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Make Your Items 'Easy to Buy' this Holiday Season
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October 2003 |
When your computer and electronics items are "Easy to Buy," they're easier to sell. This holiday season, take part in eBay's exciting Easy to Buy program, promoting new Buy It Now items to qualified buyers.
eBay's Easy to Buy promotion is designed specifically for Buy It Now sellers, who sell new, unused products, such as cutting-edge PCs, digital plasma and LCD televisions, and cellular phones.
Participating is easy: After qualifying for the program, simply include a line of cut-and-paste HTML (provided by eBay) in your Buy It Now item descriptions. Then, these listings will be promoted as part of eBay's "Easy to Buy" merchandising event.
Review the benefits of listing Easy to Buy items:
- Increased Exposure: eBay will be merchandising qualified Easy to Buy listings throughout the holiday shopping season, driving more customers to your items.
- Additional Sales: Easy to Buy listings are preferred by buyers, enabling them to purchase a new product immediately during the holidays. No risk, no delays.
- Stronger Positioning: Easy to Buy listings promote the advantages of buying at a fixed price, making your items more appealing to buyers.
To qualify for the program, sellers must:
- Join the PayPal Buyer Protection Program.
- Offer new merchandise that is unused.
- List their product with a Buy it Now price. Fixed Price Store items are not eligible.
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Every Computers Seller Should Know
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September 2003 |
Here they are-ten tips no serious eBay computers seller can live with out.
#1. Guarantee Your Products and Services
Develop a sensible, well-articulated sales policy that covers all the bases and delivers real peace of mind. Then deliver on your promises. The result: you'll become a trusted favorite. Ideally, offer unconditional money-back guarantees. The risk-reward ratio is in your favor: increased business versus a few returns. Also, consider offering shipping rebates on multiple purchases. This incentive works.
#2. Automate Listing and Shipping
Upgrade to eBay's suite of auction management tools as soon as possible, including Selling Manager, Turbo Lister, and Seller's Assistant. These tools release your potential, enabling you to list, track, and complete your eBay sales more quickly and professionally. List items with ready-made templates, schedule your listings, bulk-upload inventory, automate buyer emails, and more.
Invest in a postage scale and print your postage online or pay for a pickup/delivery service, such as Fed Ex Ground. In short, there's no point wasting time at the post office. Acquire free shipping supplies from USPS (Priority Mail) or via arrangements with local businesses. Fast, professional shipping generates repeat business.
#3 Develop Discount Supply Relationships
Competition can be fierce in every category. Secure a resale license from your state and make volume purchases from wholesale dealers, suppliers, and manufactures. You'll garner crucial discounts you can pass along to your customers, making you more competitive. For wholesale deals, visit eBay's Wholesale category. Also, increase supply by becoming a Trading Assistant.
#4 Look Like a Pro: Photos, Listing Template
Don't underestimate the importance of high-quality photos in your listings. For many items, the better the photo, the more likely the sale. Consider building a photo stage and hiring a college student or local amateur, part-time or by the hour, to shoot your items.
Spend time developing a graphical (HTML) listing template, specific to your merchandise. Experiment with different layouts, colors, and text treatments. Look like an expert and a professional, not a lazy amateur. In a competitive marketplace, that makes all the difference. Looking good is easy with eBay's Seller's Assistant and Listing Designer.
#5 Include Keywords in Your Listing Titles & Descriptions
Most eBay buyers use eBay Search-80%, in fact. To capture these bidders and buyers, include the words they search with in your listing titles and descriptions. Bookmark your category's eBay Seller Newsflash and Hot Item list to keep abreast of popular search terms.
#6 Properly Positioning & Merchandising Your Listings
Consider your starting prices carefully. This will dramatically affect your item positioning. If possible, start auctions low in relation to their fair-market value. You'll increase bids and there's no better billing than that. Use reserves sparingly. Improperly applied, they can damage your credibility.
Also, discover the optimum times to start and end your auctions to increase bidding. Then, schedule and automate their launch with Seller's Assistant. Consider ten-day listings that cover two weekends. Time auctions to capture bidders in multiple time zones.
Each item you sell deserves the right listing format. Develop a strategy that leverage's eBay entire family of formats: Auction, Buy It Now, Fixed Price, Second Chance Offer, and more. Also, open an eBay Store to brand your eBay business, economically expand your inventory, and cross-merchandise your items.
Take advantage of eBay listing upgrades: Gallery, Bold, Featured Plus, List in 2 Categories, and more. Also, consider advertising on targeted eBay search result pages. If you qualify for eBay's PowerSeller program, take advantage!
#7 Make PayPal a Payment Option
Enable your customers to pay immediately online with PayPal. Buyers prefer it. Don't risk sales by not offering it. Faster payment also means greater cash flow and operating capital to handle the unforeseen.
#8 Track the Market with your my eBay Page
Your "my eBay" page is a powerful tool for tracking the market. With the Favorites tab, create Completed Item searches for the items you sell. This will give you a daily read on current prices for your inventory. Also, be sure to follow your category's Hot Items list.
#9 Make Positive Feedback a Priority
Live up to your promises and ensure positive feedback. This is your ticket to attracting new customers, which handled correctly, become regular customers. To encourage positive feedback, describe your items accurately (including damage), manage expectations, offer online payment (PayPal, preferably), package professionally, and ship ASAP.
#10. Listen to the Experts-Your eBay Community
Get involved in your eBay community. It'll make you a better eBay seller and citizen. Become active in eBay's discussion boards. You will find the answers you seek. Attend special eBay events, such as eBay Live. Consider attending an eBay University class.
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Stay True to Your School
Will Your College Rank #1?
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August 2003 |
| Every year 90 million college football fans spend billions on sports related apparel and memorabilia. eBay's Stay True to Your School event is designed to establish eBay Sports as the #1 destination for college football fans. Buyers can bid on hot items and enter the Stay True to Your School Sweepstakes to win the Ultimate Fan Experience, including $5,000 and a VIP package for the winner and nine guests to their school's homecoming game.
What is it?
- A special promotion to increase your sales of college related merchandise during the peak buying season.
- A heavily promoted event that will drive traffic to the eBay sports category
- More merchandising by us means more bidders for you!
When is it?
September 1st-30th
Why should I participate?
Fall is the peak season for sales of college-sports related merchandise. And studies show that college football fans are also big fans of the NFL and Major League Baseball. The Stay True to Your School promotion will funnel more buyers to eBay Sports - and that means more customers for you.
What do I need to do?
Increase the volume of your listings in the following categories to coincide with the promotion period:
- College-NCAA
- Baseball-MLB
- Football-NFL
FAQs:
1. How will eBay promote the event?
eBay will launch a major marketing effort with print, radio, pr and on-line advertising to drive traffic to a special splash page-www.ebay.com/collegefootball. The campaign includes:
- National advertising in Sports Illustrated and other weekly and bi-weekly national sports magazines as well as national newspapers.
- National advertising on ESPN Radio
- The eBay Sports Stay True to Your School Sweepstakes
- Banners across the site
- Feature banners on the eBay sports page and home page
- Satellite media tour and audio news release with ESPN's Stuart Scott
- Co-marketing with Internet partners
- Radio promotion in five major markets
- Press release and PR outreach to the media
2. How can my school win the college scholarship?
At the end of the promotion, a contribution will be made to the general scholarship fund of the school category with the largest sales. The school will also be named the eBay 2003 National Champion.
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Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
