Huge thanks to Perrine Crampton (@pcrampton) for putting together this recap of short form posts and tweets around yesterday’s eBay earnings call for Q1, 2012. What makes Storify really cool is that you can go through the slide show below and click on the links within each captured tweet – and even share right from the slides. At 206 slides, it’s a bit of a slog… but it’s still pretty neat to view:
eBay Inc. CEO, John Donahoe, spoke on CNBC earlier today in response to the company’s Q1, 2012 earnings. Here you go:
As part of its nationwide launch, AutoNation Direct, the online automotive merchant operated by America’s largest auto retailer AutoNation, announced today it will be selling more than 25 vehicles for half price (50% off MSRP) through eBay Motors (the first car for sale, a Chevy Camaro, is pictured below).
Anyone interested in the opportunity can visit http://stores.ebay.com/autonationdirect during the offer period to view current half price vehicle listings. Customers must have a valid eBay User ID to participate.
What:
New vehicles included in the special offer consist of high-demand vehicles from Ford, General Motors and Nissan within the 2011- 2013 model year range. A total of 29 Buy It Now vehicle listings are scheduled to appear on eBay Motors at half price over the course of the offer period, including a 2012 Chevrolet Corvette. The variety of vehicles available during the special offer period reflects the wide selection of new vehicles available to customers on eBay Motors at great prices every day.
When:
The special offer for half-price on a select number of new vehicles will begin at Noon PT on Friday, March 23 and run through Friday, March 30.
How:
On each of the first seven days of the special offer period, four new vehicles per day will be listed on eBay Motors at half price MSRP and made available to customers at various times throughout the day on a first come, first served basis. If the most recent listing(s) have closed, customers are encouraged to check back on the site as new half price vehicle listings will be posted throughout the duration of the offer period. On the final day of the offer period, Friday, March 30, a single 2012 Chevrolet Corvette will be listed at half price at a random time during the day.
Of course, those of us who miss out on snagging one of the half price vehicles during this offer period can still check out brand new vehicles listed on eBay Motors each and every day. Having said that, I’m definitely going to check this offer out.
eBay announced its Spring Seller Update this morning and there is a lot to cover for folks. In addition to highlighting all the changes here on Ink, I’ve also included a number of helpful links at the bottom of this post.
Free Pictures
** Starting in July, all sellers get FREE pictures — 12 per listing — including free zoom and enlarge.
eBay Top-rated Seller updates
** Starting in June, to be eligible for Top-rated seller status, tracking information needs to be uploaded to eBay within your stated handling time on 90% of transactions with US buyers. Start uploading tracking information by May 1 to make sure you qualify by June 20.
** Starting June 1, those listings from Top-rated sellers that include 1-day handling and a 14-day or longer return policy with a money-back option will get the greatest average boost in exposure and 20% final value fee discounts. Listings that don’t include these services will continue to get some boost in Best Match and the Top-rated seller badge, but not the 20% discount or greatest average boost.
** From March 1 through May 31, Top-rated sellers will get a bonus 5% discount off final value fees—along with their current 20% discount—for all listings with 1-day handling and a minimum 14-day return window with money-back option.
** The annual sales requirement for Top-rated sellers will be lowered to $1,000 (from $3,000).
New Seller Protections
** Get an automatic 5-star Communications rating for transactions where you offer same-day or 1-day handling, upload tracking information by the end of the next business day, and there is no communication between you and the buyer.
** Feedback left by a buyer with an unpaid item recorded for the transaction will be automatically removed from your record.
** Earlier this year, eBay started displaying an automatic message on the item page to buyers outside the US regarding customs-related delays and duties. Now any Feedback from international buyers that only references customs issues is eligible for removal.
Helpful Links
There’s a lot more going on, so please check out the below links to find out how this effects your business.
** Get details on the 2012 Spring Seller Update.
** Use the Seller Checklist to stay on top of important dates.
** Update your listings quickly and efficiently and bulk editing tools.
** Visit the special 48-hour discussion board devoted to the announcement.
** Join the Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, February 29 starting at 3:30pm PST.
Earlier today, Fast Company’s Co.Design blog featured the eBay Design team today in a blog post entitled, “Six Bite-Sized Innovation Lessons from eBay’s New Design Think Tank.” The post talks about eBay’s internal design and consulting group called PreVIZ and also unveils the all-new Design at eBay website aimed at telling the stories behind designers here at eBay and represents an immersive recruiting tool for potential new designers wanting to join the team.
From Co.Design:
eBay is leaning on design with Previz, a new internal consulting business staffed by its cracker-jack designers. In addition to lending their creative juices to whomever needs them, the hope is that they’ll spread a process for innovation. “The real challenge is to get out from under the tactical, day-to-day stuff,” says Dane Howard, who heads the Previz team. “So our designers had the idea of creating workshops to imagine the near term future.”
I was fortunate enough to sit down with two people instrumental in launching the new Design at eBay website for an exclusive conversation about the genesis of the project and the goals moving forward. I must confess, I was thrilled to see the visual concept of literally “showing the people behind the company/stories” theme running throughout the site (as you can see from the welcome screen shot above, there are more than just one pair of eyes now looking back at you when we’re sharing our stories) and the site is definitely another evolution in our quest to emphasize the people behind the products and solutions we create here at eBay. I’m excited to see where this goes. For now, enjoy this look behind the curtain…
Griff has a fun collection of the top collectible, antique and art listings for last month over on the eBay Collectors blog…
The Antique and Collectibles categories continue to surface some fantastic examples of what collectors are buying these days on eBay, including a issue #1 of Playboy, a rare New Jersey copper colonial coin, and a period Roman helmet! All these and more displayed below, sold on eBay in March, 2011 and include examples from both auction style and fixed price format sales.
With it being “Bring your Kids to Work Day” I’ve been looking at some of the listings with my two girls. They want you all to know that they’re big fans of the robot but that the antique walking stick is very scary.
eBay has selected Triad Retail Media to sell and manage all on-site display advertising for eBay.com and eBay Motors. Under the agreement, Triad will provide end-to-end display ad management to deliver customized, relevant ads on eBay. The idea is that they will provide a better showcase for eBay listings and customer experience for buyers and sellers on the site.
eBay and Triad will collaborate on an innovative approach to display ads that takes customers “beyond the banner” and engages them with new brand experiences that are complementary to the eBay experience:
• Banner advertising will be more customized, with category-specific content embedded directly into the ad so customers can view content without clicking off the site.
• eBay and Triad will also integrate new experiences from popular brands and cross-category “content centers” – sponsored landing pages on eBay that will highlight seasonally relevant and interactive content, and inspire new purchases through integrated merchandising with eBay listings.
Sellers can still list Auction-style in the 1, 3, or 5-day duration for just 25¢ Insertion Fees through tomorrow, December 10. (Listings that start at under $1.00 still have just 10¢ Insertion Fees). This offer applies to listings on eBay.com, eBay Motors Parts & Accessories and eBay Canada.
I’m still snapping up presents for family and friends as we head into this weekend. My personal goal of (finally) hitting 100 Feedback score at 100% positive by the New Year is still in sight. My personal goal for 2011 is to at least double that in one year. This will involve a lot more selling too. Looking forward to it.
For now, take advantage of the low insertion fees and find out about more promotions by checking yesterday’s eBay Holiday blog post.
This is my third Holiday season with eBay and, as usual, it is quite simply the busiest time of the year. I find my blog post output increases considerably and the number of meetings I get invited to seems to quadruple. I was talking about all that I’ve covered on Ink with my wife last night and she asked me to list all the promotions we’re running for eBay around the holidays. I realized that even though I’ve written and/or tweeted about every single one, I couldn’t list them off the top of my head. So… I figured a blog post was in order. One that breaks down all the major holiday promotions and ways in which people can save money, and buy & sell with ease this holiday season.
eBay has launched a new tool this holiday season called eBay Deal Finder that compares eBay listings with similar products on other sites like Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart.com and gives shoppers access to more than 50,000 deals on eBay.
I sat down with Guy Schory, the man behind the new tool. I was fascinated to learn that it began as a side project for an internal innovation contest and he and his team had to work on it after hours. It’s a real labor of love. I like to call it Daily Deals on steroids. :)
Also accessible from The eBay App for Blackberry
BlackBerry® users are the first to get a shortcut to some of the deepest discounts online. The eBay app for BlackBerry smartphones, updated today, offers a selection of top deals from eBay Deal Finder. eBay data shows that BlackBerry app users are especially interested in shopping for media, electronics and other technology products on their phones, and adding eBay Deal Finder into the app will bring great deals on these popular items straight to the palm of their hand.
