Monthly Archive for December, 2006

Behavioral Marketing sounds Orwellian..and perhaps it is. In any case, by understanding your customers not only in terms of the product they are seeking but also in terms of how they search the web, you can effectively drive sales to your most profitable venue.

Listen in as I describe how I use eBay auctions to legally “sign-post” traffic there to my e-commerce site and no, its not about a link from my “About Me” page.

I examine a million dollar per month eBay seller; how he sells what he sells and learn how much he makes selling PS3s…its all there, right in the listing.

Yet another new stand-alone auction site… well designed,a few Web 2.0 bells & whistles but still, the question is why?

I found a new site that takes the idea of urgency and by focusing on a large metropolitan area, delivers goods quicker and cheaper than FedEx.

Google has a third-party sitemap reference list that is a very good place to get up to speed on a critical component for the successful SEO of your site.

Another article in a major daily newspaper that shouts “fraud” and names major web sites…but does so only to attract attention.

An article in USA Today regarding micro-businesses and out- sourcing. Are you willing to consider the investment of hiring third-parties to do professional work for your business? Can you afford not to?

A site that gives you the tools to root out 85% discounted merchandise on Amazon.

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Links from this week’s show:

Behavioral Targeting & MSN - The days of targeting consumers by keywords only are coming to an end.
Million Dollar eBay Seller & PS3 Pricing - Seller inadvertently(?) reveals how much he’s paying/making on PS3’s.

Flippid Auction Site - Another auction site described as a good place for people who “want stuff” or “have stuff”…what a marvelous idea!

LicketyShip - Interesting reemergence of an 90’s idea..but this time it might just work.

Google Sitemap Third-Party Sources - Why not start with the businesses Google recognizes?

Baltimore Sun Article on Fraud - Crying wolf sells papers.

USA Today Article on Microbusinesses and Outsourcing - Interesting article on how to grow your business without necessarily adding extra desks.

Amazon Shopping Tricks and Hacks - One stop hacking formulas.

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Infoworld posts an interesting article about the underwhelming performance of eBay Express.

In short, the sales aren’t there and this comes as no surprise. The article cites a large seller with some 4,000 items listed in Express, resulting in 33 sales. Anecdotal reports from other sellers, both large and small, report similar results.

Why? Well, it certainly isn’t because of lack of promotion. eBay has been tub-thumping Express vigorously to its membership and via the media since April. The problem is that eBay Express is simply a repositioning of the BIN ( Buy It Now) items from the parent site without any discriminating message that sets it apart as a value or marketing statement. Express items do not represent a unique product set as they are a sub-set of items already available on the parent site.

eBay’s rationale was that “Express” would convey the idea of new items (nothing used is in Express) ready to sell, without the drawn out bidding/auction process. The trouble is, it doesn’t judged by these lackluster results. While urgency is certainly a prime motivator, the marketing of eBay Express demands that potential buyers understand, almost intuitively, the relative difference. And even if they do, that they appreciate and are rewarded for appreciating the difference so much so that they adjust their mind-set regarding the site and thus their browsing habits.

This is a formidable if not impossible task when it comes to eBay. What eBay “means” to the market as a whole has to be realistically understood by those within the company before they set about trumpeting a service that is not a direct extension of whatever the “meaning” is. In eBay’s case, the brand is about first, bargains and secondly about assortment/variety. The speed of transaction has never been a unique statement for eBay. Speed only motivates when juxtaposed (as it is on the parent site) against like-item auction format listings where potential buyers can weigh price against time. There the dynamic makes sense and can actually be used by sellers as a selling strategy by trailing an auction type listing by a listing for the same item at a Buy-It-Now price.

Divorcing the listings from this dynamic renders the BIN items listed and thus eBay Express as simply another e-commerce site, albeit one that still carries with it the inherent problems inherent to the eBay brand itself, namely trust & security…an issue that eBay has only recently begun to address directly regarding the listing of fraudulent brand-name items.

Interestingly, eBay has chosen to emphasize variety (finding “IT” on eBay) rather than the bargain aspect. Why not shout about and thus underscore your most compelling feature, price? As a brand, eBay is as well positioned as any retailer to emphasize price but rarely, if ever, does so. And this pricing advantage is for the most part lost when Express is encountered as a stand alone by buyers. If the buyer finds an item based upon natural search results (on Google, for example), where are they? Do they understand that they are in a sub-set of the site and that their usual encounter with eBay is this time different - “where are the other items/sellers I’m accustomed to seeing?” - and that the heavily advertised “IT”, in terms of variety, is missing as well.

Underestimation or overestimation of your customer’s reasonable and usual expectations when they visit your site should be of paramount concern to any e-commerce site, whether large or small. Confuse yourself about these expectations and I guarantee, your customers will follow suit.

Both eBay and Overstock begin tightening their respective sites against fraudulent listings…however, the rules of engagement from both sites are purposely vague in that which brands being targeted is not clear. The result is the sort of chaos you would expect from an issue that has festered and plagued both sites for so long. Good sellers as well as bad are feeling the heat; listen in as I explain why its all happening now and why its a much larger issue than just fugazi Fendis.

What to make of Google’s announcement that it will drop merchant fees for Google Checkout through 2007?

A site where you can find all of PayPal’s Discount Codes.

While Google and PayPal fight it out, has a third buyer friendly payment alternative quietly emerged?

Shoppers continue to buy more on-line but a recent study points out that buyers are searching from the top of their browser, rather than through shopping portals.

A report that a program has been developed that can sniff out fraudulent eBay sellers by interpreting their selling patterns and associations.

Valuable tips on making your auctions or website as buyer friendly as possible.

I examine one particular seller who is making the most of selling straight from the shelf of a huge home furnishing superstore.

M-bags for overseas book selling, an eBay Typepad Widget and a Google gadget to hurry along last minute Christmas buyers.

A web site that demonstrates how defining and marketing to a specific need can easily differentiate you from any other seller selling like items.

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Links from this week’s show:

eBay’s Agenda for Fighting Fraudulent Listings - Scott Wingo outlines eBay 4 step plan.

Google Checkout Drops Merchant Fees through 2007 - Another shot across PayPal’s bow.

PayPal Coupon Code Center - An on-going list of current PayPal discounts.

Forbes Article On Bill Me Later - Alternative billing for larger ticket purchases that requires minimum info from the buyer and 90 days interest free billing. (PDF file).

On-line Buyer s Plan to Spend More - 41% more..but where they plan to start their shopping is the real story.

Researches Announce Anti-Fraud eBay Data Mining Techniques - Detecting on-line auction fraud before it happens.

10 Tips to Make Your Auction or Web Site Customer Centric - Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Don’t Leave These Elements Off Your Auction or Site - 6 essential elements.

eBay Seller Specializing in Big Box Ikea Items - Specialize on what is in the store but not on the store’s web site.

M-Bags Shipping Explained - Save on overseas books/printed material shipping.

Google Christmas Countdown Gadget - Count it down for buyers.

Typepad Widget for eBay Listings - Allows users to list the items they’re selling on eBay within their TypePad blog.

Alzheimer’s Store - Excellent study on how to identify the market and then gather the right items to sell.

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How about an interest-free loan for 6 months from your friends at eBay and
PayPal?

If you qualify for PayPal Buyer Credit (hurry, it expires 12/31/06), you can pay no interest and make no payments for 6 months if you spend $500 or more on a transaction.  For
transactions from $50 to $499, the term is 3 months.

eBay clearly intends this to be a holiday shopping promotion but there is no
rule that says you can’t use it to bootstrap yourself into a nice little
profit-making sideline.  Here’s an idea how you might do it:

Remember we talked about scrap metal a few weeks back?  Many of these eBay
precious metal lots contain jewelry that can be repaired or even fashioned into
new items.  You can get just about everything you need to fix gold and silver
jewelry right there on eBay, plus packing materials and labels.  Instant
business.  Roll your profits over and now that you have real cash money, you
can source merchandise from outside of eBay too.  Just keep growing and keep
going.

Even simpler:  Use this promotion to buy commodity items on eBay.  By
commodity, I mean items that keep their value.  Hold for a few weeks and sell
on eBay in January when traditionally sales are brisk.  Sure, you’ll pay eBay
and PayPal fees, but now you have cash and as in the above example, you can
source stuff from anywhere.  When you pay off the loan in late May, the pile of
cash that’s left over is all yours.  Pretty good for starting with zero!

I’m just scratching the surface here.  I’ll bet there’s a clever lad or lassie
out there who can make this promotion sit up and beg for them.

fLufF
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Phil Wolfe in Skype Journal posted that Skype moved marketing functions from countries back to London in a reorganization announced yesterday.

Meanwhile, Russel Shaw has posted a very good analysis of eBay’s less than clear explanation for how exactly implementing Skype will benefit eBay sellers, stressing the lack of empirical evidence (case histories) of Skype as an effective business tool.

All are good points that essentially boil down to this: Skype is problematic in that requires enrollment of at least one party in the service and steps to explain (and understand) the various functions of Skype (e.g. “SkypeIn, SkypeOut, etc.)…all of this driven by the fact that Skype-to-Skype calls are free within North America…but “free” goes away at the end of ‘06.

As is so typical of the web, the “free” aspect seems to have overridden what the business purpose of the service is, specifically when it comes to doing business and facilitating communication with your customers. Introducing any unrelated step, such as Skype to the uninitiated, is a profound disruption of the sales process. And even though Skype claims millions of users, this doesn’t translate into any practical small business application.
Which brings us to what exactly is Skype all about? Communication.The call is everything, being able to speak to the customer answers not only specifics re the item but also goes along way in humanizing the process and thus addressing the security/scam shadow that is so much better dealt with conversing seller to customer. In addition, it presents the perfect cross-sell, up-sell opportunity.

Certainly whether or not a seller uses or desires phone contact depends a great deal upon the items being sold. Low-end items are arguably ill suited…but to dismiss the call option out of hand is a mistake.

I use Vonage VOIP and under the business plan and as one feature, I pay $4.99 per month for an inbound 800# (100 free minutes per month. 4.9 cents per minute thereafter). Regardless of which service you use, the point is that the 800# is an inexpensive,familiar & seamless extension of the sales process…customers simply call me and I get on with answering their questions and closing the sale. No hesitancy…No Skype-centric issues…I’m not selling Skype and my customers aren’t interested in learning more about Skype. It is irrelevant for both of us. Why then should it interpose itself into our conversation?
One of these days Skype may rule the airwaves and thus earn a natural place in your auction selling but until such time, it is an superfluous intrusion.

Recent controversial changes at Overstock.com Auctions have resulted in an interesting and often heated exchange regarding the future of the marketplace. Listen in as I examine what is being planned, what mistakes were made and where the conversation is headed. Whether or not you actually sell on Overstock, the evolving dialog presents fascinating lessons for every seller on the realities, limitations and potential for small businesses in the increasingly competitive on-line market.

Thinking like a Powerseller means being aware of opportunities at every turn..listen in as I explain two recent instances that offered me the chance to expand my business and how you too can do the same.

Following up on my recent discussion of gross profit/markup calculators, I talk about a site that offers an excellent eBay/PayPal fee calculator that really helps fine-tune your auction profitability.

A source for Private Label manufacturers/suppliers/wholesalers that is not your usual list of suspects.

A simple e-commerce site that proves if you know your customer and your product, the sales will naturally follow.

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Links from this week’s show:

Overstock.com’s Patrick Byrne’s Latest Post - A detailed explanation re the changes on the site.

eBCalc - eBay/PayPal Fee Calculator that really gets into the nitty-gritty.

PrivateLabelSourcing - Easy-to-use, accurate site for retailers, wholesalers, brokers, suppliers and service companies to find each other and identify business opportunities.

TarpTent - A simple site that demonstrates how a unique product and a clear understanding of the customer equals intelligent design.

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