Overstock Online Auction experiment update 1

Ok well I have the ads place on both Ebay Auctions and Overstock Auctions, so far both selling platforms seem to be pretty close in results. Now the big difference is of course the fees Ebay is atleast 35% more than Overstock Auctions fees. The approach I chose for the first experiment is and Auction option with no buy it now and no researve price. The starting price on the auctions is well below item retail value but not rediculously low were item true value is lost or destroyed ( part of the problem with Ebay ). And were in the business of making money not loosing money.
Now this approach may not be the propper approach for this type of item but that wont be determined untill Auction closing were hits and bids can be avaluated. Stay turned for updates..

Ebay Auctions Intergrading Online Game Play?

The secret is out, I found out today that Ebay tends to have games intergraded into there auction platform. These games will give you the opportunity to win prizes and cash. Now Ebay will have a pop up appear as customers enter a search term and a game matches search keywords. Does this sound like fun? for me NO and it should be concerning because customers could be destracted away from your ads or even leave your ad completely to play these online games. Now Ebay will be charging to play these games ( of course they charge a fee ). In reallity Ebay can possibly be making money twice from you, once with insertion fee and then again when your potential customers get leared away from your ad to play a game they found with yours and other sellers key words. Thats Great the Ebay carnival continues. Just keep your eye out and build your own oppinion about this move, there is alot of Ebay propaganda flowing around on the net from Ebay employees, again always feeding positve thoughts and avoiding the real issues at hand, you the seller and your business.......

Overstock Auction Product Selling Experiment!

There has been some very good buzz about Overstock Auctions and what the platform has to offer. I know that Ebay is the giant of auctions but I also know that I do not want to put all my eggs in one basket. So I have decided to do a Auction experiment in Overstock trying different techniques, selling catagories, starting prices, etc. and I will post the results as I they develope. There is alot of options that Overstock offers that Ebay tends to ignore and I have seen growing activity in this Ebay Auction Alternitive. Keep checking in to see the results of this online auction test....

Bulk Email Marketing For Your Online Sales!

When I mention bulk email marketing Im not talking about email spamming. I mean creating targeted email marketing. How do you gain good emails? Well the answer may be right in your email box already. When ever a customer responds to you Ebay Autions or Ebay Store ads they are considered to be opt in. You now have the ok to persue cross promoting items related to the items they are interested in or purchased. Remember to always allow leads in your bulk email marketing campaign to option to cancel any further emails. You can also gain great email list online for a great price, targeted traffic, more bids and higher Auction selling price.

Keep this marketing option in mind when building your business..

About Prostores Ecommerce Ebay Online Store Platform.

Ok now I have had some time to review, experiment, and try Prostores Ebay's new ecommerce plateform. I found the Prostores Platform to be slow, sluggish, unforgiving in some screens, and A overall grade of C. I don't like the set up or the lack of fundamentals. I would love to here about other people experience with the new Ebay product. My view is that it is missing something. Ecrater.com offers a much easier more upfront option to ecommerce store building. I have closed my account and have moved on. I'm sure that ebay will adjust the flaws in this new venture but until then I am out.

Give me your feedback!

Bring More Traffic To Your Ebay Store And Auctions!

A great way to bring more traffic to you Ebay Store and Ebay Auctions is FREE. Just sign up as a new member and participate. This great traffic generating source is Discussion Forums. Find a forum that relates to the type of item you sell in you Online Auctions and read through the threads and participate by answering question other may have, give your opinions, and leave a link to your website or Online Auction. Now keep in mind you do not want to spam the forums with ad after ad, make your link to your Auctions a answer to a problem, make it an example to a question asked, etc. If you leave spamming type ads the forum may delete your thread and may even ban you from forum. The Traffic generated from disussion forums is surprising, the threads stay out there for months and even years. Search engines list these threads high because of the content rich information provided, so with out even relizing it you Auction ads links are found in search engines.

Now try to find a forum that has high traffic and found on search engines, because some discussion forums by leaving a link and help you PR rating for your website wich helps Google crawl your website and Auction Ads and list them in search.

Just spend about a 1/2 hour to an hour participating in the forums, read posts, and be sure to post your own messages. remember leave a link back to Auction ADS or Website. It is worth the cost FREE!!!!

The Advantages To Having a Ebay Store VS a Normal Website.

The question that I come accross in forums and chat pages is should I have an Ebay Store. The answer to that is yes. Reasons for having an Ebay Store include:
Cross Promotion of Ebay Auction Items, Ebay Online Search Presence on Keywords for your items, Easy Set up for xml pages for Froogle, and much more. Keep in mind that you store items do not show up in Auction section of Ebay but you auction items do show in Store. Using your Auction Items to promote store items is done by using Ebay's FREE Cross Promotion Bar which shows 4 other items you are selling. The cost to have an Ebay Store Starts at $15.99 and for the promotion they give you for FREE it is well worth it.

The reasons for having and Ebay Store is growing all the time. Ebay pays alot for search keywords and I have found alot of my items showing up in google search near top of page. I know I said your ebay items do not show up in Auction portion of site but there is a case in which you ads do show up in the Auction portion for FREE. If a search term returns 10 items or less in Auction Portion, Ebay Store items will show in Auctions. Another reason to use an ebay store is that you have the power to optimize you store for search and you are backed by the Ebay name. The ebay brand has become a trusted well known brand for you store.

Check into opening a store, it is a great way to promote other items without spending a ton of Ebay Auction Fees. My Store sales have gone up in the past few months, and seems to improve more and more. Try it out ebay offers the first month FREE.

FREE Online Auction Ad Template Software !!!

One way to help build sell through rate on your auctions is to have professional looking Online Auction Ads. I have found a great FREE Auction Ad Template Software you can use to create these ads for you Ebay, Ioffer, Overstock Auctions, Yahoo Auctions, and more. These professional designed FREE Templates work on almost all Online Auction Platforms.

Heres another great FREE Online Auction Template Creator Software for you to use to make great looking Ads.

Online Auction Giant Ebay Has Ecommerce Stores Outside of Ebay Auctions

Ebay the Online Auction Giant wich recently purchased Shopping.com have jumped into the ring of online Ecommerce Stores. I'm not talking about Ebay Stores ( in Ebay Auction Platform ), I'm talking about ProStores . Now it seems a bit more clear on why the purchase was made for Shopping.com, I'm sure there is more reasons than just the new ecommerce forum, but it make sense now.

ProStores is a great platform for building and hosting a Ecommerce store, they give you the first month FREE to get in and try it out. ProStores does a automatic data feed to the top market place search engines like: Shopping.com, Froogle, Yahoo Shopping, and Shopzilla daily to help market your products and produce more sales. ProStores also is intergraded with ebay to import listings to you new website or even place items for auction on Ebay. This platform also has many helpful reports, it also tracks visitor stats, connects to Quickbooks, easy to use site builder, and much more.

ProStores has a couple of different store options to fit your needs, and the price seems great for what you get in Marketing and site admin tools. Its FREE try it out, it may be a new selling venue for you.

What is the Best Day To Start My Online Auctions

What day to start your auctions is probably the biggest question I here. Starting your Online Auction Ads on the right day will determin a large amount of last minute bidders. I find that Sunday is the best day to post your auctions because you get a full weekend and two Sundays to sell you items.

The worst days to post your Online Auctions are Friday and Saturday because alot of people party on fridays or go away for the weekend. Not a great amount of people online shopping for your items.

Other great day to Post your Online Auctions is Wedsday and Thursday.

Now What time of day is the best time to post your Auction Ads is another important thing to remember. A great time to start your auction is 9:00pm east - 6:00pm west ( 3 hour differnce ). People are home from being away and have had time settle in or are home from work. You dont want to post to early or to late, it may cost you. There other considerations to determine what time to start your online auctions, depending on what you are selling but these days and times are a good even starting point for most items.