August 17, 2017 Meetup

Great to see everyone at the Online and eBay Sellers Meetup tonight!  Here are my edited notes about EBAY OPEN that we discussed.  Post any comments, additions or questions.

Minnesota Online and eBay Sellers Meetup
Agenda and Information
August 17, 2017

eBay Open 2017

The 2017 eBay Open was a MAJOR CELEBRATION of sellers!  Here are some interesting links with information discussed at the conference.

• eBay Open 2017 Web Site
  • We now know that the event workshop videos are all available for viewing by eBay sellers.  Similar to last year, these are probably available for a limited amount of time.
  • http://www.ebayopen2017.com/workshops/
  • http://www.ebayopen2017.com/

• Thrifty Business with Jay and Nay
  • Thrifty Business Season 4 #16 #ebayOpen2017 Recap With Special Co-Host Katy Zilverberg
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kng8lESK0Ec

• eBay Authenticate
  • New service to be offered later in 2017. Sellers and buyers will be able to subscribe to this service and, on some items such as expensive handbags, can have the item shipped to eBay for authentication. Once deemed authentic, eBay sends the item on to the buyer.
  • http://pages.ebay.com/authentication/index.html

• eBay Guaranteed Delivery
  • http://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/guaranteed-delivery.html
  • This was the hot customer service topic of the conference. Note that there are 2 types that you can opt into.
  • eBay Guaranteed: You must ship on time, eBay covers the cost of the item if it does not get delivered by the date set by USPS.
  • Door to Door guarantee – SELLER takes the risk and covers cost if it is not delivered on time. The rules and benefits to sellers are still unclear to me.
  • http://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/guaranteed-delivery.html
  • eBay has also started a thread to answer questions about it: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Hot-topic-eBay-Guaranteed-Delivery/m-p/26769287

• Promoted Listings
  • They announced that promoted listings will be available for SINGLE ITEMS very soon.  I’m hearing reports that they are available for some now.

• Facebook Messenger and Shopbot
  • Open up your mobile phone and go to Facebook Messenger.  Right now you can address a message to “eBay Shopbot” and ask it to find items for sale!  It gives buyers a new way to find our items just as fast as they can think of them.  I wonder if this will catch on with millennials (those born between 1981 and 1997) or even younger users?  If you are younger than 36, tell us your opinion!  Of course, I welcome comments on it from everyone!

• Other Interesting Items
  • A handbag is sold every 13 seconds on eBay (no wonder they are sort of focusing on fashion right now!)
  • The advertising campaign is ON (Fill Your Cart with Color – more fashion emphasis!) and will continue to be ON from now ON.
  • 17,000 items a week sell to users on a mobile platform.
  • Retail stores are getting in on selling their OWN resale items. For example, Eileen Fisher: https://www.eileenfisher.com/repair-and-care/why-you-should-recycle-everything-in-your-closet/
  • $725 Million has been raised for charity through sellers on eBay.

So much happened those three days and I’ll write more if I have time.  I’d love to hear more from those who attended eBay OPEN 2017.  Can’t wait for next year, they have already announced it for the end of July 2018! Don’t miss it…you will NOT regret it.