Video for your eBay listings in less than 5 minutes
12/09/2008 at 23:13
Is it really only a year since vzaar launched? Many happy returns to Ken, the big boss, and his super-talented, super-lovely team. They really are great news for anyone who wants to add video to their listings.
But vzaar’s greatest asset – as I’m sure they would be the first to say – is what their users are doing with video. Last week there were 10,000 listings on eBay with vzaar videos in them, from professionally produced glossies, to short films made on phone cameras. And it’s the latter group that always impress me: you don’t have to spend thousands on actors and lighting and studios, or hours on filming and editing and getting it perfect. Sometimes, just picking up the camera and spending two minutes filming is all you need…
Be demonstrative
It’s what eBay’s always been about: a person, selling their stuff. Don’t be afraid to get in front of the camera and talk about what you’re selling. You know it best, and you show your buyers you’re a real person.
Be an all-rounder
We all know the advantage of video is that you can show moving pictures; even if the thing you’re selling doesn’t move itself, an all-round view can show it off better than a dozen pictures.
Be simple
The bike starts: what more do you need to know!
Be imaginative
You don’t need a studio; you just need a little bit of imagination (and, possibly, an invisible subatomic particle that might not even exist).
And if you need a little more inspiration, here are Emma and Dan, with some thoughts on just how easy adding video to your own listings can be:
Emma will also be coming by the forum to answer any questions we have on using video for eBay listings. Comments and queries can be left on this thread.
blah blah says
1:20 am on 13/09/2008
They break eBay’s new affiliate round tripping policy that goes into effect on the 19th. That should have a nice little impact on their revenue. I hope they have other revenue streams lined up.
ebuyerfb says
1:58 am on 13/09/2008
@ # 1
Do you know how eBay enforces that? Is it with a cookie? It shouldn’t affect me for the most part but sometimes people post links to my site in their About Me pages, in the forums, or Yahoo puts my ads on their site.
vzaar Adrian says
9:22 am on 13/09/2008
@Sue, thanks for the kind words and the support over the last year.
@blah blah
Actually we’re very careful to be clear of eBay’s policies. When our player is off eBay we drop a cookie (as we are allowed to, and as we think we should be able to as we are helping drive traffic to eBay from off site). When we are on eBay we do not drop a cookie and go directly to the relevant eBay page.
@ebuyerfb
I’m not sure how they do it exactly, but they can see which affiliates are generating high revenues and what the referral links are. It’s then probably easier just to check the affiliates out see if they are playing properly. There are some log analysis that can be done as well. This can’t be done with a cookie, and because our video widget technically sits on our page, embedded into the eBay system, referral tracking would fail. However why risk getting kicked off the system? We’re rather play by the rules.
ebuyerfb says
10:12 am on 13/09/2008
@ # 3
Sounds good.
To be clear when I mentioned Yahoo putting my ads on eBay I mean when someone does an item search for “leave feedback” sometimes they see a text link to my site. These are usually buyers that don’t know what just happened (I’ve spoken to many of them) and are just trying to leave feedback for their sellers. They might click one of my sellers’ advertisements (an affiliate link) back to eBay and that is what I’m concerned about. The way you make it sound it sounds more like a policy violation rather than just not counting the commissions in the first place.
northumbrian says
10:21 am on 13/09/2008
could Dan be related to Boris Johnson is the burning issue
Mr Patel says
2:16 pm on 13/09/2008
I think this is a great idea with videos on ebay for items, but it would be time consuming though. Will video really make a difference and play a major part in sales or transform the way buyers think? I think taking a few pictures then merging them like a flash animation would be a good idea too.
Chris Dawson says
3:12 pm on 13/09/2008
#6 There’ll be some new technology from ChannelAdvisor available in the UK soon. RichFX does exactly what you say. However it’s a darn sight cheaper and quicker to whip out your video camera or mobile phone and make a two minute film than it is to set up rich media.
Mr Patel says
10:28 pm on 13/09/2008
Hi chris , can you please summarize the costs for vzaar video, and are they available in the uk, i havent seen the option when im creating ebay listings. Also is ebay really quite at present, last month was much better.
Sue Bailey says
10:54 pm on 13/09/2008
Mr Patel, the basic vzaar package is free; for PowerSellers and higher volume sellers there are some different packages available depending on your usage:
http://www.vzaar.com/purchase/packages
The option to include videos is not included in the eBay SYI form; you’ll need to go through the vzaar site to do that. More info here:
http://www.vzaar.com/help/howto_use_vzaar_a_step_buy_step_guide
dave says
11:20 pm on 13/09/2008
Mr Patel, If I were you I would not be worried about videos, you seriously need to sort your DSRs out, if you were in the USA you would soon be banned from selling, may be adviseable to start up another id
Mr Patel says
1:04 pm on 14/09/2008
#10 . Hi, dave. My DSRs have improved and Are improving since i did fall under seller non performance. Month to month my figures are increasing and i am on the roll to receive my second discount on fees, so yes i have been working on my DSRs. My 12 month DSRs will just take time to build up, but id rather not take the short cut rather i would work on the business model to improve it and so have and will continue to do so.
dave says
1:25 pm on 14/09/2008
Your actions are to be commended, but I question your strategy. Remember that buyers only see the 12 month DSRs, as a buyer I now tend to look at DSRs before feedback, and I would walk away once I saw yours, irrespective of feedback score. On the other hand I would have no hesitation from buying from a seller with a hundred or so feedback and great DSRs.
This could be why your sales are quiet at the moment.
Mr Patel says
9:33 pm on 14/09/2008
#10 I think sales have been quite due to the credit crunch, and the fact that i do not list most of my items on featured like i used to, my ebay shop troneclimited , used to pay ebay fees upto 10 thousand pounds a month for over a couple of years. Now that ebay traffic is slow im paying a tenth of that. I not sure if keeping all items on featured, in the past it used to work, but not now, as auctions is what i used to sell mainly, now i have majority buy it now, again with this new change in strategy which is welcome, commencing on the 25 th september by ebay , i will be adding many products from my webstore to my ebay shop, which i think is cheaper advertising than google adwords pound for pound versus traffic.
Super Max says
1:09 am on 15/09/2008
I would just like to congratulate Mr Patel, I remember when you first posted after getting suspended and I said much the same as Dave.
Looking at your feedback now your customer service is obviously greatly improved and you should be proud of yourself!
Mr Patel says
2:06 am on 15/09/2008
#14 Thank you very much Super Max, i appreciate your comments, i will keep on trying to provide better customer service.
Super Max says
2:49 am on 15/09/2008
#14 I would add that I don’t think featured is worth the money any more with best match, as I don’t believe you are guaranteed a place a the top of the listings any more, however I don’t use it so I could well be wrong.
just john says
8:40 am on 15/09/2008
RE Mr patel’s DSR could someone remind me and others of what a 4 is on DSR’S.
IT MEANS ONE THING TOO A SELLER, IT MEANS ANOTHER TO A BUYERS, OH AND OF COURSE IT MEANS WHATEVER EBAY WANTS IT TO MEAN TOO THEM.
Hood winked and brain washed comes to mind.
Reminds me of the sayings “We are only a venue”
another one “ebays a community with community spirit”
ebuyerfb says
9:17 am on 15/09/2008
@ #16
It has been confirmed on in the eBay forums that eBay does not guarantee that your featured items will ever appear on the first page. I read a post recently where someone had raised status and a featured item that was posted towards the last page due to the recent best match glitch. eBay refused to refund the seller on the grounds that there is no guarantee of their listing ever appearing on the first page.
Chris Dawson says
9:22 am on 15/09/2008
Featured items were never promised to be on the first page of listings – purely at the top of the page they naturally fell on.
The only reason items ever ended up on the first page was due to time ending soonest, but in some categories with large numbers of listings this was a fleeting advantage sometimes only worth seconds or minutes at busy times of day. With Best Match, featured listings do have less exposure, but here are some tips on better features to use.
serialsellers says
11:36 am on 15/09/2008
#17
It seems that the general sentiment is that what makes a great eBay business is not the balance sheet, but the DSR scores. I’m sure the reason why Lehman Brothers went bust – really bad scores on P&P.
Agree with you – a lot of brainwashed people trying to convince themselves they are not…