This week we welcome back Kirsty Dunn to recap the Up & Running Grants program and we visit with grant recipient, eBay Seller Liz O'Kane. Brian and Griff answer your questions about locating hot trends and what to do when a buyer doesn’t ship a return.
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Episode 129 Links
Update to Seller Protections due to Weather
Simplified shipping badges come to eBay
eBay Announces the Recipients of Its “Up & Running Grants”
Liz O'Kane’s eBay Store
The Selling Community Podcast
Recurring Links:
Hosts:
Griff, Brian Burke
Guests:
Kirsty Dunn (eBay staff), Liz O’Kane (eBay seller)
Brian : This week on the eBay For Business Podcast:
Liz O'Kane: "Right now, I need to add just a couple of pieces of equipment stations, shipping and listing stations that I need an improvement on that I've been, that was kind of next on my list. Some of that will be invested into that. For me, it'll make my process faster. I want to find a local person that can help me list, but outside of my home, I really want to find a fellow seller that maybe has the skills, but may not have been able to find the inventory to be like, Hey, let's help each other out.”
Brian: I'm Brian.
Griff: And I'm Griff and this is the Bay For Business Podcast, your weekly source for the information and inspiration to start, run and grow a business on the world's most powerful marketplace. And this is episode 129. Good day, Brian.
Brian: Thanks, Griff. Good day to you too. How are things going?
Griff: Things are going very well. It's busy in podcast land, which makes me happy. Keeps me on my toes. What's in the news this week, Brian?
Brian: As everyone knows our hearts go out to a lot of folks in Texas and all throughout the Midwest, but it's been catastrophic weather that started last week and for some parts of the U S continues today. So to that end, we have an important update to the severe weather that impacted so much of the country last week, especially Texas. As you know, eBay previously announced seller protections for these weather delays and eBay is expanding those to also cover defects resulting from transactions a seller may have canceled. We've also added the message: Due to severe weather your package may be delayed, that buyers see when they view their tracking information on eBay to let them know there may be delays due to the snow storms and to allow extra time. If your business is impacted eBay will automatically protect your seller performance, including your late shipment rate, your valid tracking upload rate. Any item not received case defects due to late delivery as long as you uploaded tracking and have a physical scan from the carrier before a case was opened. And eBay will also protect against any defects resulting from transactions you had to cancel.
Griff: A lot of sellers too, for example, in Texas and in the South may have just had to go on their phones and cancel all the transactions because there's simply no way for them to even get the packages out.
Brian: Yeah, I mean the post offices are going to be closed aren't they?
Griff: Yes. It's just horrible, horrible.
Brian: And finally, we'll also remove any associated negative and neutral feedback and these cases will not impact your service metrics rating. You do not need to contact customer service at this time. Please stay safe. Focus on getting back to normal and eBay will cover the rest.
Griff: Focus on what you need to do to get safe and to get heat back on and your water.
Brian: The water things surprised me. I mean, I was, it was all about the electricity. And then that seemed like the second wave just hit with water issues. Well, if your pipes freeze, you know, this happens. If you've got pipes that are exposed and they don't have this kind of weather normally. So a lot of people's pipes froze and depending on where the plumbing is, they've been flooded out of their houses. It's a nightmare and it doesn't show any signs of improving. We're keeping an eye on that. And if you're in an effected area we're definitely thinking about you and we hope everything is soon going to be better. What else is in the eBay news, Brian?
Brian: Well, you probably know this, but fast shipping speed and clear delivery dates are some of the first things buyers look for in your listing. So to make your shipping speeds more visible and help improve your sales eBay announced last week that it is replacing the fast and free badge buyers see in search results with a new message that shows shipping speed upfront, making it easier for buyers to identify listings with the fastest arrival. This updated shipping message will include shipping speed from next day up to four business days. The way we estimate delivery dates isn't changing. And it's still based on your handling time location and the delivery services you offer. There's no action required for the seller and the eligibility criteria are not changing. If your listings currently show the fast and free badge, you'll start to see them automatically update to the new message. Simply continue to offer competitive shipping to qualify.
Griff: And what are those four qualifications Brian?
Brian: So offer free shipping, offer same day or one day handling. Upload your items, tracking details and finally, number four, the estimated arrival time the buyer sees for delivery in their location should indicate delivery within four business days.
Griff: And it's possible not every buyer will see that speed.
Brian: Correct? It depends on their location in relation to the item location.
Griff: Well, thanks, Brian. We'll put the links to this information on Seller Center. We'll put it in the transcript for episode 129, so you can find it quickly. I think it's time to start our podcast.
Brian: Looking forward to it.
Griff: Thanks Brian. You'll be back with us for You've Got Questions. We've Got Answers. We'll see you then. But first let's talk to Kirsty Dunn, about the recent Up & Running Grant announcement.
Griff: Last week, the 50 Up & Running Grant recipients were announced here at eBay and here with me now is Seller Social Marketing and Comms Manager, Kirsty Dunn to talk about the program and the recipients.
Hi Kirsty.
Kirsty Dunn: Hey Griff.
Griff: I would imagine you may be a bit overwhelmed and maybe just a little tired.
Kirsty Dunn: I'm so pumped and so happy. I, this has been a labor of love as you can imagine, but I'm just so glad that we're here and we've been able to announce.
Griff: Tell us again a little bit about the Up & Running Grant program before we start talking about the recipients.
Kirsty Dunn: You might remember, and the listeners might remember that we announced the Up & Running Grants program in November last year. We announced that 50 sellers would each get a $10,000 grant package, half a million dollar investment from eBay and the grant package included cash, eBay credits and access to Seller School, which is the new e-learning platform. We announced that in November last year, went out far and wide, wanted as many sellers to apply as possible. That closed on the 11th of December. We actually received 13 and a half thousand applications, which is an incredible amount. Here we are now in February. It has taken us that long to go through all of them each and every single one of them has been verified and read and checked. And we had a pretty robust judging panel and review team that went through every application. And we really kind of chose the 50 grantees based on not only the need for the grant, but also that plans for how they were going to use it. And their willingness to obviously increase their online business and grow their eBay stores.
Griff: And remind us again, what it is that the grantees received.
Kirsty Dunn: $10,000 grants package, $8,000 of that is cash to spend on whatever they like. $2,000 in eBay credits and then premium access to Seller School. So they're actually starting seller school this week. They're going to be going through with the growth advisors and the coaches and learning everything they need to know about growing and maintaining their business on eBay.
Griff: Were you one of the people that contacted the 50 selectees or grantees? And if so, what was it like when you were contacting them? What was the reaction?
Kirsty Dunn: I was one of the people. We actually did a bunch of them on Zoom calls and they didn't know that they were going to be a grantee. We were a little bit sneaky and we set up the meetings under the guise that we needed to ask them some more questions about their application.
Griff: You are sneaky!
Kirsty Dunn: Quite sneaky, but we also wanted to capture their reactions to finding out for the first time. I have been at eBay for almost six years now and I must say that that moment of being able to contact those sellers is definitely a highlight of my eBay career. Just seeing the reaction, just knowing how much of a difference it's going to make to their businesses is just so, so impactful for me as an employee.
Griff: What was an example of a really a memorable reaction?
Kirsty Dunn: I hope the listeners have seen the video that we actually created from the calls but as you can imagine, very, very different types of reactions, very animated reactions. I remember Sandra in Brooklyn who Barrack who's our lead of DNI had the pleasure of talking to and she just was like, Oh my goodness. Oh gosh! And she thought that it was an interview. So she had no idea. She then went running around her house, telling her kids. One was on a class, on a Zoom class. So she was like, thank eBay I just won this grant. And it was just incredible to see that reaction.
Griff: Any common themes about how the grantees plan on investing their grant dollars. I know that 2000 of them are eBay credits, but that's $8,000 in cash. What did you hear from the grantees about how they plan to use that?
Kirsty Dunn: All have different kind of businesses. They all sell in different categories. They will have different challenges that obviously 2020 presented to them. A bunch of different ways that they're going to be investing one seller in particular, he doesn't have enough storage space. He's actually been using his spare bedroom. He had to sell the bed to make space for inventory. He's obviously going to be buying a proper storage unit to help with his inventory. Sandra who I mentioned just before she literally was out of supplies, she didn't have the right size bottles for some of her products. She was having to send them in whatever she had. So her first reaction was I'm going to buy bottles. I'm off to buy bottles! Like her business was at bare bones for her, like having that injection of cash makes her be able to buy what she needs to to get more products up on her store. Another, there has so much credit card debt she's being rejected from all sorts of different grants and funding. So she I'm assuming will be using it to pay off her credit card debt, which she's being using to keep her business afloat. So many different reasons that these grantees need the grant, but we're just so delighted that way we're able to help them when they need it.
Griff: With 13 and a half thousand people applying. What about the folks that weren't selected?
Kirsty Dunn: Yeah, I appreciate it. Obviously. There's going to be a few disappointed applicants. There was an email that went out to everyone who did apply. Obviously we appreciate all of the time and effort that goes into doing these kinds of applications. I think the main thing is ensuring that they know that there's access to all sorts of different resources and tools. We are encouraging all of the applicants and old sellers to take advantage of the free courses on Seller School, to join the eBay community as well. You can ask all of your questions, you can learn from other sellers, you can help each other. I think just making sure that they were aware of all of these resources is really important.
Griff: Kirsty you can take a little break from this program now that it's been completed. Again, congratulations to your team for all the hard work. And of course, congratulations to the 50 selectees, the grantees that were just announced. Where can we go to learn about the grantees? You mentioned a video and I believe there's also a page.
Kirsty Dunn: If you go to ebay.com/upandrunning, if you scroll halfway down that page, you will actually see a link to the eBay Inc article. And so on that article, you can find the video, you can see the list of all of the recipients. And then we have a little bit of a story from four of the recipients, just a little bit more color on their business and what they're going to be doing with the grant. So it's also on the Seller News Announcement obviously, and it's also on our eBay For Business Facebook page, but I probably go to that URL and you can find everything from there.
Griff: Many places you can go, but as always, we will put all of the links in the transcript. Again, Kirsty, thank you so much for everything that you've done with this program. It's just sounds like it's been a real success. It's always a good idea to invest in your partner sellers. Kirsty Dunn is the Seller Social Marketing and Comms Manager here at eBay. And again, I will put all of the links to the up and running grant recipients and the videos in our transcript.
Griff: Last week, we announced the Up And Running Grant Winners. 50 were chosen out of literally thousands of applicants. We have one of those grant winners with us today. She's well known in the meetup community and she's also started her own podcast with one of our old friends, Doug Smith. Welcome Liz OKane. Tell us what was it like when you heard the news?
Liz OKane: Oh my gosh. I was totally in shock. I think that my brain didn't process it till about five minutes after I hung up the phone, you know, until I was done. I was like, wow, I don't know. It just happened. I'm kind of still in shock!
Griff: Yeah. I think when one enters the lottery, so to speak one just assumes one's not going to win. And then when you find out you've won, it's kind of disconcerting.
Liz OKane: Yeah, exactly. You know, you apply, you hope you're like, I'm going to give it my best. I, you know, we encourage each other as fellow resellers to do it and we kind of just start hustling again. Right? And not that you don't forget about it because we, I get some reminders, but yeah, it did. It still came as a surprise.
Griff: Uh, Liz OKane sells on eBay under the user ID, coloradoreworn. That's one word, coloradoreworn. Liz, what do you sell?
Liz OKane: I sell men's and women's fashion.
Griff: What's that been like in the last year?
Liz OKane: You know, the last year it is definitely changed. The way that I now source items, the items that are now selling is not quite the same as it was pre pandemic. When everybody had an office to go to or a job to go to now working at home, there was a pivot. But I've been able to maintain through pivoting.
Griff: Good to hear. What has that been like keeping your stock up?
Liz OKane: It's been okay. And it's only because I have had the mind shift to switch coloradoreworn was placed under the vice of thrifted clothing, reworn, sustainability. When things around me shut down, the thrift stores were shut down and it wasn't really a place that I had personally wanted to go to, to source for me anyways, a day of shopping may include six or seven thrift stores, you know, and it's a day out of traveling. So while thrift stores were still closed, stores were still closed. One of the first places to open back up was a place that I sourced for new items. And I talked to the store manager, we kind of, you know, I told her like look, I need to shift what I'm doing. And I was able to make a very large bulk purchase of new items. And I found that with my business, I've been able to kind of bulk buy, but it has been on the new side. I've been able to do that. Something very innovative that I learned from the community that I had never done before is really going on social media and sourcing from social media. Looking at things like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or Next Door, I would have never done this pre pandemic, but somebody put an ad out saying, Hey, I have a bunch of designer clothes, thrift stores are closed. So I can't donate it. I was able to reach out to this woman and say, Hey, I'm a reseller. I'm going to do a one or none deal. Like I will take it all in one swoop. And it was ended up being about 2000 items. I donated the rest back. I was able to donate at least half of it back. I did give away some to other resellers and kept what I felt would be good for my business. Oh. But yeah, my front living room became the storage unit. (laughter)
Griff: As you know, when you're listening to the podcast, we always connect with our guests through Zoom. So I can see Liz is sitting in what looks like her inventory room. There's bin upon bin upon shelf, upon shelf of clothing that I can actually see is that all of your inventory or is there more?
Liz OKane: So there is more, I actually work out of a large bedroom in my basement and I have two walls of clear totes that are all marked with SKU. I actually have another room outside of this room that has totes 1 through 50. This has 51 through, I think like 105.
Griff: Lots of totes.
Liz OKane: Lots of totes. So, you know, I've been able to make those bulk purchases. It's been mostly new, a lot of retail arbitrage where I didn't do that before a whole lot. Um, so it really did change the way I shopped. And I looked at my business as a whole and how am I going to get through this? And what do people want? I now know I'm not stuck on fashion. It's just what I know. If I run across a coffee mug and I'm like, I know that that mug will sell for $110. I'm not going to leave it there.
Griff: Yeah. There's some coffee mugs that are worth that much money?
Liz OKane: There are some that are worth more.
Griff: Oh you're kidding.
Liz OKane: Because they're very rare to find, look for certain Death Wish coffee mugs.
Griff: Death wish?
Liz OKane: Death Wish Coffee. Go look those up. Certain ones are Holy grails of the coffee mugs that are just interesting. I've never found one, but I learned it through the community. So now I know what to look for. They're not readily available.
Griff: Is this Death Wish the movie or is it just a company or theme?
Liz OKane: They are a coffee company, Death Wish Coffee Company. What a funny name for a company.
Liz OKane: Yeah, I know, I know it's their older mugs that are out of production. Learned it through the seller community. It's like, Hey, that's something to look out for.
Griff: The winners of this grant receive a prize of $10,000. 8,000 of that is in cash. And 2000 is in eBay credits. How do you plan to invest that $8,000?
Liz Okane: I was like, I want to do it all right. Now my plan right now is I need to add just a couple of pieces of equipment. Stations, shipping and listing stations that I need an improvement on. That I've been, that was kind of next on my list. You know, we slowly build up our tools. Some of that will be invested into that. For me, it'll make my process faster. I want to find a local person that can help me list, but outside of my home. So I started that process. I really want to find a fellow seller that maybe has the skills, but may not have been able to find the inventory to be like, Hey, let's help each other out. Really reinvesting back into the community and reinvesting into some local talent and help because that's just going to help me also. And most likely the rest will be right back into inventory. And I keep thinking about what do I need for my business? And I really want to just jump back on eBay and find sellers that are selling what I need to give right back to that.
Griff: Do you find some of your inventory on eBay itself?
Liz OKane: I have found some inventory on eBay in the past. It's not my typical sourcing, but you can find it,. I'm very fortunate to where I do have contacts and I have connections to be able to source locally and for an extremely reasonable investment,
Griff: You have taken the helm in the last few years of a meetup group or series of meetup groups that are located in the greater Denver Colorado area. The last year obviously has been a huge challenge for meet up groups which typically meet in a physical location with face to face. And that hasn't been possible. Tell us a little bit about the meetup group that you manage now and how you've worked to have meetups without being face-to-face.
Liz OKane: We had expanded our local meetup here in Colorado Springs with a fellow reseller. It started off strong. There are a lot of sellers in this area that definitely have a need for a meetup. We did about four meetups before we were shut down. I am a people person. Like we would get together at our meetup talk business. I think one of our last ones we met up and then we all went to dinner. We all had dinner and wine together for another two hours and that's just the kind of community that we have here. And it is absolutely amazing. So I'm in Colorado Springs and Lori up in Denver runs that meetup and we've really leaned on each other. So when we kind of went remote her and I, and Robin who is our, the co-host of the Colorado Springs meet up, we all had lunch together probably a day or two before our city's shut down. So we met for lunch, we kind of discussed, you know, what might be going forward. And we've really been able to communicate on phone on text, kind of grew in our relationship in that aspect, but we've been able to partner together. So we just took two meetups and kind of like, Hey, would you like to take on this meetup? Or I've got this scheduled for this meetup. We have been doing meetups by Zoom. In the beginning of the pandemic. We kind of really missed our people, right? We weren't, even though we work for ourselves, we work in our house. We're used to being around people. So we were really missing that connection. And I was doing meetups every other Wednesday. It was just a let's get together and talk about what's going on. How's everybody doing? And we've been able to grow that.
Griff: You have brought up a really good point, which is that meetups aren't just for sharing information. It's actually for sharing company. So many sellers on eBay, even pre pandemic, their businesses are kind of solitary. They are sole proprietors like yourself. They work day and night most of the time, and they don't get a chance for socializing and meetups were a great opportunity for sellers who are in that position to go out and actually spend time with each other. We are by nature, social that's in our DNA. So it's kind of important.
Liz OKane: Yeah, it is. We, we weren't able to go out sourcing and like me, a lot of my fellow sellers, they are friends or they socialize with the cashiers of their favorite stores with their employees of their favorite warehouse. We just do it by nature. When everything went down, you know, I was texting one of my store managers just, Hey, how are you doing? Because we do want that human connection. And I think we all kind of got comfortable with that. And then we were kind of able to grow to maybe a once a month meet up. And by that time, eBay employees were working from home and we were able to connect through UpFront events. I definitely promoted going to those and, and we were able to form connections with certain eBay employees and say, Hey, could you come and talk at our meetup? And we were very fortunate that we could do that because now everybody was remote. I know Laurie has had some really strong presentations in our meetup, really great turnout to where she's like, Hey, we're going to do this presentation to where I would just tell everybody in our meetup, Hey, let's go and support this meetup. And we can just combine them. Where in the past we'd have had to drive an hour and a half traffic timing. And that wasn't really a problem. So we've been able to overcome the obstacles of in-person meetups.
Griff: How long have you been selling on eBay?
Liz OKane: It'll be 19 years next month.
Griff: 19 years! Where does the time go?
Liz OKane: It's weird. Cause I'm only like 25. So….
Griff: You started in kindergarten.
Liz OKane: Yes, yes, no. I actually started eBay in 2002 and it was just very part-time. I made my first purchase on eBay in 2002. A nice, cool Kodak, easy share 1.2 megapixel camera digital first one ever to take those pictures. Um, I sold my son's newborn clothes. I sold my old maternity clothes and I was able to turn them for more money than I bought them new, you know, and I had heard of eBay and scratching my head. I'm like, how is this possible? You know, I list them for sale people bid. They send you a couple dollars in the mail. You send them their change and your items. And it was just a good handshake deal. It's been fun to watch eBay grow over these years. So I was part time. I was in the air force, so I could not commit to selling full time, but it was a great way to make a couple extra dollars. You know, take the kids to Disney, set a goal, achieve it and became more serious. My last couple of years in the air force before I retired.
Griff: When you retired, did you go full time into eBay? Or was there a career in between?
Liz OKane: The military actually has a program set up to help veterans transition into the civilian life. They give us a lot of resources working on CV connections with companies and the entire time I was shaking my head and I was telling my husband, no, I have friends that are very successful with this. I don't see why I can't be. So the last year I committed. So I really hustled that last year. And I knew it was an investment in me. It was an investment in a company to see if I could do it. And I had that last year kind of as, as a catch net and it continued to grow. I was actually selling full time while I was, you know, using up my last vacation days. The last month in the air force, I was hitting it hard, full time on eBay.
Griff: Selling full time on eBay. It's not just a few hours a week. It's a lot of work.
Liz OKane: It is.
Griff: And you manage a meetup, you run a business and now you have a third thing going.
Liz OKane: Yes, I was hoping you could tell us about it. Cause it's kind of similar to what we're doing right now.
Liz OKane: You know, it really is. I was approached and asked if I would be interested in co-hosting a podcast with Doug Smith who used to be on the eBay Community Team.
Griff: He was part of our podcast team. Yeah.
Liz OKane: And he was actually, when he was at eBay, he actually helped him and Brian had helped start our meetup. That's how I had met Doug. We are starting the Seller Community Podcast to talk about selling across all platforms. I know, I feel odd saying that on an eBay podcast, but let me tell you, I have really immersed myself in community, outside of eBay. And I've really seen a need for sellers on other platforms that want to sell on eBay, but they are so intimidated. They really are. And maybe they had one bad experience or they don't know how to ship something or they don't know. And all they need is that one person to say, it's okay. Like let's, let's walk you through this. So it's a greater need for a selling community as a whole to where we can interview people in our community, promote other sellers, podcasts for other sellers, YouTube channels so that we can connect sellers with who they feel a connection with. Different news across platforms. E-commerce our first podcast just came out. It's podcast number one.
Griff: Where do we go to find it?
Liz OKane: To find our podcast? It is going to be on all streaming services. The name is Seller Community Podcast from ListPerfectly. And you can also find it on listperfectly.com/podcast.
Griff: We'll put those links in the transcript. If people are interested or have forgotten them. You can always go to the transcript to see the links. This is exciting. First episode, how often will you have podcasts?
Liz OKane: So we will be releasing a new podcast every Wednesday. So it is a weekly podcast. Podcast every Wednesday.
Griff: Uh, you'll find out if you haven't already that it is a lot of work.
Liz OKane: It really is. Thank goodness Doug learned from you.
Griff: Yes he did.
Liz OKane: Yes. He has said Liz. Griff's going to tell you to breathe like this. He's teaching me what you taught him.
Griff: But I didn't tell you anything about breathing. You already know it.
Liz OKane: but you taught him and he taught me.
Brian: Oh, well, that's good to hear.
Liz OKane: Yes. So, no. Um, thank goodness. I am a cohost and Doug does all the heavy lifting because I wouldn't know the first thing about how to put together a podcast, but I know people.
Griff: Yeah. And that's important. That's a very important part of it. You may develop an interest and a curiosity in how it's put together. I did and it's kind of fun and it's all, you're always learning. It's an ongoing and learning experience when you're into something new, like a podcast.
Liz OKane: It is very interesting. Well, I'm really excited for you and I'm going to listen to the first one without being critical. I'm sure it'll be fine. So no critique from me, but I'm really excited that there's another podcast out there. We love to promote other people's YouTube channels and podcasts and social media, because it's like you said about the meetups, it's actually benefit for everyone the more there are. People who tend to listen to podcasts, like to listen to lots of podcasts. This is great news. And we'll put it in the transcript as well. And congratulations Liz on your win.
Liz OKane: Thank you so much. Griff.
Griff: Liz OKane sells on eBay under the user ID coloradoreworn. We'll put the link to our eBay store in the transcript, along with the link to the podcast. And can we include a link to your seller meetup?
Liz OKane: I would love that.
Griff: I encourage you to visit the meetup and visit Liz's store and also listen to the new podcast, the selling community on listperfectly.com.
Griff: You've got questions.
Brian: We got answers.
Griff: So we believe.
Brian: How many questions do we have in the old mail bag this week Griff?
Griff: Let me rummage around in here and see, uh, okay. We have two questions.
Brian: Must be a slow question week.
Griff: Appears to be the case. Anyway, here's our first of two questions. Why don't you read it?
Brian: Okay. Our first question was sent to podcast@ebay.com and Ryan writes, "hello, Griff and everyone else on the podcast. Is there a page on eBay that shows the current hot trending items that are being sold at the moment? Like a Google trends page, but for eBay? Also, is there a place that shows the top sellers for a specific category on eBay? So if I want to buy some sneakers, I could find the top sellers on eBay and look at their store items and their profile. Thanks for the help, Ryan." Well, thanks Ryan. Griff is there a page that has what Ryan is seeking?
Griff: Actually, no.
Brian: Wasn't there one though, I seem to remember there was a page that showed like hot trends or something.
Griff: Yeah, that was about a year ago. I don't know if you remember, but Jenn Deal used to come on the podcast a few times to talk about it. There was a page that showed buying trends based on searches and purchases.
Brian: I do remember that now. What happened to it?
Griff: I have no idea.
Brian: We're going to have to talk to Jenn.
Griff: I know it just disappeared one day, but there is a tool that can help Ryan see trends for specific categories like sneakers and it has way more data compared to the old hot page or whatever it was called. My memory not so good. Wait, I think I know what the tool is. Okay. What is it?
Brian : Terapeak.
Griff: Bingo. Yes. Ryan, you can actually use Terapeak to determine trends in specific categories. Now to get there. It's easy. Just go to my eBay and then click the selling link that takes you to Seller Hub. When you're in Seller Hub, click on the Research tab, that brings you to the embedded research tool that's called Terapeak. And from there you can explore all the searching options by category and sub category, and you can toggle the trends view to see the data in graph form. You can, once you're a low level category, you can actually add item specifics. You can look for sneakers by color. You can see the trend prices. Again, this is primarily for people who sell. I think when you were talking about seeing, you know, the best sellers as a buyer, that's just going on eBay and searching for an item and finding the best product deal. And then, you know, if you click on a few pages, you'll see what those sellers are doing, but yeah, this is for selling and I'm, I'm assuming that's what you're doing.
Brian: And Ryan, the features and Terapeak invent upgraded enhance recently. And although Terapeak does not provide for a slice by seller in a category, it does show items ranked by price, bids, watches, et cetera. So you can clearly see the top products for that category. A little dive into the data will take you to item pages where you can view the listing practices of any seller offering that product.
Griff: You know, even if you're not even using Terapeak, if you're just doing a search like for sneakers, if you're showing it as a list of items and not a gallery view, you can see each of the sellers, user IDs and their feedback. If that gives you any indication of what you're searching for. But yeah, Terapeak can provide that whole trend thing from a seller perspective. So you can get an idea of what the current trends are. For example, see what's hot and what's selling. I was shocked when I did this, I did the sneakers. The real hot item is white Puma sneakers.
Brian : I don't know if I get white sneakers. I always get them dirty, really fast.
Griff: Same here, not my favorite color, but anyway. Our next question was sent to podcast@ebay.com by seller, Greg Greg writes, "hello. I really enjoy the show. I recently sold an Xbox one. It was in perfectly good working condition. When I shipped it, I did list it stating that it was fully functional, but had some minor cosmetic wear and tear. After delivery, the buyer requested a refund. According to the return conditions, he was supposed to have shipped it back by the 19th of February. It's now the 18th and it appears he's never shipped it back. Where do I go from here? Thank you in advance for your help, Greg." Well, thanks Greg.
Brian: So Griff, where does Greg go from here?
Griff: No where. He doesn't need to go anywhere or do anything. He just needs to wait it out. In fact, you don't even have to think about this. The ball is in the buyer's court. You certainly don't have to do a single thing. Now, just wait it out. If the buyer returns the item and it passes your inspection, issue the refund and relist it if you choose to do so.
Brian: Yes, but keep in mind that the buyer has about 30 or so days from the day he filed the return request. After that period of time has passed, the return case will close automatically with no consequence to you or the buyer.
Griff: Exactly. And it is about 30 or so days. The case closes without the buyer sending the item back, you're off the hook. So to speak that is you're no longer obliged to accept a return for that item.
Brian: So the advice is do nothing, no need to contact the buyer, correct? No need to contact eBay, continue on your merry listing way. You only need to act if the buyer actually sends the item back within the open window of time to do so.
Griff: Yeah. Correct. And lots of buyers who opened return cases actually either forget to follow through, or they sometimes just change their minds and they often don't contact the seller to let them know. That's why you have nothing to worry about. Just wait for either outcome and then act accordingly or don't act. That sounds pretty straightforward and pretty simple. So do you have questions about selling or listing or returns or anything related to eBay? Why not call us on (888) 723-4630.
Griff: That's (888) 723-4630. And the best part is you can call that number at any time of the day, leave a question or comment, and if it's appropriate, we just might put it on the air.
Brian: And if you're not a call on the phone person, you can always email us at podcast@ebay.com that's podcast@ebay.com.
Griff: Well, Brian, the old analog electric clock on the wall says it's time for the podcast to do list!
Brian: Make visiting the Seller News page on eBay the first thing you do every morning.
Griff: The first thing?
Brian: Yes.
Griff: I usually have more pressing "business" the first thing in the morning.
Brian: Okay. Make visiting the Seller News page on eBay the first thing you do every morning after you've completed those pressing morning "business" tasks.
Griff: Thank you, Brian. And number two...
Brian: Oh geez Griff.
Griff: Oh right. Okay. And B you can find some great deals on thermal label printers on eBay, just search for thermal label printers. And no, I'm not going to let this rest. I will not stop until everyone's bought a thermal label printer.
Brian: They are handy and you know what? They're neater than the other ones too.
Griff: And they save you money and they're quick and they're fast and they look professional .
Brian: And finally, always check out the transcript for this and all episodes for follow up on what you've heard and to see the links we referenced during the episode.
Griff: On our next episode, we'll have wait, where's the show content for next week? It was right here. Darn it. Oh, well next week is a surprise show!
Brian: Oh Brother.
Griff : No, here it is. I found it next week. We'll revisit with Alexis Gallivan to learn how the new eBay Seller School Program is progressing. And we'll have a conversation with the new Head of Marketing here at eBay Andrea Stares.
Brian: We'd like to, again, thank our guests this week, eBay seller Liz O'Kane and from the eBay side, Kirsty Dunn.
Griff: The eBay For Business Podcast is produced and distributed by Libsyn and podCast411.
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The eBay for Business podcast is published every Tuesday morning and is presented by eBay, Libsyn and Podcast411.
