The eBay Feedback System has endured many changes over the years, but the recent announcement of new changes definitely tops them all.  Here are the main points:

1. Beginning in February, buyers and sellers will be able to earn up to one Feedback per week from the same trading partner. Today, members may only affect each other’s Feedback scores one time, regardless of the number of transactions between the parties. This change will both encourage repeat transactions and reward good service.
2. Sellers will no longer be able to leave negative or neutral Feedback for buyers. This change will occur in May, 2008.
3. Removal of negative and neutral Feedback left by members who are suspended or who fail to respond to the Unpaid Item Process (UPI).
4. Positive Feedback percentage will be based on the past 12 months of Feedback, rather than lifetime, since it is most indicative of the seller’s recent performance.
5. Restrictions on when Feedback can be left:
   • Buyers must wait three days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback
   • Instead of 90 days, members will be able to leave Feedback for 60 days

Thoughts anyone?

Click Here for full explanation.

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So I arrived at the office this morning to see the NADA AutoExec magazine on my desk with the front cover staring at me with a Social Networking featured article.  But first things first, I need to hit my Google Reader (creature of habit).  There on screen is a blog post from Compete.com on “Social Networking and Auto Shoppers”.  Looks like things are starting to catch on in the car business.

We have written many blogs on Social Media and articles for Digital Dealer on this same topic.  It is incredibly popular in cyberspace and is beginning to reach the dealership marketplace.

Let me give you some quick hits on each article.

“Online Chatter” by Mary Anne Shreve
The focus of the article is on managing online reputation.  Most stores associate online chatter in a negative context, but other dealerships have taken a proactive approach.  In effect they are using it like the eBay Motors Feedback system.  Acton Toyota request customer feedback on DealerRater.com after every deal.  With this proactive approach, they now have over 400 positive testimonials and have a direct link to their profile on their website (front and center I might add).

Compete.com – Social Networking and Auto Shoppers
This article is related to the pure social networking sites and which OEMs have demographic overlap.  Since consumers are already spending time on these sites it is natural for marketers to try to place their product based on target audience for the networking site.  Check out the graphic of OEMs that have common internet viewers:

This OEM and Social Networking data translates to your dealership.  It is time to reach consumers shopping for vehicles that utilize social network sites to get “connected.”

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I’m happy to have the opportunity to contribute to AutoRevo.com’s blog, and especially pleased to be able to share four effective website tools and features that can help you reach more prospects and customers with your dealership website.  Because more consumers are going online to research and shop for vehicles, it is essential that your website functions like an extension of your sales force, able to quickly expound on what sets your shop apart from your competitors, show-off your inventory, make it simple to research and compare by makes, models, and lifestyle features, and even take shoppers on a test drive.  Help ensure your website does the above with the following:

A Detailed Vehicle Inventory
Search engines are like the phone book of the Internet.  Consumers count on them for company information.  The more vehicle detail you have on your site, the better chance your dealership will be ranked high by search engines, meaning more traffic and leads.  To grab the attention of search engine ’spiders,’ use descriptive words and update your site often – something you are probably currently doing anyway as inventory turns.  Consider using a powerful VIN decoder tool to get the best descriptions on new and used vehicles.

Consumer-Friendly Vehicle Searches
Once you’ve got a shopper on your website, make it easy for them to find the vehicles that meet their preferences and lifestyle needs.  Limit the automotive jargon and industry acronyms.  Don’t require that consumers know vehicle make and model, or esoteric option names. If a customer wants to look at small SUVs, don’t make them specify a model, group the SUVs together for an easy starting point.

Build-A-Car Tool and Vehicle Reviews
With a Build-A-Car tool websites visitors can see and interact with your inventory.  They can add accessories, compare vehicles side-by-side, view the vehicle in different colors, and much more.  This type of tool engages your shopper and encourages them to put the time into creating the car of their dreams, and it also keeps them on your website longer.

Full-Motion Vehicle Videos
The newest feature to add to your website is full-motion vehicle videos that show your vehicles starting, accelerating, cornering, stopping, and highlight internal and external features.  Many even include music and voice-over narration, and can be delivered via streaming services that enable you to insert dealership commercials or sound bites in the videos.  Video is the way to make your inventory come alive, placing your visitors in the driver’s seat.

Because the majority of consumers head to the internet to research and shop for vehicles, your website has to function as an essential member of your sales team.  Make your website easy to find through search engines, easy to navigate, easy to understand, and engaging.  You’ll see the results in increased website traffic, leads, showroom visits, and vehicle sales.

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Greetings AutoRevo blog readers, I’m Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor.  Like AutoRevo, we’re a software company, but unlike AutoRevo who is focused on the auto dealer world, our software is used by general merchandise online sellers that sell on eBay, Amazon and their own websites.  First I wanted to thank Chad for inviting me to guest-blog over here.    He’s actually reciprocating over at my blog, eBay Strategies.

You may be asking yourself: “What the heck does this guy know about our industry and why did Chad invite him here?!?”  Good question, one thing I wanted to chat with you guys about that we ‘do’ have a lot of experience with is not ‘passenger vehicles’, but ‘auto parts’.  Some stock analysts track eBay’s growth by category and over the last couple of years while passenger vehicles has slowed to a crawl, auto parts has taken off like a rocket.

Amongst our sellers at ChannelAdvisor, the auto parts category is by far the fastest growing, showing 40% y/y growth from 2006 to 2007.  I’m not sure what to credit this tremendous growth to, but I wanted to make Chad’s readers aware and plant a little seed that if you have access to auto parts at your dealership and are looking for some creative ways to grow your online business, it may be lucrative to look at joining in the parts party at eBay.  We see a variety of models that work well.  New parts with a mix of inventoried and drop ship, or shops that specialize in hard to find used parts.  If you’re interested in learning more, drop a comment and if there’s enough interest, maybe Chad will invite me back to answer your questions.

Happy selling!

Scot

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What a year we have seen with eBay Motors in 2007!  From our team at eBay Motors we have seen lots of great moves and some not so great moves, but that is what it’s all about: working to modify your product to make lasting improvements.  In the passenger vehicle space the biggest movements have been with a new Local Market offering, eBay Motors 2.0, and Finding 2.0.

Let’s do a rundown of each of these:

What is eBay Motors Local Market?
This was a major product launch at the 2007 NADA convention in Las Vegas.  The core offering was to allow dealers to post 100% of their inventory for a flat subscription fee in a Best Offer only format and users within a 100 mile radius of their zip code would be presented these listings.  The goal for eBay was to penetrate stores they were not currently in and offer a competitive product to other major automotive classified sites (AutoTrader and Cars.com of the world).

As a result of this offering we have seen many experiments run with the site, but the two most notable are relative listings delivered based on your geographic IP address and the eBay search results.  I will say that the search result changes have been handled very well by eBay Motors for passenger vehicles.  The site currently has a mixture of local and national listing when rendering a search results.

eBay Motors 2.0 Now More Shopping Focused
The new eBayMotors.com site has been in the works for over a year with some exciting new changes.  So what’s different?

• Entirely new interface which was much needed and looks great!
• Front and center is a simple search box with an optional zip code field.
• Expanded shopping tools such as browse by vehicle type, OEM specifications and stock photos, ratings and reviews from eBay community, price research tools, and Kelley Blue Book (KBB) values integration.
• On the vehicle listings themselves new tools and some old tools with better ad placement include Vehicle History Reports from AutoCheck (Experian Automotive), shipping quotes, airfare, driving directions, and financing.

All in all the new site has very much changed into a shopping experience versus just “I’m looking for a car so let me see if they have it”.  I’m excited to see the evolution of this site because I think they have a great starting point.

Finding 2.0 on eBay Motors is Finding on Steroids
The team at eBay has done an incredible job with all of the criteria for searching.  Drill-down search links are everywhere!  I can honestly say I have never seen a car search tool as robust as this one.  You name it, there seems to be a search criteria for it.

The biggest change is the optional zip code field for initiating your search.  With the advent of selling cars across the nation and even the world, eBay Motors rocked the auto industry in early 2000.  Never before were dealers able to build a business out of selling to individuals out-of-state.  This was an awesome phenomenon to watch.

So with the new focus on Local Market, zip code based listings became the center piece of how search results were presented and how not to impact their existing national listing business was vital.  With this optional zip code field in the initial search, it will most certainly impact the number of viewers of national listings, but the jury is still out as to whether it will benefit the entire eBay Motors seller community.

If you search WITHOUT a zip code it default sorts by time ending soonest (classic).  If you search WITH a zip code it default sorts by nearest to you.  Unlike any eBay Motors competitors though, this field is optional.  That will help in minimizing the impact to national listings.

With Local Market, eBay Motors 2.0, and Finding 2.0 I see this as a great mix of new features to help propel the eBay Motors marketplace.  The wild card in the mix is how Local Market and searching by zip code will affect the entire Motors selling community.

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What an honor to be nominated as one of the fastest growing companies in North Texas!  The award official title is Dallas 100^TM Award presented by SMU’s Cox School of Business Caruth Institute and CEO Institute.  This award recognizes thriving entrepreneurial industry for privately held companies in the Dallas Ft. Worth region.

Previous winners of this award averaged 225% growth over a three year period, cumulative revenues totaling over $6 billion while average number of employees increased by 57%.  This is great company to be in!

So if we make the top 100 we get some cool press and an exclusive dinner held at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

The on-site interview process begins next week and there are several items to follow so it should be a fun process to participate in.

Below are a few links to additional information:
SMU & Dallas 100
KBA Group LLP
AutoRevo.com

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2008 has already started off with a big hit!  Yesterday we signed up our 600th dealership.  It is directly related to all the hard work of every person here at AutoRevo.  Also, we couldn’t be more grateful to all of our customers who are a part of this exciting journey.

As you have been seeing lately, we are getting much public acclaim for our exponential growth.  What is even more amazing is that there is more to come.  Old relationships are evolving into partnerships which you will hear more about soon and old partnerships are beginning to blossom (patience finally paying off).  More importantly we are feeling the snowball effect with dealers telling their friends about what AutoRevo is doing for their business.

Here’s to 2008!

To all of our customers: Thank you for the continued business and I promise we will continue improving your product!

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AutoRevo has utilized Chrome’s ADS (Automotive Description Service) for several years now, but because of our advanced implementation of the service they wrote a great case study on us.  Chrome’s ADS in its simplist sense will decode a VIN and provide all of the standard factory equipment on a vehicle and then some.

Here is a link to the case study.

Here is a link to Chrome.com.

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AutoRevo, Ltd. has had triple-digit revenue increases for four years running

View full PDF article here

View short online article here

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I pulled this video out of my YouTube archives and thought it was applicable to your dealership and our company starting off the new year.  Seth Godin is world renowned entrepreneur and marketer so you won’t be disappointed in the video below.

The key take away: “Is it Remarkable?” which translates to is your product (dealership) worth making a remark about?  We have a client in Classic BMW who within the last year built a world-class BMW facility.  It has a premium location in the heart of far north Dallas on a toll road, 2 stories of tilted glass on the front, airplane wings as the front architecture, a showroom the size of a football field, service department with over 100 service bays, tile floor in the service department that can withstand an engine dropping on it, internet cafe, race car display, 3500+ sq ft training room, and so much more.

Their goal was to build a destination and it is definitely “remarkable”!

http://www.youtube.com/v/xBIVlM435Zg&rel=1

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