By Arie Shpanya in
eBay ,
eCommerce at 7:13 am 07/03/10
Recently eBay has announced that it eliminate its Featured First advertising which will be retiring after June 29. The program allows Top Rated sellers to upgrade their listings and optimized spots on eBay as the sample bellow shows.
eBay said there were no plans to replace Featured First at the moment. Therefore, Featured First will automatically expire from any existing listings on this July 29 (the feature is not available for listing since June 29).
Therefore, we would strongly suggest eBay merchants to allocate their budget to the eBay Ad Commerce* program (see the Illustration bellow).
With high percentage of the exposure which was allocated to the feature first section, it will be reasonable to predict that eBay Ad Commerce Conversion rates will increase, hence, the program ROI will be improved.
Considering, most merchants will not take this step (as they are not aware of the possibility). We’re strongly encouraging you to shift the feature first budget and try out the Ad commerce strategy.
imOnline specializes in multi channeling strategy. With imOnline’s full-service eCommerce program a retailer’s products are listed in deep data processes, where they appear simultaneously on all the biggest Online Marketplaces. Whether it’s a veteran marketplace or an emerging one, we are there to list our clients’ products on it.
By Dror Engel in
eBay ,
eCommerce at 9:31 am 06/13/10
eBay Best Match is the primary focus to consider during your strategy process (read more about our strategy). To keep things simple, Best Match works by considering the following elements:
- Demand factors such as free shipping, recent sales, keywords or item specifics common to the most successful listings in a specific category.
- Listing factors such as distance and comparable cost to other items in a specific category.
- Seller performance factors – whether a seller is Below Standard, Above Standard, or Top Rated.
- Recent sales – fixed price listings that generate repeat sales can get a boost in their search exposure.
- Soonest ending time is a factor for auction-style listings.
Currently, eBay offers two very similar listings types: Fixed Price and Good Till Canceled (GTC). We have seen very clearly that new listings get a Best Match boost -high rank in the first page of the search results – for a few hours.
On the other hand, GTC items – which stay at a fixed price for 30 days with an auto-renew function – are not getting a visibility boost during the renew process.
The quick, albeit incorrect conclusion is that in order to maximize your Best Match visibility you should list only fixed price items in the peak hours. Why is this conclusion incorrect? Let’s take a look…
At imOnline we work with many different types of sellers. We have huge sellers in many categories, such as apparel, jewelry and rugs. Does the conclusion above apply to all of our clients? No, of course not.
While GTC improves listings efficiency, it also has a few more advantages over fixed price items. First, let’s be clear: eBay’s Best Match algorithm does not consider quantity available or duration options (7 days, 30 days) on the listings. So it doesn’t really matter if you list your item for 30 days or 7 days, or if you list you item with quantity 1 or 1000. At imOnline, our strategy process takes into account that a recent sales score is based only on the recent sale of that item. Thus, as a sale becomes older it has less relevance to the score. Eventually a sale becomes too old to contribute at all. That timeframe varies depending on which eBay category it belongs to.
For example, for engagement rings in the jewelry category the timeframe is between 1 – 72 hours. In general, sales between 7 – 14 days old contribute much less, and sales between 30-60 days old don’t count at all.
If you take the above points into account, you will see that GTC is the best option for high velocity items.
As you can see, fixed price listings get a visibility boost while GTC items don’t. When eBay first launched Best Match, they only allowed the history to carry over once because of a technical limitation in the underlying functions they were using. Today the listings sales factor is carried over to new listings over and over again. So, while it appears that for items with high sales/view history, GTC and Fixed price items may have the same search standing, fixed price items have a huge advantage in Best Match when the item ends without a sale, due to their visibility boost.
We at imOnline recommend that sellers with low sales/view history use a fixed price listings strategy and sellers with high sales/view history sellers use GTC as their listing strategy.
Don’t forget – besides the sales history factor, there are few other super important factors to consider in your listing strategy: competitive item price, relevant title keywords and accurate items specifics.
imOnline specializes in multi channeling strategy. With imOnline’s full-service eCommerce program a retailer’s products are listed in deep data processes, where they appear simultaneously on all the biggest Online Marketplaces. Whether it’s a veteran marketplace or an emerging one, we are there to list our clients’ products on it.
By Arie Shpanya in at 4:19 am 05/13/10
Get This Widget
(In no particular order…)
We at imOnline love reading eCommerce blogs, because we love learning as much as we can about all things related to eCommerce. We have gained a lot of valuable knowledge and experience from many of these sites, so we think it’s a fitting tribute to give thanks and list the top 10 eCommerce blogs we can’t live without. We recommend checking them out, if you haven’t already.
1. ECOMMERCE TIMES: This blog is jam-packed with information, and is updated up-to-the-minute. The articles are well written and informative, without losing the point. It simple user-interface make this a blog worth reading at least once a day.
2. EXCITING COMMERCE: Founded in 2005, this blog is very informative and interesting. Each article provides a wealth of information and is a must read for businessmen and laymen alike. Offers postings in German and English.
3. THE BIG COMMERCE BLOG: This blog has it all – articles, video, podcasts – and teaches you how to build up your eCommerce company with effective tips, tricks and tutorials. If you’re serious about learning how to improve your eCommerce business, this blog is a must-read.
4. ECOMMERCE LAW: Although this blog isn’t for everyone, I think it’s a really well-written and informative blog that should be read frequently. Spearheaded by Jonathan Frieden, the blog describes important court cases and laws underlying and/or affecting many eCommerce businesses.
5. THE 9-HOUR WORK WEEK: This blog is great, especially for entrepreneurs. Founded by Addy Kho, The blog features video and postings filled with practical, must-know information. Every post is well-written, to the point and brimming with sharp insight.
6. SELL IT! ON THE WEB: I like this blog because it offers practical solutions to practical problems. I recommend this blog to everyone because it breaks down information in a very smart and effective way. Read it daily.
7. COMPARISON SHOPPING ENGINE STRATEGIES: Although this blog is limited in scope and mainly deals with comparison shopping engine strategies, it is still a must-read. The information is presented in bite-size servings and is quite useful. Maybe not for everyone, but definitely worth a read. Also feature useful instructional videos.
8. RETAIL ECOMMERCE: This blog is simply great. The layout is very user-friendly, and the content is top-notch. Every article is worth a read, many are in-depth and written in several parts. The information is relevant and up-to-date, so I recommend a daily visit.
9. VIDEORETAILER.ORG: Another blog with a limited scope, but it is a good one nevertheless. Articles discuss how to incorporate videos into your eCommerce business and features many success stories. Great layout too
10. PRACTICAL ECOMMERCE: Personally, I love the layout of this blog. Although I don’t read it every day, I find the articles I do read to be a real treasure trove of information. This blog also offers great podcasts.
Ok, there’s our list. If you have any question and/or comments, please drop us a line. Happy blogging!
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