OK, if it's a deliberate strategy to draw traffic, the that is of course a valid marketing exercise. Called loss-leading, the name pretty much says it all, the object of the exercise isn't really to make money, it's designed to draw traffic through the door.
My previous points are still very valid when using this strategy. Firstly, you need to ensure that you have a platform and stock profile to take advantage of your loss-leading marketing. For example, a well stocked eBay shop that you are able to market through your loss-leaders.
If you don't, what are you leading customers to?
Secondly, and this goes to my main point of yesterday, you need to make sure the market is there to draw the traffic from to start with or you are simply trowing money away without any chance of converting that into long term business.
In regards to the template itself. Of course it's quite a subjective thing giving advice on a design. That said, my opinion is that it doesn't have a professional look, in fact quite the opposite. I think the colours you've gone with are too dark and over powering for the genre.
If we are talking about models, I think a template including things such as more images, including cross marketing some of your other models. A detailed profile on you as a business and why a customer should buy from you. Essentially, what makes you better than your competitor?
Detailed back ground information on the model maker themselves, just to highlight the quality of the products you carry and so on. You don't want to make it too in-depth that the customer loses interest, so you have to find a balance, you really want to make that as informative and as attractive to a potential buyer as possible.
I don't think your low feedback is a particular issue at this point, but a far more professional template will serve to take that low feedback out of people's minds if it is of any concern to them at all.
One of the things that always surprises me is that most people don't treat an online business the same as a bricks and mortar business in a design sense. Ask yourself what you would expect to find if you walked into a model store, how would it be layout out, colours and general design?
A smart business owner sets out their store to a plan, and that is to maximise the marketing impact once a customer walks through the door. Online business is exactly the same, smart business owners are looking to make the same impact. In fact it's even more important to make a big impact for an online business because there is no salesperson there to get the customers attention. It's also crazy simple for them to just walk out of your store and straight into a competitors in a matter of seconds.
The number one aim of any online store or even an eBay listing, should be to grab the customers attention and then hold it long enough to convert their visit into a sale!
Now you're never going to convert every visit into a sale, but when thinking about a design platform, that should be where your head is. How do I design this for maximum impact, how do I convert visitors into sales?
Most think that just comes down to things like price, and of course that plays a huge factor in online business, but there is a lot of background work that goes into a successful business.
Just on a slightly different point, if it's models you want to specialize in, then I may have an interesting option for you. We actually offer a full custom built model option through a business venture that I am partners in. The models are made to order in the US by a master model builder. They can be built to any specification desired, and and built out of wood, then finished with a range of metals, plasters and so on, to get the desired result.
All that is required are some detailed images, photos or accurate drawings for conceptional work where photos are not possible.
Now they aren't toys and are not cheap. They are Museum display quality that are designed for serious enthusiasts and collectors of all genres. Cars, Ships, Trains, Motorcycles, pretty much anything can be made to order, and to any scale.
These aren't the type of things you will find everywhere, in fact very hard to find this type of service that is open to public orders. We only market these through our own business venture, not on any auction sites, including eBay.
So, if you think that might be something that your customers would find interesting, drop me a PM and I can shoot you through some more details for your consideration.
Cheers
