Catalog Mailings Down 20%

Multichannel Merchant reports that catalog mailings for March 2008 were down 20% from the same month last year.  They speculate that a depressed economy and increase in paper and delivery costs have contributed.

I think this leaves somewhat of an opening for e-commerce merchants to include mini-catalogs, highlighting their products, inside shipments.  I've always been a big fan of this strategy as a great way to foster long term customers.  Just make sure to give them a great buying experience so they pick up your catalog as their Sunday morning reading. Read More...

What Sellers Should Know about EBay's Latest Shipping Announcement

Ebay's Kristina Klausen recently posted a "Shipping Update" that implys some heavy hitting changes.

Beginning in the next "few months," all sellers will be required to use eBay's shipping calculator instead of other 3rd party tools. Let's touch on the pros and cons...

The Good:
Ebay has been focusing on improving and standardizing the buyer experience. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Bad:
Ebay's calculator is very limiting in both shipping carriers (only supports USPS and UPS) and concurrent service level offerings. Is eBay expecting all sellers to ditch DHL and Fedex?

The reality is that many people still distrust buying on eBay. With all the heavy changes lately, eBay has obviously decided that it will no longer be entrusting the important aspects of the buyer experience to its sellers. And, while it's causing a lot of drastic changes for sellers, remember that eBay's end goal is increased traffic, ASPs (Average Sale Prices), and STR (Sell Through Rate).

As a side note, Amazon doesn't even let sellers specify their own shipping rates on most products.

Here's a quick summary of the points in the announcement:
1. Reiteration of shipping costs factored into best match
2. New policies to require specified shipping through eBay instead of description
3. USPS Large Flat Rate Box integrated into calculator

Extra Note to Laris Customers: We're opening up the eBay shipping calculator beta integration to current customers to help get ready for the change. Read More...

Shipping Box and Weight Requirements for UPS, USPS, Fedex

Just a quick note I had to share:

I found a page buried in the eBay help files that has ALL of the shipping weight and dimension requirements clearly and concisely on one page. The file lists each service level for USPS, UPS, and Fedex. Take a look:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/shipping-options.html

I can't tell you how much of my time and our clients' time has been wasted digging through the courier sites trying to find this information when needed. Hope this helps! Read More...

What Every Seller Should Know about Third Party Shipping Insurance

Do you only insure packages that your buyers have chosen insurance on? I've found that most sellers do, and spend hours per month on customer service and wondering whether or not to eat the cost of a lost of damaged shipment.

There's a better way, and it's called third party insurance!

I'd bet many of you have heard of it but have not given it much thought. Imagine never losing any sleep over problem packages. Better yet, imagine 100% satisfaction when you instantly refund a buyer who receives his package in smithereens.

Here's the strategy:

Sign up with a company like U-PIC or DSI to insure all of your packages each month. Right off the bat you'll have considerable savings on shipping insurance (usually about 50-70% off) from what you're paying now.

Continue to offer optional insurance at the regular carrier rates. You could even lower them slightly if your management software allows for this (hint: Laris customers should set up their custom rates).

The result:

Your customers that opt into insurance will end up covering your entire monthly bill for insurance in most cases. No extra cost, and everything is insured! I know that after a while, U-PIC will set you up with a monthly rate as long as your claim history isn't too high.

With this strategy, we see many of our clients actually making a profit on insurance without gouging their clients and covering all of their shipments! Read More...