How hard would it be...

[adruml]

How hard would it be for eBid to send a direct email to ALL new users a standard welcome letter detailing all the wonderful selling/buying advice which has been given in the forums over the years?

I always see advice to seek advice in the forums but for newbies it may be a bit too much to ask them to look through and find advice they may so desperately need.

Why not just have a standard letter which goes out to anyone signing up? Advice is pretty much the same and appears to have been for many years. At least this way anybody signing up to eBid receives all helpful advice immediately.

I truly believe it wouldn't be a major task to put together. It would take a little time and energy but it would have to be better than forum users repeating the same info over and over again. And what about the folks who join and don't log into the forums? They are missing out on the ins and outs of eBid.

[HerMajesty]

GONGS! And it wouldn't hurt to include the gist of the same info in the letter sent to people on their anniversary date of joining.......just as a refresher!

[adruml]

[cerealmunkee]

what you suggest would be very easy for Ebid to implement, and we only last week were discussing something along the same lines. I think some infomercials explaining the best listing options would provide a massive boost to the sites visibility, i'd personally love to see Ebid selling the many benefits of selecting the "platinum" listing option and showing the great value for money that it offers, instead of keeping it buried away in the current listing form. A scrolling banner stating "what can you buy for 5p?" would be an attention grabber....wouldn't it?

[sucadot]

GONGS! And it wouldn't hurt to include the gist of the same info in the letter sent to people on their anniversary date of joining.......just as a refresher!

Only a gong Ma'am? Dust off the sword, I think this idea calls for a knighthood

[adruml]

what you suggest would be very easy for Ebid to implement, and we only last week were discussing something along the same lines. I think some infomercials explaining the best listing options would provide a massive boost to the sites visibility, i'd personally love to see Ebid selling the many benefits of selecting the "platinum" listing option and showing the great value for money that it offers, instead of keeping it buried away in the current listing form. A scrolling banner stating "what can you buy for 5p?" would be an attention grabber....wouldn't it?

I was thinking along the lines of "cheap as possible".

After reading the FAQs it is noted to visit the forums for helpful suggestions anyway but there are no links showing users exactly where to go and maybe after reading through pages of forums they might give up.
Just need to take some time and put something together then it will be just a click away for new members. No searching, none of the same questions over and over again just all the information new users need to become succesfull on eBid.

[kreativebargains]

It would not be too difficult to eMail them. And maybe they could add an FAQ with advice and put the link into the eMail. That would also give somewhere that newbies might find anyway.

[cerealmunkee]

When searching Ebid on the Internet and finding it , you are greeted by the heading "Buy and sell in our fee free auctions"., this would lead any potential new seller to assume that this is the way to go and this is the method in which sales will come.
We understand that this is not the method to employ....if you wish to see some sales.

I believe that Ebid could do well to go back to the beginning and look at the direction that new sellers see themselves steered. Listing for 5p using the platinum listing should be constantly promoted.
We need new sellers to test drive the site via "platinum", not the free option. Sending emails to new an still recent sellers is a great idea. In fact from time to time even Ebay do the same no matter how long your selling career.

While the suggestion that i made regarding infomercials is not the cheapest option, i believe that it will offer the best value for money...but, could the site owners star in them in person?.

[Juliebabe25]

Adrumi's idea is a really good one and so simple and easy.

Another easy idea to get lots of new listings would be to email every person who has ever joined ebid (1 million of them) (who is not listing now) and tell them ebid i still going strong, and now has MAO, and that they might like to try a few platinum listings
.
(Or give them 50 free platinum listings!)

[adruml]

When searching Ebid on the Internet and finding it , you are greeted by the heading "Buy and sell in our fee free auctions"., this would lead any potential new seller to assume that this is the way to go and this is the method in which sales will come.
We understand that this is not the method to employ....if you wish to see some sales.

I believe that Ebid could do well to go back to the beginning and look at the direction that new sellers see themselves steered. Listing for 5p using the platinum listing should be constantly promoted.
We need new sellers to test drive the site via "platinum", not the free option. Sending emails to new an still recent sellers is a great idea. In fact from time to time even Ebay do the same no matter how long your selling career.

While the suggestion that i made regarding infomercials is not the cheapest option, i believe that it will offer the best value for money...but, could the site owners star in them in person?.

As much as many will agree about the advertising there are probably as many which will disagree.

Getting new folks here really doesn't appear to be as much of a problem as keeping them here is. (Wow what a sentence)!

I have only been here a bit under 2-1/2 years, listed when I first joined, stopped after a while and have recently started listing here again. During this time I have watched items listed in the categories I sell in (musical instruments). Watching sellers come and go for the last 2-1/2 years has been very disheartening. Right now eBid has less guitars listed then they had when I joined and there are only 4 drum cymbals for sale here...all 4 are mine. Only 2 of the several long gone sellers I noticed popped into the forums once or twice that I can recall, others did not pop in at all. They really had no chance of learning about eBid and how others have been succesful here.

Keep in mind most folks don't take others advice well, thinking they know everything there is to know. It is not only difficult for some to take advice but equally or more difficult to ask for it.

With what is happening and has been happening over at that other site I feel confident in saying there isn't much eBid can tell new folks that would scare them off. Sellers are looking for a new home and with the eBid pitch, most are likely to come here. The trick is keeping them here and active.

Every week I'll see a disgruntled newbie in the forums then (without mentioning names) a couple successful eBidders will jump in and explain how things work here on eBid. I would say 99% of the time when that newbie follows the advice given they become happy with being here.

I firmly believe eBid are losing a variety of sellers because they do not know what eBid is all about. I am plugging away right now with my 4 cymbal listings and will list a few more cymbals and a couple guitars soon. After that my cash to buy more is dependent on selling what is listed now and it would sure help if we had thousands of cymbals and guitars listed here to offer more variety then we have presently.

Every newbie should receive the same advice which has worked for many others who happen to visit the forums!