I knoowwww!!! I never thought I'd talk about Britney here. But I'm trying to post something every day for September, that relates to Google Trends. Today, Britney made a low-key re-entry into the spotlight on the MTV Video Music Awards. (Does MTV still even show videos?)
In any case, I got to looking to see what Britney items are doing well on eBay. I found her promos do quite well with a 54% sell-through rate. The Britney dolls also do alright at nearly 50%. Not bad. Maybe someone will start a Britney niche store with Build a Niche Store. You sure wouldn't hurt for content ideas...OOOPS.
Take a look at the latest Britney promos. See you tomorrow right here. I will bet Ike will be a topic for discussion in the days to come.
In my month of posts, I'm pulling a top ten term from Google Trends (when there's nothing else to write about) and taking a look at current merchandise offered online.
Today is the 120th football season opener for Notre Dame University. They're playing San Diego State in South Bend, Indiana.
Other facts about Notre Dame's Stadium you might not know:
Today's game was the 400th game inside the house that Rockne built.
The stadium’s first game was in October of 1930 when Knute Rockne guided the team to victory over SMU.
Today is also the 200th consecutive sellout of Notre Dame Stadium.
Every seat has been sold since the 1973 Air Force game.
Fifteen head coaches have led the Irish through the tunnel and onto the field.
Only eight road teams have won their first game inside Notre Dame Stadium.
Since I grew up about 30 miles from there, I thought I'd dig into what can be found both on eBay and on Amazon. Take a look at the difference in the merchandise on the two sites. eBay has the collectibles and hard to find items, such as game tickets. Amazon has the more common commodity products. Both good. But where will you sell?
With unbridled enthusiasm, the business world has begun adopting eBay's new strategy to provide a better shopping experience.
...okay, well not really. In fact eBay sellers are outraged yet again. eBay's newest policy comes in two parts:
If a seller has multiple identical items, eBay will only display one on the search results page. Once the displayed item has a bid, the items are no longer identical, and eBay will show another.
eBay search results pages will display a maximum of 10 items for any given seller. If seller #1 has more than ten items listed, and a buyer performs a search, they will only see 10 items from seller #1 on the first page of search results. Seller #1's next ten items will appear on page two of the search results and so on.
BRILLIANT!
If this were a sound business decision, brick and mortar stores would be likely to follow eBay's far-sighted policies.
Imagine the scene...
(wiggly picture wiggly picture wiggly picture)
Donut shopkeeper: "Morning Mr. Donahoe!"
John Donahoe: "Morning! How's my favorite donut seller?"
Donut shopkeeper: "Doin' great Mr. Donahoe! What can I get you?"
John Donahoe: "Big meeting today. (whispering) We think we've figured out the problem over at eBay."
Donut shopkeeper: "NO WAY! That's great. (whispers) What are you thinking it is?"
John: "Customers! This would be a great business if it weren't for customers. Get rid of the customers - no more problems!"
Donut shopkeeper: "So how are ya gonna do it?"
John: "We've come up with a plan. If we can hide their listings, no transactions will take place. No transactions, no customers, no problems!"
Donut shopkeeper: "How do you come up with that stuff?"
John: (kicking at the ground with an "awe shucks" grin) "I know, I know. - Hey, I'll take a dozen donuts. I want the white ones with colored sprinkles."
Donut shopkeeper: "Sorry Mr. Donahoe, I can only sell you ten. We keep the rest at the store on the next block. You can go down there for the other two. (Pauses) HEY! That's kinda like your plan huh?"
John: (bottom lip quivering) "Yeah, but by the time I get over there, they might be gone!"
Donut shopkeeper: "I'm sorry Mr. Donahoe, that's policy now. The boss decided ten was all we could have out at a time. Kinda makes the old 'dozen donuts' a thing of the past though. He said it makes a better 'experience' or somthing like that? Oh and besides, you can hop over to the next store an grab those other two, if you have time."
John: "Nahhh, I won't make it. I still have to stop by the flower shop. It's Lorrie's birthday."
John drives to the flower shop to get his colleague some flowers for her birthday. Little does he know the flower shop has also adopted eBay's ground-breaking strategy.
John: "Good morning! I'm kind of in a hurry - I need to get twelve yellow roses!"
Florist: "Ooooo that sounds nice! Who are they for?"
John: "One of my workmates is having a birthday. I know she'll like these - hey where'd you get those donuts?"
Florist: "Next door - last two they had! ...I'm afraid I have some bad news..."
John: "What's that?"
Florist: "Well, we have this new policy, we can only sell you ten identical roses - would you like two red to go with the ten yellow?"
John: (frustrated) "No! - you don't have twelve yellow?"
Florist: "Well, no we wanted to offer a better selection to the customers, so we put a limit of ten on any one type. You can go to our other store and get more though."
John: "I don't have time for that. - Okay, give me the ten yellow and just give me the best match for the other two. I still need to get some gas on the way to the office."
Florist: "There you are. I hope she likes them!"
John drives to the gas station across the street from eBay. He runs his credit card and starts pumping the gas. It stops at ten gallons.
(Click click click) - "Hey! - What's wrong with this thing?"
Attendant: "We only are selling ten gallons of the gas."
John: "But I need more than that."
Attendant: "You can buy more. Just pull ahead to the next pump."
John: "That's ridiculous! It's inconvenient."
Attendant: "You actually could also just choose a different grade, which is a different price. And you'll have to run your card again. Sorry, it's policy."
John: "Forget it. (then muttering to himself) This is a PAIN!! Who comes up with this stuff? I still have to get more donuts...I'm going to be late for my meeting now...why is everything always so complicated?"
What's wrong with this policy?
eBay is moving ever closer to the social engineering we have seen in government programs. They feel buyers are too stupid to find what they want on their own. eBay knows best.
The fact is, buyers are finding what they want. But it's not on eBay anymore. (Click click click) - "Hey! - What's wrong with this thing?"
eBay has announced after careful consideration, they are leaving their links policy as is. That is good news. On May 19, 2008, eBay announced a change to their links policy. This change would have required sellers to remove nearly every outbound link from any seller-created page, including listing pages, and About Me pages. Now, we'll pretend the whole thing was a big mistake. We sellers can keep our links. But just imagine the number of hours already spent, changing listings "just in case" eBay went ahead with the new "no links" decision.
Hours have been lost changing listings, and griping on discussion boards that could have been spent productively by sellers this summer. For some sellers, the new links policy was the last straw - and they left.
There is no question that the earlier announcement was carefully considered. So this decision to leave the policy as is screams to be scrutinized. Is eBay feeling the heat of disgruntled sellers? Has the internal communication broken down so one hand doesn't know what the other is doing? eBay doesn't reverse many decisions, so something out of the norm seems to be happening.
The bottom line is - even though we can keep links in our About Me pages and even some in our listings - this was sloppy and hurt eBay sellers and eBay as a company. What a shame.
Jerkin' Back and Forth
Take a look at the lyrics and video from this 1981 song by Devo - does this fit with the eBay we know today? If I had to sing a song to eBay, here's how it would go...
Jerkin' Back and Forth Lyrics
I know I let you tell me what to do
You were confident you knew best
Now things arent working like you want them to
Your confidence is what I detest
You got me lookin up high
You got me searchin down low
You got me I know you know
You got me jerkin back n forth
You told me people like to suffer
You told me thats the way it is
You said that things were getting better
You said I should expect all this
You think its funny
But what I say is true
The reason that I live like this
Is all because of you
There is a thought that keeps me thinking
Like a stone inside my shoe
It is a vision reoccurring
A dirty window I can see you through
July 18th, the official release date for The Dark Knight, the newest Batman movie. For years I've been telling people to watch for big releases, and cash in on the buzz with eBay. Does it still work?
I did some research with Terapeak, and the results are interesting. If you have some old Batman grappling hooks, or one of the three Batmobile replicas in your barn, you may want to drag them out. In fact, as I write this, there is a No. 1 issue of Bat-Man on eBay for nearly $6000. (Yes, he was first referred to as Bat-Man.) As the buzz for the movie increases, so will the interest in Batman memorabilia. And there is some really cool stuff out there.
Terapeak results show the sell-through rate for Batman on eBay, over the past seven days is at 52% and climbing. The best sell-through rate is Toys & Hobbies category, with Collectibles category doing a little less, but with the most items listed. The fact is, this is a great example of a predictable pop culture event, that will pull all the Bat-people out of the rafters to sell their stuff. Collectors will be looking and the competition will raise prices.
eBay used to be the go-to place for these things. My opinion is eBay still is. While I love Amazon, no place has the excitement of the eBay auctions for collectibles. With all of eBay's bruises lately, lets see if they can still perform for the Dark Knight.
Check out the Batman items for sale below. Holy IT Batman!!
eBay has announced after careful consideration, they are leaving their links policy as is. That is good news. On May 19, 2008, eBay announced a change to their links policy. This change would have required sellers to remove nearly every outbound link from any seller-created page, including listing pages, and About Me pages. Now, we'll pretend the whole thing was a big mistake. We sellers can keep our links. But just imagine the number of hours already spent, changing listings "just in case" eBay went ahead with the new "no links" decision.
I did some research with Terapeak, and the results are interesting. If you have some old Batman grappling hooks, or one of the three Batmobile replicas in your barn, you may want to drag them out. In fact, as I write this, there is a No. 1 issue of Bat-Man on eBay for nearly $6000. (Yes, he was first referred to as Bat-Man.) As the buzz for the movie increases, so will the interest in Batman memorabilia. And there is some really cool stuff out there.
