Community Team Question Cyber 5 Marketing Plans

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

devon@ebay  In keeping with Holiday tradition, and with Black Friday less than a week away, I'm here asking my usual questions:

Will ebay give us some info about their Cyber 5 marketing plans? Is there any way the average ebay seller can make himself a part of the overall marketing? Is ebay offering any perks for sellers, such as social media graphics?

Or how about what a live stream competitor is doing, an offer to sellers which could bring a lot of attention to that site on Black Friday. The sellers themselves (many of them also ebay sellers) will likely do a lot to direct traffic to the site to benefit from the "no seller fees" event. That seems like smart marketing that leverages the seller base while also benefiting the seller base. Any plans to do something like that? If so, now's the time to announce it, not late next week.

Well, here's hoping you have a great Holiday Season, and here's hoping you have some good news for us on the marketing front!

[meme6253]

What no seller fees event?, Haven't heard about it.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@meme6253 

You can read about it here:

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/whatnot-black-friday-0-commission-promo/

Also, another site is offering a chance to win prize money ---list today through Nov 25th, and each listing will be entered into a drawing for $1,000. The more you list, the better your chance of winning. 

So, I'm just trying to find out if ebay is going to make any similar effort to encourage sellers.

[meme6253]

Thanks for the info., I think ebay should offer more incentives.

[luckythewinner]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Or how about what a live stream competitor is doing, an offer to sellers which could bring a lot of attention to that site on Black Friday. The sellers themselves (many of them also ebay sellers) will likely do a lot to direct traffic to the site to benefit from the "no seller fees" event. That seems like smart marketing that leverages the seller base while also benefiting the seller base. Any plans to do something like that? If so, now's the time to announce it, not late next week.

---

If there are sellers with the ability to direct traffic to their listings - wherever those listings are - wouldn't those sellers already be doing that, all  year round, regardless of whether there are "no seller fees" or not? 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Been selling online for a long time. On various marketplace sites and my own website. Currently solely on Ebay.

Any holiday time promotion will not benefit my sales. People buy my collectible and antique items for themselves, not for gifts.

I have a no returns policy because it deters people who buy gifts (whether it is really no returns or not). On other sites where everything is returnable, most of those gift purchases came back, The buyers had no clue whether the giftee had it or wanted it, or whether it really fit the collection.

My sales generally go up after Christmas when people use their money and gifts they received for themselves.

I think Ebay should probably do some promotion, but it should be highly targeted.

As for whatever Whatnot chooses to do. Most of what they sell are shares in their company to venture capitalists and institutional investors. I can find no clue to how much product is sold on their site.

Their business appears to run through plenty of cash, making their ability to sell their shares of paramount importance. And this promotion probably serves that goal.

[mam98031]

I'm running a Markdown sale to encourage those that will be on the internet shopping over the next weekend and Cyber Monday.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@tobaccocardyahoo " I can find no clue to how much product is sold on their site."

Here's a clue: https://www.valueaddedresource.net/whatnot-2-billion-gmv-state-of-livestream-selling-report/

I am well aware that not all sellers benefit from Cyber 5, because not all products are gift type items. Honestly, my questions wasn't about what we as sellers are planning for Cyber 5---that might be a good topic for another thread---but what is ebay doing and will they do anything that the average seller can tie in with. Some sites do that. ebay has done as few things in the past. So , while I'm happy for any post here, my post is really directed to the Community Team, in the hopes that they will want to respond in the interests of seller engagement and transparency, not to mention in the spirit of the Holidays. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@luckythewinner  As I noted, many WhatNot sellers also sell on ebay, and I would guess that, while those who use social media use it year round , those sellers may feel more incentive to draw attention to the site that is giving them a free day on Friday...which wouldn't mean all that much on an average Friday, but on Black Friday, could turn into a nice bump both for the sellers and the site.

But it's a great big world, and I'm sure some of those sellers would much prefer to pay ebay to promote their listings on Black Friday than have ebay give them free fees. To each his own.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@tobaccocardyahoo " I can find no clue to how much product is sold on their site."

Here's a clue: https://www.valueaddedresource.net/whatnot-2-billion-gmv-state-of-livestream-selling-report/

It is a number. Better than I found.

But whether the methodology is valid and the number is believable can be argued. We all know how good polling techniques are.

One in 4 claim to be earning more than 120k, The average sales from the survey participants is about 125k.

If I believed these numbers and was an Ebay marketing executive, I would say "that's interesting" and forget about it.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@tobaccocardyahoo "If I believed these numbers and was an Ebay marketing executive, I would say "that's interesting" and forget about it."

Well, then I would say you'd make a pretty good ebay executive, because that seems to be their view of most of their competition (unless its in focus categories)

But, again, to be clear, my post isn't about how well the two sites are doing or not doing. I simply used WN as an example of a site that is doing something extra for sellers this Black Friday and has notified them in advance. ebay might every well feel they don't need to do anything, and that's ebay's choice.

I'm just trying to find out if ebay will be doing something. Or not.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

. I simply used WN as an example of a site that is doing something extra for sellers this Black Friday and has notified them in advance. ebay might every well feel they don't need to do anything, and that's ebay's choice.

---

IMO they are not doing anything other than preparing for their next round of venture funding. They cannot afford to lose sellers, and some who are marginal might stay long enough to be counted when the next private placement occurs.

Having run a marketing group for a division of a Fortune 200 company, it is not surprising that I reached my conclusion and that it probably was the same conclusion an Ebay exec would have reached.

I actually believe Ebay management makes good strategic decisions, it is operational decisions that they and the rest of the internet marketplaces are weak on.

[valueaddedresource]

Looks like eBay is planning an eBay Live Cyber Week marathon.

https://www.ebay.com/ebaylive/channels/YLo7wHsPHnDnCgWO 

I would also not be surprised if eBay isn't subsidizing those "nonstop deals" in some way either through fee discounts/no fees for those specific sellers, funding the discount directly or making up the difference in some way etc. but we'll probably never know about it because any terms of such deals likely require the seller to sign an NDA.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@valueaddedresource  Thanks so much! Well, that IS a Holiday Tie In, so kudos to ebay for making an effort. And it looks like it might even be possible that some of the merch is NOT focus category merch. (And yes, I agree, I suspect the participants are being subsidized to some degree, so ebay has probably dipped into its marketing budget here). I'm also guessing that the participants were invited, I doubt there was some sort of open call for this. 

This will hopefully bring more buyers to the site, although whether they will shop around or stick to the Livestreams is anyone's guess. 

This is the sort of thing ebay should look at and ask: is there any way for our average sellers to make use of this? After all, we can't do ebay livestreams because that remains an exclusive club. I realize that, in theory, we will benefit because this will (hopefully) draw more traffic overall. But I'm talking about more directly. 

devon@ebay  Feel free to respond to this thread to let us know what else ebay might be planning.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@valueaddedresource 

Looking over the line up, it does look like it is almost exclusively Focus Category stuff , with maybe some clothing that is not necessarily high end fashionista wear or street wear ... but it's been a little unclear as to whether pre-owned fashion is now a full on focus category or not.

I had a slim hope that, given the Holiday "Theme" it might actually include someone selling vintage Christmas decor or tableware for the Holidays, that sort of thing. Silly me.