Upcoming Changes on eCRATER

[incniu]

ome important upcoming changes in the eCRATER marketplace.

I. As you are probably aware, recently we have added a feature in the admin tool to show where your sales come from. For each order you can see now if it came from Google, Yahoo, Bing, direct traffic, other store traffic, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or from our main marketplace.

Starting on May 1st, all orders that came from the marketplace will be subject to 2.9% marketplace cost. We are spending considerable efforts and money to drive buyers to our marketplace. This small marketplace cost will allow us to continue bringing you buyers and sales originating from the main marketplace. Please note that your store will remain 100% free and you will not pay any fees, final value fees or commission.

You can minimize your marketplace traffic by selecting "Send minimum buyers from the marketplace". This is a feature that will be introduced in a few days. And yes, you can still sell on eCRATER and pay not even a penny.

For further detailed information regarding this change please visit our new FAQ section:

eCRATER FAQs

II. Starting on May 1st, if you linked your store with Google AdWords, then the Google Shopping traffic you are paying for will go straight to your store instead of to your product pages in the main marketplace. Thus the buyer will be "locked" into your store and will be able to only see products from your store.

III. Back in February we launched our new design. After several months of fixing small issues and making little adjustments, we are getting closer to adding new color templates for your store that are based on the new design. Please stay tuned as these will be launched soon. Of course, you would be still able to keep the legacy templates if you like these better.

IV. In the next few months we will also be adding some new payment options, custom domain support and will be launching a mobile version of our website.


Sincerely,

The eCRATER Team

[slim jim]

bonanza did something similar, i didn't see any increases in sales

[unkown5454]

my sales with them have been great for years. this is dumb

[Rippedoffagain]

My sales blow!

[yotano211]

lol, I get about 4-6 sales per month. The most things I have listed at once was about 25 items and still only 4-6 that month. But hey its free.

[imjustme]

Originally Posted by unkown5454

my sales with them have been great for years. this is dumb

Isn't it only fair that if you make money, they should also make money? I can't imagine a marketplace paying for all expenses and survive without making any money. It's impossible.

[unkown5454]

They already make money without charging sellers. Following the footsteps of raping people like EB and AZ is not the goal of EC and one of the main reasons why I joined among many others. You sound like a tax man.

[imjustme]

Originally Posted by unkown5454

They already make money without charging sellers. Following the footsteps of raping people like EB and AZ is not the goal of EC and one of the main reasons why I joined among many others. You sound like a tax man.

2.9% is hardly raping anyone, compared to eBay's 10-15%. I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with eCrater. How are they already making money without charging sellers?

[imjustme]

Anyone got an idea on how eCrater is making money without charging sellers? I'd be interested to know since I have no experience with them.

[Univerzal]

Originally Posted by imjustme

Anyone got an idea on how eCrater is making money without charging sellers? I'd be interested to know since I have no experience with them.

Advertising

[unkown5454]

They've been advertising for years...like any other website that makes money.

[imjustme]

I see 1 Google ads on the right side of the products pages, but I bet the click-through ratio isn't enough to support the entire website, let alone pay the salary of their employees, since visitors to eCrater come to buy something, not to click on ads.

For me, it's only fair that if I make money, the marketplace that sells my products, also makes money.

[unkown5454]

Ads on every search page and product page. Basically anywhere someone buys something, there is an ad.

Plus, they have around 5 employees. You act like it's an army like EB or AZ.

[imjustme]

I'm just trying to be realistic. Just like we make money, other people also need to make money. For Google Ads to be effective, people need to click on them. Just impressions don't make money. And I doubt thousands of people click on them every day on eCrater. They come for the products, not for the ads. The servers for eCrater alone must cost thousands every month if not tens of thousands. Obviously they're not making enough from ads if they need to charge 2.9%.

[TonyAlmeida]

I just look, there is no ads at on. On the main site, search, products page

Originally Posted by unkown5454

Ads on every search page and product page. Basically anywhere someone buys something, there is an ad.

Plus, they have around 5 employees. You act like it's an army like EB or AZ.

[unkown5454]

Yea, I'm just a huge liar. You caught me...

[imjustme]

I don't think he was calling you a liar. I suspect ads are shown only to specific IP ranges, possibly to some but not to others, for whatever reason. I personally see only 1 ad on the product page. TonyAlmeida can see no ads at all and you see more than 1.

[Swiftronics]

Lol! I also wonder how they make revenue, eCrater does not have tons of employees. but their traffic does not even ranks amounts other auctions, my inventory has been there for months and no sales at all. I think they need media publicity, marketing and branding because how I see it, not one ad online and when I do see one, I will click on it because I feel bad, as some say, how would they make money? well it leaves a big gap for entrepreneurs to create something, I just don't know why investors are stepping up to these big time bullies. We got Pepsi vs Coca-Cola, and then we got eBay and Amazon, no competition left.

[unkown5454]

Many of eCrater's listings show up on the 1st page of Google Shopping searches. Either you have crap product or don't know how to use Google attributes.

[slapped]

with eCrater the Google Attrubitues are KEY to getting Potential Buyer attention,,,also Buying a few Google ad words can help a LOT as well

[GreenBean]

Separating the chaff from the wheat

[imjustme]

Makes you wonder what will happen when Google pulls the plug shortly on free marketplace listings and moves to paid only. I doubt eCrater, Etsy, Bonanza or even eBay will pay Google so that their products show up. Because they would have to pay each time a product is clicked on, no matter if it sells or not.