Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
A lot of folks on EBay are just generally browsing, with no interest in buying. EBay's recent changes to its search engine, now brings up many unrelated items. It gives the sellers less specific exposure and makes it more frustrating for buyers.
Sorry Mister EBay, but I don't like my category specific items being buried by all these changes. It costs me money.
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
EBay serves a useful purpose for getting rid of obsolete stock and test marketing new items.
It would have still been commercially viable to sell on there, if EBay had been less greedy with their fees and thought more about the structure of their new search engine. I put 'printed tee shirts' in the search engine yesterday and it came up with lots of items including printed dresses, plain shirts, plus numerous other goods. This makes it much harder for your customer to find your product. EBay still takes the same fee off you though, for this reduced exposure.
I think lots of us have chosen EBay in the past, out of laziness. There are more profitable avenues out there. We just have to get off our butts and find them.
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
I still use ebay for it's intended purposes, but the person who said you have a lot of junk in the search is correct. I usually seach for things like Heatpresses, screen printing equipment, pad printers, etc. When I search for Pad printers I sometimes receive calculators in the search.
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
It's EBay's new search engine, that may ultimately be the very downfall of them. Sellers items are getting their items presented amongst a myriad of vaguely related items, whilst buyers are presented with lots of irrelevant products when trying to locate items to purchase.
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
I have been up on ecrater for over 2 months. I used google adwords for 1 1/2 month. Tried free shipping for the month of July and still no sales. I wouldn't make any money at the sales price I'm using anyhow.
Looking at www.ola.com (On Line Auctions) presently. Costs
$8 a month which includes no listing fee, no final fee etc. or $195 a year fee gets you free listings no fee's and a store front. Needless to say I have many caveats(sp?).
Has anyone tried OLA?
OLDSALTSAILOR
Last edited by oldsaltsailor; August 11th, 2008 at 05:12 AM.
Reason: removed url per forum guidelines, please feel free to add it to signature
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldsaltsailor
I have been up on ecrater for over 2 months. I used google adwords for 1 1/2 month. Tried free shipping for the month of July and still no sales. I wouldn't make any money at the sales price I'm using anyhow.
Looking at www.onlineauctions.com presently. Costs
$8 a month which includes no listing fee, no final fee etc. or $195 a year fee gets you free listings no fee's and a store front. Needless to say I have many caveats(sp?).
Has anyone tried OLA?
Yeah I just checked onlineauctions.com and the page would not load. So that speaks volumes. May want to try your own website.
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Girlzndollz
Hi, I've been selling on Ebay, but may not want to anymore. Who would you say is a good alternative to selling on Ebay?
I have heard of etsy.com, and kijiji.com, but do not know much about them. For folks selling places other than ebay, would you mind elaborating on them? Would you list:
*Where you sell and
*Why you like it there?
Thanks so much. Have a great day.
Kelly, you may honestly want to try setting up your own storefront using BigCartel. The reason why I suggest this is I'm guessing if you like using eBay, it's probably because you don't want the hassle of purchasing a domain name, maintaining a website etc. etc. etc.
I signed up for a free account with them, just to play around and see what it's all about. (I don't sell anything LOL) You would upload pictures, set a price and write descriptions pretty much like how you would on eBay.
It's super easy to use, and may I say, fun even. If you sign up for the $10/mth or $20/mth price plans, it helps you manage a few extra services like inventory tracking, giving out special discount codes etc.
I wouldn't be able to say if they give the same amount of exposure that eBay does, but they do have a page of featured stores, and occasionally mention new stores on their blog too.
I hope this helps. Give it a go and let us know if you like it.
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
LOL No, Paul. I'm a retired ol' git with a bit of spare time on his hands. I think I've been in sales & marketing for too long, when I write it tends to come out like a sales pitch. I will try to bear that in mind and try to write in a more colloquial manner in future ;-)
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by tshirt0mania
LOL No, Paul. I'm a retired ol' git with a bit of spare time on his hands. I think I've been in sales & marketing for too long, when I write it tends to come out like a sales pitch. I will try to bear that in mind and try to write in a more colloquial manner in future ;-)
You know what, I am guilty of sounding like I sales pitch, too. I didn't realize it until someone mentioned it to me. I get enthused about great deals, great products, etc. I've had my share of headaches with alot of areas of this business, so when something solves it, and then I see other people with the same exact headaches, I can't help but gush about the great solutions I found that worked for me. There's already there's enough in life to bring you down, if a product or a service or a helpful tip can bring a ray of light to someone's life, it's hard not to share that, and I happen to share with enthusiasm when I really believe in a product.
Thanks for the heads up on big cartel. If I try it, I'll let you know.
__________________
Good luck and best regards, Kelly
This is a discussion about Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :) that was posted in the General T-Shirt Selling Discussion section of the forums.
Re: Selling: if not Ebay, then who?? Alternatives to Ebay, thanks! :) 
