Ebay is Adding to Their Arsenal by Going Local

April 1st, 2011 No comments »

tank

Some of the best products have been developed by taking good ideas and making them great. This appears to be the approach eBay is taking. As I looked at the screen shots of eBay’s changes and newly added features I couldn’t help thinking, this all looks really familiar. . .

And familiar it is. Maybe you’ve heard of Google Places, it’s a great way for local business to be listed on Google, without having to compete with huge businesses. Well, Ebay is going local too.

As of March 31 st eBay announced that they are adding a local tab to the search results of everyone who “opts in” to eBay’s local site. The typical services will still be the same, only now another tab will be added that will offer local alternatives to shopping online.

This is great news for those of you with local businesses that have struggled to grow your online presence. Now you  have an advantage with your local customers. You are now a  closer and often a faster option than shipping.

EBay’s moves toward “Amazon-esk”  listings fascinate me too. These “product pages” organize  items according to condition, and then gives buyers a bundle option, and  a local option. You may have noticed this in the electronics categories on eBay as it’s been implemented in the dvd, blue-ray, hd dvds, cell phones, gps, and mp3 categories.

I think this is great. Maybe you love the reviews on Amazon, or the way they list things according to the condition of the item. I know I do. Well eBay is catching on. Maybe you love Google’s search results taking into account the quality of the website as it brings up your listings. EBay is doing that too.

So what isn’t eBay changing about their site? What they do best. Auctions. They know auctions are something they do well. Many eBay customers love auctions and eBay is sticking to those guns. But eBay is not naive either. They’re taking this opportunity to add to their arsenal; because you never know when your competitors will start using tanks.

Got a question about product pages and how to get your products to show up ?

Want information on eBay’s 2011 fees and product pages?

Please read more about Ebay’s fee changes and other helpful online selling info on our blog.

 

 

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Niche Products to Sell on Ebay

March 28th, 2011 1 comment »

Now don’t get lazy and not check out the market for these items but this post will offer you some products to consider trying out. I found these lists of products in blog articles and on websites about selling online. While some have more competition than others, I’m hoping one or two of these products  will work for you! Let me know if they do!

1. Pet ProductsDog and it's toy

2. As Seen on TV

Dollar Store Products:

3. Party Supplies

4.  Pregnancy Tests

5. Kitchen Supplies

6. Air Fresheners

7. Hard to Find Craft Supplies

From a Yahoo article about the best and worst of Dollar Store Buys

8. Used Items

From a My Fox news report

Don’t forget! If you know a lot about something, don’t rule out selling it too quickly if it’s not on this list. It’s generally easier to sell something you actually enjoy and use. Your knowledge about the product could actually be a huge selling point. You could easily  blog and tweet about your experiences with the product. Good luck everyone!

Please read more of our blog or get timely tweets on our company twitter page.

 

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The problem with, “If I Were a Fish” Customer Service

March 25th, 2011 No comments »

 

Fisherman with a child and his dog

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16230215@N08/3650612859/

I  went to a seminar put on by KSL Wednesday. KSL is a local news website in Utah.  KSL gets over 220M monthly page views, 3.8M of which are unique visitors. It ranks just under CBSNew.com in monthly visits.

KSL has done some very innovate things and decided to pass on some tips to the local market by hosting inexpensive business and marketing seminars. I know my co-worker and I learned a lot about branding during our seminar. I want to pass on an analogy Brett Harward used to further demonstrate the importance of research in deciding how to improve your business.

He began by explaining how you tell a novice fisherman from an expert. There’s one phrase, he related that almost always identifies a novice fisherman from an expert. It’s, “Well if I were a fish–I would eat that.” Said while looking at lures and bait. Much like novice fisherman, the biggest problem most business face is that they make assumptions about their customers or audience. They think, if I were a customer I would want this, or I would buy this.  But the obvious truth is that they’re not the customer, they are the business and they have a very different perspective than their customers who have nothing invested in the business.

He related an experience about a dive he took in a nearby lake to certify for his scuba diving test. He passed the test quickly and had a chance to go spear fishing with a friend. They swam around for awhile and found a huge school of fish.They were ecstatic to see so many huge fish in such a small area! In a frenzy, they each speared their legal limit of fish in about 3 minutes flat.

Well, they were so excited Brett thought he’d go to the top to see where they were so that they could bring some buddies back to the same spot. But when he came up, he was greeted by a group of angry fisherman. They stood up out of their lawn chairs and began yelling at him. He came up only feet from where their fishing lines had been and they assumed he had scarred their fish away. In my experience it’s not uncommon for fishermen to be possessive of their spots, but they were furious with him.

Brett however pointed out the irony of the interaction. These fishermen were angry with him, but a smart fisherman would have said,

“Wait! Don’t go! What’s going on down there? Where are the fish? What are they biting?” They had a great resource at their disposal, but treated him as a threat and lost a great opportunity.

So, what are your customers eating?

What would they like to eat?

How close is what you’re fishing with to what your customers want?

Advice from employees, vendors, customers, and other experts  is priceless. Are there resources at your disposal that you’re not tapping into? What could expert fishermen or scuba divers with perspective teach you? Are their other businessmen or competitors that would be just as willing to help?

I loved the analogy. Now statistics that you get by conducting research aren’t perfect, but learning from the past could save you from having to learn the hard way. I know. I recently learned my lesson as I thought like a novice and assumed that some products I bought at a thrift store would sell well. One of my unwise purchases was an HD set of dvds.

HD was the format before today’s blue-ray dvds. I would have to get a special player or attachment to play these dvds on a computer or my tv. So, who in their right mind would want such a difficult format?Hence, the reason I found them for such a “good deal” at a thrift store. I also bought some name brand jeans to sell, only to find out there was so much competition in the jeans category on eBay that I didn’t stand much of a chance, especially as a seller with a non-existent feedback score.

Do your research. Figure out what your customers want. Test it out and then apply it. Trust me you’ll be so glad you did. Good luck!

Here as interesting online tool that can tell you a little about your and your competitors websites and help you find places online to advertise.  Double Click Marketing by Google.

For more tips about selling online and building your business please follow us on twitter or read our blog.

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Three Lessons I Learned from Japan’s Tsunami Response

March 21st, 2011 No comments »

Soldier and Man after tsunami

 

Japan’s tsunami was devastating. It shook one of the world’s largest economies. But are there lessons we can learn from Japan’s response to this natural disaster?

1.Respond quickly in the face of disaster- Japan’s quick response is what impresses me most. Even with parts of their country in ruin  they continue to show courage and determination. This damage won’t stop them they’ll rebuild, and they’ll do it quickly.  Couldn’t that apply to any good business? Disasters will come. Your company may make a huge mistake, a vocal customer will hate your product or service, or you will make an unwise business decision. Disasters happen.  How will your company handle theirs?

Be like the Japanese and respond quickly! Got an angry customer? Contact them quickly. Treat them well. Use your social media  to act as a company  voice and respond directly to customer questions. After all if you don’t tell your story someone else will–and you may not like how they tell it.

Facebook, Twitter, and blogs provide solid ways to interact with your audience. But remember that if you want to engage  your customers during a disaster, you’ve got to have an audience to engage with. If you have not participated in social media previously, it it is more difficult to reach your audience since you’ll have to find them and then earn their trust before they’ll listen to you.

2.Work together- The Japanese didn’t loot each other when he tsunami  subsided. You may remember that during hurricane Katrina in the U.S., people  robbed stores and homes stealing everything from food to electronics. The looters took advantage of the lack of authority and chaos. Now surely some cultural difference between the two countries affected the two reactions, but isn’t this ultimately an ethical issue? In both cases the two societies know stealing is wrong. So what made the Japanese refrain from stealing?

The internet is a vast source of information, but it is increasingly difficult to navigate thanks to spam, duplicate content, and  many other dishonest SEO practices. People want to make money and often use dishonest practices to get themselves rated higher on Google. Search engines  are designed to rate higher the sites that contribute unique content, update frequently, contain relevant information, create value, and encourage users to bookmark or visit often. How many people visit a site is definitely taken into account when a search engine places a site in it’s search results.

Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit, encourage interaction,  service, and collaboration. Why not provide better information  by collaborating with others? A few other things you might try are,  getting the opinions of your customers, guest posting on the blogs of writers interested in your business niche, and  retweeting and @replying  people who tweet out valuable information.

3.Prepare. The Japanese prepared for disaster long before it struck by running drills, suiting their children up with earthquake hoods, and having rescue equipment close at hand. Are you currently using the tools that could help your company navigate through a disaster?

Guy Kawasaki recommends preparing a document with your co-workers that addresses what you will do if your company fails and the reasons it failed. But he recommends creating this before you actually do fail, so that you can prevent failure, but also so you can have a plan in case for some reason you do begin to fail.

This encourages problems within the company to be brought up, without the people feeling like they’ll be hated for bringing up problems in other departments or with co-workers. Planning ahead for disasters by creating an open environment can also help your business be prepared for disaster.

To get more helpful tips on improving you business please follow us on twitter or read our company blog.

 

 

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EBay Fee Changes Encourage Drop Shipping

March 18th, 2011 No comments »

U.S. Dollar BillsWhile some eBay customers are up in arms about the newest fee changes, drop shippers are celebrating. The fee changes have made it so that final value fees are taken off of  the total price including shipping. This change encourages sellers to combine their product and shipping costs into one listed price and offer “free shipping.”

Most sellers agree that the change was a result of the popularity of Amazon’s shipping policy which often included free shipping. As an avid  eBay buyer I  always add the shipping prices to the  total in my head anyway, so it seemed like a natural change to me.

But the best news about the change is that it represents an advantage  to drop shippers. Because the manufacturer drop ships the products that sellers post on eBay, the final value fee will not be as high for these sellers. Drop shippers handle shipping charges and even though they may charge a small fee, it will generally be less than the shipping, handling, and now final value fees that would be included if a seller tried to ship the products on their own–not to mention all of the shipping hassles that they save themselves from experiencing.

So if you already drop ship, you can now enjoy free listing fees,  50 free buy it now options, and a 9% final value charge that–thank s to drop shipping– will not include shipping fees.  If you don’t drop ship, these changes may be a good reason to start!

To learn how to receive our drop ship directory please visit www.gogodropship.com

To receive free new business tips follow us on on twitter @gogodropship or read our weekly blog.

 

 

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Ebay Fee Changes

March 16th, 2011 1 comment »
eBay

eBay

Have you heard about the newest changes to eBay fees?  I think most people are naturally hesitant to accept change. But eBay needed to change, so I hope these changes will improve their reputation with sellers and buyers.

Amazon has been sneaking up on eBay  for years. Many buyers began to lose trust in eBay after being scammed by dishonest sellers. Sellers on the other hand tired of extra fees and eBay’s seller policies. After the change in fees were announced, many sellers are angry about the changes. Blogs outlining the changes and even eBay forums have overflowed with comments.

To me, these changes seem to be targeted at building trust with buyers and rewarding long-time and successful eBay sellers and at giving bigger discounts to higher rated sellers. But they also take part of their profit from seller shipping costs. Take a look at  the changes  for yourselves and let me know what you think.

1.Insertion fees are now free!

Making these free is a step toward simplicity that I  welcome. Just keep in mind that extras like bold and italics will still cost a bit extra.

2. The final value fee is now 9% and caps off at 100 dollars. This will benefit some sellers more than others, but is aimed at encouraging all eBay sellers to offer free shipping.

3. The buy it now feature is free for up to 50 listings. Now sellers can try it our for free and determine the value of this option. Something tells me it must be valuable if eBay will give it away for free to encourage sellers to try it. They must feel confident sellers will be hooked after 50 listings.

4. Top Rated Sellers get a 20% discount off of final value fees (on item price portion only) It makes sense to reward people who work hard to keep their customers happy.

5. Paypal can hold the profits of new and low rated sellers for longer.  Auction Bytes explained that,

“Those affected by the new Payment Holds policy will see buyer payments as pending in their PayPal account. Funds will be available 3 days after eBay receives confirmation of delivery when the seller uploads tracking information, or 7 days after the seller’s latest estimated delivery date if they don’t upload tracking but mark the item as shipped. If no shipping information is provided to eBay, funds will be available 21 days after the buyer pays.”
While it makes sense that more caution should be used with new and poorly rated sellers, I see this as being a little frustrating to new sellers since their profits depends partially on the customers speed of payment and how fast something ships. It will discourage criminals, but also people wanting to begin selling that have little or no feedback. I have  to wonder if it will encourage new sellers to start business on other selling sites. Only time will tell.

To see mathematically how the changes will affect your profits please visit Auction Byte’s breakdown article.

For more about selling online please find us on Twitter @gogodropship and visit our company blog. Thanks!


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Test the Waters with Free Classifieds

March 14th, 2011 1 comment »
Bikes and Classifieds

Bikes and Classifieds

Online classifieds are a great way to begin your selling career. Most classifieds don’t require any fees to post on them and they take some of the complications out of selling online. The only disadvantage of classifieds is that  there are no eBay policies, return programs, or customer service to act as your safety nets.

Because you won’t have these back-ups, be cautious about the terms you set up with your buyers. Have customers pay you upfront and establish several ways to contact them. Consider establishing  a confirmation call  that ensures they gave you correct and valid contact information. This will save you if you have problems with the customers form of payment or if you suspect they are attempting to avoid payment.

Take into consideration also, that you won’t get the same outrageous amount of traffic eBay gets. But,  if your item will sell well in your area why not avoid extra fees? You will save yourself the cost of  listing fees and possibly shipping fees.

Here are a few classified options I stumbled across:

Craig’s List: A very common and trusted source of online classifieds. This site has by far the most traffic of any classified site I came across. But, the traffic it receives from your area will depend on where you live.

Ebay Classifieds: A very professional classifieds option. While interaction on the eBay classifieds varies in every area,  you’ll find much less competition than on eBay. Of course, this is partially due to the fact that the site gets less traffic than eBay, but it’s a great place to experiment.  Plus, the risk is a lot lower since there are no listing fees. You’ve really got nothing to lose!

Localized Classifieds:

Local news stations or newspapers: For example KSL 5 of Utah offers a great website that is largely free. Local online classifieds can be a great way to get local business. Selling locally could save you loads of money on shipping charges. Your local sites may even get more local traffic than eBay Classified or Craig’s List.

Your postings could include a call to action to view your blog or website. This allows another point of entry and a back-link to your website. Plus, it gives you an example to try out product descriptions and pictures before investing money in them on eBay.

I’d like to end this post with some advice from entrepreneur Jason Fried’s post, “Making Money.” He advised, “Go buy something on Craig’s List or eBay. Find something that’s a bit of a commodity, so you know there’s always plenty of supply and demand. An iPod is a good test. Buy it, and then immediately resell it. Then buy it again. Each time, try selling it for more than you paid for it. See how far you can push it. See how much profit you can make off 10 transactions.

I love doing this, because there’s no real risk involved. If you already have a business, you don’t need to dream up a new product line or rock the boat with crazy experiments. If you don’t have a business, it’s a perfect way to work on your chops.”

 

 

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Why not gogo?

March 11th, 2011 No comments »
Black and white photo of ment playing baseball

America's National Pastime, Baseball

Stopping at 3rd base scores no more points than striking out! Why not let gogo dropship be your 3rd base coach and help you bring your sales home? Having your own online business is a great way to have significant extra income working from home.  Here at gogo we have a highly motivated team of professionals that want to help you get your online business out of the dug out and up to the plate.

Do you think that selling online is too difficult? Think again. We have specially designed drop ship packages for you to choose from that all allow you to work at you own pace.   With our memberships you will have access to a long list of wholesale suppliers and drop shippers ready to ship products nationally and internationally. Making money from home couldn’t be easier. We are here to help when you are just getting starting and when you are ready to swing for the fences.

More and more products are being sold online every year. E commerce has become a multibillion dollar industry and it is more simple now than ever to get your piece of that money. Drop shipping with GoGo Dropship will take the hassle out of selling online and making money will become simple. So what are you waiting for? Give us a call a talk to one of our representatives today to learn more.

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Six Ways to Find New Customers:One Way to Keep Them

March 9th, 2011 No comments »

Customers are the life blood of any organization. Loyal customers bring in a consistent revenue stream while new customers ensure the survival of a company. So how do you reach out and find your customers?

1. Know your customers. Your customers or your target market should be thoroughly defined as you strive to reach new customers. Why? Lets compare trying to reach your market to a funnel. If you’re trying to pour water into a milk jug without a funnel, you’ll probably spill a lot of water and loose a lot of water that could potentially have been poured into the jug. With a small funnel, you can simply pour in the water and it’s automatically directed to where it needs to go. Less water is wasted and you’re going to meet your goal of filling the milk jug that much quicker. Targeted results keep you from wasting your money.

Throwing money into advertising without knowing who your target market is, is like pouring water into a milk jug without a funnel. It is not efficient and is probably wasting a lot of time. Good research is like a funnel directing our marketing efforts to directly to where they are needed.

It is important to know basic demo graphical information like a customer’s sex, age, and where they are from, along with psycho-graphics like where they spend their time, where they spend their money, and what entices them to spend their money. If you know  your customer you can direct your advertising to where your customers are, instead of paying to advertise to people who could care less about your product or message.

2. Develop an offer with a partner of affiliate.For example, a hair salon may offer a free sample of a new men’s shampoo. This particular offer will help the salon, because customers love that they get something free with every haircut. The shampoo will win as well, since it receives free exposure and endorsement by a popular salon.

3.Contact former customers or potential customers. Maybe a company makes a small mistake and an online shopping cart is abandoned. Why not contact these people and work it out. Personal contact means a lot and these customers could become your greatest source of word of mouth advertising. Plus, finding out what made them abandon their purchase may clue you into improvements that need to be made before you lose more customers.

4. Offer a coupon or deal to new customers driving them to enter and then match it with a loyalty card or  discount that encourages them to return.  I think this must be why loyalty cards are so popular. Though they drive me crazy, they are a good way to encourage repeat business.

5. Be creative! Guerrilla marketing is any non-traditional marketing technique that attracts interest or creates buzz centered around a brand. Have a look at these guerrilla marketing campaigns. The best part about this type of marketing is that it can be very inexpensive. When I attended BYU-Idaho Sammy’s, a new restaurant, advertised by placing plastic Easter eggs on and near major walkways that college students took to get to class. I was ecstatic to get the coupons and loved talking to everyone about the plastic eggs I found on the way to class. The word of mouth they got with such an inexpensive investment was well worth their time and efforts.

6. As Laura Spencer recommends, Tell your story. Start a company blog that is informative, entertaining, and visual. Find a good angle centered around your product and run it by a newspaper or a popular blog and see if they’d be interested in publishing it.  And take every opportunity to tell others about your product. Put in plug for all of your social media and reward people that are referred to you by social media.

Poor Customer Complaint Department

Yikes! Customers run for cover!

 

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What is Drop Shipping?

March 7th, 2011 No comments »
Drop Shipping Photo

Storing Merchandise

What is drop shipping? Can it be leveraged into a successful business?

As a senior at BYU-Idaho, I first heard about drop shipping when a successful online business owner came to speak to us. She got her start selling homemade baby blankets on eBay and then over time expanded her inventory by adding furniture. When she branched out into furniture she was nervous that she didn’t have the space to store the cribs and chairs.  With a little negotiation her supplier agreed to be a drop shipper solely for her. When someone drop ships it means that the supplier or manufacturer ships the product directly to the customer.

This drop ship deal was due to the good relationship she had built with her supplier. (since the supplier didn’t drop ship with everyone) The  drop shipper saw that she worked hard and thus was willing to put in a little extra work by agreeing to drop ship. Really it was a good relationship that made the deal possible.

Most businesses will tell you that a good business is centered around a good product. But, because suppliers largely control if you sell a product or not, it is so important to develop a good relationships with them. The truth is that for most manufacturers, drop shipping only a few items can be a hassle. Most manufacturers would prefer to sell to organizations that buy a product in bulk. But many will know drop ship thanks to relationship built with a good directory or seller.

Suppliers also control when a product gets to your customers. This alone is reason enough to stay on good terms.  After all,  quick shipping generally translates into customer feedback. And any eBay seller will tell you the value of good feedback on eBay.

But besides saving you the hassle of shipping a product to a customer, it can also help you put profits back into your pocket more quickly. You see once the customer pays, you have your entire profit right up front. You don’t have to worry about the fees associated with shipping and handling.

While it’s true you can work with drop shippers without a directory, it can be extremely difficult to connect yourself to a legitimate drop ship distributor on your own. There are a lot of scams  out there but drop ship directories take the guess work out of finding trusted suppliers. They form relationships with these suppliers so that you’ll be connected to a friendly, dependable drop ship supplier. The supplier of the woman I told you about was a trusted supplier that helped the woman expand her business from a small eBay account, to an online store, and then into a successful brick and mortar store. While  this woman knows her hard work got her the trust of the supplier, she acknowledges that her dream business could never have boomed without an honest supplier that produces quality products and ships quickly to her customers.

Do you want more tips on how to jump start your online business?

Please follow us on twitter @gogodropship or read more of our blog articles.

 

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