Hate Ebay? How you can help me.

sunnysea83

Sorry but laying4profit dot com does exist and is one of the many results a quick google search of your username brings up!

so is your site ready to go live?

laying4profit

sunnysea83 wrote: »

Sorry but laying4profit dot com does exist and is one of the many results a quick google search of your username brings up!

so is your site ready to go live?

I was just going off that users account. i done a whois on it. It was .co.uk on his site.

But yes my site is live and has been for a while whilst i have been altering icons,text,layout etc.

Horlock

A couple of things to consider.

1. I think that an auction that receives a bid in the last 5 minutes should have 5 mins automatically added to the listing time (possibly with a cut off of 20 mins or so). Why? Basically everyone who has ever used ebay seriously knows that items sell in the last 20 seconds (personally if I'm going to bid it wont be before the last 10 seconds) why? Because noone else knows you are interested. Noone really wants to bid what they are actually willing to pay - because if they do the chances are they are going to pay close to that amount. So two people willing to pay £20 and £25 for the same dvd player. First person bids £5. Shows as winning until last 30 seconds, when second bidder places a bid for £10 and wins for £5.50 because the first bidder doesn't have chance to change their bid. If the auction automatically added 5 mins, placing bids in the final few seconds becomes reasonably pointless. Freeserveauctions used to have this feature - and I found it very useful (until they went bust).

2. You need to think about how people will pay. Paypal is still an option, but for us ebay haters not a good one.

3. You need to think about what public image you have - and in my opinion you have none. Now if you were Richard Branson and you were offering Virgin auctions, people might consider swapping - I would certainly be willing to give it a try. The problem is noone has any reason to trust you. Everyone knows ebay is a con - they rip everyone off - but everyone also knows they will always be there and always rip everyone off in the same way (approximately 15% of purchase price for nothing!) But you - noone knows. Will your website be cheap for a week, a month, a year, for ever. No one knows. As I see it your business (if we call it that) is either a complete flop (in which case I'm not interested) or a complete success (in which case important people are interested - namely ebay is interested). Lets suppose your business does take off what will you do when ebay offer you £200,000 to hand over the rights to your company? In my mind (and most money savers I'm guessing) you'd be mad to reject the money - but equally that is the exact same reason we wont use your site.

themull1

I certainly wouldn't pay a fee for the priviledge of buying something.

laying4profit

Horlock wrote: »

A couple of things to consider.

1. I think that an auction that receives a bid in the last 5 minutes should have 5 mins automatically added to the listing time (possibly with a cut off of 20 mins or so). Why? Basically everyone who has ever used ebay seriously knows that items sell in the last 20 seconds (personally if I'm going to bid it wont be before the last 10 seconds) why? Because noone else knows you are interested. Noone really wants to bid what they are actually willing to pay - because if they do the chances are they are going to pay close to that amount. So two people willing to pay £20 and £25 for the same dvd player. First person bids £5. Shows as winning until last 30 seconds, when second bidder places a bid for £10 and wins for £5.50 because the first bidder doesn't have chance to change their bid. If the auction automatically added 5 mins, placing bids in the final few seconds becomes reasonably pointless. Freeserveauctions used to have this feature - and I found it very useful (until they went bust).
There is an option to extend the auction by x amount if there is a bid placed in the last min or so.I have it disabled.

2. You need to think about how people will pay. Paypal is still an option, but for us ebay haters not a good one.
There will be others later on.

3. You need to think about what public image you have - and in my opinion you have none. Now if you were Richard Branson and you were offering Virgin auctions, people might consider swapping - I would certainly be willing to give it a try. The problem is noone has any reason to trust you. Everyone knows ebay is a con - they rip everyone off - but everyone also knows they will always be there and always rip everyone off in the same way (approximately 15% of purchase price for nothing!) But you - noone knows. Will your website be cheap for a week, a month, a year, for ever. No one knows. As I see it your business (if we call it that) is either a complete flop (in which case I'm not interested) or a complete success (in which case important people are interested - namely ebay is interested). Lets suppose your business does take off what will you do when ebay offer you £200,000 to hand over the rights to your company? In my mind (and most money savers I'm guessing) you'd be mad to reject the money - but equally that is the exact same reason we wont use your site.
My site will remain as it is until my own fees rise. i would be a fool and a liar to say they will stay the same for ever.
If Ebay was to offer me £200,000 i would be delighted, But i would not sell.
If a company as large as Ebay is offering you that sum of money, then i see it as they are worried. Remember Ebay have done this to lots of sites to keep the lion share of the market. If someone was getting new customers by the truck load and Ebay was losing custom then yeah they will want your site. And what do they do with it? Shut it down. It will make them more money in the long run.
They bought paypal to keep everything in house. Just think how long and how much money they have in the account. This all adds up in interest at the end on the quarter.Basically Free money.

Response in blue

StaffsSW

At risk of dragging this thread back on topic, and in giving the OP the benefit of doubt, what features and benefits would make the ideal transactional platform for both buyers and sellers?

Selected categories/niche products or free choice?
Fee structure - for both sellers or buyers?
What would make somebody want to buy or sell through it?
How should a site launch itself and how would they market themselves ongoing?
How should buyers and sellers prove their own credibility?
What mix of business/private sellers would be ideal?
What mix of BIN / best offer / classified style / auction / reverse bid / sealed bid would be preferred?
Should it start using ebay as basic model, or try to start from a clean sheet and a completely different approach?

There have been countless threads on here about alternatives to ebay, but as yet I don't think a definitive wishlist has ever been established.

laying4profit

themull1 wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't pay a fee for the priviledge of buying something.

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..

laying4profit

stevew8975 wrote: »

At risk of dragging this thread back on topic, and in giving the OP the benefit of doubt, what features and benefits would make the ideal transactional platform for both buyers and sellers?

Selected categories/niche products or free choice?
I have catagories and i can add niche ones is asked for.
Fee structure - for both sellers or buyers?
This is already done, clear and simple
What would make somebody want to buy or sell through it?
I would hope that the prices were cheaper than on my rivals.That problems (if any) were resolved quickly. A clear easy to use layout.
How should a site launch itself and how would they market themselves ongoing?
As i said, getting e-mail list on people/businesses that are interested in listing. Once i am happy with the amount i get these people to list the items. The launch would be via the media.Ongoing adverts in media until enough funds to start a TV campain
How should buyers and sellers prove their own credibility?
You can link to your ebay feedback,I also have a verified option thing, but have not looked into this yet.This would incurr a fee if the customer wanted it. But you do get a symbol beside your name.
What mix of business/private sellers would be ideal?
Well that would be 50/50 but you can never guage it correctly.
What mix of BIN / best offer / classified style / auction / reverse bid / sealed bid would be preferred?
No classifieds on my site. I do have BIN,Make Offer,Auction.
Should it start using ebay as basic model, or try to start from a clean sheet and a completely different approach?
I have done my site in order to make it basic. I want it to be easy to use.No hidden fees etc

There have been countless threads on here about alternatives to ebay, but as yet I don't think a definitive wishlist has ever been established.

Well i have gave a basic insight to what i have. But yeah if others can use that as a template it would help.:T

Crowqueen

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..

You're assuming all buyers are scammers, which isn't IMO the best way to go about setting up an e-commerce site.

That's the big thing that you're losing: the interest of the people who pay for the items your sellers will be selling, and that means that sellers won't want to sell, because you can't get them the traffic. You're assuming you're talking to sellers here - sorry, but no, a lot of people on this site are also buyers, or like me, primarily buyers.

Why you want to insult your end-users is beyond me, but until you change that attitude, then you won't get off the ground.

suited-aces

How will you verify it's their ebay? Can't see ebay being helpful in that respect.