Will The Swine Flu Jumpstart Online Sales?

The Online Seller's News, November, 2009, Volume 9, No. 17

Tips, Tools, News and Resources for eBay, Amazon and independent Online Sellers
by: Skip McGrath

In This Issue:

Musings from eBay and beyond

1. Will The Swine Flu Jumpstart Online Sales?
2. Learn Internet Marketing From The Oldest and Largest Online Training Company - now at a new low price
3. Announcing the Online Business Brigade Radio Show
4. The Importance of Little Things
5. Niche of the Month: Used and Vintage Western Clothing and Accessories
6. eBay Wholesale Sources for November 2009

"Failure is success if we learn from it." ~ Malcolm Forbes

Musings for November 2009

A couple of months ago I told you about the free Wholesale Sourcing Information, available from Global Sources. That post generated a ton of positive email from readers who really found the free wholesale sourcing magazines valuable. Here is the link again where you can download your free wholesale sourcing magazine.  These are great resources.

In the last issue I told you about the daily deals available from Woot and Stootsi. This week Woot announced a new site called Deals.Woot. com. The new site will be a place where Woot aggregates deals from other sellers and where sellers can submit deals to Woot. So for example if you bought an item that turned out not to be profitable on eBay, you could use Deals.Woot to sell the item to recover your costs and get your money working again instead of having it tied up in unproductive inventory. The site will open soon. You can follow it on the Woot Twitter Site.

AuctionBytes just released part III of their survey of eBay sellers. It shows, among other things that 55% of sellers expect this holiday season (November/December) to realize slower sales than the same period last year. Read the complete survey here.

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1. Will The Swine Flu Jumpstart Online Sales?

So far the swine flu (H1N1 for the politically correct) has not kept up with the fears.  The virus is spreading about the rate of any other flu and the death rate has been lower than most flu strains. About ½ of the people surveyed say they will not get the vaccine. I usually get a flu shot and already got my seasonal shot a few weeks ago. And I will probably get a swine flu shot this year when they are available at our local Safeway. I could get one today from the county health office, but the lines are long with waits up to 3 hours.

Whether the swine flu becomes epidemic is yet to be seen. Typically these types of flues peak in November –but the swine flu scare is already becoming epidemic and people are changing their behavior. I spoke with a large investor analyst who follows retail stocks. He said,  “Swine flu concerns coupled with falling consumer confidence should impact retail sales this season as more people become afraid to go out where large crowds gather like shopping malls and department stores.”  Theoretically this type of behavior should help online sales.  Although eBay seems to still be struggling, Amazon is showing amazing strength.  Their income was up 62% over the same quarter last year and they are forecasting a strong holiday sales season.

There is no doubt in my mind that our sales this year will be lower than last year. There are about 6 million people either out of work or working part-time because they can’t find a full-time job. Added to this is the fact than Americans are lowering their debt and increasing savings. According to the Federal Reserve, the savings rate in the US just reached 6% versus less than 1% last year. On one hand that means there is a lot of money sitting on the sidelines that could be invested or spent –on the other hand the savings rate is still increasing so you can’t be sure that people will spend their money this year.

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2. Learn Internet Marketing From The Oldest and Largest Online Training Company - now at a new low price.

I started on eBay in 1999. By late 2000 our eBay business was profitable and growing and I decided to expand onto the greater web. The problem was I knew virtually nothing about the internet. My son knew how to set up a basic website and he did that for me. But I quickly learned that I had a lot to learn. While searching around I discovered The Internet Marketing Center.  At that time they offered a course called "The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" system.  This is the course I used to learn internet marketing.

IMC has been selling the same course for over ten years and they update it every year. They have just released their latest update and in line with today’s economy, they have lowered the price by $60 for the first time ever.

IMC is the oldest and largest internet training company and the only one I recommend. This is easily the most complete course you will find anywhere and it has been used by thousands of people with a lot of success stories.  Lest you think this is a small fly-by-night company, they’re not. I have visited their offices. They have over 50 employees and millions of dollars invested in their business. And everything they sell comes with a money-back guarantee.

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3. Announcing The Online Business Brigade Radio Show

You may have heard that eBay Radio is leaving WS Radio and going in-house. Starting in a few weeks, eBay Radio will only be available on the eBay site once you have logged in. In a recent show, Uncle Griff said they were making the move because eBay wants to be able to track the traffic and see if sellers are getting any benefit from the show. Also hosting the show within eBay will give them more control over content and advertisers.

Shortly after the news broke, I was contacted by WS Radio to determine if I would like to host a show. The new program series replacing eBay Radio is called The Online Seller’s Network and I will present a 15 minute segment each week.

The advantage of the new network positioning is that we are not limited to eBay. I will of course often talk about eBay tips, tools and techniques but we will also cover other online business topics such as dropshipping, blogging, social media marketing, websites and even selling on Amazon.

My show will be billed as the Online Business Brigade and the purpose will be to help build a fleet of trained online sellers.

Other hosts will include Ina Steiner who will lead off each hour with a roundup of online business news and Martin Wales - The Customer Catcher Insider, who will take you behind the scenes to reveal the secrets of online superstars.

The show will premiere on Wednesday, November 11^th at 10:00 AM Pacific (2:00 PM EST).

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4. The Importance of Little Things

I occasionally get requests from my book buyers to take a look at their auctions and give them some tips. This is also something we do with our coaching clients. We review their listings to find ways they can improve them.  Sometimes the changes we recommend are pretty big –but a lot of times we look at listings that are really quite good –it’s just that they are missing a few little things.  Here are some of the things I spotted just this week when looking at client listings:

• A lot of sellers use the scrolling gallery feature from Vendio or Auctiva.  This is a great feature, but unfortunately Auctiva defaults to placing the gallery at the top of your item description. Always place your scrolling gallery at the bottom of your listing so it doesn’t detract from what you are selling.
• Most auction services and TurboLister offer templates. Try to pick a template that relates to your business and pick a template where the photos are on the right or the left rather than top of bottom.  This way the potential buyer can see your photos as they scroll through your descriptions. I have test this versus photos on top and bottom and the sell through rate is about 15% higher.
• All Caps in titles are somewhat controversial as some people think this is “shouting” in internet parlance. Well that may be true, but I have tested this extensively and shouting works. All caps titles tend to garner about 20% more hits than all lower case titles.
• Don’t forget to leave some white space. Do you notice how this newsletter is composed mostly of short paragraphs? This makes it easier to read online. When people read on a computer screen they are looking for short chunks of text. Help them find them and they will keep reading. If you write long paragraphs you will lose them.
• eBay gives you a box to enter your return and shipping policies, but it is always better to put them right at the bottom of your description. I almost never hit the bid or buy button on eBay without first seeing the shipping method, time and cost and the seller’s return policy

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5. Niche of the Month: Used and Vintage Western Clothing and Accessories

When I was invited to speak at the eBay users group in Dallas a couple of years ago, the organizers of the event invited me to dinner the night before. I was seated next to a lady and we started chatting about what we sell on eBay. She told me that she sold used Western accessories such as cowboy boots, belt buckles, Western shirts and other accessories. I asked how well she did and she told me she was a Gold PowerSeller. That got my attention. I had no idea you could sell over $10,000 a month worth of used cowboy boots and belt buckles on eBay .

Now this niche might not work for everyone. See, she is in Dallas and most of her customers turn out to be from places like New York City. If you live in New York, Ohio or Michigan there probably isn’t much of a supply of Western goods. But if you live in the west somewhere where these things are popular then you can find them at thrift shops, flea markets, swap meets and garage sales. A belt buckle bought at a garage sale for $1.00 can bring $20 or more on eBay. A pair of used cowboy boots found at a flea market for $5.00 can sell to a lady in New York –or even Tokyo for $75 to $100. A few years ago I dug an old pair of Cowboy boots out of the back of my closet. They were all dusty so I cleaned them up and took a couple of photos.  I had only worn them a few times so they were in great condition even though they were over 15 years old. I  put them on eBay thinking I might get ten or twenty bucks and was blown away when they sold of close to $100.  The buyer? Some guy from Poland with a name I couldn’t even spell.

This is just a sampling of the things I found using eBay’s completed listing search. There are lots of other cowboy items in many different categories.  So if you live out west  --or even if you live in the big city and see a cowboy hat or a pair of boots in a thrift shop, round em up, shoot em and list em on eBay Cowboy.

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6. eBay Wholesale Sources for November 2009

If you want to sell Western items and can’t find used one, then Jedco leather sells a lot more than just leather. Jedco sells a wide range of really beautiful-hand crafted western accessories. One of their products is custom made belts. This is a great item to offer on eBay. You sell the belt, place the order with Jedco and they ship it right to your customer. Just make sure the buyer knows that because its custom made it will take a few days to ship.

Simple Products Corp  specializes in the manufacture and distribution of inventive and quality products. We offer many services including Private Label for Retail, Customized Products in small quantities, Manufacturing and Sourcing services overseas as well as domestic, and distribution/marketing services to all major channels throughout North America. 

American Merchandise Liquidators  sells Top Brand Names at Below Wholesale Prices. Closeouts, Overstocks, Customer Returns, and More. They sell to Off Price Buyers: i.e., Closeout Sellers, Brokers, Flea Market Vendors, Auctioneers, eBay Sellers, Wholesalers, Retailers and more.

If you live in the Mid West, Transworld Merchandise Center is located about 1 mile from Chicago O’Hare Airport.  They have thousands of brand name wholesale products in stock. They have also just launched online wholesale auctions that you can bid on if you can’t get to Chicago.  They only auction off a few things at a time, but if you check them every few days you will get a look at a wide variety of goods.

Danvar Entertainment Ltd. Is a distributor of music and DVDs, blank media, cases, headphones, and action figures.

Chef Craft is a large importer of kitchen tools, gadget and houseware. They distribute high quality kitchen tools, gadgets and houseware with introductory pricing! Products include; can openers, cutting boards, BBQ tools, cleaning supplies, knives, spatulas, scissors, measuring cups and much more.

Dakota Steel Art is a manufacturer & distributor of Stainless Steel Wind Spinners. Over 300 Colors, Shapes & Sizes to choose from. Lifetime Warranty against rusting. Made in the USA. Order by Noon Ship Same Day! Drop shipping available. Sign up for Wholesale info or call today

Hayes Specialties - Toys & Novelties has a great selection of wholesale toys & novelties. Battery operated toys, RC helicopters, stuffed animals, light up toys & more. Direct importer of fast selling impulse items perfect for your store. Register today and check out their specials.

Point Act is an online Wholesale Distributor of Airsoft Guns and Toys! They offer a large selection and competitive wholesale prices.

Skip McGrath
The eBay Seller's News

P.S. If you missed the last issue, click here to read it.

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