FAIR SHAKE

Another former Ebayer (named Maggie) has opened what looks to be a promising antiques/collectibles site. She's been working really hard on it and gave me a peak into the admin area, which looks really easy to navigate for sellers. The site is Collectors On-line Mall. Please take a look when you have the time!

Corinne

Hi, Cyee, you can have a free lifetime store - you're such a sweetheart. Really, I mean it. If you put your books there, I'll put mine too and I have lots and lots of them sitting here in boxes.

Now that you've mentioned it, I should probably explain some of the features that makes it different, since some people say - why pay when there's free sites.

Free 3 month trial - after that there are volume-based packages that start out at about $5 per month


* All items fed to Google Base - and the site is doing well there and in Google Searches
* Main admin panel with lots of features where you can handle orders, invoices, templates etc.
* Admin has an area for search engine indexing, submission, popularity reports, referrals and queries - in other words, at a glance you can see what your customers are searching for. You can also directly submit whatever pages of your site you want to Google and leave others out
* Templates are easily modified - and you can install your own.
* Image manager for uploading logos and other images for your site (not product photos)
* Easily feature items on your front page with a mouse click.
* We've added a lot of categories and stores can make their own subcategories. We're also willing to add mall categories as needed.
* Easy order management, approve check or money order payments once they're received - track orders and invoices.
* Variety of payment online options including Authorize.net, Google Checkout, Paypal, 2CO, Moneybookers with options to integrate others if enough people ask for them.
* Online instructions for store setup, basic and advanced. Personalized help if you have trouble anywhere along the way.
* You can setup shipping to sell internationally and domestically. You can also set up domestic shipping zones if you desire.
*Option to opt out of our feeding your items to Google Base and do it yourself if you need to do this to add more individualized Google tags.
* Individual product listing with 1-16 photos available for each listing.
* You can create links to your other websites, auctions, and informative sites on your link page, add you ebay or other auction feedback, etc.
* We are on our own domain on hostgator which has a 99.9% uptime rate and plenty of bandwith with the ability to purchase more if necessary.
*If you don't know how to set up a store - we will set up a basic store - with your logo and information for you and you can change it when you get more accustomed to it.

The other major difference is - we don't just run Collectors Online Mall - we sell there ourselves so we're making a major commitment to this. We will not allow stores that sell "junk" i.e. dollar store items, pornography, knock-offs etc., and we will constantly make improvements to the site. The site is geared toward antiques, vintage items, and collectibles (a wide variety of collectibles) but you can also sell other things as long as the majority of your items are vintage or collectibles, handmade items, or used items. The kind of things you used to find on ebay but .... oh well... that's another story.

So, right now you will find that we're just starting out, but if you watch you'll see more and more items listed. I've gotten some friends and family to start stores because they know me, and I don't expect all of you to take a leap of faith. Just keep us in mind. If we get enough (approx. 100 committed) sellers there could be an add-on auction site in the future.

Good for you, Maggie!! This sounds like it could be a really good thing for the right people. Good luck to you, and please keep us posted!

I know it's not going to be for everyone - but there are already too many sites that are for everything. I'm trying to offer what places like Ruby Lane and GoAntiques do without being quite as rigid and without the high cost.

I think that people should have a place to shop where they can expect their items mailed in fairly quickly - and that's why I don't want drop shippers. I think the site will be especially good for people who have moved off ebay because the fees are causing their profits to shrink to the point where it's just to feasible to sell there anymore.

Members build the site, so as it grows I'll be happy to do add-ons to accomodate them.

Hope you guys are doing OK and had a great summer.

Maggie

Hey All--

I've got my account there now (www.collectorsonlinemall.com/grandmasstores), and having actually used the setup, I can tell you I really like it. The item posting is really easy, and once you get the hang of the site's other features, they're fast and easy to use, too.

Maggie continues to work hard on improvements (thanks Maggie), and I really think it's going to be a great site!

Corinne