Running an ebay business

[skater]

I was an ebay seller to for a few years, long time ago. I think it's harder these days to sell for profit on ebay. Their feedback rating is tricky. If your rating is less than your competitor's, your item will be displayed below your competitor.

This isn't the case. I have one real competitor and he has around 5000 feedback more than I do. My products often show up before his, and I sell much more (of my product) than he does, but he sells other items as well.

My store specialises in a product, and I carry a lot more lines of this product than he does. His does not. I feel that some customers prefer a 'specialist', someone they can ask questions of & get an informed answer, or someone they can buy everything they need from the one store.

In saying this though, although I don't tell many people, I actually have two stores. One is my real store, where I sell the most product, the other is my 'junk' store. It has built up over time starting from getting rid of stuff from home, as I didn't want to clutter up the real store, and I've got a heap of stuff at home that needs to go, ranging from sporting equipment built up over the years from my family, cupboards of fabric, cupboards of leotards, etc.

Then a friend invited me to an auction that she goes to regularly, and I was hooked. I've now got all matter of stock, picked up at rock bottom prices. This store has more items than my real store, but does not make nearly the sales that the other one does, but that's fine, it ticks along & I slowly get rid of my junk. Once it's listed, it just stays there until it's sold, and it is really amazing sometimes what things sell. I haven't bought any new stock for over 6 months for the second store, but there's still heaps of stuff I've got floating around here to list, when I've got the time.

Sometimes it helps to keep the listings 'live'. For instance, if you have 100 of an item, then order more well before you run out, so you can upgrade the number of available product.

I think with small baby and another child, it might be too much hassle, especially if the older child is at school. The timing of your item (auction) is also crucial. And with feedback system, you only need one grumpy buyer to spoil the business.

Grumpy customers are a problem, but like I said previously, just be polite. Even if they annoy you. It takes more than one nasty customer to ruin a business, and you can get the feedback removed sometimes. And I NEVER use auctions. Everything is listed as Buy It Now, and will just sit there until it's sold.

 

[balwoges]

Congrats on your coming event! all the hints above are invaluable, however, if this is your first bub you may be overwhelmed with what it takes to look after this tiny demanding little bundle of joy, 4 or 3 hour feeding which if breast feeding can take up to 1 hour, constant lack of sleep and mountains of washing.

I would plan on just getting used to being a Mum the first 3 or 4 months. All the best for your biggest adventure yet

This site http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/forums/index.php may be of some help.

 

[bumblegoodie]

Skater, for your ebay business does the number of feedback affects your sale?

as your competitor has 5000 more feedback as you do?

in the forum there is a mixed feeling that ebay is not worth the time and money. but in your case do you think is worth while once you have started now?

and did you started recently?

 

[skater]

IF I had only my 'Junk Store', then I probably wouldn't put too much effort in. It is a lot of work for not a lot of return, but I do that BECAUSE I'm already doing it for my main store, so it isn't much on top of what I already do.

With the main store, yes, it is worthwhile. I think it depends to a great deal what the products are.

If, for example, you were selling underwear, firstly, you have a LOT of competitors, so your margins are going to be really low, and secondly the amount of profit in $$ on each sale is going to be really low too. You would have to sell a LOT each and every day in order to make it worthwhile.

On the other hand, you could be selling product X. It's a niche market, so not too many people know about it, it is an expensive item, so the $$ profit from each sale large, so you don't need to sell much of it to make a lot of money.

Tell me when you find product X.

In my situation, I think the difference between me & my competitor is that he sells one brand only, AND he sells other items on the same username. He appears to be more of a general merchant.

I, on the other hand, sell several brands and parts as well. I am a specialist in this field.

His amount of sales are similar to mine, but they are spread over all items he sells. This is why all my other 'junk' has it's own account.

I also think ebay have their own kind of internal limits, in order that the sales are spread around similar businesses, so long as they are both of good standing. I believe this is a part of why we (my competitor & myself) have a similar amount of sales, and another reason why I like to keep my 'junk' separate.

 

[moyjos]

I agree with Skater, I have a few competitors that sell my products as well as other general hardware. My sales are very similar to theirs as well. I try to send repeat business to our own website. Every invoice I send has our website and on each item is a sticker with the company logo, name and website address.

I also don't "corrupt" my business account with personal "junk" that I sell. The second account also comes in handy for testing new products that I am considering for the main store. If I get neutral or negative feedback on the second account I really don't care.

Overall, after just on 4 years now, I am happy with eBay's performance as an outlet. I don't even complain too much about the fees. My eBay fees are around $1000 each month, but get the same level of sales constantly on my own web site, I am sure I would have to spend almost that amount on SEO. PayPal fees are much cheaper than any of the local banks would give a business my size. Coming from a retail background, I see eBay fees as rent on my shop (again far cheaper than retail rent)

 

[onesixseros]

I'm trying to break the online market myself through ebay and my own site.

What platform are people using for their own sites? Etsy for the crafters but what about everyone else?? I'm trialling Ecwid for free but I think it only allows 10 products to list until you need to cough up the cash.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

is it not better to set up a website and do some killer marketing

ebay is *****.

my rating went to 97% and I basically have been banned for life. I had 500 products and had decent sales.

Direct website is definitely the way to go for processing transactions, but even the big players are using eBay stores for exposure.

Why did your feedback get so low?
We have just under 10k feedback at 99.8%, but never bend backwards for eBay customers and don't fall for demanding requests, they get the same standard service as regular customers.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

If some of you have been following my other threads about the nasty cow of a customer I've been dealing with, I'd just like to note here that she slammed me with three negative feedback's. Now, I can take that, as I had NONE at all, but one simple call to ebay, as they had been kept informed every step of the way with the situation, and I've had all three of them removed.

I think this is one thing that some sellers don't realise, is that you can get the feedback removed under certain circumstances.

Good point.
We rarely get negs, but I reckon we get 2 of every 3 removed by calling up eBay and presenting our case. Even though they have very strict rules and policies, they will bend if convinced enough.

If we really do deserve a neg, I'll let it go through, nobody is perfect and 100% feedback is not essential to present well.

 

[moyjos]

I'm trying to break the online market myself through ebay and my own site.

What platform are people using for their own sites? Etsy for the crafters but what about everyone else?? I'm trialling Ecwid for free but I think it only allows 10 products to list until you need to cough up the cash.

I host our own websites and use opencart for the store. OpenCart is free (open source) but there are some paid add ons if you want them. www.opencart.com