Attention FeEbay sellers

I've bought a lot of books from alibris. Great selection and great prices! But I've never sold anything there.

Since ioffer.com is free, you can't go wrong. Just link to them from your website and add a signature to your emails to refer people to your store there. More and more feebayers are finding their way over there.

N.

Chris & Nancy Ann.
Are your e-bay stores that good?
I've been around Dave's for a long time. I had no idea you had a store.
I have a store on Tias. I can put any number of items on it, like no limit. There is no complicated fee structure. Just a straight %.
I just started on this site. I am averaging 200 visitors a day. Now these people are looking at my site because I have items they are looking for.
I sold a few things on e-bay a couple of years ago. It was a real bummer to pay to list & then not even get a bid. I quit before I went broke!
Oh, before I forget, I never liked the idea of the codes to hide sellers names.
On my new site, the name, address & related stuff are for all to see. When something sells, you deal with the buyer not the host company.
This site is for antiques. I wonder if there is something around like it for other things.
Bernie

My ebay store sales is not so good. My prices are pretty low I think, but things just don't sell. And one thing I don't like is store listings don't show in a search on ebay. AUCTION listings do, but what you put in your store is unseen, unless you post an auction and direct traffic to your store.

Ebay has implemented a "pay per click" keyword program for stores. They're running a promotion, $25 free to use towards your keywords. I signed up one night and listed a few keywords. In less than 24 hours, the $25 was all used up, and I didn't get one new "watcher" or one sale from it. Gee, I can't afford $25 a day to promote my store!

With the new fees going to be in effect Feb 18, I've moved my auctions to ioffer. Free listing, free store, and I keep all the profits from my sale too. I know it won't last forever, but maybe, just maybe, I can sell a few things until spring gets here when I can sell my extra plants.

NancyAnn

Hi everyone,

For the used books angle of this thread, abebooks is pretty good - from a buyer's perspective, at least! Not sure how the various independent sellers feel about it, or if it would make a good model for a plant-selling site.

http://www.abebooks.com

-Shannon

I have ordered from Abebooks several times, or tried. 75% of the time I get an email back in 2-3 days saying the item is no longer available.

Apparently a poorly operated site.
Ours gets a tag on the item that says "On hold" when someone starts the buying process. That way if for some reason the sale is not finalised the tag is removed & the item is again for sale.
I just last evening wrote a "Press release" that goes on the sites home page. I think it stays there for a number of days. It is no charge.
Bernie

I'm sorry you've had bad experiences with them. For my part I've always had smooth, lightning-fast service from abebooks. Perhaps I got lucky ;-)
The only drawback is, when I buy books from a Canadian seller through abebooks, the price has to be converted into US dollars (as it's a US site) and then back into Canadian - and guess who pays the fee! So in this case, I find the item on the website, then contact the bookseller directly. Abebooks encourages this, in fact.

This thread has sure opened my eyes about ebay....very interesting.

Shannon

I don't think so much that it's a poorly operated site, just that many of the independent booksellers on Abe list on several places at once and forget to rectify their inventory on other sites when somethinh sells.

bookbytes.com has been very handy for college textbooks. Not sure about their other offerings.

I've ordered several things from half.com (in their former life) a few things from Abebooks and Alibris and had good experiences with each (nothing earthshaking and nothing to complain about.)

Wow. Where's that from, Darius?

Here are some sidebars from the ebay blip above:

Online Auction Service
We take the hassle out of selling on eBay. Just drop your items off with us, or...
www.numarkets.com

The Truth about Online Auctions
Learn the real story behind online auctions.
www.homebasedbusinessreviews.com

Bid4Assets Online Auctions
Free to join. Online auctions of seized, surplus and tax-foreclosed property...
www.bid4assets.com

Crafter's Online Auctions
Crafter's Auctions: a place for crafters to find supplies and sell their wares....
www.craftersauctions.com

So with a net profit of 204 million, why do they need to raise fees and store rent? I'm struggling just to pay my bills. And I hate to sound selfish, but Ebay is sending millions to help the Tsunami victims, which is great. But how bout throwing me a bone here in their own country?? The people most effected by the fee increase are the little guys, single mothers trying to feed their kids, people on disability and social security just trying to make ends meet, etc. Charity begins at home! Obviously so does greed!

NancyAnn

I guess you just can't reply on ebay to pay the bills unless you're one of the big guns. Personally, I wouldn't even have considered relying on ebay for income but I do sell ocassionally for a few extra bucks. And I mean A FEW! Most things don't sell and then I'm out $1.3- for posting the auction.

I think I'll just open up a DG store. I plan to donate all the proceeds to charities anyways.

Don't hold your breath for a DG store to make money either... unless you figure out how to advertise it, because Dave doesn't do any advertising.

i get hits on my dg store - it doesn't matter that dave doesn't advertise. what's important are the keywords you use. dg gets so many hits a day, it's good for the scif stores.

Bernie,

I did a little through the ebay store, but that was only until our site was up and running. There are rules on DG (and for good reason), that keep me and others from mentioning our businesses, unless asked about it. That's the reason you won't hear much about it. It's a fine line to walk at times, but if Dave alowed it, imagine what a spam fest this place would turn into. I do advertise on here, bt subscribers wil only se it if they have advertising enabled.

apologize for the typos. I'm on one of thosehotel room WebTV conections, andthis key board ishorid.

Regarding Ebay, I'm not done selling on there. I just have to do business on there diferently. twill bea place for bulk sales, and a few no reserve peny auctions, just as a an advertisingoutlet. So far the year is of to the best start ever, andwithout anything listed on Ebay.

Chris

How do you guys advertise with your stores? I have no idea what to do, I've never done anything like this before but I'm acumulating a ton of plants and what with the seed I've sowed, I'll have more.

Maybe I should just get one of those free websites and sell on there. That way the man won't get me down. Jk. I love you Dave. Please don't kick me off.

CaptMicha,

YES, get a website! I got mine at godaddy.com for $8 a year. But I believe Netfirms and Yahoo are both offering them for 4.95 a year. Netfirms also offers free hosting. So I got my domain registered at godaddy (before I saw Netfirms lower rate) and then I transferred my domain to netfirms to host the site.

Netfirms also supports Front Page extensions, so if you have the Front Page program, you can easily create your site and upload it to netfirms.

ioffer.com is offering free listings, no commission, and a free store currently. So you could get a store, and then you can link from your site to your store.

Use all the auction houses to post auctions. When people win an auction, send them a letter thanking them and referring them to your website where they can find other deals in your ioffer store. Also, submit your site to search engines like google and yahoo.

Have business cards printed up and include one with each shipment.

Once you get to thinking about it and become involved, you'll find many ways to advertise your site. Chris has the right idea--diversify. Sell in many arenas to get your name out there. One satisfied customer will refer another potential customer. You wont' get rich overnight. It takes time, but if you're patient, you'll prevail.

NancyAnn

I think I understood most of that except for the Using auction houses to post auctions. Actual auction houses with the guy talking fast and yelling sold??? Or is that a thing on ioffer.com?

With ioffer, is the store set up automatic or do you have to create your own formats? I'm not even sure if my computer wiz brother would know how to do that!

Can I sell directly from ioffer, or do I have to link that to a webpage?

How do I submit my site for advertising to yahoo, etc?

Chris can tell you how to list your site on search engines. He gave me the instructions.

Ioffer is already set up for you, Capt. Once you list just two items, Ioffer creates a store for you. You can add your storefront heading and change pages and add an introduction. But your actual store is already set up. And as you add items, you select categories for the items. Ioffer automatically generates those categories (like departments) in your store and files your auctions in the appropriate categories for you. It's very easy, just a fill in the blank sort of thing. Just go over there and browse some of the auctions and see how it looks. You don't have to know any web design. If you can read and type, you can do it. One step at a time. If you need any help, just holler at me on Yahoo Messenger (ichasebutterflys). I can walk you thru a listing if you like.

One of the things I like about Ioffer is, it's exactly that: I offer this item for sale for $10. A buyer can come along and say, I offer you $8 for that item. And I can accept or decline the offer. You can also specify on your listing that the price is non-negotiable if you want. Or instead of a price, you can say "Make an offer". I really don't like those listings. I like to know what the seller hopes to get. It gives me an idea of whether or not I can even afford it. With Make an Offers, I might offer $10 and the seller be offended because she thinks her item is worth $100. Take handbags, for instance. I personally don't like purses and can't imagine any of them being worth more than $10. But I see them offered for $100+ because they have a "name".

And yes, you can directly sell from you Ioffer store. It's an auction type atmosphere, like Ebay, where buyers and sellers are gathered. It's actually a bit more like going to a big town square market where you can dicker with the vendors.

One of the best ways to advertise your store is to get involved in the community at ioffer. It's like a small town with very friendly and helpful people. AND you are allowed to announce in each group any specials or any new listings you have. So you can advertise on each forum you belong to. And the members of the forum will check out your store.

I just joined ioffer a few days ago, and I've sold two items and one lady has made an offer on four other items that I'm selling. I can also see a list of my items and how many times each one has been viewed. So I can see what items people are more interested in. It's really very well set up.

And you can link to your store from your website. You don't have to have a website to sell. But you can get one if you like.

Since ioffer is free, you really don't have anything to lose but a bit of time. You might just try it out and see what you think. I think since the Ebay fee increase, ioffer may really take off. I see a lot of former ebayers over there.

Holler if you need assistance.

NancyAnn

interesting new ebay notice, posted tonite:
"We are pleased to announce that in the next week we will be introducing Best Offer, a new option for sellers with Fixed Price listings. This often-requested feature will give sellers more flexibility when listing items in the Fixed Price format, giving them the ability to accept price-based offers from buyers before a listing ends."
sounds awfully familiar.......

Yes, very familiar indeed. Almost.... too familiar.... Yes, I got it, I was just rambling!

I'll add you to my IM list next time I sign on aol, ButterflyChaser (a/s/l/pic? JK). ((Whoops, I thought you wrote Aol, I don't have yahoo messanger)) Ioffer sounds really handy, even if just to use as a easy store front and shopping cart for fixed prices. I kind of thought I'd try and sell like a mail order nursery with a list of plants and prices.... Hey, maybe I can do both?! Auctions and the other thing.

I know what you mean about purses. I see two purses, same color, same material, same design but one has a label with a designer name inside and suddenly it's worth hundreds of dollars more?!

I happen to like purses but come on! I'll just stick to my handy old navy or random store purses. If it's pretty and I like it, and it's under $30, I'll buy it. But then I'm a teenager, I'm supossed to do the shopping thing.



This message was edited Jan 22, 2005 6:53 AM

Yeah, Ebay has caught onto Ioffer's style. And I tell ya, the negotiating is actually fun and profitable. You know, if you're willing to buy several items from the same seller at once, it's nice to receive a small discount. And I think when you negotiate with your buyers, you actually produce more business for yourself.

I do business with some nurseries that throw in bonus plants with bigger orders. I love freebies! So those businesses will see me coming back again and again. Some ebay sellers do that too, and I keep their information and check back every now and then to purchase from them again.

We all like to know we're appreciated. That is free advertising in itself. Uuuuuum, something Ebay seems to have forgotten.

NancyAnn