Does anyone know of a (simple) way to send email to people who have previously purchased things from you? Let's say some people have bought a round widget from me over the last few months and I am now posting square ones one eBay and would like to let them know about it.

I'd like to send the email to multiple recipients who are now in my AW2K database and, ideally, would like to be able to pick them based on past purchase criteria.

Am I asking for too much?



Cheers,
Andy

Hi -

I had a similar request awhile back to Thom. Bottomline is that other than the initial notify email, no other emails are "batched". I'd like to see an option to mark as many invoices as I'd like in the invoice grid view, and then hitting my right mouse button and having the option to send all of the selected records any email I'd like. The applications for this ability are numerous.

I actually spoke to Thom about this briefly at Ebay Live, and he told me a few reasons he doesn't have a mass mailer. One is spam. Great way to get kicked off an ISP is to do a non-opt-in mailing. Second is that it is a direct violation of Ebay policies to send non-ebay email to your prior ebay customers. (I don't agree with this, but it is true). So I think Thom is hesitant to give us the means to get in serious trouble.

That's probably a lot more than you needed to know ;)

Rich

Actually, unless I am reading the ebay policy incvorrectly, there is nothing in it about sending email to existing customers - those who have already bought from you. They don't like if you blast folks directly with second chance offers directly and such mailings but I couldn't find anything about people who already purchased from you.

As for Thom protecting us.. Umm.. Microsoft doesnt protect me from sending a ton of mail through Outlook. I'm supposed to be a big boy and know what I do, right? :)



Cheers,
Andy

Well, what I said was "non-ebay" offers. What you're describing is probably okay.

Hehe...you are preaching to the choir ;-) I have many reasons to send emails in batch to my customers - everything from "ebay store sales" to "I'm going on vacation".

But you can still export your invoice records to a csv file and extract the email addresses for other programs ;-)

Rich

Yeah, you are right. I still would love to be able to select based on what they purchased - I am just an odd guy I guess.

Tell me something if you don't mind.... Are you running an eBay store? I have been looking at those and have not quite figured out why on earth it'd be advantageous for me to run one. Instead I opted to put up a store of my own on my own server where the cost is (relatively speaking) minimal. Of course, the next issues is driving traffic to it and since eBay does not like me to advertise my own web site this will take a tad bit more thinking.

In any case I was wondering why folks elect to run ebay stores and how it impacts their business model... if you don't mind discussing it.



Cheers,
Andy

The whole advantage to an Ebay store can be summed up as follows: Unlimited quantity of an item, at any price, for a listing fee of only .05/month. PLus, you can have 30.60, and 120 day listings, as well as "good til cancelled" listings.

There is a base fee of $10/month. So I can list 200 items (in unlimited quantity) for a grand total of $20/month.

The downside is that the stores are not indexed along with auctions - so normally, people won't see your store items unless you promote them in some way. (Ebay does allow you to link and promote your ebay store in your ebay auctions.)

I don't think a store is for everyone, but if you have a lot of inventory that you can fixed-price sell, then it's a real money saver.

Rich

Got ya, thanks! Yeah, I do a fair number of fixed price listings with multiple items so it would not be bad. The price is certainly better than the auction pricing where they nickel and dime us to death. Still, I am inclined to go with my own store for now I think though I suspect that if I tried to put a link into my ebay auctions for it they'd go nuts. :) Gotta think of quiet ways to promote it...


Cheers,
Andy

I also have a website store, and I've priced my s/h lower than Ebay (item prices are the same).

What I do is put a nice store banner in my "about me" ebay page (that's allowed), and I send out every order with a website discount card (I print them up using self-tearing business card stock) for a $5 discount on any $20 purchase from the web store. This has been quite effective for me since about 25% of my biz is repeat customers - some of them now go directly to my website for their second purchase.

But you are definately correct - putting in an offsite store link in your ebay auctions is specifically against ebay listing policies, plus they also see it as a "fee circumvention" thing.

Hope that helps...
Rich

I just opened a store and am kicking myself for not doing is sooner - have increased sales by $200 a week - with only the first 15 items listed - Stores Here I Come!!!