This is my journey as an E-commerce Consultant
Posts tagged ebay-strategy
eBay ‘ending soonist’ back on the cards now we have TRS?
Well, after fiddling around with strategy to work with best match over the last….what 12 months? It seems that the lack of exposure that my clients get for not quite being Top Rated Sellers (although, one now will be at the next run – slack eBay account manager to blame) pushes the strategy back to ‘ending soonest’ simple, but sometimes not affordable….
For example, a client who had been surviving quite well on 30 day listings, saw his traffic/eBay sales plummet when TRS was introduced. For the first time his Amazon sales ‘out did’ his eBay sales.
So, what to do? Well we experimented with 5 day fixed price listings, and guess what – you give more money to eBay and you get more exposure.
Sales have increased by 400% and just in time for the Christmas rush really, so he is cashing in on eBay AND Amazon.
Amazon has been stonking this Christmas for all my clients, really come into this own this year. A lot of clients now match or exceed their eBay sales with Amazon and are investing more time on ‘off eBay’ channels.
So why do I think TRS is to blame?
Well one of my clients lists in two main categories. One with a few TRS sellers and one with none. His sales from one category have plummeted due to the presence of TRS, but the other excelled (possibly because his strategy is unaffected by any TRS dominance?)
Soon he will be a TRS and kill off everyone else in THAT category. All’s fair in love and retail but if shouldn’t really be this way. In effect, its not the eBay way.
So in short be a TRS soon or don’t bother with eBay as a business model for lower value items unless you are going to support the fees associated with shorter listings when your Powerseller discount reduces. Large ticket items that have a higher profit margin you can be more flexible with as always.
Use Amazon and your own retail site for the good stuff!
Research and Define an eBay Strategy – Coffee Machines Example
Research is essential to finding your eBay Strategy. I use Terapeak for product research but you need clear and simple steps:
Strategy Report for a Company Selling Coffee Machines
eBay Keyword Suggestions:
Generic:
Coffee Machine
Drinks Machine
Coffee Maker
Drinks Station
Coffee StationCurrent Advertising Campaign: No press release since Nov 2006 – USA
Terapeak Results:
Coffee Machine:
Top Days: Sunday, Monday and Thursday
Best Duration: 7 days
Format: Auctions 1875 sold in 90 days, Fixed Price: 470, Store: 66
Times of Day between 10am and 10 pm peaking between 7 and 10pm
Best Categories: Home and Garden, Business and Office
Essential Features: GalleryDrinks Machine:
Top Days: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
Best Duration: 7 days
Best Format: Auctions 244, Fixed Price: 37, Store: 7
Times of day 9am and 11pm peaking between 7pm and 9pm
Category: Business and Office
Essential Features: GalleryJunes Statistics:
GMS: £349.27
eBay Fee: £95.95
Close Rate: 7%Price Comparison:
Coffee Machines – Best Price and Availability for Brand £79.99 – £222
First I always use the power of Google. Googles external keyword tool will give you a set of keywords and you can check the search volume. I always trust in the fact we are creatures of habit and only really search in one way, so product trends on Google will be close to that of eBay. Unless anyone out there searches really differently on eBay and Google. I certainly don’t!
Once you have some basic keyword with a higher search volume, you can pop these into Terapeak. Now, Terapeak wil give you a nice summary, but make sure you expand the selections as sometimes the ‘average’ lies somewhat and you need to take a human view of the data.
Take a look at your pricing in relation to what has sold. Try to pick our items that are doing well, for examples Bathroom Stuff. Taps are ten a penny and the prices are low. Buy glass scales, bathroom mirrors and vanity basins are fetching decent prices and selling well. So if you were a bathroom retailer you would place your glass scales, mirrors and vanity basins on the core marketplace (auction and fixed price) and your other items in your eBay shop as cheap listings. It is very easy to loose money in fee’s on eBay if you don’t keep a tight watch on your marketplace.
