Best site to sell.... ticked at e-bay please comment

Hi all,,,, I am so mad at e-bay rigth now... if I could..errr better not make threats lol

They charged me a $40 featured plus fee that I did not click or request and they are not honoring their new fee structure through my auctiva... and giving me some crap about they dont refund features blah blah blah and running me around when they had the glitch not me... Oh if they don't take care of it I will dedicate my existence to making them loose business....

Anyway yall can tell I am mad so suggestions on better selling sites please I see there is Ruby lane and etsy? are there any onthers and how do they do for you? thank you.. i only sell like 5 dresses a week so I dont have high volume yet.. so i need one that is beneficial for a beginner!

thank you all for your time!

Jennifer

 

Hi Jennifer,
there are many good venues out there.. you might want to look into Specialist Auctions, many of our members are there.

Etsy is free for the store, then a fee for listing~ way less than ebay, and you wouldnt need alot of items there.

I personally love Ruby Lane, but you'd need quite a few items to justify the monthly fee there.

Good Luck to you!
yvonne
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Hi Jennnifer - for so many reasons most of us :restlessvillagers: are fed up with eBay. There are alternatives out there, but I think volume makes a big difference and a steady introduction of new items. It's a hard choice and I will be interested in what others have to say, as soon I will be in a somewhat similar situation.

 

Keep bugging them for the refund on the feature fee and they will give it to you. I have had several accidental features and always got a refund. Be the squeaky wheel..

 

oh I intend to $40 is a lot on a listing that isnt even $40 bucks I am sooooo upset! lol thank you all

I am curious any with ruby lane and etsy.. how do your items sell as well as e-bay better or worse or does it depend?

Thank you

 

Babylon Mall and Main Street Mall are two others. Keep in mind, though, Jennifer, that you have to do your own publicizing when off ebay. You have to work hard at keeping fresh stock rotating in, and you may benefit from attaching it to a blog or newsletter. One thing ebay has going for it is site name recognition.

 

I have to say that when I was on Babylonmall, I sold a lot more than I do now, and I never really had to have a full stock. I was just not happy with the limited design elements. But I do need to sell more. We just have to keep in mind our bottom line.

 

I personally LOVE Etsy. I just recently joined (this week) and set up my store. I already sold 3 things. It's free to set up your store. Each listing costs 20 cents (cheaper than Ebay and it deosn't matter of you list a $100 item or a $1.00 item) and they take 3.5% of each sale period (cheaper than Ebay). You can also have your listings up for 4 months. There is a 5 photo limit but who cares? If you're smart about taking your photos, that's more than enough. It's a beautifully designed site, easy to navigate, easy to list. It's not an auction site so you just set your price and wait for a sale. You also get your own url. For example, mine is http://www.TheDustyDog.etsy.com. Like I said, I LOVE it. I'm still listing items on Ebay though because I don't have the traffic to my blog or Etsy site yet. Without the traffic, the volume of sales goes down. I want nothing more than to throw Ebay the finger and speed off but the truth is that I still need to sell there. I looked into Ruby Lane (because they are fantastic as well) but there's a store set up fee ( I want to say like $75??) and then a monthly fee. I just can't do that right now. I don't have the sales yet to justify $30 - $40 a month.

Check Etsy out if you haven't already:

http://www.etsy.com

Did I mention that there's no bullcrap over at Etsy either?

Best,
Tara

 

I second the Etsy vote! See my other post. I just set up my store and already sold 2 purses!

 

I agree that there is no "best" site to sell on.
I am very happy on Mainstreet and have both a vintage clothes and vintage pattern store there. I am a slow lister and still I sell something every few days from one or the other store. (I do go though bizzare dry periods though, just like I did on ebay)
The prices are good, the owners very responsive and fix problems fast.

I agree that no matter where you go you have to work harder to get yourself noticed. and you need to have a good amount of items avalible.

 

I haven't sold on Ebay since December. Joined Etsy in May and started selling the end of May. I've had 90 sales
so far, so I'm all for Etsy. The one thing to
remember with Etsy though is that you really have to
promote your shop. Join teams, open a Flickr account and
join groups on Flickr, participate in the forums and if you have a blog......use it. (I don't have one unfortunately).

Good luck!

Sue

 

Is there anyway to look at completed listings on Etsy to help research what items are selling for ?

thanks !

 

I think it partly depends on what you have to sell. I personally find etsy difficult to navigate and their searches don't refine the categories well enough. Most of the vintage up for sale is recent and aimed at young women who want chic fun looks - its not for collectors of serious vintage designer wear. I am not knocking etsy - I think its just for a specific type of vintage buyer. If you have older pieces or higher priced items, I would tend to think of another site. I chose Specialist Auctions - I think their search feature is better, and the stock is more like the items I sell and seek.

 

As a buyer (about all I do online right now) I LOVE Etsy and have bought a fair amount on things there.

I don't find Specialist Auctions to be very shoppable, IMHO. the searches just don't function well for me and I can't figure out what I could possibly be doing wrong. Maybe that's just me, though. But I've never bought anything there.

 

How long has it been since you looked there Kristine? I'd say give it another try. There are improvements made there all the time. You can make the search as specific as you want by using the advanced search and also limit the search to the specific area you want to look in.

 

Hi Marge -
I was there about a week ago, clicking through one of your links
I also DID try limiting my searches, but it didn't seem to help?
Who knows? I dunno what it is. Maybe it's just me.

 

Not just you, Kristine. I also have trouble finding things on Specialist Auctions. Maybe I'm trying to be too specific in my searches for certain designers, but my searches always come up with no matches.

 

If it would help tell me what you're looking for. Then I can see if we actually have what you're looking for or if we just don't have it. This way if there's a problem I can address it with our search people.

 

Just a suggestion on using the search. If you are looking for a specific designer click on advanced search. In the keyword box type in the designer name, click on the box that says "search title and description" and then click on search.

There are going to be times when a seller isn't familiar with a particular label and doesn't realize that it's someone else's have to have designer.

 

Thank you all for your replies and as far as Hard work, thats the only good kind... easy come easy go, but the kind worked for stays. God really put this on my hear to stick with it and I am. My goal is to be profitable after a year lol (lots of starting costs) I am pumping my heart into this. I am 26 and energetic, and i LOVE vinage clothing. I was known in my WHOLE town as a hippy becuase I wore odd clothing. I hate that term hippie though (i am not about free love and drugs hehehe) but point is. I am an old soul and I plan on making this work, so i've rolled up my sleeves and am digging in. E-bay finally said they will refund the fee, after threateing to post all the pointless e-mails on the web. but I have yet to see it? but it has only 3 days so we shall see. I am starting to work on the bloggin and I will get there. But this is all a learning process for me. Meanwhile I am acquiring every vintage magazine and guide I can.. Next on my list is fairchilds, and another one I think is called costumes through the ages? Can't remeber. I will let you all know how that goes!

thank you all once again!
Jennifer