Good Luck Eric. Keep us informed will you?

Sittingon20G wrote (View Post): › eBid needs to advertise more, so buyers know they exist, so sellers can start having sales. A free thumbnail on Seller + would be nice to They also need to allow stores more than just a logo. Give us at least a header or something. eCrater needs to spruce up a bit and not be so plain. I don't even care about a shipping calc anymore, but something like Bonanzle has to upload items from eBay would be great.

I would have to agree with these points.

Many buyers (and sellers) just aren't familiar with either eBid or eCrater, and for some reason they don't seem to want to make the leap... part of that is a lack of advertising, but another part, I think, has to do with the look and feel of these outlets. They look... I don't how to phrase it exactly, but they look... lame.

Amazon, ebay, etc. have very crisp looks, with involved layouts and sophisticated tools. They've evolved over the years when they could afford to do so slowly. In this economy, new competitors have to evolve faster, and get themselves polished. eCrater looks simple, maybe too simple. ebid looks very complicated, but is usually easy to navigate, and the layout is somewhat disjointed and slow.

This one reason why I like bonanzle (no, not plugging, just read). The owner(s) are reading the forums and responding to criticisms and suggestions at lightning-fast speeds. They've developed features (gimmicks really, but that's okay) that make the site different, and they put GENUINE effort into the site on a regular basis. The eBid and ecrater teams are... just kind of sitting there. eBid has mentioned ninja lister in about 4 newsletters now, and still nothing. And I have no clue what ecrater is doing, but I haven't seen any great change take place there. They need to move, do something... even if it's not revolutionary, or all that useful. Just do something to breathe life ito the thing.

I still have not earned my $50.00 back on ebid yet. But I'll keep my stuff listed there, and hope for the best (I did make a double-sale this weekend... a positive sign, perhaps?)

Exactly! It's like eCrater, blujay, buyitsellit are for those people that are color blind.

Things just keep getting stagnant with eCrater. Not many on the forums and just no excitement. Bluhay doesn't have a store template, and eCrater and buyitsellit have super plain templates. Maybe they just like to punish us cause it's free.

I tought eCrater was working on a shipping calc, but no mention or even update on that. It's not that big a deal, but where is the momentum?

It makes it nice to have one's own page for a store. It is nice when trying to get merchandise and manufacturers want to see your site.

Ohhh, I remember one thing eCRATER definitely needs to do - when a person hits the link on Google for one of your products, it needs to take the person into your store, not eCRATER. It confuses the heck out of the customer, and overrides the seller's layout. BISI has Google take them right to the product page in your store, so why doesn't eCRATER?

I agree that eBid needs a slight re-arrangement. I like the color scheme, I like the look and feel, but the navigation needs a little help. It's weird because you search in the box at the top of the page, or you search a seller's items in the box at the right of the page, and you can dig down results on the left of the page... it's very disjointed. The list pages within the "My eBid" section are narrow, and when you have 100 items listed, it takes forever to find ONE item. I don't need big thumbnails of my items - I already know what they look like. A little one, like eCRATER uses in the admin area would be perfect.

Okay, I'll shut up.

greywolf18 wrote (View Post): › Ohhh, I remember one thing eCRATER definitely needs to do - when a person hits the link on Google for one of your products, it needs to take the person into your store, not eCRATER. It confuses the heck out of the customer, and overrides the seller's layout. BISI has Google take them right to the product page in your store, so why doesn't eCRATER? I agree that eBid needs a slight re-arrangement. I like the color scheme, I like the look and feel, but the navigation needs a little help. It's weird because you search in the box at the top of the page, or you search a seller's items in the box at the right of the page, and you can dig down results on the left of the page... it's very disjointed. The list pages within the "My eBid" section are narrow, and when you have 100 items listed, it takes forever to find ONE item. I don't need big thumbnails of my items - I already know what they look like. A little one, like eCRATER uses in the admin area would be perfect. Okay, I'll shut up.

Yup. And on eBid... does anyone else find the 3 column format irritating? Seriously, I still have trouble figuring out/remembering on which side is the one link or button I need to click to get somewhere. Very frustrating

I've had a nice uptick in eCrater orders this week. This has inspired me to list quite a bit more.

Hi Harriet, how are your Etsy sales?

I'm pleased with Etsy overall, quite a few sales and very nice people. They always have great customer outreach and terrific creative ideas for the site. I like it. Have to add more things. Sales very recently have been a little flat.

I like ecrater i closed my ebay store and when ppl ask me for a reorder i send them there. its similar to ebay so buyers feel safe there.

oh yeah and etsy great ppl lots of sales

AR - nice store, but be careful - you are not allowed duplicate listings on eCRATER. You are only permitted one for each item (then make the quantity available whatever amount you can supply).

Do you do 250 qty - color front, black back, regular stock (no gloss)? Essentially - can you do what VistaPrint does (I have their cards, but would rather buy from someone else). editted to add: with bleeds on all four sides?

greywolf18 wrote (View Post): › I like eBid, but yeah - the main thing I think the US sellers would want to see is ADVERTISING. I want to know that eBid is trying to gain a face in the US. So far, a very small handful of folks here (in my little corner of PA) have heard of it. So, eBid - Please advertise. Let the US know what an amazing site you have!

Posted by Gazza today on the eBid forums

We have also just signed an ongoing contract with a US PR agecncy to help boost growth in the States.

Full post can be found at
http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showpost.php?p=755776&postcount=18

awesome! Thanx Gothicina!