Email marketing is a great way to promote your eBay Shop to buyers-including those who are interested in your Shop but have not purchased items from you in the past.

Find our more about:

• Where to access email marketing features

• How it works

• Email allocations and subscription levels

• Tips for Effective Email Newsletters

Where to access email marketing features:

Email marketing features can be accessed by going to the Marketing Tools under your My eBay Views.

To access email marketing features:

How it works

• Buyers can sign up to receive your email newsletters when they add you to their Favourite Sellers list or if they click the "Sign Up to Shop Newsletter" link. .

• Using a simple tool, you can create compelling emails with links to your Shop and your items and then send them to your subscribers. You can control which subscribers receive an email based on their interests, purchase activity, length of subscription, etc.

• You can create up to 5 mailing lists that target different interests or types of promotions. For example, you could have a "DVDs" mailing list and a "Sale Notifications" mailing list. Buyers choose which of your mailing lists they belong to when they add you to their Favourite Sellers list.

• Your emails can be scheduled as "Recurring” so you don't need to manage them once you set them up. eBay will send them out for you on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis.

• You can measure the success of an email by viewing statistics, such as the number of bids and Buy It Now purchases it generated, and use this information to be more effective next time.

• To measure the success of your newsletters after you've sent them, check the "Sent Email" page. By clicking the title of an email on the "Sent Email" page, you can view email statistics including the number of emails opened, number of recipients, item link clicks, etc. Note: the number of newsletters opened is not necessarily inclusive of all emails viewed. For example, subscribers can read the email in their preview window without opening the actual email. Email statistics should be used to compare results from email to email.

Email allocations and subscription levels

If you exceed your monthly allocation, you will be charged a per-recipient fee for additional emails. Monthly allocations and additional email charges are outlined in the following table:

Tips for Effective Email Newsletters

Make your email newsletters even more effective by following some of these guidelines:

• Don't send out your newsletter more than necessary.
  Avoid reader fatigue and having emails ignored by sending them out no more than once a week. You can rotate between sending out general interest and category-specific emails to generate different types of interest.

• Use templates for ease and convenience.
  To make sending out newsletters easy, just use the templates and choose the type you want. You can even customise the text to fit your inventory and or add your Shop header and you'll be sending out professional-looking emails in no time.

• Make sure your newsletter reflects your Shop.
  Even for general newsletters, be sure your readers know what to expect when they get to your Shop. The content and tone of your greeting, the merchandise you choose to include in the newsletter, and even the layout and formatting you include can help brand your Store and emphasise your products so buyers remember you.

• Match your buyers and your inventory.
  Include the types of items that your customers are buying. For example, subscribers to a Consumer Electronics newsletter should get only items that are related. For example, iPods and iPod-related accessories, mobile phones, or other electronics merchandise.

• Make it short and sweet.
  Readers only want the relevant information and tend to skim the rest.

• Track results.
  Make sure you check back after you send your newsletter to see how many people opened it and whether or not your subscribers purchased an item.