Selling online

[cheryl]

Does Etsy work well for you? I set up an account a year or two ago but haven't used it. What about eBay?

It seems to me that a lot of key advertising is needed to get shoppers to your store online. How can one do this on a small budget, though? I don't have the kinds of resources that The Gap, Ashley, and other major, established companies have. Besides link exchanges and guestbooks/raffle boxes at events, what can one do?

[cheryl]

Consistency indeed ... I, too, believe this is key. It's really too bad that eBay won't let one post an external link in an auction. I doubt a lot of customers visit one's About Me page. What about eBay groups? eBay used to have a community section ... ?? The Net is such a financially efficient way to sell, but on the other hand, an estore isn't usually found like brick-and-mortar stores are. When one's going to an estore, s/he doesn't get to see other stores along the way. Bleh! I'd bet a lot more advertising $ has to be spent on an estore than a b&m one?

[cheryl]

"[T]hen create a link to the category of the item, from ebay" Don't understand. Create a link in your auction the the category? How do you word the link? Come to think of it I remember external links in some eBay auctions, but they were to the seller's TOS on her/his site, or to more pics on her/his site, I think. Can't remember. Dang. Not that I'm an eBay seller, but I do want to start up an eBay account just for selling. Or maybe I'll just use Pay Pal's auction tool within my estore, presuming they still offer that capabilty.

What a great idea, donating to an online group! Thanks :D

[Wendy Jones]

Yahoo groups have worked well for me. Not so well on eBay. I have customers that have followed me now over the last 5 years. I own 3 groups and many come because of my embroidery designs. After they test my freebies out that I leave in the files section, they come back and order from my site. I even get requests for certain designs. I also run group buys through my Yahoo groups for embroidery blanks and sewing/quilting supplies. That has helped get my name out there as well. I also advertise in many Yahoo groups that allow it. It really helps. There is one group for Embroidery called Embroidery Billboard that is strictly for advertising. They have over 40,000 members between the 2 groups they own. I donate 2 designs a month and pay $10 for that month or no design donations and pay $25. They then allow me to advertise weekly for that month.

[cheryl]

Tip: Follow up with past customers. Right now I'd like to buy more from an online seller but I can't find anything in my emails about her and from the time I paid, she has never said anything to me. Not even "Thank you for your payment." Normally I wouldn't bother with her again, but occasionally I'm in the mood for giving a 2nd chance. :)

I don't believe in spamming but annually letting a past customer know you're still around can be useful to her/him.

[Matae Reed]

Hello everyone! So happy to be on BCG! I stared listing on Etsy about 2 weeks ago, so I am a newbie (haven't sold anything yet), but I have noticed that I have a huge numbr of views on my items. I am rather nervous, though, because I have no feedback and I'm wondering if that will hinder any potential buyers. I'll keep you posted on this...

As far as eBay is concerned, I've sold on it for quite a few years (reselling clothes, shoes and household items), but I've only sold ethnic items on it for about a year. Sadly I do better selling non-ethnic items. However, recently, eBay added an ethnic clothing category and I'm hoping that it will make a difference with my ethnic items. More to come on this as well.

Has anyone tried selling on iZania? They have an A.A. auction site, but it has VERY little support, even though it's free to list items and they list for 30 days. Maybe bcuz people haven't heard of it??? Please let me know what you think.