Although we did not exhibit this year, we spent hours walking around in our ReplyManager tees talking with other vendors and finding some very cool products and services. Plus, we finally got to meet the Linnworks team face-to-face. The iwoca London Meetup didn’t disappoint either. In between drinks, Kim Zatlyn from the eBay Seller Experience team, along with a panel of service providers moderated by Tamebay, discussed upcoming changes with product display and photo backgrounds. I even got to meet my favorite UK journalist, Chris Dawson.
eBay has long been moving towards displaying products in a Pinterest type fashion and establishing new requirements for listings: larger pictures, cleaner images (no text or borders, solid or white backgrounds), minimum image per listing, less obtrusive watermarks and more restricted use of stock photos for used items. These requirements have already been rolled out to the US market in July, but the UK market has until October 30th to comply.
Interestingly enough, two of the products we found most interesting had to do with photography.
Remove the Background is an image background removal service based in Denmark, but services customers all over the world. The company processes images for your listings (or website), including the removal of backgrounds. Prices vary, but you basically pay per image or pay a monthly fee to get a reduced per image cost.
RotaryView gives you the resources to take 360 degree photos and then use them to replace flat product photographics. You can get fancy with a camera, tripod and turntable, or you can use an App to capture the image, process and upload. Costs are free with the RotaryView watermark or users can pay a monthly fee for hosting the images.
Other good finds:
- Third party reviews that plug into AdWord accounts (TrustPilot, Feefo, Verified Reviews)
- Email engagement tools from Bronto.
- Jump!, a non-profit group that helps students find apprenticeships and companies find help in the UK.
- Easypack has the coolest machine that turns paper into packaging filler for all different shapes and sizes.
- MetaPack is a delivery management platform for local and global eCommerce.
by Jodi Pereira