Selling your stuff on EBID. advice for new sellers

Jenna_Appleseed

just sold another fanzine on ebid:T - been promoting the listing both on twitter and on my page on a zine makers ning network.
Now to post it, list more and find somebody who actually wants (and will pay for) my other items.

Mayday

Three more sales yesterday - but they were in the YDC charity auctions which eBid hosts every month.

Getting sales every week now - same on Delcampe.

Frugaldom

Is anyone earning a living from selling on eBid yet? We're still having to really push the website in order to get click throughs to items. Once they get there, they seem to buy but I just can't fathom out why traffic is so low or slow if there are bargains to be had.

Did make a 'declutter' sale but it was listed after someone contacted me asking if it was still for sale. Books going OK but like I say, it's mainly because we point the customers there when they phone and use eBid as one of our main selling platforms. A case of if you want it, you need to go through eBid - customer registers, makes their purchase then leaves, like there's nothing else there.

I guess it would take something like a moviestar or big soap star to argue the point of there actually being an alternative to eBay before the general public will even begin to sit up and take more notice. Anyone know where we could find such an endorsement? Anyone know any superstars?

soolin

Frugaldom wrote: »

Is anyone earning a living from selling on eBid yet? We're still having to really push the website in order to get click throughs to items. Once they get there, they seem to buy but I just can't fathom out why traffic is so low or slow if there are bargains to be had.

Did make a 'declutter' sale but it was listed after someone contacted me asking if it was still for sale. Books going OK but like I say, it's mainly because we point the customers there when they phone and use eBid as one of our main selling platforms. A case of if you want it, you need to go through eBid - customer registers, makes their purchase then leaves, like there's nothing else there.

I guess it would take something like a moviestar or big soap star to argue the point of there actually being an alternative to eBay before the general public will even begin to sit up and take more notice. Anyone know where we could find such an endorsement? Anyone know any superstars?

If ebid won't advertise why on earth would they pay a super salary to someone to do it for them?

By a strange co incidence I made my fist sale in almost a year on ebid yesterday, which is poor considering I run 4 shops!

Crowqueen

eBid don't have the money to publicise their site, Frugal, because their fees are so low and the subscriptions aren't worth anyone paying for them. They certainly wouldn't have the going rate to hire a celeb to promote their site - unless the celeb uses the site and thinks it's worth being associated with them, which, if they don't currently do enough to promote themselves will probably be a non-starter for anyone seriously thinking about their image. I can think of hundreds of worthier charitable causes to support than a business which has been going nowhere since 1998 in an era when online commerce is positively booming.

Taking a look at PPPay, I wouldn't use them because they provide no dispute resolution in the event of a sale going wrong. As a buyer that's what I need to give me confidence, and since the last item I bought on eBid was a fake, by goodness you need some buyer protection out there. Similarly, I wouldn't pay for the facilities that a subscription gave me unless it was worth my while - and I'm not sure as an occasional seller it is. I know I can put something on eBay and sell it with relative certainty. Sadly, unless eBid could convince me otherwise, I can't do that. Even you say as much.

eBay works - they charge enough to give them a decent income, which helps advertise, provide buyer protection, entice buyers, which keep sellers there, which provides more income, and keeps the virtuous circle going. eBid is in the middle of a vicious circle and I can't say that negative campaigning against eBay will help.

If they could break out of that circle by stopping pretending to offer free listings and charging what the market can obviously bear, they would be able to challenge eBay - Amazon and Play are big rivals to eBay in the media game and they charge a fortune - they work simply because they can keep their balls in the air all at once and not run out of money to invest. And not once does their site or marketing mention eBay.

Mayday

Just posted 7 eBid parcels

Looks like MoneyBookers and Amazon Payments will be integrated into eBid before long + Mobile Apps, amongst other things.

AuctionBytes article:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y11/m03/i07/s01

virgil_tracy

I don't get this .

assuming I want to sell for free I have to use bronze or silver , but I can't use Paypal ? how do you accept payments in bronze and silver ?

soolin

virgil_tracy wrote: »

I don't get this .

assuming I want to sell for free I have to use bronze or silver , but I can't use Paypal ? how do you accept payments in bronze and silver ?

Taking payment is the least of your worries, you'll never have to worry as a sale is very rare.

If you do sell something then you can take paypal but you need to raise an invoice , it isn't as straightforward as ebay but with a bit of fiddling about it can be done.

Mayday

virgil_tracy wrote: »

I don't get this .

assuming I want to sell for free I have to use bronze or silver , but I can't use Paypal ? how do you accept payments in bronze and silver ?

Only seller+ have integrated invoices; otherwise you either email your own invoice or raise through MoneyBookers, GoogleCheckout, etc.

HTH

p.s. 2 more parcels going out today .........

virgil_tracy

Mayday wrote: »

Only seller+ have integrated invoices; otherwise you either email your own invoice or raise through MoneyBookers, GoogleCheckout, etc.

HTH

p.s. 2 more parcels going out today .........

but how does the buyer pay me if I can't use Paypal or something similar ?