Power Sellers Unite

wjchiefs · Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 14

Hi Eveyone i have been at this for about 3 months. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to check out my store http://photosandgraphs.ecrater.com/ and tell me if they see anything that i should change. I sell Sports Items. I have about 3 sells a month, I took a ad out of facebook. I have sent flyers to all my old ebay customers. I post on every message board i can think of. Can someone else give me some good ideas. I also use Craiglist and Oddle

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4780

I looked at your site.

On thr surface everything looked fine. But when I went into some of your items, I noticed that there was no shipping fees shown, nor any explanation of how the items would be shipped.

When I tried clicking on your Terms Of Sale, I got a blank page. No return policy, again nothing about shipping.

If I were looking at purchasing an autographed photo, I'd want to know how the item will be protected during shipping, what the cost to ship the item will be and what your return policy is should the item arrived damaged.

Without that information, I'd be very hesitant about doing business with you.

wjchiefs · Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 14

with the new google feed thing i didnt think you were allowed to put shipping info with the items

mojavelyn · Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:02 pm Post subject:

Not inside the item description. But ecrater should have pages or fields for shipping information. Like the TOS page, it was blank.. that is the proper place to put it.

If google sees no shipping prices in the Shipping charge field, Google products mark it as Free Shipping. And if the buyer pays shipping, then how is that going to look?

hotnana · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 875

wjchiefs You are right Google no longer will allow sellers to put shipping info within your descriptions. This new rule really ticks me off since I sell a large variety of items, my shipping methods vary greatly depending on size, weight and of course destination.

Back to your store, I clicked on several items and they all had shipping included. I think you have a nice look to your store, and present your items well. I really don't know your market, is it flooded with the type items you sell? If putting items on oodle, and CL hasn't generated any traffic, I don't know what to tell you. Perhaps you could try a few other classified sites like kijiji or olx and also linkreferral.com is another good way to generate some traffic.

wjchiefs · Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 14

Dont Get me Wrong I have been seeing more traffic. There is alot of people on ebay that sell the same items as me but i can sell my cheaper. It's Just getting the traffic to the site. WHat are some of the better ways eveyone has done that. I post on facebook. I even bought a facebook ad thing that you pay per click. I Went Threw all my old buyers from ebay and mailed them a flyer, went back about 6 months and mailed to everyone. I post on Craiglist and Oddle once a week. SHould i be doing that more and in other areas. I have Put Flyers out for my site at places that let me. I live close to Pittsburgh and I thought about going after the Steelers and Penguins Game and handing out flyers, thats gets a little pricey though. Let me know how eveyone else did it

Thanks So Much

Jerryb · Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 444

"Let me know how eveyone else did it" Quote

I like Ecrater. It seems to have a lot of potential in my opinion. With Google warming up to them it can't hurt to list at Ecrater. If google shopping catches on the sales will be amazing.

I am trying something different. I removed all my inventory from my website and I am linking to specific areas at Ecrater with "search specific type links that go to my ecrater store search". In other words I am using the website as a hub of sorts with the numerous links to specific areas. Being I sell at delcampe and Etsy I am giving them coverage also but Ecrater and Google Shopping are the best of the best eventually in my opinion. If I'm wrong it will not be the first time.

anyways if i send some to my website they will have lots of things to see with out the relisting there of all the inventory.

pjrcoffee · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 634

Can anyone confirm what COA means? I saw one ad with a "COA of my own design". Isn't that just saying "Trust me it's real. I was there." Should and would the next buyer trust its "pedigree"?

How does ANYONE know a signature is genuine? Isn't there some authorities who make it their business to certify a sport signature?

haydee_salehoo · Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 72

Hi pjrcoffee,

Yes, there are third-party experts that can certify that a memorabilia or autograph is genuine. They can also issue a Certificate of Authentication or COA.

Have a look at this eBay Guide for information on COA:

http://pages.ebay.com/buy/guides/sports-autographs-buying-guide/

@wjchiefs,

Here are some other things that you can try to increase traffic to your e-store:

1. Optimize your site for the search engines. Try out this Free Tool: http://www.traffictravis.com/
2. Set up a blog about your market, maybe create a buying guide of some sort like the one above with the link to your site.
3. Put your website URL in your email/forum signature tags which I see you have already done.
4. Sign up for forums on related topic and be helpful (but don't Spam). This is a good way to get your name out.
5. Give your buyers/customers an option to sign up for a newsletter that you have set up.

Hope that helps! :) Good luck!

Cheers,
Haydee

ehustle · Joined: 18 Mar 2009 Posts: 621

Just a quick thought.

You could sign up for a free trial of Terapeak and quit it 14 days later.

It would save you a lot of hunting and comparing time.

Although it only searches eBay, you could select business models out of the top results that are matching you closest to get ideas.

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4780

pjrcoffee wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Can anyone confirm what COA means? I saw one ad with a "COA of my own design". Isn't that just saying "Trust me it's real. I was there." Should and would the next buyer trust its "pedigree"?

How does ANYONE know a signature is genuine? Isn't there some authorities who make it their business to certify a sport signature?

Certificate Of Authenticity, which is required in Michigan and many other states when selling an autographed item.

The person who stated that they used a COA of their own design is one that I'd be staying a long distance away from.

Here, in Michigan, they make the game even more ludicrous. All autographed items are supposed to come with a notarized COA. How often does one go to a concert or sporting event and just happen to run into a notary public?