Selling on eCrater - part 3

So now that you have opened an eCrater store, designed it and hopefully started to add products to it here is some tips on tweaking it so you can get more visitors.

Your title descriptions should include as many "keywords" as you can fit. Keywords are what people put into search engines to find what they are looking for. For example, say you are listing a red apron that fits a child. You would not describe it as simply a child's apron since that would not get you many views. You would add as many descriptive words to your title description as you can. You would add the color, material, length or an unique features that someone might be looking for. Additionally you would write at least 100 - 200 words in your main description of the item so that Google could filter those words into their search engine. Your goal is that your item will be indexed by Google and show up in searches. Yes, eCrater also sends your item listings to Google shopping but you need to do more to get more customers.

Use as many pictures in your listing as you can. Ecrater allows for many photos for each item so use those spaces. Your customers love photos and want to see as many angles as possible.

The more you list the more you can sell. The average sell through rate for me is 15 - 35 % each month. That means that if I list 100 items a month then I will sell only 15 to 35 of them. That is per month, not per week or day. So in order to sell more you have to list more. I find that if I list about 160 items priced from $8 to $24, I can sell about $20 worth of items a day. For a business that is not good, that is a very small part time hobby income. So to make more money, I have to list more items.

A word about listings. Google does not like identical listings and if they find them, they will bury them in their search engine. Each listing needs to be a different item. If you are listing items that are the same except different colors or sizes then you will need to make a listing for each color or size. You will need to change that listing title and main description to be different enough so that Google does not penalize your listings.

If you missed parts 1 and 2 of this series you can find them listed on my HOW TO page.


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Selling on eCrater - part 2

In selling on eCrater - part 1, we covered the basics of getting an account, naming your store and the items you will need to get going. Now I will cover designing that store.

Your bare store will look like this in your dashboard:

Here is where you get to pick a color scheme. Pick a good color that will go with your logos and storefront photo.

Next you will need a good logo that will serve as the button on the top of each of your pages to act as "home." When a visitor clicks on your logo, it will take them to your store front home page.

Please note that you are limited to the size of the logo you can upload.

You will also need to pick a photo for the home page (it will replace the photos of the wine glasses).

After you have uploaded and saved the photos to your store, you now want to put text on your front page. You cannot put any clickable links on any of the pages or your store items so you don't have to worry about HTML or any kinds of coding. You want to go to the "edit texts" link in your dashboard and edit "home", "terms and conditions" (where you will state your shipping policy, returns policy and anything else that will affect your customers transaction with you), and you might want to edit your "about us" to give your customers a little background about your store.

So have some fun and design away.

I'll have another installment of selling on eCrater up in a few days. Don't forget that you can see any of the other parts in this series by going to my How to page.

You can now get Sewing for Cash on your Kindle. Just click on the link to take you there. There is a free trial period.

Dealing with bad buyers on eBay

If you have sold more than a few items on eBay recently then you are well aware of some of the nutty buyers there are out there. In my own experience I get one nut job out of every 30 sales.

Ebay does offer some great filtering settings to weed out some buyers such as the non-paying filter which you can set to filter out buyers that have had more than 2 incidents of not paying for items on eBay in the past year. What eBay does not filter is the scam buyers. Unfortunately I have gotten 3 of them in the past 2 months.

My scamming buyers operate like this:
They buy an item. They typically wait for about a week after they receive it to contact me with a problem with the item. Two of my last 3 have claimed that the item was not described correctly and they have a problem with it. One item was advertised as broken and it even had pictures showing the broken parts. The buyer wanted $10 or they would leave negative feedback. That is called feedback extortion and eBay will close accounts that are found to be trying that. I emailed the buyer back and told him that I would not be refunding any money and thanked him for suggesting the $10 as a pay off for not putting negative feedback and told him in the message that he was guilty of feedback extortion and if he did go through with leaving negative feedback - I would report him. I reported him anyway and added him to my blocked buyers list. He never did leave feedback.

The next buyer claimed the item did not arrive. The delivery confirmation showed it was delivered. I sent back this email which is a standard email for sellers to send out to "missing"deliveries

 Dear, XXXXX
I am sorry to hear that your package is missing. First check with your post office, neighbors & family, and if you do not find your package, take the next steps below.


Since Delivery Confirmation was used, the Post Office will investigate why you never received your package, because someone, somewhere, has it. Mail fraud is a felony, and the Post Office takes these type of complaints very seriously.  What to do if Delivery Confirmation shows delivery and you don't have the package, USPS can often deliver to the wrong address, or mark the package "Delivered", when it's still in the Post Office.  The first thing to do is to contact USPS using this "Lost Mail" form and fill it out:

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/filecomplaint.aspx

This is the only form that will cause USPS to look for and trace your package and get to you.  Choose "Delivery" then "Lost" from the drop down box.  Using this form places a "Note" first on the USPS Delivery Confirmation tracking page.  This will be important if you have to file a charge back with your credit card company.

After the investigation, if your package is not found, the Delivery Confirmation delivered will be changed to "Lost".  When DC shows "Delivered", Paypal, or you credit card will not refund your money.  Paypal or your credit card will not refund until you file this form and the investigation is complete.  You can also call USPS Track & Confirm service at 1(800)222-1811.

If you suspect that it might have been taken from your mailbox, I do suggest filing a police report. Since stealing mail is a federal offense you may have to follow up with a report to the post office.


Thanks so much. Let me know how things turn out.  Best of Luck.

After I sent that email to the buyer I get a "case" filed against me in eBay. It was plain that the buyer had no intention of looking for the item because not enough time had lapsed since I sent the email (just about 40 minutes), or she had indeed gotten her item and either wanted me to refund her money or send another one (which I did not have).

Ebay's case process has the buyer and seller message each other until one of them either gives up or tells eBay that there is an impasse. It was during the process the buyer admits the item was stolen and wanted to see if eBay's buyer protection would cover it. I did not want to say "sorry lady, but both eBay and the seller are not responsible for items taken from you after they are in your possession."  Instead she closed the case and left me odd positive feedback. Her final words on the item were, "too much hassle for a $5 item"

My latest odd buyer bought an item she just didn't like. I told her that I would refund in full as soon as I got the item back...no problem right - wrong. She sent me back an email trashing the item and that she would not send it back. I was getting a feeling that she wanted a refund and keep the item too. I held my position because I know that if she filed a case with eBay, eBay would require me to refund, but I can add "on the condition of the return of the item" to the case. So she leaves me a negative ding. I do wonder if she plans on filing a "case" against me.

All 3 buyers are now on my blocked buyers list.

Now some advice to sellers. Use Toolhaus.org to check out your buyers. You can use that website to see what feedback they have been leaving for others. The buyers who are new to scamming sellers are nuts enough to leave negative feedback that shows what they are up to like "buyer would not refund money" only to have the seller leave a reply like "You are lying. Feedback Extortion Reported to Ebay." The buyers that are expert scammers usually do not leave feedback at all. They just move on to the next victim to extort money from.


You can now get Sewing for Cash on your Kindle. Just click on the link to take you there. There is a free trial period.