BQool Repricing Central VS Amazon Automate Pricing

May 18,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

If you have been an Amazon seller for a long time, you might already noticed that there is numerous repricing software on the market for Amazon sellers. Even Amazon itself has launched its own repricing system called Automate Pricing during the spring of 2016. Although the service is completely free, it’s not equipped with robust features for sellers and thus, failed to meet some sellers’ expectations. If you are looking for an Amazon repricer now and would like to know the difference between BQool Repricing Central and Amazon Automate Repricing, this article highlights the main advantages BQool Repricing has over Amazon Automate Repricing.

Basically, BQool Repricing and Amazon Automate Pricing both follow rule-based repricing, and allow exclusion of competitors by number of feedback ratings. BQool’s Repricing Central plans above $25 per month reprice every 15 minutes and plans above $100 per month reprice as fast as every 5 minutes, while Automate Pricing reprice every 15 minutes to one hour depending on the rule.

However, there are several differences between BQool Repricing and Amazon Automate Pricing. Here is a comparison:

Pricing strategy is an important part of running a business. How a user sets up their repricing rules to change prices also has a great impact on sales, sales volume, and competitiveness. Sellers should carefully consider all available features when choosing a suitable repricer for their business. Though Amazon’s repricer is free of charge to all professional seller accounts, BQool’s affordable repricer is packed with helpful features and data that give you a distinct advantage over competitors.

BQool is a SaaS company offering great software solutions that help Amazon merchants resolve daily business challenges. The BQool suite so far consists of Repricing, Feedback, and Review Central. To learn more about BQool, please visit https://www.bqool.com/

Amazon Amazon Strategies

Buy Box and Product Differentiation on Amazon

May 18,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

Amazon is now a very crowded marketplace compared to 10 years ago when I first started selling. Sellers are now finding it tough to rank on best match search result and it is the same with winning the buy box. The Buy box is simply a top prominent “buy now” button. Losing this position may mean no sales at all. This post will talk about how to win a buy box and how product differentiation is a good way forward.

Amazon has set out many criteria to win the buy box position and out of many – Fulfilment By Amazon, Price and Feedback percentage are the main ones in my experience.

Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA)

How to win Buy box - Daytodayebay

In this example, the product sold by Amazon wins the buy box even if there are other cheaper products.
Tip: Trial FBA if you are competing with other Amazon sellers

Price

Buy Box Winning Strategies - Daytodayebay

Lowest price seller wins buy box in this example
Tip: Monitor your price and amend as necessary. It is always good to generate sales volume with less profit than no sales at all

Manual price update is possible with less SKU but if you have a high number of items automated solutions like eprice can help. It connects with all your Amazon accounts, follows your pricing rules and automatically changes prices keeping you competitive all the time.

Feedback Percentage

Seller with high feedback % wins the buy box
Tip: Ensure your performance level is up to standard. It is always best to avoid bad feedback even if this means a loss. This is simply because bad feedback impacts on your overall account.

So how to avoid Buy Box Competition

Private Labels

We have seen the rise of “Amazon Private Labels”. They are simply a copy of original products the “Aldi” way and production is now possible in smaller batches by reaching out to Chinese manufacturers via Alibaba or Global sources. Private labels now play a very significant role in creating sustainable businesses with Amazon.

What we are seeing here is successful three-way relationships between Amazon, brand owners and factories and this is only going to get stronger.

Product Bundles

Another way to avoid buy box competition is grouping products. If you are selling brands readily available to anyone else, it is good practice to include one of your brands in a bundle. This prevents any one else to list on your ASIN.

Create Product Bundles on Amazon - Daytodayebay

Tip: Include your own brand to prevent others from selling

With the rise of Amazon sellers everyone is doing their best to win the buy box and differentiate their products. The above examples hopefully act as reminder. If you have any more questions, please do get in touch.

Amazon

Grow your business with Certified Refurbished on Amazon

Mar 31,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

We are seeing more and more refurbished products on Amazon. These includes laptops, phones, tablets to kitchen appliances and office equipment. They come with certification from Amazon giving extra layer of security to buyers. To be part of this, a seller has to meet Amazon’s strict performance standard and should follow following strict guidelines:

Products sold look and work like new
Refurbishment process includes diagnostic test, replacement of any defective parts, a thorough cleaning and inspection process, and repackaging where applicable
All relevant accessories as expected for a new product should be included and it should give 1-year limited warranty

I had quick look in Laptop category to see the level of month sales and they are quite impressive. Checkout Amazon’s page for more details

Amazon

Buyer Opt Out Email and What You Should Do

Mar 31,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

Amazon’s Opt-Out of Buyer-Seller Messaging

Lately many Amazon sellers have received messages regarding the opt out messages from Amazon indicating: “We were unable to deliver the message you sent for order xxxxxxxxxx ……”. BQool has investigated, and here is the information that we would like to share.

Why did I receive an email from Amazon saying my message could not be delivered?

Amazon is now allowing buyers to opt out of receiving unsolicited messages from sellers. If you send an email to a buyer who has opted out, Amazon will block the message and send you a bounceback email with instructions for how you can still message the buyer if it is critical to completing the order.

How do buyers opt out of messages from sellers?

In buyer accounts, Amazon has provided settings of Email Preferences in Communication Preferences Centre. If buyers select the option of “Do not send me any marketing email for now” here, they will unsubscribe from Amazon’s marketing emails. Please note that this means buyers will not receive “Amazon marketing communications”. You should still respond to inquiries in which buyers contacted you first. Buyers can’t opt out of those. If your response is blocked, make sure that you are responding to the original message thread and that the original message is included in your reply.

What does that mean for buyers to opt out of messages from sellers?

This means that buyers will only receive emails with information critical to completing the order, such as product customization questions, delivery scheduling, and issue with a shipping address. Sellers can no longer send messages which are not critical to completing the order such as: shipment confirmations, product manuals, out of stock notifications, and feedback or product review requests. The new rule does not apply to messages regarding handmade, wine, or custom orders. Please note that Amazon has warned sellers that “repeated violation of this policy may result in enforcement actions or lose selling privileges”.

How do I send messages that are critical to completing the order if my message was blocked?

Amazon still allows sellers to send critical messages via Buyer Seller Messaging. To do so, click the buyer’s name on the Manage Orders page and you will be lead to Buyer-Seller Messaging. Then select “Additional Information Required” as your subject, write your message, and click “Send”. Please note that you can only choose “Additional Information Required” here as other subjects will cause the message being bounced back again if the buyer opted out.

How can I identify buyers who have opted out?

Currently the only way to identify buyers is from the bounceback email. So far this information is not available through Seller Central or Amazon’s API. BQool will keep monitoring this issue and will keep you posted as we learn more.

I’m using a feedback service and how can I prevent sending emails to these buyers from it?

If you are using an Amazon feedback service such as BQool’s Feedback Central, there should be a setting that allows you to add buyers who have chosen to opt out into a blacklist. Once they are on the blacklist, the feedback system will block all emails to these buyers.

We hope the above information is helpful. If you have any questions or comments with regards to this issue, please don’t hesitate to contact BQool.

BQool is a SaaS company offering great software solutions that help Amazon merchants resolve daily business challenges. They strive to create products that will increase Amazon sellers’ feedback rating, product reviews and sales. Each feature is designed to make your job easier and save time.

eBay Strategies

Terapeak’s New Sellers Tab

Mar 24,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

Terapeak recently introduced Product Research 2.0 function which is another way to learn more about competition. Before recent changes we used to be able to see top seller’s ID, a powerful tool for many sellers. This post is all about my observations on new research function

The *New* Sellers Tab

I searched for “organic coffee beans” using Product Research 2.0 and screenshot above shows the information I get that matched my search:

Anonymous sellers

With new policy seller’s IDs are hidden which used be powerful tool for competitive analysis before.

Here’s a comment on recent Tamebay article:

“After 6 years of a terapeak subscription, I have just cancelled because of this. It was all I used it for. Is another company going to fill void? Could someone post a link?”

Number of items sold

Historical number of items sold helps to decide whether the product I am looking for actually worth investing.

Average transaction price

Average price helps me decide a price point and perhaps helps making that sourcing decision.

Average shipping cost

Shipping cost is going towards “0” and it is now acceptable practice to include postage on item price. In this particular example there are some sellers with £4.00 shipping charge on average.

% of Listings with free shipping

Over 90% of listings with free delivery, this is suggesting me to adapt free shipping.

Total Transaction value

This gives me total value of sales to help me decide if my venture is worth any penny.

All in all, this is certainly a helpful tool for new sellers to measure competition. The sortable list allows to correlate item sold, average price, shipping and total sales. E.g. sorting by number of total item sales shows how many items were sold corresponding to the average price.

Other interesting result

Many sellers I work with like to keep track of few of their competitors. E.g. If you are in a “Small Kitchen Appliance” category, you’d like to keep track on Andrew James brand. They are one of the top sellers and they sell on most marketplaces including Tesco. We can track their performance with new sellers tab.

The screenshot below shows all we discussed above just based on my search query “Andrew James”. I can see their sales, item sold and price on a particular product category

To see a good result use filters like below to avoid auctions or private resellers.

Another interesting addition to the recent changes is the ability to search with EAN. The screen shot below shows how to use filter to get result.

This screenshot below shows information we already discussed with the time frame but only based on EAN. Given that EAN is correctly entered on listings, the results will tell me information on exact product I am looking for. This is fantastic !

I hope you found these information useful. Let me know your thoughts.

Here at DaytodayeBay, we use research tools like Terapeak to provide marketplace consultancy on eBay. We have also written a sort case study of how we have made improvements on one of the eBay accounts we worked in the past.

We have worked with sellers on various categories and helped them develop and optimise their business. I’d love to help you, please get in touch.

Amazon

Amazon Account Management: 380% increase in sales in 3 months

Mar 12,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

Online Seller UK: 380% Increased Sales in 3 months

We have been working on Amazon management project for sometime. This was initially carried on as a test project and now we are rolling this out to all Amazon sellers. The management service is a result of our 9+ years of consulting business. We have tried and tested various methods and overall our results are positive.

With a fixed monthly cost we provide a package service that will take care of your operations and ensure consistent business growth. Our management services are unique to each businesses and takes your business forward. Here are a few examples of the services included in this service:

Carry out Account Audit
Product Listing Quality improvement: Title, Product Information, Search Terms
Sponsored Ads Management
Product Promotion Management
Monitoring all Feedback
Monthly Competitor Analysis & create recommendation
Right integration for your Website – fair usage applies
Working with eCommerce Platforms – fair usage applies
Cross Border Growth Planning and Implementation
Alternative Channel Growth
Provide Regular Consulting to Accelerate Amazon and eBay growth

Our recommended Process

Set Clear Actions with Timeline ( Masterplan) based on Account Audit
Get Approval & Action
Send a Progress Report as things develop

All work is directly supervised by an experienced consultant and you will have opportunity to discuss progress periodically.

We have written a case study on one of our past clients.

Case Study #1 380% increase in sales in 3 months – Download

Amazon

Introduction to Bid+ ( Amazon Sponsored Ads )

Mar 4,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

Bid + on Amazon Sponsored Ads Daytodayebay

Bid+ functionality, available in Amazon Manual Sponsored Ads, is a setting in Campaign Manager that gives you an
opportunity to show your product ads on the top of customer search results.

If you have never noticed it before go to Campaign Manager > Click on Campaigns > Campaign Settings. When you turn on Bid + Amazon can increase the maximum bid for your ads up to 50% more than your default bid when ads are eligible to show at the top of search results. If your ad is not eligible to show Amazon will not increase your bids.

We have trailed Bid + on several Amazon accounts we handle and received positive result. The screenshot below shows impressions, clicks, average cost, total spend and sales. Out of total spend of £28.10 spend the return was £423.91.

Therefore, the ROAS is a ratio of 15 to 1 (or 1500 percent) as £423.91. divided by £28.10 = £15.

Revenue: £423.91.
___________________ ROAS = £15.00 OR 15:1

Cost: £28.10

For every pound that the company spends on its Amazon Bid + Sponsored campaign, it generates £15.00 worth of revenue. So, this is worth looking into. If you need any help, please get in touch today to discuss your Amazon Advertisement campaigns.

Amazon

Amazon New* Profile Page

Mar 3,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

Amazon’s new profile page is awesome ! Buyers can find out more about sellers information quickly. Buyers may be interested in finding out more about Returns, Warranties and Refunds, Delivery, Privacy Policy or contact number to find out more about delivery to Scottish Highlands. So, it is now time to review your profile information and ensure that they are up-to-date.

Lot of buyers still don’t realise there are third party sellers on Amazon and lot of buyers assume they are buying from Amazon themselves so this is a good way to differentiate yourself from Amazon and other sellers.

Amazon

Amazon: Condition notes are no longer accepted for products listed as new

Mar 3,2017 / By Prabhat S / No Comment

Amazon stopped all condition notes for product listed as new from the last week of February. This may have not have Amazon New products condition notes greater impact on large number of sellers but there are some sellers selling large product taking advantage of this note to include contact number to get in touch if buyers are from not from mainland UK.

If you do have products listed as new with condition notes, the condition notes will be removed from the offer listing page. You will still be able to see the notes made in regards to an older listing. Here’s one example .

Generally this notes has been brilliant for sellers – for example, to include expiry date of a perishable item. But this feature has been misused massively. Checkout this example

Have you been affected by this change ? Let us know your thoughts.

TRAINING

Find out more about this programme and enrol, take a look at this Amazon help page >>

Why did I receive an email from Amazon saying my message could not be delivered?

How do I send messages that are critical to completing the order if my message was blocked?