Episode 4 || Holiday Readiness, Weekly eBay News and Your Calls!

[doug@ebay]

Welcome to Selling on eBay, your weekly source for the information you need to start, run and grow a business on the world's best marketplace! This week we discuss the news that affects your business, and we talk to eBay Vice President of Seller Experience Bob Kupbens on planning for the holiday selling season. Liz Austin is back with What's Trending on eBay, and we answer seller questions. To have your selling questions answered by our Selling on eBay staff during the next broadcast, call us at 888 723-4630. #ebaypodcast

She'll never see it If I put it here under the table. It will be invisible until I can pull it out later. Oh wait! Time to start. Hey, I'm Griff.

And I'm Audrey Tracy

And this is Selling on eBay. Your weekly source for the information and inspiration you need to start, run, and grow a business on the world's most powerful marketplace.

Every week on Selling on eBay, we bring you selling news and advice from eBay sellers, employees and industry experts on how to run and grow a business on eBay.

And don't forget you yes, you can be part of the fun as well. Our podcast hotline is open 24 seven, and that number is 888-723-4630, 888-723-4630. Call in with your question or comment or suggestion and you could end up on the air with us.

Hey Audrey.

What?

Congratulations.

Congratulations for what? It's our first official Selling on eBay podcast anniversary.

Anniversary? What anniversary?

It's Episode Number Four. That means four shows in four weeks, and that means Selling on eBay is one month old. That's because there are four weeks in a month, so happy one month anniversary Audrey.

Oh brother. It's only a month. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

But wait! Look, look here. Let me reach under here. Ta Da! Look! I baked us one month anniversary cake. Here, let me cut you a piece.

I get it now. This whole one month anniversary thing. This is just an excuse to eat on the air.

Eat on that air? Me? Why you cut me to the quick woman. I would never eat on the air. That would be extremely unprofessional.

Extremely. Now put the cake away and let's get on with the show.

Okay. I'll put it away.

Put it away in your mouth.

Nom nom That's good cake.

What do you have for us this week?

At least there's one adult in the studio. This week we're talking to eBay, Vice President of seller experience. Bob Kupbens on planning for the holiday selling season.

Excellent. What else?

Here's a napkin. Wipe your mouth.

Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I don't mean to eat on the air I just can't help myself. Here, now it's all clean. Now. What else?

Liz Austin will be back with another What's Trending on eBay segment.

That should be fun.

I hear you have quite a few seller questions to answer.

Yeah. A matter of fact. I do. We had some calls and some email questions for this week on topics that I'm sure are going to be of interest to any seller on eBay.

Can't wait to hear em. Sounds like a jam packed show.

It is. Especially if you like cake!

Incorrigable. You know what they say about cake, don't you?

It's nutritious and delicious?

No, they say a moment on the lips. A lifetime on the hips.

Oh, I see your point.

Finally. Now let's put the fork down and get on with the show.

Okay let’s!

First up, Seller News.

First up, an email sent in error. On August 20th, 2018, eBay sent an email with the subject line "Keep your account in good standing payment needed" indicating that a payment was due. This email was inadvertently sent to some sellers who had already paid. We're currently working to update sellers who received this email. We're sorry for any time you spent reviewing and responding to the email. The bottom line is if your account is in good standing, there is no action required by you. If you did get this email and have further questions, be sure to follow the link inside the email. On behalf of eBay, we apologize for the confusion and any concern this email may have caused you.

Did you get the email?

I did not.

I think I did, but I just kind of ignored it and when it. When it came, I thought, well this doesn't pertain to me, but there were a lot of sellers

I think that I immediately thought, "wait a minute, I don't owe any money" and then this causes some anxiety.

Yes, yes. So apologies and like I said, if you are in good standing, there's nothing to do.

Just don't, don't even think about it.

Next we have an update on Hurricane Lane.

Yeah Audrey, there's big news here from the Big Island and at the time we recorded this segment, Hurricane Lane was bearing down on the big island of Hawaii at a category four strength. This is huge. Now, many services including postal services were suspended on Thursday, August 23rd. This could result in disruption of eBay packages sent to and from the island, so stay tuned to the eBay announcement board for updates on the situation in Hawaii. And remember eBay always shields sellers from adverse impact on their seller performance metrics when their businesses are disrupted by any major natural or manmade widespread catastrophe like a hurricane. And this means if you sell on the island. If you're located there and you sell, or if you are selling to a buyer on the island. So it's not just sellers on the big island Hawaii or any islands that are impacted, it could be you selling to a customer.

In both cases, you're protected from any adverse impact on your metrics and another tip is to communicate with your buyer.

If you are a seller on Hawaiian Islands and you can't get your package out because of this, be sure to let your buyer know. Most folks are wonderful and understanding particularly about an emergency like this, but just let your buyer know.

If you can, I mean if you're on the island and you can communicate, you may not be able to reach a buyer on the island for a couple days. Let's hope the impact is really severe. And now some news from eBay Motors Audrey.

So eBay recently announced some very cool enhancements to the eBay Motors buying experience. Now, whether you're a DIY or tackling a simple car repair or a serious gearhead with a difficult project, there are two new ways to shop for parts and accessories on eBay Motors.

On August 14th, eBay released their latest auto feature, shop by diagram. Which allows shoppers to use interactive schematics to determine which parts are necessary, then quickly make the exact items they need available for purchase.

It's very cool. eBay Shop By diagram makes it easy to find any auto part, even if a shopper does it know the part's name or part number by making your car schematic diagram interactive. For the first time, professional and amateur mechanics can use visual diagrams to shop for the exact part they need for a project. Now, eBay's proprietary technology combs through millions of listed parts that match the visual diagram for each vehicle and eBay's fitment, technology guarantees, compatibility with the year, make, and model of the vehicle selected by the shopper. It's so cool.

That's very cool. And for someone like me who doesn't know anything about cars, this is going to be fantastic.

Same here.

I put the gas in, I press the press the...

The start button? Yeah, Press the gas, press the brake. That's all I know.

Do you have a driver's license? This doesn't sound good.

I know, believe it or not, I do. The updated My Garage experience offers custom store front for every auto shopper by saving the details of their cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including year, make, model, trim level and engine type into the My Garage destination. Shoppers get streamlined access to their parts specific to their vehicle. When a shopper searches for any item, eBay will only surface items that fit the vehicles in their virtual garages.

That My Garage feature has been around for awhile, but they keep enhancing it. So if you're a car buyer or car seller, car Aficionado, or if you've never shopped on eBay Motors and you're looking for maybe parts for your current, doesn't have to be a classic car, could be any car.

This is something you should really check out. It really makes shopping a lot easier.

Even if you're a car dummy like me. I don't know anything about cars, but I used My Garage and I got the right windshield wipers for my car. I would never know how to shop, how to search for that online without the My Garage feature.

So guys are supposed to know this stuff. And I feel like I'm always at a loss. So when I walk into one of the car shops looking for parts, I always put my hands in my pocket and say "yeah, I need a….

" I'm a macho man and I need a blah blah blah...

I'm not and they see right through it. Well then you should use My Garage and avoid all that puffery.

And when you're talking about the feature, My Garage, I can't use your garage.

Sorry. Use the eBay, My Garage feature.

Upcoming. We're going to talk about the seller hosted events, Aka meetups. Sellers often like to learn and they get new information and share best practices directly with each other or eBay staff in person. In person meetings are organized and run by eBay sellers who live in your area or our trade shows or events where there's eBay staff and attendance. These events give you the opportunity to learn from other sellers and develop local resources and build friendships, and we got a lot of these.

Here are some upcoming eBay in person events.

On August 28th, Tuesday, the Bay Area eBay Sellers regular monthly meetup will take place at the eBay headquarters in San Jose, California from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Hors d'oeuvres and coffee will be served.

On September 5th, The Oregon Ecommerce Sellers group in Portland, Oregon will meet from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. To learn more like the location details, you have to join their meetup group. Search Meetup.com on the words Oregon Ecommerce Sellers group.

Again, Oregon Ecommerce Sellers group.

Right, and that's at Meetup.com. Some of the groups like to keep their details only available to members, so you might have to join that group. On September ninth, the ECOMMERCE, Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and Online Sellers Mastermind in Detroit, Michigan will meet from 11:30 to 2:00 PM. The meetup takes place at the Yankee Air Museum. That's at 47884 D Street in Bellville, Michigan, and the zip code is 48111.

On September 11th, the Salt Lake City eBay-a-holics meetup group will convene on the eBay campus in Salt Lake City, specifically at 583 eBay Way Draper, Utah. The meetup will take place from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. eBay employees will be in attendance to answer your questions and present as well.

And it's worth going because that's the site of our customer service centers, so there's a lot of smart employees there. And finally…

We keep the dumb ones in San Jose.

That wasn't the implication, but thanks! Finally, if you're in the Seattle, Washington area on August 31st, be sure to visit the eBay booth at the Pax West Convention. Which takes place on that day at the Washington Convention Center. Now the event takes place from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and you can learn more about the event at their website, west.paxsite.com.

And you can see the entire eBay In Person Events calendar on our community Meetup page. That's eBay.com/meetups. Again, eBay.com/meetups. And finally in the news, it's time for What's Trending on eBay.

Okay. Joining us now from eBay marketing is our very own Liz Austin with our What's Trending on eBay segment.

Hey Liz!

Hello.

Last week was a pretty big hit. What do you have for us this week?

Sweet. I think there's a couple of things that are good segue from our chat last week. You know how some people check the news and see what's happening with the sports. I am one of these fans of checking explore.eBay.com.

This has become an obsession I see.

I've been a bit of an addict. So at the moment I'm going to give you the latest What's Trending from a scarcity point of view. KITH and Coca Cola released their third and largest ever collaboration.

Okay Kith, K I T H? Now, can you explain what is Kith?

Kith is , when you think about Supreme, you also think about KITH

OH are they like that Supreme brand?

It's for hype beasts. Do you know what a hype beast is? Would you regard yourself as a hype beast?

A what beast? I'm not understanding, Help me! What do you mean?

A hype beast is a person who follows a trend to be cool or in style?

Oh a heart beast.

No, a hype hype.

Oh, a Hype Beast. Oh now I get it. Okay. All right, translation was a little difficult there. Hype Beast. Well. I'm a Hype Beast.

Oh, there we go. It's a new name for Griff. Hype Beast. So anyway, this is one of these brands and if you're a Hype Beast, you follow Supreme or you follow KITH and it's a lifestyle brand and they do these limited edition collaborations. They've done one with Lebron James. They've done one with Bergdorf Goodman. They do these fantastic collaborations, but they do these limited edition drops. And so the latest one is with Coca Cola and it's the third one and always super successful and they're trending on eBay at the moment. So pop onto that site that I'm an addict of explore.eBay.com.

Yup. Oh, I'm there. I'm becoming an addict!

And it shows that the collaboration is 60 different styles that include varsity jackets, hoodies, tees, bathing suits.

I want those shoes!

How about that?

They're cool.

And they're trending. Look at that new, they're trending from $464 and obviously because it's a new drop, there's no used ones on the side at the moment because it's like literally just dropped on the weekend. And so because it's trending, it's trending on eBay!

So where do I get these? I can come to eBay and buy them, but sellers that are offering them, are they finding them someplace else? Are they going to stores and grabbing what's available?

This is part of this whole culture as KITH has stores in New York, Miami and La.

That's it.

And they are concept stores. Yeah, because they, if it's really the scarcity play, so their stores are this incredible experience, but people will line up for a full day to get their hands on these pieces of clothing or shoes or whatever it is. It's a position.

It's unbelievable. It's so exciting. Anyway, so that's the latest one. That's, that's turning up on eBay. So jump on there, have a look and get yourself one of these KITH and Coca Cola collabs or get your hands on one, resell it and make, make a pretty penny!

So I'm looking at prices here and they range from about $399 to about $500. Do you know what these sold for in the KITH store?

I don't know that.

I'd love to see that differential. What's interesting too, I see this is not just one brand or two brands. This is KITH, Coca Cola and Converse.

They do. That's what I was saying. They do heaps of collaboration. So they do with Adidas and they do it with people like Lebron James. So anyone that's you know, hot to trot. They're out there doing these collaborations because they know that they will sell well. And they'll drive this excitement and anticipation just before they drop and then that brings the price up for them.

I learned about KITH and we learned about being a Hype Beast.

Which you are now.

I'm a Hype Beast.

All these things I'm teaching you. You know?

That's why I love it when you come on the show I learn something.

Good to see I add some value to your day.

What else do you have for us?

In the same lines, we are going to talk more about fashion.

It's my first thing I always go to. I'm a huge fashion nut.

Do you know that I used to run the marketing for Australia's version of the New York fashion week? So fashion is near and dear to my heart.

Were you on the runway? Were you watching the runway?

Yeah, like behind the scenes. Fashion festivals are incredible in that, it's so intimidating to sit in the front row of a fashion festival. To get consumers to come to this show we would have to teach them how to sit in the front row of a show.

You have to teach them how to sit?

Yeah, so there's like front row etiquette and how do you use your phone? So when you're on Instagram doing Instagram stories are you okay to do that when there's fashion walking down the runway? Yes, of course you're okay because that's what people are expecting. So now everyone instead of watching it just watches it through their phone. It's, it's quite bizarre.

It's like every rock concert now.

That's right.

No one is watching the concert their watching it on their phone right in front of their face.

Exactly. They're not moving their hands anymore up in the air. It's that they're moving their phones to the beat of the music.

I'm not so sure this is a good thing, but what are we talking about here for...

So trends. As we move through holiday, we know that inventory insights are going to be incredibly helpful for sellers. And so that you’re not really just guessing, we can actually, using data show you what is trending or what we expect will trend and sell well on eBay. So with, Fall coming up, unfortunately it's nearly the end of summer. September, everyone thinks about Fall fashion and I see you've got, look at you, you've got your Fall fashion colors on today.

Oh, I am nothing. If not sartorial.

You Hype Beast!

So what's hot? What's going to trend? I need to know so I can spend my paycheck on eBay.

Well, interestingly 6 out of 10 buyers over Holiday are likely to purchase a fashion item to gift. So If we're thinking of the minds about buyers, they're looking at fashion as an option for a gift for the Holiday.

So I'm a seller, I need to know what I'm going to sell. That's right.

So if we think about for fashion, we're thinking about layering. So that's all about one pace over the next. So you move into a room, you take your jacket off there, you've got your t shirt, then you've got your shirt, then you've got your jacket and what's on top of that. So it's all about layering. And then if we think about clothing as a gift, new items are what's going to be popular for buyers. They might be okay for shopping for owned items for themselves, but probably not so keen on gifting a pre-owned item over Holiday.

Yeah. I don't know how I'd feel if I opened a gift and it was a pre-owned shirt.

Unless it's like a super beautiful Chanel jacket.

Oh, I'm cool with that.

That's right.

Or one of those Versace shirts that cost a thousand bucks. That's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or a KITH and Coca Cola jacket.

That's no problem.

Because you're a Hype Best.

I'm a Hype Beast. I used to be a Sexy Beast. Now I'm just a Hype Beast. Even better.

So just like the leopard prints, leopard print goes in and out. Florals. I thought they'd gone, but they're actually still going strong in the fashion world.

But it's not spring.

I know that when you start looking at the florals, we'll start seeing these deep rich autumnal colors coming through. So the reds and the yellows and the blues, lavender, lilac, there the colors of the season. And browns and metallics.

So actually metallics are really big at the moment. So anything with metallic in it, like your watch.

My shirts kind of metallic, It's a maroon metallic, you see it has a little iridescence to it.

Ooh, nice use of the word Iridescence!

I know how to use that word. So looking for florals for resale and we see this trending on eBay, this is what people are buying?

At the moment and then as we get closer into Fall this is what we're expecting as well. So we work closely with our merchandising teams and they're obviously ahead of the times as a fashion festival year ahead once the clothing drops, starting the trends and things. So we're seeing the trends, we're seeing what the brands are releasing right now and then we're giving you those insights and then what we expect to turn up on eBay as well and what buyers will be looking for based on the trends that are happening over Fall.

So eBay is doing all the work.

I don't. I just have to go to explore.eBay.com.

And listen to these little chats of ours because I'm giving you insights of what we expect buyers will want in Fall so there's some insights there. So when you're sourcing, you can take away these kind of tid bits that we're giving you. At least think about them when you're looking at things to buy for your stores.

What else is trending right now?

So I think it's also really helpful to know what brands buyers are looking for on the site and what brands they'll be looking for over Fall.

Because that changes.

It does change. For sure as trends change, brands that are in and out of favor change. But we're thinking brands like Calvin Klein, obviously Free People.

Free People?

Yes, Free People is a very popular brand. Griff’s writing! The Hypebeast is writing these brands down. We'll I've never heard of it.

So I gotta look it up later. Free people.

He's so much.

Asos. A S O, S I feel like were in kindergarten profession here.

I'm Sorry, I should know these and I don't. Can you take my Hypebeast title away?

Maybe you don't deserve it right now. Levi's, come on. You got to know about Levi's. Of course. Good. Good. Anthropology?

I always go into that store and wish they had more men's things. So like, I walk out with women's things. Who Cares? Anthropology. Yeah.

Zhivago. Zhivago. I've heard of. Birkenstock, This is such an interesting brand. This is like leopard print, it goes in and out. And the funniest thing happened. We went to Italy over the holiday and my husband bought a pair of Birkenstocks and he said, "are they in right now?" And I said, "Oh, I'm not sure about Birkenstocks.”

In Italy?

Well, yeah, in Italy but are they even cool in America?

So we had this debate. He bought them. I asked my next door neighbor who is super fashionable. I said, "what do you think about Birkenstocks? Do you think they're in fashion at the moment?" And she said, "no, I don't think they are."

I would've said the same thing.

So I went back to my husband and I said "look, you've got to take those Birkenstocks back. They're not in fashion anymore and I'm sorry I'm not going to be seen dead with you in Birkenstocks, unless you're going to a Phish or Dead concert with your Google swag and your Birkenstocks. I'm just not doing it. So return those Birkenstocks and let's get something cool please!" And then this morning my neighbor comes over, she goes, "oh, I'm so sorry. I gave you the wrong advice. Birkenstocks are actually in fashion right now.

You should have checked on explorer.eBay.com

That's right.

So neither of us are clearly Hypebeast. So we don't know what's going on and so now my husband has to go back and buy these Birkenstocks.

You know, every time someone says the word Birkenstock, I automatically smell patchouli. It just comes right in my head.

How? Why?

Because Birkenstocks to me or hippy shoes.

I can't even say that word patchouli. Is it a smell?

Yeah, it's a fragrance. It's very pungent. Popular with hippies.

Are you smelling it right now? In my head I am.

Yeah? It's funny.

Heaven forbid I'm smelling it on myself. No, no. I'm smelling it in my head.

So Birkenstocks and pungent patchouli is the thing to go there. And my husband is going to go and buy his Birkenstocks. Adidas. You know Adidas is obviously a brand that does collaborations with KITH which we've already talked about.

You mean Adidas?

Yeah. We call it Add-it-us in Australia, come on!

Ah, you also call a wrench a spammer. All these things we're learning about each other.

Reformation, Ted Baker, Eileen Fisher, J. crew. Made well, yeah, so they're all going to be super popular brands that buyers are going to be looking for it, so if you find those particularly new, because if you're thinking about gifting new with tags, they're going to do really well on eBay.

Think it's worth pointing out, especially for the holidays that we were talking about brands, most of which I've heard of. The other side of that coin is to stay away if you can, when you're sourcing product from things that are generic, you're not going to do as well no matter how nice looking they are. If it's not a known brand, it's not going to sell as fast.

Absolutely. I agree 100 percent. So again, like we're going to give you insights into trends but also give you some ideas about what brands are going to sell well so that you know, you can put a bit of a premium on those because that's what are buyers looking for.

What else you got Liz?

Now gotta love this , the first time I've ever experienced this last year and I did get involved in this crazy phase of the Christmas pajamas.

What?

Yeah, pictures of families in matching Christmas pajamas.

Oh, I thought ugly Christmas sweaters were bad.

No, They are pajamas now, so I did partake in that last year and I have that picture on my Instagram account and I actually got the highest engagement of any picture on my Instagram account with me and my family and my little kids in their Christmas pajamas. Cringeworthy maybe?

No comment.

But I did it for the sake of Instagram, a bit of engagement there and it worked. It worked. So they are back in so get your hands on some Christmas pajamas and the ugly sweaters. Of course.

When we say Christmas pajamas, we're not talking brand necessarily.

No, sorry. That's just A. Yeah, like a, I don't know, a trend or a type of clothing.

I don't think there's Chanel or Dolce Gabbana Christmas pajamas.

Not yet. Maybe.

Yeah, if they're listening.

Yeah, no, not that I've seen.

And of course for people like myself asleep commando, no need for pajamas! Well on that night. I need to get out of here. That's way too much information

Griff!

Well Liz, It's always a pleasure. Tell us where we need to go again to learn as sellers what we should be keeping an eye on when it comes to sourcing product.

Explore.eBay.com and I'll see you there. I frequent that site and also in our sellers center there's a couple of pages there that talk about what to sell and how much for, so those pages are really awesome for giving some insights.

So when it comes closer to the holidays and we're doing gift giving on our team, I have a suspicion I know what I'm going to get.

Some patchouli?

I hope not!

Christmas pajamas from KITH and KIN or just the just the KITH?

It's always a pleasure. Thanks. We'll talk again next week with more information on What's Trending on eBay. Coming up next on Selling on eBay, Audrey talks with eBay Vice President of Seller Experience, Bob Kupbens who shares his perspective on planning for the Holidays.

Hi Bob. It's almost September and we're starting to think about holiday.

We are starting to think about Holiday. Is that why you're wearing your Christmas hat?

And sweater absolutely.

That looks fantastic. You know, there's already Halloween candy in the store, so you know that holiday is going to come early this year.

Yes, yes. They love to put out that candy early. Okay. Let's talk about holiday. What did we learned from last year's holiday period that we think we'll see more of in 2018?

Well, you know, it's interesting. Consumers spend so much money in Holiday. I mean it's not, it's kind of obvious in, in retail, but uh, it's over, almost $110,000,000,000 online in November and December in 2017 and that was almost a 15 percent increase over 16.

So if you think about the vibrancy of retail and the market that we're in ecommerce, like I said this in eBay Open, it's a great time to be in e commerce and Holiday is our time. So we, we love to win in Holiday. It was crazy. One of the things that we look at is the number of billion dollar days. I mean, it's kind of crazy to think about a billion dollars sold in a day, but basically you look at the progression of billion dollar days and it just keeps going up and up and up. So across 61 days of Holiday, right? Which is the span of over which Holiday selling happens. Fifty eight of those days were over a billion dollars online. So if you think about the pace at which retail spend is growing, I mean it's just incredible. And again, what a great what a great time to be in ecommerce.

You know the other thing is, while we think about Cyber Monday and we think about Black Friday, we really have seen an expansion in those days. The number of days that are really, really critical shopping moments. First of all retail is happening earlier in the Holiday and you see lots of events that are happening way before Black Friday, you know, used to wait and figure out what those door busters are. But now you'd see them three weeks in advance and everybody gets prepared. And people are doing pre Black Friday , pre Cyber Monday deals. But also there's, you know there's more time now between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and so we've got even an extended selling period. so it's going to start early and it's going to finish later and there's more time in between and it's like, you know, again, what a really, really incredible opportunity for all of us that are, uh, that are in retail in ecommerce. You know, traffic on mobile was pretty massive last year.

So that was another learning that we heard. Really an all-time high in mobile shopping. You know, we have a statistic at eBay that certainly over half of our transactions, I think it's over 60 percent are influenced at some level by mobile. And we're going to see more and more of that. So mobile is going to be a critical and important piece of what we see in Holiday this year. And then buyer expectations are changing as well. So we've done a lot this year around shipping. We've done a lot about returns. We can talk more about that, but buyers are expecting things to get to them fast. They're expecting them to get to them in the condition that they, that they expected, and uh, they also want to have the flexibility if they need to return something and that's becoming more and more of a conversion driver so that what we see is the more of those things that, that get adopted, not just by our sellers but by all marketplaces and all retailers that's driving conversion and that's part of what's accelerating the pace of, of ecommerce and retail in general.

Yeah. You just, you just stole my point, which was that it's not just happening on eBay. It's happening across all of ECOMMERCE. Those buyer expectations.

Absolutely. I mean they're being set by eBay and those expectations are being set by other retailers. The idea of driving down to the mall or rolling up to Main Street and doing your Christmas shopping or holiday shopping, it's just, doesn't just, doesn't work anymore. And so now that's...

It's not the modern, It's not the modern way.

So you're now much more online. You're on mobile, you're quick shop, get something, move on. You know, everybody's, everybody's super busy and so trying to respond to the need of people shopping in a really different way I think is important and a thing that we obviously collectively have to all go do.

Yup. So what does this mean for eBay sellers this year?

Yeah, I mean again, ecommerce is going to continue to grow so we don't know yet how many days are going to be over a billion dollars in retail, but we think it's going to be a lot.

And so obviously we need to do some things to take advantage of that. You know, we've got this longer shopping period and people in these different periods have different needs. So at the beginning of the shopping period, you know, whether it's Black Friday or you know, around that time before Black Friday, kind of early December, people are thinking about unique thoughtful items. They're thinking about things that have returns, you know, they're really trying to be expressive and do all the things we talk about in our marketing which is express yourself and find your version of perfect. And you know,

Fill your cart with color.

Well, but look, I mean it's true if you find that special, something that's unique and different for somebody, you're going to have a very different holiday. And it's just a different sentiment. I, I personally like to do this. I try to find those things that are unique and different and express my feelings for someone and uh, and, and something about their unique personality and those are things and a lot of cases you can only find on eBay.

I mean our sellers bring such diversity and we love that. And so that's a key selling moment for us because no one else has that and no one else can express your love of whatever in a way that eBay can across categories, across items. And so we're super excited about the opportunity that we have, but that's very much at the early stages of the holiday about inventory and selection and, and finding that perfect thin. Finding the perfect thing, Exactly. As you get later in the season, it becomes much more about…

Panicky!

Speaking it sounds like from experience there? Exactly. But it's way more about can I get it in time and can I, can I make sure that the thing is there that I can, that I can give at the moment that I want to, that I want to give it. And so I think things like EGD and fast shipping, being really transparent about what those, what those shipping times are, all that becomes much more to your point, manic at the, uh, at the end of the shopping season.

But look, whatever happens, there's some basics that I think are important that we really need to make sure that everybody's thinking about. One is that search is the biggest driver of traffic to eBay. Whether that's external search or are on platform search, optimizing your listings so that they get picked up in search and that they have the best opportunity to be seen is very important.

Item specifics.

Yeah. So using items specific, getting titles right, getting great quality images. You know, Griff did an incredible session at eBay Open about how to take the best images. It constantly is the most highly regarded session at eBay Open, Thank you Griff.

So critical. I mean that photo is that first impression. If you've got a bad photo, that buyer is going to move on.

Exactly. Especially for things that are not new condition, you know, you've got things that are pre owned.

If you have things that are refurbished, like really making sure that people understand what they're getting is critical. But look, optimize your listing so that search can pick it up. We actually had a session at eBay Open and we're going to have Google come in I think on the podcast and do a little bit of a session related to how to optimize your listing so that they can get picked up externally. So I think that's a really important piece of it. I think we need to be thinking about what are some of these capabilities that our sellers can provide. Whether it's free shipping, fast shipping, free returns. You know, we've seen some great data on 30 day free returns that when people would adopt 30 day free returns, we've already seen up to 15 percent increases in conversion for those items. And so we really feel like getting those new capabilities onboard and out in the market is, uh, is, uh, is really, really critical and we hope that a lot of our sellers take the opportunity to add free shipping to add faster shipping and to add free returns.

And free returns seems so critical in Holiday because likely you're shopping for a gift and you want to make sure that if your gift recipient is not crazy about the item, that they have an easy way to return it. I feel like free returns during the holiday is a really critical differentiator for sellers.

Yeah. And you know, what we've seen is in addition to that conversion increase, many sellers have told us that they actually haven't seen a significant increase in the return rate. So it's less about creating this process where people buy stuff and return it at an increasing rate. It's more about confidence and inspiring confidence in the fact that if you have an issue, you can resolve it. But in general, I think what we're finding is that we haven't seen that massive increase in return rates. Now there clearly is some exceptions.

And we're trying to work through those and make sure that we protect our sellers in the right way. We've got some very specific protections around buyer abuse that we've put in place. But like I said, in general, we're seeing increased conversion and a return rate that doesn't offset that increase conversion, which is basically a benefit for sellers. The other thing I'd say is that obviously we need to know what's hot. And so that's what so great about our seller population. They're well ensconced in their categories and they know and they understand what scarce, what's hot, what's new, what's coming, you know, and so the ability to source inventory into that insight around where the demand is is really, really critical. We provide some tools and so explore.eBay.com is a good example that talks about some of the trends, you know, Seller Center obviously talks about that.

We send a number of promotional emails around inventory that we think is going to be hot and give folks an opportunity to take advantage of a lower final value fee. In those cases, we've got a lot of resources on our side, but we want our sellers to use their insight and their knowledge to figure out what's hot. And then bring that inventory to the eBay marketplace so that we can have the best, most vibrant set of inventory for Holiday. But one other thing, you know as it relates to shipping is handle time and you know, I'm a consumer seller. I have a two day handle time and what I found is that when I go look at my listings, I'm not giving buyers a really great delivery date promise. You know, it tends to be five to seven days and I've made a specific and concerted effort not just to handle faster, but I'm actually going to be reducing my handle time in the holidays in the system so that when the EDD the estimated delivery date calculator runs, it takes advantage of that reduced handle time estimate.

And I think that's a really important one for all of you sellers who have the ability to bring your handle time down. If you're at one day you and can handle same day, that would be an unbelievable improvement to what the buyers cumulatively see across the marketplace. If you were in two days, make it one day. Like make a push in holiday to bring your handle time down. Move it down into the system and then deliver on that because I think that like returns, like guaranteed delivery, provides confidence. Especially as you get later in the season. Those delivery dates become more and more and more important in terms of what you sell. So just an encouragement there, to something that's totally within the seller's control.

Yeah. And it could be the difference between a sale and missing a sale. You know, how quickly can that item be delivered?

Absolutely. So in a, in a, in a world of a, of two day delivery, you know, one day reduction in handle time makes it very significant difference. And finally, just as it relates to listings, you know, so many people are going to be seeing your listings on mobile. Make sure that those listings are optimized as much as possible for mobile. So there's some, some tips on seller center and the Holiday Playbook around how to do that. And I think, um just being aware and if you don't do this yourself, like get our, get our native apps, like look at your listings, like make sure you're actually seeing what those look like to the majority of our buyers in mobile. Because that's how those listings are going to be evaluated. And so anyway, just make sure you take a look at that and use some of the tips to optimize for mobile as well.

So eBay has been recommending that seller's adopt 30 day returns, but do we know if it actually has an impact on their business?

Recommending is a, uh, is a polite way to say what we did. Which was to make it a requirement for TRP to have 30 day free returns. And look, we know that a lot of folks have felt imposed on with that standards change. And so I certainly, I appreciate that. What I would say is that we're trying to meet a very aggressive buyer expectation, especially in Holiday, as you've said, you know, it's inspires confidence in a buyer that they can resolve any issue. We've seen that when sellers moved to 30 day risk free returns, we've already seen their conversion growing in some cases by as much as 15 percent. And so we've also seen that there's really not a significant, again, in general, there's some very, there's some specific situations, but in general there's not a significant increase in the returns rate. And so for those outliers, obviously we have some seller protections against, uh, against buyer abuse that put in place. You know, we really feel like the benefit of free returns outweighs any sort of increased return rate that, uh, that our sellers are seeing. At the end of the day, It's good for, for sellers and it's good for the marketplace, but it's also good for buyers like giving them the confidence to click buy instead of trying to find that item somewhere else. I think is what really what we're all about here.

Again, it could be the determining factor in a sale versus losing a sale.

That's right.

Okay. Thanks Bob for coming in today to help us kick off holiday. Before you go, what would be your top three tips for sellers to win this holiday season?

I mean, look, I think it's pretty simple. It's one of those things that sounds easy, but I know it's hard and it requires a lot of work from our seller population, but having the right inventory, sourcing it, getting it on the site and having those listings optimized to sell is point number one. You guys know what's hot, you know, where the demand is going to be. Bring it to eBay and let us put it in front of 170 million buyers in the most critical and important selling season of our year. So please bring all your inventory. The second thing I would say is price it right. Price it, right? Allow it to, to meet buyer’s expectations, to delight them around the value that they can find on the eBay marketplace. And, uh, and in some cases we have, we have guidance and so take advantage of the guidance that we have for those. Or just use your insight into what the best prices are in the market and be competitive. We at the end of the day needs to be a competitive retailer and we're going to trust all of you to help us get there. And then I would say ship it fast and offer free returns. Because those are the things that are going to get our buyers over the line to click buy and that is what we all want for Holiday and uh, and for sales and general.

All right, well thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.

Hey, thank you so much. Yeah, it's been great.

Up Next. eBay staffer Jen Deal with talk with three sellers about how they're strategizing for the Holiday selling season.

Okay. Let's continue with this week's theme of Holiday selling, but from a different perspective, joining us now for the first time on Selling on eBay is our very own Marketing Strategist. Jennifer Deal.

Thanks Griff.

So what do you have for us today?

Well, Griff, I thought it would be great if instead of you and I expounding on the importance of having a Holiday plan in place, we could instead talk directly to three people on the eBay front lines and by that I mean eBay sellers. They're going to teach us how they strategize and prepare for the biggest retail Holiday season of the year.

Sounds good. And there's no better source than sellers. So take it away. Jen.

Joining us first is Ken. He is known as TheHustleBee. All one word. Ken, welcome to selling on eBay show.

Hi. Thank you. Thanks for having me here.

When do you actually start thinking about the Holidays?

Usually get a six month head start. Last year was pretty big for me and it was a very eye opener. So uh, this year I have decided to get a six month head start and actually prepare my inventory and everything else for q four.

You learned from last year's Holiday season. That one being your first, do you think about this season differently?

There's a few changes that we are making to just a more efficient and just have a better variety. As far as the categories concern, I'll have a better variety of inventory.

There are three areas that every seller kind of sets up for their business. And which of these three do you keep the most organized? Is it your ship station, your inventory system, or your listing process?

For me, the most important is inventory system. I carry about 1200 items in my eBay store right now and I operate outside of my two bedroom apartment. So like when I have all my inventory lined up pretty well, I have all the labels, all my boxes stocked in a right way where I want them to be. I feel like everything else around it follows suit. Just because when my inventories are put together. I can list better, I won't have a lot of clutter around the house. And also when you're shipping items you have to look for the items that you have to fulfill, so that gives me a better flow when all my inventory systems are in place.

I think I need you at my place just to organize me.

100 percent. I give that credit to my wife. She helps me with the business and you know, and she really helps out a lot of the organization. Because I can tell you I'm the least qualified with when it comes to organizing,

What do you think in the last year and a half or so, were the key things that moved your business up to the next level?

When I started, I tried to find the niche that I'm in trying to master it. So with me, I'm in the sporting goods category. So a lot of times I always review my sales. What do I sell the most now? Going into this Holiday season, within the last two weeks I've actually been looking at my sales report from last year and just jotting down what are the most sold items that I have? A lot were actually basketball shoes. A lot of it has to do with basketball season's starting. So basketball shoes sold a lot. So really knowing what really sold before and following on the trends. So mastering what you've sold before and adding more to it.

What are your thoughts on free shipping and free returns?

Oh, I'm 100 percent all about it. Almost every store offers free shipping now online. So within my store category, my average sale price or of my items are around $100. So what I usually offer, free shipping on items that are $100 or over. It does give a better value for the buyer, not having to worry about calculating. So specially going onto the fourth quarter, it's Holiday season. Everybody wants to talk about budget and when they see $100 item plus you add shipping to it and now they have to add it. And a lot of times personally too when I shop, I click the filter free shipping. It is a very good added value and feature to offer it. And a lot of people are like, no, I'm going to lose money. You're not going to lose money. Just adjust your pricing according to your shipping. So what I've done as far as shipping with concern, I've averaged out how much I spent on shipping.

So I'm about $8.50 for shipping. When I used to look up my pricing, I just packed that $8.50 on my pricing and then, um, that's covers me. So for free returns. Um, when I heard about it, I actually turned my free, returns on two weeks ahead before the rollout. I just want to see and test it if there's going to be a big increase or not. Personally in our eBay stores and also talking with a few people that are around my circle, none of our returns went up. I am currently at 4.8% return rate, which is I'll take that all day. Comes with the business. And also when you offer free returns, you're qualified to become a Top Rated Seller Plus. Now that is 10 percent off on your final value fee. So, I sell about 15 to $20,000 a month. Right now, that is $2,000 in seller fees. If I get 10 percent off, that's $200 off my fees. Uh, looking at the previous data, I get about 10 returns. So as my average shipping cost. That's only $8 50, so that's around $85 for those 10 free returns. At the end of the day, I'm still saving money. So even in my social media platform, I encourage everybody to offer free returns because it gives some more added value and you earn more customer trust when it comes through them buying from you.

I could not have said that better myself. Just to note for our audience, we actually have a returns calculator in Seller Center if you want to go and plug in some of your numbers and just to see some estimates about how much you can add to your margins. As well to cover the cost. Very similar to what Ken was describing. Um, and there's also shipping calculator. That will do the same thing. But you heard it from The Hustle Bee. Thank you so much Ken. Happy Holiday sales to you this year.

Thank you. Appreciate it. I'm always glad to share the lessons that I've learned. Giving back to the community and eBay has really changed our lives and help us create the lifestyle that we wanted to live. So again, thank you. And you have a great day.

Excellent information there Jen. Shall we hear from another seller?

Absolutely. Griff. Our next seller is 2018 Shine Award finalist Prince and he sells under the user ID electronics surplus deal. Prince, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with us today.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

When do you actually start thinking about the Holidays?

Well, the thing about the Holiday right now actually around two or three months left before quarter comes around, which is for Black Friday and Christmas and so I want to have all my inventory prepped in advance. And I want to make sure that everything is smooth and ready to go by the time the Holiday season comes around. You know getting all my supplies ready right before the Holiday season. So this is the perfect time to get ready for that.

And do you source or do anything differently for Holiday?

Yes, I do. So I was full time last year on eBay during the Holiday season. And I've noticed that the traffic on eBay goes up significantly. Depending on what you sell on eBay, my traffic went up around 500 percent and my sales, went up 500 percent. So now I have kind of an idea of how much inventory and supplies I need to make sure everything goes smoothly this year.

What are you planning for this Holiday season that's different from last year?

Well, this year I want to be way more organized because like I said last year, was my first time full time on eBay and so I kinda didn't know what to expect. And so you know, when all those sales came through I was kind of unprepared during this time so this year I'll make sure that I'm ready for it. And well prepared to handle all the orders and make sure my customer service is on point. So that's what I'll be doing differently.

Which of these three things do you keep the most organized or in your mind should be the most organized? Is that your ship shipstation, your inventory system or your listing process?

I would focus more on my inventory system and my shipping stations. That have to be as optimal as possible for me to kind of get all my packaging and my shipping all done smoothly.

What are the things that you believe moved your business up to the next level?

So for the past two years I've been pretty involved on social media and so, you know, through social media and meeting a lot of other resellers and people in the community, we've been able to create mastermind groups. And we've been all collaborating and trying to learn and grow from each other. And so that's been a major help over the past year and two. When you do online sales, you're kind of alone and there's not really, you don't really have coworkers unless you make coworkers for yourself. And so that's what I've done it has been one of the biggest things for me. Well because like no matter who you are and what you think, you know, you know, things are always changing and you want to be there and know the information while it's happening. And you know, people usually have some perspectives on things and it was really good to bounce off ideas from other people.

What are your thoughts on free shipping and free returns?

I think free shipping and free returns is excellent. You know, before eBay even implemented that, I've been doing that as a way to kind of set myself apart from other sellers and be more unique. I think it's a great thing. I think the whole platform will see an increase in sales and credibility. For that reason. I try to think about everything on a consumer perspective. So when I go to purchase something on eBay or any other website, for example, I want to see free returns and free shipping. That'll make me feel more comfortable with buying stuff.

Thank you, Prince. That was helpful information you shared with us. We hope that you have a prosperous Holiday selling season this year.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you guys having me here.

You know Jen, these sellers definitely know their stuff. Shall we hear from our third seller?

Yes, our next seller is Glen, also known as HustlerHacks. Thanks for joining us. Glen. I know this is a really busy time of year, so we appreciate your time today.

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

So when do you start thinking about holidays? I usually start thinking about Holiday in the summertime, so may, June, July, and really building up the inventory. Sometimes summer can be a little slow depending on what your niche is, but I think that's the best time to really go sourcing as much as possible. Build that up so you're ready for August, September, you know you're ready for the bigger sale.

As you're planning, do you source or do anything different for Holiday selling? And or what are you thinking about in these early months?

In these months I'm really trying to get everything ready as far as my inventory layout, how you want to prep and get everything ready on time. Supplies, make sure I have plenty and most importantly like speed is a factor so I want to make sure I have my listings ready to go.

Have the templates ready and have things ready that I can just go ahead and ship out as soon as possible. And not run into little small hiccups here and there.

Which are the three things, do you keep the most organized? Is your ship station, your inventory system or your listing process?

Definitely inventory system. Because Q4 things are selling every day. Sometimes that's, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 packages up to daily, weekly, depends on what your quantity is. But you don't want to mess up and sell things twice. Or think you have 10 of one item and then you really only had 8 and run into cancellations, things like that. So inventory, definitely your number one detail during q four.

So you've been with us for awhile and you've got a number of Holidays under your belt. What do you think has been the key thing that has moved your business up?

The key thing I would say is really just networking and having an accountability group. Just different people that you're also, you know, all eBay sellers who really want to help each other out. So every week we look at the numbers, how can we improve on sales and inventory and unforeseen and just keeping each other accountable. At least in the last two to three years and seeing what I have in common with a lot of different sellers. That's really helped me the most.

What is your secret to success that you think newer sellers that are maybe just getting to where you are would really need to think about this year?

Number one, you have the capital to keep it running. During November, December, I really just cut out a lot of maybe some of the extra things that I had. No, not really extra money to spend on different things.

I would just want to reinvest in the business and keep the capital moving and reward yourself afterwards. Once December is done, the q four is done. Then you can kind of look back to see what kind of money you have and what you want to work with. But really during that time it's like making sure you have enough capital to keep sourcing, keep running, and just go all in and reinvesting in your business. And what are your thoughts on free shipping and free returns Glen? Personally, I like it. I think it really gives the customer a better idea what they can expect. Your free returns, you're a trusted seller. It shows that not only are you a trusted seller, but they can go into other items that you're selling and look and see. You know what? I really trust this seller, especially during q four.

During this time, am I going to get my package on time? When it comes to free shipping, they don't have to go and calculate, "okay, if I buy this for $100, then shipping is $12, $12.50..." and try to put all this money together. Just here it is. Here's a flat rate of $100 free shipping and you're going to get it on time. I think buyers really, really like that.

Math is not something that should be a barrier when I am trying to fill a cart. Well, thank you Glenn. I learned something new too. I know our audience appreciates hearing all of these tips from our sellers and I hope you have a happy Holiday selling season this year on eBay. Thanks again.

Thanks for having me.

Jenn, What a wealth of advice and tips and information. So our sellers always come through with the right stuff. Don't you think?

I think they are incredible.

Let's summarize this in three calls to action. A call to action number one,

Organize inventory system.

Call to action number two.

Free shipping and returns is customer focus and will set you apart from everyone else.

Call to action number three.

Participate in social networking and find other sellers that can hold you accountable to your business.

Perfect! Jen, I want to thank you so much. That was an excellent interview and I hope you'll come back and join us for more interviews in the future here on Selling on eBay.

Absolutely. Thanks Griff.

You're welcome.

Up next, Griff takes your questions and calls here on Selling On eBay.

Let's take our first caller. Please state your name and what's your question?

Hi Griff, my name's Debbie and my eBay name is Keep calm and Posh on.

Hi Debbie. You actually had a mention of me on episode 3 of the Podcast and I just want to say thank you very much. I really appreciate that.

It was wonderful. Thank you. So what's your question?

So actually I did promise I was gonna call in with a question and I do have one that concerns global. Oh, I hope it didn't come through there, but uh, an eBay thing just happened.

Did you make a sale?

Nothing. So at the same time, sorry, I didn’t make a sale but I’m very happy right now. Okay. Um, so I love using the global shipping program for basically every item that I sell, but when it comes to shipping both domestic and international sales at the same time I struggle. Because I love streamlining the shipping process, but at the moment it doesn't seem to have a setup so that we can do the global shipping program, international orders at the same time on the same page as the domestic shipping. I'm hoping, I'm wondering if eBay has got a timeline where they might be sorting out for it?

I know it's so, it’s so upsetting and frustrating. You get that note saying, you know, these, these orders can't be printed through the. Yeah. We'll have to go back and do more. So we're in luck, Debbie, because it just so happens coincidentally that joining me in the studio right now is Dallas Roselle who is from our shipping team and I think he may have the answer.

Hi Dallas.

Hi. Hi Debbie.

How are you?

Very good, thank you. That's obviously one of the major gaps in our current bulk printing flow and we're right now. The good news is right now we are redesigning the bulk label printing flow. We have a Beta version of it out right now that's being tested among a small group of sellers. It doesn't have international in it yet, but the intent is to add not only international services four USPS and FedEx, but also to cover our global shipping program transactions in order so that you can print everything all in one go. This is as I said, being tested right now and we're hoping to start rolling this out more broadly to sellers beginning next year.

Fantastic.

Okay. So it's a little bit of a delay.

Yeah, but I'm very happy to hear that, that it's in the works, um, because I know not everybody is effected, but personally I really loved the global shipping program. It's so much easier to do, but that one extra step will just make everything a complete quicker for me. So. Great. Thank you.

Well Debbie, thank you and thank you Dallas.

Thanks a lot. Um, I, I just wanted to also add that now is a good time. If there are other things that you're seeing in the bulk printing flow that are sub optimal things you'd like to see changed, now's a really good time for me to get that feedback so that we can hand it off to our product team as they are in the process of designing the new flow.

You mean, Right now? I think you're putting Debbie on the spot.

No, no no. We can get that feedback over email or by phone.

Okay. Well Debbie, you can always call back in to the show. I'd love to have you back on.

That'd be lovely. Thank you. I'm actually only around the corner from the HQ, so I'll probably see you on Tuesday night anyway for the Bay Area Meetup.

Great. We'll get to meet at the Meetup. Oh, that's fantastic. Thanks. Okay, well we'll see you then and then we'll hear you on the, on the podcast.

Thank you. Thanks see you fellas. Thanks again.

Let's go to our next caller. Please state your name and your user id and tell us what's on your mind.

Hi. My name is Jeremiah Lord and my username is MyrockinA. I just had a question wondering with eBay new catalog system, will there be a buy box similar to say Amazon buy box? Where multiple sellers with the same listing would be able to share or split the sale at like an eBay approved price point or something similar? There isn't a race to the bottom or no penny war, like whoever has the lowest price is always going to get the purchase. Is that going to be the same or will it be split or shared?

So not quite the same. Definitely not in look and feel. It'll be eBay focused on eBay centric type of experience and you can actually see this on the site now. For example, if you search for iPhone and filter down to a particular type of IPhone, you can get an idea of exactly what our product page looks like. So there's a little bit more control for the buyer during a search on something like say an iPhone and I'm only using that because I know that's already the experience on eBay. It's expanding more and more to different categories, but the buyer gets the chance in the search results to to actually toggle like items. So if the search is pretty broad and they just use the word iPhone, there'll be a little toggle on the top of the search results and they can say show like items and then see they're grouped by model and condition, whether it's refurbished. And then the buyer makes that decision and when they get to the product page they'll see an item and in most cases it's going to be the item that's going to be the lowest price, so it's not necessarily rush to the bottom, but on eBay there's more considerations. There's things like because, we don't mandate things like free shipping or free returns, they'll will be versions where they can say this item is, you know, this might be look like the lowest price, but this item has free shipping or free returns. Or this is new or other description or something? Exactly. So there's not always going to be just one item that's presented to the buyer. So in that case there's a, there's options for them. It makes it, makes the decision process a lot easier, but there won't be a process where for exact similar items they'll be shared necessarily. So it's a different system than a site like Amazon. It's more a focused if you want to see how this actually works. My, uh, my suggestion is to just go and search for something like iPhone and then just go through it as a buyer.

Well, here’s some of my listings. Um, I normally have tried to optimize my titles is to have a lot of good keyword phrases in there. So it's not just iPhone four, the iPhone for next generation, blah, blah, blah. Two thousand and 18. Sure. So I try to do that now. Say if I were to go search my item, I see now it shows that it's sold by 34 people, but you know, my item is not the first one on the list. It's obviously like you just mentioned the lowest price point, but how would. I mean,

You want to make sure you are on the top.

Yeah, not having to filter through 34 people. If I'm only gonna be one person in the new category or if there's only gonna be one listing in the new category?

So if all everything else is equal, then price will be the consideration. So this will, this will necessitate sellers checking this on a regular basis and then making sure that if they're, if they want to show up higher that their prices, their price is the most competitive and I’ll give you an example. So I sell fragrances on the site. A few of my fragrances have the capability on eBay of being product page specific because they have a UPC code in those cases. In those cases, I check those. And to the extent that possible, I may lower my price by a penny just so I make sure that I'm on the top and that's worked for me. And I suspect that most of our sellers who have commodity items that are in the catalog will be doing the same.

Sure. And that kinda almost makes it feel like it is a penny war or it is the lower price wins. Even though it's, even though it's not, it kind of feels that way when it comes down to that metric.

Well, think about it. If all other things are equal, the buyers, the buyer wants the bargain and a penny could be the deciding factor. Here's what I discovered though, Jeremiah, I've discovered that and don't, don't spread this around. So this is the secret. Even though it's on the, it's on the show now. Most sellers aren't paying attention. So when I lower my price by a penny, they don't lower theirs.

Well, that's what I'm saying. I'm not paying attention to the other buyers and a lot of times I didn't really pay attention to the price. I have set margins, I have my set equation, I focused more on my title and how to optimize it and maybe to like phrase it differently so where the normal person would search for the specific iPhone, it would sound more like they were phrasing it to their mom or to their friends and I had a lot of good sales. Will that still be viable option with this category system?

Yeah, I mean, key, keyword, title keywords will always play a part, but with catalog items, everything depends on the product identifier. Whether that's a UPC Code, ISPN, GTIN.

The MPM?

Yeah. Okay. Well that's actually more important than the title.

Okay. And I, and I noticed, and I, I just listened to previous, um, live show from your previous show and um, I forgot the Gal's name that was on there. Um, but it was not Lee.

Wait, wait, wait. Oh, not Lee,

Okay. Not Lee not Lee. Um, she was um, hosting with you, but it was another gal in a Vegas event, a live event, but she had mentioned how you have to um, her tip was like filling all the specific drop down categories from eBay. It was red, then click red. If it shows like long sleeve, not short sleeve, you know, make sure to fill out those. What if I were to fill them my own out even though it's the same one, like instead of scrolling down and finding a specific color in that catalog, what if I just wrote in that specific color? Is that going to alter it because I didn't actually use the eBay dropped down?

Yeah, that's a tricky question. Always use the default item specific choices if you can. So for example, if I have a maroon shirt and maroon isn't one of the colors, I choose red and I'll put maroon in the title, but if you, if you add the items specific maroon, that's that would help in a title search it's not going to help in a product. It's not a recognized yet product identifier. So I would probably stick where ever possible to the default choices that are presented to you as options for a single item specific. Most of them are pretty covered. If you're talking about shirts, long sleeve, short sleeve sleeveless, then you're then you're okay.

And a lot of times at the catalog it pre loads everything. I've noticed started noticing already. You know you've got a stock photo. It preloads everything for you. Now, what if I were to add something to that? I know there's a place where you could modify or suggest the modification in the catalog to add more or something. I don't have the option on my listing and I still wanted to add more to it. Would that hurt it or would that still be something? Will and it put me ahead of the game or the competitor?

It can't hurt. It can only help as long as you don't have product identifiers that are conflicting with the existing product identifiers, so for example, you can't. If it says color, you can't add a second color and if you change the label to other color and then add the color, that's probably not going to make much of a difference. You have to sort of weigh this out when you're deciding if I'm going to create a custom you item specific and you can make sure it's not contradictory. One big important tip when you're, when you're doing your own items specifics, there are two parts. There is what's called the label or the attribute and that's like color, and then you put in a value. If you're using words, make sure it's one word. Don't put a phrase in. So it reads the text string should be one word.

I'm taking notes.

I hope you're not driving!

No, no way!

I just got, I actually, I still got to go back into work, but I take a lunch break so I'm just sitting out in Arizona, so I'm sitting out in the AC in my truck.

Glad the a/c is on.

Oh yeah. It's warm here.

It can be. It's true. Well Jeremiah, I hope that helped and thank you so much for your call. We hope to hear from you again.

I appreciate it. Griff and uh, you have a good one. Enjoy your weekend.

Thanks. And stay out of the heat. Yeah, I will. Okay, bye. Bye. Thanks Jeremy.

I want to remind everyone that you can always call into our hotline 24 seven at 888-723-4630 that's 888-723-4630, and that's our show for this week.

That went fast.

Sure did.

And I can see you finished off the cake in the meantime, Thanks.

Not to worry. I saved you a piece Wait, here.

A piece? You call that a piece? That's a pile of Crumbs.

Sorry. I have absolutely no self-control around cake. And Happy One Month Anniversary to my friend and cohost.

And Happy One Month Anniversary to you. Anything you want to add, you know, between bites?

Yes. Don't forget to call our hotline. 888-723-4630 and you can call that hotline anytime of the day. Any time of the week. Yes, indeed. 888-723-4630 and you can subscribe to our show as well. Just follow the instructions on the selling on eBay podcast community page, which you can find at www.ebay.com/sellingoneBay Hey, shall we roll the credits?

Sure thing Griff. Selling on eBay is brought to you by our eBay community slash podcast team.

Director of Community Brian Burke, Editor and Chief, and first and last Engineer and Host, Griff and cohost and Creative Consultant Audrey Tracy,

Liz Austin from our marketing team, Community Manager and official herder of cats, Alan Aisbitt and last but not least, our Temecula Toastmaster and King of Instagram Doug Smith.

Thanks to the entire team. Hey Audrey, read this.

Sure. Selling on eBay is produced and distributed by Libsyn and, podCast411. On behalf of eBay, I'm Audrey Tracy. And I'm Griff and we'll be back next week with a fresh new episode of selling on eBay. Until then, and it's going to be our theme song unless Dale Evans and Roy Rogers sue us. Happy sales to you and yes they did, they did stuff Trigger. Until we meet again on selling on eBay. Did you get any of that cake? No, I'm sorry. I’ll bake another one for next week. I don't trust you. You don't trust my cake? First of all, I don't believe you've ever baked a cake. Oh, I just. You have so little faith. I’m gonna shut this off before we get, you know into trouble.

[azaleas808]

Excellent podcast!

[blingblinkyoftexas]

Love that "Eat on the Air!" !! That's what I am doing while getting totally current on the shows! Happy 1 month Anniversary! Happy 4th Quarter eBayers!

Paula