A few pointers along with a rant...
I recently posted a thread on the 'Any praise most welcome!' board (“My first 6 months on eBid...”), thanking the eBid team for their A1 support and acknowledging their help in making my first (serious) six months of trading on eBid both profitable and successful.
In that post I blithely mentioned that I might have a few marketing/sales pointers for sellers new to eBid that might help them grow their own eBid sales if they contacted me. Other posters on this forum quickly picked up on that statement and pointed out I should ‘Share and Enjoy’. This post is my answer. It’s a long message, but I make no apologies, I want to have a good whine while outlining my marketing ideas!
Around mid 2008 I realised that feebay were intent on making my life as a seller as miserable as possible. They introduced crazy terms and conditions and forced me to into corners where I did not want to go. The final straw for me was when they demanded I get very high, close to five star DSR ratings while telling buyers that a four star rating was ‘good’. Then they added “By the way, you can’t criticise the buyer in any circumstances, so we will not let you give a –ve to them, no matter what.”
Charming.
I should point out that my feepay DSR ratings are 4.9, 5.0, 4.9, and 4.8. I’m especially proud of the 4.8 shipping rating, since all my sales were postage and packing included… (You can easily check – I use the ‘Redclassichifi’ moniker on all the sites I sell on).
So I realised it was time to move on and cast around for a new place to sell.
There really wasn’t any contest. I looked at every site, but eBid shone through.
It was just like e?ay was in the early days. A place where you could offer anything on a 99p starting bid and see what it might fetch (99p at best, mostly…, Sorry, eBid)
Sure, it was slow compared to the market leader but I remember the early feeBay days; trust me, loads of stuff went for next to nothing, but then the site reached a tipping point and it really took off.
eBid is approaching this ‘tipping point’ and when it happens we will all forget these early days and welcome thousands of new sellers/buyers (but please, lets all hope the forums stay here stay friendly and don’t degrade to the hateful nastyfest we see on the other site).
Anyway – how do you sell on eBid?
First off, you have to grasp the principle that eBid is NOT like the other auction site. It’s no use listing a single item and expecting a profitable sale through passing trade. Isn’t going to happen (at least, for now!) You have to be committed to selling your stuff. You will have to work a bit harder to promote your listings, but the sales will be ever the more sweet for your efforts! (kind of obvious, I guess…)
And (finally, at last) my recommendations are:
Commit to the eBid site. This is your new selling home.
Buy into the £49.99 Lifetime Seller+ deal. Its insanely good value: If I was an eBid shareholder I would smack Gazza (an eBid Senior) around the head and say ‘what the h*ll were you thinking? Where’s our profit?’ Honestly, get it now – before they change their minds!
When you create your Shop/Listings – make sure you optimise; plenty of keywords that search engines can pick up on.
eMail your existing customer base to tell them where you have gone: If you have been selling on the ‘other site’ get your customers email address (even after ePay forget them Paypal keep records).
Advertise your on-line presence in the 'real' world: Mention your eBid site whenever you carry out any advertising.
Run banner ads on relevant websites - most amateur sites only charge a few pounds a week. It generates sales and improves your ranking on many search engines.
Treat your customers like Gods… Try and find a way to offer them more than they ever expected, (free advice, faster post, free items, etc).
Find on-line ‘enthusiast’ forums for your products. Leave posts regarding your eBid auctions/shop.
When you make a bit of money, consider Google Adwords (it really works...)
Anyway, following these rules it’s been a fine few months for me. With a bit of effort you can make this site work for you as well. Good luck!
James
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Originally Posted by jeweleffects
