Ebay Shops - Do You Use Them?

[Mr Ribbit]

Hi everyone. :flowers:

I know this is cheeky as we have been taking a bit of time out from the forum (be back soon - honest) but we could really do with some feedback from you our wonderful chums. :blush:

We recently decided to start an online antiques and interiors business (French and Chinese ceramics, etc.) and have our eyes on a specialist auction site later this year with whom we have already started negotiating. Exciting stuff! :wow:

The problem is, we need to build up stock now and because we have been very succesful clearing out our house on eBay recently, we're going to sell the antiques on there too.

This has gone very well to start with. We are thinking of setting up an eBay shop or just doing the normal auction listings but we need your help. For those of you that go to eBay, do you tend to search the auction listings exclusively or do you also look in the eBay shops either by searching the shops directly or by clicking on seller's links in their listings? :unsure:

If you don't mind helping it would be much appreciated. :flowers2:

We think of you all everyday (honestly) and hope you are all well and having a nfh trouble free time of it - as much as possible anyway. :yes:

Take care all and best wishes to you from us.

Dragon and Phoenix (formerly the ribbits) :nfh1:

[Domestic Goddess]

I'm a big Ebay fan! What I do is type in what sort of thing I'm interested in and then browse through the listings. Often an item's description contains something like "if you like this item, why not look at our Ebay shop for similar products" I then click and go and have a look and if I like what I see I add the shop to my favourites.
I then check whats on offer in my fav shops once a week or so. I still checking the ordinary listings too.

Things that impress me with some shops is that they gift wrap your item - which ideal if you want to send someone a pressie. You could offer to write a personalised gift tag and wrap it prettily (if it's a small item). You could also send out newsletters to those who have used your store to inform them of your latest products etc or offer incentives to repeat customers. Personal, friendly service is wonderful and it keeps people coming back for more.

Feng Shui is a big seller so perhaps you could add some of those products to your Chinese range to initiate interest? Or if your ceramics have Chinese goodluck symbols or folklore attached to it (like the willow pattern) then give details as people find it really interesting.

I hope that it really works out for you! Also a BIG welcome back to the forum! :thumbs:
Am I right in assuming that "Dragon" is the former gentleman ribbit or is it vice versa? I love that they are such powerful, assertive names!!

When you have become Ebay millionaires, please remember your forum chums!!!

[Eeyore]

I've got to be honest, I rarely use Ebay shops :(

When I use Ebay (every day at least once!) I type what I'm looking for into the search box and and ask it to put new listings first then I check them. It's only if I'm looking for something specific, and it brings up nothing but says "we have sellers in shops offering....." then I'll take a look. :)

I personally prefer the auctions because I like to feel I've got a bargain, I've bought the odd things fro Ebay shops if I want it straight away or I feel it's a good price, and there isn't one on auction, but apart from that, I don't bother :sad:

Best of luck with your venture :) Ebay is a great way to buy and sell, we used to do antique fairs and stopped doing them in favour of Ebay as we made more through Ebay and didn't have to leave the house except to go and post the parcels :lol:

[tact77]

Hi Dragon

I use ebay to buy and sell. I always just look at the auctions. As Eeyore said it makes you feel that you have got a bargin.

Also I found that the cost of running a shop would cut into the profit margin. I would probably start off with the auctions and take it from there.

Good luck.. :thumbs:

[JJ]

Hi Dragon

My husband has an e bay shop and finds it as good as just auctioning stock.

The cost implications are far less if you have a store. What he tends to do is place a few items on the auction with a hyperlink taking shoppers through to the store, he gets tons of hits and where as the cost of selling an item through an auction can amount to10% of the items selling price ( paypal fee and ebay fee and shipping) he can reduce it down to around 5% in a store. it all adds up if you are sellin g several items per day/week.

If you need any help, you know where I am.


JJ

[phantos02]

Hi Dragon

I buy and sell a bit through eBay although I don't have a shop as I only sell unwanted personal stuff really.

When I'm buying I nearly always search the auctions using the search box at the top, but if I spot an auction item I like the look of, I do sometimes go to the sellers shop to see what else they have got.

Good luck with whatever you decide :clover: x

[sp54]

Hiya, nice to see you on the forum again :thumbs:

I have only bought through auctions, as like others have said, I like to feel I have got a bargain. I have browsed through the shops, but personally prefer the auctions.

My sister and her hubby sell on ebay auctions, and do extremely well B)

[Mr Ribbit]

Hi everyone, :D

Thank you , thank you, thank you! :wow: You truly are wonderful peeps! :notworthy: :flowers2:

Interesting mix of answers, market research is always an eye opener. We have now opened an eBay store which will be linked to by a handful of auctions we will be running. This is the format we were going to try but were uncertain about how many peolpe actually used the shops.

Thanks again. :flowers:

Originally posted by Domestic Goddess@25th July 2005 - 1:14 AM
I hope that it really works out for you!** Also a BIG welcome back to the forum! :thumbs:
Am I right in assuming that "Dragon" is the former gentleman ribbit or is it vice versa?** I love that they are such powerful, assertive names!!

Thanks DG and yes, mr ribbit is now Dragon and ribbit is Phoenix. We have gone through a lot of changes over the past 7 months so a change in name seemed apt.

We're not back fully yet but will be back soon. Thinking of you all :love: and hope your lives are nfh free.

Brightest blessings to you all.

D. :ban:

[Eeyore]

Best of luck with your Ebay shop :D I hope business is soon booming for you :thumbs:

[rb2002]

Good luck in your new venture

:clover: :flowers2:

rb

[Mr Ribbit]

Hi everyone,

You lot are troopers! Thanks for the feedback, it helped us make our decision on how we ought to proceed with eBay.

I thought I'd give you an update on how things are going - gives me a chance to ramble about something that is taking up every waking hour at the moment! :rolleyes:

We're still in the start up phase - we are still building the website (Mrs P is doing all off it in HTML! :blink: :bigeyes: :notworthy: ), cataloguing all the initial stock, preparing our marketing campaign, buying up more stock from here there and everywhere and trying not to forget anything. :wacko:

We are also selling bits 'n bobs in our eBay shop, combined with auctions to entice people in to the store as well. It's continued how it started which is good and also surprsing. I think it's beginners luck but I'm not knocking it. :)

Other than eBay we had a few other choices at the time. It got pretty confusing with all the options we had open to us :thumbs: . We narrowed it down to 3 in the end - one HUGE portal in the USA (10 x more expensive than everyone else to subscribe to), eBay (the mid level cost to us) and a specialist site that would cost us around 300 a year). We've opted for eBay because the US site kept chaniging their mind in the negotiations (I'm sure the salesman forgot who he was talking to half the time because he kept contradicting his own 'deals' to me all the time and giving very bad business advice to try and close the deal - also known to the trade as 'lying') and the specialist site had zero support and feedback (worse than eBay, which is saying something). Basically, it was a case of better the devil you know on this occasion. :lol:

Anyhow, we'll see how it goes now and I'll keep you updated. Thanks again to everyone. It was much appreciated. :flowers:

ttfn :hi:

Mr D.

[Eeyore]

Sounds like it's going really well :thumbs: Hope your happy and prosperous business continues :D

[Domestic Goddess]

Wishing you both every success and much prosperity! :thumbs:
Ker-ching!