The Top 5 Secrets To Selling On eBay

Lots of folks tell me they want to become an online seller. Too many try to tell you how easy it is and others don't want to put forth the effort to make a few dollars. In my experience, every dollar in helps out towards extras at home and with family.

Bottom line? It isn’t simple – especially the part where you actually try to make a profit. You have to keep up with changes in the marketplace — like shifts in consumer buying behaviors — study from tried and true experts, and practice!

The best place to get a feel for any online sales is to begin on eBay. I’ve written many bestselling books on the subject, and I’m a Top Rated Seller on the site. Remember that you can’t make a dime if you don’t actually list anything, and you probably won’t be successful without making a few mistakes.  My newest book, eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies 4th edition, answers just about any question you may have from sourcing products to staying in line with the tax man.

But, you can also learn from the successes and mistakes of others. So in this post, I want to offer some advice on how to create listings that sell – and how to earn the most profits from those sales!

How to Use Video Active Content in Your eBay eCommerce Sales

We all know that video sells! Whether you show a product demonstration, or just have a video (cat videos?) that make people smile.

eBay made changes in how you can use active content in your listings, and here's the workaround. I put this fun video in a listing. Below is the code for the video that I used:

<!-- BEGIN LINKED VIDEO -->
<div class="ytvideo">
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QtvTE3m5jpM?rel=0">
<img src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/QtvTE3m5jpM/0.jpg"></a>
<p class="yt_hd">"The Beverly Hillbillies" Opening and Closing Theme Song - YouTube</p>
<p class="yt_ft">Video will open in a new window</p>
<span class="yt_tag" style="display:none">[isdntekvideo]</span></div>
<style> .ytvideo { margin:.5em auto; max-width:480px; font-family:arial; text-align:center; position:relative; min-height:120px; overflow:hidden; background-color:#555; } .ytvideo p { position:absolute; margin:0; color:white; background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.5); } .ytvideo .yt_hd { font-size:16px; width:100%; height:28px; line-height:28px; text-align:left; top:0; left:0; padding-left:10px; overflow:hidden; } .ytvideo .yt_ft { font-size:11px; width:100%; bottom:0; left:0; } .ytvideo img { display:block; max-width:100%; border:0; } .ytvideo a:after { content:"\A0\25BA"; position:absolute; width:60px; height:50px; left:0; top:0; right:0; bottom:0; margin:auto; border:0; border-radius:10px; color:white; background:rgba(0,0,0,.6); font-size:24px; line-height:50px; cursor:pointer; } .ytvideo a:hover:after { background:#CC181E; }</style>
<!-- END LINKED VIDEO -->

If you'd like to customize your own video for your listing, head on over to this page from eBay user shipscript, and make your own!
http://www.isdntek.com/tagbot/YouTubeConverter.htm

Visit my coolebaytools.com website for more tips!

10 Strategies That Guarantee You More Profit on eBay and eCommerce Sales

 

I'm very proud that the ninth edition of eBay For Dummies has published. This fully revised edition is based on the previous editions and my 20 years buying and selling on eBay. My store is open every day that I am in town and I ship items to buyers every week.

Selling on eBay can be a way to make a part time or full time living. For me, eBay sales enabled my daughter and I to run a business together and to subsidize the many things we needed when she was growing up. I even paid for her college tuition with eBay sales. She graduated debt free.

You've Got to be "In It" to Win It Never Applied More #GoGlobal

After I graduated and got in the real world of advertising, my observances of the small business people taught me far more than a classroom ever could. There were those (no matter how great their customer service) who just couldn't make a go of it. Others succeeded in ways which were a mystery to me. Dumb luck, I guess.

But for those who achieved some modicum of success, they found their niche and were able to grow. Their business built jobs for family and others. Some expanded their enterprise to other locations and many, eventually online.

These people took a challenge and grabbed it. They worked out what they knew and studied to learn more of what they didn't. It takes a special kind of entrepreneur to succeed and build a business for a lifetime. It really made no difference whether they chose to stay small or to expand. Their accomplishment spoke volumes.

Now that anyone with a plan and some gumption has access to an international marketplace on the Internet, it brings new challenges. I would have never thought that my small, online business would be shipping product to Moscow, or Buenos Aires or Tokyo. But I have; and now service customers worldwide.

Which brings me to the point of this post. The idea of sending merchandise to customers overseas used to scare the heck out of me. I knew there were customs regulations and I knew it would be ever more expensive (even if the customer paid the shipping).  Who would even care to spend extra to buy from me?

I took the step first by selling action figures and opened up sales to a worldwide audience. Amazingly, even in the early 2000s, there were people willing to buy and pay a premium for my goods!

The first step is getting past that fear. When businesses are growing and succeeding, there always seems to be a similar barrier: expanding globally. I’ve worked with more business owners than I can count who just don’t want to go the extra mile (pun intended) and expand their markets internationally.

There are various reasons entrepreneurs hesitate before taking the global leap. For one, there’s a popular myth that shipping across borders significantly changes the status quo. Yes, no one likes change, but the logistics behind international shipping can be just as easy to navigate as domestic shipments once you know the rules.

An easy way to get your feet wet is to take a single product and start selling on an established international marketplace like eBay. For any ecommerce business, I suggest starting slowly and first deciding which products and countries blend best for your business. Read my article here for tips on how to save money while expanding your business globally.

This week I will go to IRCE (Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition). If you ever intend on stepping into a full-blown ecommerce business, there is no better place to start (once you've read my books - of course). The sessions are most excellent sources of information.

Granted, going to the conference is quite expensive for a small business. So I recommend going for the first time to just the exhibits, where a pass is $75 (when you purchase in advance). The exhibits at IRCE cover a 250,000 square foot show floor and boast over 600 vendors showing off the latest in technologies for the new retail economy. The ideas that will come to your mind when walking the floor will be dazzling. Plenty of ROI to cover your transportation and hotel!

No doubt when you're there, you will see a badge of someone you've met online or a representative for a service you've considered using. Its the perfect place to get recommendations and network with other businesses like yourself.

I will be at IRCE 2015 sharing the experience recording videos (using Periscope too) and doing a book signing in the Pitney Bowes booth (#743) on Wednesday and Thursday.

Pitney Bowes has been around a long time, and as a forward thinking company, has some new ideas for cross-border commerce. Talk to one of the people in their booth and learn how to take the next big step in enterprise level fulfillment. They will have experts who can help you develop and execute your international growth strategy.

It's a big step from shipping First Class International packets to moving your full business online. The Pitney Bowes folks are there to hold your hand to help you succeed. Stop by the booth and say hello. Tweet me @MarshaCollier or @PB_digital during and after the show and we'll be glad to point you in the right direction.

How to Reinvent an Ecommerce Business in Less Than 90 Days

When I first started my mentorship with Pitney Bowes Smallbiz Mentorship Contest winner Julie Wiley, I knew it would be a challenge. Here was a woman with years of entrepreneurial experience moving from a full-time job to a home-based, online business.

Julie had been profitably selling on eBay since 2002 on the side, so a jump to a full ecommerce business was not a big stretch. When deciding about her business plan in 2008, she wanted to select a theme that was fairly recession proof. She reasoned that people were always getting married so she named her eBay store I Do Bridal and Gifts.

She also wanted her business to be unique in the marketplace so she widened her product offerings. Tapping her creative side, she began making varied custom items – such as canvas wall décor, glassware and creative bachelorette favors. These items not only build her bottom line, but require less inventory investment. Smart move.

Thinking further into the bridal idea, Julie came upon the thought that remarriage is almost as popular as first-time marriages, so she felt that second-time brides might enjoy a place of their own. She named her new website Second I Do’s.  Despite doing all that seemed right, she was struggling to turn a profit.

We dug in, and together we addressed many of the issues that face small businesses. Here’s what we changed:

• Mobile–izing the Website. The first thing I did was to check the Second I Do’s website. Although it was chock full of great merchandise, the layout was dated. Although the host told Julie her site was optimized for mobile. It clearly was not. We negotiated for a new template, but the template that was offered up was incredibly basic (but could be seen on mobile). After checking the latest from different providers, we selected a professional Shopify ecommerce website which offered contemporary templates and excellent mobile conversion. This also cut down Julie’s monthly expenses. The new version of the SecondIDos.com website will be live on Shopify by December 1st.
• Getting Centered. They are numerous popular ecommerce portals and Julie was trying hard to do a good job on many of them. It’s a lot of work to keep up to date on changes and relisting and listing the same merchandise on many sites. We looked at her monthly sales on each platform and evaluated the ROI. We narrowed her alternative selling platforms to the ones which performed best: eBay, Etsy and Artfire.

• Sharpening Keywords and SEO. When you have a lot of merchandise up for sale online, the mere act of listing many items makes it easy to let item titles get stale. I went over about a hundred of Julie’s eBay items and made suggestions on new titles based on keywords. In ecommerce, keywords are king. They are the SEO for your items for sale. I recommended she be sure to use words that fully describe the items and fill the entire permissible title space. We also went through and freshened up listing descriptions to answer any question a prospective customer might have.

We visited Google Analytics and checked visits, time on site, average pages viewed and bounce rates (how many people leave your site without visiting other pages). We discussed the factors that needed to be improved. Moving her main site to Shopify, with its open layout, should handily increase sales.

• Cash Flow. Many ecommerce businesses get weighed down in inventory. Unless the inventory is evergreen (and fashion rarely is), it’s time to slash prices and move merchandise. We also looked at monthly costs related to websites, subscriptions and payment providers and compared these to current options. We managed to pare down her monthly output significantly by using many of the lower priced and often free services.

For example, there was a paid store app on the Second I Do’s Facebook page, so we switched from that to Auction Items from eSoftie, a free solution that allowed Julie to send her eBay items to a Facebook store. Setup was simple and took only a few minutes for the entire inventory to populate.

• Social Media Marketing. We went over the best practices that I lay out in my book Social Media Commerce For Dummies and gave her tips on how to better engage and build a community of customers.

Julie had a nominal presence on most of the social sites. Since social media seems to be everywhere these days, we examined the demographics and decided in which sites Julie would put the most effort – and agreed to focus only on those.  We also set up Google Alerts so she could monitor mentions of her brand and industry on the web and take best advantage of sales opportunities (as well as to derive content for sharing).

Setting up a social media plan can take a while and generally done after the ecommerce platforms are mostly complete. So it might be a while before Julie’s Twitter feed ramps up. I suggested Julie use Buffer to better organize the timing, so as not to send out tweets and posts in rapid fire fashion, leaving room for responding and connecting.

In the three months I worked with Julie, we covered more than I can possibly list here (I can’t give away all her secrets)! In doing so, I was reminded that mentoring is a two-way street; a partnership. When mentoring, you always gain a new point of view on many things. A recent post of Julie’s on Facebook signaled to me that we’d been successful:

“I have never been so busy working from home. Part of it is due to my mentor, Marsha Collier who has given me many “tools” I can use to become a better ecommerce business. Unfortunately, with the new tools comes time spent learning and utilizing them and when you are trying to sell to generate income, it can seem like these tools take away from your selling. I am learning that in order to be successful at selling, I need to have the proper foundation laid. Thanks, Marsha. I know next year my business will be positioned so much better for success!”

Thank you Julie. It was a great experience for me as well!

This article originally appeared on the Pitney Bowes blog

Advice on 5 Perils and 8 Complexities eCommerce Entrepreneurs Face Every Day

Consulting or mentoring a small business owner isn’t as easy as working with a large business. Most businesses with several employees have already assigned tasks and jobs to different people. An entrepreneur is working on one's own and you're wearing many hats. 

So just I started mentoring the winner of the Pitney Bowes Small Business mentorship contest Julie Wiley owner of I Do Bridal & Gifts. It made me remember just how many points a small business owner needs to touch; I guess I have come to take them for granted. Working with her reminds me of the many tasks that need to be covered on a daily basis. 

Being a soloprenuer requires an “in the trenches” education. Luckily there are lots of books (mine included) that will help you learn new and interesting business methods that may previously have been foreign to you. The learning experience is broad. For an ecommerce business, as an example, the entrepreneur wears all these hats: 

• Merchandise Buyer. Being on top of industry trends and being able to find merchandise (at the right price) for web sales.
• Bookkeeper. Even if the business has a bookkeeper, the owner needs to watch financial trends and prepare the numbers for consolidation by a professional.
• Legal Assistant. Every business needs to file for appropriate licenses and permits from the state and federal governments, plus keep track of DBA and required business filings for your city.
• Website maintenance. The website is a one-man operation. Entrepreneurs have a picture of what they want and how they want it to look on the web. Reviewing and applying ongoing updates are part of the job, as well as being cognizant of SEO and Google Analytics.
• Listing items for sale. Aside from the small business commerce website, items need to be listed on e commerce platforms to increase sales, build their brand and eventually build traffic back to their own website. Descriptions need to be well written to encourage a buyer to click the buy button.
• Photographer. If you’re selling items on the web, you’re going to need good images. This takes a certain amount of equipment - and experience. Snapping off pictures quickly just doesn’t work; there is a lot to keep in mind. Click here for best practices for taking photos for online selling
• Shipping Department. Shipping is often the most daunting task for a small business (it takes up a full chapter in my books). Learning the ins and outs and updates on regulations is of utmost importance. Many small businesses dilute their bottom line here, through inaccurate and expensive shipping decisions.
• Chief Marketing Officer. Being close to your business makes the entrepreneur the ultimate expert. Armed with that knowledge, you need to apply social media and promotional best practices to improve sales online. Tread the thin line between marketing and possible spamming.

The tasks above become part of the business’ daily routine. But following a routine over months and maybe years can cause an entrepreneur to get stale. We all often fall into habits that may end up hurting our sales efforts.  Here are five common pitfalls of which to be aware:

1. If sales start to lag don’t blame the platforms you are selling on right away. Be sure that you are updating your titles regularly using the most popular keywords that describe your item. Better descriptor keywords (just like SEO) can help you rank higher in the site’s search.
2. Signing up and selling on multiple ecommerce sites because your sales are lagging and you think expanding is a good idea. Take a look at your core listings and see what you can improve before abandoning ship for another shiny site, thereby further weakening your views.
3. Money can drain slowly, even at $5 a month; subscribing to (and paying for) multiple services that you don’t need or use is a waste. Unsubscribe!
4. Not checking the competition! Every time you list of relist an item online, be sure to search the platform (and other vendors on the web) to see what the going price is. If others are successfully selling an item that you are not, take a close look at their descriptions, pictures and pricing to see if you can’t be better.
5. Keep your listings fresh. Add additional photos to your item listings. The more those visitors can see, the more likely they are to click “buy.”

I have been selling online since 1996, and yes, I do get complacent. Much of what I’ve learned is from the ecommerce school of hard knocks. But after almost 20 years of selling online and researching for my books, I’ve got a strong grasp on what it takes to succeed. Keep learning and stay on top of trends, your ecommerce business will bring you a full time - or a side income, your choice.

Someone complained to me on Twitter about selling on eBay, you might find exchange amusing:

@cheryljnu It is only a second job when you are successful ;)
— Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier) October 7, 2014

3 Proven Practices to Build Your Twitter Reputation, Grow Followers and Get Retweets

Twitter can be a daunting platform for the beginner. I know that the first thing you want to do is build your audience size and you'd like to get people to follow you. This can be accomplished (it can't be done overnight - sorry) and in this post I give you simple tools to build a great reputation and a stellar community.

Follow people and make connections

Start first with selecting keywords that describe your interests and your business. Then use them to find people to follow. When you find interesting people, follow them and pursue an alliance.

• Search for people on directories by topic at Tweetfind, and Followerwonk where you can search Twitter bios for keywords. Enter your favorite topics and find others in WeFollow. Twitter search is also a good tool. I'd use each tool.
• Look for Hashtags (the # symbol used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet) on Twitter that relate to your business. You can also click on a hashtag that you see on Twitter (or a trending topic) to see who is talking about it. 
• Find twitter lists from influencers. You'll find people who have hundreds, thousands (in some cases hundreds of thousands) of followers. To organize large amounts of people, pros curate Twitter Lists (which can be private or public). To find people in a specific niche, go to a profile page and click the down arrow next to the word More. You will find a link for public lists that the user has created (and has subscribed to) as well as lists on which other people have listed them. This is a great resource to find like-minded Twitter members. For example, Margie Clayman (Director of Marketing at Clayman & Associates in Ohio) has a list of her Top 100 on Twitter. I have a short one on eBay sellers.
• Embrace #FollowFriday. On Fridays you will see hashtagged Tweets with #FF or #FollowFriday. Click on the names in the Tweet and read the person's bio, if you like what you see, you've found somebody new to follow. Be sure to say hello too.

Once you follow someone? Don't immediately Tweet or send them a Direct message requesting a favor or to follow you elsewhere. Get to know them first. Start a conversation! Most importantly, don't un-follow them because they don't follow you back immediately. Follower churning tells everyone that you're not interested in engagement and that you're just trying to build numbers.

USPS Price Hike Hits e-Commerce: Compare USPS, FedEx, UPS [INFOGRAPHIC]

If you're an online seller: eBay, Etsy or website vendor, be prepared to get a kick in the wallet. On Sunday, January 26, new pricing comes into effect.

Our customers all want free shipping but the latest pricing for the USPS may force you to raise your product selling prices. What do these new postage rates mean for your online business (besides higher prices)?

• Flat Rate Priority Mail envelopes stay the same price as in 2013  
• Reduced minimum volume requirement for Priority Mail high volume discounts (CPP and CPP Cubic)
• New Zone 9 created for the Freely Associated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau
• No Commercial price increase for First-Class Package International Service
• Electronic USPS Tracking International Service expanding to additional countries
• New $0.01 discount for First-Class Mail Letters (up to 3.5 oz.) when PC Postage or Meters are used

The folks at Endicia made an easy-to understand pdf outling the 2014 USPS price changes. You can download this valuable information here.

11 Tips for Photographing Items for Online Stores or eBay

The idea behind using images in your web store or eBay listings is to attract the eyes of potential buyers. With that goal in mind, you should try to create the best-looking images possible, no matter what kind of technology you’re using to capture them.

Point-and-shoot may be okay for a group shot at a historical monument, but illustrating your item for sale is a whole different idea. Whether you’re using a smartphone or a digital camera to capture your the images of your item, there are some basic photographic guidelines can give you better results:

Do take the picture of your item in filtered daylight, whenever possible. That way, the camera can catch all possible details and color. If you can’t take your images during the day, use a set of true-color lights.

• Do avoid getting yourself in the photo by shooting your pictures from an angle (see photo). If you see your reflection in the item, move and try again.

• Do forget about fancy backgrounds; they distract viewers from your item. Put small items on a neutral-colored, nonreflective towel or cloth; put larger items in front of a neutral-colored wall or curtain. You’ll crop out almost all the background when you prepare the picture before uploading the image to eBay.

• Do avoid getting yourself in the photo by shooting your pictures from an angle. If you see your reflection in the item, move and try again .For an embarassing see below.

• Do use extra lighting. You can do this with your camera’s flash mode or (even better) with extra photo lighting. Use extra lighting, even when you’re taking the picture outside. The extra lighting acts as fill light — it adds more light to the item, filling in some of the shadowed spots.

• Do us a photo tent or a Cloud Dome (or their new Nimbus Dome for use with smartphones) when shooting pictures of jewelery or collectible merchandise. These devices diffuse the light and allow the details and proper colors to shine.

• Do remember that eBay requires the images must be at least 500 pixels on the longest side. Adjust your camera so you get the largest representaion of your item.

• Do take several acceptable versions of your image. You can choose the best ones later for your listing.

• Do take a close-up or two of detailed areas in macro mode that you want buyers to see (in addition to wide shots of the entire item) if your item relies on detail.

• Do make sure that the items are clean. Cellophane on boxes can get nasty-looking, clothing can get linty, and all merchandise can get dirt smudges. Not only will your items photograph better if they’re clean, they’ll sell better, too.

• Do make sure that you focus the camera; nothing is worse than a blurry picture. If your camera is a fixed-focus model (it can’t be adjusted), get only as close as the manufacturer recommends. Automatic-focus cameras measure the distance and change the lens setting as needed. But just because a camera has an autofocus feature doesn’t mean that pictures automatically come out crisp and clear.

Be Social - Update your New eBay User Profile

If staying social is the key to connecting on the new Web, your eBay profile is the hub of your eBay user interaction. Your eBay "About Me" and your profile pages are the perfect way for customers and the eBay community to get to know you. We like learning about other people, and your eBay profile let folks know with whom they are transacting.

To get to your new profile page, click your user ID on your My eBay page (or any eBay page for that matter). You'll get there even when you click your name in the “Hi” dropdown at the top right of the home page. When you arrive, the page will be prepopulated with any items you are currently selling, your reviews (if you’ve reviewed an item on eBay) and your bio and profile picture if you have previously posted them to a My World page. (NOTE: eBay's My World has been replaced by the profile page). There will also be links to your recent Feedback, your eBay store (if you have one) a link to your current listings

Take an opportunity to edit the page now, it will just take a moment. Personalize your page after you click the "Edit profile" button that appears under your User ID on the page. Once you click that button, small pen icons appear showing you where you can edit the page:

• Uplaod a profile photo: Click the pen icon in the corner of the square next to your user ID. The page will prompt you to upload your profile image. Choose a profile photo that portrays you and your personality. There are no set requirements for size at this point, so I suggest using a close to square headshot. If you do not select a headshot, your face might be too small for folks to see.
• Cover Photo: Just like Facebook,you may upload a photo for the top of your page. Keep inmind that text covers a good deal or the cover photo, so don’t select a picture where the most important spot is at the bottom. When selecting (or cropping) for use as a cover photo, keep in mind eBay’s recommended 1200 pixels x 270 pixels size for best viewing. Also eBay prefers they be smaller than 5MB in size.
• Add Content: Here you have 250 characters to talk about yourself, your business or the items you enjoy selling or buying.

Click the Done editing button when you're through - this should only have taken a few minutes. It's easy to share a link to your profile, or find other buyers and sellers by typing an eBay ID in a URL: www.ebay.com/usr/. My profile page, for example, is http://www.ebay.com/usr/marsha_c.

Be sure to stop by my Cool eBay Tools website for useful tools and tips. Please post and let me have your eBay profile URL. I can’t wait to see the creativity on your eBay profile page!

Social Storytelling Through Book Reviews Promotes Shares

Book reviews can add great content to share in social media and your blog, especially when the books are written on a topic that relates to your customers. But after many years online, I can testify that reviews written without thought can be boring. Don't write a "book report." Let your readers know why the contents of the book resonated with you and how it can help them.

As an online writer -which YOU are- it's your duty to develop content that attracts people and make them want to share. A short (emphasis on the word short) video review can tell a story and be fun to watch. Check the example below posted by +John Lawson for my newly published eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies which he posted yesterday during his Google Hangout. It's a fun take on a serious title.


I hope, if you took the 3 minutes to watch the review, you might want to click the link above and buy my book. Its for any eBay seller, or e-Commerce business who wants to ramp up to professional grade. I'm sure it will give you enough tips to justify the purchase.

Why should I add social media to my e-commerce plan?

Perhaps you've heard that social media can help promote your online business. When we deal in e-commerce, we're often wrapped up with the daily, hum drum of advertising, buying selling and shipping. Who has time to add social media to their day?



For more quick video tips, please stop by my website.

Step By Step Guide to Leaving Feedback on eBay

 Leaving feedback for the seller after your item arrives is an important end to every eBay transaction. Your leaving feedback lets the community (and the seller) how happy you were to do business with this person.
There are several ways to leave feedback for a seller:

• If you’re on the transaction page, click the Leave Feedback link; the Leave Feedback page appears.
• In the Purchase History area of your My eBay page, click the Leave Feedback link next to the transaction.
• In the Feedback Forum, click the Leave Feedback link to see a list of all your completed auctions from the last 60 days for which you haven’t left feedback.
• On your My eBay page, scroll down and on the left side you will see your purchase history. Click there to find the item that's just arrived. Under Actions to the right of the item, you will see a Leave Feedback link, which will take you to the Feedback page.
• Click the Community-->Announcements link, in the main navigation bar, and then click eBay Feedback Forum. On the next page that appears, click the Leave Feedback link.

To leave feedback for a seller, follow these steps:

1. Enter the required information.
   Note that your item number is usually filled in, but if you’re placing feedback from the user’s feedback page, you need to have the number at hand.
2. Choose whether you want your feedback to be positive, negative, or neutral.
3. Type your feedback comment.
4. Fill in your star ratings by clicking the stars next to the questions (see further on, "Giving Detailed Star Ratings Properly ").
   If you decide that the seller’s description was inaccurate, you will have to explain why by clicking next to the explanations that appear
5. Click the Leave Feedback button

In addition to a feedback comment and rating (positive, negative, or neutral), buyers should leave detailed seller ratings, too. After the buyer types a comment, he or she is prompted to rate the seller with one to five stars on four different factors of the transaction. The table below shows the specific rating factors, and a translation of what the stars mean.

To see the rest of the tips (and my personal take on the eBay Star ratings) please click visit the article on my website.

I'm Moving > Posterous Shutters Tuesday 4/30

Posterous, was acquired by Twitter a while ago and Twitter decided to shut Posterous down as of April 30.

Everyone with a blog on Posterous has to move it to another platform. I imagine most people with a Posterous blog moved their stuff to another platform a while ago, but I'm one of those "last minute" kind of people.

Unfortunately I won't be able to take my current subscriber list with me, so if you want to stay in the loop and continue to get interesting content about how to maximize your online endeavors, please consider subscribing to my main blog, Marsha Collier's Musings, online since 2004. It will incorporate the Posterous posts, as well as future ...um ...musings.

In a few weeks, the blog will be incorporated into the latest iteration of Cool eBay Tools. A site a I founded in 1999, which now includes articles tools and tip that encompass eCommerce, Social Media, Customer Service ...and of course, succeeding on eBay.

Thank you all for tuning into my Posterous blog over the last two years.  See you on the other, brand spanking new side!

Image credit: andresr / 123RF Stock Photo

STUDY: Online Customers Prefer FREE Over FAST When It Comes To Delivery

Are you worrying about the recent trend to same-day delivery? Think it will cut into your business? Read on to see how your 24 hour shipping turnaround will stay competitive.

As several major retailers experiment with same-day delivery initiatives, a new study suggests that consumers are more interested in delivery price than speed.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) surveyed 1,500 U.S. consumers and found just 9 percent of the sample group said same-day delivery is a top factor that would improve their online shopping experience, while 74 percent cited free delivery and 50 percent cited lower prices.

EBay, Nordstrom, Wal-Mart,  and many other retailers are beginning to offer the same-day delivery option to consumers in selected markets. These retailers face growing pressure from Amazon.com, which has been offering same-day delivery of selected items in certain cities since 2009.

The survey did find that “affluent millennials”—ages 18 to 34 and with a household income exceeding $150,000—who live in urban areas might be an attractive market for same-day delivery. While these consumers make up only 2 percent of the market, their online spending is about two times more than that of the average U.S. consumer.

BCG suggests that retailers should offer same-day delivery for only a select number of products that are small and light and that carry high margins. Electronics, office supplies, and apparel are likely candidates.

“Same-day delivery will be a niche service in the near future,” Rob Souza, a partner at BCG, said in a release. “Retailers may choose to offer it to build customer loyalty, enhance brand awareness, or keep up with the competition. But it is unlikely to generate significant revenues for either retailers or carriers.”

Affluent millennials are willing to pay up to $10 to receive a delivery the same day, according to the survey, while other consumers are likely to pay up to $6, less than the fee charged by most retailers today. At those rates, same-day delivery would generate between $425 million and $850 million annually in delivery revenues if—as the consumer survey data suggest—up to 2 percent of online orders are fulfilled on the day of purchase.

Despite the relatively modest levels of anticipated revenue, several startups, such as Shutl, Zipments, Instacart, and Postmates, have flocked to the space, and established carriers, such as the U.S. Postal Service and Federal Express, are also running tests.

New York and San Francisco, densely populated cities, are the sites of many of these tests. BCG’s analysis suggests that Boston and Washington, which have large shares of affluent millennials and population densities similar to other U.S. cities, would be more promising places to test national acceptance of same-day delivery.

BCG fielded the survey in November, eliciting a sample that was representative of the U.S. population in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, and household income.

BCG is a global management consulting firm.

via happycustomer.stellaservice.com

 

Visual vs Verbal: Reaching Out to Grab The Customer #storytelling

I love hearing stories about businesses. I'm sure you've heard the apocryphal story about Nordstrom accepting a return of a set of tires, even though they don't sell tires, just to please a customer. (If you haven't, click here to read the full story). The fact that people enjoy repeating the story not only reinforces the mythology, but enforces Nordstrom's reputation for first-rate customer service.

The web can be a pretty cold place when it comes to selling. As customers, it's tough to see through a sales pitch and feel the love for a product or brand. That's the reason why websites need to have comprehensive 'About Us' and Frequently Asked Questions pages. The very best About Us pages tell stories about the people behind the business. The FAQs should be written in an engaging manner - not just filled with techno-fluff and acronyms. Friendly word phrasing is important; just as important as the visual impact of a picture.

If you've heard me speak, you've no doubt heard "post enough pictures to tell the story as if there were no description, and write your description as if there were no pictures." By doing so, the pictures can appeal to those who have a visual learning style and provide equal punch to those of a verbal bent who get far more out of words.

Stories and anecdotes can create just as much magnetism as a dazzling seventy-five year art provenance. Words. When phrased well they speak to people - and carry your message.

Building trust goes a long way to nurture long term customers. One of the best ways to build trust is to tell stories.

While reading Lou Hoffman's blog, I came across SlideShare deck below produced by the Hoffman Agency: “The Return of Storytelling vs. Corporate Speak,” which shares some of the science and anecdotal evidence on why storytelling works. It's well worth the time to take a couple of minutes and enjoy the message.

The Return of Storytelling vs. Corporate Speak from The Hoffman Agency

USPS to Continue Saturday and Begin Sunday Package Delivery

In an exclusive interview with MSNBC's Craig Melvin, Postmaster General of the United States Patrick Donahoe talks about the future of the U.S. Postal Service;and says the organization will soon start delivering packages on Sundays.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This isn't t your grandparent's Post Office. They are facing new challenges using today's technology. In this exclusive interview, Patrick Donahoe, Postmaster General of the United States shared some strategies:

"Here is what we are doing. the reason we are delivering packages on saturday is because package growth is booming. 14% up in the last two years. 17% christmas this year. year over year. big, big growth in fact, you will see in some areas we will be delivering packages on Sunday starting soon. That is a big innovation. the other thing that you see, is the world of secure and secure digital messages. We are getting into that, people tell us, the same thing you can do from a hard copy, sealed against inspection, we need that in the digital, e-mail world. there's a lot on the table. we have to get the negative finance behind us in the rear view mirror so we can focus on growth." 

via video.msnbc.msn.com

"I bought WHAT on eBay?" What to Know and Do When You've Been Impersonated

So I'm clearing out my email before I go to sleep. Decide to clean out a mailbox that's pretty much dead - left over from my old marketing agency days. To my surprise, I see an email from eBay requesting that I pay for an item I supposedly purchased on the site.
I had to shake my head, as I knew I hadn't used this email address in years. I examined the email. In the area where eBay would insert the User ID of the buyer, was a series of numbers. Hmmm, strange ID. I try to check out the headers to see if the email came from eBay. This is close to impossible to do on the phone, so I examined the links - and indeed the email did seem authentic.
Within a few hours, an invoice was sent to the same email address, addressed "Dear 2679302013" with my name appearing at the top of the email.

It's after midnight, so I took to my laptop to research further. I perform an eBay bidder search by going to eBay's advanced search:

I find that this user ID made one purchase (the one I was invoiced for), but the purchase was made while I was on my radio show. I clearly couldn't have made this purchase. The User ID also showed eBay's new user icon with 0 feedback. By clicking on a user's feedback number, you can find out when the user first signed up for eBay. Clicking through I find that they signed up for eBay on a Saturday as well. Hmmm. I usually don't sign up for new accounts when I am on the air.

I went to eBay - and clicked the Customer Service link, hoping to send them an email alerting them of the impersonation. I was amazed to find that eBay's customer service takes phone calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was after 1 am at this point, but I figured, why not give it a shot.
The customer service representative (working from eBay's Salt Lake City hub) answered the call and listened to my tale of woe. I had forgtten several things:

• eBay keeps all the data user's input when you sign up for an account
• IP addresses are attached to transactions
• eBay sends out an email upon opening an account

"Charm", the CSR sent an email to the registered email address with a code to confirm that I was indeed the owner of the address. I read her back the code from the email and she said that eBay would remove the email address from the account. What bother's me is that the account is still for Marsha Collier, and is still an active account on the eBay site.
Lesson learned? If you have old email accounts, be sure to check them regularly. If I would have followed my own advice, I might have noticed the initial registration email that came from eBay (sent 2 days after the user registered the bogus account) welcoming me to the site. I sincerely wonder why eBay no longer requires an email address confirmation from those who open an account. If they'd have, the user would not have been able to make a fraudulent purchase - as I'd not confirmed the authenticity of the address.

I recommend in my books to let brands know when they have done something right; when you are pleased with their service. (They must get so sick of social media complaints, that a compliment usually brightens their day, and the reply with a "thank you." So next morning, I used Twitter to thank @eBay (and @AskeBay) for their CSR's excellent service. All I got back was the sound of crickets - no response.

Do You Use Cloud Computing? Survey Finds Americans Confused

A whopping 95% of those claiming they never use the cloud actually do so via online banking and shopping, social networking, and storing photos and music.

While “the cloud” may be the tech buzzword of the year, many Americans remain foggy about what the cloud really is and how it works. A national survey by Wakefield Research, commissioned by Citrix, showed that most respondents believe the cloud is related to weather, while some referred to pillows, drugs and toilet paper. Those in the know claim working from home in their “birthday suit” is the cloud’s greatest advantage. The good news is that even those that don’t know exactly what the cloud is recognize its economic benefits and think the cloud is a catalyst for small business growth.

Survey Highlights:

• 95% of those who think they’re not using the cloud, actually are
• 3 in 5 (59%) believe the “workplace of the future” will exist entirely in the cloud
• 40% believe accessing work information at home in their “birthday suit” would be an advantage
• More than 1/3 agree that the cloud allows them to share information with people they’d rather not be interacting with in person
• After being provided with the definition of the cloud, 68% recognized its economic benefits
• 14% have pretended to know what the cloud is during a job interview

The cloud is what powers today's business and social sphere online, are you using it to  your best advantage?

Study graphic courtesy of citrix.com

Prepare for the 2013 U.S. Postal Service® Price Change Jan. 27

Beginning Jan. 27 the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will introduce a First-Class Mail Global Forever Stamp at $1.10 (20 stamp sheet for $22), and is among new mailing and shipping changes for the new year. Here's the short take on the changes:

• Parcel Post^® is now called Standard Post and is ONLY available at the retail counter. (Parcel Select is a comparable mail class for Endicia customers)
• First-Class Mail International Parcel is now called First Class Package International Service.
• International Electronic USPS Delivery Confirmation® will now be available, and FREE, for First-Class Package International Service and select Priority Mail International packages (only on shipments to Canada, 19 countries to be added in April 2013)
• Express Mail International Flat Rate Envelope weight limit has been reduced from 20 lbs to 4 lbs
• Express Mail International now includes the first $200 of USPS insurance
• Optional expedited delivery of USPS packaging is available for $2.50
• Commercial Base discounts are growing in 2013.
• First-Class Mail 1 ounce stamp is increasing by $0.01 to $0.46.

For full information on the new changes - and how to best use USPS mail classes for your business, click here to download a comprehensive PDF from Dymo Endicia

Small business gets commercial base discounts on shipping when they use electronic postage for their shipments. I use Dymo Endicia's Dazzle software and they have given me a discount link for my readers. Click here for a code for a free 60 day trial.

Note that the USPS receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.