safrye
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posted on October 13, 2001 12:52:42 PM
I have been trying to figure out a way to help boost regular sales. AFA auctions seem to get instant bids , but my regular auctions get very little activity.I emailed ebay with a suggestion , but of course never got an answer. <P>I'm sure it would have a better effect if all sellers did this.<P>If we put a statement on our AFA auctions,something to the effect of <P> "Please Check Out and Bid on AFA Sellers Regular Auctions , Without the Continued Sales of For Profit Items They ( we ) Will not be able to Afford to Keep Donating Our Inventory". <P>I'm sure someone can word it better , but that's the gist.<P>Any ideas??
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eastwest
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posted on October 13, 2001 03:40:59 PM
This really worked for me , I went into my feedback pulled up the emails and emailed my customers a thank you note.
It is very important to word the letter right, All i did was thank them for the tranactions. I told them if they would answer a few questions related to the tranaction that i would give them a % off the next purchase on ebay
But do not include the questions in the letter . Allow the customer to email you back
The questions i had were very good
1 did you read the auction or look at the picture first
2 did you look at my feedback
3 did you insure your items
4 what would yuo like to see more of
5 your approx age ?? this is to get an idea of the age group who buys my product
6 did you know i have two accounts on ebay
7 did you look in my photo gallery
8 would you buy again
[ edited by eastwest on Oct 13, 2001 03:45 PM ]
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eastwest
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posted on October 13, 2001 03:46:32 PM
and it worked i had tons coming back
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auntthrax
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posted on October 13, 2001 04:14:29 PM
"i would give them a % off the next purchase on ebay"........better watch that wording, looks like you could owe some folks some money when they win a different auction. their next purchase on ebay but from another seller other than you, but still their NEXT purchase.....
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petpost
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posted on October 13, 2001 04:20:29 PM
I offer free shipping if a bidder uses the BIN option. Also, I welcome first time and International bidders in my item description.
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undercovers
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posted on October 13, 2001 08:26:40 PM
ebay considers your 'note' 'survey' etc as spam and if i am not mistaken could and have been grounds for suspension...don't mean to be a poop in the mud....but it has been tried b4 and ebay didn't like it
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eastwest
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posted on October 13, 2001 09:11:39 PM
nope asked ebay about it and they said it was fine to email the customer a thank you letter
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undercovers
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posted on October 13, 2001 10:55:58 PM
a 'thank you' note is one thing....but you said you then asked them to answer a survey to obtain a discount....i can 99.9% almost guarantee that ebay would not allow that...ebay is trying to remove us from having direct contact with each other much less to 'thank' someone only to ask them to fill out a survey
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professorhiggins
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posted on October 14, 2001 12:20:28 AM
I guess I don't see anything wrong with what Eastwest is doing. He is e-mailing winners a
thnk you letter and simply giving them the option (at the end of the letter) of receiving a further discount on a future purchase from him if they answer a survey. The survey is not
included in the thank you letter so it is completely the buyer's option whether or not to
respond. It still appears that the primary purpose of the note is a plain "Thank you"
with a (Oh by the way) if you would like to receive a further discount.....at the bottom.
If a buyer is not interested he/she doesn'r have to respond. Personally, I think it is a
nice idea to reward potential repeat buyers.
And, if I am understanding this correctly,
he is not planning on selling them stuff off of ebay, but on ebay.
If he gives them a 5% discount on a $50
purchase, the FVF fee (Ebay's take) will be based on $50 regardless of whether the
customer pays him $45, $50, or whatever.
Ebay;s chunk will remain constant.
Heck, in this case, ebay would probably be very happy to see that eastwest is offering a
further incentive to a past customer to bid and win since ebay will also be making $$$ on this repeat buyer.
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Libra63
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posted on October 14, 2001 12:47:44 AM
Petpost-I use the BIN often and I like your idea about free shipping. Now how much do you add to your widget price so that you can offer free shipping? I hope I worded that right. Now when I sell my widget it is for $4.50 and my shipping is $1.50 1st class.
How would you sell this to add free shipping?
Would I say BIN is $6.00 and shipping is free? Do you think that the buyer thinks he is getting a deal? Thanking you in advance.
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petpost
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posted on October 14, 2001 06:12:21 AM
Libra <--
Most of my items are small in nature; DVDs, videos, smaller collectibles. I offer "free shipping" with the BIN option and perhaps pad with a $1 more and ship by Media or First Class mail.
However, once a bidder places a minimum bid on an item, that offer is no longer valid. I had one item that I had a $15 BIN price with free shipping....and it ended up having 15 bids with a winning price of $17.50-- plus the buyer had to pay shipping (choice of Priority/First or Media)
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eastwest
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posted on October 14, 2001 06:18:24 AM
i said do not include the questions in the email..and ask the bidder if THEY WANT TO ASK SOME QUESTIONS. email back. The door is left open for the bidder to contact us ..The letter is a thank you letter . with a small comment on the bottom
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Libra63
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posted on October 14, 2001 08:56:50 AM
petpost- Thanks for the information. I am going to try it and see how it goes.
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jalleniii
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posted on October 14, 2001 09:57:47 AM
Eastwest,
Your letter was in violation of ebay's spam policy. I too inquired if I could email customers offering a discount on future purchases. They responded with a resounding NO.
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eastwest
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posted on October 14, 2001 04:24:11 PM
I do not word it in any form like a discount letter.
This would be the example :
reguarding ebay:
I would like to take this time and email you personally and thank you for your purchase from us on ebay. The internet tends to be very impresonal. So we thought we would drop you a little note. We hope you enjoy the product and hope to see you come back again and again.
ebay nick name here
p.s We would like to ask a few questions related to the purchase to help us improve on ebay if that's ok??
my spelling sucks love spell correct
[ edited by eastwest on Oct 14, 2001 04:26 PM ]
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