A lot of eBay sellers also have a WordPress Blog and some use their blogs to also sell merchandise directly so I thought I would research some popular plugins for eBay sellers.
Social Media WidgetThe Social Media Widget is a simple sidebar widget that allows users to input their social media website profile URLs and other subscription options to show an icon on the sidebar to that social media site and more that open up in a separate browser window.
Watch Count is a widget that shows you what all the hot items are on eBay you can discover which eBay items have attracted the most interest — and see how many watchers.
WordPress Lister for eBay WP-Lister connects your WooCommerce, Jigoshop, WP e-Commerce, Shopp or MarketPress site with your eBay Store. You can select multiple products right from your products page, select a profile to apply a set of predefined options and list them all on eBay with just a few clicks.The workflow of listing items requires not a single click more than necessary. Due to its tight integration in WordPress, your client will not have to learn anything new as he will feel right at home.Features
list any number of items at once
set up a profile once and apply to any number of products
verify items and get listing fees before actually listing them
choose categories from eBay and your eBay Store
national and international shipping options
support for product variations
create simple listing templates using WordPress post editor
advanced template editor with HTML / CSS syntax highlighting
download / upload listing templates – makes life easy for 3rd party template developers
MoneyPress : eBay Edition plugin allows you to easily display products from eBay based on keywords you provide. It makes it simple to show product listings for anything relevant to your site. All product entries also come with images, current asking prices, and links to eBay to get further information about the product.
List your own products by entering your seller ID, or sell any product on eBay and earn a commission with your eBay Partner ID or other approved affiliate program ID. If you are an eBay seller or an approved eBay affiliate this plugin will help boost the income earning potential of your site in just a few easy steps.
WordPress eBay AdsAllows you to insert a listing of related eBay products, on the single post page by using a custom field called ebay_search and either the shortcode [wpebayads] directly in your post or by inserting simple code in your template file. The listings are completely customizable according to parameters defined in the admin panel. If you include an eBay Partner Network campaign ID, you can earn money from traffic you drive to eBay! Also allows you to share revenue with your authors on a multi-author blog. Creates a custom field on the author profile pages so they can input their campaign ID. Whoever wrote the post gets credit in the listing.
eBay Dashboard ToolsAdds a eBay Tools & Announcements Feed Widget to the WordPress Admin Dashboard Page.. Includes a Options Page to Sync with your ebay account and decide what tools u would like to appear in the Dash Widget.
This came to me this morning and I think its important I share with you:. I have put the important parts in boldface.
Dear Skip
Congress is considering online sales tax legislation that is wrongheaded and unfair, and I am writing to ask for your help in telling Congress “No!” to new sales taxes and burdens for small businesses.
Whether you’re a consumer who loves the incredible selection and value that small businesses provide online, or a small-business seller who relies on the Internet for your livelihood, this legislation potentially affects you. For consumers, it means more money out of your pocket when you shop online from your favorite seller or small business shop owner. For small business sellers, it means you would be required to collect sales taxes nationwide from the more than 9,600 tax jurisdictions across the U.S. You also would face the prospect of being audited by out-of-state tax collectors. That’s just wrong, and an unnecessary burden on you.
Big national retailers are aggressively lobbying Congress to pass online sales tax legislation to “level the playing field” with Amazon. And, as they compete with big retail, Amazon is advocating for this legislation too, while at the same time they are seeking local tax exemptions across the country to build warehouses. This is a “big retail battle” in which small businesses and consumers have a lot to lose. But eBay is fighting, as we have for more than 15 years, to protect small online businesses and sellers and ensure healthy competition, value, and selection that benefit consumers online.
The solution is simple: if Congress passes online sales tax legislation, we believe small businesses with less than 50 employees or less than $10 million in annual out-of-state sales should be exempt from the burden of collecting sales taxes nationwide. To put that in perspective, Amazon does more than $10 million in sales every 90 minutes. So we believe this is a reasonable exemption to protect small online businesses. That’s what we’re fighting for, and what big companies such as Amazon are fighting against.
I hope you agree that imposing unnecessary tax burdens on small online businesses is a bad idea. Join us in letting your Members of Congress know they should protect small online businesses, not potentially put them out of business. Please email, call or write your congressperson and your Senators. I believe our voices can make a difference.
Have you ever tried using the Sale utility in your eBay Store. I have and it works. the same thing happens on Amazon.
Try this experiment. The next time you create a new listing on Amazon, set your price a little higher and then put the item on sale at the price you want or need to be at. Here is an example.
This is a product that I want to sell for $24.99, so I set the price at $29.99 and then put it on sale for $24.99. You see, even if its an illusion, customers like a bargain. Don’t believe me: Read his article from the Business section of the New York Times: Sometimes, We Want Prices to Fool Us.
This morning’s post is an email I received from a group I belong to – The Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA). It is about the Internet Sales Tax. Please read and take action. If the Marketplace Fairness Act passes it will be a disaster for all online sellers.
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If you are reading this email, you are one of over 40,000 professionals, whom over the last 10 years, has been proud to call yourself a PESA member or industry partner of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance organization. You operate a $1 million to $100+ million business, or you are a national or international media correspondent, or you are an industry service provider, or a financial analyst. You have attended one of our 20 major PESA Summit ‘first of its kind’ business conferences here in the United States or in Australia. As an organization, PESA has provided you with an unprecedented uniquely qualified network, rich in resources that have inspired tremendous collaborative innovation.
Collectively, your turnover is in excess of $50+ billion dollar in gross ecommerce and brick and mortar sales across various marketplace and other website channels. Some of you have complex multichannel strategies; others have incubated or transitioned a mere germ of an idea into a viable livelihood for your family.
As a group, each of you has a network of your own, the total net cumulative value of which touches hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of millions of other professionals.
The above numbers thus prove that we can make a difference together. However, these numbers also prove that if you do not act as an individual; your world as well as ours, even at this massive scale, will change forever. Tomorrow, Monday 21, 2013 will be the day you either acted or not.
On a certain parallel, most entrepreneurs skim the boundaries of politics but make a detour at the border crossing.
However, if you do not act this time, on this occasion, you are essentially granting license to a mere handful of individuals to determine the future of your business. All of the investment control, planning and innovation you have worked so hard to incorporate in your business survival, competitive and growth strategies will be washed away with just a few votes in Washington.
This week, legislators in Washington, D.C. begin the process of voting on – your - future livelihood and prosperity. I could fill this email with the very precise details of the exhaustive perils that the proposed, {so called} [Marketplace Fairness Act] will bring to bear, with unrelenting force on the essential future viability of your business specifically, how it will transform the fundamental nature of the Internet itself; and ultimately, how it will impact our national economy’s ability to perform in the global arena.
In essence, it is of paramount importance for you to know at this juncture, that votes are being rendered in Washington, D.C. this week that will instantly change your world, (in many cases forcing otherwise healthy businesses to adopt radical austerity measures and in all too many other instances cause business like yours to literally close their doors). This by legislators who simply do not have all the facts regarding the serious implications of their decisions. It is not uncommon for government to lack practical business experience. And, it is not uncommon for business to gravitate in a universe removed from governmental affairs. But, the truth is that both business and government are intimately dependent on each other. We are so reliant on each other, in fact, that this core relationship has vast systemic implications for our nation as a whole.
If you allow an Internet Sales Tax to be introduced as a result of inaction, we all experience an immediate consequence to our businesses and a domino ripple effect that will reverberate throughout the entire economy. The correlation between inaction and consequence will be both swift and immediate.
- It’s not enough to make your voice heard.
- You must reach out to your network and encourage everyone to make their voice heard. Put your network to work on this critical issue. An issue that affects all of us.
- Reach out to Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). She has championed the fight to defeat the passage of this online sales tax amendment. Please read her recent press release below.
- Join the WeRHere Coalition and sign their petition as well. http://werherecoalition.org/ . PESA is a business trade organization platform, not affiliated with WeRHere. WeRHere is an excellent political platform where you can express your political concerns.
- If you sell on eBay, please visit: http://www.ebayinternetsalestax.com/ist/step1_s.asp
You must reach out to your network via blog, email, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, press release or any other communication medium available to you. Simply educate and inform your legislators on this matter. Help them grow in their awareness of the impact to your business and the national economy. In those instances where we made legislators, who were previously uninformed or mis-informed, aware of the facts, they were quick to lend their full understanding and support.
The Marketplace Fairness Act fails on nearly every level. The compliance costs are unsustainable. The proposed exemptions are unmanageable. The proposed technological solutions are a prehistoric recipe for disaster. With respect to fairness, I find it astonishing to think that anyone could believe adding this level of friction and complexity to the economy could be a good idea. All the gains that true technology and innovation have brought to our shared economic table in the form of a free and vibrant Internet will be instantly unraveled to cast us back into darker ages past. I also find it astonishing to think that some billion dollar retailers, such as Amazon with all of their strategic and proiprietary advantages would resort to such primitive measures as this to eliminate you as their competition.
As an eBay seller, your eBay listing is your “salesperson.” It will either attract customers or drive them away. Even if other sellers are offering the same products as yours, if your listing looks more professional, then people will buy from you more often.
If you want to make more sales, improve your eBay listing to make the difference. Make it more appealing to buyers so that they will actually take a look at what you’re offering. So how do you do this? Here are some tips:
First, use an effective title. Make sure that your product shows up in search queries by using the right keywords. Be specific as possible by including the important attributes (size, color, model, and brand name) of your product in the title.
eBay gives you 80 characters including spaces. Try to use as many as you can. The more keywords that people search for the better your listing will place in search.
After working on your title, focus and get informative with your description. There are a few things that you should remember when describing your products:
Start with the most important details that your buyers should know such as the size, color, shape, model, any accessories, etc., then go into details
Organize what you have to say so ideas and concepts are not jumbled. Write in a logical manner. Divide the texts by using sub-headings. Bullet lists also work well
Make your listing easy on the eye. Don’t use colored fonts on the entire product description area. Don’t capitalize all the letters as well. Use things like bold and Italics sparingly, just to give emphasis on certain words.
Check your grammar, and your spelling. A poorly-written description may discourage potential buyers as this looks unprofessional. I like to create my listings in Microsoft Word first so I get both the spelling and the grammar checker.
Romance the item. Include a paragraph that tells a short story about your item, or why people should buy it. Get creative—it could boost your sales.
Use a lot of white space in your listing makes it far easier to read on a compute3r screen. You do that by writing short paragraphs followed by an extra space.
Use short sentences and avoid really big words. newspapers and consumer magazines are written at an 8th grade level, as research has shown this is the grade level even educated people read comfortably at.
Include photos in your listing. One of the things that online shopping cannot give is the actual seeing and feeling of the product. That’s why it’s important to put photos in your listing so that customers can see what you’re offering.About three or four photos work best. Be sure and show close ups if there is detail to be seen such as the makers mark on a piece of silver or pottery.
Adding your business logo to your listings will help differentiate you from other sellers, and will create brand awareness as well. You may also use HTML for your listings. There are user-friendly tools, which could help you with this, such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver.
So before you upload and publish your items on eBay, consider these helpful tips and it will improve your sell-through-rate. Good luck on eBay.
Skip McGrath
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Burned out on eBay? learn how to sell on Amazon. My latest book, eBay to Amazon will show you the techniques I use to sell over $25,000 a month on Amazon.
Today’s post is a link to a great article on the Vendio blog. This is a great article that can help bring eBay and Amazon sellers up to date on new sales tax law.
Sales Taxes: What eBay and Amazon Sellers Need to Know Going into 2013
Tax law can be a source of confusion and worry for small business owners. Online merchants selling on eBay, Amazon, and eCommerce stores in particular should be aware of recent changes that might impact 2013 taxes, as well as industry trends and pending bills that may impact them in the near future.
The first thing merchants and individuals should be aware of in 2013 is that there will most likely be delays in the IRS processing returns. The IRS had to reprogram their computers to adjust for changes in the tax law, and did not start accepting returns until January 30. Many business tax filers could file for 2012 starting February 4th, but business owners should expect delays in refunds if they’ve filed for credits in depreciation, business, and certain other categories. Click here to read the rest of the article.
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Learn How To Make Money Selling on Amazon with my latest book
When you consider there are millions of websites, just having a customer arrive at your online store is a huge accomplishment. Now that they are here, how do you get them to “buy?”
It may seem like an easy thing to do, but the reality is actually the opposite. Shopping cart abandonment rates run as high as 40%, even for some of the larger, more popular web stores. It is not uncommon for online shoppers to abandon their shopping carts because they encountered an online store operation or feature that turns them off. This list is a must-read for every online retailer:
Absence of Trustmarks — Trustmarks are images or logos that could be placed on online stores, indicating that the site has passed different security and privacy tests. The absence of such is a huge turn-off to potential buyers since they won’t be able to trust the website.
Poorly designed, unprofessional-looking website — Crazy & animated GIFs, colourful fonts, jammed webpages, poor grammar and spelling—these are some of the elements of a poorly designed website. And these are sure to make shoppers “run away” from an online store– with passion.
Small, almost invisible search box — A small search box is another factor that discourages people from browsing and buying. Some may actually not see that a search box does exist, while some may switch sites because they deem that the online store is not user-friendly at all.
Unclear search results — There’s nothing more annoying than searching for shirts, and getting pens in the results. This discourages online shopping because it shows how difficult the online store’s search process is. Another discouraging factor is a search engine which doesn’t allow shoppers to search by specific bar codes (ISBN, EAN, etc). The search box must present an easy and convenient way for shoppers to see what they need, and if it fails to deliver, then the shoppers will most likely stop from browsing and buying.
Too much information in the products page — A “clean” products page is usually composed of product photos, star ratings and tabs that will allow the customer to click and know more information about the product, such as the delivery timescale and charges, product description and reviews. Any additional information may already clutter the products page.
Compulsory registration — Making registration a requirement is a turn-off because a number of shoppers aren’t interested in becoming a member of an online store, and they’re just there because they saw something that they need or want. Also, some consumers simply don’t have the time to fill-out a lot of required information.
Long Personal Information form — Some online stores don’t require registration, but still ask too many information before checkout. Again, online shopping should be quick and easy, that’s why asking too much personal information will annoy or scare customers away.
Unclear shipping fees and/or hidden charges — Being upfront and transparent about all charges is a smart move, and doing the opposite will just drive customers away. Shoppers must be aware of the fees that they’re paying even before they arrive at the last page of the checkout.
Vague instructions whenever the shopper enters erroneous data, or forgets to fill-out a blank — It must be easy for shoppers to know which portion of the form to re-do. Unclear or very generic instructions annoy shoppers because they will, again, spend much time determining which blank is still missing, or which information is erroneous.
Online shopping should be an easy and fun alternative way of buying products, that’s why it’s important for retailers to be sure their online stores function the way they should.
Online reviews about your products and your business can grow legs. These may appear in various blogs, pages and even shared in different social media pages. If a review praises your business and say wonderful things about your products and services, then congratulations—you’re on your way to having more customers. But if a review is quite the opposite, then you have some serious work to do.
But before passionately clicking on your keyboards to make an “official response”, here are some things to remember about responding to negative reviews. When do you respond, and when do you ignore?
Respond, if:
You really did make a mistake. If you’ve mistakenly delivered the wrong product, wasn’t able to fulfil a promise to a customer, or if your online store didn’t function well on a particular day, then sincerely offer your apologies. Make amends with your disappointed client by admitting your mistake & promising to offer better products/services next time. You may also want to offer incentives or freebies to further appease the customer.
Facts are misstated. If a person leaves irate remarks which contain erroneous information (examples: complaints about a product which you aren’t selling; complaints about a commitment/promise that you didn’t make), then step in and correct the facts.
The reviewer has large social connections. Even if the complaint seems trivial or petty, if it’s written by an influential blogger, or by a person who has quite a number of Twitter followers, then it’s worth responding to. Even the tiniest issues, if brought out by a “big” person, could hurt your reputation. Learn how to identify your product/ business reviewers so that you can take actions accordingly.
Ignore, if:
When the person has a reputation of being irate all the time, at all business establishments. Do some research about the profile of your reviewer. If you see that he seems to be mad at almost everyone and everything, then do not waste your time trying to change his opinions. Unless, of course, he mentioned an incorrect information about your business.
You are still very angry about the review. Nothing is more damaging than the words of an angry person. So if you know that anger is robbing you of any logic or reason at the moment, just let the review sit on its own. If you feel that a response has to be made immediately, then you can let your staff or somebody else answer. I make it a practice to get a good night’s sleep before responding to a negative review that angers me. The cooling off period brings back my rational self. Never respond to an angry review with sarcasm or anger. If you post a professional reply, it will make the other person look like the foolish one.
When logic tells you that responding may do more harm than good. As the business owner, your knowledge and experiences may have given you the capacity to know whether responding is worth your time, or not. Trust your reasoning and logic on this.
It is important to remember this rule of thumb: the best way to address negative reviews is to encourage your customers to leave reviews in the first place. This way, negative reviews can be balanced by positive reviews, and may give other people the chance to read more information and make their own personal decisions about your business/brand.
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Learn how to sell on Amazon from someone who does it every day. Remember the old saying – “Those who can, do and those who can’t, teach?” Well I do both. Join hundreds of folks who have learned how to make money from the number one online selling platform in the world – Amazon. My book, eBay to Amazon will walk you through the steps to become a successful seller from day one.
I got my Scanpower newsletter yesterday and they had a nice piece on Restricted Items on Amazon – Not many folks know about these as Amazon doesn’t push this information out. Here is the article:
There are items that are Restricted by Amazon, and this is not well-documented.
Here are some known restricted items:
* Crib bumpers (due to the restriction in Chicago and other areas)
* VHS tapes (they are not selling well and Amazon is starting to restrict items they have many of in storage)
* DVD’s (many publishers have restricted their items, like HBO, Warner Bros, etc.)
* Some new items (like Kindles)
* Sony,
* Gillette
* Dunkin Donuts coffee
* p90X Videos
* Samsung TV’s
* Prevagen – Quicy Bioscience
Here is a link to the page on Amazon that explains the policy:
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