I'm considering opening an eBay show as a secondary source of income for Minibits, and to attract some new customers hopefully. I might have to pick and choose which products go into it, depending on shipping weight and how much profit will be left with the added eBay fees!
So, how many people regularly shop on eBay, and have you ever discovered new businesses/sellers who you have subsequently started ordering directly from?
:-\
I do use evil bay but only for one off purchases and generally speaking only one or two sellers that I go to purely because as far as I am aware they only trade on ebay.
I doubt I would use Minibits through ebay as I get great service from you anyway, but can understand how it might raise the profile and that cant be a bad thing??
Anything that exposes Leon's Minibits to a wider audience has to be worth seeing :o :o :-[ :-[ :-& :-& 8-} 8-} =O =O
Just mind you dont get caught up in the Saville Enquiry :)
Whatever one feels about E-bay, my first thought when buying on-line is to search Amazon then E-bay.
One gets an feeling of protection from these sites.
I think Minibits on eBay would be good. You will get lots of exposure to potential customers. There are lots of Minibits things that are of general war gamer interest. eBay is also an easy way for people to buy as they already have an account setup.
Price things to cover eBay costs - if they sell at higher prices then the market supports those prices.
Arcane Scenary sell a lot a Saga stuff and eBay and its generally cheaper to buy from them than Gripping Beast directly.
To chime in I did buy on ebay a lot of times BUT I have also caught myself "expecting" way cheaper prices on ebay than on the manufacturers HP.
Question is indeed how to balance discount expectations, ebay fees and the like into a feasible shop system. Also postage can be a female dog. I do sell on ebay myself but generally disappointed on what can be recovered after fees and the behaviour of some people on that site.
By all means I consider myself pretty reasonable (rather reasonable than pretty actually) but on average I have to file two complaints on ebay/ paypal per year. Plus a bad experience from a friend who ran a shop for his resin cast bases. He clearly stated that he is casting to order and dispatches within a week. People simple gave him low feedback for despatch time and he had to close his shop at some point. A real pitty as his bases were second to none.
I do believe Minibits can partly undercut prices of other sellers (eg. MDF bases) and offering a "complete" service would certainly draw business. Maybe, and this is merely a suggestion Leon, you could start offering selected products (bases, figures, flock, scenics, brushes but no colours!)and see how it goes. Also you could profit from repeat business directly via the website.
Edit: On a sidenote I should add that I have switched back to buying directly from the manufacturer for a variety of reasons.
I have looked for mdf bases on ebay in the past so it is do-able!
Dice and paint might be a good bet too, as i see that popping in frequently.
For paint you can use the one listing with the multiple choices for colour etc..
Just be wary of the people who use paypal to get their money back :o , but this happens only very occasionally.
To be honest, i have searched for pendraken stuff on ebay too, and it's very rare! Guess it's normal though. ebay is full of gw products, but these are because of codex creeps, they buy stuff better codex comes out, sell the stuff again and buy other stuff. Historical miniatures are not prone to these actions :D
Like many others I use e-Bay for odds and sods that I can't or won't find elsewhere. The slightly higher cost, including postage, is usually offset by not having to burn precious diesel to pick them up.
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated! 8)
At the moment, I'm looking at putting the decals, paintbrushes, dice, and basing materials on there to start with. These are all fairly light products, and will fit through the 'Large Letter' slot for posting. I'm not keen on charging different prices on an eBay shop, but it may have to be looked at, as the fees are too high.
As an example, if you sell a pack of dice for £1 + £1 postage, eBay are taking:
- 10p for the listing
- 10p for the final sale
(based on having their basic shop setup)
...and then PayPal take 27p on the transaction.
By the time you've accounted for buying the dice in (approx 50p), and then posting them (85p-ish with packaging), you're left with about 18p profit out of the whole deal. Obviously that increases if people make multiple purchases, but you need to make sure you're covering yourself on the base transaction first.
Bases and paints are iffy, as they don't fit through the Large Letter slot generally (bases do if it's only a couple of smaller packs), so you're dealing with higher postage straight away.
Hmm... all stuff to think about.
:-\
When I was selling a fair bit of stuff on ebay I made sure that I was covering the fees in the postage cost - so charge £1.50 for postage then you are OK?
Also people know that postage costs are high - so won't be too surprised at having to pay them.
Also make sure you put links through to the website - then you are really just using eBay as a glorified advert.
I would definitely list the dice frames on eBay too.
Quote from: fred 12df on 05 May 2013, 04:06:45 PM
When I was selling a fair bit of stuff on ebay I made sure that I was covering the fees in the postage cost - so charge £1.50 for postage then you are OK?
Also people know that postage costs are high - so won't be too surprised at having to pay them.
Also make sure you put links through to the website - then you are really just using eBay as a glorified advert.
I would definitely list the dice frames on eBay too.
Definitely, I forgot about the dice frames. My concern with the postage is if I charge £1.50, and then a package turns up with 71p on the label? From previous threads on other forums, people seem very aware of these differences and then leave negative feedback.
The glorified advert aspect is the tempting bit about the whole idea. We can put our usual flyers and info in the packages, and hopefully people will then start to buy direct instead.
Quote from: Leon on 05 May 2013, 03:12:33 AMSo, how many people regularly shop on eBay [...]
I do. And I discovered new sellers there alright, but I kept ordering from them through eBay because it's safer.
Don't know about Minibits, but I think bargains will do better than regular sales on eBay.
Cheers,
Aart
Been somewhat regulary shopping on the bay since 2009, no sour grapes yet.
All in all, a lot of new sellers all the time. Much of my gaming equipment has come from that particular venue. :)
Quote from: Leon on 05 May 2013, 04:11:09 PM
Definitely, I forgot about the dice frames. My concern with the postage is if I charge £1.50, and then a package turns up with 71p on the label? From previous threads on other forums, people seem very aware of these differences and then leave negative feedback.
It's postage AND packaging; the packing cost isn't mentioned on the label is it ;)
Its a matter of degree - isn't it always!!
I think £1.50 p&p for 71p postage is OK
I think £4.50 p&p for £1.20 postage is NOT OK
But quite where the line is, is the problem!
One of the biggest limitations to online shopping is the relatively high cost of postage on cheap items.
Then you have Amazon who will give free postage on everything, which really skews the perception.
Plenty of miniature manufacturers have minimum postage costs of £2.50 or more.
Quote from: petercooman on 05 May 2013, 08:00:56 PM
It's postage AND packaging; the packing cost isn't mentioned on the label is it ;)
No but you do have a vast number of immature people who believe they should get paid for taking your goods..... :o
I am totally off selling on ebay. Tried to sell a coin worth 300, was offered (via mail) 225 INCLUDING postage. Asked the guy if he was alright in his head.
Hence my idea for Pendraken/ Minibits only to sell only certain merchandise.
There are too many sellers of paint already.
Bases are overpriced so Leon and Dave could snatch quite some business I believe.
Armypacks - no real challenger on ebay, do it.
Brushes - Can be difficult. Lots of sellers BUT the Pendraken range works for me and I am quite picky. Particularly brushes is a topic leading often to heated debates.
Quote from: Aart Brouwer on 05 May 2013, 05:33:52 PM
...but I think bargains will do better than regular sales on eBay.
That's another option. One of my suppliers regularly has clearance sales, so I can pick up quite cheap items and offer them at a decent price. They recently had a load of Warlord and Plastic Soldier Company stuff, so it's not tat that they're offloading either. There's usually a few things which would easily sell.
I think you're better off concentrating on decent marketing channels than trying to make a decent return on eBay to be honest - your margins are tight enough as it is (and you've got time pressures as well). I reckon time spent working on promos across various fora / TMP will give you a better exposure than the scattergun approach you'll have to take on eBay - and your increased success will come from repeat custom because of your great customer service; it's not worth worrying about all the hassle for such low profit.
YMMV 8)
Like Salute, eBay is giant marketplace. Use it, rather than let it use you. Use eBay during Minibits sale month to get the name out there. Draw the customers in. See eBay costs as very cheap advertising for the full range.
Its true that theres a lot of potential exposure from using Ebay, with it being huge and all. Plenty of folks use it as a cheap way of advertising and backlinking too!
Ebay costs for sellers is what put me off doing lots of trading there a few years back, so what ever you decide, good luck!