TLFeBOOK Building Your eBay Traffic the Smart Way Other Books by Joseph T. Sinclair eBay the Smart Way eBay Business the Smart Way eBay Motors the Smart Way eBay Global the Smart Way eBay Photography the Smart Way Building Your eBay Traffic the Smart Way Use Froogle, Datafeeds, Cross-Selling, Advanced Listing Strategies, and More to Boost Your Sales on the Web’s #1 Auction Site Joseph T. Sinclair American Management Association New York • Atlanta • Brussels • Chicago • Mexico City • San Francisco Shanghai • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington, D.C. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent pro- fessional person should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sinclair, Joseph T. Building your eBay traffic the smart way : use froogle, datafeeds, cross-sell- ing, advanced listing strategies, and more to boost your sales on the web’s #1 auction site / Joseph T. Sinclair. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8144-7269-9 1. eBay (Firm) 2. Internet auctions. I. Title. HF5478.S473 2004 658.8’7 dc22 2004024907 CIP © 2005 Joseph T. Sinclair. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Printing number 10987654321 Special discounts on bulk quantities of AMACOM books are avail- able to corporations, professional associations, and other organiza- tions. For details, contact Special Sales Department, AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Tel.: 212-903-8316. Fax: 212-903-8083. Web site: www.amacombooks.org To my extraordinarily talented friends and colleagues, who were mem- bers of the North Bay Multimedia Association of the San Francisco Bay Area, including Lee Callister, Mike Campos, Steve Kirk, Ann Smulka, Michael Wanger, Joe Zizzi, Sharon Rockey, Steven Gilman, Sherry Miller, Ken Milburn, Bob Dougerty, Ross Millerick, Janine Warner, Jeff Schriebman, Bruce Ford, Luong Tam, Roy Nolan, Arleta Quesada, Ron Pellegrino, Terry McNally, Bruce Ford, Melinda Bell, Don Means, and Bob Charlton This page intentionally left blank VII Contents Acknowledgments xv I. Introduction to eBay Marketing Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. Introduction 3 eBay Plus 4 Conclusion 12 2. The New Datafeed Marketplaces 15 How It Works 16 Froogle and Yahoo 16 Other Marketplaces 18 II. The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 VIII CONTENTS 3. Customer Service 23 What Is Customer Service? 24 Personal Touch 25 Cost-Effectiveness Review 25 4. Copy Writing 27 Guidelines 28 Cost-Effectiveness Review 35 5. Writing Titles 37 Writing to Be Found 38 Cost-Effectiveness Review 41 6. Advanced Photography Techniques 43 Why Good Photographs? 44 Cameras 45 Better Photographs 46 Efficient Workflow 53 Cost-Effectiveness Review 57 III. Beyond the Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 7. Data, the Key to Business Success 61 Data Basics 64 Catalogs 68 What Database? 73 Cost-Effectiveness Review 74 8. eBay Auctions and Stores 75 eBay Auctions 75 eBay Stores 77 CONTENTS IX The Datafeed Duo 78 An eBay Store as Your Website 78 Cost-Effectiveness Review 80 9. Creating Froogle Ads 83 Details 86 Results 89 Cost-Effectiveness Review 90 10. Creating Yahoo Ads 93 Details 94 Cost-Effectiveness Review 95 11. Creating Ads for Other Marketplaces 97 Example Marketplaces 99 Cost-Effectiveness Review 99 IV. Making It All Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 12. Auction Management Services 103 Datafeed Devices 105 What Are They Doing Now? 107 Cost-Effectiveness Review 107 13. eCommerce Software 109 Independent Websites 111 Cost-Effectiveness Review 112 14. Developing a Datafeed Strategy 113 Datafeed Party 113 Benefits and Burdens 115 Cost-Effectiveness Review 116 [...]... individually Most eBay retail sellers use auction-management software, such as eBay s Turbo Lister or Andale’s Lister Pro, to store their listing data It is the software which submits the data to eBay to create the auction ads (fills up the auctionad webpage templates) As a result, even though eBay has the data, the 6 BUILDING YOUR EBAY TRAFFIC THE SMART WAY individual eBay retailers retain the data too The data... substantial eBay retail business part-time 3 Know all the basic facts of eBay retail life, including: bidding, selling (auctioning), paying and receiving payment, shipping, digital photography, the feedback system, and the like 4 Have found your eBay retail niche and are selling well 3 4 BUILDING YOUR EBAY TRAFFIC THE SMART WAY 5 Want to increase your eBay sales volume What Increase? One way to increase your. .. eBay retail business) but one with a limited amount of money There are only so many hours in the day So, the question becomes the same as the question for money, Which means 8 BUILDING YOUR EBAY TRAFFIC THE SMART WAY of marketing are the most cost-effective? In other words, How do I get the most for my time? Note that based on the discussion above, this book’s definition of costeffective includes the. .. with the software they use such as Turbo Lister or Lister Pro In fact, many eBay retailers sell the same products over and over again and reuse their auction ads Because eBay retailers retain the data for their auction ads, the question becomes, Where else can I use this data to sell products other than eBay and eBay Stores? The answer to that question is simply that there are other marketplaces on the. .. is the name of the game, eBay actually lets you beat the 50-percent rule Why? Because eBay does your marketing for you It’s eBay s marketing and eBay s brand that bring buyers to the eBay auctions and to eBay Stores All you have to do is become an eBay seller and pay the modest eBay fees to take part in this huge and amazing new marketplace eBay Plus This book assumes that you know that eBay is a great... combination of eBay, eBay Stores, and Froogle is an extraordinary combination marketplace that you should not overlook The Box Is Bigger Than We Thought Is it really thinking out of the box to consider ways to sell your eBay retail products online other than through eBay? Probably not, primarily because there’s a new box The new box is the datafeed marketplace, and eBay is right in the middle of what’s... When the additional marketplace is Froogle (free at the time this book went to press), you can potentially increase your sales by a huge amount with nominal effort and expense What a deal! 15 16 BUILDING YOUR EBAY TRAFFIC THE SMART WAY This is something you can’t afford to overlook if you’re serious about your eBay retail business Consequently, this book thoroughly covers this aspect of building your. .. Look! I don’t have eBay stock I’m not employed by eBay And I’m not beholden to eBay in any way I just tell it like I see it And what I see is 10 BUILDING YOUR EBAY TRAFFIC THE SMART WAY a new way to rev up your eBay business outside of eBay a cost-effective new way eBay has gone through a significant evolution in its short ten years of life It started in 1995 as a collectibles marketplace operating during... evaluate your various marketing programs By the Way As many people have said, success is measured in how many failures you experience before you finally succeed So don’t be dis- 12 BUILDING YOUR EBAY TRAFFIC THE SMART WAY couraged by a failed marketing effort Try and try again You will become the marketing expert in your niche In Chapter 26, this book introduces analytic techniques you can use to analyze your. .. means of marketing on the Web to determine how cost-effective they really are So, the emphasis of this book is on saving your time and your money Collectibles In ten years collectibles went from 95 percent of eBay sales to less than 6 percent of eBay sales Today, however, there is another transformation going on eBay is becoming the cornerstone of ecommerce Rather than just another market locale in . TLFeBOOK Building Your eBay Traffic the Smart Way Other Books by Joseph T. Sinclair eBay the Smart Way eBay Business the Smart Way eBay Motors the Smart Way eBay Global the Smart Way eBay Photography. Way eBay Photography the Smart Way Building Your eBay Traffic the Smart Way Use Froogle, Datafeeds, Cross-Selling, Advanced Listing Strategies, and More to Boost Your Sales on the Web’s #1 Auction. required, the services of a competent pro- fessional person should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sinclair, Joseph T. Building your eBay traffic the smart way : use