Has anyone transitioned from ebay to their own web site with great success? Help!

[surfsirenswim]

Hi all

I have dedicated the last year and 1/2 trying to turn my ebay store into a full time income.  I've gone from 700 items (swimwear) to literally over 5000 items and building but sales are going in the wrong direction.  I've tried some pretty incredable sales and I list really well known brands.  What is going on here?  I'm using social media like a fool and have everything listing on facebook, twitter, pinterest and instagram to try and drive traffic and it's the middle of summer and I'm lucky to sell anyting daily.  We can have a great day then nothing for days!  My prices are competitive and photos are good.  If you would like to give me some feedback please do.  My store is:
http://stores.ebay.com.au/Surf-Siren-Swimwear

For those who also have their own web site is that working for you and how well?

I'm a bit heartbroken about it all.  I've worked so hard.

Tess

[surfsirenswim]

Wow yeah - Women would pay over $100 for a bikini top and $70 for a pant at retail price from a brand like Seafolly.  That is pretty standard these days.  The photos are cropped that way they are because of restrictions on using model shots.  We do of course take our own shots too but I am by no means a professional photographer.  It would be great to be big enough to be able to have professional shots taken with a model of our choosing but for now this is it I'm afraid. 

[surfsirenswim]

We carry a few chic star coats currently but not a lot of their range yet.  I don't love their manufacturing standard so far.  Have you found them to be good generally?

[springyzone]

I didn't mind your shop format, except you know how you have that banner list of styles under the picture-tankinis, one piece etc? I was clicking on that at first and getting nowhere till I realised I had to go over to the left menu.

I don't know about anyone else, but I would probably be more interested in choosing the style (bikini/one piece etc) rather than the brand & yet those options are down the bottom.

Is there any way you can make the banner at the top a clickable link or if not, put the style option up near the top of the swimwear choices.

Also, I agree with others here. Why mention postage is the buyer's responsibility? If postage is listed separately in the ads, and it is, then Blind Freddie can see that.

The green bit about combining postage is great, but you don't need to put anything about postage costs in shipping.

Unlike what some others have said, I do think you have some well known name brands and I liked quite a few of your items. The ads i looked at come across as being good quality.

I guess what would make me hesitate is the fact I did buy bathers from another seller once via ebay and they were exactly as described and all, but just disappointing on. So.. even on sale, if I were to pay close to $90 in total for a pair of bathers, I would now want to know they were a good fit, so I would probably shop in a real store. I know you arrange exchanges but that's more money. (Of course it is perfectly fair a buyer pays the return postage for exchange, I am just trying to explain my reasoning.)

[springyzone]

Should add, unless an independent website comes up on the first or second page of a search, it might be hard to actually get many people looking.

I notice you are on the gold coast, so is there any way (if you do start up a site) that you can link to location?

The reason I mention this is because lately I have been specifically searching for formal wear/evening wear/mother of the bride in Melbourne & I've come across a few places, but friends have told me about a few more. Sure enough, they all have websites but I would never have found them as they don't come up in any kind of search, no matter what key words I use.

People can't buy if they don't see your site in the first place, which I guess is why ebay works well for a lot of people.

[notjustbooks*]

I have only had a quick look, but as others have mentioned .. way to much txt in the listing. Also another very important thing is your headings ... I would go and change them all, the first few keywords are the most important for where your listing will come when someone is searching, as an example ...

Seafolly Vibe Shimmer Sliding Tri Ruffle Edge Bikini Swimsuit Top RRP$69.95 Sz 8

If I am looking for this item as a buyer, I would not be typing the keywords Shimmer, Sliding, tri ruffle edge .... Bikini is your most important word and the size, I would also include the colour, also I have heard you are penlised for using two words that mean the same thing like Bikini/Swimsuit, only use one of these ... this is how I would do the heading

Seafolly Vibe Bikini Top Size 8 Blue Tri Ruffle Edge Shimmer Sliding RRP $69.95

[phorum_junkie*]

I wouldn't give the RRP, hardly anyone believes them anyway and just say whatever and move on.

I know the makers of some of your items use vintage but I am just saying that I and a lot of others would consider it keyword spamming as they are certainly new and not vintage. You can say vintage style in the listing but I just think it is contraindicated in the title. There is nothing more annoying than if you are looking for actual vintage items to have loads of new stuff fill the pages, you expect most of them to be Chinese as that is something they do all the time.

I think Chic Star is OK for the price I pay for them, especially as they go up to really large sizes which is my core market. I don't buy very many at a time so have a reasonably low mark up on them as I have not got a lot of money invested in the stock. I also buy things I like so if they hang around too long they accidentally migrate to my wardrobe lol.

[surfsirenswim]

thanks - I'll try that

[mcbaj]

Kinda off topic. How do you make a banner like that? I need to dress my store up I think and starting with a better banner than what is available via eBay.
Plus the format, or style in which you have your store. Is this done with using the tools provided my eBay or is it something else?
I have around 350 items in my store and I need to "dress" them up as I have just manually typed all the info in. And now my inventory gets larger, I find it looks worse and very unprofessional.

Thanks.

[surfsirenswim]

Hi ya

Wish I could tell you but the truth is a former flat mate of mine did it for me and I really don't have a clue.  If you look sites like 

https://www.outsourcely.com

/?gclid=Cj0KEQiArou2BRDcoN_c6NDI3oMBEiQANeix5rUSHngTnkd1y3IdsmlSvqs2Hs2MR2iCgORVCSP4pa0aAki18P8HAQ

you can get someone do to it for you cheap.

Everything else I do on ebay.  If you see a listing with dolphins and coloured background that comes from an earlier version of a program that offered more for listing but I'm not using it anymore and am phasing it out. It was an added expense and ebay seems to have moved on from those ideas now.

Happy to check out your listings for you too if you like.

cheers

Tess

[bargainbabybuys]

I have been involved with a business that had an ebay store and its own website. It was a well known brand so drew some traffic through organic search....which probably wouldn't happen in your kind of store. To create additional traffic costs a LOT of money. The upside I found from your own site is that we seemed to get a lot more loyalty in terms of repeat business on our sight and the average basket size was bigger. People tended to look around the site whereas on Ebay we found they searched for one item and bought it. Ultimately though, we were just not getting the turn over through the branded site to keep investing all the money required for upgrading and advertising.  Good luck!