posted on June 21, 2001 09:56:35 PM
Ebay, Paypal, Auctionwatch, Freemerchant, Auctionworks Store fronts.
Everybody wants a piece of the pie! They all charge a fee and best of all none of them work! Right now Auctionwatch has the best set up to help create one in minutes, but I haven't sold an item on their in two months. Auctionwatch also has the best site to create and list an item.
Remember serval months ago when auctionwatch sended out email notices, we are now going to charge a fee for creating a listing using our software. Most people on this site said they were going elsewhere, well most users are still here!
I beleive in five months Ebay will have all that is needed to list, pay, create and stores all your items just as good as the rest above. Ebay will cut auctionwatch and Paypal off from listing on their site. Then the real fun will being! We the sellers will get court in the middle by paying any fee ebay wants!
I would love to see Ebay, Auctionwatch and Paypal work with each other to reduce fees and keep us all in business. Each one should do what they do best! Leave the storefront to someone else!
posted on June 22, 2001 06:22:58 AM
I have gone elsewhere - I only use the forums now because they are an excellent source of information and communication with other auctioneers.
I had used AW listing software - I now use Mister Lister.
I had used AW picture hosting - I now do my own.
I've always done my own EOA Notices, so that's nothing new...
I'm one of those sellers that has to pinch every penny to make a profit, so if there is a viable choice between pay or free service, I'll choose the free.
posted on June 22, 2001 07:21:58 AM
I found one of the keys to making this business lucrative is to avoid as many of the secondary auction businesses as possible, my auction management Software is a notebook(it's free, never goes down,its quick, I can take it anywhere, makes relisting easy, tracks feedback and deadbeats), I make it known in my auctions that I prefer Money Orders, this saves me thousands of dollars in fees, I'm avoiding E-bay stores for now.(View about me serves the same purpose) I also learned to host my own images saves me more money. Remember it is not how much you make but how much you keep that matters. And yes I'm a Power Seller.
posted on June 22, 2001 08:32:44 AM
I put together a list of the fee-based things I have / do :
Ebay fees (obviously)
half.com commissions (new - just started listing there in May)
Yahoo fees (irregular, usually try every other month to post a few things)
Paypal & Billpoint fees (buyers want it, feel its worth the costs, at least for now)
Postage and mailing supplies (no way around those - although I do charge S/H to try to cover most of it, and do NOT use Stamps.com or other postage mechanisms - I go to the PO and get metered postage)
I list my auctions pretty vanilla - basic description and picture, nothing fancy, no frills or bonuses unless they are very special items or special time of year.
[ edited by katiyana on Jun 22, 2001 08:34 AM ]
posted on June 22, 2001 10:02:03 AM
StoreFronts are popping up all over the place and are being offered from a wide variety of providers. Expect the trend to continue, as they are the next genration of online selling.
It's going to take several months for the trend to satuarate and for the winners and losers to be defined. We'll have to keep a watchful eye on the marketplace to see which provider will best benefit our onlines businesses. My best guess is that it will be eBay, but they will have to make many improvements along the way, as their current storefront offering is primative and painful to the eye.
posted on June 22, 2001 10:17:32 AM
I still use Auctionwatch. To me time is money - and the small amount I pay Auctionwatch for the time it saves me is money well spent. But, I must say I run other businesses besides eBay so I am quite busy.
My AuctionWatch store is set up, too, but it only shows my auctions. It seems to have increased the number of people buying more than one item at a time. But then, it could also be my new 99 cents shipping for each additional book policy.
posted on June 22, 2001 10:25:21 AM
I only tried storefronts for awhile. Saw no increase in business. Tested it on a few freinds and relatives. They did not seem interested. Was time consumning. Just another thing to be concerned about. I like simplicity when I buy. Straight forward discriptions, no power symbols not other distractions. I like to know the shipping costs up front. And then I buy. So I try to keep my auctions simple.
posted on June 22, 2001 10:32:05 AM
I don't self-host my own auctions, just the pictures for them. All of the computers in our house are connected to a network server and are connected to the internet 24-7 via an ADSL Internet connection. I have one portion of a hard drive dedictated to pictures, and use the HTML pointer & name to insert it into my auction listings.
Since I'm going to be connected ANYWAY, seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one fee. 8)
I don't know all of the ins & outs of how it works, my husband set it all up. but all of my pictures are taken by me, and saved directly to my hard drive, and pulled up as queried. 8)
Very nice too for editing purposes - if I take a better picture later on, etc.
