Ebay Secrets Blog

Archive for June, 2010

It has been 3 years since eBay Classifieds launched in the U.S. and to mark the occasion they’ve launched their own blog. Good stuff! Here are some fun stats listed from today’s blog entry…

• Three years ago we had just a couple hundred thousand visitors. Today we have over 5 million. What a birthday party!

• We started out with just a few thousand ads back in 2007, now we have nearly 1 million. Keep them coming!

• Did you know that the frilled shark has a gestation period of 3.5 years? It’s been three years for eBay Classifieds and we’re already generating over 50 million page views a month. Take that, frilled shark!

They’re just getting started with the blog so please add them to your subscriptions. The blog can be found at http://blog.ebayclassifieds.com/.

Also, if you’re not following them already, you should add @eBayClassifieds to your Twitter feed.

Cheers!
RBH

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Customer service is increasingly important in the world of on-line sales and certainly in the World of eBay.  In that spirit, tomorrow we'll be offering a complimentary webinar for customers and those generally interested in the topic.  

What we're going to be discussing and demonstrating is some new technology that connects three systems together: eBay MyMessages/AskSellerQuestion, ChannelAdvisor and Salesforce.com.  The end-result is a best of breed solution that customers are telling us dramatically reduces their customer support costs (by improving the performance of their customer service reps).

The key is leveraging the incredible salesforce.com system that puts all of the information your rep needs to answer a customer's questions such as: order info, purchase history, tracking numbers, product specifics, eBay specifics, etc.  Additionally, you can create 'solutions' which are pre-canned answers to questions.

Finally, the analytics are incredible and allow you to answer questions such as:

• Which of my products generate the most queries?
• What is my customer satisfaction level?
• What is the average turn-around time of questions?
• Who are my top buyers?
• Who are my most demanding buyers?
• Which reps are most productive?
• Which reps get the highest customer satisfaction ratings?

If you'd like to join us to see and learn more, you can learn more and register here: http://www.channeladvisor.com/webinars

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eBay’s new automated Unpaid Item Dispute (UID) system went live and immediately screwed up by sending out inaccurate UID notices –some to people within just seconds of the listing ending.

Ina Steiner at Auctionbytes Blog, has the full scoop on this.  This is very interesting and worth reading.  When you are done, you can leave comments on her blog or come back here and give us your comments.  Click here to read Ina’s blog.

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The 2010 Version of The Complete eBay Marketing System teaches you everything you need to know to succeed on eBay
Updated for 2010, the Complete eBay Marketing System takes you step by step through starting and running a full-time eBay business.

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Yesterday I posted about the recent purchase of eBay auction management company, Vendio,  by Chinese company Alibaba.  At the end of that post I promised to tell you the backstory about eBay and Alibaba. So here goes:

This goes back about 5 years. Those of you who attended eBay Live in San Jose or Las Vegas will probably remember it, but for those of you new to eBay it makes an interesting story.

If you don’t know anything about Alibaba, they are wholesale sourcing website that lists thousands of companies outside the US who are looking for eBay and online sellers to buy merchandise from exporters in dozens of foreign countries –mostly in the Far East, but actually from many countries. Also, Alibaba owns TaoBao, the largest online auction company in China.  Alibaba also owns Ali Express which is a wholesale sourcing solution for those who want to purchase goods from China in small quantities –even quantities as low as one, so you can sample the goods before you buy them.

Problems started a few years ago when eBay wanted to expand into China, but Alibaba’s parent company was already the big auction site in China and they went head to head. I don’t have space here for all the details and background (which is very interesting if you Google “eBay + Alibaba” but suffice to say there is no love lost between eBay and Alibaba.

Well, Alibaba was set to exhibit at eBay Live in San Jose in 2005. They had paid for a giant booth on the trade show floor and were even scheduled to participate in some of the sourcing seminars. But, the day before the show, eBay kicked Alibaba out in favor of their competitor, www.globalsources.com. And at the show eBay announced a lash-up with Global Sources to help eBay sellers find merchandise.

So Alibaba –thinking fast, conceived one of the greatest Guerrilla Marketing tactics of all time:  When you got off the airplane at the San Jose Airport, there were dozens of well-dressed nice people saying “Welcome to eBay Live. Here is your free tote bag,” and they handed you a really nice bright orange tote bag.   They were also standing on every corner leading to the convention center and at all of the bus and metro stops.

The result was that thousands of eBay Live attendees were walking around eBay Live toting the Alibaba signature bright orange tote bags.   eBay execs were furious. At one point they tried to block people coming in with the bags, but realized that would have started a riot.

Besides handing out the bags, Alibaba took over the Presidential Suite in the hotel across the street from the convention center where they held a free lunch and gave PowerPoint presentations to hundreds of eBay sellers about importing and the Alibaba services each day. I was invited to speak at one of these seminars and it was packed with about 40 people in a small room and more listening from out in the hallway.

At the receptions, Alibaba.com set up free Internet workstations so users could check their email and ebay sales and they conducted daily presentations to introduce Alibaba.com’s online marketplace to visitors. 1,670 eBay sellers and PowerSellers, visited the receptions during this 3-day event to learn how Alibaba could help eBay sellers source products directly from reliable manufacturers in China.

So now Alibaba owns Vendio which is an eBay certified developer.  They get to peek inside eBay’s kimono to see the inside track on all new development at eBay and access to the eBay API.

Vendio has about 80,000 sellers registered with their system, so there probably isn’t much eBay can do about this.  In any event it’s about time eBay buried the hatchet and made nice with Alibaba. If they were smart they would be talking to Alibaba about working together in China on the old theory that half a loaf is better than none.  Yahoo did this. In 2005 while eBay was acting childish, Yahoo invested $1 Billion in Alibaba and handed off their struggling auction business to TaoBao, Alibaba’s Chinese auction company. Over time, this has paid off big for Yahoo. their stake is now worth about 4 times that amount.

Taobao.com is the “eBay of China” and has become that nation’s largest online auction site, garnering 75%  market share, according to domestic research firm iResearch.

Jonathan Lu, president of Taobao.com, said the company’s online transaction volume is expected to double to 200 billion yuan (about 3 Billion dollars) this year from the 99.96-billion yuan it reported last year. Meanwhile eBay’s sales are essentially flat and experiencing slow growth.

So as Paul Harvey used to say: “Now you know the rest of the story.”

Skip McGrath

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The 2010 Version of The Complete eBay Marketing System teaches you everything you need to know to succeed on eBay
Updated for 2010, the Complete eBay Marketing System takes you step by step through starting and running a full-time eBay business.

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The acquisition integrates AliExpress and Vendio e-commerce services into a complete wholesale sourcing solution for online businesses in the U.S.

Alibaba.com a leading Asian e-commerce company for online sellers, will acquire Vendio Services, Inc., a multi-channel e-commerce company serving eBay and Amazon sellers. The move will provide a one-stop solution for online sellers that will include listing and inventory management and wholesale sourcing from the same platform.

From the Vendio Platform, merchants can source products from Alibaba.com’s supplier network and sell through channels such as eBay, Amazon, and their own Vendio-supported store.

As part of the announcement, AliExpress (Alibaba’s small quantity sourcing platform), Vendio is offering $100 worth of free coupons.  The offer is for five $20 coupons that can be used once for each of 5 orders. This enables Vendio merchants to buy “sample” items of products that they may wish to source and is a great way to test out AliExpress.

You can only get this offer by going to a special landing page and entering a Vendio coupon code. Once you do so, you’ll receive FIVE COUPONS worth $20 each. Each coupon is valid for any order more than $20 (no maximum). An order can consist of multiple items.

The only catch is that you can’t use all five coupons at once, but you can place five separate, successive orders.  I used it this morning to buy an $80 (at wholesale) rifle scope.  The shipping was $13 so total $93 less $20: My landed cost is $73.  Similar scopes are selling on eBay in the $150 range. I will test sell the scope on eBay and if it does well I can then order these scopes in quantities of ten for $74 each.

Here’s How to get your free coupons:

1. Log into your Vendio Account, or Sign-Up* for Vendio by clicking on the Get Started button.

This offer is also available to NEW Vendio account and applies to any Vendio account, even those with a FREE store or any other free Vendio product. So you can sign-up today to take advantage of this offer.

Once you are logged into Vendio, just look for the special coupon offer page and follow the instructions.

I have used Vendio as my listing management for the past 5 years.  This move will allow me to source products directly through Alibaba and AliExpress and move then into my inventory on the Vendio platform.

Yesterday I spoke with Vendio’s new CEO, Mike Effle about the acquisition. (Mike was formerly the COO and moved up after the acquisition).  Mike explained that  “Alibaba gains access to more than 80,000 targeted small businesses in the U.S., while Vendio users can gain access to trusted sources from Alibaba’s worldwide supplier base.”  I asked Mike if Vendio would be expanding beyond eBay and Amazon to add more channels and he said that this move gives them the resources to do so.  I also asked about the ability to access sales in China through the Alibaba’s auction company TaoBao and he said they weren’t sure of the timing and how it would work, but that is definitely in the plans. This would give Vendio users access to the 1 billion population Chinese market. Mike further said: “We identify with Alibaba.com’s vision of creating a seamless global e-commerce experience for business owners,”

Look for tomorrow’s blog where I will tell you about the amusing backstory about Alibaba and eBay and how I got into the middle of it.

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The Complete eBay Marketing System is a printed course that starts with the basics and teaches how to start and run a profitable eBay business.

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In 2009, a large group of devoted eBay sellers and fans of eBay Radio led by Betsie Bolger decided to meet up in Las Vegas. The 2010 follow-up was a who’s who of eBay community, and a great reminder of eBay’s roots. Between the knowledgeable speakers, the eBay themed painted fingernails, the custom eBay Nike shoes, and the “Griffettes”- ebay Radio’s 7th Anniversary was a party not to miss.

This was my first time attending such an event for eBay. While the crowd had no problem delivering me some tough questions during the eBay panel – I was impressed by how inviting and community minded the crowd was. In just two short days I have made connections that will last for years. And the collective eBay knowledge presented in the room was second to none. Check out this lineup.

Janelle Elms showed sellers how to make Best Match work for them. John “ColderICE” Lawson told sellers how to make their business bigger, badder, and bolder (John’s presentation was quoted multiple times after it was given). Cindy Shebley showed us how to use Facebook for our businesses. Cliff Ennico spoke on tax and legal answers. Marsha Collier spoke on customer service as the new marketing. Melinda Jackson showed sellers how to start and market Bay seller groups. Debbie Levitt spoke on store and listing designs that drive sales. Lynn Dralle covered product sourcing. And Alex Shui, Amanda Thomas, and Griff joined me on an eBay employee panel.

Informative and fun has been one of the unspoken mantras of eBay Radio and eBetsy, Griff and Lee kept the legacy going in grand style.

And on a side note, I want to thank Melinda Jackson and all of the twitter folks for campaigning to get me to the party. Let’s hope I can make it back next year! (Hopefully alongside RBH)

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Social media is hot. Even though its been around several years now, the business potential for social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter is still where eBay and Amazon were ten years ago.

Earlier this week, I came across a great program by Ryan Diess that was just what I was looking for to make some money and  expand my business via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

I have read every book about Twitter and Facebook that I could buy on Amazon –and purchased three different training programs on Clickbank. None of them worked for me.

I have only known Ryan for about a year, but he is one of the internet marketing good guys. He stands behind everything he sells and gives great customer support.

Ryan has discovered a woman in his home town that’s banking over $2500 a week
just messing around on Twitter and Facebook.

Click here to see how she does it.

If the link doesn’t work, you can copy/paste it:  http://budurl.com/wuee

Her name is Kate and what she’s doing is so brain dead simple a 10 year old could do it.

She has NO product

She had NO website

She is NOT an affiliate…

…and all her traffic is FREE!

This is a short, 17 minute video and even if you decide its not for you, it won’t be a waste of your time.

Cheers,
Skip McGrath

P.S. I know Ryan and he often pulls down videos without warning when he is afraid the market will become saturated. So be sure and watch this while you can.Up to $2500 a week for messing around is a TON of money.

So please watch now.  If you are at work and can’t watch, then be sure and watch it when you get home.

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