By popular demand, I am starting a regular feature on my blog called "Pick Suzanne's Brain." Here's how it works:
You submit a question and I'll answer a few questions on here my blog each week - so tune in to see if your question was chosen.
One of today's questions comes from Magi:
"I was hoping for some help to narrow down the number of items that I find while out scouting. I just signed up for the 7 day trial to get a look at what Terapeak has to offer. It is pretty expensive but before ruling it out all together I want to have an open mind. Do you recommend Terapeak to your clients & if so, why?"
I am not a huge fan of tools and third party services, mostly because I started out on eBay before any of them were invented. I have tried many tools and services over the years and most either slow me down, cause analysis paralysis, or aren't really worth the cost vs time or money savings. Also, the internet is inundated with hype about how tools are necessary to run an eBay business for the sake of making somebody else rich.
Terapeak offers more information and analytical data than eBay completed listings, but you have to be careful. Terapeak gives sell through rates,but don't rely too heavily on sell through rates. They don't show why something didn't sell, which can often be overcome by a different seller. For example, there may be a handful of sellers drop shipping a similar item, they only have 1 photo (which is not good for search placement), the title may be poorly constructed, their price may be too high because they are drop shipping, or they may not ship internationally. A seller who isn't drop shipping the same product may be able to overcome all those things and sell the item just fine. So don't buy into all the sell through rate data, look at the actual listings and compare.
If you are really interested in seeing how Terapeak can help your business, try it for a month and during that time, use it a lot. Study the tutorials and user manual to see what it can do for your unique business. Some sellers swear by it. Others not so much. Only you can make the decision if a tool is helpful and cost effective for your unique business.
Another question comes from Lee:
Amazon now requires approval to sell in the grocery category. How can I get approved?
Well, the good news is that getting approval to sell in the grocery, beauty, and health & personal products categories isn't anywhere as complicated or time consuming as getting approval in clothing or other gated categories. Don't feel defeated - just follow these steps:
1. Go to the Amazon page showing categories and products requiring approval.
2. Choose the grocery, beauty, or health & personal care category.
3. You will be redirected to the seller log in page.
4. The seller requirements and product requirements are explained.
5. Click the gold “Request Approval” button at the bottom.
Sellers will see one of two messages:
1. You are currently approved to sell grocery products in the US.
2. You are not approved.
If you are not approved, you may only need to upgrade to the professional account. Easy fix.
Or, you may need to produce 3 invoices from suppliers. In this case, a supplier is not a retail store. The invoice must include the order date, supplier's name, address, your business name and address, the number of units purchased, and price. Make sure that all the information requested is on the invoice. (All companies don't put all the information Amazon requests on their invoices and that can delay approval.) If you need suppliers, check out this directory. You won't have to produce these invoices on a regular basis, just to gain approval. Then you can get back to buying retail if you like.
A third situation of rejection is that your metrics need improvement. A fast way to build feedback and get sales to pump up your metrics is to sell books - books are cheap, have a low return rate, are easy to ship in, don't expire, and when you choose the right ones, have few competitors and a quick sell rate.
Submit your question by commenting on this post or send me an email at suzanne@suzanneawells.com. I hope to hear from you!
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