Ebid and advertising.

[adruml]

Adrumi
Say you were in charge of ebid
How would you advertise ?

Where
How
To who
How much

Without knowing it's present sales, capacity operating budget that is a pretty loaded question. If you would like to give me some parameters to work with I can better TRY and answer.

Most likely via Television where shows are shown here US and abroad few during prime time (expensive) but most during the daytime shows most watched and after prime time shows. Daily for a week off for 2 weeks on a week off for 2 weeks on again then 1 week monthly for 6 to 9 months.
I would find the filler slots needed and use those as they are inexpensive but still have decent exposure.
More importantly is the Jingle needed. Something after hearing a few times sticks in everybodies head. Hear it for a week then youy don't for 2 weeks hear it again for a week then off agin then just a reminder every week out of the month should keep it alive.
Quick stab at the cost 4 to 5 million

[lejoueurdepipeau]

Well if you are going to spend 4 to 5 million it is a very good job indeed that you are not in charge.

[AustinComics]

After a great deal of though I have changed my mind about advertising.despite ebay seemingly determined to commit Hari kari the numbers on ebid just aren't growing.Regular users and posters are trying to promote the site all over the place but I think it's time for a reality check,and the reality is all the efforts are bringing in little real rewards.
I've always said advertising isn't needed but I don't see any real progress as we are and it has to be time for a different approach.
Any other suggestions?

I'm a seller here and I sell the EXACT same items and prices on both Ebid and Feebay. I recently did some shopping. I looked around on Ebid for stuff that I wanted. Wasn't here. I just dropped over $100 on Feebay this weekend, simply because I found what I wanted, and at a great price.

Whats my point? My point is, that as a Seller AND a Buyer, I am aware of ppl want from an auction site. As much as I like this setup, as much as I like the community here.....Unfortunately, Ebid just doesn't have the U.S. presence that Feebay has. Not yet at least. I mention this all the time on the mssg boards and ppl here get all emotional and bent out of shape.

Fact remains - unless the guys in charge make some kind of attempt to advertise in the States, Ebid will continue to operate as a sort of 'fringe' website. I get a ton of looks and visits but no sales. I go to Feebay, stomach their outrageous fees, post the same stuff up and it usually sells within a week. I even print out Ebid flyers and insert them in all of my Feebay sales!

What more can one do?

[NoDakKlassics]

One thing I noticed is that when you Google eBid their pay per click advertising shows up at the top of the page. Totally unnecessary and I am sure they are paying a bundle for people who click on it instead of their #1 search result listing. They should block "eBid" on their pay per click advertising. Any time you search with eBid in a sentence a ton of results come up on the 1st page. So why pay when you can get it free?

[adruml]

Well if you are going to spend 4 to 5 million it is a very good job indeed that you are not in charge.

Seamed pretty cheap to me.
1008 @ 30 second slots comes out to $3,968.00 per slot / $4,000,000.00
Might be an underestimate.

[Pink_Panther]

Seamed pretty cheap to me.
1008 @ 30 second slots comes out to $3,968.00 per slot / $4,000,000.00
Might be an underestimate.

LMAO!

As I said before.

What are you going to offer all the buyers that you hope to attract?

example: I have a massive 62% of listings for cake plates. Impressive? No , because there are only 32 listed on ebid compared to 3,961 on ebay.

We are the corner shop trying to compete with the supermarket chain!

Do your own advertising for gawds sake!

[KAYS6912]

Couldn't agree more. An instant fix would be great, but from what I've seen (re: eBay ads on TV, the Net, you name it) advertising isn't helping eBay's sorry situation, only an internal reworking of the system currently in place would do that and, from what I've read on the forums, they don't seem to be willing to even consider doing that. I'm not sure if the same is the case for eBid, though I have to add that my sales have increased quite a bit lately, so maybe things are picking up, just slow enough that we can't see it.

Just my 2 cents...

Best wishes for many sales to all,

Good on you Sue and long may it continue. Wish I could say the same myself but I've only had four sales (excluding YDC) between 8 Feb and 01 March. So just as well I'm not relying on sales to feed us!

[SherMari]

I am advertising every day, I send out email to buyers and sellers. I only can do so much emailing and then I have to get back to listing. I try to send out 50 a day

[adruml]

LMAO!

As I said before.

What are you going to offer all the buyers that you hope to attract?

example: I have a massive 62% of listings for cake plates. Impressive? No , because there are only 32 listed on ebid compared to 3,961 on ebay.

We are the corner shop trying to compete with the supermarket chain!

Do your own advertising for gawds sake!

Sorry I was showing how the supermarket chain got to be the supermarket chain.

And for Gawds sake why don't we want to think in the direction of getting the 3,961 cake plates listed here?

It is a reality and can happen. To sit back and say this is the way it is and this is the way it will stay shows intentions of not wanting to grow, not wanting those 3,961 cake plates here, not wanting to be so busy packing and listing there is no time for forum chat.

Advertising and growth are real life...be in it.

[Pink_Panther]

Sorry I was showing how the supermarket chain got to be the supermarket chain.

And for Gawds sake why don't we want to think in the direction of getting the 3,961 cake plates listed here?

It is a reality and can happen. To sit back and say this is the way it is and this is the way it will stay shows intentions of not wanting to grow, not wanting those 3,961 cake plates here, not wanting to be so busy packing and listing there is no time for forum chat.

Advertising and growth are real life...be in it.

The cake plate thing is an analogy of the lack of total choice on ebid. Buyers coming to ebid looking for cake plates would find only 32 items, 62% of them being mine.

So if ebid advertized great cake stands or whatever else as available on ebid and loads of potential buyers were attracted; say 100 would love a nice cake stand. Well at least 68 of them would be disappointed.


As for growth I have contributed massively in percentage terms to certain catagories. But it's green shoots growth. It's not substantial and it's not significant to anyone but me. If I am successful at selling cake stands I won't have a monopoly for long as others would notice and compete. (It's quite easy to make a cake stand)

Most of my sales come via google, so ebid is the best platform bar none for that!

Google brings them into one of my stores. Once there they can browse over all my stock across five stores via embedded links.

It's like my own website! It cost me £50 for life!

People need to use ebid for what it is and stop whinging that it's not what they want.
If they want to help themselves and ebid do one thing and do it regularly.
List and list and list!