Question
I believe there is a great need for a definitive article on "How to Start a Web Store" (maybe with a subtitle - for eBay sellers)
While there is a lot of information available, I've yet to see one article that guides people through the process, step by step, from start to finish.
Less so for eBay sellers that have some experience and are looking for expansion opportunities but will maintain an eBay Store.
I hope this thread might explore the topic, gather suggestion and prompt someone like Jim to edit the available material into an article. (Much like the great SEO article he recently published in the Business Journal)
I'll offer these thoughts to start the discussion.
Since it's an ever changing marketplace I think the article should be an overview which is edited and revised, as needed, and contain links to ongoing discussions where specific elements of the process are discussed. If published in the Business Journal it might mention that it is a sticky thread on here that will continue to be revised, expanded and adjusted to meet future developments.
It might contain a number of core steps with a summary of that concept and links to on going discussions.
1) Introduction to selling on the Internet
2) Making a Business Plan.
3) Selecting a platform and thinking about using a designer. Discuss installer and designer services.
I think an eBay Store is the best "boot camp" available to get experience in running a web store.
For those ready to move on, these options should be explained.
A) Get hosting space and build your own site (with or without the help of a designer)
B) Use a free osC package (Again, with or without a designer)
C) Buy a package site you host (W or w/o a D)
D) Rent a packaged store space and hosting from a provider. (Including specialized Malls)
E) Use a commercial service that provides a completely integrated package of web selling.
How to pick a service that meets your present and future needs, goals, wants, experience level and budget.
What's important in a site.
Explain why SEO are the first, second and third most important factors of a site. (Like the old real estate saying - location, location, location) What's needed for SEO and, eventually, your site to succeed with search engines.
What else is important in a site? (Maybe a few dozen specific components)
Let's talk URL. (explain this topic)
OK, you have your choice of a site, an URL and maybe help. Now what?
(Process and time.)
What's the same and what's different with your eBay Store and your own web store?
Tools.
Research.
Traffic.
Support communities.
Advertising. (paid and free)
Payment processing.
Inventory control and other office management issues.
(There are more but the above is a start of the outline)
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At best this could be an overview with links to specific discussion (threads or Forums) on every individual element and a library. The threads/forums could include new developments, new services, a breakdown of specific details and a place for people to ask questions or hold discussions.
Service providers could participate.
So, is something like this needed, what should it contain and how can it be best presented?
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It's a great idea. Go for it. Maybe Jim will allow our residents here to chime in and vendors as well. Sounds interesting and about time.
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Great outline. Could people just chime in on this thread for starters? Hope so cause here goes:
If you have had a successful eBay store for some time I think many of the skills are transferable. For me that takes care of 1 and 2.
I got a domain from Godaddy and chose Shoppal to put my store on. It seemed the quickest, easiest, cheapest, and most similar to setting up an eBay store. I prefer to do it myself without a designer and would rather stock inventory and start selling than learn to set up a cart. Shoppal has all the pieces in place so I pretty much just took my lead from them for counters, cc, keywords etc. So far so good. Very helpful boardies over there. The worst that could happen is it wouldn't work and I would have wasted my set up time so I decided to just do it and learn on the way.
I wrote up some of the things I did as a total novice for SEO/promotion on another thread on this board. My counters are showing a good number of hits from the search engines and links I have put out. I guess they are working because I have only had my site for a month and sold more on it today and yesterday than I did from my eBay store. Once again I would like to thank the members of this board who helped me so generously (Cobaltlady and Dewitt)!
The marketing is similar to my eBay store except I am doing package inserts with a coupon which I didn't do on eBay. I just got my first eBay customer using the coupon on my site.
I have gotten great support from the various boards. What an amazing community!
I haven't paid for any advertising yet--except to run eBay auctions on a new user i.d. that forces them to check-out through my site. I have already had a $45 add-on from this. It is a bit of a nuisance, but a worthwhile experiment. Funny, with a 0 feedback i.d. I have had 100% sell through on the auctions I put up.
My inventory control is a a disaster so that it job one once I finish stocking my store. I'm putting new inventory into my site so that eventually I won't have items in both. If anyone knows of an earthquake proof way to store 1000 dishes let me know
I'd love to hear what other people have done to make the transisition from eBay to St. E. I'm excited to have started the process. Kim
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Kim, I'm just thrilled for you! I'm getting more and more into vintage dinnerware. So I'm following what you're doing closely. After looking at your site, I don't think we're in competition. My stuff is more for people looking to complete a set they inherited from Grandma.
Your site looks very nice! I'm sitting here cheering you on! (And even if we were in competition, I'd STILL be cheering you on! Building a website is a major deal.)
Jo
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Yes, hopefully we can collect an overview of the primary steps necessary to start a web store including links to articles and discussions on these topics.
I think of this thread as research for the eventual article someone will write.
That article will hopefully become the definitive guideline for eBay sellers starting or already running commercial websites ( it may need to be updated and/or revised occasionally)
The article would summarize each step and link to discussions or research sources where details and new developments are discussed.
The article might, for example, discuss SEO and even incorporate an outline as presented in the recent Business Journal article on that subject.
Then it would link to SEO discussions. The forum where SEO discussions are held might breakdown into very specific threads on topics like GoogleBase feeds or MetaTags. As shared experience grows, research links are included and new developments discussed in the threads, the initial article would stay valid because the details of each primary step would be constantly updated in the discussions.
eBay Stores offer a very easy path to opening an online web store. (Of course it comes with substantial ongoing expense not to mention heartache and frustration)
eBay Stores can be opened with a few clicks of a mouse. There are numerous design elements available and the appearance can be personalized by the user or they can hire readily available help who are experienced and reasonably priced.
Listings are easy, feeds are provided to search engines, a large community exists to help with almost every question, examples of best practices abound and, the big plus, eBay provides traffic.
Almost any idiot can open and run an eBay Store (as many of us have proven)
But after awhile we start to measure productivity and start to wonder whether this "easy answer" isn't much too expensive.
Expensive not only in fees but in time spent dealing with regulations, changes, glitches, poor eBay customer service, destructive business practices that are not just tolerated but encouraged (like 99 cent pricing and $40.00 shipping for small items), feedback blackmail and endless other issues that have caused a deterioration in profits whether measured as a percentage of sales or, more importantly, as compensation per hour for our time.
Stand alone web stores look attractive because they seem to offer a dramatic lowering of ongoing fees, greater productivity and much less wasted time. (Not to mention returning control to the seller over numerous elements of his business which eBay now dictates and the opportunity to remove that vague feeling of dread that no matter how bad eBay is now, things will get worse.)
When an eBay seller steps out into that alternative world of web stores ( the quest for St. Elsewhere) it's a rude awakening.
eBay offered one easy choice for starting a store, a selection of helpful tools (when they work), a user community for support and, the big issue, traffic.
Looking elsewhere we find hundreds of choice, endless tools, fragmented support and a need to generate our own traffic. (and everything comes with a learning curve)
It can be confusing and frustrating and discouraging and, well, seem almost impossible.
While some places seem to offer an easy alternative answer they often prove unproductive.
Finding the right answer can be difficult and many of us have tried and failed with our initial attempts.
If eBay didn't make doing business on their site so expensive and difficult, I think many of us would never leave.
But eBay is eBay and they keep pushing us out the door (by, among other things, always putting their hands deeper into our pockets).
What started as a tickle of sellers leaving is now becoming a stream and we are encouraged by those who have gone before us and found a better way.
"How do we do it?" is the universal question.
"How we do it" is what I hope the article, born of this thread, will answer.
Many commercial services claim to be the answer. All have well designed Home pages that promote their features. None list their limitations. Finding the one that is right for you is daunting.
Let's do what has been proven to work.
Let's help ourselves, together, to find the better way to make this journey, to understand and complete each step, and, once estabished, to make our site productive.
Ourselves, together.
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Ray - I don't think the process of opening my web site was that much different than opening an eBay store (only because I used a hosted cart that has all the elements in place similar to eBay - without the eBay ). Actually it was probably easier because when I opened my eBay store they were pathetic. As is typical with computers the tools available multiply faster than we realize--I'm always using outdated technology because I didn't realize they invented something better and I just keep going along the old way. I probably spent less time opening my site than some sellers did revising their listings for Express...
The boardies outside of eBay are just as helpful if not more so because they aren't censored (and they love to help people get out of eBay's clutches ). IMHO eBay is going down the tubes for store sellers since the search manipulation and Express. Yesterday I had 26 hits on my 5 year old eBay store and 46 hits on my one month old web site. I also sold more from the site.
Summer is the perfect time to get a site up and going so it will be ready for fall and Christmas. I urge all who are interested to go for it. So what if you make a mistake--it won't cost you that much (speaking as a person who experienced a spectacularly expensive business crash and burn in the "real" world), you will have learned a lot in the process.
Jo - THANKS!! I just sold another batch of stuff off my site to someone who asked for a discount on some of my eBay items (no yellow button luckily). I redirected them to my web site with the coupon and they used it. I don't have shipping in my listings in my eBay store so when they ask for a quote I give them the link to my store and the coupon (which is not valid on eBay). I then add that item to my site if it is not already there. It is the buyer's choice.
I am posting my experience on the boards because of other's doing the same which helped me. Thanks to all. People I only know through avatars and smilies are more helpful than many college classes . Kim
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I don't have shipping in my listings in my eBay store
Interesting! Definitely something to think about. Delighted it's working for you!
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Kim,
Your store/site looks fantastic, and I could adapt to that (with diff. colors, items, and text) with no problem. You could start with how do I get a site up like yours?
I am selling CDs, LPs and 45s, music videos and a few books and magazines. So I am not in competition with you at all. Please spills the beans on whae and how.
I agree that ebay has been great at first, ok last year, and this year I feel pushed and squeezed (out the door) to start my own gig out there is St. Elsewhere, because you are so right, it can only get worse. They will raise fees and continue to raise fees. I don't like being told what kind of payment I can accept. I will accept any kind of payment that can buy gas, food and shelter. I'll bet that they have a special deal with the big companies, and give them deep discounted listing fees because they have so many items listed per day. It's time to get rolling.
So here is my idea and advice I'd like to contribute to this thread.
One you decide you are going to have some of your eggs in another basket besides ebay, start saving all email addresses from ebay customers who buy from you, and also anyone who asks a question about an ebay item. Then once you get your site up, even if it takes months like mine is taking, you will have a list of folks who bought from you before. And you can email them the link to your new store located in St. Elsewhere. You might as well plan on driving traffic even before the road is paved. Keep a note next to the email address like: spender*coolness.com - Jane, spent big on sealed product.
That's what I am doing, simply harvesting a large emailing list for starters.
Please keep the ideas coming, and tell us the expense of the store, and what it takes.
Should I just jump in with godaddy, as I use them for another domain I own. And then shoppal and start selling? Ae those prices really great at 29.99 a month plus extras?
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New/Used
I would encourage you to start a thread in the Fixed Priced Forum and ask for comments on the for rent packaged sites. With nearly a hundred rental choices available and more added almost weekly there are a number of users who might share their experiences and provide links to information and other discussions.
While the packaged sites offer a number of advantages they do, like every choice, have some limitations.
That's why I feel a primer on the basic process is needed. It will allow people to better understand the concept, have the categories of choices outlined to explore ( building a site, osC, purchased packages, rented packages, etc.), and then allow them to find resources to research and implement their choice.
While we will disperse among many individual choices for our specific sites, I see us coming back together, once our sites are established, to join in ongoing discussions of universal issues like SEO, managing an eBay Store and a StE site, advertising options, payment options, up-selling, inventory control and pricing policies.
What I hope to achieve with this thread is to determine if a overview of the primary steps would be useful, collecting suggestions on what might be included, hopefully get it written on here and then encourage the support Forums and discussions to grow around it.
While much of the secondary information already exists on here and elsewhere, I've yet to see a primary concept discussion that takes a user through the entire process, step by step, and provides links to specific support information at each point in the process where choices exist.
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Originally Posted by New/Used
Kim,
Should I just jump in with godaddy, as I use them for another domain I own. And then shoppal and start selling? Ae those prices really great at 29.99 a month plus extras?
I don't know if it is the best, but it is the one I chose and I have been selling for over a month now with the intention of having it well established when the colder weather come in. I have been studying the various boards for several years so that when I was ready I could pick one.
I have less then 500 items so far so the base price is $14.99. I bought the top level domain for a one time $50 and the coupon module for a one time $75. I am playing with the eBay module for $5.00/mo. and I have the cc module for $5.00 month. I put Google adwords on my site so Shoppal gives a $5.00 rebate for that. My monthly fee is 19.99 right now. I wrote about what I did here:
I have also been saving e-mail addresses, but haven't figured out how to do a mass mailing or add a newsletter feature to my site yet. I would love to hear ideas on that, but I guess I should start a new thread.
Jo - I didn't plan to not have the shipping in the listings. When I started my store I don't think there was a shipping calculator. I didn't want to revise, and now I guess it is helping me (or hurting me on eBay). Kim