The doll-mart site -- need your thoughts!

I need some feedback ladies. What do you think about the site as it is? What do you think could be done to improve it, what could be added or changed?

Is there true interest in having an auction site seperate from the forum but part of doll-mart? I will need to get a grant to do it as it will cost about $3500 at the cheapest. If it was created I was thinking of having listing fees only and no finaly value fees. Company ads would cost something for their advertisements and this money would go back into the site via advertisements, search engines, etc for the site.

Please share your thoughts and insights!!

Thank you!
Liz

Liz, I really like this site. I understand your frustration,don't give up on it. Things are slow everywhere. I don't know what to do to increase buying and selling here, other than get the word out. I think most people just list on ebay because it's the biggest site with the most traffic. And no, most people are not happy with ebay. We want an alternative. I personally would not have a problem paying a small listing fee. We need more members here and more traffic. If you can get a grant, without any out of pocket cost to you, then go for it. I would like to see this site really take off and grow with the reborning world. Maybe one day have classes and contests along with a safe place to sell. Don't give up, hon, it's been a bllaaaaahhh kind of Monday all week this month!

thanks Keli, appreciate the input very much!!

Liz hang in there...these things take a while to really get going.

I agree with both ladies, don't give up we will pick up I know it. I have my logo on most of the forums I go to so it will be slow for a while but we will get there won't we ladies.

First Liz, I think this is a great place. I am one that would love to see it take off. Ebay eats us up in fees, is only for the buyer, they could care less about us (the sellers). Without sellers, there would be no ebay. I am VERY WILLING to pay Listing Fees, not a problem with me at all. Yes, I agree so many dolly world ladies do nothing but complain about ebay. We do need to spread the word. It will take time to take off I know first hand as I helped with a friend who had an auction site up a couple of years ago, it did really well. The owner of the site made NOT A DIME from the fees, as it all went back into the site. I did the newsletter every month for the site, we did a "Featured Artist" every month and if that artist was a sculptor and had a kit out, we purchased the kit, and did a give away. We also made fliers for the auction site, and distributed them at local stores that would allow us to put fliers either at the registers or on the bulletin boards. It did work, as 3 people had joined the site to sell right from my town where I posted the fliers, so this is an idea.

I will most definately do up some fliers and take them to local stores around my town to get traffic here. It is going to take time for it to happen. I am behind it 100%.

Well, I have NO ideas on how to do this, but it seems that Ebay is IT, not just for reborns, but for EVERYthing! I wonder if it's "ebay legal" when posting an item to put the link to another auction site (here)? I've seen some large sellers that have their websites on their listings and ebay doesn't seem to care. If you've got to pay high prices to gamble with your sale on ebay, might as well get the advertising benefit of it, huh? Guess someone would report it, but for as long as it was visible, that many more people could see it?
I try to look at Etsy and this new BooCoo auction site, but it's just that Ebay has been there SO long that it's like "coke" or "kleenex"....a household word.
I don't mind paying fees; even final value fees. What I DO mind is the horrible trend I'm seeing with the buyers STEALING from sellers, either by damaging the doll for a refund, CLAIMING damage for a refund and NOW I see, even returning shipment with a piece of junk doll in place of the reborn they stole. I noticed that there is a reporting entity, but if it's not already, it won't be long before they have more cases to investigate than they can handle. Before Ebay got so big, THEY actually investigated things instead of just blanketly siding with the buyer (until and unless the seller can convince them otherwise!!!! This dishonesty is perpetrated by dishonest people, but condoned by Ebay/ Paypal! In the latter case, doesn't ANYONE even stop to consider the discrepancy in package weight from the original shipment? NO, Ebay and Paypal are NOT seeing the long-term picture; the loss of sellers listing with them, who are left out in the cold to fend for themselves. The most profound oversite that Ebay has made???....that sellers are ALSO buyers. I haven't listed ANYthing for sale in a long time (I'm scared to list gold coins and expensive knives if this trend goes further than reborns), but when I'm looking to buy something, I am more and more often, checking out OTHER venues. I'm not TOO worried about buying from Ebay (since as the BUYER, I'd probably be protected); I'm just tired of helping promote (Ebay/Paypal) monopolistic companies who have forgotten WHO made their profits for them...and it WASN'T their upper management and past or current CEO, much as they like to believe!

I have to agree. I am involve in a situation right now with ebay, and ebay has told me if we do not settle this ourselves they will settle it for us and give her all her money back and come after me for it. Some how this does not seem fair that I loose out when I have proof I sent it. I believe she has not gotten the item, and she has every right to ask for it. I also know I sent it and have every right to the money collected. Unfortunately the Post office gave me the wrong information and what I was told was a tracking number was not, so I can not trace it.
When this is all settled I doubt that I will ever sell on ebay again! I am just sick over this whole thing!

HORRIBLE!!! I HATE USPS almost as bad as Ebay/Paypal! They've raised their rates and shrunk their flat rate boxes again.
Unless your item is heavily insured, I find a lot of things don't get delivered....well, maybe not a LOT, but too many! I told the USPS "woman" at the counter one day and that not ONLY are we paying ridiculous prices to ship, that we have to pay them (insurance) NOT to steal it from us! I was furious as she was a total "B". If an item isn't insured, they don't even TRY to see where the break-down was. Guess that's why the label numbers carry NO weight anymore. USED to, you COULD track each stop with tracking, then it got to where it only showed after delivery, BUT that's not always a given either. Jean from R/A got a box I'd sent the other day and it STILL doesn't show in the freakin' USPS system. When I had to go mail something else Wednesday, I asked. The answer was, "don't know" WITH a shrug of the shoulders and NO eye contact or interest at ALL.
So, I can't tell you what to do in your predicament, but I KNOW that the customer has the right to the money back. If the postal service lost it, it's up to THEM to repay YOU. I can't imagine that Paypal will do anything but refund her 100% and I can't see any other way. Seems the post office would have to look for it IF it was insured. You should get some kind of receipt that shows the tracking number (not that it IS trackable anymore) but it would help them FIND it. That's why I'm thinking of going straight UPS for packages. You can see exactly where that package is MOST of the time and if they're scanning correctly at each stop, it is easy to see between which two stops the item came up missing! Too MANY of these claims from the same "stop" and they'll have to find who the thief is. That's PROBABLY why USPS doesn't claim to track anymore.....puts too much responsibility on them to keep up with who's at fault.....BECAUSE they don't care! So, the package that was delivered today, not ONLY had insurance BUT delivery confirmation, which sent an email to me. BUT, the label number STILL doesn't show up that it's even left my town. There's GOT to be a better way!!!! Hope you get your mess straightened out, but it seems that the post office has ONLY gotten MORE useless in customer service. Wednesday, when I was in there to mail that package, I heard one of the clerks ask the person he was waiting on if he wanted to buy insurance that would cover the contents value as long as it wasn't lost or damaged due to natural disaster! OMG, am I the ONLY one who caught that? No one else even seemed to notice that little "add on". So, if a mail truck runs off the road and all the packages are thrown out of the truck into a snowbank, NO coverage for YOU!
My soapbox is getting a little wobbley now from me standing on it too long. I'll get off now!
Hope your customer gets the package soon. I'm considering NOT selling anywhere but locally!

thanks so very much for the support. It was going to Brazil which has had lots of natural disasters. There is still some chance for it to get to her but it is almost 2 months.

Oh no Denise! I am so sorry you are going thru this!! I hope the package arrives soon! I really do. Ebay is a joke, they don't protect their sellers at all. A while back I heard ebay was aiming for BIG Compnay sellers and wanting the little sellers to go away. They are so foolish!! Big Companies do not Want or NEED to sell on ebay...why would they pay ebay all that money to ebay when they can advertise themselves and sell on their own from their own websites. It is the little sellers that make Ebay possible. We don't have huge funds to pay for fancy websites or advertising..THAT is why we use Ebay. Ebay is destroying itself and although they are not seeing the huge effect of their business conduct it is starting to show up (they experienced their lowest profit margin in their entire history in 2010), eventually they will have put themselves out of business.

As for an alternative Auction Site...well rather than spend lots of time and money creating a site, my friend suggested approaching an existing auction site and seeing if they would accomodate the doll world. I did some research and found a GREAT site...Opened in Nov. Highly reasonable fees and he is accomodating the doll world!!

The site is:
http://UHippo.com

When you set up your account go click on 'help' at the top right, go down to 'contact us' and tell him you were referred by the doll world or myself (elizabeth Townsley) and he will give you a $3 credit to start out with. $3 isn't much on ebay but on this site it's great!

Denise, this is so sad that you are still dealing with this. I have to agree, that ebay and paypal are all for the buyer. This is so sad. I also remember when ebay was the place to sell. Now they are taking so much of our hard earned money. I do sell now and then on ebay, I still have not tried to sell on "Etsy" yet. I have listed on the NEW AUTION SITE Uhippo.com. I have had over 200 hits on my auction, though no bids, but that is okay, as it is getting traffic.

AS for USPS Marcy, I have to agree with you. It is so scarey. I just may check out UPS also as their tracking is right on. So far, I have not had any problems with USPS, so that is a good thing, though I must say, that you don't get the tracking until it is actually delivered. All we can do is hope that they will improve..I do know that the post office I go to, everyone seems to be very polite and very helpful, so far...

I do also have an auction on EBAY, I have noted in my auction that I have some exciting news and to go to my "About Me" page to read about it. That is where I have advertised about the new auction site "Uhippo.com" I will continue to do that so that everyone will notice the new auction site. Also I announce both auctions on the news feed on Facebook to get the word out. On my website, I also have a NEWS PAGE and have announced it there. I am also going to do up some flyers and put them at stores that have a bulletin board that will allow you to advertise stuff.

All we can do is just put the word out there. I think that people are afraid of "change".

Well Lorna, I'm sure you're right about some people being afraid of change. Guess it depends on what the change is, but it's just that Ebay is so well known (household word and all) and the general public doesn't know of all the problems with it. My mother is 85 years old and was looking for an over the headboard reading light and asked me if I could look on ebay for her.... See? She may not know how to use it (though she IS on the computer playing games and emailing all the time) but she KNOWS the word "EBAY"!! I hate to say it, but it's par for the course with the growth of companies. If this new site SHOULD take over or catch up, they'll do the same thing! I've seen it with too many companies who outgrew their "roots". Gateway Computers used to be one on one customer service. Years ago, when my son bought his first major computer system, they called him to ask how the set up was going! Dell Computers, right here in Texas, used to be a great company to do business with. NOT anymore! You have to call 8,000 times and raise hell before they turn you over to the "problem customer" department so that someone on THIS side of the world will call you and help you with your tech-issue. I told them the last time I bought one of their computers that the ONLY thing I was happy about was that I DIDN'T pay extra for the 2nd and 3rd year tech-support coverage, since I wasn't getting any help with the FIRST freaking year (or day). I had to take that computer down to a local computer store and pay a couple of hundred bucks to get the danged thing straightened out! And it's pointless to try to reason with ebay. I'm not talking about a dispute, I'm talking like Liz did to this other site. There used to be a talk show 'ask Ebay' or something like that...you can find it on Youtube and someone asked if sellers could do anything since so many were boycotting Ebay and "Griff" said "no, it's not going to change!" It was a couple of years ago, but it's ONLY gotten worse, so I guess they're too big to give a crap! And if they have to lay off more of the "little guys" because their profits are down, it STILL doesn't hurt the people who COULD make changes to make it better. And, yes, there are some HUGE businesses on ebay. Actually ebay MADE them huge businesses. You have (speaking of computers) one powerseller, who is an authorized Dell reseller. You know, those companies who buy out schools or government agency computers when they're replaced. They refurb and "wipe" these computers, reload them and sell the all OVER the place on ebay. Another company that I know of apparently takes every open-box return from QVC (guess he gets them cheap) and resells them. His ebay store ALSO states that he is an authorized dealer of QVC products. Now to ME, these are the big guys and yep, ebay wants them because they are making tons of money from them. But all it takes is for Dell to take over their own refurb business or QVC to find a cheaper way and there goes THAT business. Now, for all we know, this company selling on eBay may actually BE QVC, selling their own returns.....doesn't matter! They have NO obligation to continue to do so. When and if they start losing their "big" companies, they'll be sorry, but it's like anything. It's going to take time for them to come down out of their ivory towers to see what the hubbub is all about. By THEN, hopefully this other auction site or multiple one (who'll keep a healthy competition going) will have their foot in the door and ebay will either fold under the weight of their unsupportable empire or tuck their collective tails between their back legs and suck it up and CHANGE! "Stupid is as stupid does", as Forrest Gump said!

Admin wrote:

Oh no Denise! I am so sorry you are going thru this!! I hope the package arrives soon! I really do. Ebay is a joke, they don't protect their sellers at all. A while back I heard ebay was aiming for BIG Compnay sellers and wanting the little sellers to go away. They are so foolish!! Big Companies do not Want or NEED to sell on ebay...why would they pay ebay all that money to ebay when they can advertise themselves and sell on their own from their own websites. It is the little sellers that make Ebay possible. We don't have huge funds to pay for fancy websites or advertising..THAT is why we use Ebay. Ebay is destroying itself and although they are not seeing the huge effect of their business conduct it is starting to show up (they experienced their lowest profit margin in their entire history in 2010), eventually they will have put themselves out of business.

As for an alternative Auction Site...well rather than spend lots of time and money creating a site, my friend suggested approaching an existing auction site and seeing if they would accomodate the doll world. I did some research and found a GREAT site...Opened in Nov. Highly reasonable fees and he is accomodating the doll world!!

The site is:
http://UHippo.com

When you set up your account go click on 'help' at the top right, go down to 'contact us' and tell him you were referred by the doll world or myself (elizabeth Townsley) and he will give you a $3 credit to start out with. $3 isn't much on ebay but on this site it's great!

UHippo huh?
I'm goin' over there right NOW!!!!!