is ebid missing the oppotunity of a lifetime

[theretrotrader]

Also from a collectables point of view has anybody tried contacting any magazines such as collectors gazette, collect it etc to see if they would be interested in running an article on ebid. Although maybe best to wait until the new logo and page are operational before doing so.

[terry5732]

On a lighter side we need somebody to sell an outrageous item on here that hits the headlines then everyone will know it exists!

I tried that once. eBid in there infinite wisdom pulled the ad. That is the best advertising there is and it is FREE.

[deltadelta48]

I also tried ebid as an alternative to ebay, had three goes so far but am still finding buyers are scarce on e.bid. I listed 10 of my 100 items to test the water again, set prices cheaper than I sell on ebay and my website but no buyers but I'm still getting about 100 buyers a month from ebay and about 50 from my website. Somethings lacking here and whoever can solve it should make a fortune.

Pep talk time!! I make at least a sale a day if not two on ebid and so do lots of others.

On your website with sales put a link to your ebid stores/items. Offer to discount postage if people buy two or more items. Offer a sale price on second or third items. Make it clear that if they see what they want in both places you discount and ship all items together. This doubles or triples your selection, and more selection means more sales. You can even add an ebid click button, affiliate program, and earn $2 a click when you refer people over. Make your website work w/ other affiliate advertising too.

Contact all your customers from feebay and your website, tell them you have a dandy selection on ebid and that you will give them a discount for buying. This will get you your first sales, and bring buyers to ebid too. If you have 100 sales a month, you probably have the names/emails for 2000 customers. Contact them, tell them about ebid and give them a reason to come over. Be convincing because you save fees everytime someone buys from you at ebid instead of feebay.

I don't think cheap makes sales. Giving customers a bargain, free shipping if they buy a second item, appears to be more important to people. In fact I hate seeing new sellers reducing their prices to $1.58 or whatever, thinking it will lure people in. There is a new book just released in US called "Cheap", forget author's name, but in an interview she said buyers love to bargain hunt, but if the item is too cheap, it loses value for them. That is the stuff we buy and toss in back of closet. So price can't be too low, to make items look unappealing. Better to have a shipping discount or a temporary sale.

ebid buyers like to buy multiples, make it worth their while to bid/buy more than one item.

What is lacking on ebid is participation by new sellers. They never had to market their own merchandise, never had to polish their titles, descriptions, etc, in order to sell more on feebay. Sales came because of the high volume of buyers. Here we have lower volume of buyers. And because of the economy they are careful shoppers, and usually don't like to engage in bidding wars. Many times they buy it now rather than haggle. First bid almost always takes it. I suspect our buyers spent less time on line, so you have to grab their attention with polished listings and descriptions. And have a about me page that is perfect.

Make sure your items end up on google. BIN, and 10 automatic relists do that. Add more description because people search on the descriptions too, and adding a name, etc, may make a sale.

That will get your started. good luck.

[deltadelta48]

exactly my experiance. i actually ran auctions of the same items at the same time on ebid and ebay with the ebid ones a fair bit cheaper. it was the ebay ones that sold. i think the only people who have heard of ebid are dissatified ebayers (via ebays forums). it's a sellers paradise from the fees point of view but unfortunatly this means ebid cannot raise enough revenue to spend money publishising itself

See my advice to the other new seller. it takes work to start to get those daily sales here. And you save money every time you make a sale on ebid as opposed to making it on feebay.

Noe ebid is in an excellent spot because it is #2 (or #1 with exception of feebay if you want to look at it that way). Those who jumped ship or walked the plank from feebay don't bother with alternate sites with no traffic at all and few auctions. Waste of time. Most go right to the biggest site after feebay and that is ebid. Makes sense (see powersellersunite.com for daily auction stats).

If you sold on feebay a long time, your marketing skills are dulled. To sell on alternate sites you have to have sharp marketing/advertising/listing skills. Any site, not just ebid. i.e. you must know how to write a searchable title and description. The more words in the description the greater chance it will attract more traffic.

Set a goal, work toward that goal and achieve that goal.

[kengillam]

Using an image as well might improve things, most people skip listings without pictures. Have a read of this thread http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showpost.ph...postcount=6223

[theretrotrader]

There you go. Ecto 1 listed and appears higher in the google shopping results than the 1 i have listed on feebay. Buyers can't buy what's not listed.

[Annes_Nostalgia]

QUOTE [There is a new book just released in US called "Cheap", forget author's name, but in an interview she said buyers love to bargain hunt, but if the item is too cheap, it loses value for them.]QUOTE

Please let me know if you recall the authori's name. I tried just 'Cheap' on Abebooks and a couple of other places, but nothing comes up.

Many thanks - it sounds like an excellent publication and I would dearly like to read it.

Thanks too for the benefit of your experience - much appreciated.

Cheers, Anne

[JaBek1]

"On a lighter side we need somebody to sell an outrageous item on here that hits the headlines then everyone will know it exists!"

Actually, that would probably be somewhat of a help. Human nature being what it is, people love reading about the unusual. Check out the tabloids at the supermarket checkout line.

While it might not draw buyers for that particular item some buyers would surely browse around and find something they like. And in the very least, eBid would be know to exist.

Dennis

[dr-oxide]

I don't think cheap makes sales. Giving customers a bargain, free shipping if they buy a second item, appears to be more important to people. In fact I hate seeing new sellers reducing their prices to $1.58 or whatever, thinking it will lure people in. There is a new book just released in US called "Cheap", forget author's name, but in an interview she said buyers love to bargain hunt, but if the item is too cheap, it loses value for them. That is the stuff we buy and toss in back of closet. So price can't be too low, to make items look unappealing. Better to have a shipping discount or a temporary sale.

This is the book that you are looking for - follow the link:-

http://www.echapterone.com/store/e-S...Product=275189

After you have been there, why not visit my shops to see what I have

[sketchtech]

The site needs a couple of tweaks in my opinion or it might just be me.

I'm getting trouble in the editor section when listing, slow and erratic is one way of describing it. And that annoying submit button which I have to chase around the screen, anyone else getting that?

The listing part is what drove me away before, free listing or not it was annoying.

Back on here again listing to see if things have improved. So far so good.