posted on August 28, 2007 11:34:36 AM new
Ebay came up with a pretty neat toy - a cross promotion tool/gallery. You are supposed to put on your blogs, website etc but I'm trying to find it if we can use as cross-promotion tool in our own listings.
posted on August 28, 2007 12:18:45 PM new
It's a cool toy, but it seems kinda obvious that it is yet another "get eBay out there" marketing effort and therefore not meant for use in your auctions.
I'm amused that MySpace is pulling these things apparently as fast as people are trying to install them on their profiles.
Even if it is approved for auction use, I'm not sure that I would use it for myself. It depends heavily on Flash and such. Since these toys are always built by twenty-something latte drinkers, they just about always require the latest versions. I know some eBay users who don't have Flash installed at all.
I hope you get an answer to your question on the eBay To Go board, but I wouldn't count on it. Questions on many of the marketing boards are never answered.
Sorry. Wish I could be more positive but I've had too much experience with "great" eBay marketing ideas that aren't well-executed.
posted on August 28, 2007 12:29:05 PM new
I know that it wasn't intended for use in listings but it does work well for that purpose. You can even type a search and get a new gallery. This works much better for me than the Vendio gallery would and could replace some of the simple search links I have back to my store in my listings. Does it use more sophisticated flash than Vendio/Auctiva galleries?
BTW what's the difference between latte and chai drinkers? In Minnesota we just drink coffee and tea
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posted on August 28, 2007 02:02:37 PM new
Oh, they're probably knocking back espresso shots. To translate to the Minnesotan: really strong coffee, yah.
Actually I thought of a way you might get an answer but it's too late for this week. eBay has their radio thing once a week. It was on today, and they take calls.
posted on August 28, 2007 02:14:46 PM new
YIKES! I just looked at the last time a pink responded on the "ebay to go" board and it looks like that was July 2 - usually they monitor those "new" boards better than the other ones. T
hey need to spend less time at Starbucks and more time perusing the boards! Maybe they are on a "one month sabbatical" with Bill Cobb. Looks like he calculates leave time the same way as he calculated store fee increases.
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posted on August 28, 2007 02:23:47 PM new
Why would they pull them from the MySpace pages? I've had one there for a long time. I also have another widget with my eBay items on it on my MySpace page.
Personally, I like the other widget I have a whole lot more and may delete the eBay one myself. I find it slow and clunky.
Cheryl
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Aug 28, 2007 02:25 PM ]
posted on August 28, 2007 04:01:15 PM new
That surprises me, Cheryl. MySpace doesn't allow eBay affiliate links; many people who didn't want to go to the expense of putting up a web site have tried to run an affiliate operation from there. I don't see that the eBay To Go widget is much different.
But hey, who knows. I don't even have a MySpace profile.
posted on August 28, 2007 04:32:35 PM new
There are many eBay sellers on MySpace. I don't spend much time there, but I know sellers who do a good job of promoting their eBay stores through MySpace. I just don't have the time. You can't bulk notify everyone on your friends list. As far as I know you have to do it individually. That's too time consuming for me.
posted on August 28, 2007 05:59:08 PM new
hi Neglus,
your idea of using it to search within stores is interesting but (aside from the issues with flash), when i went to your sandbox and typed in a search for Canada, it brought up cards from various places all over the u.s. but none from Canada, and i know you carry Canadian cards.
did you see the article i wrote for auctionbytes in july about the widget? it was apparently intended for use on off-eBay sites - as in, we advertise eBay for free on our blogs, websites, etc. no affiliate program for it. has never worked on myspace, which cripples the outgoing links to it, didn't work on yahoo 360 when i tested it there, etc. there were some other glitches too, like incorrect shipping showing up.
it's interesting to play with, but i think really limited use. my $0.02. it would take a lot of space on a store page. maybe a custom page or on the "me" page? the flash part still bothers me, though. flash and good seo are not really sympatico. http://www.vintagepostcards.org/ http://vintage-postcards.blogspot.com/
Kathy - The problem is that the default search is t&d and there's no way that I can see to change it. I quote shipping rates to Canada in every listing so every listing will show up in "Canada" search. "Ontario Canada" yields the right mix. I do get some extra items because I often mention postmarks so some holiday postcards show up in just about every search.
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posted on August 28, 2007 06:55:34 PM new
sthoemke - It doesn't sound like MySpace is banning commerce. They are lifting the ban. It sounds like they want a piece of the pie. This could be interesting.
MySpace: "Fine, Go Ahead and Sell Stuff." eBay, Are You Loving This News?
Henry Blodget | August 27, 2007 9:09 AM
Eager to help double Fox Interactive Media's revenue this year, News Corp's MySpace (NWS) is considering lifting a ban on site commerce, CNN and the LA Times report. Users are selling and advertising stuff on their pages anyway, the site has found, so executives figure they might as well take a cut.
So, eBay (EBAY), how do you feel about this news? Last time we checked, MySpace had more U.S. users than you did. Do you think they'll use your platform to sell stuff--or just the convenient tools that MySpace builds for them? What effect will that have on your already plummeting listing counts?
I did get an answer on the "To Go" discussion board - yes it is ok to put in listings.
I think I will put it in a few of my auctions and remove it when I put an item in my store. For one thing, it's beta and if ebay discontinues it, I would be left with a dead link or be forced to revise a whole bunch of listings.
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