Sick of Being Ripped Off!

madmik

Im currenty selling homemade items on a number of online auction sites like ebay and seem to be getting raped for the priviledge of listing there

I didnt really notice when i wasnt selling a lot but now im selling more often im getting bills running into the hundreds every month

an example is they charge a few euros to list an item depending on how much exposure you want it to recieve and if you want it feature high in the search results etc
then they charge another percentage fee when the auction closes!

then paypal takes another percentage for "handling" the payment!

I am considering setting up an independant online shop but am wondering how much work(effort) money and time it would take.

What are the most simple ways of generating traffic to a new website?

would i get any traffic?

Bandara

madmik wrote: »

Im currenty selling homemade items on a number of online auction sites like ebay and seem to be getting raped for the priviledge of listing there

I didnt really notice when i wasnt selling a lot but now im selling more often im getting bills running into the hundreds every month

an example is they charge a few euros to list an item depending on how much exposure you want it to recieve and if you want it feature high in the search results etc
then they charge another percentage fee when the auction closes!

then paypal takes another percentage for "handling" the payment!

I am considering setting up an independant online shop but am wondering how much work(effort) money and time it would take.

What are the most simple ways of generating traffic to a new website?

would i get any traffic?

fact of life mik, to get your product out there your going to get hit in the pocket from every angle.

Online Auction sites, costs of having a shop, rent for a pitch in a sunday market, taking a stand at a trade show - they all take a chunk out of your profits

You just have to swallow it and built it into your costs and price the items accordingly. The likes of paypal have it wrapped up, doing it yourself is never going to succeed unless you spend loads promoting it, and at that rate you need to charge as much as paypal do anyways !

I'd have concerns myself over handing CC details etc to a independant site that isnt a big name

bikini widow

http://www.etsy.com/

egan007

Be careful what you wish for.

Look at what percentage of the sale you pay in costs. .ie ebay charges and paypal charges.

For this money you get advertising through ebay and secure transactions through paypal.

If you set up your own store you will have to promote it and directly compete with ebay and you will still have to pay payment handling fees with a bank.

No matter how you sell on the internet there will be a cost overhead, to justify the outlay for your own online store you should be confident of the market. i.e. that you will actually sell something on your site.

Another thing to watch out for is that people might only buy your product on ebay because of percieved savings.

Are you being ripped off? Maybe you just need to increase your price.

EKRIUQ

I got sick of ebay, at one time I was listing a couple of hundread items a week and I didn't mind paying for the items I sold but the items that didn't sell was costing a huge chunk of money every month. Ebay has just turn into one big market place for business's.

Bandara

Namesco wrote: »

I got sick of ebay, at one time I was listing a couple of hundread items a week and I didn't mind paying for the items I sold but the items that didn't sell was costing a huge chunk of money every month. Ebay has just turn into one big market place for business's.

Wasn't that the idea though?

delllat

I was hoping there was a cheaper way to advertise and sell but i can live with these charges for the time being

also to the guy who wouldnt feel safe buying something from a small website you really have nothing to worry about
You are automatically insured against misuse of your card
I have used mine in every kind of transaction and never been ripped off yet(touches wood)

occasionally an item doesnt get delivered and youre protected against that too

most recently i had a problem where a gesture of goodwill on my part nearly got me ripped off as i delivered an item by hand to a nearby customer who later pulled a chargeback and the paypal reversed the transaction out of my account

I lost the item and the payment

So I called the guards and decided to press charges for theft and fraud,made a statement and a lot of noise since the guards decided they were too lazy to investigate and told me over the phone "we are not a debt collection service"

eventually the situation was rectified and i got paid in full but really its the merchants who are taking a risk on credit cards

the credit companies are very powerful and can and will reverse a transaction if they feel its justified

when it happens they dont even want to hear your side of it,they almost always side with the cuastomer rather than the retailer