WWW.FANCYFLAPPERS.COM
Priority shipping is almost always free. Enjoy!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Fancy Flappers Unique 1920's Flapper Dress Costumes
WWW.FANCYFLAPPERS.COM
Priority shipping is almost always free. Enjoy!
10% OFF at FancyFlappers.com for 2010
10% OFF for 2010
Fancy Flappers Unique Costumes is offering 10% OFF all 1920's flapper dress costumes and accessories. We offer free priority shipping on most of our unique ensembles.
Just enter save10 in the coupon section of your Google Checkout payment. It will NOT work with PayPal. EXPRESS Shipping available, please e-mail so I can get you a shipping quote.
http://www.fancyflappers.com/
Fancy Flappers Unique Costumes is offering 10% OFF all 1920's flapper dress costumes and accessories. We offer free priority shipping on most of our unique ensembles.
Just enter save10 in the coupon section of your Google Checkout payment. It will NOT work with PayPal. EXPRESS Shipping available, please e-mail so I can get you a shipping quote.
http://www.fancyflappers.com/
Monday, May 26, 2008
Time of Celebration at the Commerce Towers
From a historical building to a modern luxury building in the present, it is a “Time of Celebration”-at the Commerce Towers. Houston
Mikel Marketing brought the Roaring 20’s back to the newly renovated
Jesse Jones built the
Here's a view from one of the balconies on the 23rd floor of the Commerce Towers.
Guests arrived dressed as Flappers and Gansters. 
They made a stop at the best bar in town. The “Speakeasy” bar was set up to serve Classic 1920’s Martinis, the popular Mint Julep, the sassy Pink Murder, and the Backseat Boogie. The servers were also passing around cognac for guests to sip and champagne. Top resteraunts served delicious and well-known hors d’oeuvres from classic dishes that started in the 20’s, such as the lamb "lollipops: with classic BBQ sauce, bread pudding with sauce, crab cakes, “Speakeasy” spinach dip, Prime Rib with 3 different sauces, and a few select Greek dishes.
The highlight of the evening, nationwide independent recording artist, “Maria Williams Band” performed their “Big Band” sounds with classics from Sonatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tommy Dorsey, etc. The music set off the flapper girls to dance the night away. Guests who know the Fox trot, the
This was a spectacular event. Very posh, with the best of the best of everything. The food was scrumptious, the alcohol flowed, and the band played on. Mikel Marketing did a great job.
See another great article about this event in the Mikel Marketing newsletter http://mikelmarketing.com/0408.html.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
eCRATER has over a Million Reasons to Shop!
A Million Reasons to Shop at eCRATER.com
Monday, March 10 2008 was a banner day at eCrater, the online marketplace. eCrater has passed the Million Mark in items and is still growing!
Per eCrater founder Dimitar, "eCrater.com was born few minutes before midnight on September 27, 2004 in Irvine, CA. We celebrated the event with a bar of a Swiss chocolate (that was all we had at that hour of the night)." By January 28, 2006, listings had grown to 100,000. Just over two years later, listings topped one million. Enthusiastic eCRATER store owners are celebrating all of that hard work and want to get the word out.
The eCRATER eXPERIENCE is all about the stores. Each store is managed and marketed independently, and is set up with its own unique categories. You can shop across all stores through the eCRATER Marketplace, or find a favorite store and browse around inside.
The depth and breadth of items offered is amazing. It is like going to a huge galleria filled with specialty shops... you can spend the day! No registration needed and includes a convenient shopping cart for your purchases.
Surf through the categories, or search for a special item, such as unique flapper costumes, gifts, collectibles, toys, clothes, jewelry, home and garden, china, shoes, chocolate, linens, toys, handcrafted items, games, books, computers... even cars and homes. From new to vintage to antique, there is something for everyone.
www.ecrater.com takes you to the eCRATER Marketplace. To get started, use Search (left toolbar) or click on Categories at the top. You will see over a million products from stores on eCRATER.
Once you have clicked on any item, right under the BUY NOW button, you can click on the STORE link to see everything in that seller's store.
There are over a million items on eCrater. You will find the perfect one for you.
---------------------------------
Hi, I'm one of the enthusiastic eCRATER store owners. I specialize in Unique 1920's Flapper Costumes with accessories. You're one stop, get it all, unique costume shop. You can see more in my store at http://www.fancyflappers.ecrater.com/.
I look forward to costuming you for your special event! Sade
Monday, March 10 2008 was a banner day at eCrater, the online marketplace. eCrater has passed the Million Mark in items and is still growing!
Per eCrater founder Dimitar, "eCrater.com was born few minutes before midnight on September 27, 2004 in Irvine, CA. We celebrated the event with a bar of a Swiss chocolate (that was all we had at that hour of the night)." By January 28, 2006, listings had grown to 100,000. Just over two years later, listings topped one million. Enthusiastic eCRATER store owners are celebrating all of that hard work and want to get the word out.
The eCRATER eXPERIENCE is all about the stores. Each store is managed and marketed independently, and is set up with its own unique categories. You can shop across all stores through the eCRATER Marketplace, or find a favorite store and browse around inside.
The depth and breadth of items offered is amazing. It is like going to a huge galleria filled with specialty shops... you can spend the day! No registration needed and includes a convenient shopping cart for your purchases.
Surf through the categories, or search for a special item, such as unique flapper costumes, gifts, collectibles, toys, clothes, jewelry, home and garden, china, shoes, chocolate, linens, toys, handcrafted items, games, books, computers... even cars and homes. From new to vintage to antique, there is something for everyone.
www.ecrater.com takes you to the eCRATER Marketplace. To get started, use Search (left toolbar) or click on Categories at the top. You will see over a million products from stores on eCRATER.
Once you have clicked on any item, right under the BUY NOW button, you can click on the STORE link to see everything in that seller's store.
There are over a million items on eCrater. You will find the perfect one for you.
---------------------------------
Hi, I'm one of the enthusiastic eCRATER store owners. I specialize in Unique 1920's Flapper Costumes with accessories. You're one stop, get it all, unique costume shop. You can see more in my store at http://www.fancyflappers.ecrater.com/.
I look forward to costuming you for your special event! Sade
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Support Our Troops for Christmas
Photo by Master Sgt. Winston Churchill (Photo by Master Sgt. Winston Churchill)100% of your donations will go directly to
Task Force Desert Hawk S3
The Operations Section, also known as S-3, is the nerve center of the Task Force. The S-3 is divided between current operations and future operations. Current operations conducts flight operations, involving tracking aircraft locations and status throughout our area of responsibility and maintaining flight records of aviators. Current operations also maintains situational awareness of combat operations in Regional Command East of Afghanistan. Future operations involves planning combat operations and air mission requests from ground maneuver elements.
Christmas is a lonely time for our soldiers abroad.
We miss our soldiers with all of our hearts-but they miss us even more. Let's send some Christmas cheer and make their Holiday Season a little brighter.
We are going to fill a HUGE stocking. Donations can be small wrapped gifts such as new movies(DVD's), music CD's, books, Christmas candy & cookies, coffee, cocoa, toiletries, anything small. Please gift wrap your donations, and feel free to add a card, or note expressing how much we appreciate them.
Prohibited Items
Although there are specific restrictions for each five-digit Military Post Office ZIP Code™ (APO/FPO), generally, the following are prohibited in the region of Operation Iraqi Freedom:*Obscene articles (prints, paintings, cards, films, videotapes, etc). *Any matter depicting nude or seminude persons, pornographic or sexual items, or nonauthorized political materials. *Bulk quantities of religious materials contrary to the Islamic faith. Items for the personal use of the addressee are permissible. *Pork or pork by-products. *Batteries must be packaged seperately from any electronic device.
You may also donate cash, which will be used 100%, to buy little gifts and to cover the cost of shipping this 3ft stocking. We'll even send extra parcels if we have enough.
See last years stocking
My brother-in-law served 2 tours in Iraq, and believe me, the soldiers desperately need some Christmas cheer. It's very hard for them this time of year. They miss their families at home, the festivities, and the home cooked Christmas dinner. Just sending them a little something, reminds our soldiers that they are in our thoughts, and that we are praying for the next year's Christmas to be spent at home.
For details about donations and sending gifts visit Support-R-Troops at www.support-r-troops.com.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Fancy Flappers Unique Costumes ships Priority (2-3 days) or Overnight
Yes, we can get your costume to you for Halloween. We ship Priority for free on most costumes and can Overnight them as well. You will have your costume in time for Halloween.
Check us out at www.fancyflappers.com
Check us out at www.fancyflappers.com
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Fancy Flapper Dress Costume ship FREE plus 10% OFF
Unique Fancy Flapper dress costumes are going fast. Get yours today so you can get it for Halloween.
Last possible ship date for priority mail is Oct. 27th.
Use Google Checkout to make payment and apply coupon code SALE10, and get 10% OFF your total. Free Priority shipping on most costumes. Hurry while supplies last.
Last possible ship date for priority mail is Oct. 27th.
Use Google Checkout to make payment and apply coupon code SALE10, and get 10% OFF your total. Free Priority shipping on most costumes. Hurry while supplies last.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
FancyFlappers.com ships PRIORITY MAIL for FREE
FancyFlappers.com specializes in unique 1920's dress costumes with one of a kind accessories. All sizes, and you'll never see the same costume twice.
At www.FancyFlappers.com, we ship Priority mail, and almost every costume, ships for free. Yup, priority mail for free.
You'll get your unique costume quick and it's ready to wear. All accessories are included. The boa or scarf, a strand of long beads, and a feathered headband, are included, and some even have purses.
Check out my Google Checkout 10% OFF special below, and get your Fancy Flapper Costume now.
www.FancyFlappers.com
At www.FancyFlappers.com, we ship Priority mail, and almost every costume, ships for free. Yup, priority mail for free.
You'll get your unique costume quick and it's ready to wear. All accessories are included. The boa or scarf, a strand of long beads, and a feathered headband, are included, and some even have purses.
Check out my Google Checkout 10% OFF special below, and get your Fancy Flapper Costume now.
www.FancyFlappers.com
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
www.FancyFlappers.com is having a Halloween Costume Sale
One of a kind Historical Era costumes with accessories. Fancy 1920's, Roaring 20's flapper dress, Moulin Rouge, Can Can, Saloon Girl, Showgirl Costumes with headbands, beads, scarves, shawls, or boas. Also unique Renaissance, Halloween, Mardi Gras, New Years Eve. Fancy dresses for Red Hat Society, Pink Hatters, weddings, themed events, theater, plays, parties, Murder Mystery dinner theater, Antique & Vintage Car Shows, and/or collecting.
Use Google Checkout to make payment and apply coupon code SALE10, and get 10% OFF your total. Free shipping on most costumes.Hurry while supplies last.
Does not apply to auctions.
One of a kind Historical Era costumes with accessories. Fancy 1920's, Roaring 20's flapper dress, Moulin Rouge, Can Can, Saloon Girl, Showgirl Costumes with headbands, beads, scarves, shawls, or boas. Also unique Renaissance, Halloween, Mardi Gras, New Years Eve. Fancy dresses for Red Hat Society, Pink Hatters, weddings, themed events, theater, plays, parties, Murder Mystery dinner theater, Antique & Vintage Car Shows, and/or collecting.
Use Google Checkout to make payment and apply coupon code SALE10, and get 10% OFF your total. Free shipping on most costumes.Hurry while supplies last.
Does not apply to auctions.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Fancy Flappers in the News
eCrater: Scratching an Ecommerce Itch
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
September 02, 2007
In today's AuctionBytes-Update, Lissa McGrath brings us up to date on eCrater (http://www.ecrater.com), a storefront service and marketplace that launched in 2004. We interviewed some satisfied eCrater sellers via email to find out what they like about the service, here are their comments.
Sade of Fancy Flappers Unique Costumes
http://www.fancyflappers.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
FancyFlappers.com: I started selling on eCrater in March of 2006. The store was very easy to set up and took me a few hours to get everything in place, and about 3 days to stock it. The set-up is very user friendly for the most part, and anyone can do it, especially the HTML illiterate because the set-up is all in plain text, everything is very uniform, thus resulting in a very clean and organized look. All stores have the same set-up.
AB: How many items do you currently have listed?
FancyFlappers.com: 131 Costumes & Accessories. :0)
AB: What kind of traffic do you get? Do you pay anything extra to eCrater for extra visibility?
FancyFlappers.com: I do not pay for extra visibility because I use my website FancyFlappers.com, FancyFlappers.com, to draw traffic to my Fancy Flappers eCrater store. I'm very pleased with the traffic.
AB: Do you promote eCrater, if so, how?
FancyFlappers.com: I promote eCrater by driving traffic from my website www.FancyFlappers.com. Every product on FancyFlappers.com, points to my e-Crater store, eCrater is my shopping cart. I also promote eCrater on all of the message boards, and to every auction seller I know. eCrater is the alternative to eBay. My sales are double, sometime triple, than my eBay store sales.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
FancyFlappers.com: I like the simplicity, love that my buyers can choose Google Checkout to process payment, I like that eCrater sends feeds to Google daily, and I love their Message Board. Any questions a seller, or buyer may have, can be answered there.
I'm wish that eCrater did have basic HTML functionality. I would like to be able to bold text, something to note important details, in my descriptions. Their shipping matrix is a bit complicated and tedious. I really have no other complaints.
Franci Neale of JustonceOnline.com
http://justonceonline.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
Franci: I started listing on eC 8 days ago, but I had the store set up for a while before I actually began....I took a long time to decide exactly what I was going to do. I have put all of my dress making patterns up on eCrater now and am getting one or two sales a day....not bad for the first week....I can't tell where the buyers are coming from, but I am averaging 6 - 10 hits per listing and some are in the 20's and 30's...so they do have traffic.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
Franci: My experience with eC is slim at this writing, but the listing process is really very easy. They have a bulk loader but I didn't use it. I was able to put up more than l,000 listings in a week.
AB: Is it set up so you could easily list many items if you find you are happy with the site?
Franci: They have a bulk loader, but I'm not sure I would use it as it is based on Excel and I am not proficient in that program.
AB: Do you think you'll be promoting eCrater to your customers, or using whatever traffic happens to come their on its own?
Franci: Right now I am just listing, doing no promotions at all, and sales are happening. I plan on using eC in conjunction with my web store and linking to the categories from there with more details and information. I also will have listings that are just on my web site. We'll see how that works. The site is not yet ready for prime time, but will be within a week....my plan is to be up and ready to promote the heck out of my site by September lst.
AB: Anything else?
Franci: The site itself is slim on instructions and details, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it keeps the site really simple and straight forward. It's very fast....and I am on dial up....They have a really good forum that can be reached via the Community tab and it's loaded with information....I got really fast and accurate answers to two questions there.
Also the order notices are really easy and prompt. And they take both PayPal and Google Checkout....which was really easy to sign up for through their site.
All in all it's really good and suits my purposes just right. They recently added inventory control which endeared it to me even more.
Peg of Peg's Buttons
http://PegsBUTTONS.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
Peg: I have been on E since Yahoo closed their auctions..sometime in July I started listing..I am NOT real smart with computer stuff, but it didn't take me long at all to set up my store..it was SOOOO easy.
AB: How many items do you currently have listed?
Peg: I have 481 store items and am listing more weekly.
AB: What kind of traffic do you get? Do you pay anything extra to eCrater for extra visibility?
PEG: I can't believe how many hits I get...many many more than I ever got at Yahoo. No I don't pay anything.
AB: Do you promote eCrater, if so, how?
PEG: Yes I promote but need to do more in that area..I cater to button collectors..I belong to 2 button chat groups and 1 time a week send them to my E. plus I always have my signature that goes out in all my emails and that include my ebay winners.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
PEG: I like everything about ecrater even the fact you can't use html..I have never had a problem getting to E and it is fast to list and EASY!!
There is one thing I don't like and that is their feedback system..the buyer can only post feedback for a seller if the seller accepts paypal/google..which I don't use either.. I have sold many items and all have been paid by check or money order therefore I don't have any feedback..they should do away with feedback all together.
It won't be long before E is the number 2 selling place..right after that other BIG E..lol!!
Pat of BigTallMensClothing
http://www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
Pat: I opend my first store on ecrater.com in March of 2005 - www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com. Set up of text pages is quick and easy, my newest store opened in August of 2007 - www.Promote.ecrater.com took me only about 15 minutes to complete all the set up pages.
Setting up the categories take only a few minutes once you have it all planned out so you can sit there and just enter them and not keep changing the plan. Planning takes the longest.
Adding product is easy too. It's a one page entry form. If I am ready to create the ad (know what I want it to say), it normally takes just a minute or 2, depending on how much I decide to type into the description. Within a few hours a seller can easily have a store up and running on ecrater.com, complete with product loaded.
AB: How many items do you currently have listed?
Pat: http://www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com - 2700 items
http://www.FormalDresses.ecrater.com - 95 items
http://www.FashionsForHer.ecrater.com - 176 items
http://www.BreastCancerJewelryAndMore.ecrater.com - 16 items
http://www.HeelNToes.ecrater.com - 20 items
http://www.GagGiftsRUs.ecrater.com - 20 items
http://www.Promote.ecrater.com - 165 items
Currently working on www.PetsAdored.ecrater.com to be opened by October 1st.
AB: What kind of traffic do you get? Do you pay anything extra to eCrater for extra visibility?
Pat: Of course, www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com gets the most traffic since it has the most items and gets alot more attention. August hits were 2439 on one item but average is probably around 175 or so. Even my newest store - www.Promote.ecrater.com that opened August 1, 2007 has 100+ hits on some items and we haven't begun to promote it much.
I have not tried using ecrater.com paid advertising yet.
AB: Do you promote eCrater, if so, how?
Pat: I am very happy to promote eCrater.com to everyone that sells online as well as those that shop online. I belong to many forums with both buyers and online sellers and always talk up eCrater.com. There is not place else that I know of that you can sell totally free, that does feeds to google.com and gets you excellent placement. Just do a search for Big Tall Mens Clothing on google, you will find my ecrater.com store on page one in the 4th spot. I don't think you can ask for anything better then that!
Our promotional item store, www.Promote.ecrater.com is all about items for small online sellers to purchase for promoting their store. It is also the official ecrater.com logo store. You can buy any item with the eCrater.com logo on it or any logo you want. Our Promote store definitely promotes using the eCrater.com site.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
Pat: My list of likes is going to have to start with the community forums at ecrater.com, although I moderate the forum so that might sound a bit bias, but it is the most friendliest, most helpful group of people you will find on any forum. (If you haven't been there to check it out, you certainly need to. I think you might be very impressed.)
Next on the top of the list is the google feed / placement on google. Most sellers within ecrater.com are very please to see their products within the first few pages of a google search and within the Google Product list within a few days. Many sellers have reported items found and sold on google within a few hours of listing.
The ease of using eCrater.com as a shopping cart is also high on my list of the things I like about ecrater.com. I have tried other carts and nothing is a easy as ecrater.com plus you don't have to worry about hosting it yourself!
Of course the fact it's totally free is an excellent incentive to use eCrater.com.
No HTML allowed keeps all the ads placed on eCrater.com neat and clean and very professional looking.
Dislikes - In my opinion if eCrater.com was equipped with either a copy ad function or had the ability to use attributes on the product it would greatly improve the site.
The one thing I totally don't like is the shipping matrix. It's complicated and not to easy to use for many sellers especially those that sell light weight and heavy items. I wish it was linked to the USPS shipping calculator. I opt to use flat rate shipping charges but this does discourage buyers from buyer multiple items since the system won't discount shipping if you use that feature. In addition, I lose out on international buyers by using fixed shipping per item because the eCrater.com system doesn't have the ability to handle international shipping UNLESS you use the shipping matrix.
AB: Anything else you want to add?
Pat: Since I have been using eCrater.com I have watched it grow to it's current 724,000+ items over the past 2 1/2 years. May 8, 2007 eCrater.com hit the 500,000 mark. Soon there will be over a million items for buyers to chose from. Over the past 4 months that's 224,000 new items added - 56,000 items a month on average.
Hundreds if not thousands of sellers come to the community forum with questions on how to do things. The sellers are always willing to give advice and help new sellers get started.
I personally like to have my website with my domain name and use ecrater.com as my shopping cart. www.FormalLongDresses.com is set up that was as well as most of my ecrater.com stores. It's not a necessity but it gives me more freedom to show off my store. www.Promote-101.com, www.HeelsNToes.com are also set up using ecrater.com as more of a shopping cart then a store. www.PetsAdored.com will be set up that same way, using ecrater.com as the cart but giving me the freedom to have contest, and other things going on to promote my store better.
Some sellers, as well as myself have suggested to Dimitar, owner of ecrater.com, that maybe it's time to start charging a small fee to sell there or at least for new features like the inventory control that was recently added. He just says he won't do that. He won't charge to sell on ecrater.com since charging was never in his plan. I don't know how he does it, but I know all the sellers as well as myself are grateful to have found ecrater.com.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
September 02, 2007
In today's AuctionBytes-Update, Lissa McGrath brings us up to date on eCrater (http://www.ecrater.com), a storefront service and marketplace that launched in 2004. We interviewed some satisfied eCrater sellers via email to find out what they like about the service, here are their comments.
Sade of Fancy Flappers Unique Costumes
http://www.fancyflappers.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
FancyFlappers.com: I started selling on eCrater in March of 2006. The store was very easy to set up and took me a few hours to get everything in place, and about 3 days to stock it. The set-up is very user friendly for the most part, and anyone can do it, especially the HTML illiterate because the set-up is all in plain text, everything is very uniform, thus resulting in a very clean and organized look. All stores have the same set-up.
AB: How many items do you currently have listed?
FancyFlappers.com: 131 Costumes & Accessories. :0)
AB: What kind of traffic do you get? Do you pay anything extra to eCrater for extra visibility?
FancyFlappers.com: I do not pay for extra visibility because I use my website FancyFlappers.com, FancyFlappers.com, to draw traffic to my Fancy Flappers eCrater store. I'm very pleased with the traffic.
AB: Do you promote eCrater, if so, how?
FancyFlappers.com: I promote eCrater by driving traffic from my website www.FancyFlappers.com. Every product on FancyFlappers.com, points to my e-Crater store, eCrater is my shopping cart. I also promote eCrater on all of the message boards, and to every auction seller I know. eCrater is the alternative to eBay. My sales are double, sometime triple, than my eBay store sales.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
FancyFlappers.com: I like the simplicity, love that my buyers can choose Google Checkout to process payment, I like that eCrater sends feeds to Google daily, and I love their Message Board. Any questions a seller, or buyer may have, can be answered there.
I'm wish that eCrater did have basic HTML functionality. I would like to be able to bold text, something to note important details, in my descriptions. Their shipping matrix is a bit complicated and tedious. I really have no other complaints.
Franci Neale of JustonceOnline.com
http://justonceonline.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
Franci: I started listing on eC 8 days ago, but I had the store set up for a while before I actually began....I took a long time to decide exactly what I was going to do. I have put all of my dress making patterns up on eCrater now and am getting one or two sales a day....not bad for the first week....I can't tell where the buyers are coming from, but I am averaging 6 - 10 hits per listing and some are in the 20's and 30's...so they do have traffic.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
Franci: My experience with eC is slim at this writing, but the listing process is really very easy. They have a bulk loader but I didn't use it. I was able to put up more than l,000 listings in a week.
AB: Is it set up so you could easily list many items if you find you are happy with the site?
Franci: They have a bulk loader, but I'm not sure I would use it as it is based on Excel and I am not proficient in that program.
AB: Do you think you'll be promoting eCrater to your customers, or using whatever traffic happens to come their on its own?
Franci: Right now I am just listing, doing no promotions at all, and sales are happening. I plan on using eC in conjunction with my web store and linking to the categories from there with more details and information. I also will have listings that are just on my web site. We'll see how that works. The site is not yet ready for prime time, but will be within a week....my plan is to be up and ready to promote the heck out of my site by September lst.
AB: Anything else?
Franci: The site itself is slim on instructions and details, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it keeps the site really simple and straight forward. It's very fast....and I am on dial up....They have a really good forum that can be reached via the Community tab and it's loaded with information....I got really fast and accurate answers to two questions there.
Also the order notices are really easy and prompt. And they take both PayPal and Google Checkout....which was really easy to sign up for through their site.
All in all it's really good and suits my purposes just right. They recently added inventory control which endeared it to me even more.
Peg of Peg's Buttons
http://PegsBUTTONS.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
Peg: I have been on E since Yahoo closed their auctions..sometime in July I started listing..I am NOT real smart with computer stuff, but it didn't take me long at all to set up my store..it was SOOOO easy.
AB: How many items do you currently have listed?
Peg: I have 481 store items and am listing more weekly.
AB: What kind of traffic do you get? Do you pay anything extra to eCrater for extra visibility?
PEG: I can't believe how many hits I get...many many more than I ever got at Yahoo. No I don't pay anything.
AB: Do you promote eCrater, if so, how?
PEG: Yes I promote but need to do more in that area..I cater to button collectors..I belong to 2 button chat groups and 1 time a week send them to my E. plus I always have my signature that goes out in all my emails and that include my ebay winners.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
PEG: I like everything about ecrater even the fact you can't use html..I have never had a problem getting to E and it is fast to list and EASY!!
There is one thing I don't like and that is their feedback system..the buyer can only post feedback for a seller if the seller accepts paypal/google..which I don't use either.. I have sold many items and all have been paid by check or money order therefore I don't have any feedback..they should do away with feedback all together.
It won't be long before E is the number 2 selling place..right after that other BIG E..lol!!
Pat of BigTallMensClothing
http://www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com
AB: When did you start listing on eCrater, and how long did it take you to get set up?
Pat: I opend my first store on ecrater.com in March of 2005 - www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com. Set up of text pages is quick and easy, my newest store opened in August of 2007 - www.Promote.ecrater.com took me only about 15 minutes to complete all the set up pages.
Setting up the categories take only a few minutes once you have it all planned out so you can sit there and just enter them and not keep changing the plan. Planning takes the longest.
Adding product is easy too. It's a one page entry form. If I am ready to create the ad (know what I want it to say), it normally takes just a minute or 2, depending on how much I decide to type into the description. Within a few hours a seller can easily have a store up and running on ecrater.com, complete with product loaded.
AB: How many items do you currently have listed?
Pat: http://www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com - 2700 items
http://www.FormalDresses.ecrater.com - 95 items
http://www.FashionsForHer.ecrater.com - 176 items
http://www.BreastCancerJewelryAndMore.ecrater.com - 16 items
http://www.HeelNToes.ecrater.com - 20 items
http://www.GagGiftsRUs.ecrater.com - 20 items
http://www.Promote.ecrater.com - 165 items
Currently working on www.PetsAdored.ecrater.com to be opened by October 1st.
AB: What kind of traffic do you get? Do you pay anything extra to eCrater for extra visibility?
Pat: Of course, www.BigTallMensClothing.ecrater.com gets the most traffic since it has the most items and gets alot more attention. August hits were 2439 on one item but average is probably around 175 or so. Even my newest store - www.Promote.ecrater.com that opened August 1, 2007 has 100+ hits on some items and we haven't begun to promote it much.
I have not tried using ecrater.com paid advertising yet.
AB: Do you promote eCrater, if so, how?
Pat: I am very happy to promote eCrater.com to everyone that sells online as well as those that shop online. I belong to many forums with both buyers and online sellers and always talk up eCrater.com. There is not place else that I know of that you can sell totally free, that does feeds to google.com and gets you excellent placement. Just do a search for Big Tall Mens Clothing on google, you will find my ecrater.com store on page one in the 4th spot. I don't think you can ask for anything better then that!
Our promotional item store, www.Promote.ecrater.com is all about items for small online sellers to purchase for promoting their store. It is also the official ecrater.com logo store. You can buy any item with the eCrater.com logo on it or any logo you want. Our Promote store definitely promotes using the eCrater.com site.
AB: What do you like and dislike about eCrater from the seller's point of view?
Pat: My list of likes is going to have to start with the community forums at ecrater.com, although I moderate the forum so that might sound a bit bias, but it is the most friendliest, most helpful group of people you will find on any forum. (If you haven't been there to check it out, you certainly need to. I think you might be very impressed.)
Next on the top of the list is the google feed / placement on google. Most sellers within ecrater.com are very please to see their products within the first few pages of a google search and within the Google Product list within a few days. Many sellers have reported items found and sold on google within a few hours of listing.
The ease of using eCrater.com as a shopping cart is also high on my list of the things I like about ecrater.com. I have tried other carts and nothing is a easy as ecrater.com plus you don't have to worry about hosting it yourself!
Of course the fact it's totally free is an excellent incentive to use eCrater.com.
No HTML allowed keeps all the ads placed on eCrater.com neat and clean and very professional looking.
Dislikes - In my opinion if eCrater.com was equipped with either a copy ad function or had the ability to use attributes on the product it would greatly improve the site.
The one thing I totally don't like is the shipping matrix. It's complicated and not to easy to use for many sellers especially those that sell light weight and heavy items. I wish it was linked to the USPS shipping calculator. I opt to use flat rate shipping charges but this does discourage buyers from buyer multiple items since the system won't discount shipping if you use that feature. In addition, I lose out on international buyers by using fixed shipping per item because the eCrater.com system doesn't have the ability to handle international shipping UNLESS you use the shipping matrix.
AB: Anything else you want to add?
Pat: Since I have been using eCrater.com I have watched it grow to it's current 724,000+ items over the past 2 1/2 years. May 8, 2007 eCrater.com hit the 500,000 mark. Soon there will be over a million items for buyers to chose from. Over the past 4 months that's 224,000 new items added - 56,000 items a month on average.
Hundreds if not thousands of sellers come to the community forum with questions on how to do things. The sellers are always willing to give advice and help new sellers get started.
I personally like to have my website with my domain name and use ecrater.com as my shopping cart. www.FormalLongDresses.com is set up that was as well as most of my ecrater.com stores. It's not a necessity but it gives me more freedom to show off my store. www.Promote-101.com, www.HeelsNToes.com are also set up using ecrater.com as more of a shopping cart then a store. www.PetsAdored.com will be set up that same way, using ecrater.com as the cart but giving me the freedom to have contest, and other things going on to promote my store better.
Some sellers, as well as myself have suggested to Dimitar, owner of ecrater.com, that maybe it's time to start charging a small fee to sell there or at least for new features like the inventory control that was recently added. He just says he won't do that. He won't charge to sell on ecrater.com since charging was never in his plan. I don't know how he does it, but I know all the sellers as well as myself are grateful to have found ecrater.com.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
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