New Online Markets

            New Online Markets

    Just because you spent months or even years working at Ebay this does not mean that they were ever the only place to work. I worked there because they were the most popular and were convinced for the longest time that Ebay was the only online marketplace.

    The experience of the last few years has taught me that this is not the case. There are many other online marketplaces to sell at. More and more come on line each week. Someday one of them will grow to rival the once great ebay. I say once great because there was a time when it was a wonderful place to conduct business. That was before they began to attack the small time sellers. The mom and pop home business owners. They did this with raised fees and new rules and endless restrictions and ebay suspensions for insane reasons. If you are reading this post you are here because Ebay went out of their way to make you feel unwelcome there.

    There are on the other hand many sites that make you feel very welcome. They not only want you to sell at their sites, they need you and the skills that you will bring.

    My advice is to sign up at a few of these sites and see how it goes. I am one of the former power sellers that has found a way to generate four figures a month is sells by selling at other online marketplaces.

    My second piece of advice is to review your sales history. You can do this by visiting paypal. Download a list of all of the emails that belong to those who purchased from you in the past and invite them to visit your new store fronts at the sites that you move to. You can do this mass emailing yourself or you can do it by using a clever little trick I have learned. You can sign up for a free trial with one of the email marketing services and use that trial as a way of marketing to all of your former buyers.  It works great and if you opt out before the trial is over you have reached all your past customers with a great marketing campaign and did it without spending any extra money only time.

    You can also visit sites like Ecrater and Ioffer and the only other auction site online that is seeing steady grown, Ebid. Below you will find a brief video about them and a banner link to their site. If you like the classic Ebay auction format rather than the fixed price format then Ebid is probably where you should set up shop.



    Okay that is it for today. I have added some social bookmarking buttons so please take a moment to bookmark this post or send it to someone else. Thank you and have a good day.

After The Ebay Suspension

    I have read your comment a few times. I understand the situation that you find yourself in. Many former ebay sellers have gone through something similar.

    First I do not work at ebay. I am a former Powerseller. There are thousands of us out here. I am one of the few who decided to offer aid and comfort to those who  face the restrictions and suspensions that ebay seems to dole out for reasons that become harder and harder to understand.

    I am going to try to offer you both aid and comfort. First things first. You are not dead, you are just badly wounded. If your paypal had been suspended as well you would be facing a greater challenge.
    Here are the steps I recommend before contacting Ebay again. (At the end of this I will offer phone numbers for customer service at ebay. )

1. Just incase all fails and you are not allowed as a seller at Ebay you need to set up shop at as many other market places as possible. Start with Amazon. You need to start there first because once you become a seller there you will need two weeks from your first sell to request a payout.

    Next I would sign up with Etsy and Bonanza. Selling on Bonanza is largely about networking and getting to know others who conduct business there. Next you will need to sign up with Webstore, Craigslist, Ecrater and Yardsellr.  Also you should sign up with Ebids. They are a promising new auction site. The traffic at none of these sites except Amazon can match ebay, but the combined traffic can help a seller survive while he or she seeks to grow business at their own website.

    Most sellers do no realize that they left ebay with a list of possible customers in hand. This list is the emails addresses of all your past customers stored at Paypal. If they have done business with you before they are likely to do business with you again. If you have something similar to what they purchased before contact them and make them a offer. You do not even need a store front to do this. If or when you have a deal you can send them an invoice using paypal tools and or google checkout.

    It will not be easy to overcome an ebay suspension or restriction, but it can be done. Too many believe that they are married to ebay. That they are the only place to work. Getting past this is the beginning of the path to financial freedom.

    Okay for those of you who wish to plead with ebay here are two customer service numbers that have gotten some results. Call between 9 - 6 during week days for best results.

866-540-3229 press# then enter zipcode, then press 0.  This is a number where you may actually reach someone who may call you back. 
Second number is 866-643-1607.   You may get a real person to talk to.

    Understand when Ebay restricts you as a seller, but keeps you as a buyer, they are doing what amazon has done for years. They are willing to take your money, but not willing to help you earn a living. When I first got suspended by ebay I tried to get that suspension lifted. Nothing I tried worked. Then I tried to go back on the site under different names and addresses. That only held up for a while. In the end the thing that has gotten me through the last five years is to do it myself. Selling at other online marketplaces while building my own. It has worked for thousands of us. It can work for each and everyone of you. I make more money now selling at ten different sites than I ever did at Ebay and the fees are far less. Not to mention if a suspension ever comes your way at any of them so what you have over a half dozen to fall back on and you have your own website as well.

    I know that running your own website sounds like sci-fi but it is not that difficult I have designed a page that can show you how to build your own wordpress site in about an hour. You can click here to visit it.


    Okay that is it for today. It has been such a while since I was suspended by Ebay that I forgot how it felt at the time. I thought the world was ending. Now I realize that a whole new world of possibilities were being revealed to me. Freedom is a scary thing, but never a bad thing. Freedom is the morning and the bread and the risen son. Freedom in what ever form or shape it takes is gods gift to everyone. Freedom forces us to make hard choices, but in the end they are always our choices and that can not be underestimated.

    Good luck and please keep in mind that hard work is its own reward and what you face now has been faced and overcome by others who have come before you.

A Place Called Ecrater

                Ebay suspended,
 Ecrater.



    The page layout is not great.  It is pretty standard.  You can not do many ad ons
or anything in the way of banners.  You do not have the option of setting your items
apart from the rest.  That said, there is not much to complain about here at Ecrater.
    You can list for Free there.  You have sort of your own mini webstore and you
can list as many items as you wish.  In as many categories as you want.
    Ecrater uses Adsense and they are willing to share revenue with you.
    Did you get that one?
    Share revenue with you.
    Depending upon how many items you have up and how much traffic you
generate this can be a good thing.
    On the other hand because of the ease of signing up and posting the market place
is a bit flooded in some key categories.  The competition is stiff.  You are going to
have to go lower margins on your price points to get some separation from the competition.
Because of the limited traffic you are going to go through dry sales periods, but if you
have a hot item or two you can generate a lot of sales quickly.  Ecrater has become a
place where the bargain shopper goes for items with a set price rather than having to
deal with the auction set up at Ebay.
    One more con about the site, customer service is not great.  If you manage to get
someone it will feel as if you are talking to someone, but not an actual human being.  Not
saying a robot responder.  It will feel more like an alien who has not completely grasped
the concepts of logic or reason.  Do not get me wrong they are ten times better than Ebay
because they will actually respond rather than sending a form letter that tells you absolutely
nothing.
    Many former Ebay sellers look to Ecrater as the first and best alternative.  I will not
go that far, but on this move that we have undertaken this site is one worth planting a
flag upon.  I am suggesting that you set up shop here.
    What?
    Is this it?
    Is the journey finally over?
    Are we moving in?
    Yes and no.
    Say what?
    Rent a room here.  Or as I look at it, a display case.  Let’s put up some product
here.  You can list everything that you have.  After all why not, it is free to do so.  I do
not believe any of us can earn a living here, but we can make some money here.
    The answer to your question is that we are not moving in.  This is not our final
stop, but if a friend will let you stick around without paying any rent and will actually
give you a few buck (Adsense) to sleep on the sofa then why not.
    If you have not figured it out yet.  The moving on from Ebay plan involves multiple
stops along the way.  We are not going to be able to do it all at once, but it will get done.
We will not stop and we will not fail in our mission to achieve freedom.
    Summing up, Ecrater is a solid place to hang a open for business sign.
    We are not done yet.
    So let’s go get some items from the trunk of the vehicle, leave them here for sale
and then we can hit the road again.
    Our next stop is a place called Bonanza.
    No, no, no, cut that out.  There is no massive ranch run by a old man and his
sons.  Paw and little Joe will not be there.  Although it is located on the  west coast and
does have a west coastal laid back kind of feel about it.
    Will you please stop humming the Theme music.
    If you would like to bypass this journey and create your own website please visit me by
clicking here
     I can offer you free help with building your own website and the full video tutorial will
take about an hour.  If not then fine, let's go visit Bonanza next.