Power Sellers Unite

drleadbasedpaint · Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 44

Two real facts prolong my agony and suffering:

1. The alternative sites suck. We've tried Bidville, Overstock, OnlineAuction (well, we registered, but the site sucks soooo bad, I never could log on and no one at OnlineAuction gave a *&%*$^&), Wagglepop, Blujay, and HiBidder. We actually had one (1) sale on HiBidder, but the stinkin' site crashed afterwards & now that is gone.

2. eBay sales are booming. In fact, since the fee hike, I've gone PS Silver for the first time.

We can't move off eBay until some sort of viable alternative appears. We even had our own off-eBay store, but - after months of maintenance, promoting, etc. and no sales - we have disbanded.

So for the time being we're stuck in the catch 22. We want to leave eBay because of the fees and because of multiple incidences of injustice, but there's no alternative. Then again, the alternatives won't suceed until more people leave eBay.

banknote · Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 35

So continue your business there. Good luck.

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

While I like several of the alt sites, personally the sites you mention first are some of those that have the most complaints here.

It's not an either or thing when selling. You can be on several sites.

I would spread out to a few of the free listing sites like Blujay and eCrater for a while. I would also get a reasonable site of your own like a store here at PSU. And be sure to get your own domain name for it.

The trick is to USE eBay like they have used us.

Take out your PP addy and the buttons from your eBay listings if you take PP. You can say you take it, just don't let them pay you before you know there is a sale. Then you don't use the eBay invoices -- you use a personal invoice where you can give them your personal site URL. You can also promote any "special offers" in that invoice to "upsell" the customer from your web site.

I know that it isn't totally acording to eBay's rules, but eBay makes all the rules for THEIR benifit, not ours. And eBay won't know unless some customer tells. In over 2 years of doing this, no one has objected yet. I get upsells on about 1/3 of my eBay sales. Also every sale gets a flyer to my web site and some of my alt sites with a discount for buying there rather than at eBay.

I know I could do even more with newsletters and stuff like that to convert eBay customers to totally my customers, but I haven't had the time yet. But you get the idea.

Don't give up. I know it's a struggle to get away from the monster, but it can be done.

Carol

bgnagn1 · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 683

Hi Carol,

I didn't know you could do that with your own invoice. How do you send a customer an invoice? Through ebay? Did you make your own and with what program? The more I learn...the more I discover I don't know!!! And I would love to do that as well as send people my new ecrater store name with an item I mail out.

I've been doing a lot of reasearch and signed up at a lot of places including Bidville. So far I have no compaints with them but no sales either. I've sold two items at ecrater and I loved the no FVF or listing fee or any of that.

Well, see you at the Different Kind of Boycott!!! :D

Carol aka bgnagn1

http://1finetreasure.ecrater.com
http://stores.bidville.com/1finetreasure

2BOYSandTOYS · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 10095 Location: Kansas

On Paypal, when you click thru the request money, there's an invoicing function! It's slick, fast and professional looking. Even if the buyer pays with MO or CC (my other payment methods), my invoicing and sales records are all in one place - no matter which site I'm on!

For the OP - you gotta do what you gotta do - if ebaY is working for you - go with it!!

Best of sales to all!! Here's a sample of a PP invoice (and my 'template')!!

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

The PP invioce is very professional looking, but it gives you very little area for upsell offers.

I just have an email template that I use with my offers and their totals for the current sale.

The trick with eBay is to mention in your listing that you take PP, but then don't put in your PP address. That forces them to wait for you to send them the total and your PP addy in there. I prefer that on multi item sales anyway as PP almost never gets my shipping discount right on those automatic invoices.

Carol

bgnagn1 · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 683

When I have multiple items I have to adjust the invoice, too. I'll have to play around with my own invoice, if I ever have time. I have 3 grandkids (teenagers) living with me, I also take care of both my parents, two dogs, a cat and a husband! :shock: We have such fun around this house. :roll:

Like I said, the more I learn...the more I have to learn. But, this is so much fun I don't think I could not do it.

Thanks for all the good info. I don't post a lot but I do read a lot of these forums.

Carol
http://1finetreasure.ecrater.com
http://stores.bidville.com/1finetreasure

itneverends · Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 9

Welcome to the "I hate Ebay, but... club". Been that way in the 7+ years I've sold there. Everyone has always wished that there was a viable competitor. There never has been and I am afraid that there never will be. I'm fortunate that I can eat the last fee increase. How long I can continue to do so I don't know. All I know is that there will be another one. Probably sooner than later.

beckem · Joined: 21 Mar 2005 Posts: 133

There never has been and I am afraid that there never will be.

Not trying to get too technical, but in fact, Yahoo Auctions was a
thriving alternative to eBay for approximately one year from the first day it was available.

Just to let you know that it is possible for sellers to create an
alternative if they act as a group. Not necessarily an organized
group, but moving in the same direction by supporting the same site.

To put it bluntly, I groan every time I see a new "alternative" site.
Each additional site seems to fragment sellers into smaller less
effective groups.

beckem · Joined: 21 Mar 2005 Posts: 133

I just thought of a post I read that made me laugh.

Someone suggested that what we REALLY need is a "LEADER".
Someone who can get things organized and bring everyone together.

LOL.......good luck. I would give it about 5 minutes max before
the arguing, debates, and insults erupt with sellers blasting each
other if their favorite site wasn't chosen as THE ALTERNATIVE SITE.

EleganzaJewels · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 519

Pardon me for being just a touch blunt, but hey, that's my M.O. :-)

If you wait for an alternative to appear that will bring you the income you are making on Ebay, you'll be on Ebay til they plant you in the ground. God helps those who help themselves, and that's about what it will take.

Good advice already given on this post so won't repeat it. You first need to make the decision that you are going to jump into the cold, shockingly cold, off-Ebay water. It's only cold for a while, but if you keep paddlin' and keep working, you can not only warm yourself up and do much more than stay afloat. All it takes is one off-Ebay sale, that's a golden feeling, and it'll pump you up (ok, sorry, been watching old Sat. Night Live out-takes!).

But first you're going to have to decide - whose business is it, anyway, Ebay's or yours? I left 2 years ago, and after many trials and a whole lotta errors am finally making some headway. I had to go back to work full time, not out of choice, but because I decided I'd had enough. I'm sure you didn't start out a PS on Ebay, you had to work at it, and you will have to work at it just as hard, if not harder, off Ebay.

That's about it. Once you've made the decision, you'll find a way - follow this forum, do your own internet research, work hard at promoting whatever site/alt auction you decide to land at. Perserverance does pay off.

Tip o' the hat to beckem, you are too right, too much infighting about alt sites. ALL of them have their pluses and minuses. We are not lemmings, nor do we need to be. Every sale that is made off-Ebay is one red mark in "their" category, and one more black column in "ours"

sickofit · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 50

drleadbasedpaint:
I share your feelings..cannot say I really HATED anything ...but now I can...my sales slumped drastically this year..why... i went from gold seller to nothing but...I fought them every step of the way on all injustices they continually threw at me.. and theyre were many...now it's funny how my sales went few and far between....I wonder why...in my case the saturation of similar items especially china (free listings and no fees for them)now the store fee hikes...and I was probably blacklisted ...my searchs interfered with by the bay...sooner or later...they are making the bay into one big advertising money machineand dont get in their way...
and it is my impression that...they do not need or want the powersellers anymore in any level....I will definately try some of the good advise here on the invoices.

buzybee · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 35

If you don't want to chance putting links to your off-eBay store on the eBay or PayPal invoice, you can do what I've been doing. I've always emailed my buyers on the day I ship their purchase. In that email I say something like "for more stuff you might like to visit my store - blah blah blah."

I will still auction valuable things on eBay, but I can no longer afford to sell the $3.00 - $5.00 items that I did in my store. In fact, I can no longer afford the store. Too bad, as I sold a *lot* of those items. Some of them are on eCrater now with a killer deal on shipping, but if sales were any slower, they wouldn't exist at all. Too bad... it was fun while it lasted.

sickofit · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 50

i can find the paypal invoices...i see a ebay checkout invoice on an id that has a store...but cannot find or have access to ebay checkout invoice that has no store?...it does not let me add anything there...

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

sickofit,

The idea is to NOT use any of the eBay invoices but to use your own personal invoice. If you use something like marketworks or any other software, you would probably have an invoice feature there too.

By using your OWN invoice, you can put what you want in it and use it to upsell and tell YOUR customer where to find you beyond eBay.

In other words, USE eBay the way they have used us.

Carol