Free Auctions Websites Vs. Fee Based Sites A Tough Study And Great Insight With ThoughtsOk so I am not the smartest person on the planet. My guess is nobody wants something for free that is bad. They want something for free that's awesome. Well how do we determine this. Well each person has their own likes and dislikes. Here is another example if a person gets a free CD from a band they did not like or know. They may not consider it all to special. If another person got the same FREE CD from the same group they may think it was the most awesome wonderful free item they could ever get.In life there is also a term we get what we pay for. How many of us have taken the short and cheap way out at some point in our life and only later find out it's a piece of junk. Because the product did not do what it said it was going to do or it just broke. The reason why the product (whatever it was) broke or didn't work was because the item was made of cheap parts. The expensive other item is made of long lasting durable parts and that of course is why it costs more. So it will work and last longer. Well the same is true for the internet. If you want possible results you must pay for them in one form or another. Let's start with example ebay, we all or most of us know of ebay, It's the world's largest auction site. Well let's think about something if ebay is the world's largest site how did they get there? Well they paid to advertise everywhere for the title and the high traffic to maintain. Something else we must think of who paid so much for advertising? Well the sellers on the site do. For instance, I pay fees on every item at my store here that is sold as an example: http://shops.half.ebay.com/gooddealsbooks The sellers pay so much to list on ebay plus they must pay commissions on the item again after it sales. So ebay is so big because it takes everybody's money to make it big. Ebay also keeps raising it's fees and it's becoming quite overpriced in my view. This also can become largely costly if your items don't sell. Or if you only sell half of your items then you might break even. This really sucks. Well I am an experienced seller on the net and I don't really like it but what can someone do about it? Well one idea is open a free store such as this one: http://gooddealsbooks.ecrater.com/ Well I did tell you ebay is the world's largest auction website didn't I? Well picture this all ebay is really just the people who sells there stuff. What happened if the people moved there stuff elsewhere? All ebay is the people right? Yes and no It's the people the products and the buyers is really what ebay is. Ok so your starting to say to me where's your point. Well, if ebay is the people the products and the buyers. The problem is this if ebay is number one who is the next biggest auction site. That could probably be overstock.com one day (still kinda pricey not much results and so few items for sale). Amazon is not really a auction site it's a set price pretty much and you buy at that price (nice site but the fees hit if your item sells which is cool but adds up quick). Amazon is really a collection of little stores that make a big one. Therefore amazon is really not a auction site. So where are we left at the Little auction sites . The BIG issue with these is the traffic level. If the site has a traffic level what is it? Where are they listed at in the rankings? What is their plan for getting people to list products on their site? Are these products that people really want to buy or need? Ok so now they have products how are they getting buyers? Is there any small or no upfront fees to help find buyers? Maybe a small donation of 2.00 to help get buyers? How are they advertising? Word of mouth usually doesn't work to well for auction websites but can help. Is the webmaster experienced? How many links do they have when you do a search? Would you be willing to help the site out? You are getting a service for free it's got to be worth something. Once again my free store: http://gooddealsbooks.ecrater.com I do my best to advertise this store and push it to old customers, friends and family. If this store was your store, what would you do to help it work? So you can keep more of the money instead of giving it away to middlemen? Here is a technique say you sell recipes (who knows what you sell) but ok so here is a little tip to help out the sellers. Say you sell on the free sites Monkeybids.com, 7bids.com and IBidFree.com these sites are small enough that you can get away with advertising other sites where your items are listed. So for example you have 50 recipes for sale. There is 5 sites list only 10 recipes on each site. So therefore list all 50 of your items but list only 10 on each site and list the rest on the other sites. It will save you time as your not listing 50 items on each site. ALSO make very clear in your description You have other items for sale at the other 4 auction locations so therefore you have 5 auction sites at once promoting your items. The webmasters will love more exposure as people might sign up and you become a network and use the small free sites and help make it ONE and larger possible buyer base you created. If and when you sell an item donate 5% to the site to get it free traffic (tell the webmaster what your planning) community newspaper ad, church paper, buy traffic off a person on ebay lots of ideas, and/or make flyers and pass them out. Be original invest the money back in the auction network you created. some great FREE and LOW COST auction websites and marketplaces resources: auction.com, Quicklysell.com sell.com, HalfMoonAuctions .com So the sites above is about for now all you really need. I am not telling you to stop selling on ebay but one day it might be too costly to sell there anymore and you want to have a good solid foundation if that day comes. Until the next ebay is truly born we must sit here and help make things happen for ourselves. How is that done? By every listing on a website that is not ebay to help the small websites out and maybe then you might get a sale and not have to pay ebay and ALL there fees. I am a online book seller since 2002 with 1000's of worldwide orders. I have mailed items all across the USA and Canada. I have also shipped items into the UK, Europe, Australlia, Brazil, Norway, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait just to name a few. |