eBay’s latest pilot programs to make selling on eBay even easier are getting widespread attention after a report by All Things D.

The article focused on a new pick-up service that sends employees to your door to whisk away your items for sale. A registered selling assistant then assesses them and lists them on the site. It’s like a consignment store that comes to you, notes Gizmodo.

“I can’t tell you how fabulous this is. You never know what’s going to sell, but you might as well try,” one first-time seller who tried the service told All Things D.

The 25 percent cut taken by the selling assistant amounts to “convenience in exchange for profits (like you haven’t ever paid for convenience before),” says Venture Beat, noting that it especially makes sense for hard-to-ship items like outdoor grills.

A similar pilot offered sellers the option to drop their items off at a booth in a mall. It drew thousands of people over a month during the holiday period.

Check out more coverage on CNET, Fast Company and Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Photo: eBay selling assistant vans. Courtesy of eBay Inc.

Now, all of the sessions from eBay: On Location are available as free video replays — the next best things to being there.

Here are just a few of the video sessions that you can watch:

Seller Celebration Dinner. This welcome event included thoughts from Christopher Payne (SVP of eBay Marketplaces, NA) and Richelle Parham (Chief Marketing Officer of eBay Marketplaces, NA), plus a keynote address from speaker Gary Vaynerchuk outlining key strategies everyone can employ to grow their eBay businesses through social media.

Selling 101. Maximize your effectiveness as an eBay seller as you walk through the steps to get started selling and learn how to get top-dollar for your eBay items.

Earning and Keeping Top-rated Seller Status. Learn how becoming a Top-rated seller can help you stay competitive and profitable in today’s fast changing world of ecommerce.

eBay: On Location also included a series of Next-Level Sessions covering more advanced topics for sellers. These included sessions on legal and tax aspects of eBay businesses, and a session on Advanced Marketing Strategies.

You can find all the video replays of the sessions here.

eBay Radio personality and longtime eBay employee, Jim “Griff” Griffith kicked off the two-day event with a seller celebration dinner and fireside chat with Christopher Payne, SVP, North America Marketplaces, and Richelle Parham, Chief Marketing Officer, North America Marketplaces (shown here).

“In Q2, Marketplaces realized its best performance in six years,” Payne said. “That’s because of you – you are the reason buyers come to our marketplace, and they come back because of the experience you deliver. Your success is our success, so thank you!”

Parham got applause and laughs as she unveiled the latest TV advertisements from the new campaign, “From the new to the hard to find, when it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay”, which launched Sept. 5 in 18 markets throughout the U.S.

“Shopping enthusiasts love to be inspired, and they are constantly looking for brands that will help them express themselves,” Parham said. “This campaign demonstrates to consumers how eBay fuels their passions and allows them to get exactly what they want, when they want it.”

Social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk closed with a keynote address emphasizing practical and effective ways sellers could use social media to grow their businesses. “It’s the personal touches that ensure they’ll stay with you for life,” he said.

Following the tradition of great social eBay events, eBay: on Location in Philadelphia, which took place Sept. 5-6, drew almost 900 people.

The audience was highly appreciative of the great speakers, who included eBay employees and community members as well as keynote speaker Gary Vaynerchuk. For anyone that could not make it, the sessions will be posted online within a few weeks. (I’ll update this link once they are online as well)

As educational and entertaining as the sessions are — topics included Unique and Collectible Inventory (through “Thrifting”), Introduction to Social Media for Business, and a Digital Photography Workshop — the best parts of the event happen off the schedule. The networking, camaraderie, and just plain fun are why the event sold out, and why eBay employees love to attend. It is not often enough that we get to say “Thank you” to our customers in person.

Following the event, a group of some of our most creative sellers decided to tour the city of Philadelphia, and take eBay along. Literally. And the sign even has a fan page!

BONUS: Couldn’t make it? Or want to relive the education and fun? Check out the Storify of the event, which includes socially shared posts in and around eBayOL; Philly.

http://storify.com/anchase/ebayol-the-story-of-ebay-on-location-philadelphia-1

Check out the socially crowd sourced story of #eBayOL Philly by clicking the image

Turns out some of our initial ideas were great, some were good, and some were not as good. We learned that building relationships enabled online word of mouth advertising, and that providing tastes that compliment an eBay seller’s brand allowed for product and seller discovery much more than spamming listings. We also learned (err, confirmed) that sellers have to beauthentic, as faking interests is quite transparent. And we also learned wehave a lot of work to do providing educational material that actually reaches our sellers.

At eBay On Location Denver, I was able to bring 3 of the sellers into a panel discussion with our Chief Marketing Officer for eBay Marketplaces NA, Richelle Parham. That video will be available in a couple of weeks. In the meanwhile, I’d like to share the video we made chronicling the process of the Social Selling Pilot.

The most exciting part is that the best is yet to come. These sellers only worked in the pilot for 2 months; real marketing cycles, and relationships with current and future customers, are much longer than that.I’ll be here along the process, learning and sharing as much as I can every single day. And on that note; how do you prefer to learn? Webinars? Emails? Videos? Seller Information Center? Education specialists? Let us know in the comments.

Cheers,
eBay Andy

Pinterest
Pinterest is the latest one-word social sharing solution vying for your attention. eBay has started to incorporate Pinterest sharing into our Marketplace and you can read a full breakdown on how to use Pinterest with eBay over on the eBay Stories Blog:

The eBay product team has made it very easy to work with Pinterest, providing a share link to Pinterest with a stylized “P” right next to our symbols for other ways to share favorite items, such as Facebook, Twitter, or by email…

… So, what is all the fuss about Pinterest anyway? In a nutshell, Pinnners (as aficionados of the site are called) like to share items from throughout the web and pin favorites on their page, usually thematically, like an online pinboard. You’re probably thinking “doesn’t Facebook and/or Twitter do something like this already?” and you’d be right. They have similar features, but the cool thing about Pinterest is the layout and ease of use. You can browse through and see photos of items your friends (or other pinners) have found, and re-pin them to your board to check out later. It is a fun, easy way to discover products you may not even have known you wanted, get inspired, and even follow people who share your tastes. The Pinterest mission statement sums it up: “Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.”

For those of you interested in learning more, there is a FREE webinar tomorrow, “IS YOUR BRAND PINTERESTING? WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MARKET ON PINTEREST”:

Join Shoutlet Thursday, April 19 at 2PM Eastern/11AM Pacific where they’ll cover:
** Pinterest basics
** Current adoption and audience statistics
** Benefits and strategies for marketers
** Rules of engagement
** Examples of brands using the platform in creative ways

Facebook Timeline
By now you’ll have probably converted to the new Facebook Timeline format. With that you’ve probably noticed that there are some new image requirements that have come along with the change.

For those of you managing FB pages for your respective businesses, here is a great cheat sheet resource for new Facebook Timeline image requirements.

Also check out, Why Facebook’s New Timeline Apps will Change the Way Brands use Facebook.

Cheers,
RBH

Cheers,
RBH

Helpful Links
** Get details on the 2012 Spring Seller Update.
** Use the Seller Checklist to stay on top of important dates.
** Update your listings quickly and efficiently and bulk editing tools.
** Visit the special 48-hour discussion board devoted to the announcement.
** Join the Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, February 29 starting at 3:30pm PST.

UPDATED February 29, 2012
I’ve seen some of the eBay Ink Social Media Sellers upload their own videos and interviews in response to yesterday’s Seller Update: Spring 2012. I thought I’d share here on Ink for folks.

ColderICE
John Lawson kicked off the first day with his overview of the announcement.:

He followed it up with a full-recorded interview with MJ and Griff here at eBay:

The Danni App
eBay Ink Social Media Seller, Danni Ackerman, has also uploaded an initial reaction video to the update, also asking for questions from eBay Sellers and directing them to additional resources for help and clarification.

It’s great to see eBay sellers taking the initiative to broadcast their reactions, insights and interpretation of news coming out of the company. I’m happy to share more here with folks because when it comes to news like this, it’s better to hear directly from the people and businesses being effected rather than a dorky corporate blogger in my opinion.

Cheers,
RBH

Also, be sure to check out our exclusive video interviews regarding the changes:
** eBay Seller video interview regarding the eBay Seller Update for Spring, 2012.
** eBay Ink video interview with Griff and MJ of eBay Marketplaces.

Cheers,
RBH

Free Pictures
** Starting in July, all sellers get FREE pictures — 12 per listing — including free zoom and enlarge.

eBay Top-rated Seller updates
** Starting in June, to be eligible for Top-rated seller status, tracking information needs to be uploaded to eBay within your stated handling time on 90% of transactions with US buyers. Start uploading tracking information by May 1 to make sure you qualify by June 20.
** Starting June 1, those listings from Top-rated sellers that include 1-day handling and a 14-day or longer return policy with a money-back option will get the greatest average boost in exposure and 20% final value fee discounts. Listings that don’t include these services will continue to get some boost in Best Match and the Top-rated seller badge, but not the 20% discount or greatest average boost.
** From March 1 through May 31, Top-rated sellers will get a bonus 5% discount off final value fees—along with their current 20% discount—for all listings with 1-day handling and a minimum 14-day return window with money-back option.
** The annual sales requirement for Top-rated sellers will be lowered to $1,000 (from $3,000).

New Seller Protections
** Get an automatic 5-star Communications rating for transactions where you offer same-day or 1-day handling, upload tracking information by the end of the next business day, and there is no communication between you and the buyer.
** Feedback left by a buyer with an unpaid item recorded for the transaction will be automatically removed from your record.
** Earlier this year, eBay started displaying an automatic message on the item page to buyers outside the US regarding customs-related delays and duties. Now any Feedback from international buyers that only references customs issues is eligible for removal.

Helpful Links
There’s a lot more going on, so please check out the below links to find out how this effects your business.
** Get details on the 2012 Spring Seller Update.
** Use the Seller Checklist to stay on top of important dates.
** Update your listings quickly and efficiently and bulk editing tools.
** Visit the special 48-hour discussion board devoted to the announcement.
** Join the Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, February 29 starting at 3:30pm PST.

Helpful Links
** Get details on the 2012 Spring Seller Update.
** Use the Seller Checklist to stay on top of important dates.
** Update your listings quickly and efficiently and bulk editing tools.
** Visit the special 48-hour discussion board devoted to the announcement.
** Join the Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, February 29 starting at 3:30pm PST.