which works best - Ebay or Website

[Avalon]

Just wondering if any one has experience of selling mugs on Ebay and at the same time, on their own website aswell?
If so, which works best for you?
I have good experience selling on Ebay and get good regular sales with unrelated items, but having recently listed some personalised mugs, the results have been very poor, not even getting page views.
I appreciate the question is "how long is a piece of string" and lots of variables involved but, would setting up a website work better for selling mugs? All personal views, experiences and thoughts are appreciated :)

[Paul]

Type photomug in ebaysearch and this should explain why :-)
is to many of it already!

[GoonerGary]

ebay died a few years ago when they introduced the best match system and also the '1000 sold' doesn't help either against your '1 sold'.

ebay is a race to the bottom and you will find your listings on page 74..who is going to click through that many pages? I'll go with the 1000 sold listing.

Also the price has dropped considerably so the profit margin isn't great. I think of ebay as an advertisement page for my website. Open the ebay shop and post a link back to your website in the 'About Me' pages.

I get more sales through my website than I do through ebay, but only because I'm high in the google listings.

[Avalon]

Type photomug in ebaysearch and this should explain why :-)
is to many of it already!

Paul, Yes I agree, Ebay listings have saturated the market and this is what makes me wonder if I should be having a website to run alongside Ebay

[Avalon]

ebay died a few years ago when they introduced the best match system and also the '1000 sold' doesn't help either against your '1 sold'.

ebay is a race to the bottom and you will find your listings on page 74..who is going to click through that many pages? I'll go with the 1000 sold listing.

Also the price has dropped considerably so the profit margin isn't great. I think of ebay as an advertisement page for my website. Open the ebay shop and post a link back to your website in the 'About Me' pages.

I get more sales through my website than I do through ebay, but only because I'm high in the google listings.

Gary, what you are doing is exactly what I would also like to do. (sorry another newbie trying to get in on the act). I agree with you totally regarding Ebay 1 sold against the 1000 sold listing. With items I spend on avaerage £125 per month on Ebay fees selling various signage, (unrelated to sublimation). If I transferred this amount of money to Google ads, would it get me near to the top of the searches? How much do you spend on advertising your website Gary, if thats not too personal question to ask.

[Avalon]

I think this post should have been in the marketing section , sorry!

[Ian M]

With the greatest respect this kind of post does make me shake my head quite a lot. The reason being is that not many people seem to understand anything about how to market their business.

There is lots of free marketing advice on the internet that does really work. There are even marketing experts on You Tube giving free advice too that is very easy to understand.

In the last couple of months I have spent some serious money with a marketing expert & there is no way in this world I'm going to share his advice with anyone for free.

The information & tips are out there & free, the only thing is you have to find it & then read what they say.

[Avalon]

With the greatest respect this kind of post does make me shake my head quite a lot. The reason being is that not many people seem to understand anything about how to market their business.

There is lots of free marketing advice on the internet that does really work. There are even marketing experts on You Tube giving free advice too that is very easy to understand.

In the last couple of months I have spent some serious money with a marketing expert & there is no way in this world I'm going to share his advice with anyone for free.

The information & tips are out there & free, the only thing is you have to find it & then read what they say.

With the greatest respect also Ian :) , I think you have missed the point of my question and perhaps the point of this forum or any forum, to that matter.
I merely asked for peoples views and experience of sales from Ebay vs their own website. This is hardly a question about "how to market my business".
I have run my sign business for nearing 20 years now and have become quite knowledgeable on matters of marketing.
I have also been running a website for this business but not as an online shop and therefore it is for this reason, I am asking the question "which works best - Ebay or Website" not "how do I market my business"
I would not want you to part with your expert knowledge that you have spent serious money on, I don't need it, thank you..........but as a discussion forum for which I assume this is, personal views and experiences are always welcome. :)

[purpledragon]

i tend to agree with ian here although i see the other point that ian has kind of pigeon holed it a bit but the point is valid. i see another post on the forum asking how much you sell a mug for , now lets say that person sees that most people answer with we sell a mug for 6.99 that person then sells his at 5.99 there by undercutting everyone good enough to help . im not saying this would happen but its possible.
so ok Avalon lets say you answer this post with something like ... i sell my signs very sucessfully on ebay websites are a waste of time... the guy who started the post now knows the best place to sell his signs and if he is clever he w ill find your prices and undercut you. still wanna be free with your info?
the forum is a good place for help and advice but it can work against those giving advice. not saying im right maybe im not but becareful what you give away

[Avalon]

i tend to agree with ian here although i see the other point that ian has kind of pigeon holed it a bit but the point is valid. i see another post on the forum asking how much you sell a mug for , now lets say that person sees that most people answer with we sell a mug for 6.99 that person then sells his at 5.99 there by undercutting everyone good enough to help . im not saying this would happen but its possible.
so ok Avalon lets say you answer this post with something like ... i sell my signs very sucessfully on ebay websites are a waste of time... the guy who started the post now knows the best place to sell his signs and if he is clever he w ill find your prices and undercut you. still wanna be free with your info?
the forum is a good place for help and advice but it can work against those giving advice. not saying im right maybe im not but becareful what you give away

Sorry PurpleDragon, How does this have anything to do with pricing?
In any case, I dont understand your logic, should we therefore NOT advertise our prices to customers, just in case a competitor might undercut it?
For the record, regarding the sign business, we personally did better business from making an initial phone call to a potential customer and then a follow up letter than the business generated from our website. (ooops! might have said too much).
Sorry only joking but come on! lets be realistic about this.