eBay cross promotion rules are one of those features which it is easy to ignore. These rules define the items which are shown in the cross promotional box underneath each listing, showing other products which the seller has for sale.

eBay does not make it obvious how to change these rules and I suspect that most sellers probably just leave the setting as default, where eBay selects the items which are shown in the box. Rules can be changed in the marketing Tools section of My eBay. I have just changed the rule to show items from the same shop category, although items can also be shown according to other rules such as a keyword search. 

What I found really annoying about setting these rules is that eBay give absolutely no indication of how effective any change will be.  The limited traffic stats available to eBay sellers only show page views and not where the traffic has come from. This means that any change in cross promotional rules is a stab in the dark.  I think that it is eBay’s interest to provide better statistics as better informed sellers (should) means more successful sellers.

I have recently been thinking about how best to set up my email thought outlook having read the 4 hour workweek.  In the book Timothy Ferriss suggest answering your emails only twice a day, which I think is a great idea, the problem is that I want to be able to send emails more requently than that.

A friend of mine told me that 99% of requests for new functionality for microsoft products is actually already available, people just don’t know where to look.  I have been trying for ages to set up emails which would send and not recieve, and finally worked out how to do it!

• Set up an emails address in the usual way
• In outlook tools > options > Send/receive, create a send/receive group for your new email account which only sends email
• When you want to send and not recieve emails, select this account only from the send/receive drop down box on the outlook mail menu

Today I changed my brower homepage from the BBC to Google. I reckon that every time that I see the BBC site I have to read at least one story. 

Estimated time saving:  15 minutes per day x 20 working days = approx 0.5 days month

Anyone who reads my blog regularly might have noticed that it was briefly taken over by a turkish hacker.

Mr Hacker, Ha, Ha, very funny, please don’t do it again. 

Thanks to Sam from Arena Flowers for letting me know

I am just setting up a business (well two actually) and I have decided to manage the phones using skype, dispensing with landlines altogether.  I may live to regret this, but I thought I would share my reasons.

Alongside computer to computer calls, Skype also has a feature called a Skype-In number where users get a phone number which can be rung from any landline or mobile. I can therefore give out a number on my business website etc. which goes directly into skype.  Skype also provides voicemail and call forwarding at very reasonable rates.

Pros 

Cost Effective 

These numbers are pretty cheap (£35 per year + VAT, or £16 if you join Skype pro which is £1.50/month).  The other option I had was to get a landline at £15/month + calls.

Convenient:  Pick up calls from any computer

I use my computer at home and at work, and my skype calls are routed to the terminal which I have open at any time.  This means that calls are automatically directed to where I am.

Multiple phone numbers from the same location

It is possible to have more than one skype-in number running off the same skype account.  The only downside here is skype does not tell you which number has been rung.

Cons

Quality of skype calls can still be an issue

I have been given a sneek preview of the new launch of terapeak (thanks!).  Looks pretty nifty.  Here are my top picks of the new features. 

• Hot Searches.  This enables sellers to find the top searched keywords for particular categories and more importantly sub categories.  Great to writing titles
• Hot Sellers.  I think that this is a list of the top sellers on eBay (see previous post). 
• Top Category Sellers.  The new terapeak will give a list of the top sellers within a third level category (e.g Baby > Prams > bugaboo), pretty useful for scoping out the competition.  To my knowledge this info has not been available before.

Whilst particularly annoyed by Adwords the other day, I got thinking about things I would like to change about the major eCommerce platforms.

eBay

• User access levels.  eBay was never originally created with businesses in mind and so, unlike most business systems, there is no function to limit the access of some users to certain functions like listing items.  This fact means that an account’s password must be widely distributed, increasing the opportunities of ID theft
• Password entry.  Password entry would be more secure if eBay asked for select characters from the password and not the whole thing.
• Product attributes.  Currently on eBay, if you are selling a product which has multiple variations, you must make a listing for each variation.  According to eBay rules, shoes for example should have an individual listing for each size.  I would like to be able to choose attributes like colour and size at the checkout.
• Checkout upsell.  I would like to be able to upsell services in the checkout such as gift wrap

Google

• Moving Adgroups.  Unless I am missing something it is not possible to move adgroups between campaigns without deleting and then recreating the agroup, loosing all the quality data.
• Search query.  I would like to see actual query information alongside keywords in the adword interface.
• Google Maps.  I wish analytics would give figures of traffic which came from the Google Maps product.
• Extended Match.  Google’s extended match throws up all kinds of rubbish.  Google, we choose those keywords for a reason!

Anyone want to add to the list?

We understand that there are a relatively small number of faulty/not as described disputes opened on PayPal for items bought after 31st Jan 08. Customers should not return such goods to Clockworx premises as they are now closed and we will not be able to recover items sent to those premises after 28 February 2008. Instead, please send them to:

Archway / Less Than Trade
Unit 23
502 Hornsey Road
London N19 4EF

We can also confirm that the remaining 3 pallets of items sold post-administration (31st Jan 08 and onwards) will be dispatched by close of business on Friday 22 Feb 08. There will be no further dispatches after that date. We believe that all sales orders will then have been dispatched, subject to delays at the couriers’ own offices.
 

In the past there have been several occaisions when I have purchased collection only items on eBay and then had the pain of organising a collection.  I am please therefore find a company which offers a solution to this problem - lots2.   Lots2 enables sellers to offer a delivery option for large items by offering their service through their listings.

This is good for sellers, who will get higher prices due to a larger customer base, and good for buyers, who will be able to get previously difficult to deliver items.

Lots2 - I salute you.

My friend and fellow blogger Ian Crocrombe, has hit on an interesting idea with the concept of Personal Media Optimisation.  Social  Media Optimisation is a bit of a buzz word these days but what about people doing it on a personal level?

Optimising your online profile is the next logical step on from doing an ego search, i.e. trying to improve your ego search results.  I have to confess it is no accident that if you type Trevor Ginn into Google, all 10 results refer to me.  With the advent of social networks like Facebook and Myspace, a person’s online profile is becoming an important part of their identity.  The need to manage your online identity is also reflected in people search engines like Spock and social media aggregators like Multiply.

Here are my top tips for optimising your online profile:

• Avoid common names like Smith or Jones
• Create a blog using your name as the URL.  Blogs are a great way of raising your profile as it lets people know about your areas of expertise.
• Create profiles on the major social networks using your name as the ID.  Optimise the profiles on these networks for the topics in which you wish to be found e.g. your profession
• Submit your blog fees to other social networks
• Create a amazon wish list
• Write articles for newsletters and industry portals (in fact any highly ranked site will do)