Ebay ? Does it really work? Should I do my own store?

[Melly]

Okay I have decided to open a store for things such as porcelain dolls, home decor, baby dolls, and other related items. My question is should I use ebay and open a store there or should I create my own site/store?

Also if I do decide to do my own site what do you think I should call it?


Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Donald Aquilano]

You need to ask Yofie or Synthetic Rhyme. They both have stores on ebay. I would also say that I buy domains on ebay a lot and would like to see more reputable people selling there.

 

[DDC_Cyn]

You should do both. Ebay is a great way to reach thousands of people who would never know to hit your website. But it's also a good way to build a business. It's not a get rich quick scheme - but then, what is?

 

[Theo]

Be aware that as a new seller you will face a lot of unscrupulous buyers that might try to take advantage of the new terms of ebay which REMOVES the ability for sellers to leave feedback. Thousands of eBay sellers went on a week-long boycott of eBay during which, sales dipped by 14%. Still, eBay refused to re-instate the previous rules.

 

[Melly]

Be aware that as a new seller you will face a lot of unscrupulous buyers that might try to take advantage of the new terms of ebay which REMOVES the ability for sellers to leave feedback. Thousands of eBay sellers went on a week-long boycott of eBay during which, sales dipped by 14%. Still, eBay refused to re-instate the previous rules.

what rules are you referring too? And thank you for the advice. I'm still looking into things on there. I bought some inventory for my store and created it but haven't added much to it. Im thinking maybe I should create my own store.

 

[Theo]

Until now, sellers could leave trader feedback for buyers. Now, only buyers can do that.

 

[Melly]

oh my. I did not know that

 

[Tom K.]

I used to sell on ebay (few years back) but found their constant increases in listing prices a blow as most domains make little-to-no profit anyways.

Use ebay to get traffic to your portfolio site by using your domain as your username.

I don't know their current rules, but I've seen sellers use ebay listings as pure marketing opportunity to grow traffic to their sites with more items. So although the listing in itself didn't make a great sale, the loss was seen as a marketing investment. I get the sense that domainers are using the system this way. And if they make a few bucks in the process then that's a bonus.

 

[Theo]

Use ebay to get traffic to your portfolio site by using your domain as your username.

If you do that, you'll get a warning and will be forced to change it.

 

[Tom K.]

Well, they should at least allow you to use the domain minus the .com, or _com in place of .com.

 

[Theo]

Yes, that works - unless it's taken by someone else. I'm not "acroplex" on eBay.

 

[Tom K.]

Even in this case you can still brand/promote your domain on your listing pages/templates. This shouldn't be against their terms. Right?

 

[Theo]

Well, they should at least allow you to use the domain minus the .com, or _com in place of .com.

No, you can't use underscore or explicitly add the "com" as part of the id.

 

[jazzpetals]

You can use your domain name if you put ** in front and in back, i.e., **mydomain.com**

 

[Theo]

As a username? You can't. I had my account put on hold twice for doing just that. It doesn't matter when they find out, once they do you only have 2 chances; on the 3rd strike you're out.

 

[Melly]

Well i dont know anything about the usernames and such but let me just say that ebays fees suck. I added a total of 15 items and I already owe them 164.00 in fees. Thats crazy. $50.00 for adding a reserve. And I assume that I owe these fees even if the items don't sale. What a rip off. lol

 

[jazzpetals]

I've had **mydomain.com** as a user name on ebay for two years now..do you think I just slipped under their radar?

 

[MainstreamDomains]

I HATE EBAY, WALMART and DOLLAR STORES - ruining economy with all this made in china crap!

 

[VTEC]

Until now, sellers could leave trader feedback for buyers. Now, only buyers can do that.

The same as on Amazon...

 

[tinner666]

Interesting about the usernames. I've had tinner666 since about '95. I recently dot-commed it. I would assume you could do the same. Just google my handle. About 4-5 of my sites come up, including it's dotcom. If I wanted, I could 301 to anywhere I wanted it. I feel, from reading this thread, you could too.

Like, " Just google me for more goodies!" or something. Just my opinion. Could be wrong.