IMshopping, a human-assisted shopping assistance platform has recently announced an eBay-certified Merchant Answers service to all eBay sellers. The new widget provides merchants with a new channel from which they can create a community and offer shopping assistance.
How It Works for eBay SellersWhen people browse an eBay listing, there is a quick link to “Ask Seller a Question.” Potential buyers can ask for details on the product, shipping, payment and returns, or they can choose other. When a seller integrates the IMshopping Merchant Answers platform product questions are answered by the service.
IMshopping is an eBay Certified Service Provider. To use the Merchant Answers Program, you you’re your account to IM shopping and the service will be available on all your listings. When a buyer asks a question about the product, the question is routed to the IMshopping community for the answer.
IMshopping's Merchant Answers service lets you answer customer questions from just about anywhere.
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To answer questions, sellers can use their own employees, hire an IMshopping expert — a virtual employee with whom you set up a payment-per-answer agreement — or build their own community so that anyone can answer the question. In this case a moderator reviews and accepts any community-offered answers before they are published.
On eBay it is all too easy for a potential buyer to click “back” and move to another listing when they are searching and shopping. The biggest boost to sellers is that when you provide immediate customer service and answer a buyer’s question, you can keep them on your own product pages.
IMshopping Across Multiple ChannelsPrashant Nedungadi, CEO of IMshopping, believes that when people ask questions they want your customer service to be involved in the transaction. In using this service merchants can provide faster, quality customer service and also build a community of shopping guides at the same time.
The new eBay widget expands on IMshopping’s virtual communities by giving merchants another channel through which they can communicate with their customers. The service is already available for your own site, Facebook fan pages, Twitter and other spaces. You can link your IMshopping answer service between all of these sites.
Nedungadi said when you use the service across multiple channels, it really lets your customers “ask anywhere,” and it lets you, in return, answer anywhere.
Pricing and AvailabilityThe new widget for eBay sellers is available now and included in IMshopping’s Merchant Answers service. Pricing for the human-powered Merchant Answers service is based on usage; however the company suggests that the starting price is in the $500 range for fewer than 1 million visits. IMshopping also offers a limited, but free one-on-one chat service and also offers enterprise-volume services.
Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.
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