Storage Auctions
The Storage Locker => New to Storage Auctions? => Topic started by: HomeGrownPromos on February 06, 2013, 03:54:27 PM
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Hey guys! I'm new to this board, but not necessarily new to storage auctions. I had done it before the shows started, but stopped to go back into the workforce. After realizing how much I hated the "corporate" life, I'm back at auctions!
One thing that I'm considering pursuing is a webstore dedicated solely to my storage auction finds, mainly the smalls that I find and can easily ship. Does anybody have experience selling their items this way? Any successes or failures with this method?
My thought is, if I set up a website to sell my stuff, and post a link to that webstore onto sites like Craigslist, etc., it's a much more professional experience. Maybe? No?
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Hey, welcome to the forum! Web stores aren't my specialty so I'll let someone more qualified answer your question.
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I don't have a dedicated website but I use Etsy to sell a lot of vintage things. That page is linked to my Facebook page. Between the two (which are almost free) I have been able to sell things local as well as ship items. When I list on Craigslist I always direct to my Facebook to see more pictures. I have made several multiple sales that way.
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I use a webstore program called OpenCart. It's free with the exception of paying for hosting which I get for $9 a month. I just built a store, custombandmerchshop(dot)com for my other business, which I had started about 6 months ago. I really like the webstore idea for my storage auctions, just not sure if there is enough positives there to maintain it. Basically, I'm trying to avoid listing and transaction fees by listing on a site like Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, etc.
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its quite hard to drive traffic to a website so the time and effort may be more than its worth. also storage auctions are unique inthat you dont have a consistant product. if i sell blankets i can advertise and im always selling blankets if i sell storage auctions one day im selling blankets the next a tv, the next thomas the train toys. there are some great website builders that are free like weebly and wix where you coudl easily setup an online store, cant hurt to start one i just wouldn't spend too much time trying to drive traffic to it. web stores and ecommerce is something im very active ni so feel free to ask me any questions you like
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Good point. The inventory is constantly changing. But I did some keyword research for "raleigh thrift stores", same for surrounding towns. Same for "raleigh yard sales" and surrounding towns. The terms are searched about 500 times a month on average with the larger cities (Raleigh, Durham) being searched much more. All those keywords have low competition, so I could potentially hit the top of the mark in my area and drive good local traffic. The only issue that I'm trying to overcome is that people will not want to purchase a used item off the internet without seeing it in person first. But then again, Ebay processes tens of thousands of sales a day..
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You're correct.. It's OpenCart. OpenShop is a modification of OpenCart which I rely on. My apologies.. and thanks for your input!