Websites

[precioustreasures18]

I am looking for pros and cons of starting a website store to integrate with eBay since watching eBay open a few days ago.  I am considering Shopify or Wix. I would appreciate comments from other sellers.  The price between the two for our level store is comparable, $23 per month vs $29 per month, so to clarify, I guess I would like comments on the best integration, as I prefer to only post on eBay's platform.

Thank You.

[gjs_16]

I built my own web site years ago, not an eaby site...

I spent a lot of time on it, building a real web site is not even close to easy.

7 years passed while I worked on it a bit everyday, it became a hobby...

Back then I paid anywhere from $5 to $100 a month for web hosting, from virtual to dedicated.

After 7 years I shut it down, took a break then built one for my business.

Today I pay 50 cents a month for hosting, 3 years prepaid.

What all is involved...

Each of these is a whole learning experience in itself, some are shorter than others...

DNS resolution, domain registration, FTP protocol, site administration, coding, SEO, optimization / load-times, cross-platform standardization, statistical analysis, spam control, domain mail...

That was off the top of my head.

In your case you'll also need a shopping cart, some kind of database and a payment processor.

I'm sure there's more.

Reason I can't remember more is because I don't do this every day now and it has been a good many years since, maybe once or twice a year I still play around with it... 

[chapeau-noir]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

I believe Shopify can send Shopify created listings to ebay, and import ebay listings to Shopify. Not sure, but I think Wix can also import from ebay. List Perfectly is one tool that also allows you to send listings to a number of sites by creating just one listing. Pretty sure it includes ebay and Shopify (along with a number of others, although I don't think Wix is one of them---not really sure) 

Agree with your general point....I'm not sure the OP is a prime candidate for Shopify or Wix, given what she sells....if the OP wants to use Social Media primarily to increase traffic to ebay, I'd say focus on using the social media tools and not worry about Shopify and Wix at this point. And once ebay goes live with its Social Media Store Referral FVF discount, well, if the OP has already built a following and traffic by that time, she will be able to not only increase sales but lower her ebay fees as well.

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Yes, when I was using Shopify I was able to pull listings from eBay.  This was a while ago, though.

[gracieallen01]

Dreamweaver, before Adobe got hold of it, was a the only way to go (as far as I'm concerned) to building mine - way back when.  SEO was about the only thing that needed enhancement.  E-mail, etc was/is handled by hosting.  Even after 17 years, it still wants some tweeking on occasion, but nothing serious.

[whattheactualfox]

I am currently managing a website for a small business owner/a site for myself.

It is about 30-50 yearly for a:

• domain name (I use .com)
• SSL security
• DNS Protection
• Hosting

And It took me about a day to set up the site....well about a few hours. Now I also use WordPress for drag and drop building and it's like using wix or google sites. And you can use those, but then you got something like 'sitename.google .com' compared to 'sitename .com'

Now to put your ebay listings on there, I would have a part of the site where you show them, and auctions. I know wordpress has a 3rd party plugin that takes are of that, and people rated it almost 5 stars.

Now I'm just saying all of this from my POV. You can also message me if you need help with the site as I have experience building sites way back in middle school. 🙂

[downunder-61]

You can also message me if you need help with the site as I have experience building sites way back in middle school. 

Ha Ha, I had my 23 year old son help me out to get it up and running, and now I am a legend!!!

Thank goodness for middle school education (and kid's).

[richard1rst]

Personally, I have an independent website unrelated to eBay. I would never consider any of the sites mentioned. You are no doubt aware that eBay prohibits the sale of otherwise PERFECTLY LEGAL products. By having a completely independent site I can sell whatever PERFECTLY LEGAL products I want without someone looking over my shoulder and saying “you can’t sell that”.

For example, and as an underlying philosophy, I have a license plate which reads “I would rather be historically accurate than politically correct”. I can not list it on eBay.

Yes, it took some learning to do HTML and figure out the SEO game, but it is not nearly as hard as you think and there are guide books available. And you do not have to actually know everything. But anything worth having is worth working for.

[richard1rst]

Oh, and one more thing. My independent site also acts as my hosting site for all the pictures I display in the body of my eBay listings. In other words, I do not have to rely on photo bucket or any other outside site. I have seen postings here about some troubles on that subject.

[gjs_16]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

Dreamweaver, before Adobe got hold of it, was a the only way to go (as far as I'm concerned) to building mine - way back when.  SEO was about the only thing that needed enhancement.  E-mail, etc was/is handled by hosting.  Even after 17 years, it still wants some tweeking on occasion, but nothing serious.

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I remember Dreamweaver, it was expensive and while it did produce nice looking websites it failed, as most WYSIWYG processors do, in creating clean, uncluttered, and standardized code.

In other words, Dreamweaver churned out beautiful looking websites that were full of coding errors.

Dreamweaver also did not, to my recollection, adhere to a standard of code in terms of language.

No, code isn't just "HTML"
There exist various actual html "languages" and within that, versions.

To produce clean code one needs to adhere to the specifications of one such language and version as specified by a coding standard authority such as the W3C

Most websites on the Internet may look good, if they do, but they're full of code errors.

Most webmasters seem oblivious to this fact, or they don't care.

To get a website that was efficient in terms of code, I had to learn how to code.
We did this through a program called a code editor.

Back then CoffeeCup was really popular, I believe I used Notepad++
And templates.

Don't forget to use a standardized language, back in my days xHTML 1.0 transitional was the latest and greatest, it has just in the past 5-10 years started to become deprecated but still functions today.  Then came Google and they spewed out HTML 5 which created a great rift between the W3C and Google Inc. as Google had sought to displace the W3C as the web's de-facto "coding standard authority."

Oh yes, fun times.

[gjs_16]

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@richard1rst wrote:

Personally, I have an independent website unrelated to eBay. I would never consider any of the sites mentioned. You are no doubt aware that eBay prohibits the sale of otherwise PERFECTLY LEGAL products. By having a completely independent site I can sell whatever PERFECTLY LEGAL products I want without someone looking over my shoulder and saying “you can’t sell that”.

For example, and as an underlying philosophy, I have a license plate which reads “I would rather be historically accurate than politically correct”. I can not list it on eBay.

Yes, it took some learning to do HTML and figure out the SEO game, but it is not nearly as hard as you think and there are guide books available. And you do not have to actually know everything. But anything worth having is worth working for.

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I used to run mine through a code test:
https://validator.w3.org/

On a side note, you most definitely want to host your own images.

See, most folks wouldn't think twice about why that even matters.

[luckythewinner]

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@downunder-61 wrote:

My site is about 18 months old and I have about 75% of the traffic I get from eBay (sell in Australia only) so another 12 months hopefully I can say bye bye eBay.

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If your website and eBay have the same traffic X, your traffic is 2X. 

Wouldn't dropping eBay cut you traffic half?

[farmalljr]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

I believe Shopify can send Shopify created listings to ebay, and import ebay listings to Shopify. Not sure, but I think Wix can also import from ebay. List Perfectly is one tool that also allows you to send listings to a number of sites by creating just one listing. Pretty sure it includes ebay and Shopify (along with a number of others, although I don't think Wix is one of them---not really sure) 

Agree with your general point....I'm not sure the OP is a prime candidate for Shopify or Wix, given what she sells....if the OP wants to use Social Media primarily to increase traffic to ebay, I'd say focus on using the social media tools and not worry about Shopify and Wix at this point. And once ebay goes live with its Social Media Store Referral FVF discount, well, if the OP has already built a following and traffic by that time, she will be able to not only increase sales but lower her ebay fees as well.

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I don't know if WIX or Shopify import. I don't currently use either. I have looked into opening a shopify and using inkfrog. Other people whom I have listened to, to get an idea of what it all takes, all mention using inkfrog to make listings and cast out the listings through shopify to the platforms they use. 

I guess it just really depends on what your visions of your ecommerce business is. People who sell on the River, use other programs/subscriptions like inventory lab, not just an account alone, on the River. eBay and the smaller platforms, a seller typically needs nothing but their account and time to get things listed. If you step up to the River, Shopify, or your own website, you are going to need tools. 

Bottom line is though, to make a "move" to other platforms or places to sell, each person needs to evaluate if your sales can support the expense, if you have the time, and if it even makes any sense. There are plenty of people making 100+ sales a day on eBay alone. Just adding another platform isn't going to magically make your sales double. You have to have the right formula to grow. 

[whattheactualfox]

Amen to that lol. I got in touch with someone who owns a haircutting business. They paid me for getting a site set up, and in return they promote my business

[nuclearomen]

looking at your items, don't seem to sell much, and so the question really is do you have enough customers selling used/pre-owned items that people can find anywhere to justify the expense and time of a website and success of having a website? How do you plan to draw traffic to that site if you don't? You say "integrate" with ebay, but you realize that ebay doesn't bring traffic to your site, you bring traffic to ebay via ads placed on your site...that aren't for your items.  

[coastaltechsolution]

I have been developing websites , now html, JS and CSS3 for many moons

Much of what I read here is the old round robin and not much new 

If you want to build a website to help promote your eBay and online sales, well there are many free and low priced tools to do so.

The true question is how much do you want to spend to promote this website.

Just making a wix or shopify website will do nothing for you, you have to advertise and let it be known. 

Why not advertise your eBay store? 

Yes hosting is cheap today, sure you can have a website up and running in minutes  

Why bother? I mean if eBay is your main selling income then promote it 

I have been building websites and all that it entails since 1996 and nothing said in eBay open about any of this is "new and innovating" 

You need to sit down and figure out where your advertising dollars are best spent 

[whattheactualfox]

Tbh I cannot agree more. Honestly selling on ebay here is more of a hobby and I really don't see the reason to make a full time job out of it, only for reasons I shall keep to myself.

When it comes to advertising, I like to be efficient. I get creative with word of mouth and engraving my business site on wood (Separate business, not ebay)