A sellers perspective to selling online

I want to ask this hopefully to get a good response to help me as I am in the process of building a site that is going to be similar to Amazon.com, and Alibaba,combined with Bonanzle. A site for sellers to sell there products on an international level. Sure you can sell them wherever you want to whoever buys them what I am saying is it will contain multi languages for everyone to be able to use it, and I am working on getting people from all over the Globe involved with this. I have members of my site from all over the world and I have product sources internationally as well.Here is my question to you guys.I would like your opinion on the fees as this site will be for members of Salehoo as well as members of my site.Now obviously everyone hates the per sale sliding fee that Ebay uses so what I am considering is each member pays ten dollars a month, one flat fee this will give them unlimited space to sell as many products they want. They will each have there own page to put there items on with there own url so they can use ppc to promote there products if they would like there space will also contain a blog an about us page and a video intro kinda like You Tube if they so chose to use it.Plus 200.00 dollars worth of pay per click. Oh and we are going to have a forum built into the site so does 10.00 a month sound reasonable,or should I do the dreaded fee per item ?(Obviously the first 3-4 months will be free to everyone to get up and going good and get the kinks worked out).

If you could use some commas, full stops, capital letters and other appropriate punctuation, it might be a bit easier to understand the above post. I'm thinking most readers would abandon trying to make sense of it after about five lines. It's extremely difficult to understand. Sorry to be pedantic, but if you can't construct a proper sentence, then you might need to find somebody who can help you with your copy if you expect people to think of you as a professional business.

You realize how much band width you will take up per day and month? A website like that will cost a couple thousand or more per month in hosting fee's.Im not a expert im just going by commonsense,i might be wrong.

If you could use some commas, full stops, capital letters and other appropriate punctuation, it might be a bit easier to understand the above post. I'm thinking most readers would abandon trying to make sense of it after about five lines

Sorry but i couldnt stop laughing after reading that post.

If you could use some commas, full stops, capital letters and other appropriate punctuation, it might be a bit easier to understand the above post. I'm thinking most readers would abandon trying to make sense of it after about five lines. It's extremely difficult to understand. Sorry to be pedantic, but if you can't construct a proper sentence, then you might need to find somebody who can help you with your copy if you expect people to think of you as a professional business.

Well excuse the hell out of me.I did not think using punctuations was a necessity around here. I was actually in a hurry when I wrote the post however I do not think it is hard to understand. Look I am trying to help everyone to have a good place to sell items not worry about proper English and trust me I have seen a lot worse around here so if all you want to do is critique me on my punctuation do not bother answering my post! When you spend 5000.00 dollars like I just did to have a nice store for everyone to sell there items then you can critique me all you want.I dont come to Salehoo to argue with people or to be a smart ass.I come here to help people which is what I do everyday.

The post was meant to be constructive, not amusing, but if you got a laugh out of it then I'm glad.

Punctuation most certainly is a necessity, either here or anywhere else that you are hoping to get a message across. My point is that if you are spending $5000 to get your website going and your copy is totally unprofessional, then your money will be wasted. Most people online have a pretty short attention span. If people have difficulty understanding your point, they will click out and find another place to spend their money. I really do think it's worth the time and expense of getting professional copy writers if you do have a problem with syntax and punctuation. Everybody will excuse the odd typo or misspelling but sentences need to actually make sense.

Anyways Singapore I have my own server here are my basic stats.I can upgrade if need be the processor is a Quad-Core 3210 Xeon (Kentfield),the hard drive is 2x500gb SATA II and the bandwidth is
2,500gb so I think that will be enough to last for quite a while.

I agree you are correct but I am not the one designing the website.
I have a whole design team and I dont have a problem with my punctuation,or syntax. I was in a hurry good grief man! If it will make you feel better I will go edit the damn post.

haha, good times, good times

Jg i took it as you was excited about the website and i would be to.It was obvious you was just in a hurry.

Jg i took it as you was excited about the website and i would be to.It was obvious you was just in a hurry.

Isn't that sweet, I can't believe that you pair are actually being civil to each other after that initial battle....lol

Nice to see everyone getting on well.....maybe its got something to do with the Christmas spirit....lol

Kinda ironic, punctuation, spelling.Thats what i got blasted on.LOL
But it was obvious to me he was in a hurry.

Hey Fudjj whats up old friend? Also thank you Singapore.It is funny if you think about it ...lol
Anyways guys so what do you think about my idea here Fudjj you know I have been putting all this stuff together for quite a while,and
I finally found a webdesign that will suit me.Basically I am making
an Alibaba meets Bonanzle I know that server will last for quite a while,and if all goes well and we outgrow it then we should be making money you know? What I am wondering is about the pricing I want everyone to be able to sell there without having to spend a ton of money like Ebay,but like everyone else I have to make a profit as well.
My kids have to eat too you know. Getting traffic there will not be a problem as I have an unlimited amount of PPC coupons for everyone.
Your page will have its own url so you can advertise your own stuff.
You will be able to even split your pages up,like one section for your
products and another for wholesale merchandise.Anyways does the $10.00 a month sound fair or should I just do the fee thing?

Hey Jg, I know how hard you have been toiling away with this one, and I think it's great that there are members here actually doing something instead of constantly gripping all the time.

More power to members like you, jimmy and of course singapore for his bold plan as well.

I can't help get the feeling that with all of us working a different plans there will be opportunities to combine ventures somewhere down the track.

Perhaps we need a thread where those of us with plans on the go can learn a little more about each other, and our ides in a concerted effort to create on hell of an opportunity for all.

Good luck to all of us, because if we succeed, every just might benefit!

Hey Jg, I know how hard you have been toiling away with this one, and I think it's great that there are members here actually doing something instead of constantly gripping all the time.

More power to members like you, jimmy and of course singapore for his bold new plan as well, and anyone else that is actually trying to create opportunities for everyone..

We all know it's a long way from being easy, but good to see us all persisting.

I can't help get the feeling that with all of us working on different plans there may be opportunities for some of us to combine ventures, as you know we have previously spoken about this point ourselves.

Anyway, good luck to all of us, because if we succeed, everyone here just might benefit!

Second thought, way to many free wholesale sites.I dont think the web needs anymore.Ill just make a website of the products i sold and made great money with.And how i did it.Not one person has ever mentioned it from what i seen on this website.Everyone is prob doing it and keeping quiet.Or you can message me and ill tell you.

Punctuation most certainly is a necessity, either here or anywhere else that you are hoping to get a message across. My point is that if you are spending $5000 to get your website going and your copy is totally unprofessional, then your money will be wasted. Most people online have a pretty short attention span. If people have difficulty understanding your point, they will click out and find another place to spend their money. I really do think it's worth the time and expense of getting professional copy writers if you do have a problem with syntax and punctuation. Everybody will excuse the odd typo or misspelling but sentences need to actually make sense.

Actually, you could use some paragraph structure in your posts.

I don't care about punctuation, its the lack of paragraphs that makes it hard to read.

With that said, critiquing someones post is fine, but be cordial.

Honestly I think this is a waste of time. Fair enough trying to do something different, good on you. But as a business its pretty hard to see where the return would be.

Why would anyone else use it as apposed to alibaba, b2b or global sources. It just won't happen. There are too many of them and they all do it better. The only way you could make it worse is to have it 110
% scam free which is pretty difficult.

Honestly I think this is a waste of time. Fair enough trying to do something different, good on you. But as a business its pretty hard to see where the return would be.

Why would anyone else use it as apposed to alibaba, b2b or global sources. It just won't happen. There are too many of them and they all do it better. The only way you could make it worse is to have it 110
% scam free which is pretty difficult.

Hi I appreciate your feedback.As far as the sellers go I have already acquired
a nice start of people who are interested from 6 different countries I look at sites like Link hidden: Login to view that have grown to 10,000 members since July
that lets me know that there is potential, and Ebays numbers are dropping daily.
Yes with everything there will be scams and we will try our best to develop a system to help the consumer.I know all transactions will be made through PayPal.
I will say this even I know as a business man that it will not matter if we start off with 10 sellers or 1000 that we have to have buyers.I have a large portion of my budget going to attract them and I am also giving free Yahoo and Google PPC coupons 100.00 each to every new member to help them to promote there booths.The same coupons I have posted on here a couple of
times.As far as making it 110% safe no site can claim that not Ebay,Alibaba,
or any site that you deal with the buyer seller arrangement,but we will do our best to make it safe for everyone.

I vote for the ten dollar fee per month. It sounds like a great idea. Good luck!!

Thank you dinosaur230 most people I have spoke with have thought it was great I will make sure to let you know when it is open.

Sorry if my feedback seemed a little harsh just thought it would be better to give a sound opinion than to be dishonest.

The structure of it is not a bad idea but there are far too many issues.

1. too many people are now trying to do the same thing, for it to be a small success you would have to get to the level of eBid, cqout, bodanzle or whatever it is called kind of a scale.

2. All of the people who would buy from another auction site are probably already members of eBay - therefore prices would have to be cheaper than that of eBay which would be very difficult to achieve.

3. eBay fees are high for a reason, because of the vast amount of sales you get, I don't use eBay anymore but if I did I wouldn't swap. You get exactly what you pay for, although I'm not saying fees couldn't be a little bit cheaper and customer service a little better.

4. Even though you would be taking customers away from eBay, you are still giving them custom through PayPal, if you speak to people who don't use the net or don't use it anymore PayPal is often the reason. Again I don't use PayPal anymore myself but it is still vital to my business.

5. Most people do not have a problem with Alibaba and sites like it. If you use your common sense then most people know deep down that you can't get iphones for $100 from China so there is no kind of niche to this site that makes it any better than anything else.

6. $10 is such a small fee that the site will eventually be riddled with scammers, if you wanted to verify each company properly you would need a team of people who can see a scam from a mile off, these guys will have been in the business for years and will probably not work doing that sort of thing.

There are many reasons why this just seems impossible, so maybe go back to the drawing board and come up with something else similar that the world needs.

I am working on developing a b2b site as well, and I have pondered the same question. The answer that always seems to come back around is: Will people use it? I don't think Cost is as much of a factor for most 'true' business people. Our concern is 'Profiitability'. If you build it, will they come? If you put together a superior site, it should be more valuable! I know getting it off the ground and getting users is a Huge concern. I would suggest a two or three tier pricing structure, like I think you are thinking. Example: $10.00 per month for those that purchase/sign-up during your 'Pre-launch'.(Pre-launch can last however long you want) Give those willing to jump on board a Special Savings. That way you don't increase your expenses upfront giving it away for free, and you can use those dollars promoting your site for the 'Second Wave'. The important thing to keep in mind is to keep it rolling so it doesn't wear out or stall out in the 6month, and you can create 'New Energy' the 6month with another 'Introductory Offer' of just $10 per month. In the mean time those that don't jump on board during the Pre-launch you can charge $19.99 per month, retain the database of those that inquired but didn't join and then go back to them and offer the $10 special...(I like $9.99 better)
Like my Dad always told me... 'You can always come down!' In this case it is hard to come down from Zero. The other thing you may want to keep in mind is USER INTEGRITY. You have got to eliminate the scammers! A safe bonafide site for us users to use is very important. That's what chases away good users faster than anything and it could be your best marketing tool. I hope this helps you. I didn't really want to subject myself to the english teacher! (even though she makes a valid point) As you learned firsthand that users pick up on fine details especially when we are concerned with the credibility of the person that we are dealing with, and we want to make sure we are not just logged on to another website full of scammers like trade-key etc. If your site appears professional it will heighten the standard of your users. Good luck! I look forward to seeing your product out there!

Maybe I jumped the gun a bit here and didn't give enough credit where credit is due.

It's a good idea yes, but it is riddled with problems. If you can find away to sort them out then it would be a huge sucess. I have thought about doing this myself and may well do, but not using any of these stratergies and not charging a membership fee (not that that isn't a good idea) but I feel there is a more financially rewarding way to do it.

On the whole all the big b2b companies have big issues, I almost feel they are not really b2b more us to scammers, picking out the legit ones is like looking for a needle in a haystack so to speak.

So there is no reason why a salehoo member can't do this, it justs needs some ironing out...