posted on March 11, 2009 03:17:11 PM new
Well, after 10 years of selling on Ebay, the past 4 years full time - I'm done with them - I have paid them over $50,000 in fees and in return I get nothing. One day last year my policy compliance went from good to failing - they sent me a notice saying it was due to non-performance. Noone could provide any more information, but said it would up and go away within 3 months, don't worry about it.
Well, 3 months have come and gone, and it's still there - a big red blotch - I am now told it will be on there for 1 year! But still, there has been no explanation of any non-performance - I've never had a policy violation in my life on Ebay, except one CSR said it may have been a certain % of low DSR's during 1 week (a week I had only a few listings that were sales from heck - one my fault, one a non-pay buyer).
So I have moved about 20 items over to Bonanzle, and the difference is like night and day - it's like the good old days of an actual Ebay community when Ebay didn't poop on their sellers constantly.
Hopefully, some sales will come out of it, and I'll just start winding down the Ebay business. I can't take the fees anymore - about 10-15% of each item goes to fees now and with falling selling prices, I just can't absorb it anymore.
Anybody else here using Bonanzle and have you had any luck? Selling form is great - no listing fees - love the atmosphere over there!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caroline
[ edited by carolinetyler on Mar 11, 2009 03:19 PM ]
posted on March 11, 2009 04:49:54 PM new
Bestbuyoutlet is on Overstock auction and garners over 5000 feedback,so it must be selling.
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 11, 2009 04:50:57 PM new
Bestbuyoutlet is on Overstock auction and garners over 5000 feedback,so it must be selling.
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 11, 2009 07:41:43 PM new
Bonanzle's owners refuse to spend a penny to promote the site. This is why Bonanzle is all sellers with very few buyers.
But that's not why I left.
Bonanzle's founders tell sellers that THEY must pay for advertising to bring buyers to the site and if they aren't selling anything it's their own fault.
Not why I left.
Bonanzle cobbles together a Google Base feed of your items. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately I've been advised by several people (including an SEO expert) that if your Bonanzle listing are identical to your eBay or website listings, the Bonanzle feed will disadvantage you in search.
That's why I left. Sure, you pay no fees on Bonanzle, but that doesn't mean it's a bargain.
posted on March 12, 2009 06:59:50 AM new
Well there is very, very little time compared to Ebay - my concern is the advertising, or lack thereof - I'll give it a try and see what happens - it looks like it's geared more toward lower end or newer items, at least that was my initial impression - I also opened a Ruby Lane shop - I think Ebay will eventually find a way to get rid of all us 'small' sellers - so I want to make sure I'm in the right position and getting ready to go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on March 12, 2009 07:01:43 AM new
Bonanzle sounds like another Waggle Pop (BTW is it still in business?). Sellers love it and buy from each other initially but buyers never find it. It would take somebody with bucks and an audience to take on eBay - Microsoft?
Looks like WP is gone - URL is dead.
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posted on March 12, 2009 01:35:46 PM new
I think the biggest mistake most people make is to not diversify. Only using eBay is a mistake. There are plenty of buyers out there that absolutely will not buy a thing on eBay. They go other places to buy their wears. I have checked out Bonanzle and it looks user friendly, but have not tried it yet so I cannot give an opinion. However, if they have free and automatic relists, then I say do it.
Then look to epier.com and ecrater.com
Epier is an auction site and offers endless relists for non-selling items. No fees unless you sell.
Ecrater is a website builder. Your own website for free. I have had one for a little over two years now and wish I had done it sooner.
Then list everything you have on all the sites except eBay (just filter in a few listings here and there at eBay) and when it sells somewhere, cancel the listing at the other sites. Works well and sales tend to be brisk. And it will not cost you a dime unless you sell items.
Even better is the fact that you can offer Google checkout on all the other sites and people prefer to use it over PayPal when not on eBay.
I maybe joining you on Bonanzle shortly.
I my experience, exclusively listing on eBay has always been a mistake, but incorporating other sites does make the business cycle complete. I wish Yahoo would bring back their auctions. But that's another story.
[ edited by stonecold613 on Mar 12, 2009 01:37 PM ]
posted on March 12, 2009 04:58:11 PM new
Did you guys get an email from Google on Google checkout,one feature is fee increase .
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 13, 2009 07:51:02 AM newThere is always a cost of doing business and sometimes we need to change what or how we do it so we can stay ahead.
Wise words.
As long as you use eBay as a cash-generating machine to help build the rest of your business and not get too emotionally invested in it, it works just fine.
posted on March 13, 2009 08:15:00 AM new
I run into brick and mortar antique dealers in the post office every now and then and they will tell me they sell a few on Ebay just to meet rent.
If you have pricey items from B&M store,dont expect them to fetch the same price on Ebay,Ebay is a happy hunting ground for other antique dealers!
Soon you find out your pricey stuff is gone and your capital depleted and no more money left to replenish your stock!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 13, 2009 08:21:38 AM new
Ten years ago when selling on internet is the right thing to do,Rupert Murdoch said internet sales is bad news for retailers,as they will be competing with wholesalers and distributors they buy from.
He did not mention retailers and wholesalers will be competing side by side in venues such as EBAY and AMZN with the weekend wannabe retailers such as the Vendio crowd.
Ebay is not a place for established retailers with fixed overhead,Ebay bidders have this mentality-you did not pay much for your goods,you probably find it in a garage sale or your deceased aunt's attic,so why should we pay more?Since time is not money for Ebay sellers who have nothing else to do,what is the big deal if you just dumpster dive and get a box and mail it the cheapest way you can by standing in line for hours at the post office?
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
[ edited by HWAHWA on Mar 13, 2009 08:26 AM ]
posted on March 14, 2009 09:13:34 PM new
But are there any sales? I've been in business doing online sales and auctions since 1995, and I've never heard of Bonanzle. It reminds me of so many other sites that are all sellers and no buyers. I'd love to see some legitimate competition to ebay, but I don't think it is going to happen. They are struggling now, and still nobody has stepped up. There are only a few companies with the deep pockets to pull it off, but none have jumped in - they aren't likely to either.
posted on March 14, 2009 09:38:47 PM new
I really like the Bonanzle interface. It is much easier to set up and edit listings. The site is getting plenty of traffic but unfortunately not many buyers yet. It could be like ecrater and take a bit of time before it developes a rep that buyers will trust.
My first year on ecrater was not very productive but sales have improved greatly there and I suspect it is because buyers are looking for alternatives to ebay and paypal. I offer Google Checkout and the majority of buyers use it.
Just a note on ecrater though, if your buyer uses Google Checkout, the sale does not show on ecraters feedback page and your buyer cannot leave feeback on the transaction. It makes your ecrater sales stats look like heck, if you care about things like that.
As for some of the other free sales sites such as epeir and bluejay.com, tried them, did not have enough sales to justify having to keep track of so many sites.
posted on March 15, 2009 05:21:13 AM new"But are there any sales? I've been in business doing online sales and auctions since 1995, and I've never heard of Bonanzle. It reminds me of so many other sites that are all sellers and no buyers. I'd love to see some legitimate competition to ebay, but I don't think it is going to happen. They are struggling now, and still nobody has stepped up. There are only a few companies with the deep pockets to pull it off, but none have jumped in - they aren't likely to either.
I agree, Ebayvet.
Aren't sales from poorly advertised and relatively unknown sites generally limited to those people who sell there? Why limit the exposure of your product to so few only because you disapprove of some insignificant Ebay feature?
I can understand, if you have the time, using more than one auction site while including Ebay but to favor a small auction site while excluding a larger one is like cutting your nose off to spite your face.
posted on March 15, 2009 07:16:51 AM new
No one wants to step in and compete with Ebay -because it is not a profitable business and the overhead is high and requires big spending upfront to tweak or design a system like Ebay to accomodate all that traffic and squables!
Look at some of the items for sale on Ebay-Lowe 10% coupon which you can pick up at Post office free,Home Depot 20% coupon given to its employees,McCAFE coupon you get free with your weekly flyers,Kroger supermarket coupons you get in the mail free if you own a Kroger credit card!
Cable modems which you took with you when you move or been cutoff for not paying your cable bills.
Things you can pick up at the bargain table at Home Depot or Lowe or local supermarket ,scratched , torn , returned .
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
[ edited by hwahwa on Mar 15, 2009 08:37 AM ]
posted on March 16, 2009 05:19:56 AM new
Thank you for all the advice and comments - I'm going to look in to Ecrater as well, and I'll give Bonanzle a test drive. I am not familiar with google checkout at all since I've been primarily on ebay with only Paypal, so I guess I should become familiar with that as well.
Thanks to all for the great advice as usual!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
Caroline 
