topic Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store in Selling

Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 00:57:51 GMT

I know there are plenty of ways to get traffic to your store, but what if you dont have a store and have to first compete with stores to even get to the point where it is worth having a store. I cant justify having a store right now obviously especially if the store costs are about to double. The only thing I can think to do is charge a bit less and lose some profit in order to gain some sales. Other then that maybe have a picture tht stands out more, better product descriptions. I think if you are truly selling niche products you'd have better luck competing without a store, but finding a niche product these days is trickier then it seems.

I am doing a course on selling on ebay (inlaws paid a heap of money for it, but then didnt have the time so passed it onto us) Anyway this worked for me because I wanted to open an online store and want to use selling on Ebay to fund my stock for that store. The products I want to sell are brands that dont allow selling on Ebay, which is good in my opinion.

But of course sounds like this course would have profitted more like 5 years ago and of course selling from Australia almost doesnt work at all. Soon I will start dropshipping from the states and just sell within the states, but even there I will competeting with heaps of stores. Sorry to ramble on but thats my story. Course has taught me heaps but only discusses maximizing traffic from a store point of view.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

foxette-in-sox — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 01:29:55 GMT

I am doing a course on selling on ebay (inlaws paid a heap of money for it, but then didnt have the time so passed it onto us)

Reading the Site map & asking questions on these boards would have cost nothing & probably been of more benefit.

Having a store won't necessarily increase sales-good product,customer service,postage costs & time etc are what sells items & hopefully brings both more traffic & repeat customers.

JMO

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 01:44:44 GMT

Reading the Site map & asking questions on these boards would have cost nothing & probably been of more benefit.

LOL, no kidding thats what I said, but the inlaws will buiy whatever you sell to them in promise to make money.

I wont tell you how much they paid..... oh ok just because its a hoot 10,000 non refundable bux!!!! No lie, with the promise if they follow all the steps they will make it back in 6 months. Hah!

Anyway since im now doing the course for free, I can outline the good points,

It gives you step by step which is important to keep you from fluffing about with your listings

It gives you tips on drawing in business from outside of ebay to drive traffic to your ebay store

It tells you how to advertise legally on your ebay page to your outside store

Everything you need to know about ebay basically that you would have to search and search or just never know at all

Affilate marketing

blogging

dropshipping

of course not a lot of it helps me without having a store.

Still not worth the money but Ill take advantage for the time being.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

the3coopers — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 03:51:51 GMT

In very general terms, having a Store is about saving fees, not making traffic. It does absolutely NOTHING to get you more sales, it's main advantage is the low 20c or 5c listing fee, the 30 day Buy Now duration and the 0.9% final value fee discount.

The only thing that you need to do is search (on eBay) for each item you list - bpoth Current Items and Completed Items. See what price point that things sell at and only price your stuff at a level which will get the turnover that you desire.

If everyone is pricing at $26.50 and you offer at $26, you'll get the sales.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

mini*lindy — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 04:43:26 GMT

Soon I will start dropshipping from the states and just sell within the states, but even there I will competeting with heaps of stores.

well I hope you have a very very reliable dropshipper who you have dealt with for many years, and I hope you know ALL the ebay .usa rules and regulations.

they are very different to ebay aussie and a seller can go broke in weeks if they are not on the ball with all their different 'protection' plans

if your dropshipper canot prove 'receipt' of the goods YOU sell, YOU will be liable for a refund to the buyer and still have to pay the dropshipper for the item

have you thoroughly invesitgated just how that would work for you, living in WA and running an ebay usa Store?

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

koalablue12 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 04:57:55 GMT

Tips on Freebies off the Inlaws ................

Take what you can.........give nothing back :^O

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:02:34 GMT

Mini, well I am a member of gogodropship, mostly us dropshippers and wholesalers, the course Im doing is a US run course so I have them as support for the next 6 months. Right now my main obstacle is getting a US EIN number but that seems like just a call away. Now I wasnt fully aware that the rules on the US site differed greatly so i will have to be really careful around that, especially if Im so used to selling on the AU site. Im not saying its going to be a walk in the park, but dealing with free shipping all around the states seems better right now then dealing with Auspost, and trying to compete with US international sellers. However with the talk of store fees doubling and in general i go through momements where all this ebay stuff seems like a good idea, and then momements where it seems like a waste of time lol.

Koala, Haha yes well one day Id like to be profiting enough I can give them back well..... half the money, the other half is what they can pay in stupidity. Really when I think about it, the course itself and access to the dropship/wholesale site that came with it, gave me the motivation to start thinking about my business. Im a stay at home mom, and we just dont have the money to be throwing around at dropship listings or my dreams of owning my own store one day for that matter lol.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:06:23 GMT

oh and I just wanted to add there is an ebook Im tempted to buy myself about sellling overseas. Its advertised on the

dropshipaustralia.com.au Another great resource that could use some more forum members.

Cheers

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

lemmayj — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:39:16 GMT

A few things to remember if you're selling on ebay US

1) seller protection rules are different, and rely on proof of delivery.

2) paypal has a habit of putting holds on seller payments - often for 30 days (or more) even if you've got proof that an item has arrived, so watch your cash flow.

3) You'll end up with US$ in your paypal account, it'll cost you 1% extra (ie 3.4% base) in paypal fees to receive them and about 2.5% in exchange fees if you want to transfer them to an Australian bank account.

Dropshipping can be profitable but it's totally dependant on the quality of your partner. If you're in Au and they're in US it'll be difficult to get any recourse if anything goes wrong. Be careful.

Read the US community boards for tips.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

phorum_junkie* — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:50:03 GMT

STOP

Please, please, please stop and think.

If the people running these courses could make as much money on ebay, or dropshipping anywhere else for that matter, why would they not be making the money instead of telling goodness knows how many other people, who will all be competing against each other for customers, how to do it?

Your in-laws were conned, please don't listen to 99.9% of the advice these people are giving you.

Those who have paid the money themselves will continue to con themselves into thinking that if they just invest a bit more they will get their money back, then it will need a bit more and then......etc.

This is a new version of pyramid selling, walk away now before you lose your shirt and everything else too.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

emporiumdownunder — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:10:25 GMT

A few years ago your store listings never come up in searches people had to go to your store to view them on ebay maybe that is where this course is coming from in regards to store traffic which is out dated. Now all ebay listings come up in search results so its not so much about getting people to your store to view listings that would otherwise not be seen when the stores were the old way. So I wouldn't worry about the store side of it just yet.

Letting your customers know that you have other styles colours etc available is a good thing try links in your listings for your other products.

Keep looking for products to sell, a good variety of products helps a good description, photos, customer service ect is all needed

Everthing you need to know is right in front of you on ebay from ebay's info pages to these boards other listings completed listings and then you have google so much information for free.

Please please be careful these courses can be a con, please don't let your inlaws purchase anymore follow up products from them if thay want to throw money away tell them to throw it at you to buy product for your ebay business. :^O

Also please be careful of any other companys they recommend there will always be a kick back, thet are not doing it because they have a good heart they are doing it to make money. Before you sign up to anything google first and do your research.

Dropshipping can be a minefield but can also work if done the right way, also keep in mind that ebay are all for fast shipping.

best of luck:-)

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:32:03 GMT

Thanx everyone, yeah I know as far as how much this course costs, you would never be able to make that money back in sales in this day and age anyway. As far as forking over more money no its done. As far now as the course information goes, Yeah its been great information, the guys who run the course pretty much pioneered along with ebay, they've written books blah blah, yes I trust they know Ebay inside and out. Now are they making heaps of money conning people into thinking they will actually make the money back...absolutely.

Lots of people are actually dropshipping out of the states, you need to be informed but it can be done. Ive been researching dropshipping long before i started the program I am aware of what it entails, Its not big at all yet in Australia, may never be, and so people are wary of it. Most of the dropship companies are in the states, and the ones that are in Australia are a complete ripp off. Too bad because its actually a profitable way for alot of companies to help offload stock, or make the numbers to buy more stock = more discount. Of course dropshipping is no where near as profitable as wholesale but its an ok place to start if you dont have money or space to store and buy wholesale. If you look hard, there are resources with information about international dropshipping. But with anything its so important to do the research, read the fine print. If the old inlaws had done that, they would have seen that dropshipping is not an easy sale, that running a business like that is impossible to do in Australia, and had they known that they would have needed to run a business out of the states they would have said no way. Actually if they had just done a search on the company they would have seen all the people trying to get their money back.

Im from North America and plan on going back one day so international trading works for me just fine.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:34:07 GMT

Sorry about the bad spelling and run on sentences in the above. LOL

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

phorum_junkie* — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:00:35 GMT

The only thing I can think to do is charge a bit less and lose some profit in order to gain some sales.

If I have an auction item that doesn't sell I don't drop the price, I wait a few weeks and lisat it with a higher start price as a lot of buyers seeing a low start price think it is probably not worth much!

the guys who run the course pretty much pioneered along with ebay, they've written books blah blah, yes I trust they know Ebay inside and out.

I hope it isn't the ones I can't remember the names of who make these claims but their advice is questionable at best, terribly out of date about a lot of things and totally untrue at worst.

Ive been researching dropshipping long before i started the program I am aware of what it entails, Its not big at all yet in Australia, may never be,

You obviously don't know ebay very well, there are thousands of dropshippers and their reputation, for the most part, is BAD.

If you correctly state the item location as the USA or wherever then many buyers will avoid your items as they think they will take longer to arrive and if you wrongly put the item location as Australia they will be less than happy when they receive something from overseas.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

thesoulyearns — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:18:01 GMT

If everyone is pricing at $26.50 and you offer at $26, you'll get the sales.

Not necessarily. It may depend on your sales record, your photo of the item, your listing, the condition of the item, etc... but checking the Completed Listings is a great way to start. When I check, I make a point to see how much it sold for and how much it didn't - if there's a few people listing the same item, of course. Then I try to see what the successful seller did right, how my item may compare to theirs and just try to replicate that sale.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:35:20 GMT

P.J. I would never dropship from the states into Australia, postage and shipping time would kill me. Rather I would use my other ID and sell only to the US have my items so that they only appear to US bidders. Having a few dropshippers that carry the same item in case one doesnt have it in stock is also important. Also choosing dropship items that sell. I sell baby gear so thats easy for instance lots of people could go the shops and buy their baby bottles but what do i see selling on ebay.com bottles regular name brand bottles you can find easily in the shops, priced the same. Why? because people shop out of convenience. Yes ill still research more but selling in the states can be done.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:40:43 GMT

You obviously don't know ebay very well, there are thousands of dropshippers and their reputation, for the most part, is BAD.

Sorry dont want to pick on you, and Ive appreciated all your advice, but who does know Ebay its an ever changing enviornment that works slightly different in all the countries it operates in. Theres also lots of dropshippers doing well, not here in Australia but in the states, and no this isnt a quote from the course lol. Like I said Australia wouldnt know alot about DS we dont dropship here and we hardly have any dropshippers.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

rumplebear1951 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:49:05 GMT

Ive been researching dropshipping long before i started the program I am aware of what it entails, Its not big at all yet in Australia, may never be,

Sorry but you are so wrong it would be funny under other circumstances...every second seller of cheap Chinese junk, mobile phone covers etc is dropshipping and there are literally thousands of them.

I have been using ebay as both a buyer and seller for well over 10 years and there have always been dropshippers...and also sellers complaining that they have been left high and dry by

their suppliers.

The old adage that is something seems too good to be true, then it probably is, really holds true here.

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

putney32 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:52:28 GMT

You obviously don't know ebay very well, there are thousands of dropshippers and their reputation, for the most part, is BAD.

Sorry dont want to pick on you, and Ive appreciated all your advice, but who does know Ebay its an ever changing enviornment that works slightly different in all the countries it operates in. Theres also lots of dropshippers doing well, not here in Australia but in the states, and no this isnt a quote from the course lol. Like I said Australia wouldnt know alot about DS we dont dropship here and we hardly have any dropshippers.

there are thousands of aussie ebayers dropshipping here.

in fact there was one last year, reporting on the powersellers board how well he was doing, thousands of $ in sales a month, then his dropshipper got into trouble, and this poor guy had his paypal a/c frozen with thousands of dollars in it, it took months and months to sort out, cost him a lot of time and money and health !

Re: Optimizing traffic to your ebay page without a store

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:35:49 GMT

Ok i didnt realize so many people were actually dropshipping in Australia, i looked into it and thought no way, with the shipping cost and time it wasnt feasable, I guess alot of people would be dropshipping from china for cheap price and postage but still shipping time would be a factor and I dont know know the enviornment lanquage etc. Im sorry I still dont think its a completely negative thing..... yet. Granted I stick within the states and with reputable suppliers. Alot of the suppliers I looked into actually have dropship clubs basically specialize in dropshipping, dont know if this makes a huge difference but they are reputable Im sure, Actually Im sure alot of companies in Australia do use dropshipping. I ordered a toy from an Australian toy company, took forever to get here, when it did, it was broken had to send it back, but then they had to send it back to another company and ask them if I could replace it, took forever again to get back to me. So some dropshippers fail some dont.