Expert: Marvinator - 6/9/2004

Question
I heard of an opportunity where you are given a website from Ebay.  You give yourself a company name and products to sell from Ebay. You pay $14.95 for 2 weeeks and if you continue the program, you pay $30.00 monthly.  They tell you how to go to search engines and  put in keywords, so that by those keywords persons will be linked to your website.  They suggest you get a domain name.

Does anyone know how successful this has been.  Any feedback will be appreciated.  I am thanking you in advance.

Answer
You were very smart to question this before you made the move.  There is a new business of making businesses linked to Ebay and none of them are doing very well. The main reason for this is that none of them really do what they say they will do.

For 6 weeks, you will pay 44.95 and get what exactly?  A website? Most likely this is ALL you get.  Is it part of the Ebay system? Most likely no. You will have to link to this 'website' from your MePage on Ebay.  You cannot link to it in any auctions as this is not allowed by Ebay Rules.(The rule states that you cannot put a link into an auction which will take the viewer off the Ebay system.)

Oh, and they teach you how to go to search engines and put in keywords?  This is the REASON Search ENgines exist.  You go to any search engine and you will find a way to input ANY WEB PAGE so that the search engine will go to the page and index all the words on it.  It's free and anyone can do it.   So, in conclusion, what you really get is a website that anyone can set up on geocities for free, but you're going to pay 44.95 (and another $30 every month).

ANd your last comment, "They suggest you get a domain name."  What, they're not going to help you get it?  This is not an Ebay company, it's a hosting company. They want your hosting business and they couldn't care less how well you do in your business just so long as you keep paying that $30 each month!  You could find many other hosting companies out there that will do what this company promises and do it for less.  As one example, Prohosting.com charges only $17.95 a month for hosting, AND you get your own email system!  (Nifty...you can be Sallie@Salliesthings.com!) But it's not necessary to go that route either.  That is only for those that plan on selling in OTHER ways BESIDES Ebay.  

Let's take another look at what's out there for the Ebay seller:  Ebay Stores.  AN Ebay store is a way to set up continuing auctions Ebay style and have them run for 30 days.  Although they are not part of the general listings, you can direct people to them by running regular auctions BUT the difference is that  your store is FEATURED prominently in all your auctions! There are links to your store AND listings!  

You can set up your store with up to 20 subcategories which YOU can name and assign.  Your store is searchable by your name and Yes, you can still go to search engines and input your store as a searchable item.  

Now, let's compare the cost.  Your Ebay store is FREE for the first 30 days.  After that it's 9.95 a month plus listings.  Each STORE listing is 2 cents.  (Yes, .02!) and a gallery listing with it is only a penny (Yes, .01!)  If you were to run 100 listings for a month, it would be 3.00.  Your total for that month would be $12.95.  Now compare this to the place you are thinking of using which would charge you $30 for the same month and you begin to see why there are so many Ebay Stores.  (I'm assuming here that any listings you place on THAT OTHER site would be included in the $30.  If you are charged per listing, this comparison gets even worse!)

Now you begin to see why these places don't make money and they don't make sense.  After a couple of months, most users begin to see where their money is going and they opt for an Ebay Store.  

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of work in an Ebay Store and you may wish to get a good template for your auctions so that your listings look more professional, but there are many MANY web savvy folks out there that will gladly help you learn how to do that or do it for you and charge you nothing in the doing.  

So, in answer to your question, I know no one that has successfully used such a service, nor anyone that has stayed with them for very long.  I hope this information has helped you.