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| | The ABHP - A Bit of Humble Pie Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Vendio Anyone? | Views: 557 | | Dec 28, 2009 5:35 am | | Vendio Anyone? | # | 
Kurt Schweitzer | | I've been looking for better ways to sell stuff online, and today I came across Vendio (http://www.vendio.com). They are an e-Commerce hosting site, and their main claim to fame is that items hosted there can be sold through eBay, Amazon, and Google Checkout simultaneously. And on your own website.
It basically gives you a single place to manage inventory being sold through multiple channels.
The reviews I've seen have been mixed, which is in part because of the history and multiple versions of the service. The current version was launched this past summer - earlier versions apparently had numerous problems.
Their fee structure is the most confusing aspect of the service. Their pricing page starts out saying:
"The Vendio Platform lets you manage items, orders, buyer communication, and your very own store all through one integrated Platform. Best of all, selling from your store with the Vendio Platform is FREE! When we say free, we mean it. There are no sign-up fees, no insertion fees, no image fees, no final value fees, and no subscription fees."
Then they go on with their "Marketplace Pricing" fees and talk about a 60 day free trial. Marketplace Pricing fees range from 1% to 1.95% of the selling price, depending on monthly volume (higher volume, lower percentage).
Another way they make their money is by selling added services. For instance, image hosting starts at $3 a month (although you can host your images elsewhere, such as on your own website). They have research services starting at $20 a month, and some tracking and reporting services cost extra.
Anyway, I’ve decided to give it a try. So far the set-up has been pretty easy. They have a variety of templates to use - which you can customize - or you can write your own. Setting up such things as automatic sales tax calculations and shipping preferences is also pretty easy. I’m currently working on uploading items. They support uploading multiple items via CSV files as well as importing them from eBay and Amazon stores, and of course you can always enter them by hand. I have about 500 to do, so I’m working the CSV route. We’ll see how that goes in the next few days.
I’m also interested in what others have to say about the service. Do you have any experience with Vendio? If so, could you please share it?
Thanks!Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer | | Dec 28, 2009 7:13 am | | re: Vendio Anyone? | # | 
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
What exactly are you selling through Vendio? I would not think you would attempt to sell a scooter that way. Are you selling scooter helmets and other kinds of scooter accessories?
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Dec 28, 2009 1:03 pm | | re: re: Vendio Anyone? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | I'm focusing on Parts and Accessories sales. It's my understanding that the best way to sell specialty items like mine online is to promote a handful of items via auctions, and cross-promote the bulk of the items through links in those auctions. Auctions become the attention getters, but the bulk of your sales are through your online storefront.
I will be testing more auction sales of scooters, too, but I doubt I'll be able to generate any profits that way. I sold one scooter via auction in November and lost a couple hundred dollars in the sale. I see auctions as being good for cash flow, but bad for profits.
I got started in this whole exploration through wanting to find a way to upload and maintain hundreds of items in an eBay store. Vendio seems to be the easiest way to do that in bulk. The fact that it seems to be less expensive than an eBay store is simply an extra benefit to me.
Vendio is this week's experiment. Have you ever tried it? Have you found something you like better?Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer | | Dec 28, 2009 7:08 pm | | re: re: re: Vendio Anyone? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
No, I have not tried Vendio. I have used Ebay for making purchases. I have never sold anything via Ebay. I confess ignorance when it comes to being an Ebay seller of merchandise.
For several months I actually did help out with a real auction. I was somewhat stunned by the process. The auction owner shows up at an estate sale and offers to purchase everything for a discounted price and willingly brings a trailer to cart all of it off at one time. This is an incredibly fast and efficient way to sell off the belongings of an estate for someone who died.
The auction owner then takes everything back to his warehouse and packages it up with other stuff for sale. Now, I was so gullible that I thought that when people came out to an auction they come not only to get a bargain, but to own it. But, what I discovered was that the majority of the folks who came out to the auction where I helped came out to the auction only to buy. They had no intention of keeping what they purchased. They only purchased the item or items for re-sale...on Ebay.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Dec 28, 2009 11:18 pm | | re: re: re: re: Vendio Anyone? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | Lamar,
My take on "real" auctions is somewhat different - for many people it's entertainment. Part of the rush is "scoring a deal", part is beating the other guy, and part is getting a unique find for your collection. Personally I don't like to shop all that much, so looking for a find in a large pile of old stuff doesn't appeal to me.
I've been involved in a few estate sales when a relative has died. You can hire someone to come out and go through the estate, identifying the valuable items and deciding the best way to dispose of them. Some go up on eBay, some are sold at a garage sale, some are sold at auction, and some are just thrown out. They then help prepare the house for sale.
Most consignment sales on eBay are done with a 50/50 split. You provide the object and collect half the proceeds. The seller prepares the object, photographs it, researches the sell price, writes the ad copy, runs the auction, and ships the object to the winner. For that the seller gets the other half of the proceeds.
Vendio seems to support both online retail shops selling new goods and sellers of one-off items (i.e. estate sale buyers). I've made a start at getting my online store set up - I've got about 40 items currently listed. The main challenges are attaching images to everything and writing the ad copy. After I've got them set up I then need to identify the appropriate eBay category for each item. Then I can start running some auctions!
You can watch over my shoulder at http://www.vendio.com/stores/uvscooters/Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer | | Dec 29, 2009 12:01 am | | re: re: re: re: re: Vendio Anyone? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
Your auction site looks very nice. All it needs is the pictures and I suppose you are all set.
Before I actually helped with a local auction, my take was similar to yours. It never even entered my mind that folks would show up at a auction to purchase something for the sole purpose of reselling it on Ebay for a profit. To my way of thinking you go to an auction for the same reason you go to a garage sale - you want to purchase used merchandise for pennies on the dollar. But, you don't go to all that trouble to purchase the stuff solely to resell it. But, that's exactly what many did at the auction I helped run.
By the way, that auction house did not stay in business very long. I think the owner had a heart attack and died.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
Need PR?...Call Lamar! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Jan 04, 2010 6:38 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: Vendio Anyone? | # | 
Bobbi Jo Woods | | Lamar
In the world of auctions/estate sales dealing with valuable or collectible items... there are two bounty hungers: The collectors, and the investors.
The collectors are the folks who snatch up a "find for pennies on the dollar", and KEEP it. Their reward is the item and its value, history, etc. The investors are the ones who spend the time to get the item and then time to sell it (on Ebay or wherever!). Their reward is the investment return.
This has been going on for simply YEARS! Even before Ebay ever existed.
Bobbi Jo Woods, Owner, B. Woods Design
Professional Websites for Small Business
877-996-9932 Toll-free
http://www.bwoodsdesign.comPrivate Reply to Bobbi Jo Woods | | Jan 07, 2010 2:11 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Vendio Anyone? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Bobby Jo,
You are absolutely correct. One man's trash is another man's treasure. When these auction folks buy up an entire estate for one very low price and cart every off in a trailer the really provide an efficient public service. But then, they sort through all that junk, repackage it with junk they already have, and resell it at an auction. I have seen cases of Coca-Cola bottles sell at an auction for a very high price.
And, I had to wonder, did the purchaser buy those bottles because he was a "collector" or an "investor?" Is he actually going to turn around and try to sell those empty bottles for an even higher price on Ebay?
Make no mistake, what some folks see as junk, other folks are monetizing for profit. It is really amazing to me.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Jan 07, 2010 3:03 pm | | : Vendio Anyone? | # | 
Scott Wolpow | | One persons lack of knowledge is another persons opporunity. Coke items are a part of Americanna. Once at a yard sale I found 6 wooden cases of bottles of coke. The old style. The persons grandfather used to have a vending machine route and this was the last of his stock. It had been sitting in a garage for years. I bought them for $2.00 a case. Drank the three orphans [loose bottles] and sold them to a dealer for $100 per case.
BTW the coke was much better tasting. The owner told me that his grandfather would leave the empties in the rack and he often left two fresh cases next the machine. And people left then alone, they only wanted the cold soda.
I have also bought hundreds of cases of toys for pennies on the dollar, sold the rare ones for big money and sold the rest for a few bucks.
It is called business.
Not sure why it amazes you. Private Reply to Scott Wolpow | | Jan 10, 2010 11:01 pm | | re: : Vendio Anyone? | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | Just an update: I now have some 500+ items in the store. Many have pictures, but taking and editing pictures takes forever. Worse will be writing and adding all the descriptions.
Hopefully it will start generating some sales soon.Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer | | Jan 11, 2010 5:06 am | | re: re: : Vendio Anyone? | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Scott,
The reason this Coke boottles selling for high prices amazes me is because unlike you, I don't see it as Americana. I see it as garbage. An empty Coke bottle is not a work of art to me. It's garbage. If I buy a bottle of Coke, I don't buy it for the look of the container. I purchase it for the taste of the liquid that is within it.
If you have ever been to Atlanta and walked through the "World of Coke," the last section you come to before walking outside is the Coke Memorobilia section. This is where Coke branding goes to the extreme. The contents of that last section is all about former Cola-Cola products.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | |
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