Bay Area eBay and Ecommerce Meetup Group

A huge thank you is going out to the Bay Area eBay and Ecommerce Meetup Group, it was a true pleasure to be your speaker this week.

As promised at the Meetup, here are the slides:

If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments below and I will do my best to get you answers.  Thank you!

eBay and Google Integration

Let me start by thanking everyone for their patience in the time between posts.  I am sorry if I left you hanging with Cassini news.  The more I studied the more I learned, and I did not want to give incomplete information because I didn't spend enough time researching.

I will pick-back up with Cassini soon.  I think I've gotten to a point where I comprehensively understand it. 

For now, I wanted to show something really cool.  This is a new Google change, which eBay is maximizing for optimum convenience.

Back in May, I first noticed this change.

Inside the Gmail account I use with eBay, a "Track package" button appeared in the summary list of my e-mail messages.  If you use Gmail, it is no longer necessary to open the message to track your eBay purchase.

The next change I discovered today.  I accidentally typed "ebay" in the Google search box instead of in the browser bar.  Look what appeared!

Since I was logged-in to my Google account at the time, Google tapped-in to my Gmail and gave me a shipping update right on the search results page!

I must admit, it did feel a little "big brother", but as a buyer the convenience was really nice.

I clicked through and found a log of my recent eBay purchases.  By clicking the drop-down carrot on each one, I saw a summary of my order.

Google's goal is to "make is as easy as possible for you to find the information you need and get the things you need to do done.  I can see how this fits-in with that underlying intent.

As a seller, I do have a slight concern that it is now one less opportunity to drive buyers back onto the marketplace (I always log-in to eBay to track my packages).  As a buyer I think it's very convenient.

What are your thoughts?  Please share them in the comments below.

Cassini Case Study, Part I: Auction vs. Fixed Price

She's not sure about this Cassini thing!

Two weeks ago, John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, was a presenter at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.  

This past Wednesday, The Top Rated Webinar Series presented "Search at eBay" with Hugh Williams, eBay's VP of Experience, Search, and Platforms.

Both men spoke in depth about search at eBay, and the new Cassini search algorithm.  I highly recommend all full-time eBay sellers listen to both presentations if you want to understand what eBay is doing.

Yet after listening to their collective 2.5 hours of content, I still did not have a sense that we were being told the whole story.  So... I've decided to investigate on my own.

A little background:  I sell in eBay's fashion category, and have experienced sales falling steadily since last fall.  I've been doing extensive maintenance on my store to address the "problems" eBay has been encouraging us to solve: larger photos, clean backgrounds, minimal text in listings, minimal html in listing descriptions, mobile optimization, SEO optimization...  If eBay suggested we do it, I sure as heck did!  And yet at best I was only able to recover about 10% of the sales volume I lost.

As you can imagine, I was ravenous for any insight Mr. Williams would provide.  Last week, I summarized the small amount of information I gleaned from the presentation.  

Sadly, Mr. Williams explicitly declined to provide anything concrete to answer what best listing practices could maximize our performance, in fact he shared a slide that said why he would NOT tell us (something about a level playing field for all sellers).  This is a departure from how eBay has always worked with sellers; eBay used to advise us of specific factors that would raise our result in search (such as offering free shipping, accepting returns, etc.).

Since they won't tell us (much), I decided to investigate for myself.  To insure my personal buying behavior was not factored into ranking results, I logged out of eBay, opened a different browser, and deleted all cookies/browsing history before proceeding.  This approach should mimic what a new-to-eBay shopper would see.

Disclaimer: My results from this study in the "Fashion" category may not be true across all categories, as Fashion does not have a catalog, ISBN, or SKU numbers to unify the items.

"Black Pencil Skirt 12"

I queried "Black Pencil Skirt 12", applied only 1 filter (Women's Clothing), and collected data on the top 100 results in Best Match.  I will be reporting back my findings over the next several blog entries.

For today, lets explore the relationship between Fixed Price and Auction rankings.  In my query, eBay found 1,219 results: 78 were Auction format (representing 6.4% of all results) and 1,141 were Fixed Price (93.6%).
I counted 36 of the top 100 were Auction listings, and 64 were Fixed Price.

Here's the exciting part:
36 Auctions items in the top 100 = 46.2% of all Auction listings. 
This means nearly half of the Auction listings appeared in the top 100 results!

This leaves the Fixed Price listings under-represented in the top 100 results, only 5.6% (64) of the Fixed Price listings appeared in the top 100 results.

Take-away:

If you sell fashion, always include Auction items in your listing mix.

In Part II of this series, I will be highlighting some jaw-dropping data on Multi-variation listings.  Stay tuned!

Reflections on Cassini and eBay Search

Cassini Spacecraft, Artists Rendition.  Courtesy NASA.

Wednesday, Hugh Williams, eBay VP of Experience, Search, and Platforms, presented "Search at eBay" as a part of the Top Rated Seller Webinar Series.

The webinar discussed Cassini, the search algorithm eBay designed to replace the old "Voyager" search algorithm which was in use for over 10 years.

eBay Powerseller Joe S. took excellent notes during the event, and has graciously agreed to share his "take-aways" with you here:

Overall, it is the buyer experience sellers need to focus on, always considering three factors: Trust, Safety, and Relevance.

1. Keyword spamming and otherwise taking short cuts won't pay off... the buyer sees through it.
2. Cassini is being implemented in stages, it is not completely here yet for live listings. 
3. Cassini is fully implemented for all sold/completed items, going back for 90-days.
4. Duration: If you list for 30-days or Good Till Cancelled, it does not make a difference for you search ranking.
5. HTML: In your listings, having HTML does not make a difference when determining search placement as Cassini strips it out.  However, be aware of mobile listings as HTML and Flash may not read well on smartphones or tablets.
6. Category: The category you list your item in is important since search is not always by queries (this is when buyers enter keywords in the search box); they also shop by also category browsing.
7. TRS/Top Rated Seller Status: Is very important for search rank results.
8. Photos: Having bright, large size pictures is very important .
9. Sales:  Many sellers ask "why are my sales down", most often because of price competition, or because the seller is failing with one of the values above Trust, Safety, and Relevance.
   

These webinars move so fast, everyone catches something different in their notes, which is why I'm so grateful for Joe's help!

I picked up a few other "nuggets".

There are three factors that affect how you get visibility.  1) Search recall, 2) Search refinement, and 3) Best Match.

For best results in Search Recall, use powerful keywords in your title and (if appropriate for the category) make sure you are using the eBay catalog.

Mr. Williams would not explicitly say what determines "value" for the buyer, but I inferred from what he discussed that having the lowest price for a comparable product is a huge factor.  I have a LOT to say on this, but will reserve these comments for a stand alone blog post very soon.

Best Match factors which eBay used to clearly give us (1-day handling, free shipping, etc.) are still important, but Mr. Williams refused to answer most questions on what factors are considered now.  He did explicitly say that 'new vs. old' and listing on a mobile device vs. a desktop computer (regardless of listing service) are not factors.

Studying the Top Rated Seller program and using its "pillars" is important to meet the 'Trust' factor in search success.

And this final nugget is something I realized for myself when he was discussing language translation software... Always remember when writing your descriptions that they need to use simple language that translates easily.  Don't just say "Turquoise" make sure you say "Turquoise blue" because blue will translate better.  Avoid idioms in your listings ("setting up this computer is as easy as falling off a log") because they won't make sense when translated (instead, "This computer is very easy to set-up.")

When Best Practices Conflict: Marketing eBay Items on Pinterest

This week, Curalate published "The Perfect Pinterest Pin: How to Optimize Your Images for Maximum Engagement on Pinterest".  It's a great article, with extremely useful insight into what characteristics will make an image more likely to be re-pinned.

If we are using Pinterest to market our brands and products, we need to know this information.

For me, the most stunning fact revealed was that images with stark backgrounds (such as all white, catalog style) are much less likely to be re-pinned.  Here is the dilemma:  For selling on eBay, having a stark background (all white) actually gives you higher placement in Cassini search results!

I've devised the following work-around, which should let you maximize photos on each platform.  

• First, load the item on eBay with the pictures we normally would have used on eBay (the one with the clean background). 
• Next, when we go to promote on Pinterest, we upload the Pinterest-optimized photo to Pinterest using the "add a pin" feature.
• Last, edit the pin to include a manual link which points back to the item in your eBay store.
  

Here is an example.  These two photos are of the same Tadashi dress.  The photo on the left would be the ideal eBay gallery photo with a simple, clean white background. However, the photo on the right (model Paloma Dominguez, photographer Lee Sterling Photography) would be better suited for Pinterest sharing.

You should be aware that in using this approach (and not pinning directly from eBay) we are disabling the new rich pin feature - but is this a bad thing? The rich pins are likely to decrease our Pinterest click-through rates because they include the price and availability of our items right on the pin. Disabling rich pins in this way, for now, might actually be to the seller's advantage.

If you are using Pinterest for the social media marketing of your business, I highly encourage you to read the full Curalate article and learn more.

Pinterest for Business: Why You Can't Use the New Analytics for Your eBay, Etsy, & Amazon Store

photo courtesy mkhmarketing on flickr.

Yesterday, Pinterest announced new tools for Pinterest Business accounts: Analytics.  

This is very exciting, and free.  We all like free.  There's just one catch.

Pinterest Analytics will not work for your eBay, Etsy, Amazon, or Shopify store, nor will this work for certain free blogging platforms.

To use Pinterest Analytics, you must first verify your Pinterest Business account.  You can only verify top level domains, like eBay.com.  At this time, these sites will not allow you to upload html files to give Pinterest the verification process it wants so you cannot verify these sites.  

Pinterest now has an alternate method to verify your website with meta tags, but I have not been able to find a way of embedding the correct meta tag in the correct place in eBay stores for verification.  I will keep investigating and keep you updated if I learn anything new.

eBay Sellers of the Bay Area: Meetup Round-up

A huge Thank You to Outright.com and the eBay Sellers of the Bay Area organizers for an incredible Meetup last night!

It was a full house and packed agenda, and yet we were engaged for more than 2 hours, with networking afterwards. Our first presenter was Laura Messerschmitt of Outright, who spoke on some key basic points of tax information for eBay sellers. Next was the Seasonal Seller Panel (eBay sellers Sherry Gilson, Marianne Taitano, and Serena Lee plus Bradley Hazelrigg from eBay's Seasonal Selling Team, which explored retail seasons beyond the winter holidays. Our last presenter was Rick Matsura from eBay's Seller Protection Team.

What follows is a quick summary of the key take-aways I picked-up from each presenter.

Tax Information

• Estimated Taxes: As soon as you will owe more than $1,000 in taxes, you need to start paying estimated taxes (payments are due JAN 15, APR 15, JUN 17, & SEP 16 in 2013). This usually kicks-in after $5,000 in  profit. Note: these deadlines are for sole proprietors with a schedule C, corporations have different deadlines and filing requirements.
• Shipping/COGS: If you offer free shipping, it is OK to include shipping cost as a Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) so you can better understand your margins. More conservative accountants will advise this course of action. However, booking this as an expense is not wrong.  At the end of the day, the tax effect is exactly the same so the IRS does not worry too much either way.
• Mileage: The most frequently missed expense, not claimed by eBay sellers in a recent Outright survey, was mileage. Keep track of mileage, log-in every time you drive for your business (going to the post office, going to buy shipping supplies, thrifting...) and you can deduct 56.5 cents per mile for your 2013 taxes (mileage value is determined by the IRS). It is usually a greater deduction to take mileage, than to calculate exactly the cost of gas, cost of car maintenance, what percentage of that was for business vs. personal use...
• Home Office Deduction:For 2013, the IRS will allow people who work from home to take a flat $1,500 deduction for the home office if they prefer, rather than calculating exact square footage of the home office as a percentage of the entire home and what percentage of expenses can be deducted and maintaining records of proof.
• Avoiding Audits & the 1099-K: The IRS has explicitly warned of a definitive audit trigger, Laura M. told us how to avoid it. When you get your 1099-K from PayPal (Amazon, Etsy...), Double-check that the amount of income you report on your Schedule C, line 1, is EXACTLY equal to or greater than the amount of income reported on your 1099-K.  If the amount on your schedule C is as much as 1-cent below what PayPal (etc.) reports, you have an audit trigger.
• PayPal & the 1099-K: Laura M. reminded us that we pay income taxes on profits, not revenues (profit = revenue - expenses). The 1099-K from PayPal will include any and all revenue received during the year, including sales that were later refunded, fraudulent payments that were later revoked, shipping income received from buyers, and sales tax payments received from buyers. Many of these income categories have contra-accounts to track the expenses (sales tax paid to the state, shipping expense paid, return refunded) so remember to track each and every expense possible to minimize your tax burden.

Seasonal Selling

• Generally, list seasonal items 4-6 weeks before the holiday. The exceptions seem to be Christmas and Halloween specific items, which will sell year-round. 
• Also 4-6 weeks out, add holiday-specific keywords to  listings that fit (such as Valentine's Day for red dresses).  Remember after the holiday, to re-edit these listings to remove the holiday name.  Auctiva's free Find & Replace tool makes this easy.
• eBay focuses their holiday promotion marketing around four key holiday/seasons: 1) Valentine's Day, 2) Mother's & Father's Day, 3) Back to School, and 4) Winter Holidays.
• Under-promise and over-deliver for happy customers.
• 50% of gifts are bought the week before Mother's Day (opportunity: Offer 1-day shipping), 9% are bought the same day, 80% of Americans will celebrate Mother's Day each year, and the average spend is $152.
• Men spend twice as much as women on Valentine's Day.
• Remember seasons are not the same everywhere, Christmas is in the summer in Australia.  
• It's a good keyword practice to use international versions of keywords.  For example, in the UK they wear "jumpers" not "sweaters".  Put both words in your title if you ship internationally.

eBay Seller Protection

• eBay has a team dedicated to protecting sellers from "bad" buyers.  They are working to deliver quality buyers to us, the sellers.  We can learn more at www.ebay.com/sellerprotection.
• The Seller Protection Team is strongly encouraging sellers to report buyers when their behavior is suspicious or problematic.  They have made this very easy, and now include a "report this buyer" button on the leave feedback page.
• When you report a buyer, this is anonymous to the buyer.
• At present, eBay is not penalizing or investigating sellers who report a high-number of buyers.  There is no danger or disadvantage for the seller to report buyers for bad behavior.
• Every bad buyer report is reviewed by buyer abuse detection software.  If evidence for suspicious behavior exists (such as a pattern of the buyer getting a lot of partial refunds, for example), the automatic process will flag the account for a manual review.  Right now, 30% of all reports are manually reviewed.  A first report questionable/bad behavior of a buyer probably will not flag a manual review.
• Since eBay made the "Report a Buyer" process more easily accessible, the number of actions to report buyers increased by 80%, and there was a nearly 10% increase in the number of buyers suspended.
• The Seller Protection Team uses "multi-account" detection software, to help protect sellers from buyers who use multiple eBay Buyer IDs.

Hiring Help - Advice for eBay Sellers

24-hours.  That's it.

That is all the time we have each day to work, play, eat, sleep, laugh, cry, and love. 

As entrepreneurs who are starting, maintaining, or growing our own businesses, we all will reach a point when we simply can't get any more work done in a day. We plateau. When that happens, if we want to grow further we need to hire help.

The IRS deems someone is an employee if "you can control what will be done and how it will be done".  

The person is generally considered an employee by the IRS if you control any of the following (this is not a complete list):

• What tools or equipment to use;
• Where to purchase supplies and service;
• What work must be performed by a specified individual;
• What order or sequence to follow when performing work;
• You give highly detailed instruction as to how the work is completed; or
• If you have an evaluation system in place to measure the details of the work performed.

If the person is an employee, you will need to (at a minimum) withhold employee federal and state income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes from the employees pay, and you pay a matching amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes yourself.  There may be additional state withholding and filing requirements, depending on where you operate your business.

Other employee expenses which may be required by law are unemployment insurance and workman's comp insurance.

It is tempting to hire "under the table", because employee expenses can get add-up quickly.  Please, for your own sake, don't consider this a viable option.  If you hire someone this way, it could be an absolute disaster if you have to fire that person later. S/he may report you to the state or to the IRS.  If that happens, you could end up paying back employee taxes plus penalties.

One way to get help without the expense of payroll is to hire unpaid interns.  This can be a great way to find someone who would be a good fit for your business without expense, while you mentor this person so s/he can learn valuable work skills that can be taken to new jobs after graduation.

The U.S. Department of Labor laid out very strict guidelines on what is allowed for an unpaid internship.  You must meet all six of the following tests:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to waged for the time spent in the internship.

A note on #6.  While they are not entitled to wages, you can reimburse the intern for expenses related to their internship, such as transit passes or providing lunches.  A nice "thank you" gift at the end (gift card?) is also very appropriate.

When I started to grow my business, I brought on interns.  At the end of the semester they liked the job so much, and I was very impressed with how well they were doing, that I was able to offer them both a formal paid position (with all the expenses and taxes that go along with it).  This was a win-win, because when they were converted to paid employees, they were completely trained and I got a great ROI (return on investment) in their salaries immediately.  Over a year later, these same two ladies work with me today!

Some colleges have work-for-credit programs, so the students earn college credits while working for you.

Bringing  on to work with you for the first time can be daunting.  Consult a CPA or small business attorney to make sure you are in compliance with all local and federal employment laws.

eBay, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday Shoppers

eBay was quick to publish Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday sales data.  What they published was tied exclusively to mobile sales.

I think what is not said with these numbers is also very telling.

Remember, there are now two kinds of sales: mobile and desktop.  A small portion of mobile shoppers are brand new eBay customers, new to the marketplace because of the app on their smartphone (it was pre-installed on my Windows phone).  But the rest of these sales were diverted from desktops.

What would be helpful to me, a seller, is to know if gross sales (across formats) were up or down.  Since they aren't singing the praises of total sales, my guess is the news is not favorable.

But they have given us this crumb, so let's take from it what we can.

First, mobile sales are increasing.  Yay, mobile is up!  People are shopping anytime, anywhere from their phones and tablets.  That is great.  Glad to hear it.  Spend more money everywhere you are, shoppers!

As sellers, we need to be sure our templates are mobile-friendly.  Dump any scrolling, flowery, flash-laden code from your template.  Dump extra text, such as "If you have a question you better ask it now because if you ask after committing to buy then you are a poo-poo head."  You can now also drop the international sales disclaimer since eBay has your back on this, whether or not you state in your listings customs fees are extra.

Second, mobile shoppers are shopping most frequently between noon and 1 p.m. (pacific time).  For optimum visibility, schedule auctions to end between 12 and 1 p.m. (PT) on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday next year.

One final thought... if you are using auctions during the holiday shopping season, ALWAYS have a reasonable buy-it-now price.  This allows holiday shoppers who want to buy it and be done to do so.

How to Tweak Your eBay Listings for Best Match Optimization

My eBay sales have started to pick up a wee bit, and I wanted to share insight into how to move-up in best match (and yes, they've been messing with it).

If you see eBay "suggest" something (like 3 minimum photos per listing), do it.  The "suggestion" will have positive best match results.

Absolutely have a minimum of 3 photos (more is better) in the gallery section of your listings.  If you list with a 3rd party service, you might need to upload them manually after the item is listed.  If you don't load those great pictures in the gallery area, you are committing best match suicide.

Your photos MUST be minimum 1600 pixels wide (I recommend 1650).  I found that the software I was using told me my photos were 1600, but when I checked with gimp.org (free photo editing software) I found they were 1599.  Yikes!   That 1 pixel makes all the difference!  You can use software like gimp.org or Photoshop to increase image size after the fact, but it is a time consuming and complicated PIA.

Stop using busy, html-loaded templates immediately.  It has not been explicitly stated by eBay, but some testing has shown html-heavy listings are downgraded in best match.

Put as little text as possible in your descriptions, utilize item specifics more.  Both have shown to improve best match results.  The theory is that really long descriptions make the computer think you are keyword spamming (from a search engine perspective, not a violate eBay policies perspective).

Use item specifics, add your own.

Offer 1-day handling.

Offer free shipping.

Top Rated Seller (TRS) gets a small bump.

Run a Markdown Manager (MM) sale every day on your fixed price items.  There is a definite bump when using MM.  It doesn't have to be much, you can program a 10% off sale Mon-Tues, 15% off Wed-Thur, 10% off Fri-Sat, etc. Short (2-day) MM sales which are constantly running have the best effect.  Note: You can mark everything up 10% before running 10% off all the time.

Lower priced items rank higher than the same item at a higher price.

Auction items rank MUCH higher than fixed price.

With fixed price, you get a visibility bump when the item is newly listed but I have NOT seen a corresponding visibility bump for fixed price items about to end.

Auction items get a best match visibility bump when the item is ending, but I have not seen a corresponding visibility bump when they are newly listed.

EXCEPTION: When ANY item is newly listed (FP or auction) it will appear in people's Feed (new: www.ebay.com/feed).  If you haven't opted-in to the feed yet do it now so you understand it.  It will be rolled-out to all eBayers soon, the sooner the better!

Older listings with a lot of impressions (an impression is when something appears on a potential buyers list of results) will be downgraded in best match.

As for Good-till-cancelled (GTC), I still think it is a good tool.  I am ending all my GTC listings this month, and relisting GTC after refreshing the listings and editing the pictures.  In August, I will go through the same process again.  I think a GTC purge once/year is helpful, but I do not think it is in our best interest to stop using GTC.

Do you have other suggestions on how to post higher in Best Match results?  Enter them with a comment below, and thanks!

Pinterest for Your eBay Business Hint!

That was fun!  I just finished presenting "Pinterest for eBay Sellers", part of the Top Rated Seller Webinar Series.

Here's a tip I shared in the webinar.  

Make sure the Pinterest account you use to promote your eBay business is linked to your Twitter account (under the Pinterest account settings).

This way when someone who is following you on Twitter joins Pinterest, you will get an e-mail if they join Twitter!

IMMEDIATELY, go to Pinterest and follow one of their boards.  You will be their first follower, and they will notice you.  They will probably follow you back, too.  

This is an easy way to engage with your followers!

Do you have any Pinterest business tips or tricks?  Share them in comments below!

Thanks to everyone who came to our Pinterest for eBay Sellers Meetup last night!  

As promised, I'm uploading additional material from the presentation.  It will take a few days to get everything uploaded, so please check back!

To start with, here are the four "Anatomy of a Pin" slides.  Feel free to post questions in the comments and I'll answer them the best I can.

Thanks!

Preliminary Thanksgiving Day Sales Data from eBay

Hi Accidental eBay Entrepreneurs!

Please take a moment to put-down the leftover pumpkin pie, and peek at some data RBH at the eBayInkblog.com just shared from the eBay Mobile Team:

Mobile shopping highlights from eBay Inc. include:Thanksgiving (Nov. 24, 2011, 12:01 a.m. – 11:59 p.m.)

eBay Mobile (U.S.):

· The busiest eBay Mobile shopping hour on Thanksgiving was between 6 and 7 p.m. PST

· Shoppers in the U.S. purchased more than twice the amount of items via eBay on mobile devices this Thanksgiving compared to last year

· The amount shoppers in the U.S. spent via eBay Mobile more than doubled this Thanksgiving compared to last year
The five most popular categories shopped via eBay Mobile, excluding vehicles (by GMV), were:

1. Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
2. Computers & Networking
3. Sporting Goods
4. Jewelry & Watches
5. Cell Phones & PDAs

The five most popular categories shopped via eBay Mobile, excluding vehicles (by number of sold items) were:

1. Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
2. Cell Phones & PDAs
3. Jewelry & Watches
4. Collectibles
5. Toys & Hobbies

Fashion:

1. Toms Classic Shoes
2. UGG Australia Classic Short Shoes
3. Tory Burch Tumbled Shoes

Electronics:

1. iPhone AccessoriesApple
2. iPhone 4 – 16GB – Black
3. Apple iPod Touch 4th Generation 8GB

Toys & Hobbies:

1. Traxxas Slash 4X4 Ultimate 6807 Radio Controlled Truck
2. Webkinz Reindeer
3. Team Associated SC10 Radio Controlled Truck

Shoppers in these five cities spent the most via eBay Mobile on Thanksgiving (by GMV):

1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Casa Grande, Ariz.
4. Houston
5. Miami

Shoppers in these five cities made the most purchases via eBay Mobile on Thanksgiving (by sold items):

1. New York
2. Chicago
3. Houston
4. Los Angeles
5. Miami

PayPal Mobile (Global):

· Thanksgiving 2011 resulted in 511% more mobile payment volume compared to Thanksgiving 2010· There was a 350% increase in the number of customers shopping through PayPal mobile on Thanksgiving 2011 compared to last year
Shoppers in these cities made the most mobile purchases through PayPal on Thanksgiving 2011:

1. New York
2. Houston
3. Los Angeles
4. Miami
5. Chicago

GSI Commerce Mobile (U.S.):

· GSI Commerce reported a 345% increase in U.S. mobile sales this Thanksgiving compared to 2010
The full story can be found here, on the eBayInk Blog.

How were your sales this Thursday?

John "Colder ICE" Lawson just released his second episode of Ecommerce Bits TV.

In this episode he examines the 20% Final Value Fee discount eBay is offering sellers this holiday season (and explains why it only saves you 2.4%); gets us to start thinking about devising 2012 business strategy now; and offers 5 ways you might be a Christmas Scrooge (I need to work on #5, Yikes!).

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

(And if I'm not back before then, Happy Black Friday!)

Business Plan Adjustments for the Holidays

OK, take a deep breath.  Black Friday is in 4 days.  Breathe in, breathe out...

I used to get excited (and still do) about all the great deals I could find shopping on Black Friday.  Then last year, I was surprised to see my eBay sales went up on Black Friday even though I didn't do anything different in my store.

I quickly realized that when shoppers are in a frenzy spending money, they spend it EVERYWHERE as long as they feel they are getting a deal.  Even with me, whose primary product is pre-owned business clothing (not exactly the sort of thing you buy for a gift). 

This means e-tailers like you and I don't have to wait until Cyber Monday for the customers to find us.  Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving, where the trend is people start Christmas shopping en masse from their offices.

This year, I am modifying my business plan to maximize sales and delight the customers in the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush.

My holiday-adjusted business plan includes the following:

• Free expedited domestic shipping with 1-day shipping options
• Free shipping to Canada (First Class Mail International), with $5-10 Priority Mail options
• Discounted flat-rate shipping to the rest of the world ($10 FCMI, $25 PM)
• Returns accepted until January 31, 2012
• E-mail blast to all former customers thanking them for their business with notice of a 25% off store-wide sale (sale runs this Tuesday - Cyber Monday).
• Effective December 10th, all domestic packages will be sent Priority Mail (even the light ones)

Through aggressive goal setting and tracking, my sales have already increased 30% Month-over-month since August.  I'm excited to see if this pro-active holiday marketing helps maintain the trend!

Delighting the Customer: 6 Reasons to Accept Returns

Have you ever shopped at a Nordstrom? From the moment you walk in the door, your senses are filled with pleasure.

There is soothing piano music, played live on the grand piano adjacent to the central escalators.

Employees are well dressed and smiling.

Polished marble shines.

Can't find the shoes you want in your size? No problem. They will have them shipped from their store 3,000 miles away at no charge. You can pick them up Thursday.

Every aspect of the Nordstrom experience is carefully designed to delight the customer.

When I was in business school, one of the first things we learned was the "Nordstrom Snow Tire" story. It goes something like this.

"A woman walks into Nordstrom to return the snow tires her husband bought. The tires had 'Sears' printed across them. She says her husband bought the tires here, and she needs to return them."

Of course Nordstrom doesn't sell tires, but in their effort to delight the customer they accepted the return and gave the woman her money back."

This is, quite literally, the textbook definition of going above and beyond what is required to make a customer happy. So why do it?

Nordstrom's liberal return policy one small piece of their culture of customer delight.

But let's get real, as eBay sellers we HATE the concept of returns: they cost us time and money.

Brick and Mortar stores take returns, and to be competitive in eCommerce we need to accept them too.

I've accepted returns since the first day I opened my eBay business over three years ago, and I've never regretted the decision.

As a whole, accepting returns has not hurt my cash flow. For the first 10 months of this year, my return rate (by dollar value) is only 3.8%.

6 Reasons to Accept Returns:

REASON 1: I want to delight the customer, so he/she will come and shop with me again. By accepting returns, there is an added level of confidence in the transaction.

REASON 2: I sell clothing, and sometimes garments just don't fit - even if the measurements are in the listing! Not all customers understand how to compare clothing measurements to body measurements. Heck, some customers don't even own a tape measure! Sometimes the part that doesn't fit was not measured. I recently returned a sweater I bought on eBay because the diameter of the sleeves was too small for me (the sweater had been washed in hot water and the sleeves contracted). This was not a standard measurement, but it sure would have kept me from wearing the sweater if I'd bought from a seller who didn't take returns.

REASON 3: Personally, I won't buy from a seller that doesn't accept returns. I get the impression they can't be bothered or that something is wrong with the garment.

REASON 4: DSR scores and positive feedback. If I sell a flawed item and accept returns, the buyer can contact me and say "Hey, there is a loose eye-hook on this skirt you didn't disclose in the listing. How can I return it?" If I don't accept returns, odds are she will contact PayPal or eBay directly, open a dispute or a claim for the dreaded SNAD (Significantly Not As Described). And if eBay or PayPal rule in the buyers favor, guess what. They take money out of your PayPal account, give it back to the customer, and the customer doesn't have to return the item! So now you have bad feedback, no skirt, and no money. Ouch!

REASON 5: Buyers can now filter search results so that only merchandise from sellers who accept returns will be displayed.

REASON 6: eBay is giving a visibility bump to listings that accept returns within 14-days or longer.

During the holiday season, eBay is encouraging sellers to extend their return period until January 31st. You see this policy in place now at most department and discount stores. To stay competitive, eBay sellers need to do the same.

If you want to learn more about why Nordstrom is hailed as customer service heroes, I recommend reading "The Nordstrom Way: The Inside Story of America's #1 Customer Service Company" by Robert Spector.

E-Commerce TV

I am excited to share the news that one of my favorite bloggers, John Lawson, is now starring in a new video series "Ecommerce Bits TV".

I have learned a LOT from him, and I think you will too!

You can watch the pilot episode here:

Managing Your Personal, Professional, and Learning Networks

Growing as an eBay entrepreneur will be much easier if you take the time to manage three types of networks: Your personal network, your professional network, and your learning network.

YOUR PERSONAL NETWORK
The Accidental eBay Entrepreneur doesn't start with a business plan - and things at home start to change very quickly when sales increase. A lot of sellers who start their eBay business in this way are reactionary to their eBay business, instead of being proactive.

This can cause a lot of new tension with your personal networks (close friends and family – your emotional support system) who don't understand how things are changing. Unexpectedly and suddenly there will be new stress at home similar to what you'd experience with a marriage or a death in the family. Everything will change, and you need to manage your personal network's expectations to be in-line with your new business.

Include them in the planning. Explain WHY this is important to you. Tell them up-front what is going to be different. For example, if you have children, you may not be available to drive them around on a moment’s notice any longer.

Sometimes there will be unintended consequences you will encounter when running an eBay business, and you need to keep your eye open to recognize them when they come up and manage them quickly so problems don’t develop. Be aware of how your changing habits will affect the ones you love.

Here’s a big one: Your cash flow is going to change. You will need to plan up-front what to do with the money that comes in with your spouse/partner who may have his/her own ideas about how incoming money should be spent. To grow your business, you will need to re-invest additional income into the business to buy inventory, computer equipment, shipping labels – all types of new expenses.

Discuss strategies to separate work from home. If you have roommates, you may be at home more often during daytime hours when they don’t expect you to be home. Talk about your new routines and put yourself on a schedule.

The people you live with might get annoyed when the family room turns into the eBay room. Talk about where you will physically work, and how you will separate your work space from home space. And most importantly, schedule to set aside special family time and make it a priority to follow-through.

I found this good resource where you can get more home stress management tips:
http://www.wahm.com/articles/family-stress-management-tips-for-entrepreneurs.html

YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
Working from home can be lonely, but one of the greatest things about being an eBay entrepreneur is that you aren't the only one! There are tens of thousands of other smart people doing what you are!

Find a professional network (made of business friends and acquaintances) that you can learn from, and they can learn from you! eBay Meet-up groups (www.meetup.com) are a great place to start in larger cities. They usually meet once per month, and you can meet other eBay sellers in person.

eBay on Location and the eBay Radio Party are great learning events and ways to meet other sellers. Last year, I brought my husband to eBay On Location in San Jose. He was able to meet people who had successful eBay businesses, and that gave him hope for me! He’s an academic and has no experience with business management or retail. He attended Griff’s ‘Know Your Numbers’ workshop and got a basic understanding of behind-the-scene business math.

Not everyone has access to these in-person networks. Luckily, there are lots of on-line options! When you are on eBay's site, click on the “Community” tab and browse through the Discussion Boards and Groups. On Facebook you can ask to join The eCommerce Group or Thrifting-with-the-Boys.

No matter what challenge is facing your eBay business, from dealing with new seller restrictions to the struggle to make yourself take a day off, the people in your professional networks can help!

Especially helpful for me was finding a group that is specialized in women who runs eBay businesses selling used clothing. We chat on-line every day, and learn from each other's experiences. We cover topics like new hot brands that sell quickly, sharing strong keywords, recipes for Crunchy Chicken Salad, helping each other learn. (I actually met many of my chat board friends in-person at the last three eBay On Location events!) You can find specialized on-line groups for all product types.

YOUR LEARNING NETWORK
This last network is often the most overlooked. E-commerce moves lightning fast, and to keep up you will be constantly learning. It is not a waste of time to dedicate as much as 1 or 2 hours each day to learning.

If you commute to a day job and work eBay nights and weekends, read or listen to audio books while traveling. Always have something to read with you, and when you find yourself open you book/magazine/iPad and learn.

Mike Michalowicz, has written a brilliant book called “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The Tell-it-like-it-is Guide to Cleaning up in Business, Even if You Are at the End of Your Roll”. The basic premise is how to grow a business on a shoestring budget, and how entrepreneurs who begin without piles of cash from the ground up run leaner, stronger businesses. I loved this book so much, I bought a copy for my best friend when I couldn't bear to part with mine after I'd promised to loan it to her. Mike has a blog at thetoiletpaperentrepreneur.com, where he shares many of his insights.

Blogs are the fastest way to get new information. Google has a free tool called Google Reader that will keep track of new posts on any blogs you choose to follow and all your blogs are organized in one place.

AuctionBytes, is invaluable to keep-up with the E-commerce news - not just on eBay but they track all the common selling platforms.

John Lawson has a great blog, ColderICE, which is dedicated to Internet commerce education. I especially like his infographics. He's a smart, funny guy and I’ve learned a lot from him.

Richard Brewer Hay (RBH), is eBay's official blogger. On eBayinkblog.com he shares important (and sometimes exciting) news from every part of eBay corporate. This was a great site to learn more about the eBay Holiday ad campaigns when they were launched last month.

TAKE AWAYS:
The fundamental theme of all networks is you have to participate to get anything from them. You get what you give. You can’t just show up and take what you need from them, you need to share and offer in return.

The Fundamental problem of all networks is they can overlap (especially on Facebook), and that can get complicated. But this is another topic for another day...