Retail shop - online or ebay

[Recruitment1]

Hello

I am thinking of starting a retail shop. Should I create my own website or start on ebay.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[LOS Design UK]

Hello

I am thinking of starting a retail shop. Should I create my own website or start on ebay.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hi

This would all depend on your market, costings and of course business model.

Ebay can be effective when used as an advertising channel BUT if you are selling new/white/power tools etc your margins will be wafer thin to non-existant as it is flooded with bottom dollar pricing.

All things considered...a bit of both IMHO.

[Fuzzy]

I agree, why not do both

[AboveParr]

I'd go with both - Ebay can be great for generating interest but I'm generally happier dealing with people on there that have a proper online shop as well.

[benr123]

Hello

I am thinking of starting a retail shop. Should I create my own website or start on ebay.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I would do ebay and then do a shop after it works. If you do ebay, it costs less upfront and you get instant credibility and traffic.

If you go down the shop route, you have to pay to set it up and generate traffic. It takes longer and if you fail you lose more than with an ebay shop.

[Recruitment1]

Hi

This would all depend on your market, costings and of course business model.

Ebay can be effective when used as an advertising channel BUT if you are selling new/white/power tools etc your margins will be wafer thin to non-existant as it is flooded with bottom dollar pricing.

All things considered...a bit of both IMHO.

I will be selling new dress, tops etc. Do you think it will be worth it.

[LOS Design UK]

I will be selling new dress, tops etc. Do you think it will be worth it.

It all depends on your margins.

As above, use it to generate interest in a well crafted site.

To make a living from it may prove prohibitive initially as I am unaware of the marketplace forces on ebay for this type of product.

HTH

[alexhughes]

I would recommend doing both. As said it can generated interest and bring customers to your site.

I think it also depends on the capital you have to start up your site, as a poor site can cause more damage than good. Therefore if capital is low then I would go with the starting on ebay then developing later on with success. (as also mentioned above).

Good Luck!

[OPC]

I have to agree with the above. I use J Shop as my back end system and would highly recommend it!

Good luck with the venture!

Colin

[cmonline]

It is possible to do both at once.

I currently look after the ebay operations for one of my clients (a bathroom retailer) and have integrated the products listed on ebay into their website.

The benefits of this are products only have to be listed once into ebay and they are open to custom from both ebay and the website.

It's possible to alter prices as well on each, so for instance you can offer a discount on sales through your website because you wont have to pay ebay fees, especially beneficial if you have repeat customers.

If you are interested in finding out more how this works please PM me.