New Cell Phone Auction Website

Hi guys

I am starting an auction website soon where you can buy or sell new or used cell phones. You can post auction style or fixed priced style listing like ebay. We will only charge a 5% final value fee and if you want to open a store it is half the price of ebays. No insertion fees, no listing fees, only, and maybe no picture fees. So you guys will be able to make a good profit! Payment is through Paypal and we approve auction listings meaning sellers have to show proof of their items for sale. You can also import you seller feedback from different sites like ebay and amazon so buyers can see that you are a trusted seller. Will you guys be interested in this? Or if you have any suggestion for this site please comment.

Thanks

Hi Chevaria and welcome to the forum

Sounds like an exciting venture you are embarking on and I'm sure there will be members interested in getting on board, although some more details would be helpful.

For example, what sort of traffic flow do you anticipate over the first 6-12 months and what sort of marketing money are you spending on driving traffic to people's products?

One thing I am curious about is the proof of item policy you have. Do you mean people will need to prove that they actually have the item to sell or are you accepting dropshipped products on the site?

I'm also curious if it's just Cell Phones that you will be listing, am I understanding that correctly?

One tip I would give you, a little incentive for our members may see a higher sign on rate for you. Maybe something like NO FEES WHATSOEVER over the first 6 months, just a little something special for our members like that might generate some really good interest for you

: )

Look forward to hearing more about it.

Hi Mark,

So far I have been reading up on Google Adwords and I plan to use this for traffic, and I will also read on Facebook and Twitter advertising. I will also be marketing on forums, blogs, and youtube. I do mean that people need to provide proof of their items. Ebay sellers that are interested in my site can import their feedback from eBay, and I will see that they are a trusted seller but for the new sellers, I would like for them to provide proof to prevent scams. I will take your advice on the NO FEES WHATSOEVER, I think that is a very good idea for the first few months. This is a site only for cells phone and cell phone accessories. I figured I should stick with one niche and then I will maybe expand depending on the site. I am setting it up as we speak(type) and I am very excited about this! If you have anymore advice or ideas I look forward to taking them into consideration.

Thank You

OK, now I understand more clearly. I do like the niche aspect of the idea personally, however that's probably it's biggest negative as well. The problem any new start up auction site has is generating traffic, without that traffic flow right from the start you some how have to inspire sellers to spend their time developing new listings for the site, not an easy thing to do because it's an unfortunate fact that most online sellers tend to be lazy and won't usually take the time to worry if they don't see any potential of an immediate pay off.

That's one issue., second one, and probably even bigger that that first is the actual size of your market. Developing a niche auction site, mush like a bidz,com or similar, you're limiting the amount of potential customers, selling customers that is. With just mobile phones, even though everyone on the planet has one, you're really aiming and a very small section of sellers over all.

Even if you can find the sellers to join your site, how many will be selling the same thing as the next with dropshipping. Yes, it's the same on eBay of course, but you may attract a higher number of dropshippers than wholesalers and just private sellers on start up and that could cause some issues.

Have you thought about slight widening the market, maybe going down the road of Total Tech, so phones, tablets and so on. Still has a niche feel about it, but gives you more customers to target in regards to selling and more appeal for buyers to jump on the site as well. My suggestion would be looking at those points and see where they take you.

Yes, actually I have considered all electronics as well including laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and mp3/iPods. But I thought it was a good idea to start small. So do you believe that I should go ahead and start off with all electronics?

Thanks

Not sure I would go all electronics, I would personally focus on core tech products in the genre. For example, I saw a cool toothbrush that now works with an app on your phone to tell you how well you are cleaning your teeth and the tech market is growing with products such as that at an absurd rate. So I personally think cutting edge tech products along those lines perhaps, not things like old televisions and so on, but I think that there is a stack of potential in your idea if you harness and develop it the right way.

I think phones alone, while I do like the idea, is too limiting to get potential buyers and sellers. Just redirecting slightly can open up the platform to more sellers and attract potential buyers to the site, but either way make no mistake about it, what you are trying to do isn't going to be easy or cheap.

Maybe even develop a site with tech blogs for both buyers and sellers, make a bit of a community out of it sort of thing. Somewhere people can come to buy and be informed.

I have to say, not a small task you are taking on, but if you can develop something and market it well, then I personally see some potential there for you for sure.