Ebay store or create my own storefront...

Discussion in 'General Business' started by Puddinlover, Oct 7, 2008.

  1. #1
    I have a ton of "junk" that is mostly older glass collectibles. point is I do not have a set retail inventory and all my items are unique in that i only have one of them.... would it be best to make an ebay store or my own storefront? Because I find it will be hard to market na ebay store outside of ebay.... was thinking maybe make an ebay store than market my site with a link to my ebay store (site will just be like "about me" type deal)... than once i get a customer base open a storefront maybe.... idk anyone ever thought about this?
     
    Puddinlover, Oct 7, 2008 IP
  2. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #2
    It is not worth setting up and paying for an eBay store to sell onesie-twosie type products. Just run an eBay auction for each item and see if they sell that way. It also is not worth setting up an online store unless you plan to constantly sell items that will be of interest to repeat traffic.
     
    jrbiz, Oct 7, 2008 IP
  3. Puddinlover

    Puddinlover Peon

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    #3
    Well I have about 300 item inventory right now. plan to keep it constant if things work out.
     
    Puddinlover, Oct 7, 2008 IP
  4. marksmatter

    marksmatter Peon

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    #4
    Then set-up your own store. It allows you to SEO, etc. that you cannot really do on ebay (or are you talking about ebay Stores?). It is a hell of a lot more work, though. Maybe get your feet wet with ebay and see where that takes you?
     
    marksmatter, Oct 7, 2008 IP
  5. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #5
    Well, if you have 300 products that you plan to sell and re-sell over and over again, it may be worth setting up an eBay store and your own store. You can run a few standard auctions on eBay to get exposure and drive buyers to your eBay store. For your own online store, you have SEM and SEO to try to acquire customers. By doing both, you will be testing to see which way works best. It will cost more and be more work, but it will also position you to understand which medium will work best for your products.
     
    jrbiz, Oct 8, 2008 IP
  6. Pixelrage

    Pixelrage Peon

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    #6
    Set up your own store...ebay and their new price gouging schemes makes selling things on that site worse than ever.
     
    Pixelrage, Oct 8, 2008 IP
  7. webgal

    webgal Peon

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    #7
    eBay fees have gone down dramatically. One of my clients is saving over $1k over previous fees. So I would recommend ebay.

    I would also recommend you list it on your local craigslist and link to the ebay auction. That will get it additional attention.
     
    webgal, Oct 8, 2008 IP
  8. linus6861

    linus6861 Peon

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    #8
    dude i tell u don't trust d ebay buyer's.......bcoz i put my cell for sell n now no 1 is responding to pay d cash back....
     
    linus6861, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  9. linus6861

    linus6861 Peon

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    #9
    trust EBAY but not buyer's bcoz they play Pranks..........
     
    linus6861, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  10. magda

    magda Notable Member

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    #10
    The one advantage ebay has is that there is a semi-captive audience - people go to ebay to buy stuff, they're already on ebay, you just have to get them to your store/listings, as opposed to having your own storefront site, where you've got to do all the promotion to get them there in the first place.
     
    magda, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  11. golfer5

    golfer5 Peon

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    #11
    basic ebay stores are quite cheap so why not start there and build up? Easier than setting up ypor own from scratch.
     
    golfer5, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  12. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #12
    Your client may be in a niche or at a certain price point in which he lucked out. However, in general, eBay's fees only go up and up and up. And, of course, we have not even discussed how their main payment mechanism, Paypal, gets you again with a big fee.

    I thought that Craigslist TOS forbids you from putting a link to a commercial website in the ad? How can you point to an eBay auction and not get taken down by CL?
     
    jrbiz, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  13. !Unreal

    !Unreal Well-Known Member

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    #13
    I would say use eBay because people trust it more than custom scripts.
     
    !Unreal, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  14. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #14
    Well, it may be the case that people trust eBay, but I am not sure why that would be. Background: up until recently, I was an eBay Powerseller (I still have a store on it, but have scaled way down), am an Amazon Storefront Merchant, have sold on Shopzilla (and a few other such sites) and also have my own ecommerce website. Due to the high number of scammers on eBay, I am most suspicious of the orders that come in from them. I also have been personally burned by eBay sellers, though I have not had that experience with Amazon purchases or buying from other well-known ecommerce sites. Bottomline: eBay is the selling/buying venue that I trust least.
     
    jrbiz, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  15. ahuddy

    ahuddy Peon

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    #15
    I would start with a basic ebay store to build your your repuation and your name up online. You will start seeing sales much quicker though ebay than you will through your own site. Once things are rolling you can create your own site and introduce it to all of your previuos customers from ebay.
     
    ahuddy, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  16. Tuzic.com

    Tuzic.com Peon

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    #16
    hi,

    sell on ebay it'l be cheaper for u but wtach your feedback etc as they are strict now.
     
    Tuzic.com, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  17. kozyavka

    kozyavka Active Member

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    #17
    yep, 100% agree
     
    kozyavka, Oct 9, 2008 IP
  18. mentos

    mentos Prominent Member

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    #18
    Setup a store and sell it
    Its not advisable to use ebay due to their fee is quite high
     
    mentos, Oct 10, 2008 IP
  19. Puddinlover

    Puddinlover Peon

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    #19
    Hmm think im going to setup an ebay store and than do a LITTLE marketing to my website and TRY to figure a way to display my ebay store on my website... have yet to find a script to do this... only ebay to go which sucks
     
    Puddinlover, Oct 11, 2008 IP
  20. dexter.ss

    dexter.ss Peon

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    #20
    dexter.ss, Oct 12, 2008 IP