26 replies to this topic

[hubcat]

Ok, my husband (Jeff, the coder) and I (Adrienne, the store owner) disagree a bit on this, so I'm coming to the forums for advice.

I put up a few of my OSC store items on eBay in the hopes of generating a few new clients for the site. In the auction I list the name of the site, although it's not clickable since that's against eBay rules. I have an About Me page that has multiple links to the site and a description of my OSC store.

The first item I put up on eBay is now bidding at a price OVER what I'm charging on my site. They could just go to more store and get it cheaper. So...

Do I take the money from the highest bidder and say nothing or do I offer it at retail - or perhaps at retail plus some of the extra fees I have to pay for the bid going so high? And do I e-mail the second highest bidder and offer to sell him another at retail, at the bid price or just list another auction for the same item and point them there? (As long as you e-mail through eBay's interface and pay their fees, none of these are against eBay policy.)

Has this happened to any of you?
Thanks,
Adrienne

[rjongen]

hubcat, on Aug 13 2005, 04:54 PM, said:

Ok, my husband (Jeff, the coder) and I (Adrienne, the store owner) disagree a bit on this, so I'm coming to the forums for advice.

I put up a few of my OSC store items on eBay in the hopes of generating a few new clients for the site.  In the auction I list the name of the site, although it's not clickable since that's against eBay rules.  I have an About Me page that has multiple links to the site and a description of my OSC store.

The first item I put up on eBay is now bidding at a price OVER what I'm charging on my site.  They could just go to more store and get it cheaper.     So...

Do I take the money from the highest bidder and say nothing or do I offer it at retail - or perhaps at retail plus some of the extra fees I have to pay for the bid going so high?  And do I e-mail the second highest bidder and offer to sell him another at retail, at the bid price or just list another auction for the same item and point them there?  (As long as you e-mail through eBay's interface and pay their fees, none of these are against eBay policy.)

Has this happened to any of you?
Thanks,
Adrienne

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am Powerseller Gold at eBay Netherlands.

Also in my ebay product description, I link to my osC store.. I only sell by 'buy it now'.
The prices at eBay I charge are higher then the prices in my store (just because I have to pay eBay).

Even while I sell the products for more at eBay, many people are to lazy (i think) to look at my site, where they can get more products for less.

It's not about 'ethical', it's about bussiness

A little tip for ebay: don't sell by bidding, sell by 'buy it now'

Edited by Johnson, 14 August 2005, 03:41.

[jeffers]

Do I take the money from the highest bidder and say nothing or do I offer it at retail - or perhaps at retail plus some of the extra fees I have to pay for the bid going so high? And do I e-mail the second highest bidder and offer to sell him another at retail, at the bid price or just list another auction for the same item and point them there? (As long as you e-mail through eBay's interface and pay their fees, none of these are against eBay policy.)

Has this happened to any of you?
Thanks,
Adrienne
[right]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/right]
[/quote]


Think business, there are no ethics in business.

Take the higher price and by all means email any other unsuccesful bidders about your store.

As for offering the item at retail if it went over, would you charge retail prices if the price at auction was under...of course you wouldn't, so why worry when the price is over.

[hubcat]

jeffers, on Aug 13 2005, 09:39 AM, said:

As for offering the item at retail if it went over, would you charge retail prices if the price at auction was under...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good point. I guess I'll just take the higher bid price - it will offset my eBay fees for the next couple of weeks.

[burt]

I have had the exact same happen. Something I sell for £9.99 eventually went for over double that price on eBay.

What I did was send the product to the buyer, but also send a bunch of other stuff as well which I thought he might be interested in. It made me feel a bit better.

This was when I was quite new to eBay, so could not do "Buy It Now". Since then (after I got enough feedback to do BIN) the item I sell goes for 9.99 in my shop and 9.99 on eBay as well.

[hubcat]

Actually, after thinking it over a bit, I figured out what I think is the best strategy. I will take the higher bid price, and then give the buyer a Gift Voucher to my store in the amount of the overage. If she doesn't use it, I still get the higher price, and if she does, it's well worth it to me to get someone to the shop and buying from my OSC site. That's why I'm on eBay anyway.

Thanks,
Adrienne

[RikR]

I would not feel guilty, and I would not give anything extra. Some customers may just feel more "secure" buying on eBay and believe the price difference is worth that security, if they bother to compare the price.

This is a free market, you may offend them by implying they were stupid to pay what they did. You have done more than enough by giving them the link.

[rjongen]

RikR, on Aug 14 2005, 04:28 AM, said:

I would not feel guilty, and I would not give anything extra. Some customers may just feel more "secure" buying on eBay and believe the price difference is worth that security, if they bother to compare the price.

This is a free market, you may offend them by implying they were stupid to pay what they did. You have done more than enough by giving them the link.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

exact!

[DubZ28]

You can rationalize all you want, there are many ways. If you go above and beyond what the customer expects (provide gift voucher, extra stuff) both of you are winning and your store will stand out in their head...making it very likely they tell others about you.

Overall, yes there is no problem selling the item at the ebay price.

jeffers: there are ethics in business, everything has ethics. if your view of business is do what it takes to make a sale no matter what...you may make an easy buck now, but when it comes to customer retention you will be greatly lacking. its nearly impossible to recreate trust once it has been broken.

[GraphicsGuy]

jeffers, on Aug 13 2005, 12:39 PM, said:

Think business, there are no ethics in business.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

While that has been the general opinion of many MBA degrees in the last 20 years, quite a few corporate executives have found out different lately.

Do right by your customers and you will develop a strong base of repeat customers and your marketing costs will go down significantly as a percent of sales. Further, you will benefit from word of mouth advertising.

[Mighty Mike]

hubcat, on Aug 13 2005, 03:54 PM, said:

Ok, my husband (Jeff, the coder) and I (Adrienne, the store owner) disagree a bit on this, so I'm coming to the forums for advice.

I put up a few of my OSC store items on eBay in the hopes of generating a few new clients for the site.  In the auction I list the name of the site, although it's not clickable since that's against eBay rules.  I have an About Me page that has multiple links to the site and a description of my OSC store.

The first item I put up on eBay is now bidding at a price OVER what I'm charging on my site.  They could just go to more store and get it cheaper.    So...

Do I take the money from the highest bidder and say nothing or do I offer it at retail - or perhaps at retail plus some of the extra fees I have to pay for the bid going so high?  And do I e-mail the second highest bidder and offer to sell him another at retail, at the bid price or just list another auction for the same item and point them there?  (As long as you e-mail through eBay's interface and pay their fees, none of these are against eBay policy.)

Has this happened to any of you?
Thanks,
Adrienne

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i see this happen all the time on ebay and cant believe that the ppl bidding on the item dont go and check what it would cost at retail elsewhere. I would take the money and put more items up for sale. Its not your fault that somebody wants to pay you more than what its worth!

[Jeremy at oddly enough]

We think that is a function of the marketplace. The bid price is the bid price. The gift voucher is a nice idea though. We find that ebayers tend to stay ebayers though, and usually find us on ebay again, if that's what their first contact was.

Jeremy

[hubcat]

Well, I did what I had said above. I took the full payment for the eBay sale, and then issued a credit for the price difference as a gift voucher to my store. I figured, I win all the way around. She hasn't used it yet, and if she never does, I still get the higher price. If she does use it, I've driven an eBay sale to my shop, and a store customer is well worth the discount I gave her.

I also felt better about doing it this way. I'm happy to take a dollar or two more for an eBay auction to offset the fees, but almost 50% above the sale price seemed excessive. As a retailer I feel I've been honest and fair and provided good customer service, so if it ever happened again I would do the same thing. I believe running an ethical business is imperative if you want to keep your customers for the long haul.

Thanks for all the opinions and suggestions.

My 2 cents,
Adrienne

[YoungBlood]

This is sort of off the subject but, you say you mention your web site in your listings, and as long as its not a hyperlink? your not in violation. I was wondering, where you made your "about me" page?

THanks a buch!

[YoungBlood]

Nevermind, I found it.

[Joe7]

If they bid that amount, then they are happy to pay it. Simple as that.

You can send the second highest bidder an offer through eBay, doing it any other way is against eBays rules and regulations.

[Buck]

burt, on Aug 13 2005, 02:17 PM, said:

<snip>

This was when I was quite new to eBay, so could not do "Buy It Now". Since then (after I got enough feedback to do BIN) the item I sell goes for 9.99 in my shop and 9.99 on eBay as well.

If I remember the rules correctly, you are allowed to post the url to your website (unclickable) if your starting bid is less than the price of the same item on your website.

Someone will correct me here, if I am mistaken, but I don't think you can make a second chance offer to losing bidders if the product sells. Maybe you can, but you would do it through Ebay and not email. You will have to pay Ebay fees if you do it properly. Many ebayers will not feel as safe buying from the web store as they will thru ebay with all their and paypals protections they talk up so well.

When I get my site up and running, I plan to use ebay as one marketing tool to attract customers to my site.

Good luck and sleep easy at night

Buck

[Buck]

RikR, on Aug 13 2005, 11:28 PM, said:

I would not feel guilty, and I would not give anything extra. Some customers may just feel more "secure" buying on eBay and believe the price difference is worth that security, if they bother to compare the price.

This is a free market, you may offend them by implying they were stupid to pay what they did. You have done more than enough by giving them the link.

What do you think of this approach? Send a gift certificate for $x.00. Tell the buyer, "Thank you for your business. We hope this has been a woderful experience you will want to share with your friends. To help you, with this, we have enclosed a gift certificate they can use when they create their account to pay for, or reduce the cost of their first purchase." (I am more of a creative thinker than writer).

Actually, I wonder if this wouldn't be a good thing to do for every customer. .....


Let me know what you all think

Buck

[14steve14]

I recently sold something on ebay for more than i sell it in my store. Once the bidding had ended and i sent the item, and a printed newsletter about my online store. The ebayer got really upset when he found that the item was cheaper in the store. I sent him an email, explaining that i had fees to pay with ebay and aall that kind of things. I did also mention to him that it was his bid. He has since returned to the store and purchased many items.

[misterbling]

So you know

1) The non-hyperlink is still ebay illegal
2) more than 1 link on your about me page for your site is ebay illegal
3) having items on your site FOR LESS than on ebay is ebay illegal

It costs more to list on ebay so I fail to see the moral dilema, maybe you're charging to little on your site.