posted on June 24, 2003 07:24:02 PM
My theory on traffic at non-ebay sites is that most of the hits are actuaally from other sellers at those sites.
The best deals are almost always available at ebay. The one advantage of ioffer buyers over ebay buyers is that they can use the shopping cart to see how much multiple items can ship for and to a lesser extent, they can try to get a price break on multiple items.
posted on June 24, 2003 10:01:02 PM
What are you selling? What do your ads look like? What is your rating? Are there any huge sellers dominating your category? I think the days of shooting fish in the barrel are long over even on ebay. Especially if you are a small time seller like me. I just checked ebay and saw entire categories 80+ pages of zero bids, not just in one category but many many categories. A few months back I listed 50 items on ebay and sold 2, I ended up losing money and wasting my time. I’ve sold on yahoo, ebay and ioffer, if my item is not going to sell I prefer not to pay. It just doesn’t pay for me to try and sell on ebay anymore. Three years ago I was just like everybody else Rah Rah Rah ebay, not anymore, they have gotten the last of my money.
Someone take yahoo auctions outback and put it out of its misery. I see the rest of yahoo improving everyday and the auctions just seem so stale and stagnant. You’d think yahoo would either pump some life into it or shut it down. Yahoo auctions remind me of an old “One Hit Wonder” singing show tunes over at the lounge next to the nickel slots in a casino way way way way off the strip.
I’ve only sold a couple of items on iOffer over a few months. I just checked back today and it seems like an entirely different site. Far from perfect but a vast improvement over what they were. I don’t even think they had stores when I was last there. They seem to be getting better which is a good sign. If I start selling again I might throw my stuff up there and see what happens.
Here are your choices: money grubbing thieves looking to snatch the last dime out of your pocket, old tired has-been, or a young toddler learning how to walk. I think I might go with the kid.
posted on June 25, 2003 02:28:46 AM
What are you selling?
--Software, Boy Scout Buckles, Modem, books.
I just checked the software, I'm the lowest priced in the category and it has a fixed price $30 below the next competitor.
--The boy scout buckles are getting views and changed price from make an offer to a fixed price.
What do your ads look like?
--what ads?
What is your rating?
--What rating, I just started
Are there any huge sellers dominating your category?
--Not that I can see. I'm the only one selling BS buckles.
It's getting traffic, no sales.
[ edited by Salgal48 on Jun 25, 2003 02:30 AM ]
[ edited by Salgal48 on Jun 25, 2003 02:33 AM ]
posted on June 25, 2003 09:06:21 AM
You can import your feedback from other major sites with Mr. Grabber.
I also see the pages after pages of closed ebay auctions that never get a bid. Some say that many sellers are using ebay as inexpensive banner ads to get potential customers but I don't think there are that many sellers that like to eat all of those listing fees.
Somewhere in a back room at ebay there is a group of bean counters or CPAs that are tracking all of the closed auction results. They have to be sounding a warning bell as the sell through rate keeps dropping and dropping. I believe the numerous promotions that we are seeing are part of this warning process and I believe that we may even see a permanent reduction in the insertion fees on items listed under $10. Ebay has problems just like the other sites do.
posted on June 25, 2003 11:59:03 AM
I've wondered the same thing about insertion fees AuctionAce. It does seem like the 2 straight weeks of promotions was some sort of a test to see the effect on listing numbers.
I can definitely say that at 15 cent listing fees for $9.99 and under my whole business model would change drastically (and IMO for the better for both myself and ebay). I would imagine many others would say the same thing. With my current sell rates it's hard to manage the profit level I'm looking for at 30 cents a pop - but at 15 cents it could be done.
posted on June 25, 2003 12:59:23 PM
I think ebay's at least considering the change. The could raise the FVF to 6% from 5.25% to justify the change to unknowledgeable investors that own the stock.
The clock is ticking on Half.com and those millions of listings have got to go somewhere. There's no way ebay expects the Half sellers to pony up 30 cents every 7 days to list the under $10 items.
posted on June 26, 2003 09:47:41 AM
I had a most unusual offer from a new bidder yesterday. The bidder used my storefront to place a group offer on four items, and the offered price was higher than I'd ever hope to get selling them on an auction site. I would have accepted the offer right then and there, but unfortunately I'd just sold one of the four items on ebay the day before. So I made a counter-offer removing the sold item, and reduced the price more than what I thought was fair. The bidder declined my counter-offer, and send a note stating 'I'm new to this site, but it looks like I could get better deals at ebay.' Well why did you make such a high offer then? It may have been a blessing that I didn't have the one item anymore, I could just see accepting the offer and then getting an email stating "I didn't really want to pay that amount, I thought you were going to counter with a lower offer." DOH!
posted on June 26, 2003 11:52:50 AM
salgal i found you on ioffer http://www.ioffer.com/viewProfile.do?tab=SELLING&userID=sal_gal . i'll be frank with you, i think an ounce of honesty goes a long way. You need to build up a rating, buyers have choices out there and all else equal, why buy from someone that has no history, unless they have some extra special items at an extra special price (I guess that how the fraud guys get people)which in all honesty you don't have. I priced a book you were selling for 12.00 on half it goes for 2.80 and on amazon it goes for 1.45. Ask yourself why would someone buy from you, would you buy from you?? I hope this didn't come off as being harsh it was simply meant to be informative. Oh yeah, you could spruce up your ads and your about me page a bit, it might show a potential buyer that you care.
posted on June 26, 2003 11:54:29 AM
Thank you suggestions well taken, and changes made.
Will give my profile a boost. The book was re-listed as "make an offer". I think the other stuff is w/n reason.
[ edited by Salgal48 on Jun 26, 2003 12:01 PM ]
posted on June 28, 2003 07:38:56 AM
salga,
if your view counts are going up and you dont get any offers,the reason is that many viewers could be ebay sellers looking for somthing to resell on ebay.if you priced your items too high,meaning with shipping,they cant make money reselling,they are not going to buy.
ebay is still the place to sell if you have anything nice to sell.
ebay has long said they want to discourage junk by keeping the listing fee for uner 10 dollars item high,they dont want junk to clutter up their site.
if they cut their listing fee from 30 cents to 15 cents,more junks will show up and they dont sell,you see 1.00 kenmore refrigerator manual on ebay,postcard at 99 cents??
what is ebay final value fee on that??
at least with amzn when someone listed a book at one penny,amxn gets to keep 1.24 from shipping.
posted on June 28, 2003 11:49:56 AM
Every auction item under $10 is not junk and anyone that has that narrow-minded of an opinion is a sad sad person in my view.
Ebay is smart and they know that people buy $100 antiques AND $5 gadgets for their kitchen on ebay. The 30 cent insertion fee is a large percentage of a $5 item's profit so to keep the lower end items on ebay they will have to reduce the insertion fee. Know what I'd like to see on ebay? The high and mighty antique sellers have their reserve fees tripled or reserves banned altogether. If they can't set the starting price at the minimum price they are willing to pay then tell those seller adios madres. That is the only junk on ebay, overpriced antiques protected by a foolish reserve bid system.
posted on June 29, 2003 06:32:03 AM
Hi Sal gal just a suggestion to help..
this is not enough of a description at ioffer to get a sale..
the title is ANIMAL DREAMS...
your items with a price stated go into froggle this tells nothing about what the item is, ioffer gives more room for a longer title like HB BOOK ANIMAL DREAMS MINT nice gift
see?? many more keywords for search & they know what it is..
the picture is too small to see what it says your entire description is this
ISBN No. 006-092114-5
you need to tell people..hardbound?paperback? mint? how many pages? author? year published & what edition? clean? old paper odor? vintage? great for pet owner gift? how you ship?media mail? insurance?take Paypal?
you have not done anything to your store at all.go to MYIOFFER TOP OF ANYPAGE SEE customize store? add some words like what you are selling,policies,how you ship,what payments methods,make a banner,add some photos put a bit of effort into it..the easy days are gone..put a link to your store in your email signature,use the refer a friend link on homepage to previous customers,if you are top referrer you get a free home page featured item.
many buyers coming to ioffer are new,they are from auctions this is not an auction..if you type in each description at the top
NOT AN AUCTION,NO WAITING USE BUY NOW OR MAKE OFFER TODAY visit our store above for the best deals it will help you so much.
Remember i mentioned if you sell each item individually there is a fee,if you sell in the store there is only ONE FEE ON THE TOTAL SALE FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES(also don't add the shipping to total of offer,use shipping box or you pay fees on it)
there are message & help boards lots of suggestions..
you need at least 20 items for 2 months to even give a site a chance, but with just an isbn # for a description,0 feedback, and a 2 word title,no information policies,or pics,or keywords of what you sell in your store(ioffer needs you to put them they get you in the search engines)it is going to be rough.It takes a bit of time for ioffer to get you in all the search engines..No other site does all this for you for free.
Why not import your feedback from ebay it's free,use mrgrabber on homepage..
good luck i hope this helped you
ps are you using the buyer alerts? did you check the want ads to see if someone has requested what you have??
read the buyer & seller tour buttons on home page.Learn how ioffer works.
[ edited by timetravelers on Jun 29, 2003 06:40 AM ]
posted on June 29, 2003 06:50:33 AM
good give it some time work on your stuff,,not easy selling online nowadays,you have some very nice items! make sure you describe them very well,measure them etc....
make a templete like this
"NOT AN AUCTION FUN USE BUY NOW OR MAKE OFFERS use our store above for the best deals!
We combine shipping,see our other items bookmsark us listing more often. shipping is usa only media mail mo/cks/paypal welcome "
if you take paypal go there,,hit selling tools,grab a manual auction logo put it in your templete..
or whatever you decide..paste it into each listing and then just fill in the details
easy & quick without it you will have less sales.
remember always counter back never decline..don't be hurt by a 1.00 offer,,people think it is an auction..they are new..see?..
use the recommend button, ioffer has everyone linked to everyone else,puts us high in search engines fabulous feature.
click on any id to check out other people's profiles and stores..make a banner for your store free www.addesigner.com just upload at myioffer,customize store,,they even host it for you i mean they do a lot but a seller must work hard nowadays..
check out those want ads they are sales leads
good luck
ps don't list stuff like some do at 1.00 ever prices go down not up,with the fvf you cannot list at 1.00 at ioffer that is why there is so much quality stuff there.
Very clean site,not a bunch of scammers,no shillers because there is no bidding at all,they have software to prevent frauds.No popups either..
they have only been open 1 year,they have over 130,000 listings and a million members that is why they will do well used to be EWANTED for 2 years,in fact they are going to reopen ewanted too more sales leads for ioffer!! THEY ROCK
[ edited by timetravelers on Jun 29, 2003 07:00 AM ]
posted on June 29, 2003 09:01:30 PM
HI ACE IS right...not complicated
half & amazon are the exceptions most sites inc ebay have this box..DO NOT INCLUD THE SHIPPING IN THE TOTAL PRICE here,you type in the description how much if you know,,if you don't know put USE BLUE BUTTON BELOW TO ASK SELLER A QUESTION FOR A SHIPPING QUOTE INC YOUR ZIP..
there are sometimes boxes at sites that say
1 see item description
2.buyer pays fixed amount (which you type in the description or a box)
3. some places say actual this means you charge them Exactly what it cost to mail,(& they will call you on it if you charge them even .50 more accidently LOL)be careful the new priority mail rates are by zone..you don't know the price in advance of purchase because you don't know their zip.
i put use ask seller a question,email zip for a shipping quote.
many are leery as in the past some sellers have items for 1.00 no reserve and 29.99 shipping at auction sites.like that.
practice calculating at www.usps.gov it is pretty easy..
good luck ps i recommended ya at ioffer
[ edited by timetravelers on Jun 30, 2003 01:17 AM ]
[ edited by timetravelers on Jun 30, 2003 01:52 AM ]
posted on June 30, 2003 01:42:12 AM
Salgal I see you are doing better on your listings,remember this is not half,not ebay takes some time for them to get you into the search engines.,some info though for example to help you,,
You need to go to myioffer on your profile page add KEYWORDS OF WHAT YOU SELL all over it,,vintage magazines,paperback books,computer software THESE WORDS WILL LET THE SEARCH ENGINES FIND YOU BUYERS!!
go to myioffer CLICK SELLING SEE CUSTOMIZE STORE, add a banner,add a picture add the payment & shipping policies.NAME YOUR STORE too put keywords there too, the search engines will not find your store there is nothing there,it is a fun premade templete chose colors etc..easy.
oN YOUR LISTINGS a few tips the Marilyn mag..ok..need to always check your listing when you complete it ioffer gives you a link right when you finish..
did you mean to accept COD??that is a mailing method they don't pay you till the post office delivers it..if you did not want to use it(most don't) go to MYIOFFER CLICK EDIT..you can change pics payments all that stuff really neat) you need to at least put THE YEAR OF THIS MAG IN TITLE & DESCRIPTION..you checked buyer pays fixed amount for shipping..but in the description there is no mention of how much..??
(remember media mail cannot have any advertising in the item so this cannot go media mail)
no need to ask buyer to go to ebay & check your feedback don't send the buyer off your item....just click on MRGRABBER HOME PAGE IOFFER YOUR FEEDBACK IS imported automatically.
(feedback from amazon & yahoo too) its great
do you take credit cards only no money orders or checks? that will hurt your sales a bit..
No need to put isbn..it only helps people check other sites for a lower price
ONE THING if you load a pic at ioffer then go back & edit..you MUST RELOAD YOUR PIC your WOMAN ad has no pic (go to myioffer,hit edit reload it be sure hit to hit submit after preview)
again,you need to check each ad when you are done make sure it is all correct.
ad various software,no pic
ps it is called YAHOO PAYDIRECT not yahoo direct..
hope this helps some, you will get it,easy once you do it a few times..check all your items but before you do take some time read the seller help here http://www.ioffer.com/help/sellerHelp.jsp
this is a different type of site,you need to learn how it all works by reading first,otherwise you will get questions & offers & not understand how it works..invest a bit of time in your business
good luck
ps YES I HAVE SOLD MANY ITEMS ON IOFFER,just sold a figurine for 45.00,some glass 5.00,etc..many sales..the free listing is really nice..your sales pick up once you have over 50 items listed..don't forget to put SEE OUR OTHER ITEMS..also drive them to your store..if they bought 3 items you DO NOT PAY FINAL FEES ON EACH ITEM IF BOUGHT IN STORE you just pay one fee on total..THESE GUYS ARE NOT GREEDY..THEY ROCK
[ edited by timetravelers on Jun 30, 2003 02:22 AM ]
posted on June 30, 2003 03:37:04 AM
hi, go to your profile, see the list on the left? the people that recommend you if you click on thier ids you will go to their profile..see THE GRAY BAR RECOMMEND..hit it..
this way you are on their profiles too
the ones like me with websites actually put a premade banner ioffer provides,if you have recommended them your link it on thier website..this puts everyone higher in search engines..
note check people's feedback click number by name before recommending to see if they are actually a good seller or buyer..
i have 600+ fb no neutrals or negs so i am one of the good ones LOL
click the ids,,see thier profile,click on selling..see how the listings are,,,CLICK AT TOP ioffer store,,see how that is & how it works & how people decorate their stores and the names of their stores..
your store address is
www.iofferstores.com/sal_gal
put this link in your email signature that way every email you send you are letting people know.
good luck
[ edited by timetravelers on Jun 30, 2003 03:39 AM ]
posted on June 30, 2003 05:56:56 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every auction item under $10 is not junk and anyone that has that narrow-minded of an opinion is a sad sad person in my view.
--------------------------------
auctionace,
i did not say every item under 10 on ebay is junk,there are some savvy sellers who start their items under 10 and let the bidders take them higher ,into hundreds and thousands.
but if you browse categories after categories,there are many true junks under 10 dollars.of course what is junk to one person may be treasure to another,kenmore refrigeration manual at 1.00 could be just treasure to some one collecting kenmore manuals??
but how many times do you want list this manual at 30 cents for 7 days until someone find and buy it??
i dont run ebay,it is ebay 's idea of discouraging junk by keeping listing fee at 30 cents minimum.
other sites have other means of discouraging stale items and encouraging sellers to bring fresh new stock which sell.
posted on June 30, 2003 08:48:16 AM
Good example with the Kenmore manual ( could be yearbooks or a thousand other items ). The seller can not afford to pay the listing fees while waiting for that elusive buyer. What does ebay do, kiss off several million listings? No, they buy Half.com to gather those items and make a 15% FVF. But something happens and Half is to be folded into the main ebay site. That's the 64 Thousand Dollar Question now, what happens to all of those millions of hard-to-find-a-buyer items? I see a huge opening for Yahoo Auctions buy doing exactly what Half.com did, make the listing free and charge a 15% FVF. They can bring out the Yahoo Warehouse / Used Goods software and make the books and music listings comply with those formats and they can set a $5 minimum bid on the rest of the stuff.
Someone in corporate America is missing the chance of a lifetime to reel in all of the Half goods. Then again, maybe ebay has a plan for those items that includes free listings and a 15% FVF and a $5 minimum start bid?
posted on June 30, 2003 09:08:56 AM
the problem is that all these small items are not bringing in enough revenue for half or yahoo or amzn or epiers etc to pay their bills.
those days of raking in IPO millions to sustain losses are gone,keeping a big site up 24 hours a day is expensive,and bandwidth costs money,and to get a cut of a one penny book or 99 cents book.how do they pay their bills??dont forget unlike us,they have to pay employer share of employee ss,healthcare and other fringes??
i understand what you are saying,someone may just be looking for that kenmore manual or doo da manual,let that someone find it in local garage sale,let the buyer pays for gasoline and time to find the item,not the venue provider or the seller,
half is not profitable,so something has to be done to cut the losses.
posted on June 30, 2003 02:40:01 PM
half.com is not amzn,but there are sales .
if half.com is attractive,some one would have bot it ,but no one is stepping up to the plate.
individual sellers like us dont mind working more for less pay,but legitimate business does not look kindly on money losing operations.
now i wonder how long can epiers and bidville last??
posted on June 30, 2003 02:42:34 PM
15% FVF is not chump change. If Yahoo set the minimum start bid at $5 that a minimum FVF of 75 cents on every transaction. With thousands of auctions closing every day the amount of revenue. They can even hire some of the Half people that may lose their jobs. If ebay decides to leave some scraps on the table ( times millions of listings ) then someone should try to take it.
