Click the pic to read another guys f-ebay story
July is like the longest month of the year and in Memphis, it’s the hottest. Almost every day has been 100 plus. This makes it real hard to stay motivated, but I am consistently challenging and changing the business profile as I continue to work on strategies to help other sneaker lovers out there, move and retake their power in this biz. If you haven’t been checking up on this. I have moved on from ebay, after one of the worst customer service problems ever. I have been documenting this move and just to update you here are all of the links to each article. Once again, the reason I’m doing this is because I just think sneakerheads and small biz people have to have information available. I may not be Nike, or Adidas, but I can teach and if I have info, not sharing is like having a fresh pair of kicks and never wearing them, well wearing them at least once. Here are the backlinks:
Part 1: Copping Sneakers For A CustomerPart 2: Sneaker Shop UpdatePart 3: I Found A New Way To AuctionPart 4 Another Way to BidPart 5 Check out how Ebid LooksPart 6 Updates and InformationPart 7 Don’t Forget Your Refund
My latest update includes the relevant information to help you make an informed decision on how to recreate your website. I am also going to give you the quick list of wholesale kicks I’ve moved this week into the weekend. The www.ebid.net auction site has not worked out at all and I will let my account expire at the end of the month. It will take more sneaker people to move from ebay for ebid to be formidable in the sneaker community. Once again, I’ve posted my Facebook Ad stats and I will say this about Facebook, actually read what I’ve written here: Is Facebook Good For Small Biz? Facebook has so many of the fake Nike/Jordan boot posts that legitimate sneaker heads are being blocked and spammed because people are tired of seeing it. This is a problem Facebook needs to fix or the sneaker community will have a lot to say about it. So this past week was good. Did a wholesale deal for a client that gave him True Blues, AJXI Lows, and Retro Foams for an average of 105/pair. He is a great customer and it was basically private shopping. I didn’t use any of my own cash. I also made a move to a new market locally. My three day total from the new market with no traffic was 910.00. Not bad for about 100 people total coming through. I think I may have found my spot to set up in for the next few months. As the heat begins to die down, the amount will undoubtedly rise.
On to the information, this is really a repost from something I posted on www.stepbystepsneakers.com Facebook page. Since Kels is going through a redesign, which is good since he is making the site cleaner and more accessible, people are giving him information on the site and one of the comments was that he should use Big Cartel. What most people don’t realize is that sneakerheads are in a unique position of authority. The problem is sneakerheads give their power away because of fear. They are afraid to sit on shoes so they give ebay insane amounts of fees to list, they pay Big Cartel monthly fees for pages that they can’t monetize, they give paypal money from every transaction and then most of them don’t have accounts with Fed Ex, or UPS and they miss out on great discounts as well as getting their sneakers to customers maxima cum celeritate (With Great Speed). That’s latin. I’m keeping it edumucated. Here is my response:
You should not use
Big Cartel. Not hating on the product, but WP (
www.wordpress.org) offers a ton of various looks that can create clean and simple layouts, but there are also premium templates that can be purchased once without monthly fees. You know like I know that sneakerheads like to see more than one pic for authenticity so if you buy a premium store template from WP you can set up a store that is more concise and doesn’t charge you monthly fees on top of the paypal transactions. Big Cartel looks good and is a great starting tool, but you could definitely make sure you have 3rd party hosting, install WP and then purchase one of the
store formats (This blog has a great update on WP E-Commerce) and go from there. Not to mention I don’t think you can monetize bigcartel. No one is too rich not to have ads.
Sneakerheads have to take their power back from ebay and begin recouping some of the crazy fees these companies are making. Big Cartel is nice if you only post one pic it’s free and you advertise for Big Cartel in your sneaker shop name, so other people set up big cartel. The minute you have to add discount codes or an extra pic it’s 9.99 a month and up. Every little bit helps when you are starting out. Why am I posting these updates? It’s important to share information. I’m bringing control back to sneakerheads everywhere through these posts! Spread the word and if you run, buy some kicks below.
Stay motivated, Chris B.
If you look back through all of the Ebay Articles on the site, you can see how I changed the business model of my Sneaker shop. I have to say I went through more trial and error since June than probably anybody in the biz! It has all paid off though in the culmination of a solid wholesale business and the relaunching of my individual sales through Amazon.