Question
Many posters on the eBay Store Board have started using the term St Elsewhere when mentioning their use of alternative sites which, by eBay rules, can not be identified by name and, if done, often result in the posts being removed.
So, rather than a poster being able to say "I'm having good sale on Amazon or my website is doing well or I found a new site that looks promising" we are referring to all alternative sites as St Elsewhere.
My definition is:
Elsewhere = any place but eBay
St = Saint = something positive
Or, in combination, any promising alternative venue to eBay.
Since we can't identify a site on eBay we are, of course, limited in discussing it.
The idea was mentioned of having a place where we can openly discuss sites and possibly provide the encouragement and shared support that will help us to find productive alternatives.
While there are a number of Forums here at here that discuss auction venues, Store Fronts and websites this thread might serve as a Gateway for anyone who wants to explore online selling beyond eBay or for people to share the specific site where they are experiencing some success.
On a side note my personal motto for 2006 is "St Elsewhere or Bust"
If you want to explore alternatives to eBay you are in the right place.
If you want to share your positive results with alternative efforts please speak up.
Answer
Well I've been exploring googlebase
All my base are belong to ME
I put up one listing that points directly to my website page. Then I've been making web pages for individual items with a PayPal Buy Now button. Only have 2 so far, but I am hoping to get my whole inventory up before Easter.
I tried a bulk upload but it didn't fill in my info like I wanted it to, so I am creating them one by one as I get a page made.
It's very easy, and you can set preferences like what type of payments you accept, where you will ship (I have mine set at USA only).
I'm still kind of flailing around it, trying to figure the best method of use with the least amount of work
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Great idea, Ray!
I'm marika*books on Ebay and a Stores Board poster. I'm with you on St.Elsewhere or Bust.
I just signed on with shoppalstores. I actually got a website with another webhost a couple of months ago but I could not get it going on my own. I just don't know enough to do it. It drove me mad trying!
But, IMO, shoppalstores is for Dummies. In one evening I got my web site functional and had a few items listed. The first 30 days is free. Then it's $14.99 a month for up to 500 items. If you list more, there is pricing for that, too. It has a shopping cart; is integrated with Paypal if you want that; deletes inventory, as it sells, of things you have in multiples; up to 3 pics for each listing; WYSIWYG editor; several design options & lots of color options for the web pages; Froogle feed; sub-categories. Your website URL can be through shoppal or, for a fee, you can change it to your own domain name.
Anyway, I have looked at a lot of webhosts and webstore set-ups and this was the best I saw for those of us who are HTML challenged or don't have the time to start a website from scratch and can't spend big bucks.
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I just changed my siggy so if you want to check it out you can. Not much listed yet but at least I'm not ashamed of this one!
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No siggy! That's what I get for being away from here for so long!
Anyway, its:
shoppalstores.com/MarikaBook/index.cfm
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I currently have a couple of eCrater stores, but I am committed to learning the joys of osCommerce during the holiday.
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more venues than I know what to do with right now 8)
I have my own hosted website that uses Paypal's shopping cart system.
I have had some good sales from Blujay since I started ramping up my listings there, and I've heard some users are doing well at Etsy.com, which I plan to explore in 2006.
One thing limiting me at this time is my lack of a direct merchant account, hopefully my business will continue to grow to a level where I can justify getting one. That will allow me to offer direct CC processing at some point in the future rather than depending on Paypal.
eBay continues to be the dominant venue in my business, currently its running 83% of my gross sales through November. My hope is to increase my volume generated away from eBay to get that % down to under 50%.
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Great therad, keep me posted on results and such as I'm very interested. I'm part of another site which is dedicated to alternative auction sites, and I've talked with many site owners. Still, I have not found a site that makes consistant sales on my niche consumer electronics like eBay does.
Would love to find a good alternative, if only to increase sales if I can't leave eBay all together.
Answer
Katiyana (Greetings from Saline Co.!)
RE:
One thing limiting me at this time is my lack of a direct merchant account, hopefully my business will continue to grow to a level where I can justify getting one. That will allow me to offer direct CC processing at some point in the future rather than depending on Paypal.
What exactly is stopping you? The added expense? The fees are really not much more than PayPal... some are very comparable, although I'd be careful with some Merchant Acct. providers, as it seems some are fly-by-night.
I would think with your volume, you would make up any additional costs with just a couple of additional sales you will get because you have the merchant account.
PayPal is ebay is PayPal is ebay... customers outside of ebay, for the most part, don't know what the heck PayPal is, nor do they care. Of all of our internet sales, only a handful are PayPal payments.
Just a little thought fodder for you... I wholeheartedly believe that providing direct CC payments will increase your sales.
If I may suggest something, also... if you do get a merchant account soon (and you should!), I would be sure to mention it on your home page, etc. etc. etc.
Oh... another good reason to accept CC's directly... less money in eBay's hands! ...that is unless you use PayPal's gateway!
Cheers
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*WAVING* to FiberGuy
Yes, primarily the added expenses are what's holding me back from getting a direct merchant account. There are monthly charges for maintenance that I don't have with Paypal, a gateway, secure server, safe way to collect/process those direct payments etc etc etc. Extra work that I don't have to deal with when using Paypal. And I haven't had a problem with non Paypal users paying via Paypal for my website, I get several a month this time of year.
From previous discussions I've read, a sales volume of $1000/month minimum seems to be sort of the ground floor level to get a decent rate. My sales volumes will go up and down depending on (1) if there is a new Pokemon release and (2) time of year. I'm getting very close to that target where I can then justify taking on the extra expense of a merchant account.
My accounting software also has CC processing capabilities, I'm exploring the requirements to set that up.
Less $ in eBay's hands is good - may or may not mean more $ in MY hands - but we'll see where it goes.