Selling on eBay

[Evowrap]

hi guys

I’m new to the forum. I have a dilemma. We’re looking to start selling on eBay. There’s some extra money to be made but we will have to lower our prices to compete. We won’t make as much as our website as we’ll have to charge less but it will be a nicer extra revenue.

I’m worried that but selling under our normal brand we will weaken our brand and cause confusion due to our website prices being harder.

I’m thinking that I should sell under a different brand name.

Would be interesting to see what anyone else’s thoughts are on this.

 

[Caledonian TV]

Have you thought of using Ebay to offer "loss leaders"? - i.e. a limited range of product (Ebay exclusives if possible) which you can afford to sell at minimal markup; offer support documentation with your Ebay sales (instruction sheets etc) which tacitly lead people in to your site... Strictly speaking Ebay do have an issue with this, but it's commonly done.

 

[Mr D]

Why would you cut your price?

You can try and be the cheapest seller of your type of goods on ebay, however if there are more sellers who also want to be the cheapest then a price war can develop.

Set your prices, if you get a sale great. If not what have you lost?

 

[Iain_Henderson]

I'm on eBay, Amazon, and website and it would seem very few customers actually compare prices over the various platforms.

It seems folk are loyal too (get used to) one platform and stick to it. Price as you need to and see what happens!

 

[Tom Davies]

I agree with Mr D. Last thing you want is a price war!

I used to sell on eBay and I was surprised at what people would pay for things I would consider low value.

 

[Lawson@CBF]

We fulfil a lot of Amazon and eBay resellers goods and the race to the bottom often makes the business unsustainable. Good feedback and reputation building seem to help any type of product reseller grow. As the others have mentioned people want a good deal but are savvy enough to understand cheapest isn't necessarily the best option.

 

[Gecko001]

I am a regular buyer and seller (not as a professional seller) on ebay and have found that many ebay sellers use their listings on ebay to attract regular ebay users to their own website.

Many people will use ebay as their first destination when looking for something on the internet - I usually do anyway. Sometimes I have bought the first item on ebay and then for further purchases of that particular item I will go straight to the seller's own website. The website and ebay price is usually the same, but the website will have a bigger range and that what attracts be too the website for further purchases.

As others have said I do not see why you should charge less on your ebay than you do on your own website. Selling under a different brand name might work if you are worried about the brand image and convinced that you have to lower your prices on ebay, but it seems like just chasing turnover.

 

[Ian Harden]

I sell predominantly on Ebay and Amazon and have found that being the cheapest works against you as a lot of people think it'll be something dodgy or wrong. A friend of mine who runs his own motorcycle company gave me the advice of being about in the middle or in your case, sell at your website prices. The fees are going up soon and that will make you less. i'd be inclined to charge a little more on ebay than your website and as Gecko001 said above me, use it to direct buyers to your website. That is something i will do if i can get my website finished!

 

[jamesandjanie]

How's about keeping the price at its correct level, but sell items in a bundle to make people think they're getting more for less?

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Keep your pricing the same end of... there' no need to lose any margins... if you do start to do that a tenner bet your own webby would see a drop in traffic...

 

[Mohamed IBrahim]

I think it is very important to study both options very carefully before making any decision (apart from the useful advice given here)..the more investigation and study the better

 

[helper]

There's always differnet people who think differently. Quite a few think cheapest is poor quality and avoid it. There's those who want the cheapest and I doubt you can be the cheapest on ebay unless ur a massive seller from within the UK unless those items aren't sold by UK sellers. I look at 3 main things when buy if I don't need the item quickly then almost always the items from abroad are cheaper. If it's needed quickly then I filter to uk only and buy from the 2 3 cheapest ones but which ever has highest feedback or a very good and cLear description and photos. really depends what your items are. Have you worked out the extra cost's off paypal and ebay fees before you are factoring in the prices plus there's always dodgy buyers you will have too take loses on if it's high value items 1 loss and you will lose out alot of money and probably wouldn't be woethical the hassle.

 

[Mr D]

There's always differnet people who think differently. Quite a few think cheapest is poor quality and avoid it. There's those who want the cheapest and I doubt you can be the cheapest on ebay unless ur a massive seller from within the UK unless those items aren't sold by UK sellers. I look at 3 main things when buy if I don't need the item quickly then almost always the items from abroad are cheaper. If it's needed quickly then I filter to uk only and buy from the 2 3 cheapest ones but which ever has highest feedback or a very good and cLear description and photos. really depends what your items are. Have you worked out the extra cost's off paypal and ebay fees before you are factoring in the prices plus there's always dodgy buyers you will have too take loses on if it's high value items 1 loss and you will lose out alot of money and probably wouldn't be woethical the hassle.

You can get the dodgy buyers on amazon, ebay, other 3rd party sites and own site too.
Factor your expected losses into pricing and claim from delivery service as necessary.

 

[KateCB]

If you change the brand for the goods on ebay, how will you get people to be loyal to your brand - you are creating a forever lower priced branded item..... We used Ebay to promote our brand and the prices were identical to the website; we gained a good following and customers who now go direct to the website to purchase, If we has changed our brand, it would have defeated the object....
The only reason we stopped 'selling' on ebay is that they now don't allow interactive listings and our designer is of course interactive, so off it came, but it has been there for 3 years and build a solid customer base at minimal cost.