anyone tried ebid?

scotchebidder

martinsgiftstogo wrote: »

I am surprised since you have been eBid for 8 years that you don't know how simple it is to search for a member on there.

My search for 'soolin' came up with one result and took me seconds.

Had it also not occurred to you that ebidders might have wanted to check the stores?

I regularly search for members this way when I am shopping there.

BTW..for those who think that I am a new member...I used to be 'sunnycreatives' but the site doesn't recognise me when I try to sign in ...so I set up a new account

agreed the "user search " takes seconds the soolin account is dormant has been for years no past trading history no shops the only thing that relates to soolins claims is the length of the account

fleetco

I read the forums here on a regular basis and have been a member for some while but never post here. But I would just like to enter the discussion at this point - I sell my products on eBay, eBid, Folksy, Etsy, Facebook and via my own website. To date, the best performing medium for me has been eBid. What I especially like about it (apart from the free basic listings and low percentage commission on my sales) is that everything I list automatically gets featured in Google Shopping complete with thumbnails of my products. That give my products instant individual publicity on the internet none of the others (including my own site) does.
I've never noticed any moan across the forums - certainly no more than any other forum; in fact I've found most of the people there to be very friendly.
Reading some of the posts on here it appears some people have an axe to grind about eBid - all I will say is it isn't perfect, but then again nor is any other medium, and it certainly will not work work for everyone. But it certainly is working for me and many others on there.

Crowqueen

huddylion wrote: »

Not going to get into any arguments abut ebay or ebid...would just like to say that my feedback from EBID has just gone through the four thousand mark (insert big smiley face).
No ebid does not have the traffic of ebay and probably never will but it IS a good alternative and with all the fee hikes etc on ebay then more sellers and they will hopefully bring the buyers with them

And my feedback from ebid which is 4,008 at this moment is ALL FROM EBID NOT IMPORTED FROM EBAY OR ANY WHERE ELSE.

Buyers won't come unless you advertise nationally and become a household name like eBay and Amazon did. They don't necessarily follow sellers, particularly those who have been banned from eBay (not saying you have, but a lot of eBid's selling points look attractive to people who haven't necessarily been able to see their way to taking their ecommerce responsibilities seriously) and to get the traffic in in any significant quantity eBid need to advertise properly. Until they start charging fees which reflect what is needed to do that, they will always be behind eBay. Word of mouth and Facebook aren't enough, otherwise eBid would be in serious contention.

Spin it anyway you want, but until eBid understand that, they are never going to make the sort of money they need to attract the general buying public, and that has to come from fees, which is why despite ferociously undercutting eBay, and despite eBay making considerable fee increases over the years, eBay are still in pole position as regards the people who matter - general customers - and nothing is going to change that.

What is true is that there seem to be healthier looking feedback totals when I have browsed there recently (within the last few weeks), so maybe something is picking up. However, the lack of serious buyer protection (PPPay is a joke, I wouldn't use it if you paid me to), the lack of traffic and the lack of much to buy still seems to be a problem. Sort that out, and perhaps you will see them pick up and finally take off.

littleme1969

Replying to the original poster..lol
You ask for good or bad comments about the site. Well I had a shop on Feepay for many years and did OK, but then came the huge hike in shop charges from £6 a month to £15 a month plus the general fee increases across the board. It goes without saying, I like a huge number of other peeps looked elsewhere. That was 5 years ago now and I have never looked back, you can find me as litttleme1969 on Ebid . I sel something that is not everyday use so i guess that helps my cause, but the fact that all my Buy It Now Auctions get to the top of the listings in google via Ebid is also a huge help. There are a few niggles I have with Ebid dont get me wrong, as mentioned before the site for a new comer is not as user friendly as it should be and this does put people off, I know it drove me nuts at first, but with anything new if you stick around and give it time it does make sense and now I actually prefer it to Feepay. The best way to use Ebid I feel is with other sites as well. I still both sell and buy from Feepay, but will never have my shop there again. Im gutted what they have done to the site as I like so many loved Feepay so much, and the constant greed from the nutters that are running the place into the ground saddens me greatly. They had it all but what have they done with it? Feepay was about the people selling off bits and bobs that they didnt want to raise a bit of extra cash, and it also became a huge platform for small business to also boost their sales, but now its just a way to get ripped off with this added charge and that added charge, so much so that you are losing roughly 20% to the money grabbing nutters that have been put in charge. Its all very sad But the fact is if we all just sit around and moan are butts off about it and never put our business behind another site nothing will ever change. It was people power that built Feepay and only people power will bring it down, or make them take a strong hard look at themselves. Either way the only way to do that is to support other sites as much as possible. I now only use Feepay as a last resort, always preferring to spend my money anywhere other than there, be it Amazon Ebid or private sites. So instead of spending your time winging about things, put that effort into giving other sites ago.. it may be Ebid or setting up your own site.. Amazon or just keeping a small foothold in feepay so you can let new customers know that your main shop is elsewhere. Feepay has gone too far and its time that the people power that made them showed them that we can also break them by moving elsewhere. Ebid is the only won to survive thus far.. ive seen others come and go over the years even with TV promotion etc they couldnt make it work. So ask yourself this.. Why is Ebid the only one left standing? It grows by the day while feepay looses, people have had enough and im afraid feepay have shot themselves not only in the foot this time, but judging by the latest set of fee rises and changes I feel it could be fatal blow to the head!..lol
To the peeps who would like to have a go as I am new here.. :P whatever you think of my motives for writing this post you cant possibly disagree with most of what is written as its all fact. Weter I sell on Ebid or not, support the site or not, it does not change the facts.. Feepays greed has ruined what was a great site built buy the people for the people Sad Times

martinsgiftstogo

littleme1969 wrote: »

So ask yourself this.. Why is Ebid the only one left standing?

I have had listings on several sites over the years and some have long gone but eBid is by no means the only one left standing.

Several others have been mentioned on these forums.

Tazbar had TV ads and then collapsed soon afterwards when they introduced monthly subscriptions.

I'm happy to be on eBid...

I don't trade on-line now except for selling a few books on Play.com and greenmetropolis and mainly list for the charity auctions on eBid.

As a buyer...I use Google Checkout and as a seller use Google Checkout, bank transfers and postal orders. PPPay is a non-starter for me as hardly anyone who has sold to me has accepted it.

Ebay doesn't specify what payment systems we use ...one of my customers regularly pays me with chocolate

I gave up on Paypal when they removed my bank account from my Paypal account after my Paypal account was fraudulently used...so I don't use eBay at all now.

Aunt_Bessie

mymerrywidow wrote: »

as ebay are gonna up thier fees i wanted to know about any good/bad reveiws of ebid.co.uk

has anyone tried it? either a buyer or seller.

I can only speak as I find (and as I have an IQ of 140, I don't think I need my head examining!)
I joined eBid just over 3 years ago....as a hobby seller. At that time, I paid £100 for a lifetime seller+ account, and I don't regret it for a moment.
To date, I have over 1k, 100% positive feedback, and many, many return customers.
Savvy sellers will evaluate any selling platform before they begin....I did this with eBid, and I knew that I could make the site work for me.
ie: I was prepared to put a bit of effort in to promoting myself....and it has paid dividends!
I still use ebay, when it suits my purpose (not theirs), but it's something I could quite happily live without.

Granted, eBid dosn't have the same footfall as ebay - none of the alternative sites do! However, it's a lovely feeling, knowing that when I make a sale.....98% of the money....is mine!!

Likewise, I don't use paypal on eBid either.....yes it is possible, especially when I offer a discount for bank transfers (no fees at all).
It's amazing how many people are happy to save money!!

So, do lots of research....then do some more....
what do the successful sellers do differently to the moaners
........therein lies the answer.

terra_ferma

mrsk wrote: »

If Scotchebidder is who I think it is, the only appropriate expression is "Successful seller"!

Personally, I have sold 60 items on ebid this month. Sales have been improving month on month this year and I would expect them to drop in June on any site. I'm not saying that it is the right place to sell everything, but it is a growing site with improving traffic.

It would be very helpful if you could post a link or name of someone who, like you, is a very succesful seller.
Regardless of any banter with posters here, business is business and if there is potential for me there, I'd happily look at selling on ebid.

mrsk

terra_ferma wrote: »

It would be very helpful if you could post a link or name of someone who, like you, is a very succesful seller.
Regardless of any banter with posters here, business is business and if there is potential for me there, I'd happily look at selling on ebid.

The hostility I can read on this thread makes me unwilling to get into the firing line or to put anyone else there but if you click on the "buy" tab at the top of the eBid homepage and scroll down you get a (fairly random) set of what they, slightly embarrassingly, term "Hot sellers"

These will have had sales in the last 24 hours and many seem to reside on that list.

terra_ferma

mrsk wrote: »

The hostility I can read on this thread makes me unwilling to get into the firing line or to put anyone else there but if you click on the "buy" tab at the top of the eBid homepage and scroll down you get a (fairly random) set of what they, slightly embarrassingly, term "Hot sellers"

These will have had sales in the last 24 hours and many seem to reside on that list.

I wasn't asking for your ID, that would not be fair, and I'm always the first one to advise against doing that.
I think it would have been helpful just to see who the successful sellers are.
I've done a quick search on my category and I found a seller who sells the same items as I do, same brand etc, they have had items out for over a year, and not even one sale. They are not the cheapes, I would say average prices.
This si anedoctal, but it's all I've had time to look at.

Crowqueen

In fairness, I've just been having a look at the antiquarian book category, and there are some nice items there.