We get this a lot. The question goes something like: “I’ve had enough of buyers holding me to ransom over DSRs. eBay charge me too much money for the amount of grief. I’d like to quit selling, but I need the money. Where else can I sell?”
The problem people have with wanting to leave eBay is that they want something to replace eBay. There is NOTHING like eBay. You will not find another site that supplies a stream of buyers like eBay does. There is nowhere so easy to sell as eBay.
If you can sell on Amazon, then do. That probably only applies to media sellers… if you can deal with the price competition. The race to the bottom can be fierce on Amazon: as John Jantsch says, “there’ll always be someone willing to go out of business quicker than you.”
Other marketplace sites don’t even hold a candle to eBay. Some sellers will tell you they’ve made a success of Ebid. What they mostly mean is that they’ve sold a couple of things (if anyone really has made a business success of Ebid, I want to talk to you. I’ve been asking that question for two years and still no one’s volunteered). If you make-to-sell, Etsy is worth a look, but as far as I can see again, doesn’t offer anything like the volume of buyers that eBay does: if you’re trying to earn a living from this, it probably won’t cover it.
There’s a reason those two sites have four letter names beginning with E-. eBay is it. You might be lucky and your niche might offer a specialist site (Just Beads is one example) – but again, they won’t offer the traffic that eBay does. If you’re going to make a success of those sites, you’ll need to be prepared to put in a lot of work pulling in buyers for yourself.
Sellers who don’t like eBay any more have a pretty stark choice at the moment:
1) suck it up and deal with the DSRs, the policy changes, and so on. Restructure your pricing if fees are hurting you. But you’ll be able to keep selling.
2) quit eBay and be prepared for a long hard slog. Get your own website and be prepared to market it hard. If you’re like most of us, there are about three zillion competitors of yours hanging out in Google buying PPC and going after the same traffic. You’ll need to be clever. You’ll also need another source of income while you get it going.
Sensibly, you’ll do a combination of these two. Your income should never rely solely on one site. Get your own website and start working on it. Market it to your eBay customers: a little flyer inside every parcel with a coupon for free shipping, for example, will help massively.
But don’t expect to be able to turn off eBay and turn on something equally effective, because it doesn’t exist.
Shamelessly repurposed from Auctionbytes’ comments.
Edited March 31 2011 to add: because I’ve just linked this old thread from another forum, anyone reading might be interested to hear what the Ebidders were saying when they thought they were in private. I stand by EVERYTHING I said in this article.
157 Responses
Well said. Since re-launching our website 10 months ago , website sales compared to ebay have grown month on month. We now have 6 eggs in each basket.
Agree there is nothing else like ebay.
I do think that Amazon can work for categories other than media and the race to the bottom does not neccesarily apply. Quality, customer facing sales, and individualism still count for a lot.
It is working for me and growing month on month.
Back to ebay grief: I can empathise.
I try and manage to circumnavigate most of it, but eg this morning I had a very low rating for policy, no message or email from ebay, nothing to suggest what it could be except a cryptic sugestion to look at keyword spamming policy. I contacted ebay through chat and within 10 mins they had restored my policy to high. I pointed out this was the second time this had occured this year and could they tell me why it had happened. No they couldn’t and they have not sent an email to me to say sorry or any explanation.
I believe this sort of thing can happen when a community watch worker either thinks something is not right or recieves a report, and simply enters a policy strike without entering a reason or instigating an email or message. Very dodgy – I could easily have missed it, as I am not accustomed to regularly stare at my dashboard.
Anyway ramble over: there is still nothing like ebay.
eBay is like a drug to most businesses. Once you make a success selling, you rely on the income.
It’s harder work than other revenue streams in a way, buyers expectations are very high and so are eBays CS team/policy etc.
Quiting eBay is akin to giving up smoking, whilst using eBay isn’t killing you (some may disagreee ;-), it’s enjoyable and your turnover gets an instant fix/hit…Stop selling on eBay and you miss those instant hits, all you can think about is the sales going to someone else…
In order of turnover, our income is:
Amazon
Retail shop
eBay
Website
Phone orders
We are driving the growth of our website and some day/weeks it beats eBay etc.
I believe eBay is important to most businesses, if used wisely and not relied upon.
Pleased to say that our websites now generate more revenue than eBay, what I can’t say though is that it was easy, eBay is pure gold when it comes to traffic if you have something that people want and you sell it at the right price.
We use other auction type platforms but they don’t deliver to be honest, Amazon is OK but don’t be fooled, it’s no easier than eBay, eBid is total shite IMHO, a place where ex eBay sellers can sell shite to each other and moan about eBay at the same time.
The only site I have seen over the last couple of years that I believe has any chance of success is wwww.shoply.com stick 15 products on for free and give it a try, and no, I don’t know anyone at shoply or have any affiliation with them, I just think it is neat.
We thought ebay was bad, we have been looking into amazon, which doesn’t look very promising.
In that categories where we sell such as Their new grocery section they want 20% of the item + shipping costs (if your vat registered, 17.5% more if your not!). So your thinking, its not great but ill just markup my items to take account of this. However there is a huge issue with this if you are already selling on an online shop, (which is actually a requirement to get approved for selling in that category) that you need to meet their price parity agreement. This basically sais you cant sell your items on another online shop cheaper. This makes it very difficult if you margins are low (which on food items they typically arn’t high) and if your postage is competitive ( which is an issue if you sell on ebay, as the postage DSR kinda force these down to cost most of the time).
So while amazon is an option, they make it very hard to turn a profit, which is of course the reason you are wanting to sell in the first place. If anything i now consider ebay good value in comparison, and quite reasonable! What has the world come to?! 🙂
We have suggested to amazon that maybe they should be more realistic with the percentages, at least in line with ebay, but we dont expect anyone to listen to us!
Luckily the more useless Ebay and Amazon are the more likely the gap they leave wide open will be filled by a company who can offer a more cost effective service, at a similar level. In the mean time i guess we have to make the best of what we have to work with 🙂
I’ve been selling just under two years, but I’ve found that you have got to understand something to make it work. As soon as you learn how eBay works it pays dividends. All eBay is trying to do is survive in a changing world, like any business including your own. All you have to do is adapt to change. Ask Charles Darwin.
ps eBid take note.
Ebid are very succesful at their core business.
The trouble is that it’s selling lifetime subscriptions to the site, not running a decent well-marketed sales venue.
I do think that applying a cold heart and a keen brain, is the way to make eBay work. It’s good discipline in business anyway.
Is eBay making profits for your business? It’s the only question to ask. If not, ditch it. If so, work out how it make it work.
I firmly believe that every business that finds its way to success firstly on eBay needs to develop and evolve. That can mean making a mindset shift.
But if eBay makes you money, why say goodbye? Face. Nose. Spite. Cutting.
and when you made it to build your own shop never quit ebay, just let it flow when you can still make a win there.
If you quit it you depend on your shop only.
P.S.: for german sellers: subscribe to yatego.com
Not many of you have answered the OP
They want an alternative to ebay, not what to do to sell on ebay successfully.
No one mentioned Cqout, I have not tried it.
I get far more views and sales on ebid than I do on ebay.
Also ebid has the advantage of feeding to Google Product search which ebay does not do.
Having your own website is a good idea, but it is lots of hard work to get a steady stream of hits.
Internet sales maybe increasing but so are the number of websites and sellers!
The only true “alternative” to eBay is setting up your own website. Hitching your horse to any other wagon just puts you in the same situation where down the road you may get mad at that new store. Any other third party platform is just that, a middle man that takes a chunk of what you could be taking 100% with your own store.
Yes, eBay is expensive. But its the only place where you can list something and without doing a single bit of marketing or advertising on your part it will still sell because they are bringing the buyers in. That is what you are paying for on eBay.
If you hate the eBay fees, the smarter thing to do is the take what you would be paying in fees and sink that into building and promoting your own business that is all yours and can never screw you over.
My point? I agree with this article. 🙂
We have been selling on the auction CQout with great success, https://www.cqout.com for several years, we get steady sales, not as big as ebay, but then the fees are a lot less and no stupid rules as in ebay. They have customer service that actually wants to talk to you and help you. We are also happy that we don’t have competition from crazy sellers on ebay who don’t know what their true costs are !
I agree with Hillary – the only true alternative is your own website. Setting up a successful website can be a long process, lots of hard work without immediate return, but can yield very good dividends in the long run.
For those who say that all you need to do on ebay is be adaptable – consider that, as a sole trader, there are only so many hours in a day. I stopped selling on ebay last year and now that I no longer have to spend so much time ‘changing and adapting’ to ebay’s requirements, I have been able to put my time to far more profitable (and enjoyable) use elsewhere. So much less hassle too!
Ebay invented private communism…
Ebay sux. Im using icybid now. Its https://www.icybid.com , they have no fees for listing and no fees when the item sells either! Finally I dont have to share my profits with feebay!
Icybid is a newly launched website. We have officially launched the site only 1 month ago, and we already jumped in ranking from 5,000,000 to 360,000 , which I think is quite good. We are growing daily, and very quickly. We want to get rid of feebay completely, and create an auction site where sellers can sell for free! Forever! There will be no fees for selling ever! And if the sellers can offer their products cheaper compared to feebay (as they save loads on fees), than it will attract buyers too, cause they can buy their favourite products for less…
You pay a small fees only for BOLD, HIGHLIGHTED, FEATURED listings if you want to have your items to be more “stand out”, but again, you dont have to pay anything, as you can make this credit by referring new members to our site. For each member you refer to us, you get credit. Also if your referred member, lists, relists, sells, even buys an item – yea..YOU get credit ! No other auction site has this feature! So join NOW, you have nothing to loose. And there is also a “limited time” offer – JOIN NOW AND YOU RECEIVE £5 CREDIT to use for the above mentioned extras for your listings (bold, highlighted…etc)
All I can do is compare the two years I wss on eBay with the two years I have now been on eBid.
I have over 5,000 items listed on eBid. The last time I checked, that would have cost $250 a month in listing fees alone, for one store. On eBid I pay no listing fees and have five free stores.
We have had four times as many sales on eBid as we did on eBay, in the same length of time — two years.
If someone can make a living on eBay, that’s great. But blanket statements that say eBay is the only viable option are simply not true. I know some sellers use both sites, which is certainly possible if someone is willing to put in the work.
I’ll also give you my perspective as a buyer. I primarily buy collectibles, and I rarely even look for them on eBay anymore. The art prints, for example, are modern and mass-produced, and not what I would buy. On the rare occasions when the item I’m looking for is listed, the price is much higher than the actual value. I think sellers have to charge more to cover their higher costs.
“Ebid What they mostly mean is that they’ve sold a couple of things (if anyone really has made a business success of Ebid, I want to talk to you.”
cant agree with your above statement Sue
i sell on ebid in the collectables arena,been with ebid a little over two years built up the business there to over 25 sold items a month slowly increasing each month, all buyers are new who find my products via google products,as some one else said above you have to work at selling your products this means to me offering a very quick responce time to questions/posting out and general good service, via the platform ebid provide, and lets not forget it really does not matter if the site advertises or not at the end of the day its the product that sells it self, with instant uploads of all BINS to google ebid has as much internet “front ” as the next site! the suuccessful collectable sellers on ebid are pioneering in the fixed price market on a otherwise traditional auction style market place, this says to me,buyers do not want to wait 5,7,10 days for some thing they may or may not win, the price [within reason] is not the largest factor in making a sale, the service, and ability to “buy now “is increasingly determining factor in buying on the internet,whatever selling platform you choose to market from, ebid has a very good choice of options, i for one have taken advantage of this and see the site going from strength to strength.
Ebay~ like it or hate it, it is still the only site the buyers care about.
Ebid~ how long this site been going on now? 5 years, 6 years, or even longer? only full of unhapy x ebay sellers who spent all thier time moaning about Ebay. Most of the sellers aren’t even there any more~ listings are~ but not the people selling this stuff. No one says how much they have earned on there. Free gifts ?~ Mcdonalds do free gifts ~ it’s sales thats wanted and sellers who are still around~
Amazon~ good for big business~ not the small ones through.
Other sites, come and go. Most gone before you’ve even signed up.
Back to Ebay~ there today and tomorrow, Buyers like it, buyers know it, and everyone has heard of it.
I have been watching ebid for about a year now. At one stage I almost paid for seller plus.
Decided to do some homework on it first, and looking at the ebay feedback for some of sellers am sure that ebay is glad to be rid of them.
This alone makes me think that ebid is basically for ebay failures.
I also think that some of those that say they get lots and lots of sales are talking bs. A few may do ok, but the others couldnt tell the truth if it jumped out and bit them.
The site owners appear to be more interested in selling seller plus accounts for the joining fee than attracting buyers. If it wasnt for google, they would have nothing.
I have tried to make four purchases through buy it now from four different sellers. Two of them were out of stock and one got no response from the seller.
I’m on ebid and have sold a few things a month.
But then again I did not sell that much on ebay, as its so hard to get seen there.
My point is that although ebid and the other alt sites may to have as many sales as ebay, it is a well known fact that ebay is getting tougher for sellers with their policies and fees and if we all do not support other sites ebay will keep making it harder.
The fundamental difference between ebid and ebay is that one site is actively recruiting sellers, and one is actively recruiting buyers.
I’m a seller. Guess what I want…?
I have promoted ebid as an affiliate for over 2 years, and in that time I have earned far more from that than as an active ebid “lister” – I could not be classed as a seller, having only sold 6 items in my time there. As a top ebid affiliate, I was given a free Seller plus account.
I got pretty much exactly what I paid for.
I don’t care much about fees, policy changes etc, I just care about getting my products the best exposure that is profitable for me.
It’s also worth remembering that the bigger 3rd party marketplace sites (ebay, amazon & play) all have affiliate programmes that pay out on buyer activity – long term revenue for affiliates, whereas CQout, ebid and many others only promote the recruitment of new sellers – one time payments for affiliates.
Again, as an affiliate, guess which sites I am going to promote?
When it comes to seller fees, there is a vast difference between cost and value.
Agree with upfront. Ebid has been about for 10 years and no sign of serious selling. One or two apologists say they are selling well, but they are not full-time sellers – most are part-time, retired, on benefits, etc. What they mean as ‘selling’ is not what most full time professionals mean.
It always amuses me how, when you say you do well on eBid, people seem to be determined to convince you that you don’t. I’ve sold more than 3,000 items so far, it isn’t going to happen. I’m looking foreword to a very busy autumn.
quote
If someone lists 10 items on ebid, no sales, if they list 500 they have daily sales, if they list 2000 items, they will not be able to keep up with the sales
unquote
This is probably one of the funniest statements I have seen anywhere.
That Yorkie guy on the forums appears to be quite clued up.
He is stating how he sees things as a buyer – not as a seller trying to sell the site to other with propaganda and bs.
Just read the Ebid forums~it tells you the whole story.
Today for example
6 items sold in 3 months That, in ebid terms, is success ~
Wow, you all impressed?
And how long to get to this stage? Did someone say 10 years?
How old is Amazon and Ebay?
Ebid success seems to mean “I’ve more than paid for my lifetime subscription”.
One thing above I find really strange.
One post says they have a link on their retail website which takes customers direct to their ebid store.
Why on earth would ANYONE direct a customer away from their own site, to a site where they have to pay a final value fee on sales? That just does not make any business sense at all.
I’m trying really hard here to understand how you need to have 1 million things for sale, so you can sell 1 thing, did I get the right?
Why no one will give thier ID if they are making real dollars .
How Ebay is a closed pool?
Take a look at the feedback,it’s strange
Someone new comes on there buys one item, and never buys again. Not from any other sellers. Would anyone sign up to a new site and buy just one item? Why would they do that?
and never re-appear. Just plain weird and on such a old site too.
people sign up to ebid to buy one item or several in my case repeat buyers,because they search google find what they want and sign up and buy it,they more often than not dont leave FB and as yet in my experience have not bought of anyone else, its not really a difficult idea to grasp “upfront” its just the same as shopping on someones own web site there are rarley other traders there! they just buy what they want and leave, its seems to me the whole ebay platform is not allowing you guys to think out side of the box, we have tried to tell you how it works on ebid yet even when succsessful sellers try to inform you you ignore how we make it work ebid really does not work the same way as ebay you really need a strong product and the abillity to market that product from within the site,the question really here is rather than find fault with whats being explained to you are you guys up to the challange of of making a new to you site work for you?
Martin the whirlpool man the first thing i would like to say to you is i find your foul language in post 3 of this thread offensive, the second thing i would like to say to you and use as a example of why you and other sellers just dont succeed on ebid.
you have just 4 items listed on ebid all are above £500 you have no trading history on ebid in effect you have done nothing to gain any buyers trust in proving your trading abillity on ebid, you have no lesser value products listed that would compliment your main product nor any comsumables that would be sold along side your main product,you have not bought anything on the site to improve your trading history there, your imported FB clearly in your case has not helped your cause.
Martin this is not a attack upon you its clearly pointing out were you are going wrong and what you need to do to increase your chances of operating as a business on ebid you clearly want to trade on ebid otherwise you would not be there so try to grasp the information me and others have given in this thread, another point of concern i noticed with your listings is your breaking ebids TCs you need to read the sites TCs and amend !
quote
IM sorry Robert s they never said there “retail website ” they said there website please be factual in your replys.
unquote
In the ebid forums, that same person mentions having a retail website many times (how do I know it is the same person? only one that keeps on about ebid downloading to google).
it looks ok for the little fish who think their big fish
cant imagine why any serious business would use ebid though
Robert s
you qouted on this thread not the ebid forums if your gonna qoute some one that has written on this thread then qoute them for what they have said here not else were in effect Robert what you did by mis qouting and deciving any one else reading this thread is trolling and showing you have a little regard on the content of there post here,if were going down the road of one up man ship against certain posters then this thread is as good as dead and no sensible debate can really take place!
“it looks ok for the little fish who think their big fish”
there is no distinction on ebid between what you call little fish and big fish the site tools are available to all sellers, stores have no greater exposer than a normal listing the site is ubiased to all users
Ok can rectify that immediately.
On here they state they have links on their website to direct customers to their ebid store.
However, on ebid, they state it is a successful retail website they have.
Now why would anyone direct customers away from a successful retail website to a store where they have to pay additional fees.
Or why do all the repeat customers not simply purchase from their retail website.
That sort of thing shows me the amount of bs being said by so called successful sellers on ebid.
Sheesh. Can’t wait for school to start again.
The reason Robert why I have nothing listed anymore is because it is pointless, I chucked eBid £50 just to grab the user ID and for that reason only.
Until you back up what you say with figures I don’t believe a word you say about eBid, when you prove me wrong I will be the first to publicly apologise to you.
As for my items breaking T&C’s I’ll happily end them just FOR you. *Puff* they are gone.
You are correct, I have no trading history, I have a theory about that, no bugger ever goes to it apart from the people who sell on it, prove me wrong and I will apologise.
P.S What do you sell?
so if you bought the seller plus account for £50.00 just for the id that makes no sense what your saying is you have no intention of trading there yet you attack the site !
and removing your 4 listings well martin they were really not going to sell anyway it really does seem to me martin you cant understand the concept of trading anywere unless all the work is done for you rather than take on the advise clearly given you go off on a completely negative action.
what do i sell martin i told you in a earlier post i trade in collectables, in a specialized market,with there comsumables the two compliment each other and because of this i have built up a good trade via ebid, i dont really care martin if you can belive/grasp this or not the point really being some of us have been really succsessful in adapting to ebid, its a shame you feel you cant do that.
Ok can rectify that immediately.
On here they state they have links on their website to direct customers to their ebid store.
However, on ebid, they state it is a successful retail website they have.
Now why would anyone direct customers away from a successful retail website to a store where they have to pay additional fees.
Or why do all the repeat customers not simply purchase from their retail website.
That sort of thing shows me the amount of bs being said by so called successful sellers on ebid.”
well i can think of a few reasons robert.il give you one example maybe they sell different products on ebid again thats not really a hard concept to grasp its called self marketing !
Reply
Still not a single eBid seller prepared to show us their successful eBid ID. As expected, all hot air.
quote
well i can think of a few reasons robert.il give you one example maybe they sell different products on ebid again thats not really a hard concept to grasp its called self marketing !
unquote
This still does not make business sense.
There is absolutely NO POINT whatsoever in getting customers to purchase from a site where one pays final value fees, when they have their own site – especially all those repeat customers this person gets.
+
Martin –
quote
The reason Robert why I have nothing listed anymore is because it is pointless, I chucked eBid £50 just to grab the user ID and for that reason only.
Until you back up what you say with figures I don’t believe a word you say about eBid, when you prove me wrong I will be the first to publicly apologise to you.
unquote
Think you have said that to the wrong person – I didnt suggest you had any items listed on ebid.
Richard i would never give my selling id to anyone on a 3rd party forum im sure richard you can work the reasons out for yourself,
it could also be deemed as spamming as stated in the comments policy on this page,so please dont try to incite any one to break forum rules.
never the less Richard its not really about what the id is or the product they sell, its how they market that product and the tools/sites they use the nitty gritty has been forwarded to you how some of us achive this, and a example of how a member here wont/cant achive this, its not hot air richard its what we do, perphaps on a more positive note you could tell me if your going to try ebid with the forearmed knowledge we have given you, i really must say this thread has gone very negative with no one really saying “il give it a go ” “i will try that” “what a good idea” i thought you people were traders ! do you not have a supply of stock, a spare 50 notes to subscribe to seller plus? are you really all tied to one site afraid to expand ! i really can not see how setting up a store with good TCs and a good range of products can do you guys any harm at all, getting yourselfs astablished on any venue can only be good for business!
“This still does not make business sense.
There is absolutely NO POINT whatsoever in getting customers to purchase from a site where one pays final value fees, when they have their own site – especially all those repeat customers this person gets.”
robert you dont get it do you,
if you list on ebid your main stock its seen world wide because of google there is no bigger medium than google for exposer, if you link your own web site and direct a customer there to your main stock,then the customer has two choices of were to buy from you, at the same time you have world wide exposer for your stock.the fees robert using the above example robert you would not pay any fees as a basic listing would be all thats needed, any upgrades you choose to use would attract a fee but these are so small it would hardley affect any net return, Robert you have already been told all of the above i really cant see how you cant grasp it,!
It is you that is totally unable to grasp the concept – unless of course you are suggesting that they are getting the exposure on ebid, then selling-off site.
These are repeat customers I am on about. Customers who purchase similar items all the time, and going by the ebid forums, this seller has repeat customers that purchase 50 items or more at a time.
Purchasing them through a site which charges a final value fee as opposed to selling to that REPEAT customer through your own website does not make business sense.
Am not going to sit here all day discussing this with you.
Once you grasp basic English, learn how to type, and run a spell-check, then get back to me.
What a load of BS
The only sense I’ve read is that these guys are raking it in, with the members fees.
Chip shoulder Ebay mean anything to these millionaire sellers?
More they write, the more I know that site isn’t worth the time.
Just read the forums and make your own decision and the feedback. most taken from previous sites.Sad
“It is you that is totally unable to grasp the concept – unless of course you are suggesting that they are getting the exposure on ebid, then selling-off site”
no robert its the other way round i did say redirect from your/ my web site if some does find me via google in the first instance then my main stock is already there theres no need to direct to my/your web site,so i would say robert its you who cant grasp the concept of what i wrote.
of course your not gonna sit here all day robert you cant even grasp the point there is no selling fees with the example i have given it seems to me your just arguing black is white against one of the best exposer marketing tools around, by some of the hints you have given in your responces i take it your already a member of ebid you clearly have taken a great interest in one other ebid member here and by your own addmission they do very well with repeat sales,it really looks robert that you should be taking on board some of the advice and examples you have been given and stop trying to prove a negative all the time,
What a load of BS
“The only sense I’ve read is that these guys are raking it in, with the members fees.
Chip shoulder Ebay mean anything to these millionaire sellers?
More they write, the more I know that site isn’t worth the time.
Just read the forums and make your own decision and the feedback. most taken from previous sites.Sad”
i guess your not really here in the spirit of the title of this thread another one trying to prove a negative.
“site isn’t worth the time.”
its been very worth while my time as i have said i sell 25 items a month whitch is encreasing by the month maybe not as much in sales as the 2.99 brigade but i earn a living from this and am very happy with my investment, statements like “site isn’t worth the time.” are just untrue it depends on what you sell,its clearly very worth while for lots of folk, if its not worth while for you “upfront” then say so dont generalize that could be seen as a attack on ebid for no good reason
blimey and I thought ebay had its religious zealots
Right.
I sell on Ebay – have a feedback over 60,000 in the past 3 years, and I cannot grasp the concept of selling!! Dont be such a silly little boy.
First of all – you bring there are no selling fees. Yes there are. There are however no listing fees – the person in the example is still paying selling fees on sales.
The person I brought up on here is the only one that states on ebid that they have a successful website – hence I picked up on that, wondering why they simply dont get the repeat customers to purchase from their site.
Correct – I am a member of ebid. Like I stated earlier, I have attempted to purchase 4 items – 3 of those transactions failed. A 25% success rate is not good on any site.
I have never actually posted on the forum there – but I have been watching things carefully to see if they are liable to improve.
The £50.00 selling plus fee is immaterial, but I am not going to pay one of our girls to spend time stocking an ebid store with over 20,000 items if I do not see the possibilities of some reasonable return.
I do my homework before investing in anything, even for investing time, and there is nothing you have stated here that has changed my opinion. If anything, you are only increasing the probability that I will not be selling on ebid in the near future by your constant talking down to people. From what I have seen, talking down to people appears to be a favourite pastime of those that claim to be successful ebid sellers, and I have no wish what-so-ever to part of that.
I have been in touch with ebid support on several occasions now with various questions, but their responses have not exactly been encouraging either.
I wish you all good luck selling on ebid or anywhere else.
First of all – you bring there are no selling fees. Yes there are. There are however no listing fees – the person in the example is still paying selling fees on sales.”
robert there are no selling fees if you list by basic auction/bin. upgrades you do pay for i have already stated all of the above but you clearly yet again seem to throw a blinder to that fact!
“Right.
I sell on Ebay – have a feedback over 60,000 in the past 3 years, and I cannot grasp the concept of selling!! Dont be such a silly little boy. ”
again robert i never said you had no concept of selling i said you have no idea of the concept of how linking your own web site to ebid works and the world wide exposer that gives ebid sellers you still fail to acknowledge this,
liable to improve.
The £50.00 selling plus fee is immaterial, but I am not going to pay one of our girls to spend time stocking an ebid store with over 20,000 items if I do not see the possibilities of some reasonable return.
so you would not list 20,000 items with the best exposer on the net robert? you dont think you would make a return for your investment robert? i list less than a hundred items with a mark up of over %100 per month
another slight contradiction on your part robert you keep banging on about selling with no fees yet you have just said you have sold over 60,000 items on ebay over 3 years are you telling me you havent paid any fees ? or is it only other sites you think should charge fees.
robert i have not talked any one down as you put it i have mearly stated the case for selling on that venue and corrected i hope a few of the myths that have built up on this thread,
oh and one final thing robert there is no such thing as luck in selling its what you have and how you present it that works in selling luck really does not figure in the equation
“Sue threw down a challange to any successful ebid seller to come forward, I’ve done the same on here three times, total responses, none. your excuse for not posting it is quite frankly is rediculous, why would you not want to promote yourself, you’d be amazed how may hits to my website and sales I get from here.”
3 succsessful ebid members did come forward richard they/we stated why we are succsessful the reasons are very clear, i cant help it if you and others seem hell bent on knocking how we can make it work, no one has claimed ebid is as big as ebay no one has claimed they sell 60,000 items there over 3 years, we have only stated what we sell and how, im sorry some of you feel the need to attack this, and obviously for those of you who are happy were you are and have no intention of contributing to the spirit of the thread i wonder why you all seem so denfensive no one has attacked ebay maybe shown a few differences in the two sites but is that not what the thread is about, we have only shown how it works for us!
“Could you shed some light on that statement if you have the time.”
i think i already have
Crikey!
It seems that every time ebid is mentioned on Tamebay there is a rush of (anonymous) posters to defend it and the same arguments are trotted out, but no one seems willing or able to link to a successful ebid selling ID, very strange.
I suspect many readers of Tamebay have already investigated the site for themselves – I have a lifetime membership too (picked up for a couple of quid when it was on offer). I have even sold some stuff on ebid a few years back, but the return compared to the time needed to invest in listing just wasn’t worthwhile – for me anyway.
Google seems to be the main advantage mentioned above. *Newsflash* folks – you can actually upload a product feed to google from your own website 😉
Quote
another slight contradiction on your part robert you keep banging on about selling with no fees yet you have just said you have sold over 60,000 items on ebay over 3 years are you telling me you havent paid any fees ? or is it only other sites you think should charge fees.
unquote
What contradiction?
I have not ”banged on” about selling with no fees – I believe if you scroll up, that it is you that is doing that.
Nor have never even hinted I dont pay fees on Ebay.
I pay around £550 a month in listing fees for approx 20,000 items.
I also obviously pay final value fees on successful sales.
I count this as my ground rent, and still equates to less than I pay for my equally successful bricks and mortar shop in Leicester.
All my fees (or b and m rent and running costs) are built into my prices, just like every store online, and every high street shop does.
“This still does not make business sense.
There is absolutely NO POINT whatsoever in getting customers to purchase from a site where one pays final value fees, when they have their own site – especially all those repeat customers this person gets.” post 42
”
Now why would anyone direct customers away from a successful retail website to a store where they have to pay additional fees.”post 37
as you see robert two examples were you have used selling with no fees,
there are no fees or FVFs if you list as the example in post47 so you have contradicted yourself and starting to take the facts out of context
“Google seems to be the main advantage mentioned above. *Newsflash* folks – you can actually upload a product feed to google from your own website ”
newsflash folks they stopped that months ago because of the repeated double entrys by ebay members and there own web sites.
). “I have even sold some stuff on ebid a few years back, but the return compared to the time needed to invest in listing just wasn’t worthwhile – for me anyway. ”
they now have something called “ninja lister” not something i have used but seems to be a bulkupload/spread sheet tool the guys at ebid have put a lot of hard work into perfecting this
What planet are you on exactly? or are you on drugs?
Those examples – it is their own website where they would not be final value fees, yet they are taking the sales on ebid instead, where they are having to pay final value fees!!!!!
All those repeat customers – that person is paying final value fees on ebid instead of getting the sales on their own site where they wouldnt have to pay any final value fees.
You are now coming across as a juvenile, and someone who obviously has no idea about on-line selling.
You are merely out to start an arguement by inventing situations.
Yet another reason why I will not be joining the likes of yourself selling on a site which comes across as a car-bootsale.
Richard – I think it reached the comical stage a long time ago.
It has now delved into the realms of fantasy. Am getting more than a little concerned about this person, their sanity, and whether they are just here to start an arguement. Could possibly just be a troll that wanders around forums looking for trouble, and goes with the minority to make sure he/she gets it.
May not even be a member of ebid.
ebid charges a fee on listings that sell, if they have a pic/thumbnail in search results.
There are many fees still associated in seeling goods direct via your own website, card processing fee not to mention the many £1000’s of marketing etc
BigPoppa – I pay card processing fees online, and I also spend a lot of money on marketing.
Card processing fees will still apply for that method of payment – regardless where you sell.
Those examples – it is their own website where they would not be final value fees, yet they are taking the sales on ebid instead, where they are having to pay final value fees!!!!!
no robert there are no fees at all if you list a basic auction thats zero fees robert as the example in 47 your in denial here robert.
”
Yet another reason why I will not be joining the likes of yourself selling on a site which comes across as a car-bootsale.”
thats a bit rich robert for some one who has never tried the site im begining to think robert you have very little confidence in your abillity to sell anywere apart from ebay you clearly have little comprehension of what you have been told and now resorting to name calling and very selective in your answers i do hope your not feeling threatend in anyway theres no need to feel threatend by a discourse on the pros and cons of selling off ebay
“so you would not list 20,000 items with the best exposer on the net robert?”
Could you shed some light on that statement if you have the time.
ebid charges a fee on listings that sell, if they have a pic/thumbnail in search results.”
thats correct a 2% FVF but that does not apply to a basic listing whitch is my point @47
i might just add listing in the basic format will still give you a phumbnail/gallery pic on the upload to google just not on the site
Yes – that must be it. Am threatened by a 12 year old troll.
I am so glad the schools go back soon.
September 2, 2010 at 3:21 pm
It’s not rocket science uploading via a CSV file, eBay has had that functionality for more years than I care to remember, it’s called “File Exchange” https://pages.ebay.co.uk/file_exchange/ , same goes for any decent e-commerce host.”
i think we all know ebay have had this abillity for a long time my point again was ebid have this abillity too
Yes – that must be it. Am threatened by a 12 year old troll.”
so there we have it robert you can not engauge in a decent debate your posts have degenerated into name calling and your in complete denial of the facts when presented to you, well done Sir
September 2, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Indeed, years after everyone else in the world of e-commerce takes this sort of thing as standard run of the mill functionality.”
not quite true they have had a bulk uploader for many years indeed this still runs along side there new ninja lister, the facts are often stranger than fiction
I’m in no hurry.
i dont belive you are
quote
so there we have it robert you can not engauge in a decent debate your posts have degenerated into name calling and your in complete denial of the facts when presented to you, well done Sir
unquote
What decent debate? All you are doing is repeating yourself, and lowering the name of ebid.
Name calling? that is my opinion on how you are coming across. Personally I dont believe you sell on ebid.
If you are in fact an ebid seller, and are trying to promote the site, you are in fact having the opposite effect.
All you are doing is putting me off using it.
There have been no denial of facts from me.
I have stated my position quite clearly, even to you, and have given my opinion on ebid. An opinion which is based on watching the site for the past 12 months and not seeing any real prospect of making a decent financial gain for employing someone to list 20,000 items there, and not exactly helpful responses from ebid support.
If you want to continue dragging their name through the dirt, then please feel free to do so. That is your perogative.
Some ones forgotten to tell google then:
https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/products/submit.html”
yes interesting but im talking about google uk were you cant do this, of course as ebid is a trading partner with google are items do get exposer world wide,
I know what would make $$$ on Ebid, dictionaries. Or business study books
Reading these replies is enough to put you off the site for good.
Anyone use Bonanzle? Outpaced that old site a year ago. And it’s growing. You can even “talk” to the sellers. Yep, the sellers are really there.
Upfront…….do you use Bonanzle?
Ive been watching it also for a while now – worthwhile?
Seems it is mainly USA sellers there.
I might give it a try in the new year.
ah robert back again i have only stated the facts on how ebid works and how it works for me
i do indeed sell on ebid robert only 5 sales today robert but hey we all cant be a big time seller like you
as for repeating myself robert when your in denial of the facts ie basic listings and there non related fee i really does make me wonder why you cant grasp this why dont you pop along to the fees page on ebid and have a look or even paste here the basic listing page il think youll see theres no fee !
Reading these replies is enough to put you off the site for good.”
of course it is or is your auto surgestion thats aimed at putting other folk off !
Bonanzle is mainly US, but will expand.
Once it does, then there will be something worthwhile to use.
It’s more for the serious seller.
Worth watching.
Upfront
quote
Reading these replies is enough to put you off the site for good.
unquote
The replies have already put me off it for good.
I had to laugh at the ”5 sales today” – yes of course he has.
That appears to be a bog-standard reply from them.
Will get back to you again with a few questions about Bonanzle – am going to give that one some serious thought now that my mind is made up about ebid.
At least this thread has been valuable in that decision.
People tried to point out, in a professional manner, the problems with Ebid.
It should of been taken, as positive criticism. What we got was incoherent outbrusts and paranoid replies.
And now you expect people to take the site sellers seriously?
Have you any idea the amount of damage some of the replies have done?
Not good PR
September 2, 2010 at 4:29 pm
People tried to point out, in a professional manner, the problems with Ebid.
It should of been taken, as positive criticism. What we got was incoherent outbrusts and paranoid replies.
And now you expect people to take the site sellers seriously?
Have you any idea the amount of damage some of the replies have done?
Not good PR
not a problem for me or other people from ebid who list there who have added to this thread, the problem with you people is you dont list there you sit in the wings waiting for something to happen you rely on what others can make of a site without adding any thing positive your selfs no one who has responded on this thread i belive ever had any intention of listing there my facts about the way the sight works are not aimed at you people there aimed at people who might read this thread in its true spirit with out the comtempt you people have turned it into if you dont like what i say how can that effect what you or anyone else would do/ achive on that site,? as for 5 sales today and your cynical reply to that, its not the number of sales that count its the net proffit i achive from them sales that count
You people.
You people.
You people.
We are not the people that have made up others decisions not to use ebid – you did that all by your little self.
Ebid must be really proud of you.
Lets do a deal……you believe that no-one was going to actually list there and we will believe that you are talking bs, and are purely here to start an arguement.
Until you appeared I was quite happy to listen to the pros and cons about ebid – however, you have contributed to the number of cons and have helped me make up my mind.
I will be sending ebid support an email stating that I have now lost interest in listing 20,000 items on their site, and that this thread contributed to that decision. Hopefully they will know who you are – and can thank you themselves.
Until you appeared I was quite happy to listen to the pros and cons about ebid – however, you have contributed to the number of cons and have helped me make up my mind.”
no robert you have not listend at all you have counter argued the facts sinse your first post you never had any intention of listing there it really sounds to me you have been trying to use your 20.000 listings as some sort of lever with ebid and as you say yourself you did not get a favourable responce after all robert you could list 20,000 listings with out having to contact ebid so what were they not happy about robert? i think robert theres little doubt you want your cake and to eat it”
and again robert how can i influence how you would not use that site that really makes no sense! pointing out your misconceptions about ebid surley not robert! that should give you reasons to join robert not sitting in the wings for a year debating with yourself should i shouldent i” robert seems to me youve took this debate a little personal with out grasping the facts
How naive can someone be.
You really think that someone is going to spend time and and employing staff to list that many items on a site, without asking questions which were pertinent to my business first?
I never had any intention of listing all my inventory on Ebid? What an absolutely pathetic ridiculous statement to make. You have have no idea whatsoever what I had in mind – none – nil – nada.
That statement alone is typical of the other garbage you have continued to spout during the course of today.
If thats the way you run your business, then fair enough. I prefer to do my homework first.
You are the one that has taken this thread personally.
This may sound strange, but I actually feel sorry for you in your little ebid bubble.
You are one of the few on this thread that realise you have done more harm in one day to ebid than many have done in 6 months.
As there is a link to the thread in ebid forum, I assume that it will appear on google. Others can then make up their own mind.
Just out of interest, may I ask if you had employment in a previous life?
The reason I ask is there is a certain amount of similarity between you and Tokyo Rose.
As I understand it, you pay a £50 joining fee for ebid?
So until you sell £500 there, that’s more expensive than a 10% FVF.
So:
What proportion of people paying the fee have sold more than £500?
How much time/effort did they have to put in to get there?
How much would they have sold expending the same time/effort on ebay?
Who still thinks ebid is the better deal? (and if they do, please show us some real numbers)
September 1, 2010 at 12:59 am
I have been watching ebid for about a year now. At one stage I almost paid for seller plus.
Decided to do some homework on it first, and looking at the ebay feedback for some of sellers am sure that ebay is glad to be rid of them.
This alone makes me think that ebid is basically for ebay failures.
I also think that some of those that say they get lots and lots of sales are talking bs. A few may do ok, but the others couldnt tell the truth if it jumped out and bit them.
The site owners appear to be more interested in selling seller plus accounts for the joining fee than attracting buyers. If it wasnt for google, they would have nothing.
I have tried to make four purchases through buy it now from four different sellers. Two of them were out of stock and one got no response from the seller.
your first post in this thread robert your not responding to anyone your making a statement if we read your statement robert you were not impressed with ebid at that stage of the thread yet you keep comming back and counter arguing any thing any one has said in a positive sense about ebid why are you doing this ? if ebid is not the place for you why keep comming back and attacking ebid members for there thoughts!seems to me after what you said about the responce you got from ebid suport you have a axe to grind, robert you have never listed on that site so dont attack others who have some experiance there,
“As there is a link to the thread in ebid forum, I assume that it will appear on google. Others can then make up their own mind.”
so i take it by saying the above robert your getting slightly embarrassed ? lets just remind are selves of the facts here robert
you have never listed on ebid
you have asked no questions that would be relavant to listing on ebid in a positive sense.
you have counter argued nearly every fact i have produced about ebid to the point that even a basic listing is not a basic listing
you have hinted at you have tried to do a deal with ebid and this did not turn out the way you expected.
i think we can safely gather from the above robert you really do have a slightly biased opinon of ebid and what ever any ones says your just gonna argue against them .
Correct – I kept returning with the forlorn hope of things improving, but to no avail. In a way, I was hoping my initial opinion would change on the site – it would be great to see a successful rival to ebay. Competition is healthy. But it has to be good competition – not second rate.
Embarrassed? I have no reason to be embarrassed. I actually hope that many do read this thread, and see what the average ebid successful seller is like. (if indeed that is what you really are).
And where on earth did you see me try to do a deal with ebid?
Yet another absolutely ridiculous statement to make.
What I asked ebid is between myself and them. I have to make a deal over 50 quid fee? You really are pathetic. Or stupid. Or both.
I have a strong opinion about ebid……..and you havent????
I am just as entitled to my opinion on it as you are believe it or not.
You keep coming out with all the facts about all your sales on ebid without one ounce of proof. So what you say MUST be true – yet what everyone else says must be lies?
You really should be seeking medical assistance for your tunnel vision.
No response to your employment in a previous life?
You werent Tokyo Rose?
As I understand it, you pay a £50 joining fee for ebid?
So until you sell £500 there, that’s more expensive than a 10% FVF.
So:
What proportion of people paying the fee have sold more than £500?
How much time/effort did they have to put in to get there?
How much would they have sold expending the same time/effort on ebay?
As I understand it, you pay a £50 joining fee for ebid?
So until you sell £500 there, that’s more expensive than a 10% FVF.
So:
What proportion of people paying the fee have sold more than £500?
How much time/effort did they have to put in to get there?
As I understand it, you pay a £50 joining fee for ebid?
So until you sell £500 there, that’s more expensive than a 10% FVF.
So:
What proportion of people paying the fee have sold more than £500?
How much time/effort did they have to put in to get there?
How much would they have sold expending the same time/effort on ebay?
Who still thinks ebid is the better deal? (and if they do, please show us some real numbers)
Who still thinks ebid is the better deal? (and if they do, please show us some real numbers)
you pay a one off subscription for seller + for life
whats the figure of £500 got to do with any thing ?
theres no such thing as a FVF of %10
sold more than £500 worth of goods i did that in the last two weeks of august
the only time and effort i spend is listing and packing whitch is the same any were you sell
)
as for selling on another site for the same time and effort
it would be about the same in listing and packing although i find listing on ebid very simple and fast my fees if i choose up grades are very reasonable and i like the exposer i get via uploads to google often near or at the top of search results
I don’t think anyone will be particularly influenced by this thread or the oppinions of just one eBid user (right or wrong). I can’t see that that would be particularly business like. I’m ‘lucky’ enough to be able to guess scotch ebider’s identity and I can see that eBid fufills his needs pretty well (better than ebay). The fact that eBid might not work for some (and I can see that it might not work very well, at least at this point in time, for sellers of new products) doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work for others. Pesonally, I find that collectables sell very well (and that’s all that I really know about). In fact they sell so well that I probably won’t bother with eBay much this autumn.
Sorry this thread seems to be busy all of a sudden. My post #87 was in reply to #83
#87 odek/kedo
I see you have 4933 auctions on ebid.
You got approx 30 feedback last month.
Does this realistically reflect your seller through rate ?
I see you have 4933 auctions on ebid.
You got approx 30 feedback last month.
Does this realistically reflect your seller through rate ”
FB is a very poor indicator of seller through rate on ebid as has been explained earlier in the thread
Not sure why you feel the need to copy quite so repetitively, or why simple maths eludes you. If you pay £50 to join, and then sell £500 of goods, that’s equivalent to a 10% FVF. 10% is a tenth, you see, and £50 is a tenth of £500.
I suspect most (not all) ebid members give up well before the £500 mark out of sheer boredom. The contributions of the pro-ebid lobby here don’t convince me otherwise.
and im not sure why you feel the need to link a £50 subscription with a 10% FVF why not 20% or 5% you seem to be implying that £50 is some massive investment figure that you need to take a % off every item you sell before you brake even good god man i made my money back and more in the first week i was there £50.00 would not give me half a tank of diesel,! now if we were talking a £5000 investment then i would expect to allow a figure and a time for it to be recouped, but not 50 notes!
Viz eBid, I’m minded of that quotation from George Orwell:
“As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.”
Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason.
— Voltaire
I think there are a few observations worth making here.
As some have said fifty quid is nothing and in comparison to eBid’s lifetime membership I pay fifty quid a month for my eBay shop!
The problem with eBid is that once they have my fifty notes that’s it as far as revenue from me is concerned. If they’re very lucky they might get a few listing enhancement fees but as far as profits go I’m no longer a revenue generator.
On eBay they get fifty quid a month from me but they also generate profits from insertion fees and final value fees which together dwarf the monthly £50 shop fee.
Now to me logic says eBay can continue to invest in a couple of hundred thousand professional business sellers and work to attract buyers for others and myself.
If every pro seller on eBay signed up for lifetime membership on eBid they’d have a bumper pay day. Does anyone seriously think that with no further revenue streams from existing sellers (and don’t forget they’d have all the serious sellers by then) that they’d still be here in 10 or 15 years time spending on internet, press, PR and offline advertising to attract buyers?
eBay’s business model is to build an ongoing stream of revenue, albeit in small chunks from millions of sellers but it’s predicable to an extent and is never ending.
eBid’s business model is to sell lifetime memberships and they have no way to build an ongoing revenue stream. In fact the time will come where they’re so successful in selling memberships one of two things will happen – they’ll run out of people to sell to as everyone will be a lifetime member or they’ll run out of money trying to keep the site stable and service the enormous pool of sellers who no longer generate revenue.
Sue I have a question: when you said “Can’t figure out how to see total items sold on CQOut, and haven’t got a clue about their feedback responsiveness. But I’m assuming that’s not your only channel. Want to talk about STR?”
What does STR mean?
Also eBid sounds to me like a pyramid scheme. You have to buy a membership to sell there, and they pay people to bring more memberships in….sounds like a scam. But that’s JUST my opinion. Please no more arguing, I can’t believe I read this entire thread and only 3 alternate sites to eBay were mentioned.
For the record I left eBay 2 years ago but now wish to sell some kids clothes/shoes that my kids have outgrown. I’m in the US. Anyone have any suggestions on where to sell? Is eBay the best for used goods?
What does STR mean?
Sell-through rate: i.e. if you list 100 items, how many of them are you going to sell (on the first listing).
Gotcha, thanks…..sort of like ROI.