posted on February 8, 2001 08:18:12 AM
90% or more ebay sellers could make more money listing with the free sites like Bidville. Why do you pay eBay fees to liquidate your items in 3 to 7 days when you can sell on a free site and keep all the profits. I can hardly keep up with all the listing, packing, & shipping selling on free sites.
posted on February 8, 2001 08:22:32 AM
Because I can hardly keep up with packing and shipping from selling on Ebay, and my listings on the "free" sites tend to just sit there?
posted on February 8, 2001 08:36:21 AMWhy do you pay eBay fees to liquidate your items in 3 to 7 days when you can sell on a free site and keep all the profits.
Because I can sell my items in 3 days, I'm willing to pay eBay's fees.
The same item that I can sell in 3 days on eBay has sat for as long as 3 months on other sites. In order to keep all the profits, I need to be willing to let my items sit unsold, and there is a cost to that.
posted on February 8, 2001 08:43:46 AM
I sell sportscards. As with most "collectibles" the high demand items are in short supply and take time to aquire. I could see using eBay for a fast turnover if you have an abundant supply but most of these items do not sell for more than wholesale on eBay. New sportscard boxes produced in quantity often sell for less than the factory direct price.
posted on February 8, 2001 08:50:51 AM
mrpotato; What type of items do you sell? I use to list 10 to 20 items per day on eBay with about 75% sellthru. I was selling about 10 to 15 items per day most at 50% over cost.
Now I have 150 to 250 items always listed on the free sites and still sell about 10 to 15 items per day. The big difference being that my average mark up is better and I'm not paying fees out of my profits.
posted on February 8, 2001 08:50:56 AM
I went to the computer area, and its a disaster there. The vast majority of items don't get any bids, and the ones that do are low, often not meeting reserve.
Why do I sell on ebay even though I pay a whopping 7% fee? Because I make a LOT more money selling there.
People who focus only on the fees are missing the big picture. At the end of the year, how much profit have you made? You don't feed your family with "lower fees", you feed them with "higher profit".
posted on February 8, 2001 08:58:54 AM
captain kirk, I could see paying eBay if you are selling computers or any items that are purchased in quantity at "wholesale". But I doubt if this would apply to 90% of the items listed on eBay.
posted on February 8, 2001 09:01:53 AM
I sell Mexican coins, most in the $5 to $20 range. On eBay, I typically sell 95% on the first listing (20 to 30 items a week). I have listed on other sites, but the items just sit there for weeks at a time.
Makes no sense to me to have my money tied up like that (IMO, this is worse than paying a fee to sell) when I can be turning it over on eBay, but people sell all kinds of things, so what works for me may not work for everybody.
posted on February 8, 2001 09:04:35 AM
It doesn't matter whether you are purchasing at wholesale or retail or stealing the stuff to begin with. The only question is: who maximizes the equation "total profit = total revenue (bid price) minus total costs (fees, costs of items, etc).
So far you haven't proven a thing about your "free" sites. Show me that my total profit would be higher, then we can have a rational conversation about their advantages.
PS - i'm selling computer stuff, but I don't get it at wholesale or anything, and I'd still make more money at ebay.
By the way, you might be surprised at how many items on ebay are, in fact, bought wholesale these days. The site did more or less start out as a collector/swap meet/garage sale, but there are now tons and tons of "retail" sellers there, so I'd question your 90% figure (not that it really is relevant anyway).
posted on February 8, 2001 09:20:25 AM
Well it is my feeling that most things that do sell on ebay are second hand regardless of source the captain has the hands down answer. Profit=Income-Expenses and ebay wins in my book. But I sell items that close in excess of $20 per item if you are selling the crap that only goes for $2-$5 per Item I don't know how you have the volume or the time to make the listing. I want at least $10 an hour and after I buy the item, scan an image (or take a photo), make a listing, do the emails, go to the bank and the post office and all I have at the least 20 mins per item. Now that means I have to do $3.50 per item profit--I like to get a whole lot more Like $30/hour considering the expense of fuel in my car, my $50/mo ADSL, my new computer, my $200 scanner my $300 camera etc etc.
If cards are that lucrative please tell me where to get them!!
Prepare for the worst but hope for the best!! Spuddy98
posted on February 8, 2001 09:34:33 AM
I sell on e bay because, I tend to like to pay my bills on time and love to eat every once in awhile too. Those free sites generate about activity, as you chances of finding a real snowball in Aruba. Go Figure!!
I am selling abround 95% of my listings first go around, and decent prices too!
[ edited by jfpnatl on Feb 8, 2001 09:36 AM ]
posted on February 8, 2001 09:55:19 AM
jfpnat; Your claims of 95% sellthru are meaningless. You make this claim but do not bother mentioning what you sell. Why is this? Because if you stated what you are selling, everyone would know that a 95% sellthru is a gross exageration.
posted on February 8, 2001 09:59:56 AM
I have to agree. I tried several free auction sites (including bidville), and perhaps out of 300 items got 1 bid on an item.
At least on eBay there are buyers, a few deadbeats, but something has to keep the electricity on to run the computer.
posted on February 8, 2001 10:02:10 AM
I just went to visit Bidville...and was absolutrely swept in through the doors by the incredible crowd..I mean, they were pushing and shoving and bidding like mad...
I sell antique Pottery and Porcelain, and Art Glass: there were 4 ceramics, 2 Asian Art, 7 pieces of glasss, and NONE of them were older than may-be 20/30 years old at most....
That is why necessary evil EbAy is here, and most of us use it... Even with free sites, half of zero is still ZERO..Who wants to put all that time and effort for not even a small chance at making a sale?
If you want to snipe (bid at the last second after everyone else) at ebay,you have to be pretty good usually, getting a bid in the last couple of seconds.
The good news about Bidville is that a bid ANY TIME there is a snipe! No more anxious moments waiting until the last second to ensure that no other bids will sneak in after yours
[ edited by captainkirk on Feb 8, 2001 10:16 AM ]
posted on February 8, 2001 10:17:03 AM...a 95% sellthru is a gross exageration.
In the last 30 days, I have 99 closed auctions, with 12 unsold items. Out of those 12 items, 9 are for lots I don't typically sell, so that would leave 90 auctions, 87 of which are completed, for a sell-through of 96.6%
posted on February 8, 2001 10:19:14 AMcaptain... Oh! That's what was causing my heart to fibulate!!! Hmmmm...Definitely will "snipe" on BidHamlet from now on... Thanks for the tip...
******** Gosh Shosh!
posted on February 8, 2001 10:24:51 AM
I sense a good money-making opportunity at these free sites. Just like people use time-lapse photography to let us watch a plant grow in 30 seconds instead of several weeks, perhaps someone could "videotape" one of these sites when you list an item, so you condense the entire boring 7 days of non-action down to a few seconds:
You list your item, nothing happens, it ends without a bid...all in 5 seconds flat.
At least it could make using these free sites less excruciatingly boring to use.
posted on February 8, 2001 10:24:51 AM
I sell COMPUTER SOFTWARE. I heard the ravings about Bidville. Hoo-eee! A couple of pages of listings, though I couldn't find ONE BID!
An old song....
Where have all the sellers gone? Gone to Bidville every one.
...if you are selling the crap that only goes for $2-$5 per Item I don't know how you have the volume or the time to make the listing.
Maybe because I don't need to make $30/hour.
Or maybe because it's 25 degrees outside and it gets dark at 6PM and there's not a lot of other things to do right now.
Or maybe because I would rather sell "crap" from my collection to another collector for $5 than to a dealer who will do me a favor by taking it off my hands for 50 cents.
There are lots of reasons people sell things on eBay, and making a living at it is only one of them.
posted on February 8, 2001 10:31:34 AM
100 items listed on Ebay at an average selling price of $25 and an average sell-through of 50% with a commission rate of 10% and a 50% profit margin equals:
$1,250 in sales
$625 in gross profit
$125 in commission
$500 net profit
The same 100 items on Bidville, Edeal, Deal Network, or any of the other free sites:
3 items sold ...
$75 in sales
$37.50 in gross profit
zero in commissions
$37.50 in net profit
No thanks. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
posted on February 8, 2001 11:17:47 AM
I see Bidville as an opportunity...meaning nothing will happen unless a lot of us invest some time, effort, and quality merchandise. Yes, if you go to the site and find nothing worth bidding on, shake your head in disbelief, and leave, how is that going to improve the overall situation we are in: ebay rapidly becoming a monopoly?
Why not, instead, make an investment of putting some quality inventory on the site, and while you are at it, let your ebay buyers know about Bidville so they might go take a look?
I am personally not going to tie up my whole inventory there, but I think it's worth an investment to try to make it work. Plus, our items should stand out because there is less competition.
I also plan to BUY there, so hint hint lego sellers!!
If you replace "Bidville" with "Gold's" in your post, then I've been there- done that. And what is there to show for that effort? I had over half the listings in my category for a long time, and I hardly made a sale. Now, Gold's isn't even there anymore. I tried the same with Yahoo, and now, they want me to pay to have my items sit for weeks without selling.
So I should spend more of my time building up another site? Sorry- maybe some other time.
posted on February 8, 2001 11:54:00 AM
My reasons?
1. BidVille doesn't have any listings for the same stuff I (used to be able to) buy on eBay (tv episodes, Emmy Consideration tapes, etc.)
2. BidVille sellers are setting their starting bids way too high on some of the items I am looking for (DVD's, for example)
3. Very, very few peopls are bidding or buying at Bidville so there is not much point in listing anything there
4. There are thousands of quick rich scams and listings for illegal items currently on BidVille and they are not set up to do anything about these
5. History tells us that ANYONE who makes the kind of startup promises BidVille has made will either change the rules when they have their clients hooked, or die trying
[ edited by RB on Feb 8, 2001 11:57 AM ]
[ edited by RB on Feb 8, 2001 11:58 AM ]
posted on February 8, 2001 12:03:35 PM
I don't have the same history as others here (ex: Golds). I did have the experience of less than stellar sales on Yahoo last fall. But I DID sell things, and it was nice to not pay listing and FVFs.
I am not a Bidville booster per se in the sense that I think/know they are permanent or have some secret formula. What I do see is that their overall format is similar to ebay's. They are expanding their categories. For example, at first all nonfiction books were in one category. huh? They are working on breaking them out into categories that make sense.
I also see items that are priced too high, but I see the same ones on ebay, so that is not unique to Bidville.
If we are all satisfied with selling solely on ebay, there isn't anything to discuss. But if there is a genuine feeling here among the small sellers that paying a lot in fees is detrimental to our profit margins, why not try to support a free site?
posted on February 8, 2001 12:25:35 PM
Makes sense Keziak, but the bidders and buyers also have to support these free sites, and that ain't happening ... yet
Thanks for the tip...