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- Etsy Considers "Prime Like" Shipping Program? -
- Etsy Considers "Prime Like" Shipping Program? -
Etsy is focused on getting sellers to offer free shipping. Could it be considering a membership program like Prime for buyers?
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/abblog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/11/1542427697.html
Etsy may be considering a shipping program similar to Amazon Prime. An Etsy seller reported last month that Etsy sent a survey to customers asking if they would pay a yearly subscription fee in order to get free shipping on their orders.
We haven't confirmed the existence of such a survey, and we've only seen one seller write about it. But it's easy to believe Etsy might want to see what kind of response buyers would have to such a program, whether or not it was under serious consideration at this point.
Many of the sellers responding to the original poster expressed concern about Etsy's push for them to offer free shipping, and some sellers said they wanted to understand why. Etsy CEO Josh Silverman provided an answer to that question when talking to Wall Street analysts earlier this month.
He said less than 20% of listings on Etsy offered free shipping in the third quarter (July, August, September) - but "buyers perceive about half of the items in our marketplace as having high shipping prices."
(Comment: Perhaps the biggest mistake any business makes is not seeking to truly listen and learn from their clients what they want. Some businesses just continue to do what they want to do and in time this leads to their demise.)
Silverman said Etsy's first step was to educate sellers about the impact of high shipping prices - he wants sellers to think of shipping as part of their cost of goods sold.
(Comment: We think that the shipping cost should be calculated in after the profit margin has been figured in. In other words, just raise the price by the actual true cost of the shipping, and don't add any profit to this add-in. Shipping is just a way online sellers delivery their products and should be considered a overhead cost like that of a brick-and-mortar retail establishment.)
And he said Etsy is now tweaking its search algorithms to more prominently promote items that buyers perceive as having "competitively priced" shipping.
(Comment: For us, we always ship free on each and every order! Plus we guarantee safe and confirmed delivery.)
"Sellers pay a lot of attention to where they rank in the search algorithms," he said.
Etsy has also begun notifying sellers if it thinks their shipping costs are too high.
(Comment: We bought a product we could only find on eBay and the cost was $10.50 and the seller gave us a coupon for $5 off this price so $5.50 for a CD. Then at checkout the shipping was $18.95 for mailing a CD 1st class USPS;. We wanted the CD and this was the only place to buy it so we went ahead and bought it. So in the review should we comment on the out of portion cost of the shipping for mailing 1st class a CD?)
And Etsy launched a Holiday Sweepstakes for sellers who offer free shipping.
(Comment: $10,000 for just 1 seller.)
But it's a hard sell for sellers who say costs vary depending on the weight of the package and the location of the buyer.
(Comment: Etsy does offer calculated shipping. Maybe this will be a fair way to handle some seller's shipping issues?)
Silverman also mentioned during the third-quarter earnings call that many of Etsy's items are not sitting in a warehouse, and he called that a strength because those items have the opportunity to be personalized or customized, made-to-order for the customer.
(Comment: We now have the option of adding "personalization" at we do "variations" made-to-order - there can be a big work or labor difference in personalizing with a name or a date or both Versus a custom start from scratch order.)
If Etsy doesn't follow Amazon's logistics model by building warehouses, how would it be able to offer a Prime-like program? For ideas, look at eBay in Australia and Germany where it offers eBay Plus.
(Comment: There is as the saying goes "many ways to skin the something")
eBay Plus costs buyers $49/year.
Shoppers who subscribe to the program get free shipping and free returns on certain items: "Just look out for the eBay Plus logo on the listing page and in search results. You can also use the eBay Plus filter in search results."
Members of eBay Plus receive "free delivery and free returns on all eBay Plus listings, plus bonus fly buys points, exclusive deals and offers, as well as premium customer service." Note that eBay Plus has some notable differences when compared to Amazon Prime: free delivery on eBay Plus items only applies to the standard postage service.
----- ----- -----
eBay Launches Free-Shipping Program in Australia
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2018/06/16/ebay-launches-free-shipping-program-in-australia/
eBay officially launched its $49/year membership program in Australia on Thursday that mimics Amazon Prime. Shoppers who subscribe to the program get free shipping and free returns on certain items – “Just look out for the eBay Plus logo on the listing page and in search results,” eBay advises. “You can also use the eBay Plus filter in search results.”
eBay announced the eBay Plus program in late May, and users began reporting seeing the feature on the eBay Australia marketplace a week ago. On Thursday, eBay sent an email to users who had signed up to receive notification of the program’s launch, and eBay Australia is now advertising the program on its homepage.
Sellers don’t opt in to have their listings display as eBay Plus eligible – instead, eBay automatically includes listings with certain criteria (with no way to opt out), including the following:
– Sellers who are Above Standard or eBay Top Rated (eTRS)
– New and fixed priced listings
– Returns are accepted
– The item is located in Australia
– Item is non-bulky or heavy.
As we previously noted, eBay states in the seller FAQs: “Listings can still qualify for eBay Plus if you’ve specified a postage cost. eBay Plus members get free delivery as one of the benefits of their subscription, so we’ll cover the difference.”
Etsy hasn't given any indication it is considering a similar program, nor for that matter has eBay indicated it will expand eBay Plus to the US. But what do you think the chances are of either or both companies offering such a program?
It’s a mystery as to which items eBay might choose to subsidize for eBay Plus members. eBay also published the following seller FAQ:
Do I have to offer free postage to be part of eBay Plus?
Not necessarily. However, we recommend offering free postage to encourage all shoppers to buy from you – not just eBay Plus members.
Interestingly buyers who subscribe to the eBay Plus membership program will also receive exclusive selling offers, such as free listing and final value fee discount offers. They also get other features, including double flybuys points, exclusive deals and premium customer service.
eBay offers the program in Germany, and unlike Australia, sellers in Germany receive a discount on their Final Value Fees for eBay Plus orders.
eBay faces competition from Amazon, which got a late start in Australia – until last year, shoppers could only purchase digital goods and Amazon devices on Amazon.com.au. In August, Amazon opened its first fulfillment center in Australia, and it launched the Amazon Marketplace in December. It launched FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) in February of this year, and said it would launch its Prime membership program there by the end of the year.
eBay shoppers can now sign up for the eBay Plus program – eBay is offering a free 30-day trial, and is also offering a promotional price of $29 for the first year to those who sign up right away.
eBay Plus Australia link . . .
https://pages2.ebay.com.au/plus/
Etsy is focused on getting sellers to offer free shipping. Could it be considering a membership program like Prime for buyers?
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/abblog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/11/1542427697.html
Etsy may be considering a shipping program similar to Amazon Prime. An Etsy seller reported last month that Etsy sent a survey to customers asking if they would pay a yearly subscription fee in order to get free shipping on their orders.
We haven't confirmed the existence of such a survey, and we've only seen one seller write about it. But it's easy to believe Etsy might want to see what kind of response buyers would have to such a program, whether or not it was under serious consideration at this point.
Many of the sellers responding to the original poster expressed concern about Etsy's push for them to offer free shipping, and some sellers said they wanted to understand why. Etsy CEO Josh Silverman provided an answer to that question when talking to Wall Street analysts earlier this month.
He said less than 20% of listings on Etsy offered free shipping in the third quarter (July, August, September) - but "buyers perceive about half of the items in our marketplace as having high shipping prices."
(Comment: Perhaps the biggest mistake any business makes is not seeking to truly listen and learn from their clients what they want. Some businesses just continue to do what they want to do and in time this leads to their demise.)
Silverman said Etsy's first step was to educate sellers about the impact of high shipping prices - he wants sellers to think of shipping as part of their cost of goods sold.
(Comment: We think that the shipping cost should be calculated in after the profit margin has been figured in. In other words, just raise the price by the actual true cost of the shipping, and don't add any profit to this add-in. Shipping is just a way online sellers delivery their products and should be considered a overhead cost like that of a brick-and-mortar retail establishment.)
And he said Etsy is now tweaking its search algorithms to more prominently promote items that buyers perceive as having "competitively priced" shipping.
(Comment: For us, we always ship free on each and every order! Plus we guarantee safe and confirmed delivery.)
"Sellers pay a lot of attention to where they rank in the search algorithms," he said.
Etsy has also begun notifying sellers if it thinks their shipping costs are too high.
(Comment: We bought a product we could only find on eBay and the cost was $10.50 and the seller gave us a coupon for $5 off this price so $5.50 for a CD. Then at checkout the shipping was $18.95 for mailing a CD 1st class USPS;. We wanted the CD and this was the only place to buy it so we went ahead and bought it. So in the review should we comment on the out of portion cost of the shipping for mailing 1st class a CD?)
And Etsy launched a Holiday Sweepstakes for sellers who offer free shipping.
(Comment: $10,000 for just 1 seller.)
But it's a hard sell for sellers who say costs vary depending on the weight of the package and the location of the buyer.
(Comment: Etsy does offer calculated shipping. Maybe this will be a fair way to handle some seller's shipping issues?)
Silverman also mentioned during the third-quarter earnings call that many of Etsy's items are not sitting in a warehouse, and he called that a strength because those items have the opportunity to be personalized or customized, made-to-order for the customer.
(Comment: We now have the option of adding "personalization" at we do "variations" made-to-order - there can be a big work or labor difference in personalizing with a name or a date or both Versus a custom start from scratch order.)
If Etsy doesn't follow Amazon's logistics model by building warehouses, how would it be able to offer a Prime-like program? For ideas, look at eBay in Australia and Germany where it offers eBay Plus.
(Comment: There is as the saying goes "many ways to skin the something")
eBay Plus costs buyers $49/year.
Shoppers who subscribe to the program get free shipping and free returns on certain items: "Just look out for the eBay Plus logo on the listing page and in search results. You can also use the eBay Plus filter in search results."
Members of eBay Plus receive "free delivery and free returns on all eBay Plus listings, plus bonus fly buys points, exclusive deals and offers, as well as premium customer service." Note that eBay Plus has some notable differences when compared to Amazon Prime: free delivery on eBay Plus items only applies to the standard postage service.
----- ----- -----
eBay Launches Free-Shipping Program in Australia
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2018/06/16/ebay-launches-free-shipping-program-in-australia/
eBay officially launched its $49/year membership program in Australia on Thursday that mimics Amazon Prime. Shoppers who subscribe to the program get free shipping and free returns on certain items – “Just look out for the eBay Plus logo on the listing page and in search results,” eBay advises. “You can also use the eBay Plus filter in search results.”
eBay announced the eBay Plus program in late May, and users began reporting seeing the feature on the eBay Australia marketplace a week ago. On Thursday, eBay sent an email to users who had signed up to receive notification of the program’s launch, and eBay Australia is now advertising the program on its homepage.
Sellers don’t opt in to have their listings display as eBay Plus eligible – instead, eBay automatically includes listings with certain criteria (with no way to opt out), including the following:
– Sellers who are Above Standard or eBay Top Rated (eTRS)
– New and fixed priced listings
– Returns are accepted
– The item is located in Australia
– Item is non-bulky or heavy.
As we previously noted, eBay states in the seller FAQs: “Listings can still qualify for eBay Plus if you’ve specified a postage cost. eBay Plus members get free delivery as one of the benefits of their subscription, so we’ll cover the difference.”
Etsy hasn't given any indication it is considering a similar program, nor for that matter has eBay indicated it will expand eBay Plus to the US. But what do you think the chances are of either or both companies offering such a program?
It’s a mystery as to which items eBay might choose to subsidize for eBay Plus members. eBay also published the following seller FAQ:
Do I have to offer free postage to be part of eBay Plus?
Not necessarily. However, we recommend offering free postage to encourage all shoppers to buy from you – not just eBay Plus members.
Interestingly buyers who subscribe to the eBay Plus membership program will also receive exclusive selling offers, such as free listing and final value fee discount offers. They also get other features, including double flybuys points, exclusive deals and premium customer service.
eBay offers the program in Germany, and unlike Australia, sellers in Germany receive a discount on their Final Value Fees for eBay Plus orders.
eBay faces competition from Amazon, which got a late start in Australia – until last year, shoppers could only purchase digital goods and Amazon devices on Amazon.com.au. In August, Amazon opened its first fulfillment center in Australia, and it launched the Amazon Marketplace in December. It launched FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) in February of this year, and said it would launch its Prime membership program there by the end of the year.
eBay shoppers can now sign up for the eBay Plus program – eBay is offering a free 30-day trial, and is also offering a promotional price of $29 for the first year to those who sign up right away.
eBay Plus Australia link . . .
https://pages2.ebay.com.au/plus/
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