is ebid missing the oppotunity of a lifetime

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Originally Posted by sidthelamp

i find it really does help with sales if you write something about the type of products you sell and your relationship with your products
this inspires confedence in your buyers that you know what your selling and what your talking about, this is especialy true in the collectables market.

ive had a few sales to overseas on ebid all new buyers

you would be well advised to take the advice given from astablished sellers on ebid they know the market here and it works for them.

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I believe prospective buyers will judge my knowledge about and relationship to my merchandise by what they read in the auction descriptions.
That has been my experience on Ebay since 1998.
I just believe that it is the merchandise and the presentation that sells.
There are people on here who suggest learning HTML to make nicey nice auctiions. i can't imagine spending the time to learn good code to write internet auctions.
Either people come on here and search for what i sell or I am in the wrong place.
I understand that sellers are giving me advice they believe. i just don't see true confessions as a viable commercial tactic for me.

no one is looking for thanks although a thankyou is appreciated

people help out here because we want all sellers to do well, you do well,we do well ebid does well, its a very simple formular,

about me pages are about inspiring confedence for your buyers,no one is surgesting you give a blow by blow account of your life history and your dogs name, nor can i see you amusing other dealers, any dealer worth his salt can learn enough from the products you sell, tell your buyers what your about regarding your products and your TCs

I feel, bkheavy, you're being far too literal. I'm just suggesting that a friendly attitude is more likely to get you help, and help is what you profess to want.

Do you have a specific question you want help with?

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

I believe prospective buyers will judge my knowledge about and relationship to my merchandise by what they read in the auction descriptions.
That has been my experience on Ebay since 1998.

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So why not just stick with eBay then :confused:

Or, is it a case as with a load of sellers eBay has become prohibitively expensive and is no longer a viable outlet to sell on:

http://meetup.ebid.net/showthread.ph...81#post1114081

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

I just believe that it is the merchandise and the presentation that sells.
There are people on here who suggest learning HTML to make nicey nice auctiions. i can't imagine spending the time to learn good code to write internet auctions.

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There are plenty of people who will do the hard work for you and sell you an attractive template you can use over and over again for just a few £/$. You just have to ask ;)

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

Either people come on here and search for what i sell or I am in the wrong place.

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If you want to make that judgement within 3 months of joining and with 15 items for sale that is up to you.


You need to realise eBid isn't eBay so you need to be prepared to put in much, much more work to establish yourself and get some sales. If you're not prepared to do that then good luck with surviving on eBay.

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

I believe prospective buyers will judge my knowledge about and relationship to my merchandise by what they read in the auction descriptions.
That has been my experience on Ebay since 1998.
I just believe that it is the merchandise and the presentation that sells.
There are people on here who suggest learning HTML to make nicey nice auctiions. i can't imagine spending the time to learn good code to write internet auctions.
Either people come on here and search for what i sell or I am in the wrong place.
I understand that sellers are giving me advice they believe. i just don't see true confessions as a viable commercial tactic for me.

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In the spirit of Christmas, good will toward all, I will attempt to answer your questions.

Reality is feebay does not want small sellers any more. That is you and me.

No alternate site is feebay. All learned from feebay's goofups. ebid is the #1 alternate site. Ya, our own little world and proud of it.

To sell on ANY alternate site you need to learn the tricks of that site. If new sellers learn these they start to sell in 2-3 weeks. You did not, so you need a really fast lesson on changing your presentation to sell.


I looked at your auctions and saw what problem was:

• No info, no sales. A blank about me page makes you look like a scammer. Not warm & fuzzy? Give us info on collecting your item. No dog picture? Show closeup of interesting item.
• Use 7 day auction (not start on first bid), PLUS buy it now, PLUS set automatic relist of auctions at ten. Within minutes your items show on google. You have no traffic, I suspect no google exposure.
• Look at pricing. No bidding wars here, so first bid takes it. BIN should be a hair above that. You know what you paid, the worth, etc, but to get buyers you need to tempt them with a bargain. Is that best price?
• Economy is bad. List stuff for less than $20 to get first sales and nibbles. Higher priced items sit longer. A variety will attract more lookers.
• List more items. The more you list, the more you sell.
• Sell international. 75% of my sales are US, 25% overseas. Your items are light, perfect for sale overseas.
• contact your past customers, tell them you are running a sale (via your banner "notices") and pull them over here to generate your first sales.

Above is STEP ONE. It should generate traffic, bids and sales within a few weeks. If not, come back and we can tweek it again.

Snarky is more polite than what I would call your attitude. We are not your enemy but your friends. When you succeed, ebid suceeds. Collectables sellers are coming here in droves, and we are helping them to hit the ground running. We can do that for you too if you will listen to us. Most of us have daily sales, so we learned the tricks of alternate online selling. We will teach this to you.

In case you did not know, these forum discussions end up on google too!!!!!! Nothing is private in cyber space. So make sure to add a link to your items when you participate. This exposure can get you customers or scare them away. Up to you.

Good luck.

Ebay has become the equivelant of a bad job. The fee structure is such that it is very difficult to make money.
i have come here to see if this is an alternative for some of my limited resources.
Most of my stuff IS less than twenty dollars. When I start something for more than twenty it relates to my cost and my knowledge of the value of that item.

"# No info, no sales. A blank about me page makes you look like a scammer. Not warm & fuzzy? Give us info on collecting your item. No dog picture? Show closeup of interesting item.
# Use 7 day auction (not start on first bid), PLUS buy it now, PLUS set automatic relist of auctions at ten. Within minutes your items show on google. You have no traffic, I suspect no google exposure."

I really don't understand what is wrong with using the start with first bid deal. I can't use buy it now as i am not a seller +.
No dog to picture. i guess that makes me look like a crook too?
I am now adding international exposure to my running auctions. Somehow i had the imprfession that was only for seller+.
i am getting some views so i will see if there are some sales.
It is hard to send these people front money if i am not selling anything.

I have seen sellers make fortunes without any templates. Somehow I don't see buying a template as a real neccesity.
I agree more auctions are needed for a fair trial.
I am not pulling any plug yet.
I will contact past customers, having switched computers recently that is a project in itself.
i am not sure most of my customers, who have never even heard of Ebid, will be willing to jump the hurdle and join here.
I may look at some other's about me pages and see what the state of the art is. Are they linked from auctions?
I found out how to create an about me page. i also found out they look lousy if you don't use html. Oh well, i don't have time to go learn that....
BTW in Ebay bidding wars are far more rare than in the past. Most of what does sell sells for the first increment.
If you sell 50% you are dong good.
With the fee structure the way it is, that means you barely make a buck.

I have not been posting auctions for months without sales. I did not start posting when I first joined.
it has been only a coiuple of weeks of posting auctions.
It has been a slow building up of auction volume.
That is one reasion I have been using start with first bid, I want to have some stuff up.

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

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I really don't understand what is wrong with using the start with first bid deal.

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If you search the forums you'll find the answer!
(it's to do with the order in which search items are listed)

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

I can't use buy it now as i am not a seller +.

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I'm not going to look for you but,I'm pretty sure that you can use a "platinum"listing.

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

No dog to picture. i guess that makes me look like a crook too?..

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The reference to your interest in drag racing is the equivalent to anothers dog.It's a shared interest,the human touch.

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

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It is hard to send these people front money if i am not selling anything. ....

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Did you think the same way when you started on greedbay?Did it stop you from paying upfront?

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

I found out how to create an about me page. i also found out they look lousy if you don't use html. Oh well, i don't have time to go learn that....

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* Gee,thanks!(Try the wysiwyg editor)

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Originally Posted by bkheavy

Oh well, i don't have time to go ....

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A lot of people are going to have the same attitude about your listings when browsing.As in "Oh well, I don't have time to go & look at his listing because he couldn't be bothered to include a gallery photo."

There is NO front money on ebay. You pay as you go and when I started the fees were reasonable measured against the returns.
I don't think I can use the Platinum auctions. I think i will soon send the front money. Although I have not sold anything, i am getting some views.
i am using the seven day auctions with reposts as suggested.
While this is a different place, i have learned something about buyer psychology in twenty years of internet selling.
If someone wants something like a photo of an old steam locomotive or a vintage drag racing newspaper, they will buy it in the format it is presented. If there are buyers on here for my kind of stuff, I will sell.
People who are devoted collectors of items that are not widely offered will be flexible about buying.
The issue of the gallery photos may have to wait to be resolved until i send in the front money.
Anyone that really wants stuff not found easily on here WILL click on the auction. That is human/collector nature.

Ask yourself this question, how long would it take you to run up a bill on greedbay the size of the lifetime subscription on here. You get 5 free shops, if you use gallery pics it only cost you 2% FVF, a bargain. However if you choose not to listen to the advice that people are giving you on here that is your choice.