posted on January 18, 2002 11:30:19 AM new
computerboy, you don't have an Infiniti Q45. If you do, chances are it is not fully paid for, and the cost of ownership is very high for such cars. You in particular, are at risk because it seems your whole livelyhood is based on a virtual online flea market called eBay. Just wait till me and my croonies start our exodus.
posted on January 18, 2002 12:23:10 PM newPersonally, I'm less concerned about costs, as I am about net profits. I am willing to make an investment if my net profit will be better. I'm on eBay because that's where I make the best net profit.
My net profits have jumped over 30% since I dumped ebaY and spent that money on my websites and advertising. And I have no where near as many headaches as I did when I was on ebaY. No negative feedback. No auctions being ended for minor infractions. No one telling me that I cannot use the advertising (listing) space that I paid ever increasing fees for to display the URLs to my websites. No more having to send emails through a 3rd party's server. No more downtime just as an auction is ready to end.
I pay the hosting fees for my websites and the fees to advertise. My business is growing much faster than it did with ebaY's "help". The best part is that the amount of time spent "at work" has dropped off as well.
I would highly recommend that every seller set up a website (or websites) and give it a try. Many of you will never go back. I guarantee it.
posted on January 18, 2002 12:28:30 PM new
Springmoon:
Quite the contrary.
I've been in business for myself since graduating college in '87. I've always been independent and the thought of working for someone else makes me cringe. I own several small businesses and some real estate. eBay was started as a hobby in '98 to move some product that I market and has grown to a nice size operation. I don't need to have my eBay business, but am thankful. I've worked my rear end off 14+ years and still love what I do. My reputation has always been that of an over-achiever and my businesses were built on hard work and some luck along the way.
Regarding the car, yes, it's terrible in the snow and is expensive to maintain, but you only live once, so I'm enjoying it.
Best of luck on the Exodus, I hope it works out for you. I'll take the space you leave behind to list more auctions.
posted on January 18, 2002 12:40:22 PM new
mrbusinessman:
Do you have your site in Yahoo! stores or an independent location?
I've had my website at an independent location for the last 3 years and am moving it to Yahoo! as we speak. I'm hoping the move increases our direct web business, as Yahoo! offers a host of services that my other provided didn't have.
I have a web design/marketing company creating the new site and they are going to do a marketing campaign when it's ready. I'm also going to launch an email campaign with a company that provides this really neat email software that allows you to creat full color direct-response emails. It's really cool. I found them on the American Express small business website. You may want to check it out.
If you have any recommendations they would be appreciated. It's good to learn from others who have already navigated the battle field.
posted on January 18, 2002 01:13:59 PM new
computerboy:
I tried Yahoo Stores as well as Amazon at one time. I wasn't really happy with the results of either one. I haven't tried them recently though (in the last 2 years). I was happy with ebaY for about 18 months, but the hassles increased along with the fees to the point where I decided to concentrate on my websites. It has worked out very well.
I use a private hosting company for all of my websites (www.bluegenesis.com). They're a little more pricey than the competition but their servers and infrastructure are superb and the customer service is the best I've had seen in a dotcom. I have a merchant account and until a few days ago I accepted PayPal as well.
The beauty of a private website over ebaY, Yahoo, Amazon, etc. is in the flexibility that you have in the design and content of your site. While it's true that ebaY "brings the masses to your business", as I have found out they indeed charge a premium for the service. So far the amount that I'm spending to maintain my websites and advertise them average about $200 less/month than I was paying ebaY. My net profits are up and my workload is down.
A nice surprise has been the extra revenue generated from 4 newsletters that I offer (for free of course) on my websites. After the total number of subscribers to my newsletters reached 10,000,I began selling advertising in them. Last month I took in over $800 in advertising revenues from the newsletters. I use a (free) 3rd party list service to manage and send the newsletters. The only thing I lay out for the newsletters is a couple of hours/week researching and writing them. I plan to add a few more newsletters in a couple of months. I highly recommend that anyone that has a website offer a newsletter to go along with it.
Where do you plan to advertise? I've found the best bang for the buck (in my case) to be a pay-for-click search engine called Overture (www.overture.com). They provide HIGHLY targeted clickthroughs and no one else that I've tried comes close.
BTW, I'm not affiliated with any of these companies, just a happy customer.
edited to add:
If you have your own opt-in email list you can do very well with direct email campaigns. Just be very careful how you do it or the SPAM gods will be all over you. If you use a professional service that specializes in direct email you should be ok as long as you check them out ahead of time.
[ edited by mrbusinessman on Jan 18, 2002 01:18 PM ]
posted on January 18, 2002 08:25:56 PM new
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Ignore this post. Just want to be the 100th poster! Did I win anything?
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posted on January 19, 2002 05:23:46 PM new
REPLY TO RB............
I have read all 100 posts, and I AGREE with every single one of yours. I will stick with my "Shipping at Actual Cost Only & Never a Handling Fee" policy, secure in the knowledge that a potential buyer has never been run off by additional fees, stated or otherwise.
Sellers need to accept that the current buyer mentality does not allow for reimbursing justifiable handling costs that the eBay seller incurs, although they will accept that from an on-line catalog or store purchase. So just figure the first couple of bucks over item cost will cover your own fees, and price it from there. Much better than wondering how many potential buyers chose not to bid due to that handling fee.
posted on January 19, 2002 05:34:34 PM new
joettesantiques, obviously you didn't read all 100 posts. There is actually no way to influence the final sales price in an auction, unless you're doing something illegal...or BIN every item.
Starting your auction at $15 instead of $10 will not guarantee you the final price you need to sell that item. This is exactly the opposite of fixed-priced stores or catalogs, where they know exactly how much they should charge for their item in order to pass on expenses.
posted on January 19, 2002 05:54:04 PM new
I wasn't talking about guarantees or BINs....I was commenting on handling fees. And of course if you start at $15, it will sell for no less, or not at all. And if $15 covers your costs and allows for a profit you can live with, that's just fine because it makes it worthwhile to offer the item for sale. That's all I was saying.
posted on January 19, 2002 06:19:08 PM new
joettesantiques, if that is the case why even bother selling using an auction venue? If everyone started their auction at the price they wanted for it, there will be no bidders. Most buyers come to auctions because they want to bid against other buyers, and buy the item at a "good" price.
If I have a widget which sells everywhere for around $10, and I start my auction at $12 do you think I will get as many hits & views. My best bet will be to start it off at $7, and hope it goes beyond $10 when auction fever sets in amongst the bidders. Even that is just a wish -- It might just end at $10 which leaves me eating the additional expenses.
[ edited by springmoon on Jan 19, 2002 06:21 PM ]
posted on January 19, 2002 08:42:05 PM new
Right again springmoon!
I've actually gone back to listing at $1 no reserve the past couple of batches. So far, only 6 items have not sold (out of about 45 or so). Well worth it to me.
Also the bidding fever is a reality. Starting something at $15 (most items, not larger very expensive items obviously) and trying to build in fees, etc. is still not the right way to go. It ends at $15 whether you start at $5, $10, or $15. All you've done is add to your listing fee and reduce the number of potential bidders turned off by the high start.
posted on January 19, 2002 10:48:23 PM new
"It ends at $15 whether you start at $5, $10, or $15."
I wish that were always the case, but in reality that often does not happen. With bidding you need two bidders willing to pay full price, whereas, a $15 start bid, as in this example, you only need one bidder. If supply is slightly too much, or demand is slightly lower, the odds will dictate that you won't make the full expected quite often. On the otherhand, a $15 start would just mean it may not sell, but you will have another attempt.
posted on January 19, 2002 11:46:21 PM new
<em>Listing at $1 no reserve also means you trust eBay will not have an outage near the end of your auction.</em>
I've heard tale of this, but have never seen it happen.
posted on January 20, 2002 07:25:36 AM new
When we sell on auction, most of the time we're depending on buyers to "tell" us the final sales price. The only thing we sellers can do is say "...and by the way, this widget retails for $XXX dollars". Sometimes, that helps in bringing up the final sales price, and sometimes it does not. I have seen $300 retail items sell for $30 w/ 3 bids -- if that is enough for the seller to make a profit and cover their expenses then I have no problem with it. If that seller were to start off the auction at $50, chances are there will be no bids on it.
The only way we sellers can make up for eBay expense increase is by decreasing other costs of selling, and/or raising the price of "handling".
posted on January 20, 2002 07:36:03 AM new
"Sellers need to accept that the current buyer mentality does not allow for reimbursing justifiable handling costs that the eBay seller incurs."
They would accept it a lot better if desperate sellers didn't have to compete only on price. I offer value to my buyers and most are appreciative. I charge on average a $1.30 handling and nearly all buyers are quite receptive to paying it.
Even if sellers raise their handling a dime, it's still on pace with inflation and consumers do get annual cost of living increases at their jobs so they aren't incurring any additional costs in relation to their paycheck.
posted on January 20, 2002 03:47:55 PM new
Was watching "Bargain Hunt" on HGTV last night (love that show) and it's amazing how many auctions would start at say 50 with no bids... he'd back to 40, no bids, 30 no bids... 20 and someone would bid -- and then the ball would start rolling and in most cases blew well past the opening 50 that no one would open for -- but once the bidding started, that was all it took.
That's why I don't mind a starting low bid -- better to get the ball rolling than to scare people off.
I know I do it. Someone starts the bid at 34.95 with a BIN at 34.95, then I know I am not getting a "deal". I'd rather take a chance I might get it for $15 elsewhere and if it goes up, so be it.
posted on January 20, 2002 10:45:16 PM new
No outage here. Had several items with bids at the last minute. AW was having some problems synching with ebay, but ebay was up and running fine.
posted on January 20, 2002 11:07:46 PM new
From the announcement board:
***System Availability***
Earlier this evening, a few users reported having difficulty accessing the eBay site. This appears to have been caused by a network problem within the Exodus network, and only affected those users who use ISPs that access eBay through this network. We have worked with them to resolve the situation and restore access to all users.
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced and thank you for your patience.
Regards,
eBay
Ahem, I think there were more than a "few" users. I couldn't access ebay for awhile and neither could some of my friends.
posted on January 21, 2002 06:46:22 AM new
springmoon ... if that is the case why even bother selling using an auction venue?
That's a very good point. It seems to me that many auction venues, including eBay, are becoming more and more like shopping malls everyday. It's not nearly as much fun as it used to be, and the deals are much fewer and farther between.
If everyone started their auction at the price they wanted for it, there will be no bidders. Most buyers come to auctions because they want to bid against other buyers, and buy the item at a "good" price
Correct, but if you start adding the ridiculous handling costs to the "good price", suddenly the "good price" isn't so good anymore. You need to think about what a buyer ends up paying to get the item in his/her home, not the great price the seller sold the item for.
btw, if you can't sell your $10.00 widget for $10.00, then it's not a $10.00 widget ... sorry
