Community Chat, Feb 6 from 1:00 pm PT - Seasonality

[doug@ebay]

Join us for an hour to talk seasonality and how it affects your eBay business with Jen Deal and Vince Bates from customer marketing. Learn what eBay tools are available to drive conversions and visibility in peak selling periods. Now’s the chance to ask seasonality related questions.

Jen will also be on the eBay for Business Facebook broadcast today from 12:30 PST to 1:00 PST.

Looking forward to your seasonality questions!

[doug@ebay]

The chat is now open, please ask your seasonality questions.

[vrykalak]

Our local newspaper recently published a list of what kinds of items typically go on sale in each month of the year. Most couth! 
Does eBay have/publish such a list?

[alan@ebay]

Hi everyone, 

Jen was the guest on Facebook Live on the eBay for Business page earlier, here's the link to check that out: https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/videos/2224722871127354/

There are tons of great tips in the comments!

[mcdougle4248]

Is it just me or have buyers been shopping earlier for specific holidays? 

Christmas sells all year, but last year I started seeing more Christmas specific items selling in July than in previous years.  Just before Christmas buyers were asking when I would start listing for Valentine's Day.  Easter and Spring started selling mid January.

[scene.of.the.crop]

@vrykalak  We just published a playbook at www.ebay.com/seasonalplaybook that outlines some key seasonal moments in a calendar format. For each retail moment (as we call them here at eBay), we've outlined some of the categories that peak during that particular season.   

If you use seller hub (recommend), you can click on the growth tab and also check inventory seasonality based on real sales data from the site.  eBay also sends inventory insights in email to sellers frequently selling in categories where we have insight to share. More of those to come that will be specific to retail moments.  

(But wait, there's more...) The Selling on eBay podcast has a "What's Hot" segment each week highlight inventory that is selling or expected to sell on site (for the upcoming season).  

Hope that helps!
Jennifer

[bestdealinparts]

Hi, I just want to signal some issues regarding the new shipping label page.

Apart from the fact that I'm being randomly presented with either the new shipping page or the old one, 

in the new page info is all over, making it hard to use.

1. Design needs to be more compact, there is too much empty space, resulting in too much scrolling, too many clicks. The vertical design of the old page worked better, you could see everything at a glance: all shipping info on the left, all packaging and shipping info center, price on right. Now you have to keep scrolling up and down after every option change, to see prices.

2. We NEED ship from a different zip code option, for both USPS & FedEx, USPS sometimes is refusing to accept the packages with a different originating zip, even though we are in s short distance (a couple of miles) from the original zip.

3. There's no SKU number on the new FedEx labels! No where to type it in once you select your choice of shipping with FedEx, and it's not automatically added either! I use SKU number (or other notes) to identify which label goes on which package.

4. This is one of the most annoying issue regarding the new shipping page: FedEx labels come with the WRONG ORIENTATION, even though I choose the right format from the available options , so I cannot fit them properly on shipping label paper anymore (yes, I already checked,my printer options are right!) They need landscape orientation, like USPS ones, so we can fit 2/page horizontally!  I don't understand why this has changed, the old FedEx labels used to come out just fine Before! BIG MINUS - Please help! Thank you!

[mam98031]

---

@mcdougle4248 wrote:

Is it just me or have buyers been shopping earlier for specific holidays? 

Christmas sells all year, but last year I started seeing more Christmas specific items selling in July than in previous years.  Just before Christmas buyers were asking when I would start listing for Valentine's Day.  Easter and Spring started selling mid January.

---

Some of what I sell are various craft patterns and supplies.  January is usually my biggest month of the year for these sales.  And the week following Christmas is usually pretty big too.  I've always attributed this to people deciding that they want to create more of their own gifts for the next year's holiday season.

[scene.of.the.crop]

---

@mcdougle4248 wrote:

Is it just me or have buyers been shopping earlier for specific holidays? 

Christmas sells all year, but last year I started seeing more Christmas specific items selling in July than in previous years.  Just before Christmas buyers were asking when I would start listing for Valentine's Day.  Easter and Spring started selling mid January.

---

@mcdougle4248  We heard a couple sellers in the live chat we just had share that  they sell Christmas year round and that selling internationally also helps flatten seasons or allows them to sell any time of the year. 

One thing I want to point out is that on a marketplace like eBay, we have a lot of categories with varying seasonality.  You could sell Christmas items (for example) in June, but you may sell MORE of those items in October or November when the majority of people begin to shop for that season.  

What we mean by planning for seasonality is knowing when the spikes are going to happen. As a seller, you can plan to be prepared to have Christmas items (sticking with example) year round, but you may want to increase the number of listings or items around the times when many more buyers will be shopping for them. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

[vrykalak]

---

@scene.of.the.crop wrote:

@vrykalak  We just published a playbook at www.ebay.com/seasonalplaybook that outlines some key seasonal moments in a calendar format. For each retail moment (as we call them here at eBay), we've outlined some of the categories that peak during that particular season.   

If you use seller hub (recommend), you can click on the growth tab and also check inventory seasonality based on real sales data from the site.  eBay also sends inventory insights in email to sellers frequently selling in categories where we have insight to share. More of those to come that will be specific to retail moments.  

(But wait, there's more...) The Selling on eBay podcast has a "What's Hot" segment each week highlight inventory that is selling or expected to sell on site (for the upcoming season).  

Hope that helps!
Jennifer

---

Coolness!  I'll investigate both of those.
Many years ago, eBay used to publish lists of "What's Hot" a couple of times a month, and I was really depressed when that disappeared. 
I'm thrilled to know it's back.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

The seasonal info is interesting. Would ebay consider providing us with dates in advance when they actually run their Seasonal Marketing campaigns?

The stuff listed for each seasonal campaign--- is that based on buyer search data? One thing seems to be missing: almost anything vintage (I do see vintage valentines, but we sold a lot of vintage Christmas decor etc. Vintage Halloween stuff is very collectible, too.

[scene.of.the.crop]

---

@bestdealinparts wrote:

Hi, I just want to signal some issues regarding the new shipping label page.

Apart from the fact that I'm being randomly presented with either the new shipping page or the old one, 

in the new page info is all over, making it hard to use.

1. Design needs to be more compact, there is too much empty space, resulting in too much scrolling, too many clicks. The vertical design of the old page worked better, you could see everything at a glance: all shipping info on the left, all packaging and shipping info center, price on right. Now you have to keep scrolling up and down after every option change, to see prices.

2. We NEED ship from a different zip code option, for both USPS & FedEx, USPS sometimes is refusing to accept the packages with a different originating zip, even though we are in s short distance (a couple of miles) from the original zip.

3. There's no SKU number on the new FedEx labels! No where to type it in once you select your choice of shipping with FedEx, and it's not automatically added either! I use SKU number (or other notes) to identify which label goes on which package.

4. This is one of the most annoying issue regarding the new shipping page: FedEx labels come with the WRONG ORIENTATION, even though I choose the right format from the available options , so I cannot fit them properly on shipping label paper anymore (yes, I already checked,my printer options are right!) They need landscape orientation, like USPS ones, so we can fit 2/page horizontally!  I don't understand why this has changed, the old FedEx labels used to come out just fine Before! BIG MINUS - Please help! Thank you!

---

@bestdealinparts  Thank you so much for your specific feedback!  eBay has improved the label printing process and replaced the older technology of the classic version. You still have all the key features that were in the classic flow, but this feedback is great for us to share with the shipping team so they can figure out what is missing or how to improve the experience.  Thank you!

[scene.of.the.crop]

---

@vrykalak wrote:

---

@scene.of.the.crop wrote:

@vrykalak  We just published a playbook at www.ebay.com/seasonalplaybook that outlines some key seasonal moments in a calendar format. For each retail moment (as we call them here at eBay), we've outlined some of the categories that peak during that particular season.   

If you use seller hub (recommend), you can click on the growth tab and also check inventory seasonality based on real sales data from the site.  eBay also sends inventory insights in email to sellers frequently selling in categories where we have insight to share. More of those to come that will be specific to retail moments.  

(But wait, there's more...) The Selling on eBay podcast has a "What's Hot" segment each week highlight inventory that is selling or expected to sell on site (for the upcoming season).  

Hope that helps!
Jennifer

---

Coolness!  I'll investigate both of those.
Many years ago, eBay used to publish lists of "What's Hot" a couple of times a month, and I was really depressed when that disappeared. 
I'm thrilled to know it's back.

---

@vrykalak  Glad to hear these insights are useful to you!  ONE more place for you to check out: explore.ebay.com.  We have trending items here, and you can also see best sellers and check out what items are worth.  Happy Selling!

[vrykalak]

I have a calendar that tells me, a month in advance, when to post items for specific holidays, as well as when to post certain kinds of items (like picnic stuff a month before Summer vacation begins).
I post these things a month in advance, so the listings end just before or just after the event.
My ad in the local Swap Sheet this week is all full of St Patricks Day and Mardi Gras items. 

[dtexley3]

---

@scene.of.the.crop wrote:

If you use seller hub (recommend), you can click on the growth tab and also check inventory seasonality based on real sales data from the site.  eBay also sends inventory insights in email to sellers frequently selling in categories where we have insight to share. More of those to come that will be specific to retail moments.  

Hope that helps!
Jennifer

---

I read this and thought it was odd because I've never seen anything like that on the growth tab.  So I checked, and I don't see anything like what you describe.  All I find is the (still) useless recommendations to drop my price and offer free shipping. 

Where would we expect to find any useful information on seasonal inventory there?

I'm also not aware of any pages showing  inventory seasonality based on real sales data and have been in threads where people have asked about this type of data with little response on where it actually is.