@johnwash1 wrote:
@johnwash1 wrote:
@cherrylunas wrote:
Wish I could code a rival site lol
Look at ebid. Excellent site, functions well, modest fees, been around for 20+ years. But it lacks the massive promotion that a rival site needs. You can only sell well on such a site if you have a large inventory and can build your reputation, for example with postcards, stamps, or craft items/supplies. On ebay-as-was, people just came here and bought your items, because everyone and his dog has heard of ebay.
That's what you'd be up against. But with enough investment, it can be done, clearly. Vinted is doing well, but as far as I can see, they're equally controlling about postage, I don't think I can get the RM collect-from-home that I need. And it looks like ebay has simply copied V's ideas.
@cherrylunas
You're not alone in your optimism, see for example: https://www.reddit.com/r/ebayuk/comments/1joukfx/lets_design_a_better_platform_together/
As I say above, this is neglecting the huge investment in promotion that would be necessary. Unless you happen to be independently wealthy, or have venture capitalists as drinking buddies, I suggest you forget it and concentrate on what exists. I'd love it to happen, but I fear it's not realistic.
But is it realistic to think that an unknown site can exist by mainly selling stamps, postcards and comics for 20+ years without the massive outlay on advertising you envisage? It seems to me that's what ebid has done and moreover as a result of a previous mass exodus of ebay sellers p*ss*d off by an earlier attempt by ebay to impose some sort of postage control on them.
Did ebay have massive advertising from day one? Or did that only come when Wall St. took over a site that was doing quite nicely without them?
The small success I've had there in recent years has been without any self-promotion, just by being careful about key-words and google shopping
Especially in niche areas buyers will go looking for what they want to buy. If they can't find it on ebay they'll look elsewhere. No it won't be as big as ebay, but if you're not looking to sell in large volumes, sales can be made steadily, which is good for me as a part-time private seller who doesn't want to sell at anything near business levels.
