# Private Site vs Ebay Store



## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

I've had a hosted store for a while and it seems to be getting pretty good traffic. However, I noticed in my last e-mail advertisement to my customers, that several were looking for my Ebay user id. I figured out that they thought I had an Ebay store. So now that I'm in the process of making some changes to my regular site (www.SlickArtOnline.com), I thought I would give an Ebay store a chance to see if it would be more profitable (eBay Store - RHINESTONE CENTRAL: RHINESTONE VARIETY PACKS, WHOLESALE STONES SUPPLIES). I'd like to get some feedback from folks who have Ebay stores and folks who don't as to the advantages, or ease of use for either, so that I can make a final determination. Feedback on both sites as well would be more than helpful. Just note that I just set up the Ebay store for a test run, so there are still things missing and/or things I haven't figured out yet. I'd really like to get some input on the Ebay fees. This has been one of the things that has kept me from diving into Ebay in the first place.

Thanks in advance


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## boll weevil (Jul 21, 2009)

For immediate traffic set up an Ebay Store.
While that is generating revenue for you, get busy building your website.


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## 13Graphics (Jul 20, 2009)

I would send a business card, or flyer with every order too that has your web site on it. That way new customers from ebay have it.


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

Great idea, thanks


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## Cam Lynch (Aug 13, 2009)

The one big advantage to eBay, your business or product can be found. Otherwise your depending on a search engine ranking and return customers. One issue with Ebay, in certain catagories, they don't break them down into enough sub-catagories. Hence....and this might not be a perfect example, if you sold a certain type of tool, look at the tool listings. Ebay might list 68,000 different tools for sale. What if you sell widget crushers and eBay doesn't have a sub-listing for widget crushers? A customer might have to look at a couple thousand listings to find yours. If.....he calls the thing a watchamacallit adjuster when he used the eBay search engine and comes up with no results, he may not even look. If he uses the search engine feature at all.


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

Cam, you have expressed my concern with E-bay perfectly. I sell bulk & retail hot fix rhinestones. So do 10 gazillion other people on e-bay. They offer all these "add ons" or "other services" to help you be the best e-bay seller, but by the time you take all the fees out, there's not much money left, let alone any profit


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

I had an Ebay store for approximately 5 weeks. Fees killed it for me. I canceled my store last month, and I sill have a bill where I owe them for listing fees. I just couldn't do Ebay. Not to mention, it was sooooooooooo many other sellers selling the same item that when I did a search, my listing wasn't even on the first 30 pages. Seriously how many people go past the first couple of pages? I could have paid to be at the front but again more fees.

Katrina


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## joey32569 (May 11, 2008)

I would have to agree with others. I ran an ebay store a few years ago and it just wasn't worth my time. I did get orders but overall I wouldn't recommend it unless you could find some sort of niche. I currently have 2 websites and they are much more rewarding than an ebay store. If you do not have the money for a website go ahead and give it a shot as you never know what will take off. Well I hope that helps out a little.


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## magicsphere (Aug 13, 2009)

13Graphics said:


> I would send a business card, or flyer with every order too that has your web site on it. That way new customers from ebay have it.


 
Thats good thinking...


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## Cam Lynch (Aug 13, 2009)

One thing about eBay, it's better for selling some items and not others. The screen printing section of Ebay has some interesting items at a reasonable price. Just the other day, someone mentioned Craigslist. I had about forgotten about Craigslist, a potential alternative for certain items. 

I do shop eBay and often, for certain types of items. I have never bought a t shirt from eBay for instance. On eBay now.....under clothing, men's clothing, shirts, sub listing t shirts. They list 238,671 items. You can break it down futher, by color, size, brand. Ah, but not by type of shirt without doing a search. People who print shirts often group what they make by genre, for example biker shirts, religious shirts, comic shirts, subcultrue shirts etc.. Shirts are not listed this way on eBay, unless you use the search engine. People often shop for t shirts the same way, by genre. So how many Motley Crue t shirts can I find on eBay? Using the search feature I fond 164 Motley Crue t shirts, average price about $15.00 some with bids, most listed "buy it now". Not bad for the consumer.

An eBay search for rhinestones.....yikes 103,380 results. I never knew everybody was in the rhinestone business!

Finding a low cost method of generating sales is important when selling low cost, high volume items. The internet surely holds some answers. Finding that perfect place might take some work. Yahoo once had a free auction site, it closed a few years ago. My guess is that others might offer the same service, or at least free classified ads.


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## gurispopis (Jul 1, 2009)

Hi, 
Recommend you start by selling on ebay, along with your online store.

You can place links to your eBay sales on your site to generate views annexed.

greetings.
http://translate.google.com/translate_s?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&q=Hola,
&source=translation_link​


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