How to get better results from your eBay Shop - 19 Jan - (4-5 PM)

[sapana@ebay.com]

Hi,

eBay shops are a great feature that are being used by sellers worldwide to run their business on internet. In this workshop we will discuss how to increase your sales by using your eBay shop:
- Shop Features that help in sales
- Using Seller email marketing and its benefits
- Getting more buyers by marketing your own shop
- Building your brand on eBay.

Date: Thursday, 19th January 2006
Time: 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm (IST)

See you on 19th!

Warm Regards,
Sapana

[preetim@ebay.com]

Improve a buyers shopping experience in your shop by customising it

When building your shop it is important to keep in mind the "shopping experience". With easy to use tools you can customise your shop for simple navigation, great customer service and a comfortable shopping experience.

You can also Customise your Shop with the following tools:

Create Custom categories
Custom Categories are like departments within your shop that make it easier for buyers to find what they are looking for. You can create up to 19 categories within your shop. With custom categories you make your shop more buyer friendly.

Depending on the items, some sellers use product-based categories like- ceramics, glassware, posters while others use more flexible categories like sale items, seasonal, best-sellers, etc.

Create Custom Pages
Custom pages are a set of unique pages that you can create for your Shop to serve a variety purposes like your shops home page, presenting your shop policies, highlighting a current sale, telling more about yourself, showcase items and specials, explain shipping and return policies, describe the history of your business, and more.

The maximum number of custom pages that you can create depends on your subscription level.

[preetim@ebay.com]

While customising you can use some of the following tools:

Listing Header
Your Shop listing header is a great way to build your eBay Shop's brand and drive more traffic to your Shop, because it appears at the top of the item description in all of your current listings as well as your future listings.

Listing Header includes your shops name, a link to your shop's home page, and your shop's colours. You can also include:
• Your Shop logo
• A search box that enables buyers to search your Shop
• A link that enables buyers to add you to their favorite sellers
• A link that enables buyers to sign up for your email marketing newsletters
• Links to your custom categories, custom pages, and About Me page (up to a maximum of 5 links)

Add Gallery to all your listings
Pictures Sell! A buyer is more likely to click on an item with a Gallery picture. Ensure to include images of your item in your listing and select Gallery while creating your listing to display a thumbnail image of your product.

Display with Gallery view
Gallery view devotes more space to your items with bigger images. This is very important for items where pictures play an important role. Ensure to change the default view of your listings to a Gallery view to attract more buyers towards your products.

[preetim@ebay.com]

Effectively marketing your shop online and offline

Lets start with Online Marketing:

Cross Promotion of your listings
As the proud owner of an eBay Shop, you can cross-promotions your items on all listing pages, Bid Confirm and purchase Confirmation pages. eBay’s default picker will pick items to cross promote, however if you proactively select the right set of items to cross promote to your buyers so that your Shop Inventory items get maximum exposure. For example, it will make more sense to promote Skirts or Denims with Kurta, than furniture.

Get more information on Cross Promotions

Make the best use of your listings
Take buyers to your shop through your active auctions and fixed price listings which appear in regular searches and categories on eBay. List some of your items in these formats, and include your shops header, links to your shops homepage, a link to add you as a favourite seller in your item description.

Use your About Me page.
If you have an About Me page, the ME icon will always appear next to your User ID for buyers to click on. Talk about your shop and include links to your shop in your in your About Me page. Besides, ME pages are also search engine friendly.

Include your Shop’s name and URL in your signature.
Don’t forget to include your shops name and URL as part of your signature and in all communication with eBay community members.

[preetim@ebay.com]

More Online Marketing strategies

Seller Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great way to promote your eBay Shop to buyers-including those who are interested in your Shop but have not purchased items from you in the past.

How do buyers subscribe to your emails?
A buyer subscribes to your news letters by adding you to his Favourite Sellers list. Make sure to include this link in all your communication with buyers and in all your listings.

Mailing Lists
You can create up to 5 Mailing lists that target different interests or types of promotions. For example, you could have a "DVDs" mailing list and a "Sale Notifications" mailing list.
When a buyer adds you to his favourite sellers he has an option to choose which mailing list he would like to subscribe to. So go ahead and create your mailing lists!

How many subscribers do you have?
Your subscribers are customers who are interested in your products. They have taken the time to sign up to receive ‘news’ about additional products you are selling. Send them regular updates on your product inventory and special deals.

Tip: Promote links to your buyers to subscribe to your newsletters through all your communications.

How to create emails?
Creating professional looking emails with the right set of products is highly essential to get good returns through your marketing.
▪ Give your email an attractive subject line
▪ Add a good variety of product listings. For eg: If you are selling an Ipod use a mix of the low and high end models.
▪ Try using the Gallery view for your listings to have clear images.

Take a Tour on how to design a professional looking email.

The number of emails you can send depends on your subscription level.

[preetim@ebay.com]

Now Lets talk about Offline Marketing

Have you ever thought of promoting your shop outside eBay?
Here are some exciting ideas to get more exposure and bring more buyers to your eBay Shop:

Promote your Shop in emails and printed materials.
Always include your shops name and in all your correspondence with buyers (such as emails and packing slips) as well as advertisements.


Print attractive flyers and send it out with your packages
Printing out the free promotional flyers is another benefit of owning an eBay Shop. These are fabulous marketing tools to include all year long in your boxes that you ship. You can also distribute these flyers to friends and family and others interested in your products.

Some key things to highlight through your flyers
- Include seasonal promotions in your flyers eg: Diwali specials, Sales
- Combined Shipping Offers etc.

Steps to Print Promotional Flyers:
- Click on Manage my Shop with My eBay.
- Click on the Access this Feature: Promotional Flyers link.
- Create your flyer.
- Preview and print the flyer

"Printing flyers is extremely simple and goes a long way in promoting your product"

[preetim@ebay.com]

Here are some key things that will help you get the best of your eBay shop.

Please feel free to post any questions you may have. I will be here for an hour from 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm to answer all your questions.

Look forward to seeing you then.

Regards,
Preeti

[1jdcard]

hi did u gide me to active my Auctiva.. y its not working.....its work for my 1st item y not for 2nd item,thanks

[ameetl_in1]

Hi preeti,
Im new on ebay, so i would definitely like to get as much info on how to sell and get better results from ebay shop, or just get better results overall.

Is it a live chat or do we just watch the threads of the posts and replies?
Ameet

[sapana@ebay.com]

Hi ameetl_in1,

As of now you can watch the thread and read the comments already posted. At 4 PM, Preeti will be there to answer your questions live!

Warm Regards,
Sapana

[preetim@ebay.com]

Hello everybody

Welcome to today's workshop on eBay Shops. I am glad to see your interest in eBay Shops and hope to respond to all questions within the next hour.

Regards,
Preeti