£1 for free ebay

[Jason_Lee]

I am looking to set up an auction site similar to ebay but specifically on clothing and accessories. Do you think i could get people to invest £1 to get this business set up? I would offer the service for free with no listing fees etc, i would make the money by asking for investment of £1 to start with. Spend the investment on the website business and what is left over would be my profit. I would then run the site for free and make money from business advertising etc.

Please let me know what you think, if its a good idea how would i gain then investment? Just an idea.

Look forward to your input.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I am looking to set up an auction site similar to ebay but specifically on clothing and accessories. Do you think i could get people to invest £1 to get this business set up? I would offer the service for free with no listing fees etc, i would make the money by asking for investment of £1 to start with. Spend the investment on the website business and what is left over would be my profit. I would then run the site for free and make money from business advertising etc.

Please let me know what you think, if its a good idea how would i gain then investment? Just an idea.

Look forward to your input.

I highly doubt it would work to be honest. Getting a website of Ebay complexity developed will cost tens of thousands of pounds and I can almost guarentee you will not find 20/30/40/50 thousand people all wanting to give you a quid to sell some clothes when they can already do it on Ebay (which will probably turn out better for them in the long run, your idea isn't based on a niche at all).

It's like me saying I want to open up a Superstore chain to compete with Tescos which just sells a huge variety of beans and nothing else.

 

[Jason_Lee]

Ok, if i invested my own money and created this business. There are over 1million listings for clothing alone on ebay. If i advertised this well and just focused on clothing. Also keeping it UK based etc. Do you think this could be viable. I sell clothing retail and believe something like this with fantastic customer service would work.

What are your thoughts?

Ebay has the money and the advertising but i feel it lacks personal customer service. I think specialising in clothing and providing a warm and friendly service would really explode.

All opinions really helpful.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Ok, if i invested my own money and created this business. There are over 1million listings for clothing alone on ebay. If i advertised this well and just focused on clothing. Also keeping it UK based etc. Do you think this could be viable. I sell clothing retail and believe something like this with fantastic customer service would work.

What are your thoughts?

Ebay has the money and the advertising but i feel it lacks personal customer service. I think specialising in clothing and providing a warm and friendly service would really explode.

All opinions really helpful.

Like I said before it could end up costing up to £50,000 (possibly much more) for the website development alone. It's unbelievably complex and you would need experts to run it, period. Good marketing could even double that figure.

There are 1 million listings because people want to sell clothes on ebay. It provides a good service, it's cheap and most importantly it has a HUGE buyer base so theres a high chance something will be bought. No one really cares about customer service much to be honest unless their is a problem. Also lets be realistic. Say for example people did want customer service - you would have already spent over £50,000 on development and you would be spending thousands every month just keeping the website up. To make a decent return you would need thousands or even tens of thousands of listings every month, how are you going to provide good customer service to even a few hundred of them nevermind thousands?

Yes you could set it up, yes you may yet a few hundred listings over time (it would never be a success no matter how much money anyone had, in my opinion). My point is with all the costs, time and work involved it would be near impossible to break-even nevermind make a profit (bearing in mind at this point that people have a better chance of selling clothes on Ebay compared to your site with the colossal difference in buyer numbers).

It's an absolutely massive project and it's 100% not viable in your circumstances. Sorry if I sound blunt but I'm just giving you the honest advice.

PS: Check out this thread if you want more opinions on the general concept of your idea, http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=11784 (dont post in it though, it's a very old thread).

 

[garyk]

Yep as Scott says you arent offering anything unique and there are other ones out there, ebid for example who seem well funded and are global but they are not making a dent in ebay at all. You'll be in a vicious circle, you cant attract punters because there is nothing on there to buy and no-one will list anything becuase the audience is too small. This is exactly what happens on ebid.

Gary

 

[Jason_Lee]

Thankyou for your advice.

My idea was just to have a retail website selling designer clothing with an auction area dedicated to the site. I thought it would attract more people as they were specifically looking for clothing etc.

Thankyou very much

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Thankyou for your advice.

My idea was just to have a retail website selling designer clothing with an auction area dedicated to the site. I thought it would attract more people as they were specifically looking for clothing etc.

Thankyou very much

To be honest you would be better off selling designer clothing on your own website/e-commerce setup. If you sell some unique clothing with good prices coupled with an intensive marketing campaign you could probably make some good money (and the costs would be right down).

 

[bmedia]

If you want an auction script buy http://www.phpprobid.com/ then have it hacked to your spec. This will mean low start up costs etc but in my opinion I would think long and hard before you decide to set this site up

 

[Eagle]

I agree with the above - you'll be wasting a monumental amount of time, effort and money going up against eBay.

Let the Wookie win....

 

[Ruthierhyme]

and I say .. Never say Never

If you have an idea YOU feel is worthwhile exploring, do so without investing any money .. get out there and find out if people would be interested .. start small and ask locally ~ be it your local youth group or Gulf club .. grow your network outwards & upwards ....

Remember you'll always get *the doubting thomas types and those critical of your ideas because something bigger and more established exists ... but even they started somewhere ~ don't give up, you could be buying them out in a few years time !

Good luck * thumbs up

 

[pdecaux]

The only thing about going head-to-head with the likes of eBay is that they tend to protect their market share (I know better than to say "monopoly"!) with all means possible. What you want to try to do is find either a niche area or a gap in eBay's scope (there must be at least one).

Don't give up hope, though! If you can design a free version of eBay, then I suspect it would be popular. How about an annual membership fee?

All the best

 

[Malcolm Cooper]

I agree with the recommendation of http://www.phpprobid.com/

I'm not negative but you really can't take on eBay. There's a lot of bad stuff to say about it but respect is due. It's the fifth largest economy in the world!

To be positive though I do believe that you can be successful with your own auction site if you target a highly specific niche market. There are some big niche markets out there. I know of 2, scrapbooking is one and dolls house miniatures is another.

If you focus right in on a particular niche you might stand a chance.

 

[Jason_Lee]

Thankyou for all your advice. I have a 3 year plan for this auction site and have researched what area of auction i want to go in and believe it will work.

WATCH THIS SPACE! - I'll keep you updated.

Thanks again for you input, its always nice to have other peoples opinions.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Waste of time and money.



However, good luck.

 

[ebaby]

Thankyou for all your advice. I have a 3 year plan for this auction site and have researched what area of auction i want to go in and believe it will work.

WATCH THIS SPACE! - I'll keep you updated.

Thanks again for you input, its always nice to have other peoples opinions.

Hi Jason,

I know exactly how difficult it is to have an idea and to believe in it completely... however, ask yourself this question...

Why exactly would people want to put their items on your site and not on eBay? In my opinion you need to have more on offer than an auction site. I have just recently launched a website where I offer people free listing for their baby stuff (no cost to list and no commission). However have been met with a surprising reluctance for people to place ads for their stuff.

Give it plenty of thought and try be objective about it. Too many mistakes are made when one becomes emotionally attached to a project.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[JamieM]

I genuinely wish you good luck with this but believe you will need a barrel load of it.

Loads of people have tried similar sites and failed. Some sites which should be of interest to you have had (very) limited success.

Ebid
QXL
Nochex Classified

The Nochex one speaks volumes for me.

FREE listing is of no appeal if there are no buyers.

Do plenty of research before you spend any money on it.

 

[Jason_Lee]

What would be the best way to research this idea and advertise it? I have a few ideas of how to advertise this venture but all input would be more than welcome.

All input extremely valuable.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Just to build upon someones point before what would your answer be -

Why would people use your website instead of Ebay?

 

[Jason_Lee]

The website would be dedicated to clothing. All people on the site would either be buying or selling clothing, nothing else. It will be UK based. There will be shops for local clothing businesses to advertise all their stock instead of setting up their own website which is quite expensive. I feel that with the right marketing people would use this website rather than ebay, or maybe aswell as ebay. Taking a very small percentage of ebays customers would be very financially rewarding! Im not talking about making millions like ebay. I talking about making a successful business in my own rights.

There will be a retail area to the the website where i will be selling my stock. I have other people already waiting to sell their stock on my site (local, quite large companies). I feel that if i can advertise well and get quite abit of stock on my site to start with then that will generate alot of customers.

 

[Matt1959]

One thing about Ebay and that is its huge huge huge and often items for sale get buried beneath the sheer volume of repetitive rubbish. Also Ebay is good for cheap - if its not cheap it probally won't sell. Personally I love Ebay BUT I can see its disadvantages! So as long as you don't compete with Ebay and don't want to be as big as Ebay (obviously!) maybe the comparisons an unfair one to make?

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Right I'm going to play devils advocate here just to help you get the realistic picture. If the pro's outweigh the con's then go for it.

The website would be dedicated to clothing. All people on the site would either be buying or selling clothing, nothing else.

Why is that a reason for someone to use your site instead of Ebay? Whether it's just clothing or lots of different things there will be more people buying clothing on Ebay compared to your website.

It will be UK based.

Ebay has a UK version.

There will be shops for local clothing businesses to advertise all their stock instead of setting up their own website which is quite expensive.

Ebay has that too.

I feel that with the right marketing people would use this website rather than ebay, or maybe aswell as ebay.

Feeling is all well and good but it's often down to the love and care of an idea, which I've had a lot of experience in (having an idea which you can only see the good in but it actually isnt viable and/or crap).

Taking a very small percentage of ebays customers would be very financially rewarding! Im not talking about making millions like ebay. I talking about making a successful business in my own rights.

Heres the contradiction of your entire plan, let me explain.

For people to put their items on your website there has to be a large amount of potential buyers or no one will make any money. Now a small percentage of Ebays customers isn't really a large amount and if you don't have enough then no one will want to sell. It is either a large amount in direct competition with ebay, which you can't afford to do, or it's forgetting the whole idea.

I understand your point about a small amount of customers but you really wont make much money. A website of this complexity costs thousands, I would be surprised if you ever broke even (bringing us back to the point of no perticular reason why anyone would want to use your website instead of ebay, where it's likely they will make more money that way).

There will be a retail area to the the website where i will be selling my stock. I have other people already waiting to sell their stock on my site (local, quite large companies). I feel that if i can advertise well and get quite abit of stock on my site to start with then that will generate alot of customers.

Now you see, a normal e-commerce website with suppliers will probably cost £2/3k and cost a couple of hundred per year to host. With the right brands you probably will make a tidy sum. Now when you want to start making your own ebay website costs go from £2/3k up to £50k-£100k and hundreds of pounds per month to host. It is extremely unlikely that you will make enough money from the auction side of your website (which is the major cost involved) to possibly break-even.

You also mention 'advertising well'. Saying that is all well and good but when it comes down to it advertising costs a lot of money to be decent, ecspecially with the customer base you require for this website and the fact that the incentive to use your site over ebays really isnt that good. The Internet is huge and to make even a small wage I bet you would probably need tens of thousands of pounds in marketing.

Just think of how big the internet is, what percentage of the internet base sells clothes on auction websites? Then take into account what percentage wants to use your site over ebays. I can guarentee the percentage is probably well under 0.001%. You need to find that 0.001% of your potential customers out of 100% of the Internet. It's like trying to find a Toothpick in a haystack.

My advice: You have a good chance of making decent money with your own online clothes website, in my opinion the ebay type site just wont work. However if you have hundreds of thousands of pounds to make and market this site then it could be quite viable, if you do then go for it. If you don't then if I were you I wouldnt waste my time.

I also noticed earlier someone mentioned an auction website script which can be used to make your own auction website. If you really think this will work then that is by far your best bet. If it's anywhere near decent you might actually have a chance of getting revenue. However I doubt it.

 

[Jason_Lee]

Scott thanks alot for your posts. I agree with alot you have just said. I already have my auction designed, it just needs making live. The main reason i came up with the idea is because i have been selling designer brands for many years now online on my own site making a nice tidy sum. I just believe there is a market for this idea.

I know exactly what your trying to get across, its just there is that many scams and 'garbage listings' for things such as ebooks and wholesale contacts etc. If i had my site that i already have but with an auction area in, and filtered out all the junk listings i think there would be an interest. I know the figures of advertising as i already have a site with alot of dedicated traffic.

Its just a matter of turning the negatives from ebay into possitives for my site. I have not spent much to have the auction area to my site done as my friend from university did it for me and i already advertise my site. So with little investment and alot of hard work i will see where it gets me.

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Well if you're sure and the cost isn't that high then go for it. Being an Entrepreneur is all about taking risks after all.

 

[Jason_Lee]

Do you mind if i ask with what experience are you talking from as your profile says you are only 16. For a 16 year old you seem to have huge opinions about business.

No offense im just curious.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Do you mind if i ask with what experience are you talking from as your profile says you are only 16. For a 16 year old you seem to have huge opinions about business.

No offense im just curious.

I do have huge opinions and I don't talk from much experience (I have had experience with media, marketing and e-commerce related sectors since I was about 11 but I've only recently started gaining proper knowledge. So I wouldn't really call all those years 'experience' since I was only skimming the surface).

However if anyone with experience thinks I'm wrong and disagree's with anything I've said in this thread then they are free to do so.

I don't think age matters much in these circumstances to be honest. If a 60 year old was working for 40 years in agriculture and a 16 year old was working for 2 years in e-commerce, who would be considered to have the most experience in this situation?

I was trying to word that so it didn't sound like I think I know everything, don't think I did very well .

 

[garyk]

I would agree with Scott, but sure if you truly believe you can make it work then stick with it and do so!

In fact ebay werent the first auction site, QXL started and had quite a lead over ebay, not sure where it went wrong really, ebay slowly crept into the collective consciousness! Maybe QXL were a little too early and ebay got their timing spot on!

It is a mountain to climb though, put in ipod on ebay and you get 36267 results in consumer electronics on ebay, the same search on ebid (who I think are ebays biggest competition) turns up just 311, where you gonna advertise?

Gary

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I would agree with Scott, but sure if you truly believe you can make it work then stick with it and do so!

In fact ebay werent the first auction site, QXL started and had quite a lead over ebay, not sure where it went wrong really, ebay slowly crept into the collective consciousness! Maybe QXL were a little too early and ebay got their timing spot on!
Gary

Such a thing happened with many websites around the time of the dot com boom. New ideas were generated and put onto the Internet market like QXL for example. Since the whole concept was fairly new and untested a lot of people developed on existing ideas then launched something much more successful which destroyed the only competitor (which was the original idea). It's a case of trial and improvement, ebay and Google are prime examples of this.

The problem is these days people know the value of the Internet and there has been enough happening for people to have a much wider knowledge of what works and what doesn't. For example before the year 2000 if I had an idea I thought would work I'd probably make it basic and improve at my own pace. These days you have to go from 1 to 100 or your idea will be replicated within weeks, something which is much more common now compared to many years ago.

 

[TJ Stephens]

Great idea, but think of the competition.

 

[Ruthierhyme]

Great idea, but think of the competition.

if competition scares you .. it just means you're personally not ready for any head to head involvement ... lots are

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

if competition scares you .. it just means you're personally not ready for any head to head involvement ... lots are

If you don't have much money and you're ready for a head to head involvement then it's most likely you will fail.

It has a lot of variables though including the competitions success and the budgets for the opposition and yourself. Also most importantly it depends if your idea is better then the competitors, in this case it isn't.

 

[dataferret]

Think of it this way. eBay is huge, amazon is huge and so are all the well know auction sites. They got big investment and big budgets at the start. You CANNOT compete in their market space without having equal budgets and resources - at least not directly in their market space.

You see eBay and all the other big web firms have a fatal flaw (more than one actually). They are too big, cover too wide an area of their marketplace (i.e. all things to all people) and they charge too much. The only reason people use them is because there is currently nothing to rival them.

All this said, they have done a lot of things right. Save yourself some money and study their business model, then take it apart, improve it and reassemble it. I guarantee you will develop somehting better - you just need to finance it.

If it were me I would start by taking out the fee charging system. eBay is littered with people complaining at how much it costs to list an item on a per capita basis. It is great for beancounters who can see the money roll in but for the small firms trying to flog their wares - forget it. The overhead is too great for them to make decent money (but they still do sell bless them - just have to shift lots)

So top tip number 1 - No Listing Fee (Bay)

Next lets look at what they try to do in the marketspace. You cannot compete here - they cover everything for everyone. But you have something when you say you want to specialise in just clothing. It gave me an idea. How about taking each category on eBay and turning it into an individual auction website - basically a huge auction network. Sell all the ones you do not intend to operate as franchises - each working to the same rules and each cross-linked. Now you have the equivalent of an Internet co-operative - multiple businesses working as one under a singular charging mechanism and operating memorandum.

So, you specialise in the clothing, another franchisee gets in at the start and does the boats etc etc. all the sites could be searchable from one search box.

My point for this post is as follows: Just because something big exists does not exclude you from setting up as a competitor. You just need to find a better way of doing it, a unique way to market it and a sustainable way to finance it. The bigger firms could be so big they are dinosaurs - slow to react and change. Ultimately they may offer to buy you out - take the money and run if the offer is generous.

Look at all the cars in the world (including ones you build yourself) and the wide number of makes, models, colours, and retailers. Here is a classic example of hugely successful companies in competition with each other (and the hobby builders too), yet nobody has once said - "pah - open a garage or fuel filling station - you will never compete against..."

Ignore all the pessimists who simply say "already been done". They are bean counters (no offence accountants) who are risk averse. An entrepreneur is someone who weighs up the risks, works out the advantages then runs with the idea.

Good luck and I hope this helps

 

[bidonalot]

it seems as ebay have this idea that they are the best auction site, in my opinion its the worst auction site, as i was treated very badly by them ive opened up my own auctiuon site, it seems if you try and do that some dont like it and your site goes down and nobody can log on or register. so whats the reason.

 

[bidonalot]

i Will Make It My Goal To Make Bidonalot.com The Worlds Best And Biggest Online Auction Site I Dont Worry About Ebay They Are Just Another Online Auction Site They Are One Of Many.with A Little Help Bidonalot.com Will Succeed Because I Will Do Everything In My Power To Make It Succeed.here Is My Plan..
firstly People Register For £2 And Get £2 Credit After They Have Been Verified Paying The £2 Via Paypal So In Fact Its Free To Register As You Get Back Your £2. This Serves A Good Purpose Because No Credit Card Details Are Kept.next People Can Pay With Paypal Or Aucpay, In Turn Youshopwedrop.com Arrange The Delivery With Expressroadhaulage.com So Everything Is Kept Together As All These Sites Are Owned By Me.nobody Will Be Allowed To Sell Counterfeit Goods Either And Customer Care Will Be Top Of The List. Yes Ebay Dont Bother Me, Its Not How Much Money You Have Or How Big You Are.lets See How This Goes And Maybe In A Few Months Time Bidonalot Will Be The Worlds Biggest And Even Bigger Than Ebay And Its My Goal To Do Just That.

 

[HC-Martin]

If a 60 year old was working for 40 years in agriculture and a 16 year old was working for 2 years in e-commerce, who would be considered to have the most experience in this situation?

The farmer obviously...don't all farmers use Ebay???

(Sorry couldn't resist!!! - Happy Christmas )

 

[Eagle]

See How This Goes And Maybe In A Few Months Time Bidonalot Will Be The Worlds Biggest And Even Bigger Than Ebay And Its My Goal To Do Just That.

Is it April already....?

 

[HC-Martin]

i Will Make It My Goal To Make Bidonalot.com The Worlds Best And Biggest Online Auction Site I Dont Worry About Ebay They Are Just Another Online Auction Site They Are One Of Many.with A Little Help Bidonalot.com Will Succeed Because I Will Do Everything In My Power To Make It Succeed.here Is My Plan..
firstly People Register For £2 And Get £2 Credit After They Have Been Verified Paying The £2 Via Paypal So In Fact Its Free To Register As You Get Back Your £2. This Serves A Good Purpose Because No Credit Card Details Are Kept.next People Can Pay With Paypal Or Aucpay, In Turn Youshopwedrop.com Arrange The Delivery With Expressroadhaulage.com So Everything Is Kept Together As All These Sites Are Owned By Me.nobody Will Be Allowed To Sell Counterfeit Goods Either And Customer Care Will Be Top Of The List. Yes Ebay Dont Bother Me, Its Not How Much Money You Have Or How Big You Are.lets See How This Goes And Maybe In A Few Months Time Bidonalot Will Be The Worlds Biggest And Even Bigger Than Ebay And Its My Goal To Do Just That.

I admire your passion and drive...wish you the best of luck!

 

[Matt1959]

whats so wrong with Ebay and what have they done to upset you?

 

[bidonalot]

Ebay Have Done Nothing For Me Or Against Me Just Dont Like The Excessive Fees And No Help From Them When You Have Problems

 

[bidonalot]

Put It This Way Ebay Will Be The Last Name I Want Anyone To Mention On My Site, I Dont Even Want People Who Log On There To See The Name Ebay, There Are Other Online Auction Sites Besides Ebay

 

[Matt1959]

I can't think of a more cost effective way of reaching so many potential buyers than Ebay. Its also relatively risk free in that you don't pay (much) until you sell. Most of the moans I read about are due to peoples unwillingness to follow their rules.