Table of Contents
Featured Article: 10 Tips to Getting Started as an eBay Seller
By Jake Sabey, Education Specialist - Doba
The ability to sell products online is a lot like hair on a person's head;
some people are born with it, it grows on some with time, some are passionate
about it, some make a living off of it, and some lose it (or cut it off) because
of reasons both natural or not. However, whether you are just starting or have
some experience under your belt, selling on eBay is an excellent opportunity
to create or expand a successful online retail business for everyone.
Here are 10 tips that will get you started on the right foot or sharpen your
business fundamentals when selling on eBay.
1. Get an eBay Seller's Account
"I have an eBay account, but can't sell anything."
This may seem a little elementary, but a regular eBay account only gives you
access to purchase on eBay's platform. In order to sell on eBay, you have to
set up an eBay Seller's account. Also, it is highly recommended that you sign
up for a PayPal account as well when selling on eBay (sign
up with PayPal here). Setting up a seller's account is a simple and painless
process. Here is how to get started:
- Go to www.ebay.com
to register for an eBay Account, if not already registered.
- Already a registered eBay User? Click Sign
In on www.ebay.com
to edit your account.
- After signed in, click the "
Help" link at the top right corner of any eBay page.
- Type "create seller account" in the search box and hit "enter"
or click "search".
- Click "Creating a Seller's Account" from the search results.
- Follow the instructions on that page to set up a seller's account.
- Start selling!
2. Buy and Sell on eBay...Now!
You can't learn to swim unless you are in the water,...trying to swim! So,
learn how to buy and sell on eBay by buying and selling on eBay! We all have
things sitting around our house that we need to get rid of and probably wouldn't
miss if they were gone. You might as well try to get some money for those things
and list them for sale as practice and to gain experience. In the same breath,
it would be most beneficial for you to purchase products on eBay as well. This
will show you what the customer experiences when purchasing in the eBay market
(and give you a reason to treat yourself with some pretty cool stuff). Buying
and selling on eBay right out of the gates will give you a better understanding
of how eBay works from both the customer's and retailer's perspectives.
3. Finding Products to Sell
Your interest in selling on eBay shows you have already made one of the toughest
decisions of an online retail business..."Where should I list products?"
However, you still have another tough decision to make..."What products
should I sell?" And, in trying to make this decision,
another question comes up..."Where can I get products to sell?"
The answer to that question is....the sky is the limit! With so many options,
where do you start? Here are some ideas to get your feet wet:
- Doba
As a Doba member, you have access to over 200 suppliers and 1.2 million wholesale
products on Doba's site. You've probably noticed that Doba expands your options
for finding the best products for you to sell by adding more suppliers and
products consistently. Use Doba with other product sources to become a stronger
business to compete in the eCommerce market.
- Personal Belongings, Garage Sales, Outlet Malls, Local Classifieds,
etc.
There are many different resources around you that you could use for product
sources as well. Although they are possibly limited, garage sales, 2nd hand
stores, outlets, local classifieds, etc...are excellent sources to find products
that customers are looking for. And, as mentioned under tip two, sell your
own personal products when you have no use for them anymore. Remember, one
man's trash is another man's treasure.
- Avon, Scentsy, Designer Jeans, Lia Sophia, etc.
We all have friends or families that have approached us with magazines,
parties, or products themselves that they are selling. You may not be interesting
in buying those products, but look at the opportunity of selling them. You
won't know unless you try.
There are many different product sources available. And, you don't have to
just pick one source and stick with it. In fact, the more sources you have,
the more products you can choose from, and the more options as a business you
will have overall.
Here are some Doba articles to help you prepare for finding products to sell:
4. Become a Product Specialist
Customer purchase behavior has not changed all that much, they prefer to buy
a product from someone who knows the product inside and out. When choosing what
products to sell, choose products that you have experience with and actually
know. What is the product made of? How big is it? What color is it? How much
does it weight? Does if float or sink? Think of what the customer would want
to know about the product and communicate it through a customized and detailed
product description. Answer your customer’s questions before they even
ask them. Take custom pictures of the product that show angles and parts of
the product not shown in stock or generic pictures that other retailers are
using. Pictures may say a thousand words, but having held, poked, felt, tasted,
or even smelled the product actually gives you knowledge; and knowledge is power.
Take a lesson from the G.I. Joe, "Knowing is half the battle!"
Check out how to Doba article "Create a purchase experience with sample
orders" as a way of becoming a product specialist.
5. Listing Research
When is the best time to list a product? What day of the week? What time should
your listing end? What keywords should you include in the listing title? These
elements of a product listing, though often neglected, can determine the overall
success your listing will have. Fortunately, there are a couple of beneficial
resources available for eBay listing research.
- Completed Listings
eBay's completed listings resource shows information (if it sold
or not, and for how much) on listings that have already ended. Learn more
about eBay's completed
listings to get an edge on listing research.
- Terapeak
Replacing eBay's internal market data tool, Terapeak
has become the industry leader for eBay Research, Education and eBay Motor
Parts. Terapeak provides detailed listing data (including average prices,
start prices, number of listings, sell-through rate, and more) that will help
you determine the best possible approach on listing a particular item. Don't
guess of when, where, at what price, and how long to list a product, let Terapeak
tell you! You will soon find that "Unlocking the eBay Marketplace with
Terapeak" is easier than it may seem.
6. Create a Brand
When people hear Nordstrom, Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines, and John Deere, they
automatically think of stories they have heard or experiences they have had
with those companies. Brands of customer service, low prices, quality products,
and tradition come to mind. What do people think when they hear your business'
name?
With all the competition in the eBay marketplace, it is important that you
create a brand so that when people hear your business' name, positive thoughts
and feelings immediately start flowing. How do you create a brand? By customizing
your listings in every way possible; from customized product description and
images to an overall look and feeling of listing that is full of emotion, attitude,
and personality. Be creative in your listing presentation. Use HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) to put together an organized professional listing
that leaves a lasting impression. Present a listing that communicates to your
customer and defines your business brand. Don't be the next of them, be the
first of you!
Check these articles out for more help on customizing your listings and creating
a brand for better success:
7. Know Your Customers
Every retailer started out the same way; with experience as a customer first.
Use your experience and expertise to think through the mind of both a customer
and retailer to help you create affective business principles, marketing strategies,
and custom listings.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you get started:
- What do customers really want?
- How can you (as a retailer) provide (the customer) a positive and lasting
purchase experience, that will make them a returning customer?
- What is the overall goal? (for the customer and retailer)
8. Get to Know eBay
eBay has internal tools, features, and resources to assist you in buying and
selling products, create listings, conduct research, and establish your business
in the eBay marketplace. The more you know about eBay, the more you can expand
your business opportunity and success.
Take a look at the below resources to help you get to know eBay a little more:
9. Know Third Party Resources
There are third party businesses who are eBay Certified providers (acknowledged
by eBay as a credible business) that specialize in a product or service that
works directly with or in the eBay marketplace. From product sourcing and research,
to customer relationship management and listing solutions, eBay's Certified
Providers will save you time and money, and enhance the opportunity for success.
Browse eBay's Certified
Providers list to tap into the resources just waiting for you.
10. Branch Out
eBay's marketplace is an excellent place to start and continue an online business.
However, use eBay as just one of the marketplaces you list products on. A successful
business customizes their marketing strategies to the market they sell in, type
of customer in that market, and type of product they are selling. As you learn
about and experience other markets outside of eBay, you will be able to test
different strategies to see what works better than others. It's all about expanding
opportunity. Listing products on other markets will keep your online retail
experience and knowledge progressively growing and current, as well as expand
the opportunity for your business to grow.
Check out Doba's article "Alternate
Sales Venues" and "Where
to Sell" matrix for other markets in-addition to eBay to sell in.
About the Author:
Jake Sabey is an eBay Certified Consultant and an Education Specialist
for Doba. Jake's educational strategies and methodologies help online
retailers meet and exceed their business-related goals. Prior to working
for Doba, Jake was a team leader, supervisor, and trainer for Toys R
Us, Sinclair Oil, SBC, and AT&T.
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Marketplace Spotlight: 2008 Wrap UP
By Jeff Knight, Vice President of Marketplace - Doba
Before getting into this month’s Marketplace Spotlight, I wanted
to personally thank you, on behalf of all of us, for another great year
and for using Doba’s drop-shipping platform! With a tumultuous
economic year passing and 2009 being forecasted to be a rough year for
retail – direct fulfillment options will continue to grow in popularity
as an essential part of retail strategy. We look forward to growing
with you and helping you navigate 2009’s waters – no matter
what they bring.
That said, I thought we would end the year with a bit of house keeping.
With all programs and platforms there are always insider tricks, nuances
and quirks that can help a retailer more effectively use the system.
Generally, in the Marketplace Spotlight, we like to give ‘Best
Practices’ but they stay at fairly high level and many of the
smaller, quirky questions fall by the wayside. This article will attempt
to wrap up a few of these questions.
Shipping
- Tracking numbers beginning with ‘1Z’ are always UPS.
- Tracking numbers with more then 20 digits are US postal Service.
Packages from Canada will often start with a ‘CA’
- If you enter a valid tracking number into a Google search, it will
interpret the carrier and present a URL for tracking.
- When FedEx numbers are entered manually, the leading ‘0’
will often be omitted. If you are trying to track a FedEx package
and it shows as invalid, try adding a ‘0’ to the beginning.
- Doba does not currently support shipments to Hawaii and Alaska.
For simplicity sake, we provide a shipping estimate on every product.
As all items sent to Alaska and Hawaii ship via air, and the estimates
are based on ground service – we do not currently have a way of
providing you with a good estimate prior to the sale.
Shipping and fulfillment Process
- Every supplier provides an estimated shipping window. That information
is located in the supplier details. The estimated in the minimum and
maximum range of days it will take your order to process and ship.
- The Doba fulfillment staff automatically contacts all suppliers
for order status after the maximum range of days is approached.
- The estimated shipping window is in business days (Monday –
Friday).
- The estimated shipping window does not include the days the carrier
will need to deliver the package to your customer.
Cancellations, Backorders and late shipments
- All orders that have not been paid for can be cancelled. If the
order shows a status of ‘payment pending’ then the order
can be canceled.
- If the order has been paid for and you wish to cancel an order,
then Doba support must be contacted. Typically, we can cancel orders
within a very short period after the order has been funded.
- Orders that have been sent to the supplier for fulfillment are very
difficult to cancel and typically cannot be stopped from processing.
Doba and supplier systems are very automated and once the order has
been placed, the supplier typically has no way of finding the order
in all the outgoing shipments.
- As a policy, we will cancel all backordered items. Our experience
shows that retailers are more successful with replacing the order
once the item is in stock rather then depending on backorders to be
automatically fulfilled. Simply, too many factors are involved with
backorders (number of backorders, date item will be available, angry
consumers not understanding backorders, etc).
Re-Directed and Lost shipments
- Doba cannot re-direct shipments. While a majority of consumers
have valid reasons for asking for a package to be re-directed –
there are also fraudulent reasons for doing so. As with all good support
policies, it is best to be up front and explain that you can’t
offer re-directed shipments before the item is sold.
- If a package is lost or appears to be untraceable – we ALWAYS
need the end-user’s phone number to initiate a tracer.
- US Postal Service (USPS) will not initiate a tracker/tracer on a
package until 30 days have passed from shipment.
Returns
- Never, never, never have a customer ship an item back without a
Return (Merchandise) Authorization Number (RA or RMA). Without an
RA, the return will mostly get lost, misplaced, or at minimum; take
much longer to process.
- Always get return tracking from your customer. With the tracking,
Doba and the supplier can quickly track down the item and get the
status. The RA is mandatory, while the tracking number helps make
a bad situation get resolved quicker.
- Suppliers are given a 2-3 day window to provide an RA number.
- Typically, suppliers will process refunds 7-15 days after the return
is received and completed.
Types of Suppliers
- We categorize suppliers into four primary categories: Manufacturers,
artisans/craftsmen, distributors/liquidators, and importers. The lines
between each are arbitrary and often suppliers meet characteristics
of several different categories.
- Manufacturers: Straightforward. These suppliers’ manufacturer
goods and own (intellectual or physical) manufacturing processes.
Of all groups, manufacturers have the best pricing, as they are the
source. They typically are also the slowest to fulfill as their operations
are generally geared around batches and bulk processes.
- Artisans/Craftsmen: Very similar to manufacturers except for in
scale of production. Pricing is higher then manufacturers but the
shipping is quicker. The goods are typically more unique and harder
to be sold as commodities. For retailers who have a lot of merchandising
resources or dedicated consumers – artisan goods are great.
- Distributors/Liquidators: Fastest and most efficient of the group.
The model, by definition, requires distributors (in-line goods) /
liquidators (off-price/end of line goods) to be extremely efficient
with few touch points and quick shipping. Pricing is going to be higher
then manufacturers (except for liquidated goods) and with very few
exceptions, the products will be commodity items (easily searched,
UPC codes, Brand names etc).
- Importers: They share many characteristics of the others. Importers
source goods overseas and import them for resale – they may
or may not control the intellectual rights to the goods (brand, concept,
design etc). Typically, Doba’s importer suppliers offer goods
in categories that are not brand or price sensitive (Home and Garden,
Fashion, Bed and Bath, etc)
While this is just a smattering of small pieces, our hope is that it
makes the process of using Doba’s platform easier and helps you
eliminate extra work. I used ‘typically’ and ‘in general’
a lot through out the bullet points because there is always an exception.
Our goal is to help you identify the exceptions and breeze right through
the rest.
As I stated above, we thank you for your support in 2008 and in the
upcoming 2009. We look forward to working with every one of you and
making 2009, in spite of the economic state of the world, a prosperous
time for your online business.
Happy holidays!
About the Author:
As the Vice President of Marketplace, Jeff Knight is responsible for
all aspects of the merchandising strategy, supplier acquisition, and
vertical category management and fulfillment operations of Doba's marketplace.
Prior to Doba, Jeff was Director of Merchandising for Overstock.com
where he developed the growth and management of the Computer and Home
Office category. Jeff's background includes merchandising and technology
leadership roles at DealDeal.com and BCI International. He earned Bachelor
and Masters of Arts degrees in Communication from the University of
Wyoming.
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Member Q&A: Unlocking the Saved Searches Function
By Kay Russon - Doba
For this month’s Member Q&A, I will address how to use Doba’s
Saved Search function in connection with creating a data export through
the Data Export tool. To get started, we need to define what a Saved
Search and Data Export are.
What is a Saved Search?
A Saved Search allows you to save any product search or set of browsing
criteria so that you can easily return to the products you view most
or search for in the Doba product catalog.
What is a Data Export?
A Data Export takes a large amount of product data from the Doba product
catalog and puts it into a data file for the purpose of product research.
You can then open the data file in a spreadsheet or database program
to analyze and manipulate the data to compare profit margins, check
inventory levels, and much more.
When used by itself, the Saved Search function is very beneficial.
However, knowing how to effectively use the Saved Search function together
with the Data Export tool will create a more specific, useful, and organized
data export. If you select an entire category to export you may get
a lot of information about products you may not wish to list on your
site, which would require you more work to go through and delete the
products you don’t want. It is much easier and quicker to use
the Saved Search to pick only the products you are interested in before
the export and not after.
For example, if you wish to list all of the Sony laptops on your site,
start by clicking on the ‘Computer and Laptop’ category
from the product catalog main page. The results may show you over 16000
products. Refine your search by clicking on ‘Laptops’ on
the left side of the page under ‘Categories.’ We now have
about 1200+ products. To refine it even further click on ‘Sony’
under the ‘Laptop’ category on the left column. Now we have
only the laptops built by Sony. We could also get more specific by filtering
the price range as well.
To save this search, click on the ‘Save Current Search’
bolded link under the ‘Saved Searches’ category on the top
left portion of the page. It will then ask you to name this Saved Search.
Choose a name that will reflect the specific search criteria that got
you Sony laptops only, and click the green ‘Save’ tab. You
may have up to 10 saved searches.
Now, you can click on the ‘Saved Searches’ tab from the
product catalog page to see all of the ones you have saved. From here
you have the option of creating a Data Export tool, and/or a Dynamic
or Static Watch List.
By experimenting with the items on the left column, you can quickly
refine the search to find the exact product(s), brand, or price range
you wish to export to your store or web site. Then you can create a
Data Export that will reflect only the information on the products you
are interested in.
We Want to Hear from You! Want to see your question
featured in the eNewsletter Member Q&A? Well we want to hear from
you! Please email education@doba.com
if you have any non-account related questions or topics you would like
us to write about. If you have questions concerning your Doba account,
such as billing, product or order questions, please search our knowledgebase
site content or contact our Customer
Support.
About the Author:
Kay “Papa” Russon is an eBay Certified Consultant,
Customer Service Team Lead, and technical liaison for Doba. His knowledge,
experience, and expertise assist retailers daily in running a successful
online business. Before Doba, Kay was a team leader, supervisor, trainer
and manager for World Support, Digital Equipment Corp., Digital Remote,
SBC, AT&T, Macromedia, Sun Microsystems, and Motorola and served
in the Army National Guard.
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Supplier Information: New Suppliers Added to the Doba Product
Catalog
Starting an online business is relatively easy. Making it a success
takes hard work and the right mix of products. To help you achieve your
business-related goals, we recently added new wholesale suppliers and
manufacturer to the Doba Catalog:
Harrison
- Harrison carries the largest collection of professionally designed
and created t-shirts in the world. Partner with somebody who can supply
all your decorated apparel needs. Bringing you the world's best t-shirts.
Bacall
- The BODY-ALINE is the World's First Back & Posture Exercise Machine. Used just minutes a day, 3-4 times a week, it strengthens your back & aligns your spine in one easy motion to eliminate back & neck pain.
Beethoven
- From puzzles to puppets, plush to play food, magnetic activities, music, and more, Melissa & Doug® is one of the leading designers and manufacturers of educational toys and children's products. Started in 1988 in their garage, Melissa & Doug® has something for everyone, with nearly 800 unique and exciting products for children of all ages!
Garfield
- Gripit Floss Holders manufactures and markets dental flossing tools
that are shipped complete with dental floss.
Temple - Temple is the manufacturer of Wallpaper For Windows! - a premier line of adhesive-free Stained Glass, Etched Glass and Frosted glass looking, decorative window films and privacy window films.
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