For new newsgroup readers, these are not our forum posts. Any comments to the posters below should be made on the applicable thread, marked in bold below.
FYI apologist itspostingtime posts spin and damage control for eBay ...
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From eBay Stores Forum
July Brown Bag Lunch on 7/31 @12noon PT
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000406402&tstart=0&mod=1185914136596
[email protected] Jul-24-07 10:23 PDT
Host: eBay Stores Staff
Date: Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
Time: 12-1:30PM PT
Location: Stores Discussion Board
Hello,
Please join us for our monthly discussion on the eBay Stores board.
We look forward to your participation and will attempt to answer all of your eBay Stores questions as quickly as possible. Based on your questions, we'll also offer tips to ensure that you're using Stores to maximize your business.
We are committed to answering your questions as quickly as possible. In order to accomplish this equitably, we ask for your cooperation -- please limit your questions to two (2) per user.
We look forward to seeing you here at 12 noon PT on Tuesday, 7/31.
Sincerely, eBay Stores Team
Previous 1 | 2 Next See last post
45 replies Date posted Reply #
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:00 PDT 1 of 45
Hello,
Thank you for joining our July Brown Bag Lunch discussion. This is your opportunity to ask questions, and post your comments about Stores.
We're committed to answering all of your questions as quickly as possible. In order to accomplish this equitably, we ask for your cooperation -- please limit your questions to 2 per user.
All questions posted prior to 1:00 PDT will be addressed by one of the staff. Our responses to questions near the 1:30 mark will appear after the thread has been locked.
If this is your first time using the discussion boards, please see the following tutorial on how to post messages and view updates. http://forums.ebay.com/thread.jspa?threadID=200066500&tstart=0
We will be joined today by the regular members from the eBay Stores Product and Marketing Teams.
We will be unlocking the thread shortly; we look forward to speaking with you!
Regards, eBay Stores Team
golfingaddict (11495 ) Jul-31-07 12:02 PDT 2 of 45
Thank you for adding a stores link at the header (BRAVO)
However, I feel that the search at that page is not always intuitive. The search on the left hand side defaults to "search by store name" which really doesn't give the potential buyer much information. I don't think buyers think to search by store name.
Would it be possible to change that default to Search by Item?
Thank you.
golfingaddict (11495 ) Jul-31-07 12:04 PDT 3 of 45
To go along with that question, I like the new store hub, but I also would like to see more emphasis on BUYERS to that page, rather than sellers.
The large picture of the Woman that shows now includes links on how to sell in stores. I would really like to see that changed to how to BUY in stores, particularly now that the link is in the header.
A link to selling on stores and marketing and branding is important, I just don't think it should be front and center.
Thank you.
itspostingtime (2 ) 
Jul-31-07 12:05 PDT 4 of 45
ebay is making many changes. Are any of those changes designed to SPECIFICALLY benefit store owners who want to list exclusively in store format and who do not want to list anything in core?
To be clear: I realize that store owners CAN list that way now,but my question is: do any of the changes take into account the different needs of a store/core listing model and a store only listing model?
I find more products than glitches
golfingaddict (11495 ) Jul-31-07 12:06 PDT 5 of 45
I'm not sure those two counted as "questions" but I have one more comment.
I'd like to be able to advertise my store on that page. I understand that you have some formula as to when a store would show up there, but I would like to see you feature stores that are doing well, or that would like to advertise there. Please consider doing some contests to have your store featured there or perhaps some sort of advertising (By level) so that we can get our store listed there.
Thank you.
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:06 PDT 6 of 45
Dear golfingaddict (re: 2),
Hi. We like that idea, too, and are looking into possible timing for making that happen. We'll let you know.
Thanks.
Gene
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:11 PDT 7 of 45
golfingaddict (re: #3),
Thanks for joining us today and for providing your feedback.
There are several versions of the Stores hub – 2 buyer versions (male, female), 2 seller versions (existing, potential Store owner) and a generic version. The buyer versions include a promotion about why to shop eBay Stores -- that landing page (http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/shop.html) then outlines how to shop with Stores, but I like your suggestion of making info on how to Shop more prominent.
Thanks,
Darlene
itspostingtime (2 ) Jul-31-07 12:14 PDT 8 of 45
perhaps I should be even more clear. I believe that the MAXIMUM value for a store owner is confined to certain types of products, what I call an "ipod store" (since Meg usually uses ipod sellers as her example of an ebay store.
That is: a store that sells fast turnover core items (like ipods) with store inventory consisting of items with such a very close relationship to the core item (ipod accessories)that a buyer is likely to buy a core item and store items at the same time, thus ensuring fast turnover even of the store items. In addition, such a seller gains the enormous benefit of eBay's listing policy which allows store sellers to list multiple identical items in one listing at one price.
To me, that's the "ideal" type of store.
But many of us do not sell that type of merchandise. Now, I'm not saying there are no other benefits to having a store: the ability to brand, custom pages, newsletters....there are many good things about stores.
But it does not seem to me that ebay has really distinguished very much between the "ipod" type store and the other type of store.
Many sellers want to use their stores to sell admittedly slower turnover items, and they don't even want to use core. Is ebay planning anything to SPECIFICALLY benefit such stores, which obviously have somewhat different needs?
I find more products than glitches
gluegal1 (66 ) Jul-31-07 12:14 PDT 9 of 45
I know this isn't a Stores question, but am hoping that you'll pass along to whatever department is responsible for this -
the change that has taken place on the counters within our listings is very disturbing. eBay pages are "junked up" enough - if I WANTED Experian advertising within my listing, I'd put it there myself!
Secondly - again, I know this isn't under Stores jurisdiction, but....
The recent problems with the SYI form were incredibly frustrating. Whenever I had to edit an item, the form lost my combined shipping information. Fortunately, someone on a discussion in a private group posted how to work around this, else I'd have torn my hair out. As it was, it took twice as long to relist or edit any listing because of the glitch. It took over 2 weeks to get this problem fixed, and I noticed yesterday it is still happening intermittently.
And yes, I spoke to Live Help numerous times about the SYI problem; half the time the person wasn't aware of it, the other times I got the "we're working on it" response. If eBay wants people to list more, they have to make sure their tools work correctly!
Sue
gluegal1 (66 ) Jul-31-07 12:18 PDT 10 of 45
P.S. - I do find it fascinating that Paypal partners with Equifax, but eBay has Experian advertising in its counters. Kind-of funny!
chopsueysisters (2117 ) Jul-31-07 12:18 PDT 11 of 45
I'm only here for a few minutes but here is my questions I wrote out the other day. Will come back this afternoon and read up. Also stores team I wrote to you about the custom pages, no one replied back to me. I'm not getting support from customer service so can u please let me know can u help me troubleshoot it?
I would like to know if the scrolling image banner we can use in our stores can be looked at as far as compression so it loads fast. I heard from some other people that they back out of it because it takes too long to load. Would like to know if its something that can be done to the code because I thought once ebay pulled it in they compressed the images.
I would like to know if the scrolling image banner we can use in our stores can be looked at as far as compression so it loads fast. I heard from some other people that they back out of it because it takes too long to load. Would like to know if its something that can be done to the code because I thought once ebay pulled it in they compressed the images.
It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood
I have superpowers!
.
chopsueysisters (2117 ) Jul-31-07 12:19 PDT 12 of 45
2nd question!
I'd like to know if we can have more presence with the stores marketing team. Fall and even Christmas will hit us very fast and some of us plan to get much more products than before. I asked many months ago about having a stores marketing person help advise & brainstorm with us on ways to help tap into stores exposure during those peak points. Y'all didn't listen to me so I want you to listen this time because last year for back to school you guys were marketing victoria's secret undies. What kind of kid needs a thong? I think it would be a win-win if we give some promos regarding back to school savings on used clothing or other items. People will be hunting for bargains. Maybe even a promo that lets power buyers for school go through the "best offer" features in stores?
Funny huh? But true! No thongs!
Bye Boardies!!
It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood
I have superpowers!
.
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:22 PDT 13 of 45
golfingaddict:
In response to your post #5. We think your ideas about different means of advertising on the Stores Hub are very interesting to us. We are currently evaluating how we can make the Stores Hub better and this feedback is very valuable. Please feel free to post more of your ideas of how we can make the Stores Hub work for you and create greater buyer engagement. Thanks for your ideas.
Thanks,
Raj
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:24 PDT 14 of 45
itspostingtime (re: #4 and #8),
As you note, a lot of the changes on the site are meant to drive buyer excitement across Auction-style listings (e.g. Bid Assistant http://pages.ebay.com/bidassistant/) but we are also working on improvements for fixed price as well. For example, we are looking at providing more tools to help you promote your Fixed Price and Store Inventory listings and storefronts (e.g. more functionality for Markdown Manager, Stores To Go http://pages.ebay.com/storestogo/, etc.) and working with the Finding team to improve the way buyers search for items across all formats. I don’t have anything to announce today, but we are working on this area.
Regarding your question in post #8 about doing anything to specifically benefit sellers want to use their stores to sell slower turnover items, I want to point out that the pricing structure for Store Inventory is set up for this exact need (e.g. low insertion fees which make it more of a pay-for-performance model). Other than altering the fee structure even more, I would like to better understand from you what could help you be more effective at selling slower moving inventory. Please post any thoughts.
Regards,
Darlene
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:29 PDT 15 of 45
Dear chopsueysisters (re: 11),
Hi there.
1) I had forwarded your question and will ask someone to follow up with you directly on the custom page issue.
2) Just to confirm, are you referring to the slideshow-style promotion box? If so, we can definitely ask our engineering team to take a look at it.
Thanks. Mew.
Gene
golfingaddict (11495 ) Jul-31-07 12:34 PDT 16 of 45
I've been asking for this for years, but I thought I would throw it out here again today.
I'd really like to offer buyer/seller specific coupons to reward frequent buyers. (my buyers) While I like Markdown Manager, that is a generic sale that is offered to everyone.
I'd like to be able to offer coupons that could be used for things like Free shipping or a 10% discount to specific buyers and they could use it on store listings.
Is this something that the stores team could work on please?
And/or could the stores team think of a way for us to offer markdown manager functions that would work only for repeat buyers. For example, I could set up a sale for "former customers" and that sale would only show if you have purchased from me in the past.
(fantasy maybe, but I have faith that the wiz kids could figure out a way to write a program that would work this way)
Thank you.
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:34 PDT 17 of 45
chopsueysisters (re: 12),
Glad you could make it today. I love your suggestion and will commit to you right now that the Stores marketing team will host a workshop to discuss tips for effective marketing during the holidays. We’ll post more information to the boards as we get closer to the date.
Regards,
Darlene
golfingaddict (11495 ) Jul-31-07 12:34 PDT 18 of 45
And now I am sure I used up my two posts ;)
chopsueysisters (2117 ) Jul-31-07 12:34 PDT 19 of 45
Gene, yes, #2 is that slideshow box, its on my store homepage and i use it ALOT, a whole lot and I LOVE IT. And other people do too! But load time & compression that is super important too, more important than having the slideshow if it causes buyers with older machines to go away 
OK, now I'm going, I won't be late as long as I don't use my brakes!
It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood
I have superpowers!
.
.
.
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:35 PDT 20 of 45
gluegal1 (re #9),
Thank you for your comments regarding the Experian advertising on your listing. I know that the team responsible for this promotion is monitoring the boards and has heard the community’s reaction to this placement. I will also send the team a note reiterating your concerns with the program.
Secondly, I am sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with SYI, I will let the SYI team know about your issue with the product as well as with Live Help.
Regards,
Brian
grandmabenny (17 ) Jul-31-07 12:37 PDT 21 of 45
Where do most of the successful store owners get their inventory?
grandmabenny
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:39 PDT 22 of 45
Dear golfingaddict, (re: 16)
Hi. We are very interested in finding ways to help Store sellers drive more frequent purchases from their buyers.
Those are both good ideas. We've spent more time looking at the couponing issue, and I'm hopeful we're going to find a way to get that done. I like the Markdown Manager suggestion, and I'll forward that to the person thinking about updates to that feature.
Thanks. Keep 'em coming.
Gene
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:41 PDT 23 of 45
Dear chopsueysisters, (re: 19)
Thanks for verifying. Glad you like it; we definitely want it to work broadly for buyers. I'll ask our engineering team to take a look at the issue.
Be safe. Wear a helmet. 
Gene
itspostingtime (2 ) Jul-31-07 12:45 PDT 24 of 45
Thanks for the response Darlene. You say:
Regarding your question in post #8 about doing anything to specifically benefit sellers want to use their stores to sell slower turnover items, I want to point out that the pricing structure for Store Inventory is set up for this exact need (e.g. low insertion fees which make it more of a pay-for-performance model). Other than altering the fee structure even more, I would like to better understand from you what could help you be more effective at selling slower moving inventory. Please post any thoughts.
I will probably be flamed for this, but I'm not sure I'd be in favor of a substantial insertion fee reduction for stores, as I think that there must be some sort of bar, otherwise I fear the stores will be awash in items that have virtually no chance of ever selling. Perhaps free gallery for store format listings instead? That would not do much to increase the no-turnover items, but would reduce the number of store listings with the little camera logo where the gallery pic really should be....I suspect store sales would improve if ALL store sellers used gallery ALL the time.
The thing is, I think insertion fees effect listing numbers more than they do sell through...low insertion fees increase listings, but buyers don't care about low insertion fees, so I don't think sell-through is much effected.
I only asked the question because I was curious as to whether you guys had anything specific in mind. Sad to say, I don't have any specific ideas. Maybe a workshop to help sellers understand the challenges they face if they sell primarily slow turnover items rather than , say, a mix of slow and fast?
I find more products than glitches
owen*and*emma (3901 ) Jul-31-07 12:47 PDT 25 of 45
eBay stores are a bit behind the times with their inability to offer the customer the ability to choose color, size, (and perhaps personalization) when they checkout.
Every other mainstream website on the planet allows their buyers this easy shopping experience, yet eBay seems to make buyers jump through hoops to find the correct size, color.
Any chance of you hooking up with the Policy team to re-work this archaic policy?
~Ann~
itspostingtime (2 ) Jul-31-07 12:48 PDT 26 of 45
BTW, I do want to lend my support to the coupon idea and the markdown for selected customers idea. And, while it isn't exclusively a stores idea, I'd also like to see something in MyeBay that flags repeat customers, so that I know they've bought from me before. perhaps you could pass that on to the appropriate team?
I find more products than glitches
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:48 PDT 27 of 45
Hi grandmabenny (re #21),
Successful Store sellers have multiple inventory sourcing strategies. Here's a workshop from June that highlights seven essential elements of successful sourcing: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000503163&ov=002NY.
Seller Central also has additional recommendations for sourcing here: http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/techniques.html#invsou
Thanks and here's to your future success!
Brian
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:51 PDT 28 of 45
Dear owen*and*emma (re: 25),
Hi. The short answer is yes; we're exploring a number of different solutions to that issue. But we get that we need to make it easier for folks to sell those sorts of items on the site.
Thanks.
Gene
itspostingtime (2 ) Jul-31-07 12:55 PDT 29 of 45
Do you know how store merchandise will be effected by the new finding system? Will the Rule of 30 be retained, along with the Stores in BIN Rule?
And, speaking of search, the Hub default item search brings up ALL store merchandise, both core and store format listings. Some on the Stores Board have suggested that this should be changed to ONLY store format. I just want to say I would oppose that change. I list items in core in part to draw people to my store, and I believe that strategy is effective whether as part of a core search or a store search from the Hub. I don't want to have to have two strategies for the two different searches.
I find more products than glitches
[email protected] Jul-31-07 12:55 PDT 30 of 45
itspostingtime (re: #26),
We share your interest in providing you with more insight into your repeat buyers and have been talking to the other selling teams about making progress here. Thanks for bringing this up!
Regards,
Darlene
golfingaddict (11495 ) Jul-31-07 12:59 PDT 31 of 45
Thanks to the stores team for holding this Brown Bag lunch and listening to our suggestions.
katiyana (3952 ) Jul-31-07 13:00 PDT 32 of 45
Ditto Ann's comments in #25
The technology is available in Paypal shopping carts as well as Prostores (both of which eBay conveniently owns). Give store owners who sell customized items, or stock items with options, tools to allow us to sell more effectively.
Yeah, I know you guys like that we have to do 100 listings instead of 10 because its extra $ for you - but some of us can't afford to keep doing that for you.
***********
Question #1: When are the text-version of Email newsletters going to be fixed so they look halfway decent, and aren't tossed away immediately. Item showcases and item listings don't show up. I've had lots of problems and little success with the Newsletter package, so I think work needs to be done on that.
Question #2: When can we do coupon codes for our repeat buyers? These would be GREAT repeat buyer driving items - we need tools like this!
Personally, sales here are WAY DOWN compared to last year - the fee increase almost did me in last year, and now the poor sales are trying to finish the job this year. Again - the inability to have a fully stocked store (due to higher fees) limits our ability to draw in off-eBay traffic, which then restricts sales, which further limits our listing capabilities. Its a darn vicious circle, and one its hard to get out of once you're in it!
Katiyana's Collectibles
itspostingtime (2 ) Jul-31-07 13:01 PDT 33 of 45
Seems pretty quiet here, so I'll go ahead and ask a bit more. I know it's very early, but do your metrics indicate that the new stores tab is getting much use? And the Hub?
I think store sellers like to understand their own traffic flow, and so can you tell us if there's any way to determine whether any of our traffic is coming from the Hub when we look at our Omniture reports?
I find more products than glitches
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:04 PDT 34 of 45
golfingaddict (re: #31,
Thank you for the message. We really enjoy spending this time each month with the Stores community; answering your questions and listening to your suggestions.
Best regards,
Brian
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:11 PDT 35 of 45
Dear itspostingtime:
In response to Post #29. Store Inventory Format merchandizing in the updated core finding system is planned to retain the 30/30 rule.
In regards to defaulting all store merchandise within the Stores hub. We agree that giving potential buyers the ability to search from a selection of all listings by Store sellers is more effective than relegating results just to Store Inventory Format. We plan on continuing to be consistent with this approach as statistics demonstrate that buyer's find and convert better with all listings by Stores sellers being returned vs. just returning SIF listings. This helps return abundance and drive incremental traffic back to your storefront.
I hope that is a clear answer to your questions.
Thanks,
Raj
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:11 PDT 36 of 45
Dear katiyana (re: 32),
Hi.
1) The newsletter feature is one that we think is very valuable to Store sellers, so we want to do everything we can to help this be effective. I'll ask the team to take a look at updates to the text version of the emails.
2) We want to deepen our focus on repeat buying going forward, so we're very interested in this and other tools to help make that happen. I honestly can't give you a specific timeframe yet, but we know it's important and we're working to find the best path to getting this done. It's a more challenging feature behind the scenes than it may seem. But we're very interested in this and other ways to help drive repeat buying for our Store sellers.
Thanks!
Gene
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:16 PDT 37 of 45
Hello there,
Please submit your questions and comments as soon as possible. We'll be locking this thread promptly at 1:30 PM PDT. Any questions that are posted close to the end of the session will responded to after the thread has been locked.
Thank you for joining,
eBay Stores Team
itspostingtime (2 ) Jul-31-07 13:19 PDT 38 of 45
Raj, yes, thanks!
I find more products than glitches
owen*and*emma (3901 ) Jul-31-07 13:21 PDT 39 of 45
Repeat buying is an interesting topic. What incentive does a seller have to bring customers back to eBay versus sending the customer other place for future purchases?
I've said on more than one occasion that the SRC is useless as built. Perhaps that can be revised to work like this:
1. ALL repeat customers whether from a year ago or a day ago result in automatic SRC issued to the seller. No jumping through hoops with silly "&refid" stuff.
2. If a buyer purchases more than one item in a sitting the seller pays full FVF on the first one and the SRC automatically kicks in on all additional items.
3. Monetary rewards for the dollar amount of items sold to repeat buyers.
Just some thoughts.
~Ann~
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:24 PDT 40 of 45
itspostingtime:
In response to your question about traffic from the Stores Hub: Post #33:
We are definitely beginning to see uptick in traffic being driven to the Stores Hub from the Global Header. We are just starting to lay the tracking infrastructure to help us analyze and quantify the traffic to this page and user interactions, so we do not have any precise data to share.
Unfortunately, Omniture is not currently tagging the Stores Hub page so it does not appear as a referring page in your page view reports. This is definitely a good idea, and we'll investigate specifically tagging this page so it appears explicitly in your path reports as a referring page.
Thanks,
Raj
owen*and*emma (3901 ) Jul-31-07 13:26 PDT 41 of 45
Speaking of Omniture. Why doesn't eBay dump them for the Store Reporting tool and go with Google Analytics a much more comprehensive program?
Or at least allow stores owners the ability to install Google Analytics?
~Ann~
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:29 PDT 42 of 45
owen*and*emma (re: #39),
You’ve touched on a topic that the Stores team is particularly passionate about – repeat buying. Over the years we’ve built tools and programs to help and reward sellers’ repeat buying efforts (e.g. Email Marketing, Store Referral Credit, etc.) but we want to do more. Thanks for your suggestions – we’ll take these into account as we work to do more here.
Regards,
Darlene
grandmabenny (17 ) Jul-31-07 13:32 PDT 43 of 45
Thank you for the referral. I hope some day to understand all this and become an intelligent contributor to the forum.
Thanks again.
grandmabenny
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:33 PDT 44 of 45
Stores Community,
Thank you for participating in this month’s discussion. The thread is now locked to new posts.
We will be going through the entire thread to make sure all questions are answered. Please check back for the completed thread.
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Event Horizon 1984 @
Thank you again for joining us today. Stay tuned for details about the September Stores Brown Bag Lunch event.
Regards, eBay Stores Team
[email protected] Jul-31-07 13:35 PDT 45 of 45
owen*and*emma:
In response to your post #41 regarding Omniture vs. Google Analytics:
I think this is a very good question. Omniture's Sitecatalyst tool is very robust application and is one of the industry's leading traffic reporting tools. When we decided to bring this product to market, Omniture was the market leader in this space, and we still believe they are. We also leveraged alot of infrastructure used for Site reporting to bring a wealth of data to you, our end users. There is alot of back-end tracking and technology built into these tracked pages. Also, in order to log into the tool we have built out a 3rd party authentication mechanism, which we would need to build for other reporting tools.
We definitely look into other product offerings such as Google Analytics which was bought from Urchin, as they emerge. We still believe Omniture has the more robust reporting tool and tracking infrastructure.
Thanks,
Raj
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