posted on June 3, 2002 01:36:47 PM new
I've seen Ebay sellers do some fun promotions over the years and they seem to meet with some success. Many sellers feel it is their responsibity to help promote their auctions and not leave it all up to the auction site owners. What do you think?
I have seen Bidville do promotions and now Carnaby sellers are doing an impromptu promotion where they put the word JUNE in their item title for search purposes.
How far do you think sellers should go in promoting a site? What responsibility do you feel as a seller?
I personally think you need a good mix of seller promotions and Auction site marketing, hopefully with the auction site doing a tad more than sellers.
posted on June 3, 2002 01:44:04 PM new
With eBay you only need a good title and good keywords for description searches to promote your items. eBay and Yahoo both advertise heavily and that's part of the listing and FVF fees.
The other sites need all the help they can get. Most of those sites are composed of disenchanted eBay and Yahoo former sellers and most of the bidders on these sites are the actual sellers. It's good therapy to have these little sales but they actually have only minimal effect of the traffic of the sites. A seller sells a few items and then buys a few items, that's where the increased sales come mostly from at special sale time.
posted on June 3, 2002 02:41:42 PM new
Self promotion has been tried at Bidville for some time now. In fact, when Yahoo started listing fees and most of the bottom end auctions ended up at Bidville, that was the cry. We have to get the word out and self promote. The thought is noble and in most business arrangements, that is how it is done. But with the online auctions, it seems to be different. Bids is correct. At Bidville, the buyers are the sellers. Most thought when they moved their auctions to bidville from Yahoo, the good buyers would follow. The fact is that most of the deadbeats went to bidville (not all, but most) and Yahoo's buyers were as strong as ever. Even with self promotion, the good buyers did not follow. Yes, they did take a quick look, but all they could find was sports cards so they left. And for the few sellers that stayed behind at Yahoo, they cleaned up. There sales went up. It appears the Epier is going to do something about it. Those FVF's they have been charging, (even as low as they are) must be adding up if they can now afford to advertise. Only time will tell if an add campain will work for the small site, but if it does, you can bet e-pier will make a big dent in the auction business.
[ edited by caffeitalia on Jun 3, 2002 03:22 PM ]
posted on June 3, 2002 05:54:59 PM new
If the ePier ads start to attract bidders and sales there is a good chance that many of the good BV sellers may shift over there. That would leave BV will less quality sellers and less sellers willing to pay $65 a year to sell there. Of course sellers would come from Carnaby and the other tiny sites and even Yahoo and eBay. I'd love to see a third tier site take away BV's title of the biggest little auction site because of a decent sell through rate.
posted on June 3, 2002 09:48:30 PM new
I was one of those sellers that left Yahoo for bidville when Yahoo made their "changes" In the beginning Bidville was a great little site. The sellers and management seemed to work together to make it a great site. There were buyers and sellers. It was really going strong. then something happened. BV's CS stopped replying to emails. We all grumbled about the non responsiveness of the customer service. Not only that, but Bidville had gotton big enough (in my mind anyway) to start advertising on it's own. Let's face it, there is only so much advertising sellers can do on their own. Poor BV management just didnt respond to the challenge and I guess made the wrong decision and did nothing to advertise. Out went alot of the sellers due to no sales. Why pay a monthly fee to list things that don't sell. Too Bad. I really liked and enjoyed being there.
posted on June 3, 2002 11:48:44 PM new
Bidsbids, it would take more than a great sell-thru rate to get a lot of us to go to ePier. After dealing with the 'management' of that site and their habit of changing policies and implementing charges overnight, then announcing it the next day like it's an after-thought many of us had more than enough.
I try to keep an eye on what's going on with a few sites and currently SellYourItem is the one with the most consistent growth rate. It's slow but everything there is steadily increasing.
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posted on June 4, 2002 08:16:54 AM new
I think if ePier did pull of a miracle and got a 7% sell through rate you'd see a lot of sellers go over there very quickly. Even some of the sellers that had trouble in the past with eDock or ePier.
Money is the great equalizer ..........
posted on June 4, 2002 08:42:50 AM new
I am an advocate of self promotion, I have been preaching that at Bidville since Last Feb.
The whole point is, NO MATTER WHICH auction site you chose, a seller has to sell themself first.
I think one of the most successful things is when I do get a new bidder, or prospective bidder they look at my feedback, and see the many, many repeat buyers. THat helps convince them to try me once they are aware of me.
Several others at Bidville have been trying what I have been preaching and are reporting that their slaes are growing, in a steady rate by most reports.
It is tiring and even boring to talk about yourself all the time and keep putting the word out over and pver about your items and where to find you. BUT that is what it takes, and it does work, oersistance pays off.
There are things that can hurt you regardless, such as reserves, or outrageous starting prices and or terms. Vague descriptions are also bad as are high s$H charges.
I like Bidville because I find the site very user friendly, and CS does listen. Often acting on input if not always responding directly.
I think that is better than say, Yahoo, who will always send a response, but RARELY acts.
I have numerous buyers who do not sell at Bidville, or anywhere else. Regardless, I welcome other sellers to buy from me also, what do you expect, a "NO OTHER SELLERS PLEASE", dicsclaimer?
whereever you sell, self promotion will only help increase your sales.
I don't care if it is Ebay, or TNA, or maybe even your own site.
posted on June 7, 2002 12:43:51 PM new
Looking at the Carnaby JUNE search and looking at Bidville spring fling was a good exercise.
I've noticed that Carnaby sellers are being realistic with starting bids at the least they will accept for an item, ranging from under a buck to $50.00 - Good for a site that isn't seeing a huge influx of buyers and good for tempting Ebay buyers. The Bidville spring fling seems more like a garage sale. Things that one wouldn't list if they had to pay listing, enhancement, or fvf's - in other words, things they wouldn't list at Ebay.
There is a place for both methods and there are buyers for both. That's obvious by just going to the sites and looking for yourself.
I believe every seller has an obligation to promote their auctions just as they would promote their website, but gosh if the auction site doesn't become a household name, no amount of advertising by sellers will make the Auction Site a viable alternative to Ebay or Yahoo. The auction site must play a role in marketing their site and on a much larger scale than any Mom and Pop operation.
Thanks for your opinions. Good discussion with food for thought.
posted on June 7, 2002 02:29:26 PM new
if your not promoting your own online sales and auctions no matter where you list you get the results you deserve.
promotion is job one of any business, even any hobby where you buy sell and trade ..
as well if you have been selling on ebay for any lengh of time as a part time of full time income and you have not been making sales and promotion other places this is the reason the returns on your efforts are shrinking.
Ebay and other online auction sites are a great place for the little guy to get started for a small investment not a place for businesses to shink up into and become lost.
It may be true ebay is the only auction site that gets any sales or bids for most but this isn't really so much a feather in ebays cap of there greatness so much as the falure of online auction seller to have a will to honestly grow and make more of the spring board ebay became for them and for many it's there do anything as long as it cost me nothing attitude.
Big sellers on ebay and other online sites know this way of life and living is not easy street it takes hours daily listing and promoting not only for new buyers but to past buyers.
Fun promotion that can be done with winners of your auctions, some one buys a video add a package of popcorn in with the video you send.
slip in to all shipped packages usefull items that can be found free or low cost such as USPS rates chart a printeed list of your next weeks up coming auction listing maybe including a teaser picture or two.
rather then send your buyer a plain email letting them know there items has been shipped send them a virtual postcard or flower with the news and thanks for there payment.
if you sell whole sale items on ebay include a catalog or list of items you have to sell with an order form and envelope with your return address.
List your auction URL with a few teaser items on a few high trafic classifide sites.
have a batch of pens or keychains made up with your auction URL and user ID on them to send out with your items you can usually buy these item in bulk very low cost pen factory here in town will make these items for under$35 or $40 for 1000.
think about the everything must be free mind set of the internet and you will know anything free is an attention grabber.
any promotion that gets a group of sellers togeather to all offer a penny or dollar start auction promotion basically just kills the collectable and auction market it don't help the community to give your inventory away.
posted on June 7, 2002 05:15:19 PM new
Some sellers use BV and the other free or nearly free third tier auction sites as their personal store or auction. That is a very good idea as the cost of the regular online auction stores is very high and loaded with fees. That's where the self promotion comes in and any bidders from the actual site would only be a bonus. To bring the bidders from Yahoo or eBay or other sources would be a much better idea than merely hoping a few bidders from the actual auction site would bid/buy your items. The risk is that the site goes under and everything must be moved.
