| I think you're on the right lines to make it a specialist site concentrating on limited areas. But the competition is fierce and it is difficult to get sellers let alone buyers to new sites, particularly as many still think ebay is the only online auction site there is.
My main criticism of your site is that the name and address of the owners isn't shown (all I could find was a phone number). That's a legal requirement now and no reputable seller would consider a site that didn't fulfil that.
As to fees, on non ebay sites where sales are difficult to achieve I'm personally not prepared to pay any listing fee (other than for enhancements such as featured item, or highlighted title). As to final value fee, most small sites charge around 2.5% to 3%. Again, personally, if an item sold I would be happy to pay up to 5%.
There are some sites that currently charge no fees but that means they are getting no income from sales to finance the running costs, publicity, hire staff etc. In my view those sites are the ones most likely to disappear. And many have gone already.
I also think it's good to have a members forum on a site but this will only work in you get quite a few members. Seeing a forum with very few posts is rather a depressing and off-putting experience - like going into a near-empty pub! :D |