So..."Followers"...what's the point if you can't reach them directly?

[yestergroove]

I figured I would try to do a 24-hour sale for this Cyber Monday thing, and I see that I have a whopping 26 followers.  I went to try and make up a newsletter email to send them, and just saw "You have no subscribers".  

Um.  Ok.  So how do you reach out to "followers"?  If there isn't a way to do that, what is the point of having "followers"?  

So how can you send out a newsletter if you have no "subscribers"?  Why aren't "Followers" also "Subscribers"?

Am I just too old to understand this whole "follower" social media silliness?

[goodluckselling]

The followers feature is not a seller feature and that is why you can not contact the followers.  It is a buyers feature so they can track products and or sellers because they liked what they saw.

Good Luck Selling!

[yestergroove]

So basically, it is useless to us as sellers.  Great.  So...anybody know how to "Get Subscribers"?  

I would love to put out a newsletter, but how do you get started with "no subscribers"?

[labs118]

@yestergroove

2 different things
When I pull up a seller I can click follow this seller & it adds the seller to my Saved Sellers list. I am now following this seller .

If you click Manage your store you will see this below
you have to have subscribers who have chosen to get your marketing emails. Then under this section if you click stores email marketing it displays your subscribers user ID as well as the date they subscribed and other information.


Edit to answer 2nd post
your buyer finds you in search, via a purchase from you or if you share to facebook, twitter
They decide if they want to subscribe because they are interested in your items and possible sales. 

[yestergroove]

THanks for the pic, I found the places to create a newsletter and email and subscriber lists, but that's all kind of useless, unless somebody decides they want to "subscribe".  Why would they "subscribe" if there is nothing to subscribe TO?  That's my point.

We have no way of reaching the people who are our buyers/followers directly, so why make an email newsletter if you can't SEND it to anybody because nobody knows you have one.

Seems like the "Followers" would be your target audience!  Why is that isolated from sellers being able to utilize it?

It all seems like a Catch-22 situation to me.

[ifyouloveit]

It's actually a good thing. Your followers get an email from eBay telling them all the new items you have listed 🙂 So while you cannot send them fliers, eBay is showing them all your listings.

Keep listing, your followers get an email showing them your new goodies 🙂

[yestergroove]

Ah!  Thank you for that info.  I didn't realize eBay did that.   But it's only when you list?  What about when you set up a sale?  Does eBay send out an email for that as well?  Seems like there should be SOME way for a seller to announce a "sale" event.  

At this point, all I really have is the banner at the top of my store to let people know everything will be 20% off for Monday.  With no "subscribers", I have no other way to get the word out.  Seems like that makes a "sale event" kind of useless, as well, as there isn't really any indication there's a SALE ON, other than a slash thru the old price and a lower price.

[slippinjimmy]

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@yestergroove wrote:

So basically, it is useless to us as sellers.  Great.  So...anybody know how to "Get Subscribers"?  

I would love to put out a newsletter, but how do you get started with "no subscribers"?

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To start with, I don't see a Newletter Subscribe button in your Store header, turn that on so people can actually sing up.

Making it possible to sign up will help but don't expect much action unless you take steps to go after it.......

If you are like me you send an email to every buyer when their order has actually SHIPPED...this message might include any of the following:

- A summary of the order including items purchased and address shipped to

- An indication of the method of shipping

- My own estimate of the delivery date

- A statement on what to do if there is any type of issue

- A comment on when feedback will be left for the buyer (if not already done)

- A comment on my other listings that may be of interest

- A link or links to my selling account(s) items list or Store

- Encouragement to sign up for my newsletter with a link to do so

- A pleasant thank you for their purchase.

- My contact information

If you do any amount of online shopping you have no doubt seen that etailers will to great lengths to encourage customer to sign up for email notices or newsletters, they usually offer incentives such as discounts or bonuses on future orders if you sign up.  Did some online shopping yesterday, many sites offering $10 - $20 or 10 - 20% coupon codes for signing. If you notice , these are mostly done through pop ups that are in your face

People are bombarded with this type of newsletter subcription, it's not easy to get them to sign up unless you really have something unique to offer.

[goldguy22k]

I thought if one changed the price on a listing that had watchers, ebay sent out an email notification to the watchers about the price change?  (er, that is if those on teh watchlist have not blocked such communications from ebay).

Also, some may be heartened to learn that ebay is currently beta testing a new "program" where sellers can make an offer to those watching an item that has the "Best Offer" feature.  I somehow stumbled into this program and details have been discussed on other threads.  Right now the "Offer to Watchers" (OTW) is a blind process:  I can't see who I am sending an offer to.  Also, the OTW goes out to ALL watchers: so that is 1, 2 or 26 or however many watchers that item has.  The first watcher that accepts the offer wins!  I think there will be changes before OTW goes live, er, tha is if it survives (is deemed a good thing  to add).  I like  it.  I have seen much complaining about it on these threads, however.  I guess it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

[ripcityresell]

Don't beat yourself up. Newsletters are pretty pointless. I'd focus your time on other things.

[goldguy22k]

Yes, with so much information bombarding buyers these days, it is hard to write good newsletter copy that doesn't get trashed fast.

Have seen newsletters where they get all chatty, wander off topic and tell about their hobbies, cat, what they ate for lunch, mowing the law - whatever.  While it is comical to read, it didn't inspire me to do business with that seller.

Good friendly, helpful, gracious, kind customer service probably does more  for a seller than a newsletter.

[ads*and*ends]

You're listing items on eBay, where out of millions of shoppers, likely thousands are searching for your specific items. Do not worry about 26 "followers" seeing what you have for sale, focus on the vast majority of people who do not "follow". They are your audience. As long as you have great pictures, competitive pricing, accurate descriptions, keyword driven titles relating to your products, that is what will cross potential buyers eyes. Half your "followers" might even be other sellers, or people who never log into eBay. Focus on the thousands of potential buyers who are not "following".

I don't buy items on eBay just because of who is selling them. I buy items because it's something I am specifically searching for.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck to you.

[ads*and*ends]

Looking at your items, I'm actually wondering if Pinterest would be a more effective thing to look in to. Especially for the jewelry.

[yestergroove]

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"To start with, I don't see a Newletter Subscribe button in your Store header, turn that on so people can actually sing up.

Making it possible to sign up will help but don't expect much action unless you take steps to go after it...."

Well, I tried every link on the "Manage My Store" page that I could and I can find nowhere to ADD a link like there.  There is a reference to an HTML editor, saying you can add it with HTML, but I thought we could no longer use HTML for anything.  

[yestergroove]

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@ads*and*ends wrote:
Looking at your items, I'm actually wondering if Pinterest would be a more effective thing to look in to. Especially for the jewelry.

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I guess I don't understand what Pinterest is about.  I thought Pinterest was just for posting and collecting pics of stuff you like.  Can you actually post links to eBay listings there?