Stimulating sales during vacation

[dipmicro]

Soon I am going to put my store into vacation mode but do not want to loose sales so motivate customers to buy I am planning to create a sale starting from 24% off on Wednesday dropping by 2% every day ending at 8%.

Decreasing is to create an impulse to buy immediately instead of making a mental note, putting item on watchlist and then forgetting as would happen with static discount 8-day sale.

Other suggestions to stimulate sales from unmanned store?

Will Premium Store allow set of 1-day sales with approx 1,500 items each?

[pierrelebel]

Totally different concept - prices going UP daily!

Unfortulately, you will need to modify your plan as Bay requires a 24 hour period between sale on the same items.

Check this http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/items_on_sale.html for rules.

"The minimum duration between sales is 1 day."

Also, the discount percentages available work in increments of 5% (5% - 10% - 15% - etc... up to 75%).

[dipmicro]

The minimum duration between sales is 1 day.

Darn! Such a silly rule.

How about this:

A static 8-day sale with additional discount proportional to wait time invoiced manually after vacation. Requirement - wait for the invoice.

[momoftwingles2]

Hi dipmicro,

Remember that you pay your final value fees based on the price that your item sells for. If that doesn't matter, then offer the additional incentive.

Yes, with a Premium Store you can put up to 2500 listings on sale each day.

Have fun on your vacation!
Susan
momoftwingles2

[surplusdealdude]

I think buyers will ignore a discount rate of 2%, whether daily or not.

I saw an article in the New York Times that said that you want to be hitting them with the maximum percentage discount to even get their attention.

Your way sounds like you're playing games with them - I think it could backfire on you. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can ever fight; and never stop fighting." -- e.e. cummings

[cottonwoodindustries]

Well I have done an awesome month and May isn't even over yet.
I was going away for a month, which should have started yesterday but my fellow traveler was diagnosed with brain cancer so their went our trip.

But that isn't why this Month has been soon great.
When I found out about the trip I revised all of my listings (I only have 200+) that I was going on holidays for 1 month, from May 23 - Jun19. Anything bought during that time would be mailed Jun 20.

I put it in BOLD Letters using RED and BLUE lettering at the beginning of each auction. I have tried the "this seller is on vacation" in the past but I found the printing so small and the buyers never read it anyway.

When my trip was canceled I just revised my listings again and viola! it was like I never left. lol

By the way...NO drastic SALES or Discounted listings were needed....

My customers were always inquiring if their item would be mailed before I left, sure no problem.

It has been like Christmas.....especially when last month stunk....have a great day.....:^O

[surplusdealdude]

I would never do what you did, cotton - it's a direct violation of Paypal rules and you could come back to a pile of negs and an ebay suspension.

Very chancy.

But I'm glad you're doing well. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can ever fight; and never stop fighting." -- e.e. cummings

[dipmicro]

Your way sounds like you're playing games with them

It's not playing, it's rewarding them for making the purchase even though there is nobody to ship it next day. So they know that seller is not there, the service level is lower (automated only).

The discount would start at 24%, some items would be break-even (I prefer to break even and move the item than hold onto it and sell later) and end at 8%.

Books about selling teach that salesman should create the time pressure. You may observe this on late night TV commercials: order in next 10 minutes and we will add this nifty item ....

Decreasing discount creates a time pressure and turns visitor into a customer. So theoretically, the sell-ratio should go higher.

[cottonwoodindustries]

How is it a direct violation of Paypal rules

I was going to be away for a month and I did not want to close my store while I was away, which I have done in the past (eBay gives you that option).

I decided that I would let my customers know that in advance, so there would be NO big SURPRISES, and they could still buy the items they wanted while they were available.

I wasn't doing anything underhanded, it just turned out to be a good thing for me. It may not be good for you.

I just went to Manage My Store...under vacation setting: I could use this below, which I have done in the past - but the printing is TOO SMALL and the BUYERS do not read it anyway.

Display vacation message in all of my available listings

The message is only informational and does not guarantee you protection from receiving negative feedback. You still need to meet your responsibilities as specified in the eBay User Agreement.

If you look in your listings you can revise your HANDLING time from 1 BUSINESS DAY to 20 BUSINESS days which is 30days with weekends. Therefore I would not have violated any rules and I would have meet all my responsibilities.

I researched everything before I did this to see what was best for me.

Also when I go on holidays my laptop is not far from me. I communicate with all my customers even when I am on holidays may not be everyday but if there is something that needs to be dealt with then I am available. If I didn't want that responsibility than I would close my store for that month.

Hope that explains why I did it that way, CUSTOMER SERVICE IS #1
and always has been and always will be.

Have great day!!!;-)

[dipmicro]

Btw. what happens with eBay Message during vacation? Will eBay auto-respond ?

I am now more worried about those "Where is my parcel".

[surplusdealdude]

cotton,

Paypal rules state that you have to ship within 7 days of receiving cleared payment.

You get a cleared payment 1 day into your vacation, and you'll have a neg and an NPS complaint when you get back if the buyer doesn't read the vacation part.

Remember, ebay is taking over the customer complaints June 1 - if they handle it, they'll try to call you, not get a response and then close your account, maybe. I wouldn't count on them showing the initiative to try and defend your position in your absence.

As I said, pretty dangerous. Safer to make your items unavailable.


dipmicro,

It's not playing, it's rewarding them for making the purchase even though there is nobody to ship it next day

It's not how you want the customer to see it, it's how the customer chooses to see it that matters. And customers can get wierd ideas.

Say, for instance, that a customer goes ahead and buys a bunch of stuff, then see the price go down the next day. When I worked in a BM store, we used to have customers come back in, mad as heck, because we didn't warn them a sale was coming. Management would refund the difference - it was the only way to get them to calm down.

You want to lower the price every day.

That practically guarantees you'll have mad customers every day. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can ever fight; and never stop fighting." -- e.e. cummings

[dipmicro]

Say, for instance, that a customer goes ahead and buys a bunch of stuff, then see the price go down the next day

surplusdealdude, you obviously did not get this. The discount will go down, the price will go up.

You buy something, then you look next day and see the price is HIGHER than yesterday.

The only people who will not be happy will be those who buy before sale. But this is what happens with every sale, not just my progresively dropping one.

The idea here is, the longer you have to wait, the sweeter the reward.

[dipmicro]

The only people who will not be happy will be those who buy before sale,

And yes, if someone actually asks I may give him the sale price. Just like Canadian Tire will give you sale price if you bought your item up to 30 days before the sale started. The idea is that almost nobody asks.

[surplusdealdude]

Okay, so you're going to have buyers looking at a sale price, thinking about it and then coming back the next day, ready to buy, and then the price has changed.

I don't know - that still seems like it's going to generate unhappy buyers. I'd be leery of pizzing people off for any reason during these times.

Even if you explain it to death, you know a bunch of people will misunderstand it - they'll be the ones mad at you.

It's your sale and you can run it if you want to, of course, but I wouldn't. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can ever fight; and never stop fighting." -- e.e. cummings

[pierrelebel]

"Stimulating sales during vacation"

The real question to ask is : Is it wise to stimulate sales while on vacation?

Different sellers may reach different conclusions based on their product line, customer loyalty, cash flow needs, etc...

Personally, I always close my store when away and make my item unavailable. The few dollars (net profit) I may lose on lost sales is not worth the risks to my reputation for prompt and efficient service.

Generally, when I close my eBay store for a few weeks, sales increase above average for a week or two following the reopening - loyal customers with money to spend wait for on my stuff to be available! 🙂

Would keeping my store open while away generate more sales? Obviously.
More profit if I had to offer more discounts to "stimulate sales"? Not so sure.
Worth the risks? Definitely not.

But... that's me. Others may see it differently.

[dipmicro]

Guys, if your theories are correct and my DST and FB plummet to the ground, in the worst case you will not see me on this board anymore due to the loss of PS status or an ID.

I will ship US orders from US after that, so the US buyers may not even notice the delay. I advertise international delivery time 2-4w, so that may also easily absorb one week delay without significant penalty.

It's great to take pride for one's customer service. At some point some of us need to balance pride with cashflow and develop a bit of crocodile skin. If customers always rejected companies based on their customer service, my phone provider Fido would be long out of business.

In Dec/2007 - Jan/2008 I have shut down the eBay store for 2 months. It took about a month to get back, but I raised the sales from $900/m in Nov/2007 to $2,500 in Mar/2008. So perhaps you are right, shutting the store and taking a break helped, although I have changed a lot of things about my sales after I came back and I like to attribute the increase to those changes.

Still have few days to reconsider and take a nice silent break only to come back stronger like you suggested. As I said above, I am more worried about buyers from before the vacation as about those during.

[pierrelebel]

"DSR and FB plummet to the ground"

It need not be that bad! However, if your currently superior DSRs drop from 4.9 and 4.8 to 4.6 or even 4.5, there may be long term negative effect, in addition to losing your FVF rebate.

[surplusdealdude]

And if they drop below (4.1, 4.3?) you aren't selling ANYTHING in the US on .com, and all that prep work will be wasted.

Just too much of a risk in my book, but do what you want. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can ever fight; and never stop fighting." -- e.e. cummings