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 Sometimes you can glean as much useful information from walking the tradeshow floor of a conference than by attending sessions all day. Vendors are happy to show you their latest offerings and answer questions, and may even share some gossip with you.
You can view the list of vendors who exhibited at this year's eBay Live conference on eBay's website. Below are a few services that jumped out at me as I walked the show floor. Attendees are welcome to share what they thought was interesting in the AuctionBytes blog.
Product Sourcing
This year, eBay had a product-sourcing pavilion. I picked up a copy of "WebWholesaler, the Magazine for Online Wholesale Buyers." The print magazine is full of ads for companies advertising their wholesale products and contains interesting articles as well. According to the website, sellers may qualify for a free subscription.
http://www.webwholesalermagazine.com
Sales in a Click
Sales in a Click from IMN is an email newsletter service for eBay and ProStores sellers. Merchants tell IMN the category in which they sell (clothing, for example), and it automatically sends a newsletter to the merchant's subscribers once a month. Merchants select from category-specific articles provided by IMN. The newsletter arrives in subscribers' inbox with the merchants' branding, product categories, featured items for sale, and the articles. The email newsletter serves as a reminder to customers to buy from the seller again. Monthly subscriptions begin at $6.95, and a trial offer is available.
http://www.salesinaclick.com/features
Deal4It
I've written about new sites that try to engage buyers by haggling, and Deal4It provides an innovative way to haggle on eBay Best Offer listings. I tried it out on an eBay listing with a BIN price of $333. I used the widget to enter an offer of $10. The system came back and said that offer was too low, and gave me a minimum starting price. I entered that number ($279.01) into the system, and it made me a counter-offer of $315.29. As a shopper, I already felt like I was getting a bargain. You can go back and forth a set number of times. The service uses interactive video technology to make shoppers feel like they are dealing with a human being.
http://www.deal4it.com
RedRoller
RedRoller lets sellers use its "one-stop shipping" service to get custom quotes from their carriers, including DHL, Overnite Express, USPostals via Endicia. Sellers can select a shipping service for a particular order based on the best available value that meets their needs, taking into account customer's required delivery date and time. RedRoller automatically processes transactions electronically with the selected carriers and prints authorized carrier shipping or postage labels. It's not for very low-volume shippers, as there is a monthly fee of $14.95, but could easily show a positive return for many sellers with the savings in time and cost.
http://www.redroller.com
Star Developers
You can also learn about some interesting eBay services by reading a write-up of the eBay Star Developers awards. Julia Wilkinson sat down with some of the winners at the eBay Developers conference and spotlights three - check out the tool for accessing eBay on a Nintendo wii gaming system!
If there's something that grabbed your attention at the eBay Live exhibit hall, or you simply want to share your favorite tools with us, post a comment on the AuctionBytes Blog.
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