Hate Ebay? How you can help me.

laying4profit

mobile48 wrote: »

I suggest you read this thread also:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2901810

Yeah i read that.

I also have a Facebook and Twiiter account set up for the site as well.:D

Pembroke

Well when I first saw your name I must admit I thought it was something to do with selling fertile eggs for Chicken Hatching, (guess that makes me a country bumpkin) :-)

Have you considered not using the Ebay model at all. The thing is you mentioned off line auctions earlier on where both the buyer and the seller pay part of the fee, but Ebay already have that covered, they've altered the model to not having the buyer pay a fee, the buyers are now all used to that model and anyone who wants them to pay a fee other than P&P is onto a looser, or at least an uphill struggle to make it work. Don't forget the majority of the general public have never been to a general auction at their local auction house and don't know how the system works.

So I was thinking that maybe the Amazon market place model might be better in that you don't have any auctions type sales at all, just fixed price sales. You only charge a seller a known fee, which could be fixed price in bands (to encourage bargains) or a fixed percentage when an item sells and the buyer only pays a known, fixed price P&P charge. Unlike Amazon though you don't provide a catalogue so any item within your sites guidelines can be sold. Maybe if you priced in bands you could then make incentives for sellers to add goods to the lower and upper bands so you have a good spread of prices across the board. Your company should then be able to get a reasonable handle on your costs, your income and your budget available for advertising.

Crowqueen

Being fixed price only, you can also set up a payments system that eliminates NPBs to a significant degree.

Without the "buyer = scammer" attitude, you could make a go of it. But having seen too many people want to do this to buff sellers' egos without considering where the money actually comes from, any site that goes that route will alienate people rather than attract them.

laying4profit

Pembroke wrote: »

Well when I first saw your name I must admit I thought it was something to do with selling fertile eggs for Chicken Hatching, (guess that makes me a country bumpkin) :-)

Have you considered not using the Ebay model at all. The thing is you mentioned off line auctions earlier on where both the buyer and the seller pay part of the fee, but Ebay already have that covered, they've altered the model to not having the buyer pay a fee, the buyers are now all used to that model and anyone who wants them to pay a fee other than P&P is onto a looser, or at least an uphill struggle to make it work. Don't forget the majority of the general public have never been to a general auction at their local auction house and don't know how the system works.

So I was thinking that maybe the Amazon market place model might be better in that you don't have any auctions type sales at all, just fixed price sales. You only charge a seller a known fee, which could be fixed price in bands (to encourage bargains) or a fixed percentage when an item sells and the buyer only pays a known, fixed price P&P charge. Unlike Amazon though you don't provide a catalogue so any item within your sites guidelines can be sold. Maybe if you priced in bands you could then make incentives for sellers to add goods to the lower and upper bands so you have a good spread of prices across the board. Your company should then be able to get a reasonable handle on your costs, your income and your budget available for advertising.

A good idea. My main worry is not getting people to list items. This is the biggest part.People are not going to list items where there is no traffic.You need a busy site. And it is silly to say everything is free as it will not work.

Crowqueen wrote: »

Being fixed price only, you can also set up a payments system that eliminates NPBs to a significant degree.

Without the "buyer = scammer" attitude, you could make a go of it. But having seen too many people want to do this to buff sellers' egos without considering where the money actually comes from, any site that goes that route will alienate people rather than attract them.

I have a few ways i can operate the payments methods.I can either charge a % or a flat fee. I would rather stick with the Flat fee to keep it simple.
Now i need to encourage new members to sign up and list items for sale. But in reality nobody is going to pay a fee to list items on a dead site are they.
After some research in other places i found out that the Buyer fee is not to bad and it would have encouraged people to list items.
If say the seller does his/her advert they can state they would pay the fee.Or they can do the advert with FREE p&p.
You see folk on Ebay selling an item for 99p but the p&p is £90. This is to avoid fees. But on my site thay gain little from doing that.
i want it like a market type place. you know a bit of bartering.. In order to get a sale you say you will do free p&p plus pay the buyer fee.
NPB are hard to stop i grant you. But remember if they do this on my site and win they have to pay the fee. And if the seller makes a complain we can look at the said auction. If a buyer makes a habit of it then we would just suspend the account. I want my website to be a place where people can buy & Sell things with out worry.

To be honest the highest fee is at the lower end and it works out at 1% After £100 it drops to 0.2% then after £1000 drops to 0.1% and stays at that.
Im problally going to break this down further into more price bands so it is more uniformed.

KChildheart

Okay reading through this entire thread has been...a frustrating experience. To me it just seems there are a lot of ebay sellers on here that don't understand the concept you a proposing.

Charge the customer for an item... that's a new concept. :eek: Er wait a minute...is it really? No this isn't a new concept infact it is the basis of commerce. It's quite easy to disguise this so that the buyer don't know that they are paying commission to the site and that is just to add on the fee to BIN prices.

As for auctions, a simple notice of the tier systems at the beginning and end of the auction should enable buyers to realize that paying an extra few pence to get a cheaper bargain is a much better proposition. The tier system is a much better and cheaper alternative in my opinion for the consumer, but not as a business model. It won't make a lot of money and that is what people fail to understand. The concept that: OMG this business won't make ME much money!!!!! Pass the savings onto the customer, seems like a plan to me, an innovative and potentially risky plan and not one you would get investment in easily as banks are there to make money as well and won't see this as a profitable venture.

Ebay charges a listing fee, this 'site' does not (apparently, I've yet to see it with my own eyes), I run a similar model on my own site but since I'm the only person selling on it.... *shrug*. This fee is around 2%? of an item (it's a percentage fee nonetheless). 2% of £10 = £0.20. (If that is the final auction price that is) Yet this site saves £0.10 (by only charging £0.10 to the buyer) on that sale enabling the seller to sell the item at a cheaper price thus offsetting the fee or even put that extra 10p to offset the postage and packaging, if the seller does this, then they lose the benefit but gain customer satisfaction.

I see the point the original poster makes about Free Buy days, which sounds like a good idea but are in fact a death trap for this business, on the other hand, the sales numbers should shoot through the roof. My advice is to only tell people the day before else everyone will switch their prices and the business will gain nothing. At the very least fix the auction dates. Make it a surprise to buyers, there's no need to give the advantage to sellers as well. This will garner a reputation for the business.

What you need to provide is some kind of buyer insurance as well. That 10p might only pay for the basic running costs, but you also need to provide some sort of security, insurance even. I personally use a third party checkout system to do this but if a buyer pays legitimately for an item and doesn't receive the item. Then what?

Crowqueen

To me it just seems there are a lot of ebay sellers on here that don't understand the concept you a proposing.

No, you're right, since we eBay sellers sell on a site which has no problem attracting buyers.

themull1

laying4profit wrote: »

I think that this is most people responses on here. I am not going to charge the seller like other sites do.Im not going to do reverse auctions either.

If a genuine buyer wants your item then they would pay the small fee. We are not talking loads here. 10p,£1,£2,£5,£10 & £20 these fees are ONLY payable if an item is purchased.The buyer has every chance to back out by using the Bid retraction.

The thing is if a normal bidder is not going to pay the buyer fee then why would a scammer?They want to make profit. On ebay they can buy the item and it dont cost them anything. They can either muck you about or get the item and send it back and claim off Paypal.
Because paypal are owned by Ebay they will protect the buyer at all times.
With any item sold over the internet you can give ample time for the buyer to view the item in person. The buyer can also ask for more photos to be sent. You can talk to them on the phone. To be honest you would not buy a car without looking at it would you. This is why Auction houses have viewing days.
People continue to complain about Ebay or paypal but choose to remain with them. Well i am giving people the option to list items on the site and leave them. Its not going to cost you anything. The more people i get to do this the better the sales will go.
Its nice to get input of people on here as i get to see how others think..

If i wanted your product i wouldnt pay a small fee, i would go on another site and buy it without a small fee.

laying4profit

KChildheart wrote: »

Okay reading through this entire thread has been...a frustrating experience. To me it just seems there are a lot of ebay sellers on here that don't understand the concept you a proposing.

Charge the customer for an item... that's a new concept. :eek: Er wait a minute...is it really? No this isn't a new concept infact it is the basis of commerce. It's quite easy to disguise this so that the buyer don't know that they are paying commission to the site and that is just to add on the fee to BIN prices.

As for auctions, a simple notice of the tier systems at the beginning and end of the auction should enable buyers to realize that paying an extra few pence to get a cheaper bargain is a much better proposition. The tier system is a much better and cheaper alternative in my opinion for the consumer, but not as a business model. It won't make a lot of money and that is what people fail to understand. The concept that: OMG this business won't make ME much money!!!!! Pass the savings onto the customer, seems like a plan to me, an innovative and potentially risky plan and not one you would get investment in easily as banks are there to make money as well and won't see this as a profitable venture.

Ebay charges a listing fee, this 'site' does not (apparently, I've yet to see it with my own eyes), I run a similar model on my own site but since I'm the only person selling on it.... *shrug*. This fee is around 2%? of an item (it's a percentage fee nonetheless). 2% of £10 = £0.20. (If that is the final auction price that is) Yet this site saves £0.10 (by only charging £0.10 to the buyer) on that sale enabling the seller to sell the item at a cheaper price thus offsetting the fee or even put that extra 10p to offset the postage and packaging, if the seller does this, then they lose the benefit but gain customer satisfaction.

I see the point the original poster makes about Free Buy days, which sounds like a good idea but are in fact a death trap for this business, on the other hand, the sales numbers should shoot through the roof. My advice is to only tell people the day before else everyone will switch their prices and the business will gain nothing. At the very least fix the auction dates. Make it a surprise to buyers, there's no need to give the advantage to sellers as well. This will garner a reputation for the business.

What you need to provide is some kind of buyer insurance as well. That 10p might only pay for the basic running costs, but you also need to provide some sort of security, insurance even. I personally use a third party checkout system to do this but if a buyer pays legitimately for an item and doesn't receive the item. Then what?

Thanks for this.
But let me just clear up something. As i have said i do not care if i make anything from this or not. I will re-invest all the money made back into the business in order to make it grow.
You have to speculate to accumulate.:D

laying4profit

themull1 wrote: »

If i wanted your product i wouldnt pay a small fee, i would go on another site and buy it without a small fee.

Thats up to you my friend. As i have said i am trying to do this so the items on my site are LESS than on Ebay.
I have said how the seller can pay the fee if they wanted.
But the bottom line is if the item is cheaper on my site than it is on Ebay i would think at a guess the item would sell on my site.
Yes i know i dont have the credientials of Ebay and the like , but nor did they when they started up.
I dont mind negative comments, im all for that. But i think so far there has been 3-4 people say they would not pay a buyer fee. And thats out of how many online buyer's?
I dont mean that in a cocky way either. My main reason for starting this thread was to see what people would say, how they would react to something different. This is nothing more than market research if im honest.
Yes there has been some great replies in here for which i am thankful for.
Im going to be sticking with the Buyer Fee as i think it will work. I know it wont be to everyones tastes but you have to try these things.

Keep the comments comming.:T

soolin

Forget ebay, you are really looking to compete with ebid who have completely free listings, so how can you tempt buyers when ebid can't?

Oh yes, You are going to charge buyers a fee..whilst they can still use ebid and buy for free, not sure I quite see the 'hook' you have to tempt buyers in. Sellers are easy, we'll flog our stuff anywhere but the most important people in all this is the buyers, without them you cannot survive.