Sellers\Dealers Looking for your input on coin store websties

So I've been selling on eBay quite seriously over this past year. I've actually done really well, so well, in fact, that I'm now considering buying a table at our club's Jan show and maybe even looking into other shows. This has got me thinking quite a bit about an additional "store front" website.

I've had one built for quite some time and have tested it pretty thoroughly so in a sense its ready, but I want to change the domain name that it's under and a couple of other little things, like the actual name of the shop etc.

My only question is this. Will it be worth the trouble?

If you are a seller\dealer and have a separate website, aside from eBay (not a site that lists your eBay sales, but additional items that are not on eBay), does it produce for you? Do you find that the additional cost, work, and trouble of maintaining the website produces enough sales for you that its worth keeping around.

In addition what have you done to draw collectors and buyers to your site rather than going to eBay?

 

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I can say from a web development standpoint, you have an uphill battle ahead of you.

Building a following and driving followers to your site will take time and money. Do you have an email listserv of past customers from your eBay sales? I'd start by sending out an announcement and maybe offer a discount for a first purchase. Getting people to make a stop at your store is the biggest challenge.

Do you have a specialization? If so, spend some time on search engine optimization. Make sure you pop up if someone does a search for that type of coin.

I can say that a lot of the dealers I have bought from still use eBay for a good bit of their sales, simply because the market is so large.

 

Ain't much to improve upon Jester's words, except to add that however good the reasons are to do an online store, there are_no_good_reasons not to. There are simple ecommerce software templates which will make store development easier.

It's another vector to maximize your sales. Any percentage it adds to the total is sales you didn't have before, and the cost of maintenance/bandwidth should be visualized as much as long-term investment as it is operational cost.

 

Having a website is a great way to promote other areas of your business other than just inventory. I use my site to list the shows I will be attending, other services like consignments and I have a page that I am posting other helpful numismatic reference links.

It is an uphill battle getting people to buy from your website as opposed to ebay. I do about 90% of my business on ebay, 9.5% from shows and the other .5% from my website and off ebay online sales (forums).

Every customer on ebay for the last year or so has gotten a business card with my website listed in the package with their purchase. I post new purchases here and other online forums that I am a member of, and promote my site at shows. It takes time, but I do get some traffic on my site and a direct contact or sale from time to time.

 

Wow, for some reason I wasn't getting notification for the replies here. I appreciate you guys weighing in. SuperDave I think you've said it best. There's no good reason NOT to and jester and big help make that clear.

funny you mentioned that. I actually do, but it's from paypal. 99% of my eBay sales use paypal, I downloaded the years business and mined the emails from there. I've got a mailchimp campaign ready to go and was going to offer a small discount on Web store items.

I had myself talked outta this, but now you guys are making me think twice here. Thanks for the input.

BTW I sit reserved and paid for my first ever table at a show. It's put on by our local club in January, it's the best one day show in Indiana. Looking forward to it.

 

Where in Indiana?

 

Good ole Muncie

 

I used to live in Noblesville, IN.

 

Dodge City! I go through there on the railroad and you and your neighbors love to play chicken. Good luck with the sale!

 

One thing I might do with an initial email campaign is a fairly prominent opt in/opt out linkage. Prominence (and accompanying semi-apologetic verbiage) will smooth over any ill feelings created with anyone who's annoyed at what they see as "spam," and anyone who goes to the effort of opting in for future emails immediately becomes a preferred customer who you can expect business from.

There is a *ton* of data available to anyone running a business, and the smart businessman gets the most work possible out of it.

 

I may try and drive over from Fishers. How would I find your table and do you know if the facility is wheel chair accessible? Good luck if I don't make it.

 

Chuck, Its in the Muncie convention center (AKA the Horizon center) it is wheel chair accessible and the isles between the tables are usually very wide so you shouldn't have a problem. Your second question is a good one, one that I'm not sure I can answer yet I think I was supposed to get a table number last night when I filled out my app but I think I forgot to get that. I'll track that down and report back here.

 

Not just Muncie LOL...seems folks all over Indiana try it. We have a nephew-in-law who is an engineer for NS. At the beginning of farming this year he sent me a pic of a John Deere combine that had been hit, it was somewhere other than Mnncie. The farmer actually tried to beat the crossing...he lost. He walked away...his tractor was a total loss....if I can dig that picture up I'll post it.

 

Muncie and Anderson are the worst on our route for playing dodgem.

Hey, we pass about six Pizza House locations between Union City and Avon. How is it? I've heard varying takes.

 

Pizza House? or Pizza King...I've not heard of a Pizza house, but Pizza King is an institution here...i could eat it for breaky, lunch and dinner every day!

Does it look like this?

 

That's the one! Pizza King! I'll have to try it some day. I'll just stop a train in the middle of town to pick it up... [emoji12]

 

Pizza King! Brings back memories and not all of them good.

 

Make it the Tillotson crossing just south of Jackson street and I'll join you!

 

@jester3681 the tractor train crash I spoke of

 

Thanks! That's a good one!