Crossing over from the dark side

[gr8stuff61]

I am very new to eBid (joined July 16 2010) and have posted a few items. I am silver power seller on the other site. My idea to drag customers from there to eBid is to drop a note in with items that are awaiting shipment letting them know that I am moving and they will get a 5% discount on items bought from me on eBid. This might bring buyers over that have never heard of eBid. Please take a look at my listings and any input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[HerMajesty]

Welcome! And good luck!!! Only suggestion I would have off the bat is most people find it difficult to read things in ALL CAPS. That esp goes for the title and the about me page...........best to you!!!

[burgyeb]

Welcome to eBid gr8stuff61. All caps in your title will keep your auctions from being accepted by google. Google is a main source of eBid sales. As was stated all caps in other places also a put off.

[gr8stuff61]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have changed the titles to reflect that. I am also calling the people I know that are selling elsewhere and having them check out eBid. Thanks again and good luck to all!

[deltadelta48]

I am very new to eBid (joined July 16 2010) and have posted a few items. I am silver power seller on the other site. My idea to drag customers from there to eBid is to drop a note in with items that are awaiting shipment letting them know that I am moving and they will get a 5% discount on items bought from me on eBid. This might bring buyers over that have never heard of eBid. Please take a look at my listings and any input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Welcome to ebid! Best thing to do is to adjust to a site that does not rely on members for all its sales. Yup. Most of our buyers come from search engines like google, so make very sure you use good keywords, FEW CAPS, and good descriptions to get these people interested in your items. ebid downloads all buy it now but it is up to you to get them interested enough to buy (and google interested enough to use all your listings in searches). That is key. Add a link in forums to your items, that gets ebid people interested, invite old feebay buyers via buddy point links (you get credit), AND figure out more ways to market yourself. Its a small part but it does work too.

Extremely important to read all the forums, and follow all of the forum marketing/selling tips. You need to interest google buyers, not feebay buyers. Tips will tell you how to do that. Changes MUST be made in your listings, method of selling etc, to cater to the unique customer base. If you take this advice, you will start to sell within a few weeks.

Good luck! Someone is always here to help you!

[Juliebabe25]

Yes feebay are upsetting more and more sellers.
I think you have made a good decision coming to ebid.
It is the most "auction like" and professional of all the major alt sites.
(aside from two niche sites)
If you know what I mean.

[deltadelta48]

Very interesting firefighter items! You will get this from tips, but quickly add buy it now to all of your listings. Otherwise ebid will not download it to google.

Also change the listings to read ten automatic relists, that helps google to know you intend to leave the items there until they sell (i.e. they will not expire in a day or two). We are not sure it helps, but I do it on every item.

Redo your descriptions, google people want lots of information on the listings NOT A LIST OF RULES TO FOLLOW. They shop all over the web, they don't want/need to follow rules a seller has set out. Add many sentences of explaination/description of your items, measurements, age, a little background, make it informative and interesting. Tell us material, measurements, what it is used for, what the lettering says, where you got them etc. That will sell your item. Get all the rest of the stuff out of the description. it is viewed as negative. Leave only informative items presented in a friendly way "insurance and confirmation is included!!". Buyers must know your return policy (friendly friendly), which must follow ebid's policy that once they pay you, you MUST get item to them safely. If not, you refund to them whether they buy insurance or not. You must do this. Tell them that is your policy and say it in a friendly way.

The customers you get are unique ones, not old feebay ones. These google customers come in by following interesting items in, join/buy, often within minutes. You need to be friendly, helpful, and have a huge selection for them to chose from. Since they buy lots of multiples, best to have a clear clear multiple discount policy in place. You will need it. It is not unusual to have someone come in and buy 20 items!!!! Be prepared. Pack the stores full of a variety of items, variety of prices, give lots of info on the items, be friendly and helpful. When first starting a variety of goods at variety of prices attracts them just like putting out 50 fish hooks does!

You will find from the tips that google searches work best with lots of items. As you add the items you will find that at a certain point the sales start to come hot and heavy. At about 550 items I get at least 5 sales a day. But if I had 5 items, I would have no sales. You need to fill your stores full, now is the time to clean out the garage and list those items you put on the side because it cost too much to list everything on feebay. Here no listing/no relisting fees, pack that stuff in. And be prepared, the buyers will come in, and snap up 10 or 20 items or more. Have that discount in place to help them do that.

That will get you started. If you use all the tips and add new items daily, the sales should start within a few weeks. Good luck. Remember someone is always here to help you! New concept, eh?

[gr8stuff61]

Thank you-Thank you, deltadelta48 you have been very very helpful and chock full of super ideas. I really do thank everyone that replied to this thread. It is such a refreshing change. I know I am going to like it here. I wish nothing but the best for all of us and think I may be getting in on the ground floor of something big. Thanks again.