December 2006
Greetings / Editor's NoteIn the middle and muddle of this year's holiday rush, we encourage you to take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to ponder strategies for boosting your sales and profits throughout the year and for many years to come. This month's issue of the eNewsletter focuses on eBay and eBay alternatives. We reveal a collection of eBay alternatives—online auctions, classifieds, and comparison shopping sites that can expand your marketing opportunities. We also introduce two new eBay webinars for December that teach you everything you ever wanted to know about eBay and show you how to personalize and optimize eBay to tap its full potential. In this issue, we kick off a new series called Competing on Trust that reveals field-tested techniques for building customer loyalty—the key to long-term success for top-selling E-tail merchandisers like Amazon.com. As always, our eNewsletter announces special money-saving offers from our drop-ship suppliers, and our Ask the Expert: Member Q & A tackles the burning question of how to avoid customer complaints when an item they bought at auction is out of stock. At Doba, we're constantly aware that the more successful you are, the more successful we are, and we're committed to providing you with the tools and information you need to be the most successful online retailer possible. —Doba's Community & Education Staff Table of Contents
Marketplace Reviews: Where to SellBecause eBay is such an easy place to list and sell items at, a majority of our customers here at Doba tend to use that as an entry into online selling. The problem is that many people get stuck there and never investigate other opportunities to expand their business. As a new year approaches and you think of new ways to increase your online income, we'd like to present you with an analysis of the top dozen or so eBay-alternative sites on which you can sell products. We've put together a matrix that enables you to quickly compare several different sales venues. Each comparison links to a detailed 1-page dossier briefly describing the eBay-alternative's features, pros and cons, fee structures, and more. Doba customers can access the matrix from our Education center. New Article Series: Competing on TrustPeople trust brick and mortar. They can see it. They can touch it. They can drive to it, handle the merchandise before they buy it, and return the merchandise in person if they're not completely satisfied. They can talk to real people, and they know that the store isn't going to vanish tomorrow. Customer trust in brick-and mortar retailers carries over into the online retail space. Some well-established E-tailers, such as Amazon.com and Buy.com, have earned brick-and-mortar status online. Shoppers willingly pay more for items on these sites, because quality service, security, and peace of mind are worth more to them than just a low price. What does this mean for you? It means that trust is a priceless marketing commodity. It means that building trust, through your webstore and customer service and affiliations, can pay huge long-term dividends. It means that investing in customer trust is one of the best business decisions you'll ever make. In this three-part series, you discover various ways to earn the trust of the Internet community, build a loyal consumer base, and increase sales along the way. Want to know more? Read our latest article series, Competing on Trust. Upcoming Educational Events
Thursday, December 14, 2006 Anyone can use eBay's basic features to buy and sell items online, but only those who dig a little deeper can maximize its full potential. In this webinar you'll learn how to:
By tapping the potential of your 'My eBay' page, you will work more efficiently and profitably. Sign up for this webinar today
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 Join eBay University Instructor, Steve Lindhorst, Doba's Director of Community & Education, Mikal Belicove, and Doba's Education Specialist, Stuart Lisonbee, for a hands-on Q&A about selling on eBay and other eCommerce sites. This Q&A gives you—the retailer—the exclusive opportunity to ask and receive answers to your most basic or perplexing eBay-related questions. For more information about upcoming events, visit the Live Events Calendar. Special Offers from Doba SuppliersSeveral of our suppliers are getting into the spirit of the holiday season with some great deals and holiday specials, which include product discounts, free shipping, and more! For a list of suppliers offering special deals, take a look at our Industry News page. Ask the Expert: Member Q&AIf you have a question related to eBay, drop shipping, or running an online business, email your question to education@doba.com. If your question is highlighted in an upcoming issue of the eNewsletter, you will receive two free months worth of all your Doba-related services! This Month's Question: How do I prepare my customers for the possibility that an item may run out of stock? Answer: This is a very common question that we receive here at Doba, and a very legitimate concern. This concern arises mainly when selling through online auction sites, where you have a time delay between when you offer an item for sale and when someone actually buys the item. During that delay, the item can possibly go out of stock. This is less of a concern with a webstore, where inventory counts are often automatically updated. First and foremost, you should state the possibility of an out-of-stock situation in your listing. Something along the lines of: This item will ship directly from the supplier to your doorstep. Please note that due to its popularity, my supplier could run out of stock before the auction's end. With that statement not only do you state the possibility that the item won't be available at the end of the auction, but by mentioning that the item ships direct from the supplier, it also explains why a backorder might happen. For more information about the best ways to deal with backorder situations, check out the article, "Drop Ship Tips: Minimizing Backorders" in our Education section. Don't forget to submit your questions to education@doba.com for your chance to win two free months of free service! (Please note: If you need help right away, contact our support team at support@doba.com. You may still submit your question to the eNewsletter separately for your chance to win, but questions submitted to education@doba.com will be answered only if selected for the Ask the Expert column.) |