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!