Our monthly giveaway continues! Previous winners received awesome gadgets like the Nintendo Wii, an iPhone and Apple iPod Touch.
Congrats to our Q4 2009 Winners! The following eBay sellers each won an Amazon Kindle, just for joining up with us to offer SquareTrade warranties to their customers:
October: Imagemstr & jfwang958
November: Egetalluwantz & flowindex
December: You-want-a-deal & carmate1
Are you bracing for the impact of eBay's latest announcement? With March just around the corner, we're curious to hear your thoughts on the newest restructuring of auction fees and Final Value Fees.
Remember, these changes are effective March 30, 2010. In case you missed it, you can read the official announcement here.
What will this mean for you? If you haven't had a chance to make sense of it all, AuctionBytes gave a great overview of the new pricing packages that will be available:
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"With the new eBay Stores pricing, it’s much more expensive to list in Stores format for low-volume sellers – you pay the same $15.95/month subscription fee, but rather than paying as low as 3 cents to list, you must pay a 20-cent insertion fee. However, your listings appear in Core search results." - Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes |
You may also want to check out other resources like eBay's Fee Illustrator or this guide a fellow eBay seller posted on Google Doc.
Thoughts? How will these changes impact you? According to eBay, they saw a great deal of growth for sellers when they implemented similar success-based pricing in Europe. But, like many changes, we understand some of you have some apprehension. Share your thoughts - feel free to sound off in the comments below.
The holiday season is almost in full swing! As we ramp up for the big Q4 sales push, many in the Consumer Electronics industry - including Best Buy and Sony - remain cautiously optimistic about the current economy.
So, how can eBay Electronics Sellers stay ahead of the game?
In this continuing series, SquareTrade takes a look at how Electonics Etailers are
adapting to the economy to make their companies stand out this Holiday Season.
Continue reading "CE Retailers Adapt to Economy with Cautious Optimism" »
If you're a serious eBay seller, you may regularly peruse sites like AuctionBytes in search of the latest tips and resources for online auction buyers and sellers.
In case you missed the current issue of AuctionBytes, be sure to check it out for the usual roundup of industry news, including an interview with SquareTrade CEO Steve Abernethy:
As SquareTrade celebrates 10 years in business, AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner chats with cofounder and CEO Steve Abernethy to learn more about the company's rather unique service: warranties for purchases of new - and used - consumer electronics and appliances, online and offline. No longer in the business of online dispute resolution, SquareTrade continues to offer eBay sellers and online merchants services to help shoppers feel more confident. |
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The full interview can be found here: AuctionBytes: Giving Shoppers Confidence through SquareTrade Warranties.
Consumer Confidence is Key
Steiner's interview highlights many of the reasons offering SquareTrade warranties on your listings
is an easy way to increase buyer confidence - particularly in the current economy.
But, what else can you do to increase your potential buyer's trust and conversion rate? You tell us: What has your experience taught you?
Our monthly giveaways keep getting better! Previous winners received awesome gadgets like the Nintendo Wii and Apple iTouch. This time around, we're giving away one of this year's hottest items!
One Amazon Kindle will be given to an eBay seller who activates their account before 09/28/09.
The clock is ticking but no worries - it takes just a few seconds to turn on the feature. Yup - it's just that simple.
Activate with SquareTrade before September 28th and you could win!
Back in May, SquareTrade launched SquareTweets - posting breaking news and deals for Consumer Electronics Consumers.
If you aren't already following us, check it out! Imagine how much your customers would love you for sharing the inside scoop!
So the latest eBay buzz has been about eBay’s new neighborhoods. Apparently, the answer to some of the stagnancy on eBay will revolve around social networking. The belief is that the more buyers and sellers network on eBay, the longer they will spend on eBay’s site, which hopefully will translate into more shopping time. Perhaps a Star Wars fan club’s exchanges will go a long way in promoting more sales.
It’s certainly not far fetched. For example, there are many clubs out there, such as a Porsche fan club, or a Nike fan club, where members buy and sell each other’s things on the buy/sell string. In fact, some people prefer to buy and sell within the fan club because they have a greater sense of trust for long standing members in the community. Members in the fan club can be much more helpful with questions, such as with the types of items being sold, for example, whether or not a certain car part from a 2001 model would fit the same car that was made in a different year. Lastly, members in a club are far less concerned about margins, which of course is better for the consumer.
I applaud eBay’s effort and creativity, but really, I’m not absolutely convinced this will be as successful as they hope it’ll be. Are any of you sold on eBay's Neighborhoods? I have a couple of reasons to support my pessimism.
1. Communities will get very little involvement, especially from large sellers:
Larger sellers, who are frequently busy, will find it hard pressed to actively participate in a community. With so much to do, many sellers would rather opt for lower involvement over a higher level of involvement. A quick look today at communites gives all the evidence you need. Many of the communities are empty of members and of posts. The Michael Jordan community has 25 members, and only 1 post. Compare that number to the thousands of posts in October in the Air Jordan shoes forum on Niketalk.com (not affiliated with Nike). Even the red hot iPhone community only has a mere 220 members and 40 posts.
2. Buyers don’t trust eBay as much as they trust fan forums:
The main purpose of eBay is to sell or buy goods, whereas the main purpose of fan clubs is to exchange input and thoughts on a subject matter that you have a great appreciation for. Buying and selling are tertiary points to the club. I compare it to the difference between walking into a shoe store at a mall and asking a sales person which pair of basketball shoes would perform the best for me versus asking members in a Nike fan club/community.
The sales person would likely point out their most expensive pair of shoes as the best performing shoe, while the fan club’s response would be more around their best and worse experiences with the shoes that have been suggested. Again, referring back to the Michael Jordan community, the lone post on there, titled "New Product at http://stores.ebay.com/Solestop-com" is an attempt to sell you something. Not appealing at all to a fan like myself.
On a completely seperate note, I received my credit from Apple for my iPhone. Now…what to do with it? I’m thinking perhaps a Bluetooth for my iPhone? I'm open to any of your suggestions! Initally, I was going to get one of the new cases and a screen protector. However, since I bought the accidental protection warranty from SquareTrade, I’m much less worried about protecting the phone. I really love not having to worry about it all the time.
Which also reminds me…Rus’ blog has a great write-up for consumers on the differences between a SquareTrade warranty, and the typical phone insurance plan that cell phone providers like Verizon offers you. Take it from someone who has done the homework, a SquareTrade warranty is hands down a much better investment (no, I’m not just being bias) unless you are the type of person who is prone to losing your phone. It’s certainly a great read for anyone who just spent $300 or more on a brand new phone and is considering getting cellphone insurance. I for one am glad that I chose an iPhone warranty over iPhone insurance.
With all the recent news about the iPhone, it’s easy for us to forget there are other interesting things happening in the world of consumer electronics. Something worth noting and paying attention to other than the iPhone, is how strong sales are, for video game consoles and video games. An article on Rueters reports that sales for the Nintendo Wii are stronger than ever, and retaining the top spot as the most popular video games console with 381,800 units sold, which is 13 percent more than the amount sold the previous month. The Microsoft Xbox and the Playstation 3 also shared similar success in sales growth, with sales jumps of 28% and 20% respectively. Overall, sales in June were up 35% over sales in May, which is substantial, considering the summer months are generally slow sales months for consumer electronics in general.
So did this trend carry over to eBay? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”.
Despite the number of overall eBay listings being down in Q2, (as reported by Ina Steiner earlier this week) the number of listings for Nintendo Wii’s have actually gone up month after month between May and July. Sell-through rates have remained steady during the listings spike, resulting in a huge jump in consoles particularly between June and July, when we saw an increase of nearly 4000 Nintendo Wii’s sold. In fact, even the average selling price has seen an increased from $336 to $342; which is no small feat for a console that has been on the market since December of 2006.
For those of us who appreciate graphs, here is a graphical representation of the Wii’s sales increases on eBay between 5/20 and 7/20.
With newer, better games on the horizon, and the beginning of holiday shopping season fast approaching, signs are clearly pointing to a very strong Q3 and Q4 for the video games console category. This is great news for sellers who are already seller video game consoles, but potentially even better news for sellers looking to jumpstart their slow summer sales. Our advice? Get you hands on as many of the newer consoles as possible, primarily the Nintendo Wii (which is selling well over the retail price of $250 on eBay), Microsoft Xbox, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS, and the Playstation 3, whose retail price has lowered to the point where consumers are starting to see it as a reasonable price to pay just for the Blu-Ray player functionality.
iPhone Insurance - While the rest of the consumer world anxiously awaits the Apple iphone’s launch on June 29th (I’ve bookmarked a nifty little iPhone countdown clock), it appears that are a few folks, who are just too impatient to wait. They have turned to eBay in their search for an early cure to their iphone addiction. With that in mind, a number of eBay cell phone sellers are also cashing in on the anticipated hype over this phone.
With demand being so incredibly high and imminent shortages almost assured, buyers are flocking to eBay in order to get a pre-sale iphone order. Just last week, we witnessed pre-sale iPhones beings sold on eBay anywhere from $900 to $1200 (Over 2X the retail value). I know what you must be thinking…scam.
Not surprisingly, a search for completed iPhone listings on eBay showed several completed pre-sale listings where the seller is no longer a registered eBay user, of which 1 listing had a successful bid of $990.00.
Needless to say, these pre-sale orders are extremely risky, as the seller does not even have it on hand. eBay is probably aware of the iPhone hype and must be keeping a close eye on iPhone listings, just as they did with the Nintendo Wii and the Playstation 3. eBay only permits Pre-sale listings only on a limited basis where a seller must guarantee that the item will be delivered within 30 days from the auction’s end date.
If it was me, I’d rather wait to fight the long lines at AT&T/Cingular stores, or wait until after 6/29/2007. I just don’t enjoy having the phrases “chargeback” and “Paypal buyer protection” dancing in my head. I’ve also noticed that there isn’t a pre-sale iPhone to be found on any live eBay listings right now. Could it be that eBay has finally cracked down on pre-sale orders of the iPhone?
While we’re on the topic of good advice, here’s one for anyone who plans on getting their iPhone on eBay. MacDailyNews reports that AT&T/Cingular does not plan to offer insurance on the iPhone. Even if they did, it would not be available for iPhones that were purchased on eBay. It looks like SquareTrade Care Plans might be the only sure fire solution way to protecting your iPhone.
Rumors are circling that an AppleCare plan for the iPhone is in the works but until then, we at CarePlus highly recommend looking into picking up a SquareTrade Care Plan to protect your new prized possession. It’s really the only way you can get protection for iPhones purchased on eBay. SquareTrade Care Plans, which are always 10% of the purchase price, will cover your eBay bought iPhone in cases where your iPhone screen goes dead (which is a really big deal since the iPhone is a touch screen), or when the iPhone’s voice quality goes bad.
So happy iPhone hunting! And please, hunt wisely. SquareTrade
Established in 1999, SquareTrade is the largest warranty provider on eBay. We are the ONLY warranty company consistently rated 5-stars by our customers.
"Fast,
Friendly"
"Fast, friendly staff are more than eager
to help you out. I recommend this to everyone! "
By Terry C, NexTag
Review
"So
inexpensive "
"Their warranties are so inexpensive
that it's certainly not worth going without it. I won't
buy electronics without their warranty."
By Nanabtrfly, Epinions
Review
"Amazing"
"Absolutely amazing service! I didn't know what SquareTrade
was, and almost didn't accept it. I am a million times thankful I did. Couldn't
be better."
By Carol E, Epinions
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