April 2009
Table of Contents
We want to know what you want to know! Email education@doba.com with your suggestions of what you want to see in future issues of the Doba eNewsletter.
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Featured Article: Doba's Watch List Tutorial |
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Marketplace Spotlight: Follow-Ups and Updates |
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Member Q&A: Pricing for a Profit |
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Supplier Information: New Suppliers Added to the Doba Product Catalog |
Featured Article: Doba's Watch List Tutorial
Understanding how to use Doba's Watch List feature will help make keeping an eye on 1,200,000 products a simple and organized process.
What is a Watch List?
A Watch List is a handy tool that can help you keep an eye on specific products in the Doba product catalog.
Why Would I Use It?
With so many products in Doba's product catalog, we understand the importance to have the ability to organize and manage the products you are most interested in. The Watch List is a simple and convenient tool that can be used to:
- Monitor products you're researching or selling
- Quickly order products you're selling
- Perform a custom data export
How Do I Create a Watch List?
Follow the steps below to create a Watch List:
- After you login to your account on Doba.com, click the "Catalog" icon at the top of any Doba webpage.
- Click the "Watch Lists" tab at the top of the catalog page.
- Type a "Name" for the Watch List you wish to create under the bolded "Create New Watch List" header on the bottom of the "Watch Lists" page.
- Click the green "Save" button.
You can also create a new Watch List two other ways. One is from any "Saved Search." For more information on creating a Watch List from a Saved Search, see the Saved Searches Tutorial. The second way is on any product page. Do this by selecting "...Add to New Watch List" from the drop-down "Add to Watch List" link under the product image.
Note: You may have up to 10 Watch Lists at a time, with up to 100 products in each Watch List (the more products in the Watch List, the longer the Watch List will take to load).
Note: Products can be added to your Watch Lists from the catalog by using the "Add to Watch List" link on any product page.
Understanding Your Watch Lists
It is important to understand your Watch Lists in order to fully benefit and utilize them. Below is an explanation of the information your Watch List contains:
- Default - The Watch List with the default bullet highlighted will be the default list to add products to from the product page.
- Name - The name of your Watch List
- ID - A Doba specific identification number, unique to that particular Watch List
- Item Count - The quantity of products in that particular Watch List
- Type - The type of Watch List it is (Dynamic or Static)
There are two types of Watch Lists, Static and Dynamic. Let's look at them a little closer:
- Static Watch List
A static watch list contains a fixed group of products, and while the details of those products (such as in-stock quantity, price, etc) may change and be updated in the watch list, the products that are being watched will not change. - Dynamic Watch List
A dynamic watch list contains a set of products specified by a saved search, but the products being watched might change based on the search parameters.
Example: If you had a saved search for "black shoes", the search might return 50 results today. If you created a dynamic watch list from that saved search then your watch list would have those 50 products on it. But, what if tomorrow Doba were to add a new supplier that carries an additional 100 kinds of black shoes? Have no fear, because the dynamic watch list you created would automatically change to include the shoes from the new supplier (they would also be found by a search for "black shoes"). Your watch list would then contain 150 products.
How Do I Access My Watch Lists?
Use the following steps to access your Watch Lists:
- After you login to your account on Doba.com, click the "Catalog" icon at the top of any Doba webpage.
- Click the "Watch Lists" tab at the top of the catalog page.
From here you have the option of viewing the products within the Watch List, as well as creating a new Watch List and/or Custom Data Export.
Using Watch Lists with the Data Export Tool
The Data Export Tool lets you extract a lot of organized product info from the Doba product catalog in a short amount of time.
Note: Visit the Data Export Tool Tutorial for information on how to create a custom data export.
Creating a Custom Data Export from a Watch List will allow you to extract the information on the products you keep an eye on the most without having to re-search the product catalog over and over again.
Use these steps to create a Custom Data Export from any of your Watch Lists:
- Click the "Watch Lists" tab from the catalog page.
- Click the green "Data Export" tab to the right of the Watch List you wish to create an export for.
Note: You will be directed to the Data Export Tool page. - Follow the steps for creating a Custom Data Export, making sure the bullet next to your desired Watch List is marked with a black dot.
Conclusion
Whether you are searching the product catalog by keywords or advanced filters, finding the exact products you are looking for takes time and effort. Using the Saved Search feature alone or with Watch Lists and Data Exports will help you organize and manage your product search (and data) efficiently and effectively.
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Marketplace Spotlight: Follow-Ups and Updates
By Jeff Knight, Vice President of Marketplace - Doba
The marketplace spotlight this month will be short and will focus on several follow-ups and updates of issues and previous discussions.
Tradeshow Update
Last month I wrote about the merchandise trade events Doba had attended thus far this year and some general observations about attendance and size. In March, I attended both ASD/AMD in Las Vegas and the International Housewares Show in Chicago. Both were busy and well attended – maybe not as full as normal – but noticeably vibrant with retailer activity. One aspect of the shows that has been noticeable this season is there appears to be more legitimate retail activity at the shows. What I mean is this – the retailers that are attending are buying goods or setting up relationships; they are not just going through the motions (collecting cards, getting free t-shirts/samples, etc). With fewer people attending overall, it is much easier to get face time with suppliers and ask about their merchandise. If you have never attended a market in your category, 2009 is a good year to do so if your time and money will permit.
Earth Friendly
From a category perspective – earth and social-economic friendly products are definitely becoming more visible. There are more and more companies offering earth-friendly products as well as, larger companies offering ‘green(er)’ alternatives to their own lines. As a retailer, remember to communicate to your customers that being environmentally sensitive doesn’t just mean buying obvious ‘green’ products; it also means looking at products that are less obvious like re-certified/refurbished goods, higher quality goods with a longer consumer life, or even consumer electronics that consume less energy but perform the same task. I would strongly suggest that all retailers/resellers become conversational about which goods they sell are earth and socio-economically friendly. For a review of the terminology and some reselling techniques, I wrote two back-to-back articles:
- October 2008 Doba eNewsletter Marketplace Spotlight: Are You "Green" on Green Movement Technology?
- November 2008 Doba eNewsletter Marketplace Spotlight: Are You "Green" on Green Movement Technology?
Categories
Switching gears, in next months, we will be launching a new, improved version of our category structure. The structure is more extensive and friendlier to both suppliers and marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon. From your perspective, the change will vastly improve your ability to find and source products. With hundreds of thousands of individual products to search, sort and work through, the task can be daunting and the upcoming changes will make your life easier. As the exact date approaches, we will give several updates so all retailers, partners, and suppliers can be well prepared for the switch.
Fulfillment and Retailer Expectations
One of the most common questions I receive is what percent of packages ship each month and further what is our average ship time. There is some variance, of course, each month but the answer is 95% of orders placed are fulfilled and the average ship days are slightly over 2 calendar days (not business days). How does this translate? Of all orders that are funded and placed, 95% reach your customers. The remainders are canceled for a variety of reasons including Doba's fraud team catch a scammer (internally referred to as the DCIFTF or Doba Counter Insurgency Fraud Task Force. They have t-shirts so you know they are serious), the item is back ordered, the customer changes their mind, or the process breaks down in another way. For ship days, we work in calendar days (Su – S) and not in business days (M – F). We do this because end-users don’t think in business days – they simply know how long it takes a package to get to them. Next important note, the 2+ days is an average and every supplier is slightly different. Typically, suppliers who distribute/resell commodity based merchandise (UPCs, easily searchable goods, etc) ship faster and the closer you get to custom-manufactured/made-to-order specialty items, the slower the item ships. Make sure you pay attention to the supplier’s policies and reported ship times and work with the suppliers that best fit your model.
Have a great month!
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: Pricing for a Profit
By Kay Russon - Doba
Doba’s Customer Support team often talks to many retailers who have questions concerning the starting prices for eBay listings. Some will even state that they sold an item and lost money. Most are new to selling on eBay and may not understand about the fees that are charged by eBay and PayPal.
The last thing Doba wants is for our members to list an item and lose money. Here are 3 hints on avoiding this situation:
1st, Be aware of eBay’s listing fees. These are the charge that they charge you to list the item on the General Auction. It is based on the value of the item being listed. It starts at $.10 for items under $1.00 and goes to a maximum of $4.00 for items over $500.00. These are added up throughout the month and billed at the end of the month to your credit card.
2nd, Be aware of eBay’s final value fees. When the item sells, eBay will charge a Final Value Fee. This is based on the amount you sold the item for. It is 8.75% or $2.19 of the first $25.00 plus 3.5% of the remaining balance for items under $1000. Note: There is an additional charge of 1.5% for items over $1000.
For a complete list of all eBay fees, follow this link, http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html
3rd, Be aware of PayPal’s transferring payment fee. If you are using PayPal to transfer the payment from the buyer to you, PayPal will charge 4.9% plus $.30 to transfer the money to your account. This is for a Personal PayPal account, if you have a business account with them the rate varies.
When you add all this up, it comes to about 15% of your sale is going to eBay and PayPal. So, make sure that you list the item high enough to cover those fees and still make a profit.
Here is an example that will help put all of this into perspective:
John lists an item on eBay that has a wholesale cost of $34.95, with shipping fee of $4.20, and drop ship fee of $2.50. He sets the starting price at $49.95, plus the shipping and handling of $6.70 (this would have a listing fee of $1.00).
The item sells for $54.00 at the end of the auction. eBay will asses a closing value fee of $3.44. When the money is received by PayPal from the buyer, they assess $3.27 for the total sale. PayPal will charge for the total amount, (item + shipping and handling). So, there is a total $7.71 in fees that are deducted from his sale. His profit would be $11.34.
“Whoa, Partner,” you say, “I‘m no math major and I don’t have the time to do all that!” Well, the answer for that is, let Doba do it for you through the Push to Marketplace Tool. Edit your Marketplace Settings and add a percentage to the Doba wholesale price and raise all of your pushes to cover those expenses.
How do you do that? Follow these steps:
- Click on the "Catalog" icon from any Doba page
- Click the "Push to Marketplace" sub-link.
- Click on "Marketplace Settings" on the right side towards the top.
- Select your selling venue (such as eBay or eBayStores, etc.), and click "Edit Push Settings."
- In the Start Price field, select "Use Doba Wholesale"
- Then, just below that, enter a "25".
- Click "Save & Return" right at the bottom.
That will increase the starting price of every push by 25%, covering all your fees and making at least 10% profit for you.
Editing your marketplace setting within the Push to Marketplace tool will let you customize your listings to reflect your desired listing results.
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:
Titlis - Tuffo's line of outdoor and recreational products are geared towards active, on the go families who are looking for quality products at a reasonable price. By utilizing durable materials and quality manufacturing techniques, we guarantee many years of enjoyment from our products.
Gran Paradiso - All Don Conti Cigars are hand rolled by highly experienced rollers with over 3 decades of experience.
Baker - Supplier Baker works with an art form commonly known as Micrography. All T-shirts and Posters are created by hand and only out of words. All products all fully licensed.
Monte Rosa - Proagen Pharmaceuticals, LLC is a global leader in nutritional and consumer health care products that promote human longevity, strength and vitality. We seek to understand the nature of aging and develop products to reverse the aging processes or to at least slow them down, for the improvement of health, and the maintenance of youthful vigor at every stage of life.
Stanford - We are a quick ship company that distributes baby products. "We deliver everything but the baby". We deal with over 300 manufacturers and inventory in excess of 4,000 different items.
Matterhorn - Matterhorn is at the forefront of the furniture industry in the design and development of products that ship directly to the consumers’ door. We have designed well built, knock down furniture that contains elements of fine furniture such as eight way hand-tied construction, which can ship via UPS to any room in the house. By combining craftsmanship with innovative function, we have created a new category in the furniture industry. Handy Living products will furnish entire homes with easily assembled, multi-function furniture.
Balmhorn - The Xenon Project is a toy company that is dedicated to delivering a wide range of quality remote control products to you – the RC toy enthusiast. Both founders developed a love for high-end toys, specifically Remote Control Toys, which they saw as being extremely fun-to-use for all ages and having great technology. From there, the founders developed a vision to provide the public with enjoyment of these products.