eBay Marketing App - MyStoreRewards

I know it has been a LOOOOOOOOONG time since I posted anything. I would tell you that it will change but.... I can't really say that for sure. I do like to write and have a few things to get off my chest so I will try VERY hard to put out one article a week.

This one concerns eBay Marketing and in particular the app called MyStoreRewards.com -- What this app basically does is reward your customers with a percentage rebate off of the total price - including shipping and handling - and in turn, MyStoreRewards sends out an e-mail containing links & images of your current auctions to those who opt-in to get the rebate.

I set it up so that customers will get a 2% rebate of their first purchase using the MyStoreRewards app and 3% rebate for all subsequent purchases as long as they remain opt-in and therefore receive the e-mails. Now...ahem...YOU the seller are providing the rebate so you are looking at a risk and reward type of scenario. No rebates are sent to customers until AFTER they have paid for their eBay purchases.

First, how does a potential customer opt-in? Well scroll past whatever graphic I might have in one of my auctions and you will see a graphic like this:

Now you really don't have to do a thing but wait until MyStoreRewards sends you, the customer, an e-mail with links on how to join. Clicking on the graphic just provides a short informational page about MyStoreRewards.

Now some info for sellers: Are there any fees other than the rebates you provide through PayPal? Well, that part is confusing as I don't pay any fees - other than the rebates - and I believe it is totally free if you use it ONLY on eBay AND sign up through "My eBay" --> "Applications". Now if you want to expand the use of this app to your own e-commerce websites, then I believe there are monthly fees and per transaction fees. But lets just stick to eBay for now.

You as a seller have a few settings like what percentage you will be providing on the first sale and on subsequent sales. You also select how frequently you want your e-mails sent out (choices are every 15, 30 or 45 days) and what your maximum reward will be - I set mine at $100 which at 2% is a $5000 dollar eBay item purchased and at 3% is a $3333 item - haven't ever sold one for either amount so I feel pretty safe and if I did, I would be MORE than happy to provide a $100 rebate.

Now for some stats - we left brainers love those. Not too many but interesting as all get out. I haven't been doing this long so the numbers aren't big.....yet. Here are my results as of 8/1/2013 (might update this blog entry at the end of the year to see where I am at that time).

Total opted-in buyers	30
Revenue from Opted-in buyers	$1,733.52
Reward amount	$37.80
Your repeat purchase count	9
Average Purchase of NON-opted-in buyers	$41.47
Average Purchase from OPTED-in buyers	$57.58

Now here are some stats from the e-mail side of things:

	Industry Average	My Stats
Opt-in Percent	0.5%	9.0%
Opt-out Percent	1 - 4%	1%
Total Marketing Emails sent	N/A	516
Open Rate	14.3%	65.89%
Email Click-Thru Rate	3.3%	14%

In a word....THIS IS INCREDIBLE! A 9% opt-in percentage is unreal followed by a 65.89 percent opening rate with a 14% click through rate? Those are OVER the top stats internet marketing-wise - the only real problem is that I have only 30 people opted in but that is changing fairly quickly for one reason: I am listing a WHOLE lot more items than I used to on a weekly basis.

This is a win-win for both eBay sellers and customers and THAT'S the way internet marketing should work.

As usual, comments and questions are solicited