eBid mentioned on EcommerceBytes

[cornishmaid1961]

Good letter about eBid on EcommerceBytes today, thank you for writing it Vicky, every bit of publicity helps everyone's sales here !

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/let...560199241.html

[StarlightCollctbls]

Good letter about eBid on EcommerceBytes today, thank you for writing it Vicky, every bit of publicity helps everyone's sales here !

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/let...560199241.html

Your quite welcome! This is a great site for sure. I just put some tweets out to EBid to promote more on the US sites FB and others. There is a mass exit of power sellers leaving or wanting to look elsewhere. And we all know the more sellers the buyers follow. Good luck and happy happy selling!!

[cornishmaid1961]

Your quite welcome! This is a great site for sure. I just put some tweets out to EBid to promote more on the US sites FB and others. There is a mass exit of power sellers leaving or wanting to look elsewhere. And we all know the more sellers the buyers follow. Good luck and happy happy selling!!

Well there were a load of us that migrated here in the 2008 exodus from the other side so let's hope it happens again and that they are not just looking for a quick fix and will put some real effort in like you Vicky.

Too many sellers arrive expecting instant results like on the big sites but forget that eBid have never ever raised their fees and don't make us pay for Google Shopping ( well never since I first tested the water here in 2005) so there is no other advertising budget. It is up to the seller to get themselves known and you are making an excellent start here !

[rocks2dust]

That's great! Unfortunately, there were also those who quickly added some of the standard "nothing sells on ebid" responses (I don't recall a single site where I've listed where sales quickly ramped up - even on oBey with its high traffic, it took me years to get regular sales). I seriously doubt whether the "nothing sells" folks put much, or any effort into listing here - or might they be shills for sites threatened by alternatives that have lower fees?

I suppose if one sells 0.99 toxic plastic floral decorations with free worldwide shipping, then those alternative sites might produce quick sales - there seem to be many venues for dumping such things, and an inexplicably ready audience who buy them.

However, the minutes (even many minutes) of time it takes to photograph, describe in detail, inventory/track and list a one-of-a-kind or unusual item makes most high-traffic sites money-losers, and that is before considering the initial cost to the seller of the item itself. Even third-world slave prison labor would have a difficult time avoiding instant bankruptcy were it not for subsidies. The reason is a combination of fees (and fees upon fees) plus a rapid spiral to the bottom in prices fetched.

Low fees should be seen as a "must have" in any online selling venue. Ebid is a viable marketplace even if most traffic comes from one's own website, social media links, etc.

[StarlightCollctbls]

That's great! Unfortunately, there were also those who quickly added some of the standard "nothing sells on ebid" responses (I don't recall a single site where I've listed where sales quickly ramped up - even on oBey with its high traffic, it took me years to get regular sales). I seriously doubt whether the "nothing sells" folks put much, or any effort into listing here - or might they be shills for sites threatened by alternatives that have lower fees?

I suppose if one sells 0.99 toxic plastic floral decorations with free worldwide shipping, then those alternative sites might produce quick sales - there seem to be many venues for dumping such things, and an inexplicably ready audience who buy them.

However, the minutes (even many minutes) of time it takes to photograph, describe in detail, inventory/track and list a one-of-a-kind or unusual item makes most high-traffic sites money-losers, and that is before considering the initial cost to the seller of the item itself. Even third-world slave prison labor would have a difficult time avoiding instant bankruptcy were it not for subsidies. The reason is a combination of fees (and fees upon fees) plus a rapid spiral to the bottom in prices fetched.

Low fees should be seen as a "must have" in any online selling venue. Ebid is a viable marketplace even if most traffic comes from one's own website, social media links, etc.

It's getting ridiculous over there (bay). The more sellers and buyers leaving, Corporate is coming up with more fees to the sellers that stay. They don't know whats happening and why. I've been there for most part of 4 years. I've been in direct sales forever and it took me just a couple of months to tell them to go flip sand. Shut my store down before my subscription was up. Now my guy has been with them since 1997 he says the same thing Ebay will implode on itself! I really felt the need to write to bytes in hopes the smaller sellers see there are other places to sell. I for one sell here, my webstore, bonanza and the marketplace. I'm learning all I can on Google. I run checks to see what the web crawlers took of mine. Just signed in to Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest and groups lol. Is there anything else that I have overlooked? As for the webstore I will start sourcing there soon.
PS as for China's BS, that's a whole different ballgame and what their doing with inferior product and not paying there fare share with USPS. LOL I can go all day about their crap! Some are lying saying they are USA sellers and then dropship lol Im done. Thanks for the reply

[theElench]

That's great! Unfortunately, there were also those who quickly added some of the standard "nothing sells on ebid" responses (I don't recall a single site where I've listed where sales quickly ramped up - even on oBey with its high traffic, it took me years to get regular sales). I seriously doubt whether the "nothing sells" folks put much, or any effort into listing here - or might they be shills for sites threatened by alternatives that have lower fees?

I've challenged three of the "Nothing ever sells" chorus. I'm always careful to question regulars with a reputation for being accurate, fair minded and articulate. Perhaps others should try doing the same when they see these comments because in two out of three cases the replies were interesting and the blanket condemnation soon undermined, at least in part and perhaps enough to create some doubt about this repeated "fact".

One reply was short and immediately admitted that they tried ebid 10?? years ago, sold nothing and haven't been back since.

The second resorted to bluster, insisted the site was useless but could only refer to a recent technical issue to back that up. Looking into their accounts on both sites I found over 1K listings on obay but only a handful of fridge magnets here. One thing I found intriguing was that although they had been selling here for many years they hadn't managed to get even one FB. I wondered why, even allowing that sales had been few and fewer leave FB, that no-one bothered over so long looked just a bit odd. What they were saying didn't square with what I found, it looked like they just dumped a few listings and left them for years. Not surprising that so few sold.

The third said they were here daily for several years trying to make their business work but only made a tiny number of sales (from my memory which may not be accurate) about ten. When pressed they referred back to their business records and admitted that in fact there had been over 80 but spaced over several years and mostly forgotten. They also admitted that they still had listings here and only popped in once in a while and "sometimes even remembered to delete those that had sold on obay". Which did at least show their recent lack of commitment and an un-professional attitude to selling here.

Without trying to highjack this thread, would it really be so difficult to create a transaction counter?? It would, over time, make the claim that "nothing ever sells" less damaging simply by showing that stuff does sell, if slowly.

[cornishmaid1961]

Without trying to highjack this thread, would it really be so difficult to create a transaction counter?? It would, over time, make the claim that "nothing ever sells" less damaging simply by showing that stuff does sell, if slowly.

No, that is very relevant. I too would love to see a sales counter on eBid, I always look at people's sales over on Etsy, particularly as it is so difficult to get people to leave feedback these days and it is helpful to know what is selling well.

I would also like to see the return of the eBid newsletter. After all that doesn't cost eBid anything only a bit of time and effort and at least it jogs people's memory that eBid is still going strong !

This is a quote from David Steiner on the comments to the original article.
I'd point out that we love hearing about smaller sites, and encourage them to send us news. Sometimes they have to be prodded by their users, so I wouldn't be shy about letting them know.

Come on eBid, I'm prodding !!!

[theElench]

Low fees should be seen as a "must have" in any online selling venue. Ebid is a viable marketplace even if most traffic comes from one's own website, social media links, etc.

A couple of points come to mind. The first I heard of the guarantee not to raise fees in all the years I've been here, was when earlier this year someone from ebid towers popped up to remind members that the ecommercebytes site survey was open for votes and comments. That guarantee is surely worth advertising a lot more than it is now. Especially when obays CEO recently said that selling there WILL become even more expensive than it is already.

When anyone mentions ebids low fees on their boards, the "nothing sells chorus" can at present always reply that "paying any fee for no sales is still expensive".

As for ebid being a viable market-place. I've never paid for Seller+ membership, so cannot constantly re-list my items to the top of search results. They get one auction listing and then go to the bottom of the RUS listings. I don't have the thousands of items to list to make shops viable, so I don't have any. I don't have the time or inclination to engage in self-promoting on SM. All I can do by way of promotion is to send buyers on the other site a note with their purchase.

If a transaction counter isn't a monumental project and equally expensive (I admit I have no idea of the difficulty or cost of creating one) wouldn't it be THE most cost effective form of promotion for both sellers and the site to be found?? Every single sale would boost the seller involved and progressively debunk the single most damaging "argument" against becoming a seller here.

My best guess (which I honestly believe is not that far out) is that, although I've broken some of the "rules" for successful selling on ebid, I've managed to sell about 50 items in 68 months. That gives me an average of 1.36 items per month.

On obay I've sold 325 items in 80 months -- an average of 4.06 per month. On the site that is arguably the best known auction site in the world. That spends a fortune on advertising and has vastly more visitors. In the category I list in it has 100 times the number of listings to attract those visitors. With all those advantages, to only be getting four times the sales of a minnow is rather poor.

In other words, IMHO ebid, proportionally, is doing pretty well for me, based solely on the numbers. Then add to that the undeniable fact that I get to keep so much more of the proceeds from every sale.

[tony41]

My best guess (which I honestly believe is not that far out) is that, although I've broken some of the "rules" for successful selling on ebid, I've managed to sell about 50 items in 68 months. That gives me an average of 1.36 items per month.

I make it 0.74 items per month, on average.
But I take your point

[theElench]

My apologies, you are correct. I divided 68 by 50, instead of the other way around. Thanks for accepting the point, even with averages of 0.74 and 4.06 the other site hasn't done so well IMO. For the sake of brevity I left out part of the story of my sales on the other site.

Like others have found, my best sales year there was my first. My first sale was in October '12, most weeks for that first year I sold several items. That ended rather abruptly in October '13. The phenomena is noticeable enough that there is a persistent rumour that obay gives new sellers a boost in their first year to get them hooked. Another reason for the drop-off might have been that in April '13 RM raised postage costs significantly and obay followed this up in September by slapping 10% FVF on P&P.

Whether the rumour is true, my memory is slightly "rose tinted" or the drop-off solely the result of higher costs, it remains a fact that even if I only sold 100 items (2 per week) in the first year. The average for the other years would then be even lower.

Also, like so many others, I wasted my first year here. I listed a few items to "test the water" and just left them. Predictably nothing sold. It was only when obay continued to turn the screw that I began to think about notes in parcels and started to evolve my "strategy" to improve the look of the category I list in to show browsers that it isn't entirely stagnant. So here, discounting one wasted year my average for the subsequent would be a bit higher.

My figure for sales on ebid are a guess, based on the certain knowledge that less than half of buyers have left FB. The averages cannot be completely accurate.

But, all things considered, I still think ebid does quite well for me, when I can put so little effort into it. IMO selling collectables on obay is only going to become more expensive, slower, generally more tiresome and a more horrible experience than it is now. The crafty site is run by an ex-obay exec. who is already heading down the same road, using the same strategies to fleece the sellers. IMO it won't be long before it's as bad as obay. But ebid (with only a couple of changes) could still become THE best place to sell collectables.