Just wondering if anyone here was in the marketing or business advice 'business'......looking for some....not sure where to go to get the information I need really....

What info are you after?

U tried businesslink ?

Well I make part of my living from Ebay, have various Ebay stores and business interests but one particular range of products which is exclusive to Ebay is just not selling very well.

Now this is not uncommon with ebay stores, sometimes it can take many months for a business idea to start to pick up, but I am seeking probably fairly specialized advice on how best to market this particular ebay store and its products, as despite extensive research, I cant seem to generate any more than a trickle of sales, and yet its a relative niche product.

Just emailed SENTA as someone suggested...they seem to have a vast collection of potential advice judging from their web site....I wonder if it includes marketing of ebay stores....

So what is this product? is it the subliminal cd?

Yes, the range of CD's we manufacture and launched on Ebay mid April. Sales are OK, but not as good as I expected, taking into account the competition and their pricing structures.

I have fairly extensive sales in many retail outlets across the world, around 2000 items per month we ship in retail packs at wholesale prices, not my own shops but stores I supply. I was hoping the ebay store would do slightly better business. Although the store is still not finished as such, loads more items to add, and still got to mess around with the pages within it, I chose ebay for them as there was not much in the way of rivals, only about 3 other sellers knocking them out, and those sellers offering pretty cheap and nasty stuff.

I am not sure how to market this product on Ebay..perhaps more as novelty gift rather than a scientific mind programming technique.....the retail stores we supply range from petrol stations and Walmart type shops in the USA, to book shops and various independant gift shops all over the place.

I decided to market the product as more SCIENTIFIC rather than a novelty item, as they do actually work...very well indeed! Been working on them and the techniques for over a year in fact.

But perhaps they might sell better if I market them on Ebay as novelties/gifts...this is what I dont know....

You ever watched Dragon's Den ? You always pick up a little snippet of info here and there from such programmes, and it makes you think of other business problems. Just brainstorming here... I've no experience in selling CDs.

Marketing boils down to your demographic too. The USA ones may take on any 'scientific' CD-roms because they have such a market for psychology products, and any self-help materials.

How you sell it depends on how your product will be viewed. I still think that you should sell your CD as scientific, but unfortunately if you want to go down this route, in order for it to gain popularlity, you have to prove that it works. Sometimes such scientific products have to be endorsed in some ways by other associations. It's how scientific products sell. From drugs to gadgets. Remember those space pens ?

You already said that your product is selling in bookshops (intellects frequents it), and Walmart/petrol outlets (are these stores in the middle of nowhere, with no access to books ?)

I can't see someone buying a subliminal CD for fun. Say somewhere in Clinton. If you want it to be a novelty thing, then you should package it to be so. Ask yourself how you package the product already, will give u an indication as to why they are selling too.

Also, on the note of Ebay. Is it the same vehicle to move such products ? Your competitors may do well cos they are being the supplier in the whole chain. They may sell low in big batch, and then the shops sell for a bigger profit for it. They only need to sell a few at a much higher cost to recooperate their capital. So the rest, they therefore can sell onto a 3rd party.

If your product is that good, consider selling it to big companies ? Big bookshop chains like Borders (consumer books, rather than commercial book retailers). Or even Amazon.

Most interesting, thanks for that. My competitors are largely, as far as ebay is concerned, DIY merchants just turning them out on a home PC. There is only one other 'professional' seller shal we say who charges much more than I do.

It has been suggested my prices are too low!! Someone told me £4.99 for a CD was too cheap and made them look tacky and nasty, but if they were say 10.99 each, it suggests much better status. Not sure about this, but have heard raising prices DOES work with certain products that may be percieved as being cheap and nasty at low low prices...

From the ebay store tracking data I can see I have over 50 potential buyers looking around the store each day, much more at weekend, but yet only a fraction hang around and buy. So the potential buyers are coming and browsing, but many leaving without buying. If only I could work out why...price? product descriptions? perception? Just boring old window shoppers with no intention of buying anything anyway? (ebay seems full of window shoppers just passing the time of day)

The shop is showing up on google and other search engines, which is how 50% of my customers to date have found me.....by searching keywords related to my product....ebay stores tracking section gives you the full report on what keywords have driven customers to your store day by day, which is very interesting.....

Total respect to you for running a one-man show like that on a global scale. I've worked for another Sheffield comp before and did a stint for their web marketing. It is not always easy to track down buyer's info like that.

If you were a small business, I would say look around your local competitors and see what they do, and what the 'market' is out there within the vacinity. Though, your plaground is muuuch bigger ! You're reaching the whole world. Yes, pricing affect things, but you don't know yet what kind of a market is out there, so how can you price your items ? 4.99 doesn't sound a lot for a CD, but what kind of CD ? What is the supply and demand on such products on a global scale ? Are there anything like this out there in the world, that is not Ebay related ? Who is your ideal target audience ? I would try and target UK first, and then when some sales are made, you can use this as a marketing tool to sell it abroad in the US. Or Australia.

Also, product, and geographic sales. If your disk is purely in English, then there's only a limited market you can reach too.

By the way, there was another lady on that Dragon's Den prog, doing a similar thing. She was trying to sell some meditation CDs for kids. The criticisms from the panel was that. Her sales pitch was not good enough, but, she truly believed in her product. She had a few sales already from it. You have to think, do parents want their kids to meditate, and do they want that product to be part of their parenting ? I think she has a very very niche market. She probably didn't reach a global scale. Though, there's nothing to say that if she had proven again and again her product does its job well. Then that the product will sell itself.

Which brings back to your product, subliminal CD. Your Average Joe may not buy such a thing. If scientifically endorsed, then maybe they will buy it for weaning off addictions like smoking or whatever. I think there's tapes that do that, right ? If you can get such endorsements or method, then maybe it will sell more.

Note: If you want it to sell as a novelty factor, but with it being scientifically-based. Then try to sell it in shops around Christmas time. It's when people tend to buy a lot of gadgets. Items like those electrode massagers come into mind.

Yes, I am in sales

For your particular products are you sure your customers would find you through eBay.

I am sure you have looked at Amazon and even your own website. You already know what does work so why are you not looking at getting into more stores.

If it is a niche product why sell at discount prices?

I'm far more