posted on September 13, 2006 06:27:00 AM new
I still list auctions on eBay. I drive them to my store from there. I've also uploaded to the major search engines and have contacted the customers I already have. I've had sales on eCrater. I feed I have more promotion now than I did with the eBay store. You have to self promote your eBay store, too. eBay's not doing anything anymore except giving the ship away to China.
posted on September 13, 2006 08:27:00 AM new
Thank you all for your comments on my site. Based on the replies, I've made some changes. The most notable ones are:
1) Reduced the size of the Logo & Credit Card icons so that the page will fit better on lower-resolution screens
2) Changed the product view so that the picture is now aligned to the right of the product description (again to help those with lower screen resolutions)
3) I now have all my featured products showing on the home page (the webstore shopping cart only allows 5 featured items). I'll just manually assign other items to become featured items once the original ads sell.
I'm still open to more suggestions.... so keep the comments coming! Thanks for all your help!
posted on September 13, 2006 08:55:18 AM new
I can see everything fine now- NICE STORE! Don't know what problem I was having before. I always have problems after I open a pdf document- after I close it- Acrobat reader keeps running in the background, leaking memory all over the place. I might have needed to reboot when I tried to open your site?
posted on September 13, 2006 11:04:46 AM new
eauctionmgnt I do like very much nice changes. Keep us updated if you start getting sells.
Busy today but wanted to let people know that ecrater message board shows a lot of new people and most are from Ebay that signed up just last night seems like. I am betting a lot of ship jumpers have moved in maybe that will bring along a following and more potential buyers to the site. I will have to check out their board a little more but most seem to have sells etc pretty quick like posters that have only been there a month or 2.
Cheryl will check into godaddy pretty soon and that price does not sound so bad. Will need that redirect html when and if I get to sign up. Maybe you can send it to me through my smartbuy that way I will have it? Appreciate the tip. Now to get more thing listed. IT really is a SNAP and fast once you set up everything which was not so hard either. It is the shipping I am wondering about -- will play it by ear. & they take Paypal making it even better since most people now days like to use that.
**************
My new online store.
http://smartbuy.ecrater.com/
[ edited by irked on Sep 13, 2006 11:09 AM ]
posted on September 13, 2006 12:09:15 PM new
David,
Thanks for the comments! All of the ads are 100% original. I don't sell photocopies. The pictures are of the actual ad, and when click on the picture for the full-size picture / description... the condition of the ad should be listed in the description. However, if you need additional information on any particular ad, feel free to contact me through the email address listed on the site.
You've just given me some ideas for improving the FAQ section. Thanks!
posted on September 13, 2006 02:02:57 PM new
Beth,
The Vendio stores looked too limited in their features, and too pricey for the features that they are offering.
I get pretty much total control over my site, (or at least to the extent of my HTML skills!), plus there's some nice features to the webstore I'm using... including promotion codes, automatic invoicing, easily integrated merchant account, etc...
Plus... I like the fact that I don't have any final value fees, or image hosting fees, etc...
If anyone's interested, here's the site that's providing me with my website space and webstore:
posted on September 20, 2006 08:12:31 AM new
Well... I've made a few more modifications to my store... and I've found out a few more things about it (that I really like!).
1) I was able to set it up so that it will send Google a feed with all my store items, and then create Google base listings for them. Totally free... and it gets a LOT more exposure for my items!
2) I found that I can list items directly from my store to eBay. It handles the inventory remarkably well. When I list an item, it automatically removes it from my store and puts it on eBay. If it ends and DOESN'T sell... it automatically puts it back in my store! Neat, huh?! I can also schedule the listing to start at any particular time (for no charge). It took me awhile to figure out the right SSML tags, but the tech supports at the ProStores forum came through with the answers.
3) I'm able to put links to my eBay listings on my home page. What's I like about it is it only shows listings that I've launched from my WebStore. Since I sell another line (photography accessories) through the same eBay account, this is great for me. This way, none of my photography stuff ends up on a site dedicated to vintage ads.
4) I LOVE How easy it is to list items! I've gone from about 4000 listings to over 5000 listings in just a couple of weeks. (which would have cost big $$$ in listing fees at eBay). I don't think I'll have any problem getting over 10,000 items listed before the end of the year.
Anyhow... the more I'm using this system... the more I like it! And, I'm pleased with sales too! I'm working on several marketing strategies to draw in even more customers. They include:
a) Already submitted website to the major search engine sites
b) Using a Google AdWords Campaign to drive traffic
c) Sending a feed of my listings to GoogleBase for more coverage
d) I plan to run select eBay auctions, so that I can drive customers to my store via email communication with them
e) Contact previous customers to inform them of my new site (and offer them a discount code as an incentive)
All-in-all, I'm just very satisfied... and I finally feel like I'M running my business again, and not eBay! I've even sold enough to more than cover my first-month expenses and am making profit! (there were more than a few months that I couldn't say the same on eBay!) Anyhow... I'm still open to any suggestions, so if anyone has more ideas... feel free to share!
