Power Sellers Unite

cohibastore.com · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 4908

Just some research questions as move toward being independent from ebay.

Does any one know who owns ecrater? I cannot find that info anywhere.

I am also having hard time accepting a completely free of charge market place. Are there really no fees? ever?

And what's their angle. Short of the salvation army I am suspicious of anyone who does something for nothing. What do they get out of hosting it all for free?

I do a very large business on ebay with about 200 listings/week and I am looking for a semi-permanent home to redirect my ebay customers. I am hesitant to invest the time in store if in 6 months there are going to surprises and huge fees. TIA

DDT

cohibastore.com · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 4908

sorry for the terrible grammar. i missed a word here and there.

saveyourself · Joined: 10 Sep 2006 Posts: 109

From the ecrater site

"Dimitar is the founder and the creator of eCRATER.com, a free online store builder and marketplace.

The development of the eCRATER began in the early spring of 2004. After many hours of hard work, eCRATER.com finally went live in its beta version in the early fall of 2004. Since then, Dimitar has constantly been adding new features while also trying to keep the original "clean and simple" look.

"Cater to your sellers and buyers will come"

Dimitar believes that a good foundation for a growing marketplace is a community of happy sellers. Thus the idea of providing the stores for free.

A discussion about eCrater.com first appeared on e-Auction-Air radio - a source for the best online deals. ( eCRATER - almost too good to be true )"

Link
ecrater about us

ozarkman · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 73

this statement from the owner speaks volumns about the potential of the site::

"Cater to your sellers and buyers will come"

to prove just how incorrect this is --- use wal-mart as an example which is wal-mart catering to?? their merchandise vendors or to the buyers?? of course its the BUYERS!

this owner has kept the biggest eyesore buyer unfriendly aspect of any site on his site for now for 2 yrs.. it is so OVIOUS its a no brainer-- small weak text nearly NONREADABLE.. And he has not changed that in 2 yrs and then the comment above about its sellers to cater to--- wow!

rowsofclothes · Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 73

There are no listing fees, no monthly store fees, and no Final Value Fees. Only fees right now are Paypal. Eventually, Google Checkout when they start charging in 2008.

xbaystores · Joined: 30 Oct 2006 Posts: 562

To add to the answers, the site is financed through sellers who pay for premium spots on the site. I really do not like the layout of the site. The gallery images are often about half of the photo, searching/browsing is very hard to read, as well as the text descriptions. But, it is free and a lot of people seem to be making great sales there.

As already said, if you accept Google Checkout you will pay absolutely nothing to sell until the end of this year, and then Google will change the fees back to .20 + 2%...still much lower than Paypal.

My suggestion, open a website with Google Checkout "Buy Now" buttons. Go to base.google.com and check out their listing format. You can accept Google Checkout free, sell free, and get listed usually in the first few pages of all searches on Froogle. Every sale, direct your buyers to your website so they don't have problems finding you in the millions of items on Google. While you are at it, look closely at Google Base's browsing format as well, because it will be the site to bring Greedbay to it's knees.

ozarkman · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 73

what good is a site that gives sellers everything but gives buyers headaches?? I've seen some buyer feedback there saying the site is cumberson- buyers do not like the site BUT ecrater is getting some sales i think cause of being a partner store with google checkout and google gives 10 dollars off sales from partner stores up to 20 totals of sales.. but this is good for one time per store for a buyer and after buying from ecrater and getting the discount, they seeing how buyer painful it is they won't return

it may have been a very big mistake to bring buyers in from google discounts when the site is such buyer unfriendly... these will tell others and buyers will spread the understanding how painful ecrater is to read.. which proves unprofessional.

I've never seen a owner miss something so harmful so long as ecraters owner about the nonreadable text-- that and his incorrect understanding that sites have to cater to BUYERS not sellers!! buyers buying makes sellers happy. nonreadable description for 2 years is unbeleivable !

ozarkman · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 73

also i think the site owner may be from eastern europe originally which would make it alittle more risky than a owner from usa

saveyourself · Joined: 10 Sep 2006 Posts: 109

Quote from Ozarkman

Quote: › docWrite("quote")yep---maybe it is a good idea for the troublemaker police when a person posts a negative on a site to ask that person how many negative posts have you posted on this site including all the other forums all around----

once they get to a dozen negative posts on a site 12.. the the troublemakers police goes into action and hauls em off to the pokey!---- yes a grande idea!

Ozarkman I believe your quota is up. Or shall I call you saturn, weirdpatrick,deepriverman, etc...

Enjoy your stay in the pokey

xbaystores · Joined: 30 Oct 2006 Posts: 562

Sorry about the brain freeze cohibastore.com... I see you already have a website! If I would have just looked at your ID, I wouldn't be saying a Homer "Doh!" right now!

For the closest experience to eBay to make your buyers feel comfortable, I would suggest Wagglepop. Many new buyers that register to buy from me say that they only registered because it was similar to eBay. The categories are the same, the site layout is similar, and the stores feel familiar to an eBay buyer. Wagglepop had no listings to speak of when I searched for "Cigar," so that could bring some extra sales on top of your customers that you send from eBay. The cost is $10 a month, unlimited free listings and about 2% FVF. I accept Google Checkout there with no problems, and send the Google invoice with the Wagglepop invoice. So, I pay zero CC transaction fees so my overhead is minimal.

That's just my suggestion instead of eCrater. If you like eCrater, then go for it. But, be aware that many of your buyers will not like the format and layout.
Good luck!

HandcraftedDollsbyLu · Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 16 Location: USA

saveyourself wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Quote from Ozarkman

Quote: › docWrite("quote")yep---maybe it is a good idea for the troublemaker police when a person posts a negative on a site to ask that person how many negative posts have you posted on this site including all the other forums all around----

once they get to a dozen negative posts on a site 12.. the the troublemakers police goes into action and hauls em off to the pokey!---- yes a grande idea!

Ozarkman I believe your quota is up. Or shall I call you saturn, weirdpatrick,deepriverman, etc...

Enjoy your stay in the pokey

oh the goofy guy again, what a comedy routine is that, the troublemaker police indeed!! Good call saveyourself!! Off to the pokey for the troublemaker ozarkman!

In response to the question asked in this thread, ecrater is right now in the process of getting imput from sellers on what their top three suggestions for improvements or upgrades, and this light/small font that ozarkfunnyman keeps bringing up is definitely one of the most asked for features, so there is a good chance this will be changed. ecrater is very nice looking stores, and many sellers are selling and having good success. Very much potential and the site owner/creator is a very smart young man and very dedicated to his site. Definitely worth a try, and very easy to list once you know the set up.
Oh, and you know, I think ozark has been posting at blujay, because these warm friendly festival like posts sound familiar! I can't remember his name over there. What a laugh from sea to shining sea!

The post about starring in a wagglepop ad and dancing and singing and jumping into a pretty girls lap, oh, I had tears in my eyes, what a comedy routine, must be a joke right?
Hope everyone has a great evening,
Lu

rowsofclothes · Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 73

Haha..You got that right, Lu. He posts on all these forums and doesnt sell a thing. He gets banned all the time and comes back for more. Im surprised hes lasted this long this time around.

Ozarkman cant even take his own advice. I hear the troublemaker police sirens sounding off now.

Ecrater is BOOMING right now. In this past month alone it has added 40,000 listings. Its the place to be at the moment and its FREE. :)

mfkirke · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 28

Any site that makes no effort to bring in the buyers is doomed. Read the ebid forums. Ebid is great for sellers apart from just one thing - there are not enough buyers. It is worth paying to use a site that provides the buyers. On the internet, as in life, there is no such thing as a free lunch!

buytime · Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 113

mfkirke wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote") It is worth paying to use a site that provides the buyers. On the internet, as in life, there is no such thing as a free lunch!
And what sites are those? ebay? Yahoo Auctions?
umm, No thanks.
We had a PSU store at the same time as our 1st eCrater store, and we did equal promotion for them. This isnt a knock on PSU stores but during that time span sales averaged 6:1 in favor of the EC store.
I know there is no such thing as a free ride, however I will ride the ride while it IS free, build my customer base and our presence on the internet.

When the ride is no longer free we will weigh the pros & cons and decide if the ride is worth the cost.

Kenny

ozarkman · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 73

yes xbaystores said the same thing i said in july here after checking wagglepop out.. i saw a site that is great for buyers and explained this as one of the most important REASONS why this site has a great chance---- then i explained another important REASON is that it will get the most ebay buyers cause its most familar but with alot more ease and enjoyment---- next another REASON was that wp was getting alot of ebay sellers who would bring in these same BUYERS...

free ecrater or paying 10 dollars a month for wagglepop which is best for a seller??? if one just lists a few items ecrater but if one lists alot and is serious about making real money wagglepop wins,,,,, wagglepop will get the repeat buyers.... ecrater has so many problems with buyer unfriendly they won't.... just the feed back problem will turn off buyers there compared to the easy to read and understand feedback at wagglepop .. and get this.... when one clicks on a item from ecrater coming from froogle or google they only see that one item with nearly nonreadable text-- but when they click on a wp ad they see clear and also they see 4 other items from this seller before they click out.. so much better set up for buyers to buy.

and the thing on ecrater is the owner SHOULD understand how buyer unfriendly the site is... him waiting 2 yrs to correct and doing this AFTER he does good with google to bring some buyers just shows an ineficient mindset and shows what the future may become there... compare that with the correct mindset of wagglepop with the buyer friendly set up..

i would say for anyone wanting to make money seriously no question 10 dollars a month for wagglepop over free ecrater is a no brainer..

And xbaystores is so reasonable he KNOWS the feeling buyers will have at wp and he knows where to find and reel these buyers in ... he does flea markets i think for some of his advertizing.. a perfect fit with wagglepop..

me a troublemaker.. LU???? LU have you called others troublemakers.. of course you may be joking.. but if not you would be trying to go with the flo instead of truth... truth is the only way to success not overlooking by wanting to be a family with posters...

xbaystores said it well he does not care if ray is the only worker at wp and just with a lap top he only cares about what SELLERS should be concerned about .. PROFITS!!