One of the first areas where we help clients is with their eBay user ID. New sellers may be selecting their name for the first time. For existing sellers, this may mean changing the name you've been using. Change can be good!
Why change a name you've been using for a while already? Imagine you wanted to open a pizza place in town. Would you name that pizza place "jsmith98572398" or "*Peetza_4U"? Probably not. You'd probably choose to name it something that fits the following criteria:
- Memorable - Shoppers and customers should be able to remember your name so that they can find you again and tell friends they bought from you (by name) and not just "I got this from some guy on eBay."
- Easy to spell - When someone hears your name or thinks of your name, will he or she be able to spell it?
Both of the above play directly into the opportunity you have to turn your buyers into marketers. Have you ever bought something great and told a friend about it? Well your buyers may want to tell friends about you, but how will they do it if they don't remember your name or can't relate it the way you've written it? Do you think that your influential buyer will tell her friend that she got it on eBay from "High, that's h-i-g-h, underscore fashion asterisk 4, that's the number four, u, that's the letter u"? If she remembers that, you should hire her! Will the friend remember that?
When people get to eBay's advanced search page, they are given the choice to search by seller, which searches by your user ID. That means that even if you're very proud of your catchy eBay Store name and people remember that, they may still not find you if they choose to search by seller. Not every eBay user understands the difference between a user ID and a Store name. We find that some people think the Store name is the "seller name," and they look for it under "search by seller." Therefore, we suggest user IDs that follow the following guidelines:
- No words that are not often spelled correctly by the general public
- No homonyms (there, their, they're or high, hi)
- No words that are wrong or unconventional spellings of common words
- No made-up or nonsense words
- No number 4 (for "for") and no letter u (for "you")
- No non-alphanumeric characters (*, !, -, _)
- No "com"; find other ways to promote your website but don't hurt your marketing by making your user ID longer and harder to correctly spell
We also suggest an eBay Store name that starts with your eBay user ID so that we're consistent and driving that name home. As your eBay Store name is sent to search engines so that people outside of eBay can find you, some eBay instructors suggest that you name your eBay Store with keywords instead of using your "brand name." However, As Was focuses on branding and identity, and we think there's a reason you don't drink ice cold "Fizzy Brown Sugared Caffeinated Liquid." It has a name, and the "seller" wants you to remember that name. We want your shoppers and buyers to remember your name!
Let's not confuse your shoppers and buyers. They're already looking at so many items from so many sellers that it's not going to help you to be inconsistent about who you are. Using marketing concepts for your eBay business really can improve it. Learn more about marketing on eBay.
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