How do you redirect people from ebay to your site??

[Johnny77]

Simple question really, but not a simple answer.
I know alot of people do it, but there are rules and regs that say you cant.
Is it as easy as plastering your web address over your listings and hopeing they dont get kicked off, or are there smarter/craftier ways?

Be interested to hear peoples views and tactics

cheers

Johnny

 

[Kailew4kids]

You do need to be careful, i think the main point is not to put any links within your actual listings as these are the elements that are checked.

We just have a link on our about me page.

I'd like to ditch eBay completely & just use our main site but until we generate enough sales away from eBay, we have no choice.

 

[quikshop]

Put an order thank you card in with their goods offering them a juicy discount (coupon code) for their first order through your proper online shop. Other than that ebay will have your wotsits for earrings if they catch you promoting your shop through auction listings

 

[MH1]

Agree with the above, but you can also include your email in your listings for any questions, most people will find your site from that, and also do all your correspondence from your email.

You can also try other things, but read the rules, since once they decide to pull you up they will not negotiate, ebay are big enough to lose anyone without it hurting them much.

 

[yankee candleman]

I keep their emails from paypal and send a newsletter now and again offering deals etc.

There is an unsubscribe request attached.

 

[TopShopper]

You can put classified Ads on Ebay. They are free and you can redirect customers your site legitimately. Don't know why they allow it

 

[fisicx]

The big problem is that ebay shoppers are not that interested in your main website. It's a different customer base to those who use a search engines. This is not to say some have been successful but they are far and few between.

 

[Christiane]

I've been putting leaflets with my ebay order with an offer for over a month now, little result. Will try another offer once the leaflets run out.
Put your phone number and opening hours within your listing, I get the odd phone call that way.
Email address too, as mentioned.
About Me page, as mentioned.
You can put some info on the invoices too. I put ebay ID, website addy and email, etc.

 

[peterthake]

Hi Johnny,

When I began I sold on eBay and also through my own web sites. I got LOTS of customers on my web sites via ebay. I have a few tips.
1. Cross-promote your outlets. Give your ebay shop name the same name as your domain name without the .co.uk or .com. eg my web site was letshavefun.biz so my ebay shop was LetsHaveFun
2. Use images on the ebay listings (use turbo lister for speed) which use your web site graphics/logo. Again, without the .com etc to avoid upsetting eBay but enough to get a few curious potential customers to google your name.
3. You can post your web site details on the about me pages (check this is still true!)
4. In every sale you make put a little flyer or note saying something like "For the full range of goods visit...". I also used to put a note on the sales receipt saying prices were cheaper at my web site since I did not have to charge the ebay fees. You'd be surprised at the number of people who forget you pay fees and this is reflected in the prices.
5. Give a little something with bigger orders to get the customer to visit your web site like a sticker or freebie with the domain name on it. Maybe more relevant if you are selling something where repeat custom is likely.
6. Be sure to use your web site name on your emails and any paper documents you send the customer. Remind customers who you are, where they shopped.
7. I put a strap image down the sides of my images on ebay with my shop (and thus domain) name.
8. Make sure your email signature contains your web site address.
9. Don't put any links to your web site or your email address in the listings. Even if eBay don't spot them, your competitors will and they will report you: it can be costly in money and time .

That is all I can think of right now. I no longer sell on eBay but it is worth doing!

 

[peterthake]

The big problem is that ebay shoppers are not that interested in your main website. It's a different customer base to those who use a search engines. This is not to say some have been successful but they are far and few between.

I don't entirely agree. I think some buyers (myself included) will use eBay and Amazon to see what is available. Then they google a product that interests them. Or they reach ebay and Amazon via adwords because those sites are high in the google rankings. Consumers are more savvy than you might think! eBay and Amazon are not always the cheapest.

 

[rusty1001]

How many people say " I'll look on ebay" - why would you want to dump ebay, it is the default shopping for some people, admittedly bargain hunters but your invoice can have anything on it when you send it out, like your real website,

ebay allow you have anything in the classifieds because you are paying for it, are you sure free, nothing is free on ebay?

 

[peterthake]

Hi Rusty,
I dropped eBay because:

1. There are loads of counterfeit goods and 'cheap copies' of goods on sale. I sell toys and the cheap imitations from China swamp the listings so that genuine articles are not visible. There is also a lot of mis-description and intellectual copyright infringement going on in some areas of ebay. People will not buy the genuine article from you if they see what appears to be the same thing on sale for a fraction of the price direct from China.

2. Some of the customers were not too bright! More so than on other outlets (cue flame wars!). They seemed to need a lot more hand-holding throughout the shopping process and prefered to ask questions than read the eBay FAQs or use the online help. They also asked a lot more questions about the products. I ended up spending more time corresponding and dealing with queries than selling goods.

3. Profit margins are much lower than on your own web sites.

4. A dis-proprtionate number of items got 'lost in the post' when delivered to eBay customers. Draw your own conclusions.

5. Finally, some manufacturers will not let you sell on auction sites like eBay and that included many of my best sellers.

 

[yankee candleman]

How many people say " I'll look on ebay" - why would you want to dump ebay, it is the default shopping for some people, admittedly bargain hunters but your invoice can have anything on it when you send it out, like your real website,

ebay allow you have anything in the classifieds because you are paying for it, are you sure free, nothing is free on ebay?

Rusty, from a customers point of view it is good(ish) but from a sellers point of view it sucks.

Your comment here is like saying why not pay to advertise in a national paper as loads of people read it but cost V sales are never effective for a small business.

I buy stuff from Ebay and I often shake my head in disbelief when I see a product I have marketed totally wrong and they are making probably 80p Net on a £17.99 item.

Not everyone who sells on Ebay understands how the charges work and how anyone can sell an item for 99p still has me baffled. Even if the item cost nothing, it hardly justifies the time and effort put in to marketing, monitoring, packing and posting unless you are making £1 profit on the post, minimum but people still do it.

 

[fisicx]

I don't entirely agree. I think some buyers (myself included) will use eBay and Amazon to see what is available. Then they google a product that interests them. Or they reach ebay and Amazon via adwords because those sites are high in the google rankings. Consumers are more savvy than you might think! eBay and Amazon are not always the cheapest.

Ok, I rephrase this. Agree that people will shop around for products but that'as not waht the OP was asking. They want me to go to ebay and compare auctions/sales and then on a whim visit their site to see the same product at the same price. There is no incentive for the buyer to leave ebay so they don't.

 

[Spock]

Slightly off topic here but someone told me ebay now charge you for 10% of your sale is this true?

 

[yankee candleman]

Slightly off topic here but someone told me ebay now charge you for 10% of your sale is this true?

Yes.

And a listing fee and paypal fees.

 

[Spock]

methinks they have got greedy

 

[MH1]

methinks they have got greedy

Debatable, one thing they definetely do have is the traffic.

 

[yankee candleman]

I don't think it is debatable, I think it is fact.

 

[Kailew4kids]

It's a joke this 10%, i can't believe how much it's gone up in the last year or so.

Look at PS3 games, they have to have free postage now, books also have a limit on the postage you can charge.

eBay is getting more & more restrictive every day.

 

[yankee candleman]

It's a joke this 10%, i can't believe how much it's gone up in the last year or so.

Look at PS3 games, they have to have free postage now, books also have a limit on the postage you can charge.

eBay is getting more & more restrictive every day.

Only for sellers though.

 

[Kailew4kids]

Yeah, it's all about the buyers these day's.

A seller can't leave negative feedback for a buyer, how ridiculous is that.

 

[GTrotter666]

Do most people link up their EBay selling to their website? I can see the advantages to cross promoting but the margins on EBay seem lower for most products surely if the two businesses are not coupled in this way you could charge more through your websites?

Gary

 

[peterthake]

Ok, I rephrase this. Agree that people will shop around for products but that'as not waht the OP was asking. They want me to go to ebay and compare auctions/sales and then on a whim visit their site to see the same product at the same price. There is no incentive for the buyer to leave ebay so they don't.

I think you are wrong! I was a Powerseller on eBay and know from experience that quite a lot of customers DO look on the web for shops selling the same items after visiting eBay. I asked the usual "How did you find us" question on my web site and a significant number of new customers said "eBay". Remember that many people are highly suspicious of eBay and prefer to shop through a 'proper' shop. Not everyone believes that everything is cheaper on eBay (it certainly is not true). Profit margins on independent web sites are lower than eBay, so you can sell items for less on your own sites.

So why don't I still sell on eBay? Rising eBay fees, tedious manual feeding of eBay orders into my accounts package (copy and paste anyone?) and enough customers reaching my web site to keep me busy. But I would still recommend considering it for anyone starting out; it will keep you busy and can be a good source of new customers for your own web site.

 

[rusty1001]

-peterthake

Does ebay not have an accounting system, the turbolister, is the no way of importing order to myob or such? interesting?

 

[peterthake]

Hi Rusty,
There was no import facility when I last sold on eBay (about a year ago). Turbolister is for quicker creation and uploading of items for sale on eBay. It doesn't have an order download facility that I know of. I use Quickbooks and I had to manually copy and paste ebay sales into it. Unless things have changed... anyone?

 

[GTrotter666]

I am planning how I process EBay orders at the moment and am looking at Invoice Manager by aimcosoftware.co.uk. It pulls orders from EBay creates labels, invoices and delivery notes. It also have an add-on to export orders to QuickBooks....

Gary

 

[peterthake]

Thanks Gary. When I last looked there was nothing available. I am not a big fan of 'middleware' but I'd be most interested to read your experiences of using it! Might even persuade me to return to selling on eBay

 

[GTrotter666]

Peter, as and when I have got this system up and running I will report how well, or not, it works.

Gary

 

[ninaleli]

You can put classified Ads on Ebay. They are free and you can redirect customers,

 

[coultog]

We use Tradebox for logging eBay sale. It will only interface with Sage though.