posted on July 15, 2007 10:11:21 PM new
The Vendio forum has been so helpful in the past, I'm hoping I could get some feedback on the below from others also doing websites.
After putting it off for almost seven years (!) I decided that I either needed to set up a website....or unload my many boxes of inventory. I have appx. 50,000 individual pieces of antique paper, all are unique -- non-printed material.
I spent the day frying my eyes on website after website possiblity and came to the conclusion that either Chrislands (primarily for books, but would work for my type of item) or an Amazon WebStore seem like good choices -- i.e., very easy to set up and with a good search engine/database (by both title and description). Yahoo or eBay Prostores didn't have the kind of search/database that the I need.
One problem with Amazon WebStores -- although I would get my own name-branded website --my customers would have to be Amazon members to purchase stuff. Actually, it might be a plus (more secure, etc.) Do you think this might deter buyers?
Are there other sites I should consider or things to consider? Hopefully easy to set up as I'm computer-challenged.
posted on July 16, 2007 10:11:16 AM new
This is what I do.
I have a resale store where I sell just about anything. But mainly Furniture. And I get in a lot of other household items. On eBay I am able to get more money for the stuff then just setting on a shelf at my store.
So after years of Auctioning my stuff on eBay I decided to open a Website type store. My idea was to get away from eBay and the fees. I used Vendio's Vendio Store. And I really wouldn't get any hits. I would still sell more on eBay. So then I opened up a eBay Basic Store for $15.99 a month. And would do more but not great. So then I upgraded to the Featured store. And then things took off. The difference was the Hits. People are already there shopping. If I make a website where are the hits going to come from. I'll have to pay Google or someone for them.
With eBay Store I get a lot more exposure for my money. I am getting a little over 3000 visits a week. And everyday I am shipping several items around the world.
So my advise is that unless you have a lot of money to spent on the Search Engine Advertising and want to do a lot of work designing the website. Try using eBay Stores .
I feel I would be able to draw visitors to my website -- small ads in specialized magazines, lots of free links from related sites -- and hope to show up in Google (some how!) I actually checked some of the Chrislands and Amazon Webstores sellers - i.e. searched on various sellers' products on Google and everything came up. So maybe both hosts are assisting in some way.
I was also planning to use eBay (core and store) -- but maybe a featured store is the way to go. It certainly would make things easier. I'll look into it.
