• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Would you pay $250 a year for unlimited auction listings? No fees attached

Started by UnboxingTreasures,

22 posts in this topic

UnboxingTreasures

UnboxingTreasures

Posted
Posted

Of course, consider the traffic to be equal to that of eBay..

 

Do you think this kind of business model would work?

 

Would you personally be interested in paying a flat fee rather than paying a per transaction fee?

 

Do you think a company could be successful running this kind of plan?

 

Obviously, this wouldn't cater to the occasional seller, but I think there would be a nice draw to high end sellers and businesses.

 

The occasional seller could always pay a percentage fee if they decline the "annual membership".

 

What are the prons and cons of this idea (with the exception of the one biggie: customer base)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
chromium

chromium

Posted
Posted

One big danger would be that a few major dealers like Mile High, Neatstuff etc.. would dump tens of thousands of books on the site making it very hard to find offerings from the smaller sellers (where the better deals are to be found) thus leading to potential buyers not bothering anymore to sift through all the garbage to find the jewels.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ajaxfarrell

ajaxfarrell

Posted
Posted
All you have to do is have a search function that can exclude seller's listings such as MH or neatstuff. I wish ebay did.

 

Actually, you can.

If you go to ADVANCED SEARCH at the top of most ebay pages (just to the right of the GREY SEARCH TAB)...it will take you here... ADVANCED SEARCH

 

About FOUR choices down (in bold) it says FROM SELLERS

 

There, you can choose to either (drop down box) INCLUDE or EXCLUDE specific sellers.

 

COOL Huh ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ArAich

ArAich

Posted
Posted
I just got the invoice for three or four ebay auctions last month and it is close to $200. It is just overpriced plain and simple.

 

 

How much was your profit margin???...making a statement like this doesn't prove anything unless we have some sort of context... (shrug)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

Posted
Posted

The major difficulty in this business model is fixed income and potentially unlimited costs to you to maintain infrastructure, etc. Has to be factored in. You also dismissed the traffic comparable to eBay statement like it was a "given" that it would happen; make no mistake...there is no way you can do that day #1...it's going to take more than prepping your site for spiders and search engines for this to happen. A lot of hard work, dilligence, patience, and being thick skinned.

 

The #1 problem is that the comic space (consignment/eBay) is that it is getting crowded, so there would need to be some "big guns" and a "big bang" before everyone forgets about it. Be relevant day 1 or forget about it. There are plenty of case studies abound if you've done your homework (in terms of how NOT to meet your target audience). Of course, you can go in with a whimper, but in every case where that has happened (where I have observed it), the venture has failed.

 

I'm a ray of sunshine aren't I? It's a jungle out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
joe_collector

joe_collector

Posted
Posted
All you have to do is have a search function that can exclude seller's listings such as MH or neatstuff. I wish ebay did.

 

Actually, you can.

If you go to ADVANCED SEARCH at the top of most ebay pages (just to the right of the GREY SEARCH TAB)...it will take you here... ADVANCED SEARCH

 

About FOUR choices down (in bold) it says FROM SELLERS

 

There, you can choose to either (drop down box) INCLUDE or EXCLUDE specific sellers.

 

COOL Huh ?

 

Sure, but that only works on specific searches (which you need to type in each time), and there is no option for a resident list of blocked sellers, which is what everyone wants.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr.Silvestri

Mr.Silvestri

Posted
Posted

I can see something like this working but your programing will take some time because you CAN'T have the site to the way ebay has theirs other wise your asking for a law suit and then your out of business. which ebay or anyother site would like, but given the fact of a flat rate fee up front or spend out through the year will only last so long before you or who ever does this would up the fee.

 

You could also use googles to takes payments which I'm sure they will take a fee for their site being used.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ajaxfarrell

ajaxfarrell

Posted
Posted
All you have to do is have a search function that can exclude seller's listings such as MH or neatstuff. I wish ebay did.

 

Actually, you can.

If you go to ADVANCED SEARCH at the top of most ebay pages (just to the right of the GREY SEARCH TAB)...it will take you here... ADVANCED SEARCH

 

About FOUR choices down (in bold) it says FROM SELLERS

 

There, you can choose to either (drop down box) INCLUDE or EXCLUDE specific sellers.

 

COOL Huh ?

 

Sure, but that only works on specific searches (which you need to type in each time), and there is no option for a resident list of blocked sellers, which is what everyone wants.

 

You can exclude up to 10 sellers from a specific search...

 

"Search up to 10 sellers, separate names by a comma or a space."...

 

If you type in a search like (exciting, startling, thrilling, cat-man, catman, nedor, fighting yank) comics

 

It will return matches excluding the sellers you've listed

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing