Question
http://www.ebid.tv/
Anyone have thoughts on this site? Looking for transaltors and willing to pay too.... hmmm...
Answer
I looked at the Collectibles category on the U.K. site. I sorted the listings according to number of bids:
http://boxer.ebid.co.uk/perl/objects...mit=%A0Sort%A0
Of the 17,512 listings in the Collectibles category, only 49 listings have any bids. Of the 49 listings with bids, only 4 listings have more than one bid.
Answer
The book category is going like gangbusters
There are 9769 books up for sale and 12, a whole 12, have bids...none with more than one bid.
To be fair, there is a buy it now option on many books and we can't tell how many have been bought with BIN...but the number of current items with bids does make one wonder if just maybe books are not flying out the door as a seller would hope they would.
Answer
I'm just showing options ...with them coming into the US, it may be one... don't live on eBay. It's not worth the fall.
Irene, Thanks. Look at eBay categories and you'll likely find some similarities with regards to bidding vs listings. Collectibles is a good start.
Of the 17,512 listings in the Collectibles category, only 49 listings have any bids. Of the 49 listings with bids, only 4 listings have more than one bid.[/
but the number of current items with bids does make one wonder if just maybe books are not flying out the door as a seller would hope they would.
sharronn, books don't fly of the ebay site either though... I'm waiting till they hit the shores instead.. I get enough UK buyers to make it worth it to enter.
Answer
I've been down the road of listing on free sites with few buyers - Yahoo Canada for example never implimented fees like the U.S. site did. Even though it was very easy to relist at Yahoo Canada, and I listed a lot of my inventory there, using the bulk uploader, for some months (January to August 2001), the lack of sales didn't make it worth my time to continue.
As far as non-free sites are concerned, I tried Amazon auctions (1999) and Golds (1999), and I had a Amazon zShop (1999-2000) for some time. I did do well on Yahoo U.S. (2000) when the site was free, but most sellers abandoned the site when fees were introduced and buyers soon followed.
I also used to regularly read about new auction sites in the Other Auctions forum at AW/Vendio for years and years, looking for posts my anyone at all who had had any sustained success at all with non-eBay sites. I never found anyone who had any track record of success listing on other sites - other than Yahoo U.S. when it was free, and Amazon for books.
Answer
On the other hand, I have seen posters over the years state that they have had some success with their own web sites.
Answer
sharronn, books don't fly of the eBay site either though
Empires...I have been selling books on ebay for many years now. In 1998-2001 books were about 25% of my inventory mix. Starting in 2001 my inventory mix started changing drastically and books became 75% of my inventory mix, with postcards, sheet music and paper ephemera taking up another 20%, leaving 5% for the china, glass and collectibles I originally started with.
for the last 4 years I have maintained a 40% sell through on books, before that it was 50-60% on the books. I could bring it up to 50-60% again if I were as careful about what I listed as I was in the first few years...so, from my vantage point, books don't sit there looking at me plaintively as they seem to do on most of the alternative venues. They do go out the door at a pretty decent rate
Answer
for the last 4 years I have maintained a 40% sell through on books,
pat yourself on the back, that is avery successful sell through in about 80% of the categories in this day and age.
Answer
pat yourself on the back, that is avery successful sell through in about 80% of the categories in this day and age.
Gabs...I'm not sure if I am interpreting your comment correctly or not. I take it you are saying that 80% of the categories on ebay have a significantly lower sell through rate than the 40% I obtain.
If so, I beg to differ.
Medved started doing sell through rates in dec 2003. When you look at the chart for the entire 2004 year you will see my sell through rate is average. On ebay as a whole, sell through rates for the entire year hovered slightly above or below the 40% line. Most of the individual categories were much the same...some, such as books, seem to stay pretty close to the 40% line. Others, such as cameras/clothing & shoes/crafts/dolls/music, hover between 40-50%. Coins seems to be the best with a sell through that seems to stay between 50-60%. The worst is specialty services at 20%. Second worse are computers and networking/antiques/everything else at 30-40%.
It is interesting that although the graph shows a zig-zag pattern across the year, the ups and downs were normally within a constant fairly narrow band and the sell through rates never took a steady downward trend as many, over the last year, have claimed
Answer
They do go out the door at a pretty decent rate
Sharron, I'm happy to hear about the 40% sell through, but, it says nothing about what prices the books realize...
In my category, sell through rates are good if you're willing to compete with the hobbyists selling for 99 cents and down or in the 5-10 dollar range. I'm hoping for more...
But, getting back to that chocolate comment... sounds yummy..