e-store: yahoo, ebay or else?

[stormchsrs]

Hello.

I'm planning to set up an online business. Is parking your site at yahoo or ebay a good idea for starters? I realized that yahoo is charging $150.00 a month for a basic service (selling 100 items) which I thinking is a little steep. And ebay's image which people think is mostly auctions which is not the nature of the products I'm planning to sell. The reason that I consider yahoo and ebay is I think they have a higher exposure which might attract more potential consumers, am I right in this case? Any comments or inputs are very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!!

[dotcom-pro]

A few years ago I set up a client who wanted to sell used CDs online, so in addition to doing his website I quickly set him up with an Amazon storefront.

We used Amazon because it was the cheapest and seemed to have the market segment that we were targeting.

With SEO and the Amazon Store the traffic was also directed to his website and sales were made by both.

Since Amazon initially limited the number of listings (100) his website sales quickly grew to outstrip the Amazon sales as he had close to 150,000 selections, but the Amazon sales were quite good, and usually in the hundreds of dollars a day (gross) range.

I am assuming you would like to keep your expenditures to a minimum so why not check to see which of the major shopping portals are the cheapest and use it as a sounding board?

Your portal storefront can be used as an interactive medium and point at your main site as it will probably be more profit in selling from that.

[stormchsrs]

Very much appreciated on both replies!!

[dotcom-pro]

You are welcome.
If you ever want to chat, my yahoo and icq are in my profile.

[dufik]

Hi,

I would highly recommend taking the Yahoo! free trial and testing it out. In Australia, where I am at, Yahoo! is the most powerful online brand in Australia, according to the most recent Young & Rubicam Brand Asset Valuator, and was perceived to be one of the most fun, friendly and innovative brands.

Also, according to many sources such as Alexa:
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=lang&lang=en
Yahoo! is the global leader in online audience.

Am I saying that you should work with Yahoo! Maybe and maybe not. You also need to check out your competitors. If you are operating in a niche market, you may find a nice opportunity in a channel that has not yet been discovered by your competitors. Just imitate your potential customer that is coming into that channel (probably using the Search feature of that channel or going directly into the 'Shopping' link, etc.) and see how competitive your market within that channel is.

Also, I am assuming that your budget is limited but you would benefit from checking out your advertisement and marketing scalability by looking into the range of marketing solutions and tools that each option is providing you with.

Personally, as an SEO, I've had experience with a company that was selling a range of products that were 'in' for a few years and since last year are becoming 'out'. At the time, they were happy with the Yahoo! channel especially since their Top Merchant Ratings helped them close sales. Once their products lost their appeal, it really doesn't matter if you're using eBay, Amazon, Yahoo!, Froogle or whatever - it's not going to sell. Which implies that your first concern should be on your unique and competitive product/service offering and how you may need to change your business if and when external factors may start affecting your business.

I also have experience in eBay which is HOT for some things. The story there, from my experience, is mainly PRICE-DRIVEN rather than quality or focus (niche market) driven.

Last, I've got experience with "normal" online stores and would recommend against it if you haven't already got a BIG brand behind you. That is the main benefit of working with one of the BIG BOYS... since trust related issues are the main concerns for buyers and associating yourself with a TRUSTED brand… helps!

btw - I am a search engine marketing (SEO) and Internet Marketing Consultant. You can contact me via itai@ez-net.co.il

Thanks and good luck!

My SEO related site in Israel - http://www.ez-net.co.il
Some of my articles can be read on SEO Chat or on http://www.internet-marketing-mate.com

[stormchsrs]

Thanks dufik!

to dotcom-productions: Sure if the occasions arise. btw, Please check the links on your site, seems they are pointing to the wrong place.

e.g. "If you are a do it yourselfer, the information you need is here, hopefully organized into logical groups. Follow the Planning link on the left.
Our eBooks section contains many useful, hand picked, free offers".

(Plus all the links on that page, left pane is OK)

[dotcom-pro]

Sorry about the site. It is a case of "the shoemaker's children" Fixed the problems, thanks.

[GusVenditto]

Obvioulsy, this is a pretty interesting question.

We're going to have a panel discussion on the topic at Internet Planet, the show about ecommerce that we're running in New York June 15 and 16.

Your Store, Someone Else's Site: Who Wins? (Track 3)
Major portals promise increased exposure and higher sales. But will the hidden costs wipe our your gains?

We're looking for people to be on the panel if they have experiences with the issue. You can check out the show web site (http://www.internetplanet.com/agenda.html) if yuo're interested and drop me an email if you might be interested in speaking there.

[richabuck]

I think that I have the perfect solution for you!

Check out www.24hr-storefront.com. There, you get unlimited pages and space. A built in shopping cart which is connected to several gateways (including PayPal). A very easy to use maintenance system that allows you to upload pictures, ebooks, and music. You can even copy and paste HTML language which makes banners and links a breeze to add to your site.

The initial basic set-up cost is $149 with your choice of 11 templates. Monthly site fee is just $34.95. PayPal gateway is free, but if you want to use an "all-inclusive" shopping cart, then that fee is just $29.95 per month.

Yes, it's my business site and I AM tooting my own horn, but your business would work wonderfully on this system. It was built for the small ecommerce businessperson.

24hr-storefront.com Take a look! You won't be sorry.

[dotcom-pro]

Hey Gus, that would be one show I would LOVE to attend.
Too bad it is in NYC and not on the west coast :(

[George]

Hello stormchsrs,

Yahoo offers one of the most complete site builders available today. If you want a basic site with essential features, they are the place to go.

If I could, though, I'd like to draw your attention to our company, a new business called Rivertrue.com (http://www.rivertrue.com). Unlike Yahoo, where customers download software and then configure their site, we try to make designing an online store as simple and fast as possible. In fact, we promise that from your browser you'll have a professional site up and running in five minutes.

Although setup is easy, our sites have all the features found in expensive, hand-built e-commerce sites - customer product ratings, tell-a-friend emails, saved-for-later shopping cart, one-click ordering, multiple customer addresses, cached search engine and live inventory tracking.

Unlike some competitors, we feel very passionately about not charging transaction fees. Why should a merchant be penalized for working harder and attracting more customers? As in the real world, your overhead costs should be fixed - sell more and you make more money.

You can see our store builder in action by visiting www.rivertrue.com (http://www.rivertrue.com) - our site was the first store built by our software.

Cheers

[solidcactus]

Hey stormchsrs,

I have to agree with George that Yahoo! offers the most complete site builder as far as I have seen. But I want to take it a step further. While there are a lot of solutions out there that may be cheaper, the Yahoo! Store programming/custimization is very powerful for online business owners.

We are a Yahoo! Store design partner and we have working with the Yahoo! Store platform for over 3 years now. When you find someone who knows what they are doing, the Yahoo! Store platform is very easy to customize. It also provides a very good product manament system that allows you to easily manage your products. We have had many clients go to other platforms only to come back to Yahoo!

Seems like you have a lot to work through. ;) Let me know if you have any more questions.

[John2004]

Having your own web site with shopping cart also is a good idea for small business. It will cost less than 150$/month.

With Best Regards,
John Redods
ExtCart Shopping Cart Software (www.ext-cart.com)

[ApplePie]

Let's talk real life here for a minute. I go to the grocery store and I see the top brands in the business and then beside them at a reduced cost I see the same product from the same manufacturer under the store's brand. Some people buy it and others buy the name brand.

Putting your store on Yahoo, Amazon or eBay is the same thing. There is no perceived credibility by building your stores there. Each has hidden fees or fees that are not clearly understood.

Yahoo charges has a tiered fee structure with an additional tiered transaction fee structure. Some people think the transaction fee is a merchant account. Sadly that's wrong. At the 1.5% transaction rate you pay an additional $30 per month on top of your monthly fees.

Amazon charges a set up fee and then a monthly fee. Additionally they charge a 15% commission.

eBay charges a per item fee (I think 30 cents) so 100 items would be $30.00 per month. Then you have the transaction fees and other hidden fees which add up.

There are other sources for stores out there that will help you acquire customers much easier. I would suggest you look into those options before you sign up with any service.

I hope this helps.

[meruu123]

Hi Stormschrs:
I am in the same situation as you right now and I am wondering who you decided to go with to set up the ecommerce account? I am having a really hard time trying to figure out who I can trust in terms of companies taking care of things for me or going with something like Yahoo where I pay and do it all myself.
I am just curious if you have made your decision and why.

Thank you!

[ECSCommerce]

There may be options you haven't considered here.

I would first ask what your estimated sales volume would start at. Since you are new to online business the volume would most likely be small then grow with exposure.
If thats the case then not having to get a merchant account might be a better solution. With Yahoo you STILL have to gain a merchant account, and those fees are on TOP of yahoo's gateway processing fees.

As far as shopping cart software they are a dime a dozen and many great ones are offered free of charge like OScommerce (open source).
Many of the processing gateways offer them for free also so take a few moments and shop around.

What I would suggest is to find a gateway processor and talk one on one with a rep, they will ask a few questions to find out your EXACT needs and tailor a plan that suits both your business and your wallet :)

btw you can always utilize yahoos name appeal and link out to your site no matter where it is located.

I hope this helps some .. good luck!

[consult]

Hello:

In response to your inquiry, I invite you to take a look at TransactionPages E-Storefronts (http://www.transactionpages.com). You will find that it is very strong, reliable, open, and customizable to the look and feel of your site. A couple examples of implementation are http://pmskookiekompany.com, http://animalshoewear.com, http://motorrollergear.com.

Consult
ELWC, Inc
Diversified Web Technology Brokerage
http://elwci.com

[Cornulet]

I had the same problem but I resolved it immediately as I found and installed a free online shop called OSCOMMERCE. It's free and comes also with all kinds of modules (payment (ikobo, paypal, 2CO and others), shipping (DHL and others)) which can be installed and configured to work with it.

[DMuse]

osCommerce is a good option for some folks, but I gather you need to be fairly tech-savvy for it to be a practical alternative.
Here's a little more info from ECommerce-Guide.
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/building/article.php/3428461

Also, it's way too early to tell, but today's announcement regarding the partnership between eBay Stores and Macromedia is interesting.
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/building/article.php/3429511.
Looks like it has the potential to make eBay Stores a little richer and more sophisticated.

[Cornulet]

I already installed oscommerce by myself. this is a good sign :)