I Was a Victim of an eBay Crime

Nice use of title. I'm taking notes.

I don't complain when someone sends me exactly what I ordered and paid for. If I found them once, I know where to look them up again. Your Ebay purchase history gives you the exact url of his store.

Aw, I bet he didn't send flowers or chocolates either.

An eBay seller, who already pays well over 20% in eBay/PayPal fees, springs for the shipping and you're feigning outrage because you think this is going to make you look like a savvy marketer.

At least I hope the outrage is faux. In case it isn't:

I sold on eBay over 10 years and I never included any of those things because they cost time and money. I even stopped putting business cards in packages because people were NOT going to my website to reorder nor were they calling me, they were going back to eBay to bid on my auctions.

The guy you bought from probably ships hundreds of packages a day. You spent $1.99. There are millions of people like you on eBay. Get over yourself.

fLufF
--

I agree.

Most people would be happy getting all that for $1.99 and know where he lives.

I've also got experience in this exact niche using eBay.

I can/could get Android car chargers (in bulk, obviously) for around 0.15 cents per charger.

I'm not sure exactly what your referring to in regards to the adapter but I remember getting the iPhone/iPod/iPad charger adapters for anywhere from 0.10 - 0.15 per adapter.

I'm not sure what you paid for the shipping, or if you purchased both items together, but I can assure you even after eBay fee's he's made SOME sort of profit.

If not, maybe he's just shifting excess stock, and needs to get rid of it quickly (loss leader) like you said but I doubt it.

Not all Ebay sellers are great marketers, he probably did lose money on his product that you bought, your gain ...his loss...

I just wanted to stop in and mention that, at the very least, I appreciated the information and it makes a lot of sense. Your illustration of how a small effort to provide a buyer with information and/or incentive to buy from you again can lead to large results was not wasted. I haven't posted a lot, but I do read a lot, it surprises me sometimes how quickly things can get heated and dramatic with so little reason. Anyway, nice post, thank you.

I use to be shocked with this now I'm shocked if it's not. Common Sense is not common! Few think and are aware and most are not. You are dealing with a normal person doing normal things. That's all.

I'm glad you got exactly what you ordered (so rare these days) but for me...


I am so tired of everybody talking about "the money is in the list" and "build a list" and then proceeding to totally annoy the hell out of me when I do (rarely) sign up to their list that your experience is a WIN for me.

I don't want to be sold to (ANNOYED TO HELL) over and over and over, so not seeing an offer to join the guy's list would be totally fine with me.


As sbucciarel said above, if I were impressed I could easily look at my history and find that person again if it was really that important...which honestly it wouldn't be most of the time for me.


I don't know...I think this "build a list" thing is being so beaten down by people that I look for any way possible to avoid it at all costs anymore...so good for him.

That's actually great advice. I've been getting back into eBay for a a month or so now, mostly buying, and I wanted to try selling again. This reminded me of my previous sales and how I never even thought to send any of those things. I will definitely remember these for next time. Thanks!

For the record I totally get what you were trying to say in your thread, and it does make sense.


It's just for ME PERSONALLY...who cares that they guy didn't try to market to me 100 more times a day....I am so sick of people thinking I am to be their source of constant income because I put my (fake) email address in the box.

Good customer service (like what you got) for a person like me is WAY MORE likely to get me coming back to spend money with a person. I remember people.


What I do not remember is why I sign up to some list after the 10000th email from some guy selling me crap yet again.


Putting a brochure in the package does seem much less intrusive though, but as some others said it may not be worth it for the dude.

I see what you were trying to do Lisa but like others have noted i probably had a handful of people who ever replied to or used info included with items.
I still buy on eBay and honestly any pamphlets, cards etc. packaged with the item goes in the trash can...

With the kind of product your talking about there is a good chance the stuff was shipped directly from overseas and the seller never touched the package so he couldn’t add anything to it. The fact there is no invoice is sort of an indication that is what is going on here. Furthermore, on low margin items like this if you stuff all that extra stuff in the packaging as you indicated there is a good chance the 25 cent profit (if it was that much) would turn into a loss because of the added shipping costs.

zzzzzzzzzz wake me up when something interesting happens on this thread.

the only crime here is i wasted a minute reading this

Hahahah when i read the title i thought you may have been duped by the same women on judge Judy who soled the highly expensive pictures of mobile phones.

great post, i really enjoyed your advice, i also make it in my business, no thing better than building a relation with a first time customer and turning him to repeated one, thank you

eBay buyers generally buy on price. They don't care where they made their last purchase - next time they want something they would rather spend some time hunting out a fresh bargain than make a blind repeat purchase.

Great article :-)
20 Free Ebay PowerSeller Secrets

Well said. I'm definitely BIG on backend marketing.

I get the OP's point but since we are talking about an ebay account where you can track all your past purchases I dont really see the point in him exaggerating. Also keep in mind that what the seller sent you might be a product shipped from a dropshipper that never got in the hands of the seller for him to include a card or something.

In any case, IF you were completely satisfied with what you received then the next time you will need something that's where you are going. Reason is that you will obviously trust him and buy again from him without even considering of buying from someone else that you dont know even if the price is sligthly lower.

This thread = proof positive why many successful marketers don't bother posting anything in the WF after a certain point. And that is sad.

Rob

I thought the whole point of copywriting was to make some people love it, and some hate it. Seems like she did a good job lol

My goodness your AR list's email click rate must be AMAZING with headlines/content like that. Bravo =)

P.S. Reading through all the responses...one in particular, what kind of person reads something that is OBVIOUSLY a tip/interesting and useful point and just flat out insults the OP while at the same time completely MISSING the point of the post...?

I currently sell on ebay and amazon.

In response to the original post, it all depends on how you have your business set-up. If you cater to the low-end of the market. It does not make any cents to add the additional physical marketing (coupons, thank you cards, catalogs).

Plus as others mentioned you can just check you buying history if you want to buy again from them.

Many stores on ebay don't do a good job at branding themselves or products because people who come to purchase on ebay just want great deals and don't care about the fluff. A charger is a charge is a charge type mentality.

Also, many people who buy on eBay only buy on eBay.

I understand your point on the missed opportunity, but if you really don't have anything different and your business is only set up to crank out sells on eBay then focusing on what you do best will do the marketing for you. Which is, Offering Great Deals on EBay.

But if you use eBay as a lead system to drive traffic to your own business website, this maybe a huge opportunity missed. But it really depends on how they have their business setup.

No flowers or choccies? bummer

Everyone has his reason to do or not to do something. Maybe he think his business is just from serching, he don't put more time to build a list who knows

That's not a crime. Please use appropriate titles.

i don't know, why someone needs to be that aggressive with his opinion, i have seen it many times here, someone is making a thread pointing out something intending to enlighten others, and ouch an attacker comes along and ruin everything, that's really SAD

Great post Lisa!

I have had many similar experiences when buying on eBay myself - bottom line is that there are many thousands of eBayers who just don't do a very good job of maximizing their income - well done to you for pointing this out with suggestions to help them.

This thread really irks me for numerous reasons. This should probably get its own topic and receive a dozen thanks from people who can actually sit, (critical) think, and not stick with the hivemind mentality, while ironically creating one of its own.

I have spent countless hours working with various eCommerce store mediums, and ebay & amazon are still the two head hanchos that I specialize in and have had increases of at least 50% revenues on ebay alone on a month to month basis (from previous years), and helped turn a several hundred dollar a month amazon campaign into nearly over $50K/month+ campaign. I reverse engineer, split test, follow results like a hawk and this will be the only post where I mention this because I DON'T want people getting the wrong idea about this topic based on the OP.

Aside form that, I'm an avid eBay and Amazon buyer. I discuss ways to market with both marketers and non marketers whenever I can. But let's go back to the subject at hand, why this topic still pisses me off.

1. Enaging Title, it works obviously, but it's down-right not even close to what is talked about which leads to the following responses

1a. "This isn't a real crime, it's just a clever title with some 'good' info on what I should be doing that could be seen on every other post on WF if you browsed for more than 1 week, but I'm gonna disregard it because the title was engaging" (This is the #1 thing that makes me become more and more angsty with the SEO community in general, it's just a way to say the same information differently, they often get a pass in the community because SEO's are a tight clique and reputation is everything alongside that it's all "organic" so no one really feels like they are being sold on anything. This isn't much different when it comes to a flat out IM community since we are expected to be sold based on getting interest, but not on actual content).

1b. "Misleading title, what a way to get my interest. But that was too clever and now I don't feel as smart so I don't want to say anything" says a good majority of people who just browse / lurk whose subconscious told them what I just said. This ties into 1c.

1c. "Whoa the title fooled me, this person is a marketer and I should listen to everything that is said, and people thanked this topic a lot so it's gotta be good. I will do what she said verbatim". I am willing to bet a very good amount of people WILL do exactly what you said, not knowing the costs of doing so, understanding what products they sell and if it's actually worthwhile. You see it all the time with people complaining that WSO's take actual critical thinking and figuring stuff out and don't want to do it. They want a 100% step by step process to making money, want no risk. A topic like this which should be fairly obvious that the content isn't new whatsoever (and don't go ahead replying saying that complete newbs will benefit, that actually furthers my point about them following steps without any real thought as to why).

2. Obviously there are more reactions that are possible (see fluff) that are more cutthroat and are right to a certain extent. Although you both seemed to take a lot of things at face value at eachothers arguments. YES - I GOT YOUR MESSAGE, as a matter of fact I'm sure everyone who posted here got the point, but the fact that people overlooked that people who made arguments about the OP missed / ignore the points of people questioning it which is the most disturbing thing about this topic since they take disagreements as personal attacks.

3. The 4 things you questioned (as mentioned before in my post) aren't correct when you come to accusing a "crime".

3-1. No thank you note inside the package.

Well, I won't argue here. If you want to help improve business, I highly suggest people to get a small peice of paper, print out something that says, "thanks for buying from [ebay store], dont' forget to leave feedback and if you feel like we didn't give you 5-star service or have any questions, call [number], we are here to help". You can even get more clever and put a logo of your website (if you have one) that shows the URL. This is iffy with ebay but we haven't had any problems, so take that last bit of advice with a grain of salt. HOWEVER, this is BIG for Amazon on getting feedback, which is an indicator of winning the buybox which will increase sales.

3-2. No catalog, brochure or flyer.

No. A thank you note, directly giving them a call to action and let them know you are human is good enough. This is burning money. If people like you, they will add you to favorite sellers in the future, I do this with clothes.

3-3. No offer to join his mailing list.

I can't comment on this because my bias as a consumer when receiving more than 2 peices of paper (normally sales slip and a thank you note) turns me off from that buyer. And I'm very price consious, as are most ebayers who know what they are doing, and just about every Amazon buyer since it's based on price OUTSIDE of the buybox (although it is a factor). Some factors include feedback %, location, overall feedback, top seller status, obviously price, free ship, any sales on the item, reviews, description, clarity of content to help get more sales. This is just my view with no real data to say in joining an email list helps/hurts. It turns me off but I know lists work in general, so I'll stop here.

3-4. Heck, there wasn’t even an invoice with his company name on it.

No arguments here. This needs to be put on everything. It might be negligible when it comes to getting repeat buyers, but it's crucial for getting feedback and clarity on whether or not someone gets an item from the right vendor (people can order 3 same flashlights for on 3 different stores for example, but if they only receive 2 and both don't have a way to tell them apart, that's bad news bears).

However, for something that is bought for less than a couple bucks free ship that is mass wholesaled from China than shipped US and then sold to you, it's not really a loss-leader, it's a 2-5 cent profit. Price does trump most and just having an invoice would probably be enough, anything else they are probably spending too much outside of that (not just money, time as well).

TL;DR - Stuff hiveminds don't want to hear, lots of ranting, and a few spelling & grammar errors since I never proofread.

I like the Warrior forum the 1 thing I don't like is it reminds me of a place I use to live at where people try to get everyone in line, that part I hate. If someone does something that the 99% don't LET THEM don't try to get them in line. I know it will never happen but I hate it, I love individualism and hate people who try to get the 1% in line!

It happens all too often and not just with eBay but with so many businesses that I"m surprised that there are no follow up offers. But at the same time as some of you might know, there are others on the other extreme where they won't give you a chance to breathe without spamming you with something until you have to completely block them out.

As an Ebay seller for over 10 years, the only time I would invest in flyers, business cards, etc. if I was selling in a hobby niche. Folks who LOVE a particular hobby (ie. dolls, crafts, golf, etc.) are always on the lookout for a "source" for their hobby.

Making money on Ebay is different in some respects than other online making money methods. You have to understand what folks expect when they use Ebay to buy stuff.

Food for thought...

ha ha, wasn't expecting that. Thanks for the lesson

This is kind of an indirect response to the entire thread.

eBay sales leads convert poorly when sending them mail offers. I spent about $10,000 figuring this out. One of eBay's top sellers in the name brand clothing category that I operated for a while figured this out as well. You might as well send your customers a piece of toilet paper or a tissue because that's the only type of paper that they will be of any use to anyone. I sent 200 pieces of paper to customers that purchased an item of value more than $20.00 USD and said "When you leave me feedback, write "Purple Monkey Dishwasher," and I'll refund all of your money to you, no questions asked!" Not one single person left that as my feedback.

Even large e-mails lists of sellers do not convert well to individual items within eBay or to an outside website. I spent a great deal of effort into getting people pulled from eBay to my own websites with great promoting offers, even items that were highly marketed, low profit, low cost, high volume electronics. I now promote other kinds of offers (non-physical) to past eBay buyers (which makes my lists comprised of 100% buyers) and receive a 0.8% conversion rates with my e-mails written by professionals. Average price is about $25.00. I most recently found a better way to show new items to past buyers on a more social platform that you could probably guess, conversion rates are not fully tested but I like being more social than being more "one direction" with e-mail.

Also, in regards to Fluffy, he/she writes frequently in eBay threads. I wouldn't argue that he/she has experience in eBay... eBay has a way of turning people sour and I tend to not judge them based on the communications. I did an "Advanced eBay Sellers" seminar in Chicago last year to about 20 sellers with more than 10,000 positive feedback. I couldn't even crack a joke. Life was completely sucked out of them.

So Silas,

If I understand you correctly, there is absolutely no value to printing at a bottom of an invoice "Thank you for your purchase,. We have a wide variety of screen protectors and gel cases to keep your phone looking new,. Visit us at www.MyEbayStore.com" ?

I was the victim of a warriorforum.com search
I am over it

I'm always stoked when my package comes exactly how I wanted it. Hell, the very few online purchases I make now for physical products don't need an invoice, and I don't care who shipped them to me.

Does the product work? Was the shipping fast?

If both those are answered yes, I know how to get back in touch. In fact, even if the person DID have a card listing ways to get in touch easier or join a list, I'd simply throw it in the trash.

Why? Because that is not what I ordered. I ordered a product. They delivered the product and that is what I wanted.

BP

Sounds like a drop ship item. Vendor takes the order, payment, sends it to fulfillment, addressed and sent to your door step.

Is there any reason why this thread has gone on this long? Better yet, why are people so mad about the thread title?

Lisa is talking, in her opinion, of missed marketing opportunities.

When I started in IM I was on so many lists it was sickening. I learned too slowly to get off them as fast as possible when I was averaging 200 emails a day and being less productive because of them.

But making firm relationships with clients is essential. We launch a financial membership program next month and generally autoresponders are thought to be helpful for staying in the client's mind. But what the heck do you write? Unless you ask the client how to be useful to them, you will upset as many people as you please.

In hopes this may be useful to others, I will share with you an optional questionnaire we designed and that clients will see just once after the initial sign-up page. Knowing something about each client will allow us to segregate them into groups for more personal follow-up and service. We have no other product so, unless we offer other marketers OTOs, we are not trying to sell, just to serve.

If we give unusually good service along with an excellent product we should get more word-of-mouth referrals. There is a company Rich Scheferen speaks of that will send birthday cards and even brownies. We plan to use them. (Our membership is around $25 a month so we can give something back.)

Anyhow, instead of prattling on, here's the questionnaire. If you think an adaptation would be good for your business, help yourself.

Optional Questionnaire

We are not being nosey! Answering the following questions will help us to tailor service specifically to your needs. Whether you answer any or all of them is up to you but you may then receive advice above or below your experience level. Answering them is not mandatory. Your information will remain strictly confidential. You will not see this page again.

Full name [pre-filled from database]

Mailing address [pre-filled from database]

Investor experience: Novice X Some experience X Moderately experienced X Experienced X

How long since your first investment XX years

What types of investment have you made? Long stocks X Short stocks X Options X Forex X Commodities X

Family income: Less than $80,000 X
$80,001 - $120,000 X
$120,001 - $150,000 X
More than $150,001 X

Occupation: XXXXXXXXX

Available investment capital? $XXX,XXX,XXX

Level of acceptable risk:
X Bank deposits, money market funds, bonds
X I get nervous if my investment falls 20% even if I believe it will recover
X Risk is okay if I am sure losses are temporary
X Risk is okay if I make a positive return regardless of some losses

Number of years before you need to start drawing down investment capital XX years

Special future wishes for your capital (legacy, new home, other major expenditure and amount)XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Email address: XXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXXX
---

Hope this helps you to improve your business.

Sydney

I do not get it why some of you are quite annoyed at OP's post. It is a legitimate post that gives us insight on how to do things. Fluff whatever association you are in; you are seriously not doing the right things.

I am not on ebay but I own 3 facebook shops and 2 ecommerce businesses. I use drop shippers and even though i do not need to pack etc, i make the dropshipper to include a small pamphlet for me.

This pamphlet's Gist: Thank you for purchasing this product, and to make sure you do not miss out on our promotional ones; do subscribe here:......................... or you can simply check out the best ones below. PRODUCTS LIST AND PRICINGS.

Why i know it works is because the promotional products page are not visible on the main page; you need the link to access it and out of every 100 sales i have; I receive around 30 sales on the promotional product page.

And when you compare the shipping adds and names; they are those people who bought recently.

So one thing I can say is that it works; it might not have work for you but it certainly works and I applaud OP for sharing this with us.

it aint different it is about selling physical products. thats it.

Regardless of what you think or what I think; this can be an eye opener for someone out there on how to do business. They can add their own twists to it and make it work. There is no need to approach things with a pessimistic attitude just because it did not work for you.

Regards

I doubt it was dropped shipped. At least not from overseas. The auction said it ships from Florida. I live in Florida and I received it in 2 days. The postage costs were nearly what I paid for the item.

Hi,

The 'latest' crime strategy in our country and his happened to my friend.

He saw an advertisement poster:

Paid only when our product reach your door step, check the item if ok then only paid to the us!! Wow!! What a encouraging and secure transaction James thought of.

He purchased an i phone4s smart phone. The phone reached him in 2 weeks time. James checked the phone and bring it to Apple store and noted that the smart phone was genuine and original phone. James was happy with the deal and paid the merchant as instructed.

Unfottunately, James was called for explanation by police officer whereby James was suspect to used other credit card holder to purchase Iphone4s. James was puzzled!!

The real senario:

The 'merchant'- lets call hacker purchased the iphone4s from another genuine seller via credit card (This credit card was belongs to other people.) The hacker instructed the genuince iphone4s seller to send to James. James checked and paid to another account holder. The hacker told that the account holder is hacker's wife.

When the credit card holder realized that his card being misuse, he traceed back all the record and found out that the Iphone4s was sent to James. So James was indirectly involved into this crime.

maybe add an optin email mini-flyer, with "free tips for (product area)" newsletter, as an insert with what's being shipped

I think this speaks to a larger problem some online marketers face. With all the information out there and perhaps the information overload, we find ourselves scattered and unable to stick or focus on any one thing, much less make money online.

The process you talked about is the difference between approaching this as a business vs a hobby. Or approaching this from the idea of a consumer vs a marketer.

The Internet Marketing niche does so well because a lot of people enter it with the mindset of a consumer. So they buy everything without applying anything.

Or like is stated here, that to many do not think of the entire process. The sales funnel, all those things that we would consider to be non-sexy in marketing, yet the things that bring in extra money every month.

It might be paying attention to these small details that sets other apart. These details is the difference between those scheduled to make a million this year and those who will go buy 10 more WSO's before the end of the month.

This is a great post...very solid thinking and right on track

Well this just made my morning.

Love this! I also think this applies to the online world.
Follow up with customers, thank you email, list building etc

Offer valuable products and your customers will buy from you again and again

Very good insight! Totally agree.

Some people I guess don't really care.

Some people seem to have an advanced case of irony deficiency.

To complain that the OP's title is misleading is simply fatuous. Although clearly intended as an ironic crowd-puller, it is in fact a statement of truth as well: failing to cover the small points is a crime against ones own business!

I have bought hundreds of items from ebay and as a customer I always appreciate those that arrive with an invoice, a business card or a hand-written thank-you comp slip. An offer for other products the company sells is also always welcome.

Do these things make me buy more? Probably not directly. But they definitely have an indirect effect in that I will be more drawn to future ebay offers made by companies who have impressed me than those who have not.

Case in point, I just bought a screen cover for my Kindle and chose to buy from a seller who I'd previously bought an iPhone screen cover from, and who had given me good service, than one of their many competitors.

Why on Earth would you not take a well-meant, highly sensible post as something to appreciate rather than something to criticize because you are focused on picking holes in the title?

Good headline. You got my attention, that's for sure.

I know people may think the title is misleading, but it did exactly what the OP was looking for. Getting us to open the post.

Marketing 101.

Not a strong case. Case is closed.