impact. Want proof? Check out our picks.

The Inside Source Editorial Director Meredith Barnett confesses that she only started going green when she became pregnant and considered the importance of keeping her new baby healthy and leaving him with a  more sustainable planet. Plus, she knows that setting a green example will instill good habits in her children from the start.

Green toys and clothing are often made from organic, sustainable or reclaimed materials and are artisan-crafted instead of mass-produced.  You can make a green move by choosing these types of products. Or, since the greenest items is the one that already exists in the world, you can go green by purchasing pre-owned items at sites like eBay’s Green Shopping Hub. By extending the life of existing products, you can keep trash out of landfills and reduce waste and energy consumed by manufacturing new merchandise.  Plus, you’ll save money—a major added bonus since kids grow out of their toys and clothes so quickly.

Eco-friendly baby skincare is another category we’re keen (and green!) on—especially for babies’ sensitive skin. Since over 60 percent of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your body, we look for organic and all-natural products because they boast higher levels of natural nutrients and antioxidants than and have fewer irritants than regular products.

KEEPING KIDS EARTH CONSCIOUS

clockwise from top left: Green Toys Recycling Truck made from recycled milk bottles (buy it now price, $18.99), Green Toys Tea Set made from recycled milk bottles (buy it now price, $21.94), Mini Rodini 100% Organic Cotton Parrots Tee Dress ($48) Little Twig Baby Shampoo made with organic ingredients (buy it now price, $7-$12)

More product ideas: Toys and Clothes from Sweet William (look for brands including Mini Rodini, Clover, PopUpShop, and Nico Nico), Under the Nile Veggie Crate ($30), Earth Mama Angel Baby Skincare Products, California Baby Skincare Products

ECO-FRIENDLY FIDO

Today’s pets are serious consumers—of food, cleaning products, toys and treats. Fortunately, there are great eco-friendly choices out there for Fido and Fifi. 

Here are a few tips: Look for a doggy bed that’s not only durable, but also made of recycled materials; choose toys that are recyclable or made from recycled or organic materials; and find treats and food that are natural or organic. 

West Paw Dog Bed made of 100% recycled filler (buy it now price, $50-$150), Simply Fido Organic Pet Toys (buy it now price, $15-$20) 100% Recyclable Orbee Ball (buy it now price, $7-$15)

More Product Ideas: Harry Barker Pet Waste Dispenser made from recycled plastic and using biodegradable bags ($8), Waste Dispensers from Whole Foods Market, Toys and Treats from EarthDoggy

Check out these great green resources from eBay:

Green.ebay.com: eBay’s new green shopping hub, giving consumers access to millions of pre-owned, sustainable and resource-saving products available on eBay.

eBaygreenteam.com: The hub of eBay’s Green Team community, where nearly 200,000 buyers, sellers, and employees share tips, stories, and resources on how to buy, sell, and live greener every day.

WorldofGood.eBay.com: eBay’s marketplace for People and Eco Positive products where consumers can see the impact of their purchase on every “view item” page.

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Earlier this evening, eBay announced Q1 2010 results.  This post focuses in on the marketplace side of the business.  You may want to review our same-store-sale data for Q1 here.

GMV – the pulse of the marketplace.

eBay provides a myriad of data points for the marketplace business, but we always counsel folks to look at the primary datapoint – GMV (Gross Merchandise Value). Registered users, items sold, segment revenue, etc.  Those are all useful secondary metrics, but they don't shine as much light on the business as GMV does.

For the earnings call, eBay provided this handy chart with the GMV metrics: (click to enlarge)

eBay's overall GMV was $15.4b for the Q, but to get a true apples to apples for GMV, you have to pull out three pieces:

• Autos - a drag on eBay's GMV growth and the economics are very different (more like a classifieds site) so they aren't applicable.
• Gmarket - eBay acquired gmarket and the gmarket is inorganically in Q110, but not in Q109.
• Currency (FX) - The GBP and Euro are fluctuating a good bit and their impact need to be taken out to compare year over year trends.

The following numbers are all ex-autos, ex-gmarket and ex-FX.

While domestic showed some good trends, the decrease in International is concerning.   In the key eBay International markets, eBay is a year into the same fee changes they are rolled out in the US on 3/31/10.  If those changes are already 'tapped out', that could indicate problems for the domestic side in the near future.  The International deceleration caused the overall number to come in flat Q/Q.

But what about Amazon and e-commerce?

Taken in a vacuum, eBay's results are decent.  But their stated goal is to grow with e-commerce.  .  Comscore came out with data this week that indicates they saw March come in (ex travel) at 19% y/y and they pegged Q1 at 11% y/y.  So at 8% overall, eBay lags that growth rate by 3% and the comscore data is US, so the comp is 6% vs. 11% – or a 5% delta. So eBay isn't out of the woods yet and needs to continue to work on growth strategies.

Amazon announces tomorrow and we'll have coverage on Amazon Strategies – our SSS data indicates there is no slow down there and we suspect sales will be up > 30% again for Q1.

Seeking Alpha Disclosure  - I am long Google and Amazon. eBay is an investor in ChannelAdvisor.

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I noticed starting yesterday that eBay seems to be doing a pretty significant 'blanket' (I'm seeing it on most of the major ad networks) of an online marketing program around the buyer protection program.  They are doing interactive rich media ads.

I've seen a couple of treatments:

Spinning shield

The first treatment has the shield logo used in the program that spins around (this definitely catches your eye) and then it has some color stripes and reveals the "You're covered by the shield' message you see here:

The Learn More button takes you to the same 'about the buyer protection program' page you are taken to when you click the shield on the site.

Bullet points

The second treatment I've seen is more of a bullet pointed list as you see here:

So the key points they are hitting on:

• Program does not cost extra (Absolutely free!)
• Quick access to customer support
• Covers purchase price plus original shipping

Sign of things to come?

eBay has been hinting that they feel they are making big strides in trust and buyer protection.  It's good to see they are ramping up some exposure here.  I wonder if this is a ramp up to a more serious multimedia (radio/tv/print/online) push that we could see later this year to prep for Q4.

Let me know your thoughts and if you have seen any other ads in comments,

SeekingAlpha Disclosure – I am long Google and Amazon. eBay is an investor in ChannelAdvisor where I am CEO.

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“I’m not a collector; I’m more of a hoarder. I go on kicks,” says Erdem Moralioglu, the recent winner of the British Fashion Council/Vogue Design Fashion Fund prize, when asked to define his collecting style. “You want the complete set—it’s an insatiable kind of thing.”

“So are you loving that chartreuse glass thing you bought at the flea market in Marche St. Honore?” I ask the young British fashion designer Erdem Moralioglu, when I reach him by phone in London. He laughs, recalling the French dealer hawking this particular object: “It’s like a large bonbon jar. It was one in a million, remember? A very rare, amazing find!”

I first met Moralioglu (a master of the refined, flower-printed frock who has just won the prestigious British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund prize), when I interviewed him this past February during London Fashion Week, and our freewheeling conversation somehow landed on the subject of collecting. (Was it my vintage 1940s reindeer sweater that prompted the discussion?) I found out in short order that 1) Moralioglu goes regularly to the monthly dealers’ market at the Kempton racetrack, which he describes as “hardcore” since it requires leaving London at 5 am because the whole thing closes up by noon. (I went to this once, and if you decide to go—bring cash! The ATM didn’t take my card, which almost cost me the Norah Welling South Sea Island doll I had my eye on.) And 2) He was going to be in Paris the same time as I was and was dying to do a little flea marketing together.

Now that I’ve returned to New York and Erdem is back in England, I’ve called him to ask him reflect on his collecting style. “I’m not a collector; I’m more of a hoarder. I go on kicks,” Moralioglu explains. “You want the complete set—it’s an insatiable kind of thing.” Though he insists that his interests lie mostly in printed matter—“I’m bookish and paperish”—how does that explain the chartreuse glass jar, and the hours we spent in the freezing cold bargaining for it a few weeks ago? And what about the two half-naked art deco bathing beauty figurines he bought at the Vanvas market in Paris, where he told me gleefully that he had license to buy anything, no matter how large, since he was showing his collection in France and would be trucking it all back to London anyway? 

Moralioglu may have shown some restraint during our Paris escapade (he did not end up schlepping home an armoire or a copper bathtub, though he did indulge his penchant for paper ephemera, snapping up a copy of a turn of the century magazine called Belle Époque) but he has hardly slowed down in the intervening weeks. When I ask what he has been up to lately, he says that he recently became obsessed with the 1970s male style guides by Charles Hix, and that, true to his collecting style, he has gone on eBay and amassed a whole roster of these tomes—works with titles like Looking Good and Man Alive.

So this Hix guy is what you’re into now? “Oh, no, I’m over him, completely over him.  I’ve moved on to [photographers] Bruce Weber and Duane Michals. I just bought a Weber book on eBay, but I don’t have it yet—I’m having it sent to my friend in Williamsburg, since I’ll be in New York in a few weeks.”

Moralioglu is nothing if not consistently resourceful when it comes to getting his finds home.  “The best things I ever found on eBay were these Robin Day molded plastic ‘60s chairs—amazingly beautiful! I bought four of them for like nothing, but then I had to hire a van to get them down [to London] from Wales.”

Though Moralioglu’s design studio is mostly decorated with this style of industrial furniture from the ‘60s and ‘70s—much of it found at the Kempton market in the UK—there is also room for a bit of Victoriana, namely a diorama, roughly two by three feet, of a taxidermy bat eating a pheasant. “There’s red dripping from its teeth! A vegetarian in my office wants it thrown out, but I refuse to remove it,” he says.

We arrange to spend a day exploring Manhattan’s sadly dwindling roster of antique markets when he’s in town in late May. He tells me he’ll be searching for vintage family albums. “I bought a German album with all these photos and cut-outs, and another album of a sailing family from the 1920s. And then I bought an auction lot made up of old family photos, just random persons from the turn of the century to the 1920s. They’re faded out around the edges, with free-floating faces in the middle. They’re amazing and inspiring!”

Well, Moralioglu is certainly all over the place—bonbon jars, plastic chairs, bathing beauties, photo albums, dead bats? When I ask if there is a connective tissue running through these disparate if heart-felt collections, he thinks for a moment. “They’re food for the brain… brain food! They’re just the things that are going to make the penny drop.”

Shop eBay Like Erdem

Seats of Power

1. 60s-70s Retro Robin Day Hille Stacking Chairs (buy it now price, $304.94)

Man Tailored

2. Man Alive by Charles Hix & Stephen AuCoin, 1984 (buy it now price, $6.48)

Bird Watching

3. Taxidermy Victorian Era Stuffed Birds, Late 1800s (buy it now price, $1,500)

Hit Album

4. Large Family Photo Album, 1920s, Nebraska, Wyoming (buy it now price, $60)

Water Sport

5. Bathing Beauty (winning bid, $26.02)

Erdem Runway and Celebrity Images

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eBay has always believed in the importance of letting users control the use of their personal information as much as possible. We’ve remained transparent in our approach to customize ads on and off our site. For several years, we’ve let users know that online ads on and off eBay.com may be customized to their interests and we’ve given them the opportunity to opt out of this type of customization.

Now, eBay has become one of several advertisers who’ve collaborated with industry groups to design and put an industry-standard icon on online ads on eBay from other advertisers, and on eBay’s online ads on other sites. The icon link will send visitors to a page with more information on privacy, where they will be able to specify their advertising preferences for customized ads on eBay.com and for eBay ads on other Web sites.

I should point out that the AdChoice opt-out process has already been implemented globally on eBay for some time now; the change here is that eBay is going to add the new industry-standard icon. We believe this new icon will help users better understand privacy in online advertising and how they can set their preferences.

You can check the AB post for more details.

Cheers,
RBH

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