baner advertiing at carboot .markets and local events

[rpmworld]

hi all
i do carboots and stalls etc
very few buyers have heard of ebid at ground level
lets change that together

Looking for members interested in buying a 2020 Best Value Online Auction Site Award ebid banner
with or without custom QR code
place in front of table and get ebid and your store noticed
qr code defaults to ebid or custom qr code vinyl sticker added which directs them to your ebid store

estimated pvc banner with delivery £30 plus added qr £38

banner size W150xH50cm with eyelets
just idea nothing finalised yet
price cheaper the more members interested

update :banner idea on hold at the moment!!!!


update/////////////////////////////////

car sticker idea approved by management..........

just an update on spec of new car stickers for member's

Low tack Window Stickers

Size: W:180mm x H:60mm
Shape: oval
Material: polypropylene
Supply: rolls
Finish: standard lamination
White Ink: Yes
Reverse Print: Yes
Price:TBA

Low tack stickers are ideal for where they need to be easily removed without residue.
They will also work on any smooth surface - such as glass or Perspex.
Stronger –Sticks better than static cling as it's unaffected by condensation or outdoor weather.

[goldenwonders]

Hello rpm, nice to see someone making a bit of effort. I'm replying out of courtesy, as I think some of the more active posters on here should have replied to you sooner than this. I've had several intense discussions about the need for this site to advertise, most of which falls on very deaf ears. I think that the time is now too late and they may have missed the boat, however your banner costing is a fair one. They might just accept that as a possibility, but you do need to change the logo as that is now the old one and more than a few years out of date. Best of luck with your efforts.

[BordersBargains]

I always thought the older logo was better and its a good idea but I also agree that they missed the boat and I think most people here are sick of requesting some form of advertising with no outcomes

[goldenwonders]

I personally prefer the new one, its cleaner and more modern but I accept others have said they prefer the older logo, however the owners changed it and so it has to be the new one in any promotions they start (LOL).

As for missing the boat - their big opportunity was staring them under the nose when obay went over to managed payments - there were hundreds of thousands leaving and the impetus was there. However many are now going back to obay and that window of opportunity is gone.

RPM's price is correct - I can get those banners for a fraction under £30 so he's spot on if any did take him up on the offer he's made.

[BordersBargains]

Yep managed payments was the perfect opportunity missed and that sort of moment will never happen again

[rpmworld]

hi all
thanks for the good comments
yes logo is old and have the new one ready i too prefer the 3d old one lol
agree opportunity was missed eb but others still flowing
ebid has 1 big factor tho no or low fees rules or restrictions compared to fleebay and bazies jungle site
both can be beaten on price at least by 10%
without a advertising budget or promotions this site will die eventually

maybe a vote is needed officially for all members by admin to get a real plan in action
am sure if all members sold 1 item at cost per week and some promotion the site will attract attention
everyone wants a bargain esp these days
over to you

[goldenwonders]

A couple of observations RPM, not criticisms .. just observations.

While Ebid is cheaper - by far! The old saying is 'you get what you pay for'. In reality - you pay 'nowt here - and you get little or nowt in return'!
There may have been an influx of people here, BUT they were here mainly to sell, because they can't find what they want here to buy, they don't buy. End result the sellers give up as they sell little or nothing. I could go further but I'll hold back for now...

I came here in 2005 because Obay was irritating me, I had moderate success and I have to say there were far more people here on Forums then. The whole site was more vibrant. I raised advertising then, it could have taken off with just a little help - but there was a lot of resistance from the natives, who clearly know better. What do I know, after having made a living out of advertising since 1978? I left here as sales were small and it was stagnating. I made a serious return when managed payments came in with hope, and again (like several others) raised advertising again - same 'anti' response - the main argument being 'we can't afford it'! .. I did point out 'they can't afford not to'!
Anyway despite a long and voiciferous series of discussions which kept getting removed because of some idiot - who has since gone, it all came to nothing.

I realised that sadly this site is destined to fail and will never be a contender, even in the smallest way to Obay who have the market and will retain it! Obay have a business attitude and regardless of what we think run it professionally.

There may indeed be new sellers here, but they will leave eventually just as I am currently doing and returning to Obay as that is the only place to make 'real' sales - you just pay more for the privilege and put up with the carp!
To prove that, I originally had over 1400 items for sale here - in just over 12 months I sold about 12 items - value less than maybe £60. One was to a buyer who I brought over from Obay who made one special £32 purchase and has never been back since. I started rebuilding myself a new ID on Obay in November and despite having far less items for sale have sold 187 items in 151 days. Some items were items I tried selling on here, but I sold them for more back on Obay.

I admire your enthusiasm, you make valid points - no one has heard of ebid, but ... it's wasted here!

[theElench]

I haven't replied to this thread until now thinking that "some idiot" would be back making their demands again, being generally obnoxious and wasting everyone's time by getting the thread deleted. But as you say "they've gone" and we might be able to have a rational discussion, I'll add my views for further discussion.

I've not got fully behind calls for ebid to start advertising itself mainly because my father spent his working life in various retail management roles and remember him talking about advertising campaigns and their huge costs that must be sustained over long time-frames to be effective. I'd also assume that, if the competition mounts periodic campaigns, that time-frame means indefinitely??

I've seen here that some sellers who are in favour of ebid advertising itself are happy to see fee increases to provide the necessary cash to do so. As someone who knows little about the retail industry and even less about commercial advertising, can you help put some sort of perspective to the debate please??

What options would have the best results? In the past I remember TV, Local Radio, Bus Adverts and Local Papers all being mentioned, are there others that you would favour instead?

What is the rough cost of each, what would we get for our money, how often would they have to be repeated and for how long to effectively raise ebids profile enough to make any difference? At least then we could see both sides of the "We can't afford it" argument. We may even be able to have a stab at working-out by how much fees would have to rise to create a budget for each of the alternatives. The debate about advertising has rumbled on for so long partly because it's always been vague, "pro or anti", but with little concrete about possible strategy or facts from either side

I've also read here that some sellers use FaceBook and Pinterest to advertise their wares and increase ebid's prescence on the web. Have you used them? In your opinion are they worth considering as something that more members should get into?
Perhaps your knowledge and expertise will provide some real facts and help persuade some of the "Don't Knows" (like me) and possibly even some who oppose the idea, that it is do-able and would be beneficial enough to make any fee increases acceptable?

[BigKidsAttic]

I don't do car boots or stalls so while a good idea, it's not for me.
I use Business Cards and Flyers to advertise my stores on eBid.
I also use FB groups for sales and to redrirect to eBid.
I used to have a Bricks & Mortar shop which I, and not my landlord, had to do advertising for.

While site advertising would be great, I don't think it would be worth the raise in Fee's to cover it.
Why?
The fee's would eventually and probably increase to the level of Ebay due to extra staff/server use etc..., then as it becomes more complicated as all growing business' do, it will slowly become another Ebay.
Then we'd be off looking for another low fee site with less complicated site owner changes/demands.

In my opinion I (Try) to price below the price on ebay, so on most of my low budget items I can sell for £0.05 to £0.10 cheaper than elsewhere. If the Fee's were increased to cover advertising, which might or might not help my sales, then I have to raise the price of my items to reflect that increase.
Now as a consumer, (and a tight arsed scotsman) when it comes to buying something, if I see an item I want and it's on two different selling platforms and there is only pennies in price difference, then i'm probably going to got with the selling platform that i've used for almost two decades.

Does everything sell on Ebay? Well no, I used to sell there (not many items) a good 5 or so years ago, and used to keep a few items on there so I could redirect (using a flyer) here when a sale was made. But most of those items while reasonably priced, stayed unsold for months. So even on Ebay you cannot gaurantee a sale.

Now I may have gone off topic here and if I have, then I apologise.
And these are just my opinions, which everyone can agree with or disagree with as I do not know everything, although I am on the spectrum so changing my opinion (even if wrong) is a long and ardous task.

[theElench]

Although I'd be interested to see any (even rough) figures that @goldenwonders can give us, I'm more inclined to agree with you about the benefits, or not, of advertising. But if a (very) small increase in fees can be shown to increase footfall and potential buyers significantly, I'd be more supportive -- who wouldn't like a few more sales, or even a good chance of more? But definitely not at the cost of becoming anything like, or as expensive as obay.

Like you I always put fliers in my obay parcels, but as my sales there have decreased so has the number of sales they bring to ebid. I now think many of my buyers (a lot of them making a first purchase here) come either via google shopping or simply because more people are exploring the world beyond obay as it becomes harder to find anything there.

I think that if a seller is trying to sell in a niche area, their sales will depend more on the number of people active in that niche, rather than the size of the site or how much advertising it does. I don't know about others, but I manage to "tune out" most advertising and wonder if @rpmworld 's great idea wouldn't be more effective in raising ebids profile than a million pounds spent on main-stream advertising. The audience is right, they're using their eyes and looking around, rather than trying to ignore the adverts that interupt everything and everywhere these days. If I could still do Boot Fairs, I'd buy one.

I also always have one or two items for sale on obay, in the hope of sending fliers, so I can add the following to back my scepticism about how effective advertising is when selling niche items.

Obay recently decided to be honest with its sellers and remove bot. views which were inflating the View Numbers on items. It seems that there was much less interest than it previously appeared in huge numbers of items. What it showed me was that despite millions more site visitors and vast amounts of cash spent on advertising, my items here get almost as many Views as those on obay.

My weekly "Plug Your Auction" thread that used to get about 20 views a week, now gets 40 - 50 (This week, starting last Sunday, has had 47 so far.) and when, a few weeks ago, I listed a Swarovski Crystal Item it got over 60 views, a new record, which I would say indicates more people are interested in crystal than old vases etc.

More importantly, my sales on ebid this year so far, are equal to those on obay and going by the last few years will overtake them by the end of the year. I don't do Social Media, or any other sort of advertising,(apart from fliers) but people are finding my items here, increasingly viewing them and buying more regularly.