1) Left side – eBay displays the following items on every profile page

- User ID (along with any of the standard graphics, such as PowerSeller status)

- Feedback score

- Positive feedback

- eBay member since

- Contact Assistant link (this allows potential clients to initiate an email to the TA easily right from the TA page)

- Items for sale (shows current listings by the TA)

- Member profile (links to member feedback profile)

2) The Trading Assistant enters the following information

Name

The best name to use is the person that you would like potential customers to ask for when they contact you. Remember, in many cases, if they are contacting you from the TA Directory, the only information they have about your TA business is the information on your profile page. Make it easy for them to reach the right person by including that person's name on the profile page.

Address

If you have a drop off location, it’s important to include the correct physical address for the store. When a potential customer searches for a local TA, they can search by (1) ZIP or city/state/ZIP (which in most cases display the same search result); or (2) actual street address. The search results show up in proximity order – the closest TAs show up at the top of the search result. Including the right physical address for your store means you’ll show up at the top of search results for customers who are near your store. In the case of a ZIP code only search (no exact address provided by the potential client), the search engine uses the mid-point of the ZIP code to calculate proximity, then displays results accordingly. If you don’t have a drop off location, but do offer pick up services, including your city and ZIP helps you show up in the correct order when a potential client is looking for a TA with pick-up services.

Phone #

Trading Assistants have a choice to include 1 or 2 telephone numbers. Anecdotal evidence from colleagues and friends indicates that in many cases TAs do not return calls promptly (or in some cases, at all) and lead to a strong recommendation that TAs should provide at least a primary phone # that goes directly to the TA. It can be a work line or cell phone, but it should not be a shared house line for multiple reasons: (1) messages can get misplaced, lost, or not delivered; and (2) dedicated line increases the professionalism you present (whether it’s cell or land line). If you choose to include two telephone numbers, include the preferred contact means as the first phone number. There is no requirement that you provide a telephone number, but many TA customers are going to be more comfortable making the initial contact via phone (as opposed to email). If it’s feasible, providing a telephone # is recommended.

Drop-off hours can be provided for Monday-Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Putting the hours your location is open for drop offs gives potential clients the information they need to schedule time into their calendar for a drop-off at your location.

Item pick-up details can be provided for clients. You can specify a mile radius within which you are willing to pick up items – this will help the search engine display you when a client is looking for someone that offers pick-up services.

Languages spoken can be specified so that customers looking for a particular language for any reason can find out who has that expertise before making an initial contact.

Trading specialties provide a chance for Trading Assistants to indicate an expertise or desire to sell items for a particular type of client. In many cases, these specialties are for customer types that do not fit neatly into a specific type of item category on eBay. For example, estate sales, business liquidation, charity auctions, and government surplus items are frequently great item types for Trading Assistants but rarely can be narrowed down to a specific category type. You can indicate your desire to sell by checking the appropriate boxes when you build your profile page, or you can edit your profile page at any time and change your selections.

There are a couple of additional considerations when selecting Trading Specialties. If you do not have expertise in the area involved, it might be appropriate to leave that area unchecked and let potential customers looking for expertise in that area to other TAs. If a customer has a good experience with a TA, they are much more likely to provide referrals to friends and colleagues – and a bad experience decreases the likelihood of referrals. Be conscious of the rest of the TA community when selecting your Trading Specialties.

This is an interesting part of the profile page. TAs use it in a variety of ways. Many TAs include their entire fee structure in and leave it to the customer to call them after they review it. Many other TAs choose to not provide the information on the page, but suggest the customer call for an initial valuation appointment or more information. There is no best way to complete this section. Do whatever you feel most comfortable with, and adjust later if you find a better way. Three of the common issues around fee structures are: (1) what % of the sale price to charge – and do you provide tiers for higher-priced items; (2) do you have an item minimum price (i.e. is there a price limit to items you will sell, or will you take anything); (3) do you have a per-item or any type of setup charge for your services. Review other profile pages in your local area to determine what experienced TAs are doing in your area – there can be regional differences in pricing strategies.

Terms and conditions

Is there anything else you would like to communicate to your customer that does not fit anywhere else? Have you spelled out key issues like how quickly you list items and provide them with a check? Have you detailed what happens for items that do not sell? Will you relist, donate to charity, return the item, or do something else? What kind of reporting will you provide to the client?

Does the page make it clear to your target audience what you can do for them and why they should contact you and/or hire you to be their TA?

Are your areas of expertise or preferred types of item or clients clearly called out? (Remember the profile page is the only thing the client sees before picking up the phone and calling, just like View Item is the only thing between a potential buyer and a bid)

Is there at least one easy way to contact you? Again, a primary business phone or cell phone is a great way to make it easy to contact you. eBay research has found that a large percentage of TA clients are not active eBay members, so “Contact Assistant” can be less useful to them than a phone #, particularly for clients with high-value items who may want to be very clear about what you do and how you do it before hiring you.

JE Campbell Industrial focuses on Business & Industrial liquidation. The founders have a great combination – over 25 years of experience selling industrial automation equipment and over 10 years of experience with on-line sales.

Link

Easy contact information is provided – an office line and a cell phone. They provided a limited window for drop off activity – not a key business opportunity for them, but they provide hours if anyone is interested. They do offer pickups within 10 miles. They have chosen not to check every Trading Specialty – rather they check only the two that fit their needs – Business Liquidation and IT Asset Recovery Services. Their Category Specialties match up with their target customer. Their service description helps clients feel comfortable and they invite contact for fee discussions (which, in their industry with their client base, is a good fit). As you can see, they are not interested in consumer traffic and, with this profile page, unlikely to get any. This is a perfect fit – consumer traffic can go on to a different TA profile page that better meets their needs.

The only weakness is those pesky vacations – they have no items currently listed because it’s vacation time for both co-founders currently (and judging by the lack of questions in today’s workshop, I’m guessing some of you are doing the same thing