a few opinions on my website would be nice

[mattyk50]

any general tips on what i might need to change. whether it be typos/ errors/ or just general views on design.

ive had a few people say its maybe too dark, but i dont think its hard to read or anything. what do you think??

[bmedia]

Yuo need to get a lot more feedback FAST! you should try and buy a powerseller account with 3000+ feedback and then you will find you get a far bigger customer base

[mattyk50]

yeah just in the process of getting hold of some cheap odds and ends to sell, just to get my feedback over the 100 mark - then i think i'll start to get a bit of credibility


ps - how would i go about finding a powerseller account that someone might be selling?

[bmedia]

You can find owerseller accounts on may of the forums and its 100% legal to transfer as long as all contact info etc is correct

[Sue F]

Hi Matty,

Design wise I would agree that it is very dark.

It's a personal taste issue really but if it helps we have just had a thread recently about what women like in a web site and dark colours were a definite no no.

Ebay itself is very light and airy as a site so people might not make the connection ... don't copy the Ebay site though as I presume they'll come after you with a big stick (metaphorically speaking of course).

Also the bold text seems blurry on my VDU.

Content wise I won't comment as I don't have a clue about Ebay ... got a hubby who's an Ebay fan so he does all that for me.

Good luck :D

[SillyJokes]

not enough information on what your commission is and who pays for sending it onto the customer (presumably the buyer) but otherwise i'm sure you could make this work

[GNU]

Hi,

I think its quite a smart site, it is dark, but readable. The red text is too glary on the black, but the white / grey text is clear, I quite like it.

Have you got any customers for this service???

I ask as I dont see what value you are adding, by the time a customer has registered with you, arranged collection etc. they may as well E-Bay it themselves.

Ok they would need paypal etc. which takes more time and effort, but most people could ask a friend to list it for them, with a lot less commision.

You are adding cost to the process by double handling the goods, meaning less profit. Another problem selling other peoples goods, is that your seller rating will be affected if they are not honest about the condition / faults etc. You could end up with storage costs etc.

I think this would be a good addition to an existing second hand shop, but Im not convinced it would work as a stand alone business.

Sorry for being so critical, a bad habbit of mine, Im curious more than anything....

Good luck with it.

[mattk]

Your fees are very complex. You say you charge a 25% commission and then you go on to talk about eBay Final Value fees and Insertion fees. It's not clear if your customers have to pay just your commission or all three.

[mattyk50]

i agree about the fees issue, im just trying to figure out how to clear them up a bit!

GNU - not a problem, critical is what i want! its hard to say if there will be a market for it, but with little cash input to get it offe ground i thought it would be worth a go! already had 4 enquiries and ive online been online 2 days and havent started advertising yet!

As for the darkness, do you think it would look better if i kept the grey boxes with white text, but changed the black background behind the boxes to white??

[Top Hat]

I like the idea and think it could work, I presume you've done the maths and you can list enough to make a decent living and enough to pay someone to do it and still make a profit.

I would change to white background

You need more info on your charges, how about some examples.

The questions I had whilst I was looking at your site were: how much will it cost, what stuff can I sell.

I would up your commission on small items, or possibly a minimum commission per sale.

Also may be worth targeting business's, they often have old stock to shift, customer returns etc, and don't have the time or inclination to list it themselves (I know because have loads)

[mattyk50]

FAQs is just being put on the site, which will hopefully answer a few of these questions.

as for what stuff can you sell... i do have a page called "what we can sell"... and at the bottom of this i mention about services for business... this is an area i also think could be quite profitable - selling dead stock for businesses who simply dont have the time. do you think i need to expand upon this? make it more visible??

[Matt1959]

I also think the dark looks a bit sombre. Your dealing with peoples personal posessions and I think you need it a bit more cheery, open and approachable but thats only my opinion. Also, as Ebay is all about trust you need to be transparent ie called the auction team - get a pic of your "team" (doesn't matter whose on it but it brings it to life and will make people trust you more) Get some names down in print so prospective customers can be reassured you have nothing to hide. A contact address would help also.
I restore antique furniture and buy numerous items on Ebay for resale. I've also sold furniture on Ebay with great success and will shortly use Ebay in part to do this again on a bigger scale. It's absoloutely crucial to be openly transparent in your dealings with anything Ebay and that specific factor makes the difference between getting good prices and not - its a trust thing! Not every seller feels at ease about being openly transparent but it DOES make the difference if you can be! Ebay nowadays is often the chosen outlet for selling furniture - if you have stuff you want to sell in this line and want some free advice on what it is and how old it is plus an indication of potential sale price PM me.

Best of luck - you never know, you may become the Bideasy of the north!

[Top Hat]

FAQs is just being put on the site, which will hopefully answer a few of these questions.

as for what stuff can you sell... i do have a page called "what we can sell"... and at the bottom of this i mention about services for business... this is an area i also think could be quite profitable - selling dead stock for businesses who simply dont have the time. do you think i need to expand upon this? make it more visible??

You will quickly discover which is best/most profitable. I think you'll find it will be businesses, I may be wrong.

When you find out what it is, concentrate on that!!

[Matt1959]

I think I'd go along with the above. The general public can be an utter pain in the arse!

[Whistle Ink]

I think Top Hat has something there. Business would be great customers for you. If they are having a clear out then they might have a few items they want to get rid of, maybe more high value and sought after items too!

I also agree with most who say the site is too dark, you need to brighten it up, make it livley, put some feedback from customers on there where the customer highlights the reasonwhy they came to you and the problem / hassle it solved for them.

Maybe have a calculator so they can input the selling price maybe and it works out the fees / commision etc so they know exactly howmuch they MIGHT get.

[GNU]

As for the darkness, do you think it would look better if i kept the grey boxes with white text, but changed the black background behind the boxes to white??


I think so, try it and see how it looks!

As I mentioned, it is the red on black that is less readable, I would change that to grey / white if you are keeping the dark background for the boxes.

I liked the site, but the colour scheme you have is perhaps more appropriate for something like a gaming site.

[Videoguy]

Maybe I missed it, but you don’t seem to have a physical address anywhere on the site. I’d be reluctant to have someone just come and collect something from me without knowing who they were and where it was going - Teeside doesn’t tell me very much. What about insurance? Would I be covered if you had a fire or burglary? I think you need to expand your FAQs to cover this.

Personally, I don’t think the dark colour looks too bad in itself, although it would probably make better sense to have a scheme more in keeping with the eBay colours.

[wilfy]

i think the design is quite swish however your market is obviously targeted at novice interweb users. such users tend to (sweeping statement coming roight up!) to be of the older persuation and therefore may have eyesight issues. Contrasting colours may be better.

very good point about the address though! especially considering my above statement