Common Sense eCommerce

Have you heard that when calling certain companies?  Does it seem like you hear it every time you call? Such is the case with Monster Commerce.  I have called them many times over the past few years and each and every time I hear the message (aka excuse) “We are experiencing longer than normal hold times”.

Today I called. It said that message as usual and my call was answered in less than 2 minutes.  So Monster Commerce, do you really mean it? I guess not. I think they just have the message there to cover themselves when there are long hold times.

Later I had to call GoDaddy.Com for a related reason.  There was no announcement to the effect of ‘longer than usual hold times’ and it took over 10 minutes to get the call answered.  That by the way was not a toll free number. GoDaddy, since you are making the customer pay for the call don’t you think you should warn them of longer than usual hold times or give them an estimate of how long they’ll be on hold?

F minus on Business practices for both!

What is the optimal sized thumbnail? Answer is “it depends”. Don’t you just love that answer? For one thing, it depends on what you’re thumbnailing. If it’s just a caption or something, a small one might do. But if you’re selling products of some kind, larger ones might be in order.

It used to be that online merchants made their thumbnails small to fit as many as possible on a page and while avoiding slowing down the page load process. That was back in the day when a lot of people had dial up internet service. Fewer people have dial-up now and broadband internet is the norm. So page loads aren’t really the issue they once were.

If you’re selling products online, the picture is the one thing that will go a long ways toward making the sale. And the thumbnail view is the visitor’s first glimpse of the product photo. Doesn’t that mean it should show off as much as possible about the product? Shouldn’t it grab the eye? Which looks the best?

Might be hard to tell unless you line them up with other products, but the smallest one doesn’t do much for the product don’t you agree?

Tags: Web Thumbnails, Product Thumbnails, Thumbnail Photos, Thumbnail Sizes

Conventional eBay wisdom will say something like: don’t set up your auction listings to end on days of important events (such as the SuperBowl). A week ago Sunday I listed a bunch of stuff completely forgetting about the SuperBowl. When I realized what I did, I was prepared for some disappointing results.

But I didn’t get disappointed! Of the 23 items ending yesterday, only one did not sell and that one has been a problematic item anyway. The rest performed as well as usual, even some performing better than usual. Skip McGrath of Auction Sellers Resources reports similar observations here.

Is SuperBowl viewing down? Hardly! According to today’s news, it was the 2nd most watched SuperBowl in history with 93 million viewers. It could be that some viewers ‘multi-task’ while watching the SuperBowl. Maybe they don’t ‘completely watch’ the game - that is, maybe the bowl doesn’t get the full attention of every household member.

It could also be that the viewers are taking their wireless enabled laptops to the couch with them. Recently, according to this source, laptop sales surpassed that of desktop computers, so more people have notebook computers than ever before. And nearly all notebook computers are equipped with wireless network cards.

Who knows, but I was happy with the results. Next year, I guess I’ll just forget about it again!

I was under the impression that Google did not index eBay auction listings. I’m not sure where I got that idea (think it might have been one of those old school SEO books) but was I wrong! I listed something on Sunday 1/28 and on Tuesday 1/30 (approximately 48 hours later), I typed in the product name as it was in the listing title and… there it was! On the first page of Google. It was in the #9 position of the organics.

It really isn’t surprising considering that eBay is an important site and Google does lots of indexing on important sites. It also explains some things. Like why we have had a Store Credits showing up on our eBay account. eBay issues Store Credits when someone comes from outside eBay and buys something for your eBay store. I have absolutely no external promotions going into my eBay store (there are some going the other way - heh).

But it was one of those “aha!” moments for me and I started to wonder how I can possibly leverage that. Is that a case for coughing up the extra 40 cents for 10 day auctions? Hmm. It did get me thinking about writing my listing titles not only for eBay users but also for Google users.

Google has a free keyword tool (link here) that you can use to see what terms and related terms it recommends for a given keyword. It’s used for Adwords ad research, but it might be useful for other purposes too.

Obviously the keyword has to be a fairly niche keyword. I don’t think you could do this with Ipod Nano or something like that. I tried this experiment with all my listings and most of them actually came up fairly high on Google - many on the first page.

So, it’s back to the drawing board on title writing!

Tags: eBay Selling, eBay Auctions, eBay Auctions in Google, eBay Listings Indexed

When you find something that sells really well on eBay and isn’t overflowing with competition, you will probably consider purchasing a large quantity of that product. This is particularly true if you’ve tested it and know a bit about how it will perform.

But how many of the items can you have going at once? eBay has often been touted as a place where you can turn inventory over easily, but this can be challenging when you selling many of the same item. eBay places a limit of 15 (I think) on the number of identical auction listings you can run at once. If you have more than 15 of something, you can consider a Dutch Auction.

One thing I’ve found out about the products we sell on eBay is that we get better results by placing fewer of them up for auction at one time. It varies depending on the item, but some items do best when there is only one auction at a time for them. Sometimes we can get away with two or three if they are spaced well apart, but in our market it seems that any more than that drives the prices down on our own auctions.

We keep our excess in the eBay store and cycle them out to auctions according to a schedule. You may have to do some testing to figure out what the right balance is for the products you’re selling. But too many auction listings at once can flood your own market and you can end up becoming your own competition!

Tags: eBay Selling, eBay Selling Tip, eBay Auction Tip, eBay Listing Strategy

If you have a website that sells products and uses a merchant account, did you know that your merchant account comes with limits? Bad things can happen when you exceed your limit. Did you know that your bank may freeze your funds under some conditions?

Here is an article that gives some insight into this seldom discussed part of merchant accounts. Establishing a limit on an account is part of the Merchant Bank’s risk management process. The criteria for actually freezing funds varies from bank to bank, but it’s generally based on a certain amount over that monthly limit and other risk management criteria. Generally what they’re looking for are sudden spikes that may signify fraud.

The month of December is particularly problematic for this because sales for products are generally much higher due to the holidays. The first step in avoiding any funds freeze disaster is to know what your monthly limit is.

If December sales look like they’re going to push you over that limit, don’t be afraid to contact your merchant bank and tell them your having a good month. They should record this information and in most cases, they’ll understand that sales tend to spike this time of year.

Tags: Online Merchant Accounts, Merchant Account Limits, Merchant Account Funds Freeze

We have several websites that sell physical products via drop shipping arrangements as well as an eBay business. Every once in awhile, we’ll get a note from the customer in the order notes instructing us that “No Signature is Required”, “Delivery Signature not Needed”, or something to that affect.

The other day we got this kind of note on a $300 item.  We went ahead and sent it ‘Signature Required’.  At some point, it is up to the business to make this choice, not the customer.   If the item is lost, stolen, misdelivered, etc. who bears the risk? In some cases, the shipping company will, but usually the risk bearer is the business, not the customer.

If the delivery driver leaves the item on the porch without a signature and it disappears, is the customer going to be willing to eat that loss?  On an expensive item, probably not.  We have no idea what kind of neighborhood or safety conditions exist where we’re sending it.  For example, we don’t know if it’s an enclosed front porch away from the street or a doorway right next to the sidewalk.

On lower cost items, like something that’s worth $20, we might be willing to shoulder the risk, but on more expensive items the signature thing is our choice, not theirs. We use $100 as a cut off.  This doesn’t always make for a happy customer, but we have to balance the risk in our business.

It seems that there are companies that just don’t do Customer Service - unless they’re forced to by competition.  Take a look at your local public utility company.  If they’re like ours, they’re hardly the models of exemplary Customer Service.  After all, where else can you get your water or electricity?  They know you can’t go anywhere else and they treat their customers accordingly.

But what happens when competition is introduced?  Think about what has happened with the local or regional phone companies.  In our case, that’s Qwest. Just a few short years ago, you could have included Qwest in that ‘public utility’ category with no competition and treating their customers accordingly.

In recent years however, competition has been introduced.  You can now get wireless phone service from a wide variety of carriers.  You can get a Voice Over IP (VOIP) phone solution from a broad range of choices.  In many areas, you can even get phone service from your cable company (via VOIP)!

Presumably adapting to that changing market, Qwest stepped up to a higher level of customer service.  In fact, they might now be considered a model of large corporate customer service.  Is this ’stepping up’ genuine or bogus?  It’s debatable whether that even matters.  What matters is the customer won and competition probably drove that company to step up to a higher level of customer service.

Tags: Customer Service, Customer Relations, Customer Relationship Management

Back in the day, well not too long ago, link exchanges were all the rage.  You link to me, I’ll link to you.  The online version of reciprocal back-scratching, each link was supposed to benefit the linkee with an inbound link.

It was such a rage that software packages were built around the concept. Software like SEO Elite that would manage this network of reciprocal links for you. (SEO Elite has value beyond that, thankfully).

But with each successive Google update, these link arrangements became more and more suspect.  I can remember as early as February of 2005 hearing warning sounds coming from SEO professionals about these kinds of arrangements.  There was even some anecdotal evidence that these link swap arrangements can penalize your rankings.

Yet, it amazes me that I continue to get ‘link exchange’ requests on my eCommerce sites.  I have long since discontinued the ‘links’ email address and now I get the requests in the customer service and info mailboxes.  The senders explain to me how much the link exchange will benefit my site.

Mounting evidence tells me that these are no longer a good idea, except perhaps in the case where the two sites are relevant.  Of course ‘relevant’ is awfully subjective, so even that needs to be carefully studied.   I have a form email for these requestors now that politely says we no longer engage in link exchange arrangements. 

Does anyone actually think these are a good idea anymore?

Tags: Reciprocal Links, Link Exchange, Link Swapping,

MAP Pricing (MAP stands for ‘Minimum Advertised Price’) is a pricing control technique used by many manufacturers and suppliers.  When there is a MAP price policy in effect, you are usually required to not show a price lower than that on your website, eBay listing, etc.

The problem with MAP pricing in practice is that it is often keystone or higher and many times is not the competitive value of the item.   Someone once said that ‘the value of an item is only what someone is willing to pay for it’.  Nowhere is this more true than on eBay.

MAP has different specific definitions depending on the supplier, but in most cases it controls the price you can show but it lets you sell it at lower prices using discounts and other techniques.

One such technique that works well in the eBay environment is using the ‘Best Offer’ feature.  When setting up a listing, you can choose to allow buyers to submit best offers to you. Suppose for example, you have an item that has a MAP of $89.00.  You can set up an eBay listing with a Buy-It-Now price of $89.00 and allow Best Offers on it.  When you allow Best Offers, you listing will appear like this.

This allows you too sell your item at competitive levels and still satisfy the MAP pricing requirement of the supplier. 

Note: if you do accept Best Offers in your listing, decide on a set price that you will not go below and stick to it.  Some buyers will make ridiculously low offers.  All in all however, eBay’s Best Offer is a practical option when MAP Pricing is in effect.

Tags: MAP Pricing, Home Based Business, eBay Home Business, eBay Business

Free Shipping is a widely used strategy on eBay and you may wonder how can a seller afford to roll in shipping when margins are already low on eBay? A lot of it has to do with perceived value.

Shipping is a touchy subject with many eBay buyers. Some buyers simply don’t want to worry about shipping charges and might be tired of figuring out if they’re getting ripped off for shipping. So to them, being able to buy the item with shipping included can be seen as tremendous value.

To you, the seller, you must be able to roll it in and still make money. This can best be accomplished by using Store Fixed Listings or Buy It Now on your core listings. With the holiday seasons approaching, some buyers are just going to want it now and will forgo waiting for the auction to end.

In all of my auction listings now (where the same items are being sold in our eBay store) I have a link to the store with some text that says something like “Don’t feel like waiting for the auction to end? These items are available for immediate purchase with free shipping in our store”. Everything in our eBay store has shipping included and I am currently testing it.

So far so good. I have noticed an increase in store purchases over the past few weeks. So roll in shipping and see what happens!

A California man has learned the hard way that failing to do solid product market research has negative consequences.

Derrell Brown said he paid a toy maker in Taiwan about $6,000 to create 1,400 talking Schwarzenegger action-figure dolls that mock the actor-turned-governor’s trademark line from the Terminator movies. When you touch the Schwarzenegger doll’s arm, it says “I won’t be back.” But with polls showing the Republican governor going into next week’s election with a double-digit lead over his Democratic rival, Phil Angelides, Brown’s not finding much of a market for his wares. He said even charity groups won’t take the dolls off his hands to give to needy children on Christmas.

Link Here

First of all, I think this exposes the risk of developing a product based on a political figure or political event, especially that far in advance. Politics being what they are, anything can happen within one year.

His market would have been limited at best even if Schwarzenegger’s popularity had not changed. Only a percentage of those who would have voted against Schwarzenegger would likely have bought such a doll.

Furthermore, his product cycle would have been limited by time. Even if everything would have worked out to his favor, who would buy such a product 1 or 2 months after the election?

Product research and development is a big subject, but this illustrates that a lot of factors have to be considered and balanced with the risk involved. Sometimes, they just involve common sense and avoiding the whimsical.

I often run across a lot of disclaimers in website and auction listings.  I ran across this gem on eBay:

‘We are not responsible for typographical or other errors within our listing’

I’ve seen things like that before and often wonder if the seller is not willing to take responsibility for errors in their listing, then who is?  Is the buyer supposed to be responsible for those errors?  And why would I want to buy from a seller who has this disclaimer in place?  When you really think about it, it has the potential to get them off the hook for just about anything that does not come up in their favor.

For example, what if shipping is $12.95 and someone accidentally put in $8.95 when they set up the listing?  Would such a disclaimer give them the right to say “Oops sorry buyer, the shipping is really $12.95″? 

I think sellers SHOULD take responsibility for errors in their listing and correct them accordingly. Of course, that’s my way of doing business and if my competitors want to lean on such disclaimers, I suppose I should say go ahead.

I was working with a company who was obsessed with comparing the current year to the previous year.  For example, if they wanted to know how they were doing sales-wise in the 2nd weekend in November, they would compare that November weekend sales figures to that of the 2nd weekend in November for the prior year.  If they were above last year, they were doing well.  If not, they were not doing that well.

A lot of businesses large and small seem to do this, but there is one huge thing wrong with this type of comparison.  There will be exceptional years and there will be lean years. When you are only comparing to one year (the one before) is it that meaningful? Say for example, the prior year was one of those exceptional years.  It is that horrible if your current year sales are down from that?  Conversely, what if the prior year was one of those awful years. If your sales are up compared to that year, is that all so great?

So the point is, don’t get too hung up on comparing to last year. It’s fine to do, but take it with a grain of salt.  A far better approach is to look at an historical trend over say the past 3 or 4 years.  That type of comparison is far more meaningful that simply looking at last year.

– Frank Ross

Vitamix has a blender called the TurboBlend 4500; it’s been around for a few years and is well known.  Let’s look at who’s selling this on eBay and ‘blow the lid off it’ shall we?   An eBay seller - we’ll call them ‘BlendersUnlimited’ - is selling the TurboBlend 4500 for $279.99 at BuyItNow with $22.95 fixed price shipping.  The seller has 30 of these for sale at the current time. This case study is based on a real seller, by the way but to keep myself out of hot water, I’m not naming them and I’ve adjusted the figures slightly for illustration (you could probably do a little detective work to figure out who I’m studying here).

The TurboBlend 4500 has 3 dealer cost levels with a minimum order of 3.  If you order between 3 and 9, your cost per-unit is $280.  If you order between 10 and 49, your cost drops to $262.  If you order 50 or more, your cost drops even further to $251. Since the seller has 30 for sale, we know they must be buying at least in the 10-49 level, if not in the 50+ level.  Given the fixed sale price, how much is this seller making on these?

To answer that, we need to look at the seller’s transaction costs.  You might look at the shipping price and think that’s excessive so you might be tempted to think the seller is doing the ’shipping jack up’.  But the TurboBlend 4500 weighs in at 15 pounds and comes in a fairly large box, so it’s probably about right as an average.  For the sake of keeping it simpler, let’s just say shipping is break-even and leave it out of the picture (although in practice, I would usually never try flat rate shipping on a heavy oversized item like this).

Based on the BuyItNow, this seller’s transaction cost will be about $22.00.  This takes into account listing fees, final value fee, and assumes a PayPal payment.  So what happens when we add $22 to the cost?  We know now that the seller is probably buying the product at the 50+ level or else they would be loosing money ($262 + $22 = $284).  But even at the 50+ level, the seller is only making about $7 per unit ($251 + $22 = $273).  That translates into a profit margin of only about 2.5%.

Yikes - that’s narrow! We don’t know what kinds of other costs the seller has, but at $7 per unit, BlendersUnlimited had better be selling loads of these every day or they WILL be losing money.  You might wonder if there would be another price level that I don’t know about.  There probably is - if you’re Wal-Mart! But for regular businesses that want to sell this product, that’s what there is to work with. 

This illustrates the problem created by Competing on Price.  This seller has attempted to lock everyone else out of the market by making it difficult for others to get attention to their listings at higher prices.  In the big picture, eBay enables this — especially with Ebay Express where you see the listings side by side and not much else to guide the buyer.  And BlendersUnlimited is doing this by accepting a less than adequate profit margin.  What happens when you have someone else that comes along and is willing to take a 2.4% margin, 2.3% margin and so on? 

In the end, the low one wins - or do they lose?
 

– Frank Ross