Advertising a week's stay on e-bay

[Aldo]

Someone suggested I advertise a week's stay on e-bay more as an attention seeking exercise than to actually sell that week. Has anyone ever considered this?

[ashtondav]

I emailed someone via ebay who was advertising in this way. They had a small apartment in a village near me. (Why don't you try one near you). They were kind enough to reply and said that it seemed to work for them. I don't even think they actually used the auction - merely used their listing as a mechanism for people to make contact with them.

I intend to try it as the costs are so low, the visibility very high.

[ashtondav]

Err..... it must be too early in the morning. ebay is internet marketing! Is this thread in the wrong sub-forum????

[alexia s.]

Ashtondav,
And sometimes you just thinks!

[Aldo]

Sorry, my fault.

The only problem with adverting on e-bay, I suppose, is that if someone requests that week through somewhere other than e-bay, you cannot sell that week to them. You would have to direct them to e-bay.

[Normandy Cow]

No, I'm pretty sure that you do not HAVE to sell it to them through ebay, if they genuinely contacted you via some other means.

It is only if they have contacted you via Ebay that you should continue the transaction within the Ebay framework.

Are you listing it as a genuine auction (i.e. a starting price and a particular end date), or as a BuyItNow? Even if it is the former, you are still allowed to end the auction early except within the last 24 hours. I often see people selling stuff through ebay who state up front that they are also offering the item up for sale elsewhere and that they will end the auction early if it is sold.

By the way, a couple of years ago I tried using Ebay to advertise my property for a few months and I only ever got one "sale". The woman then changed her mind, and for no reason whatsoever she left me negative feedback, which was REALLY REALLY annoying because I was proud of my 100% positive feedback - there was no reason for the woman to have done this and there was nothing I could do to reverse it, so I am stuck with it...

So my advice is - beware!

[cromercrabholiday]

We regularly auction weeks on e-Bay. If we have a gap, we put it on for five days about two weeks before the start date. This allows just time to get the paperwork/ cash settled.

It doesn't bring much cash for the initial booking, but it is good publicity and people tend to return at "proper" prices. We've had one family five times - three times from e-Bay and twice normally.

It's probably easier to do this in UK, where our guests only have to drive; sorting out flights/ferries at short notice tends to be expensive.

John

[Sue Dyer]

Hi, i think there is a previous thread about this somewhere??

I let 2 separate weeks on ebay and unfortunatley didn't get the kind of guests I would usually hope for. One of the couples were thrown out of the local pub for being drunk and arguing and left the place in a bit of a state. The other family didn't attempt to clean up either. Maybe we were just unlucky but I feel like it was "we got it cheaper, we don't have to respect it". I did have my web/cottage details on the "About Me" page and noticed quite a few hits from it so even if you don't list your property it is worth adding details to that page.

[cromercrabholiday]

You were unlucky - our E-bay guests have all been perfect. The great thing about e-Bay is that you can check them out from their feedback from previous transactions and you can leave feedback about them.

John

[thisfrenchlife]

I did have my web/cottage details on the "About Me" page and noticed quite a few hits from it so even if you don't list your property it is worth adding details to that page.

Hi

This is a very good way to get people to visit your actual gite website.

If you offer items at auction that have a slight link to France, Spain, Italy etc and feature a line in your description saying 'read more about my life in France, Spain, Italy...' and link through to your About Me page then people will see the link to your site.

Could be a very useful advertising ploy if you could source items to put up for auction at a cheap price - it could pay for itself!!!

Regards

Craig
____________________

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/

[pinkeyemedia]

It is a great idea, the only problem is that eBay will not allow you to put your web address anywhere in the auction description, so people can only find your homepage if they navigate via the 'about you' page, so how many will do that?!

[ashtondav]

Errrr, methinks not Pinky old bean

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Holiday-Apartment ... dZViewItem

More website links than text....

So it may be a good idea,

Tudor
www.frigiliana-apartment.com

[pinkeyemedia]

Well spotted, but trust me, this is completely violating eBays policies and it wont be long until its removed. You get a warning and then if you do it again they ban you. Hence why this person is probably using a new user name (note 0 feedback). Basically, if you add a link in which people can then buy the same product elsewhere ie. not buying through eBay then they dont like it. Here is the policy, Ive just found it on eBay, they do let you link in few circumstances but only if you meet their criteria...

eBay allows sellers to place only certain types of links within an item description. (See the Links Frequently Asked Questions for the definition of a link.) Links that are allowed are listed below; sellers should review the specific links policy to ensure any links included in the listing adhere to the policies outlined.
One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing
One link to your email address that opens an email client for potential buyers to ask questions about the item in that listing
Links to photos of the item for sale
Links to your eBay (including your eBay Shop)
Links to your About Me page (in addition to the About Me icon already provided by eBay)
Links that provide credits to third parties
One link to your listing terms and conditions (providing that the most relevant information is within the listing itself and that this page does not include any links off of the eBay Web site)

Breaches of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

Listing cancellation
Limits on account privileges
Account suspension
Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
Loss of PowerSeller status

Errrr, methinks not Pinky old bean

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Holiday-Apartment ... dZViewItem

More website links than text....

So it may be a good idea,

Tudor
www.frigiliana-apartment.com

[ashtondav]

"One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing"

Couldn't that be the apartment website homepage?

Tudor
www.frigiliana-apartment.com

[pinkeyemedia]

Yes thats correct but then that page is not supposed to link to another where you can then 'book' or 'buy' outside of eBay. Just trying to help everyone out!! Its just from past experience with eBay thats all. If you manage to get away with it, then great, you will get a lot of visitors and quick!!