5 Market Research Tools for EBay Sellers

Market research provides important data to anyone who sells goods online. And it can help eBay sellers determine what products will have the most likely chance of selling at the best price during any period of time.

The following five market research tools offer different reports and use different algorithms to sift through eBay data to provide the details eBay sellers need to improve the likelihood of selling on eBay. As an added bonus, many eBay tool providers offer a free trial; you can try the service and see results before making a financial investment.

Full Story: 5 Market Research Tools for EBay Sellers
By Vangie Beal, January 5, 2011

 

All Things Bonanzle: An Interview with CEO Bill Harding

Bonanzle CEO, Bill Harding talks about recent developments at the Bonanzle marketplace and what the company’s future plans hold for its online buyers and sellers.

As Bonanzle continues to move forward, Harding said that the plan is to keep the same momentum and core values that the marketplace was initially built upon.  In the coming year Bonanzle sellers can expect to see continued platform developments and lots of new features, big and small, added on a frequent basis.

In terms of further fueling growth and revenues for the company, Harding said that the company realizes that it has sellers covered, but more work is needed in terms of buyers.  To extend its reach, the company is turning attention to goals that will improve sales for sellers in the coming year.

A new focus will be put on increasing sales and seller growth by fifty percent — allowing more online sellers to use fewer selling channels and earn better profits just from the Bonanzle marketplace.  While remaining tight-lipped on specific details to increase sales of those who are already successfully selling on Bonanzle,  Harding suggested that Bonanzle could increase seller profits while ensuring it wouldn’t cost those sellers an ‘arm and a leg’  to sell online.

Read the Full “All Things Bonanzle” Interview on EcommerceGuide.com
By Vangie Beal, July 7, 2010

Building an Online Store with CoreCommerce

In this review we look at how to use CoreCommerce, an all-in-one online hosted ecommerce platform to build an online store that offers mobile and social commerce options.

CoreCommerce 7.9 is an all-in-one online hosted ecommerce platform by provider Sum Effect Software.  This platform offers everything a merchant needs to launch an online store,  including design tools to build the webshop, secure ecommerce web hosting, the shopping cart and invoice system, plus a nice selection of online marketing tools.

One thing we like about CoreCommerce is its pricing structure. Many hosted online store providers charge a monthly subscription plan in addition to a per-transaction fee when you sell from your webshop.  CoreCommerce offers six different monthly fee-based plans with no extra transaction fees charged.

Building an Online Store with CoreCommerce
By Vangie Beal, May 13, 2010

Small Business Tips: Selling Digital Goods Online

Selling digital goods online is a great, low-cost business for any entrepreneur who creates non-tangible products. We offer five tips to help you choose the right delivery service provider.

Selling digital goods online can be a good small business for any entrepreneur who authors these types of products, as this type of small business has little upfront costs to start — with the exception of having your own Web site.

For the ecommerce aspect of the small business, you will need a digital goods delivery system to handle the sale and downloading of the product. When you use an online service provider for the transaction, you’re responsible for creating or providing the digital product, uploading the files to the online service, and providing contact and payment details in addition to writing descriptions of each item.

While there are a number of digital good service providers online, not all offer the same features; but there are some key things you should look for. Here are five tips to help budding entrepreneurs choose the right digital delivery provider for their small business.

Small Business Tips: Selling Digital Goods Online
By Vangie Beal, April 28, 2010

Need an eBay Alternative? Try This List.

Our alternative to eBay guide offers details on 14 online marketplaces — most designed for casual and part-time sellers.

When it comes to online selling, there is no denying that the industry giants, like eBay and Amazon are top notch.  Everyone knows that it’s hard to beat eBay in terms of traffic, but many online sellers do look elsewhere — especially individuals and part-time sellers who use this as a way to boost an existing income.

This eBay alternatives list looks at 14 of the online marketplaces we’ve covered in the Ecommerce-Guide.com weekly online selling column over the years.

Need an eBay Alternative? Try This List.
By Vangie Beal, February 17, 2010

Five Auction Tools for eBay Sellers

EBay sellers can choose from countless auction listing helpers and tools to boost their eBay item listings and sales. From offering a 360 degree product view for potential bidders to see your items in a whole new way—to widgets that let you check your listings from your iPhone, you can use these five tools to help you grow your eBay business, without breaking your wallet in the process.

Five Auction Tools for eBay Sellers
Published on HubPages, By E-commerce Girl

Ebay Watch: New IMshopping Widget for Sellers

IMshopping offers eBay sellers human-powered assistance to answer your buyer’s burning questions.

IMshopping, a human-assisted shopping assistance platform has recently announced an eBay-certified Merchant Answers service to all eBay sellers. The new widget provides merchants with a new channel from which they can create a community and offer shopping assistance.

When people browse an eBay listing, there is a quick link to “Ask Seller a Question.”  Potential buyers can ask for details on the product, shipping, payment and returns, or they can choose other. When a seller integrates the IMshopping Merchant Answers platform product questions are answered by the service.

Ebay Watch: New IMshopping Widget for Sellers
By Vangie Beal, December 17, 2009

Zatista Offers Online Venue to Sell Original Artwork

Zatista, a new site for selling original artwork, offers lots of incentives for buyer and flat commissions for artists.

With a goal of connecting buyers with high-quality, original art, Zatista works with individual artists to provide a venue from which the artists can build their own online presence and reach a global marketplace of buyers. Unlike eBay and some other online auction sites, Zatista is a more like an online gallery where buyers can browse art and read artist profiles to find the right piece.

There are no auctions on Zatista, only prices that have been set by the artists. Zatista was first launched in beta last May, and it opened to the public in October. The site currently showcases more than 3,000 distinctive works created by emerging and established artists from more than 17 different countries.

Zatista Offers Online Venue to Sell Original Artwork
By Vangie Beal, November 18, 2009

Publish eBay Listings on Social Sites with Page Mage

Page Mage, an eBay Compatible Application, which launched in beta last August, has recently upgraded its service to include social networking features for eBay sellers, along with a new pricing structure.

Using Page Mage, you can improve your eBay selling page by listing items in a more interactive and engaging way. For example, you can embed video, show eBay image galleries, or add scrolling text to any eBay auction or fixed-price item listing when you use the Page Mage service.

Chris Taylor, vice president of marketing, said that the newly added social features are designed to help sellers reach out to friends and their network of friends on some of the more popular social media sites.

Page Mage: Publish eBay Listings on Social Sites
By Vangie Beal, October 14, 2009

EBay Adds Top-Rated Badges, Ups Buy-It-Now Conditions

This week eBay rolls out the new Top-rated Seller program, retires some listing features, and also adjusts “Buy it Now”. Plus, Vendio helps sellers easily change policies across all live listings.

This month, when top-rated rolled out, a number of sellers who met the requirements were not invited to the program because they were not PowerSellers. Information provided by eBay in a previous announcement indicated that qualifying sellers who were not PowerSellers would not receive an invite to top-rated until April of next year. Being excluded from the top-rated seller program right before the rush of holiday sales was the biggest issue for sellers.

The topic had many sellers upset and frustrated, however Brian Burke from the Seller Standards Team used the official discussion forum to tell sellers that if they qualify for top-rated now—including those who do not have PowerSeller status but meet $3,000 U.S. sales per year— they would receive invites for the PowerSeller program the week of October 11th. This will make those sellers eligible for top-rated status around October 20th.

While the official clarification helped, some smaller sellers posting to the discussion forum believe that top-rated will continue to hurt their eBay business by making their listings near-impossible to find and less appealing to buyers in eBay search results.

EBay Adds Top-Rated Badges, Ups Buy-It-Now Conditions
By Vangie Beal, October 7, 2009