frankfromgermany wrote:Xaxaxe wrote:What's it all mean? I'm not sure; as I said, these are randmom thoughts. However, as long as the eBay/PayPal dynamic is the only real player in the online auction business — and, let's be honest, that's pretty much the case — small-time sellers like a lot of us here are forced to do two things: first, limit fees as much as possible (low openers, no BINS or reserves, no bold or other add-ons, etc.); second: pass on some costs to buyers.
Third: Build a customer base that trusts you and sell outside of ebay too. That's what i have been doing a lot lately. You don't get around the paypal fees, but at least you don't pay auction fees.
About the second, if you state the postage fees beforehand and increase them
slightly to cover your costs you won't loose any serious bidders
imo.
The easiest thing to do would be to establish an alternate auction site for a niche. Using yahoo or one of the other established sites.
That would take a publicity campaign, but you could start it off with a link to your own website which would prominently list the other location.
If a critical mass of people could be moved to a single location (which would mean poaching every place you could find) you could generate niche competition. It does exist in some genres and some locations.
So, of the people trying to be players, who offers a significantly better deal than e-bay?
+++++++++
Sample
xxx for sale. "see our website for more offers"
Website describes the seller (maybe acaeum could host a directory for people to describe themselves -- that would be an important part of creating identity "an acaeum seller" for example) and notes that the "best collectables are auctioned at bizcompetitor.com -- link to D&D area on bizcompetitor.
FYI.
Anyway, see you guys when I get back from vacation.