ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE BUYERS AND SELLERS ARE LOSING OUT ON EBAY Many of the decisions made lately in how eBay has change their business philosophy is detrimentally affecting the buyers and sellers of vintage and antique merchandise.
you can make more money on the fixed price model per item but the percentage of successfully ended auctions will be quite low thus making your store or listings seem stale and not interesting to the average avid buyer.
Now why would eBay want to go primarily fixed price format??? For many reasons as outlined below. Earlier this year eBay made arrangements with bid.com (which sells 100+ of the same merchandise at a fixed price per unit) to give them FREE or at least lower preferential treatment as to their listing fees. Bid.com has over 2.5 million pieces to sell on eBay (this by the way will force all of the one of the kind pieces way down in the sort when searched). and eBay sees that one fixed price listing of more than one unit and since more than one of the same item may sell and since final valuation fees have been raised, eBay will make more money. Also having fewer auction listings on the site because of the multiple unit listings, eBay can lower their server and customer service costs. It is a very smart move for an aristocratic company such as eBay to make. The small boutique seller and even the buyer loses in this arrangement.
I started an auction venue this past month called Virtual Gems Emporium with the sole purpose of giving the boutique seller and buyer an exclusive multi-seller auction (fixed price and buy it nows are also to be found) venue for Antique, Vintage and New Costume and Fine Jewelry. This is the first of its kind and sp far so good. The response has been extremely favorable and the results have been impressive. It is just a start up and even with in mind it has surpassed its original projected marketing plans. Virtual Gems Emporium was founded on three basic philosophies. The first is to provide an "AUCTION BOUTIQUE" for one of kind jewelry pieces in an environment that is of the character and quality of "Just Jewelry". The second is to provide unprecedented customer appreciation and service and not forgetting who will make the site great. And the third, is to have the lowest fees of any other auction or fixed price site on the internet.
The Auction Boutique is accomplished by the fact that there is only JEWELRY being sold... and within the next month the appearance of Virtual Gems Emporium will have the look of a fine Beverly Hills Antique and Vintage Jewelry Shop using colors, graphics, images and more to be custom and special for a Just Jewelry Boutique.
Unprecedented customer appreciation and service is provided in many ways and include many levels of service either through email, Live Chat, toll free phone numbers to real people and eventually being able to help customers make changes by actually assisting the customer online from our computers to the customers. Equal feedback is key and allows everyone whether a buyer or seller an opportunity to be treated fairly and
