Hello All,
Tried to post this before, but it never showed up. Sorry if it pops up twice.
I have a website that lists a number of free woodworking plans. I've also started a free woodworking auction. I thought it might be nice for folks to sell / buy equipment without having to pay eBay. It's completely free. Although you probably won't get as much exposure as eBay, I thought I'd test the waters a bit.
Thanks, Evan
Yeah, it did.
Me, I'd rather give eBay a percentage in order to get thousands of potential bidders.
I think you're about 5 years too late, my friend. Even other big companies who took on eBay didn't get much of anywhere in the online auction world.
trying to sell for amazon.com doesnt really work that well. people are smart enough to figure out what you're doing.....that you really dont carry this and that, but you're just sending them to amazon. nice try though.
Well thanks for the brutal honesty. I was thinking more on the lines of people who wanted to sell their work. They could get exposure to folks specifically looking for things related to woodworking. The website doesn't get eBay traffic, but then everyone coming to eBay is not necessarily looking for something woodworking related. So not trying to make a living at this, just thought it might be useful for folks and they can upload pictures and list things, kind of like a catalog for the builder, where only people associated or looking for this type of stuff would be coming. Thats why its free.
And I see my other post now. W> > Hello All,
Yeah, well, I'm like that. Doesn't always get taken the way I intended it, but I'm OK with that.
In order to attract anyone, you'd have to differentiate it in some meaningful way that would draw people away from an existing resource. Also, free sites, while well intentioned, will have a cost to someone. Lots of free sites end up just going away when the person hosting it gets tired of it, or it gets big enough that it starts costing real money.
It's all FM, my friend, and I don't mean "Frequency Modulation".
I never tried to hide the Amazon factor, theirs no conspiracy here. Having links to their site makes just enough money to allow me to keep the website hosted. My post was not intended to get people to buy something from me (although I'm not going to push people away), my intent was to pass along two aspects of my site I thought were worthwhile to people who enjoyed woodworking. The list of free plans and the auction.
I must say I'm a bit disappointed at the reception I've received, I was only wanting to share what I've worked for the last 2 years to create. Who cares if Amazon is part of it! I don't make a living at this, I do this for fun, and that includes my hobby of woodworking. So if you're not interested, so be it.
Thanks for making a fellow woodworker feel so unwelcome.
Dave,
Thanks for the insight. I listed a BB for people to share ideas, but it's probably much easier and has more of a community here. As for free, you're right it has to cost someone. Really the hosting is the only expense, but my wife would tell you it's time away from her and my kids.
Did you look at the list of free plans? It's amazing all the things one can find on the internet. I built the rocking horse for my daughter.
Evan
Hi ... I read the responses and see you got ragged on a bit. Buck up, old chum, the world is full of people who complain because they just don't know what else to do. Build it and they'll come. Build it right and they'll come and take money out of their pockets to add to your collection.
I would like to point out that the auction site will get a lot more use once you put a link to it on the home page and make the process of listing an item more or less self-evident.
Bill
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