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zickit



Posts: 21857

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I don't understand,if my store has been flagged as an affiliate? store or something,shouldn't theirs also?

YES, but this is a manual process and they might have been missed. OR it is possible that they actually stock their own merchandise and have proven that to ecrater.com.
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CuriousCloset



Posts: 5

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay Thank you
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kuchiestreasures



Posts: 32

PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The questiion on whether or not having dropshipped items in your store eliminates even your stock items from showing up in the searches. Can you please clarify that?

Thx,
KT
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thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat



Posts: 10158

PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuchiestreasures wrote:
The questiion on whether or not having dropshipped items in your store eliminates even your stock items from showing up in the searches. Can you please clarify that?

Thx,
KT


I just took a quick look through your store and only saw stock photos for probably dropshipped items. If you have items in your possession that are listed you might want to open a separate store for them. They are lost in the catalogue items.
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 6:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuchiestreasures wrote:
The questiion on whether or not having dropshipped items in your store eliminates even your stock items from showing up in the searches. Can you please clarify that?


I think a store with a lot of stock photos is simply tagged (the whole store) as affiliate -- it doesn't discern between this product and that product.
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kuchiestreasures



Posts: 32

PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for the clarification Poopsheet. I do, however, see a problem here with the whole system of using other store owners as moderators. What a cool way to knock out your competitors for awhile. You can become a moderator of your favorite category, find something in your competitors store that you "suspect" is dropshipped, and take that store out of the search engines, only you don't have to email the store to tell them to prove they own the product and have been taken out until they comply. In that case, the store owner may lose up to a month in sales before realizing they are no longer searchable before emailing and questioning the reason they are no longer searchable. Think about it. I did have dropshipped items in my store - I am currently in the process of taking them out, but I'm not a professional photographer and see a future problem of being removed once again for items that I do own. I guess I have to do a daily search for my items to find out whether or not some moderator has decided to take me out of the competition for awhile?

Thx,
KT
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thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat



Posts: 10158

PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I sell only vintage OOAK items so I would have no reason to try to eliminate drop-shipped items that are conforming to the ecrater rules.
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wtcollectibles



Posts: 2728

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If one store owner sees another store which is breaking rules, they can report it to the owner of ecrater, but I think he's the only one who can shut anything down. If rules are broken, they should be shut down. I'm all for enforcing rules but it has to be across the board and the same for everyone.

I thought the moderators were only moderating the forums, but with the recent calls for more moderators, maybe some of them are actually moderating the stores now?

The whole dropshipping/affiliate/stock photo mess is not relevant to me, either, but whatever the rules are, they should be followed. If the marketplace is being flooded and that was not foreseen, then maybe new rules are needed.

I still think the bottom line is that each seller has to promote HIS/HER OWN STORE, not ecrater.com. (I know I'll get hollered at for that and probably locked for going OT.) But if you are one of 2000 sellers all selling the same flamingo figurine, then the key is to get traffic to YOUR flamingo, not to depend on a Google search for "flamingo" which brings up all 2000, and not to try to get rid of the other 1999 flamingos.

Sorry for the mini-rant! Embarassed
Becky
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuchiestreasures wrote:
I do, however, see a problem here with the whole system of using other store owners as moderators. What a cool way to knock out your competitors for awhile.


I may be wrong but I don't think the moderators really have that kind of power. They're helping to keep eCrater cleaned up but I'm pretty sure that eCrater makes the big decisions.

Quote:
but I'm not a professional photographer and see a future problem of being removed once again for items that I do own.


Well, using photos that aren't yours is another issue (although related, of course). In the long run it's probably better to take your own pictures. Virtually none of us are professional photographers but we learn along the way.
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thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat



Posts: 10158

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stock photos look dead. They were meant as thumbnails for catalogues. They really don't transfer well to a website where photos were meant to be enlarged.

There is another issue with them: they are easy to copy so a buyer doesn't have too much confidence in them. Do you really sell this item? Are you a drop-shipper? Have you just copied a lot of photos from an other website and are totally scamming?

If you think I am kidding about this, look around the website at how many multi-thousand-dollar items are selling with one stock photo. Would you buy an expensive bedroom suite or a 52 inch plasma tv online based on 1 tiny picture?

Modern digital cameras are very easy to use and do everything but set up the scene. The instruction books can be daunting but really all you need to do is know how to point and shoot, transfer to computer and edit. (Actually you can do all this in the camera but I've never figured out how.)
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kuchiestreasures



Posts: 32

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess my biggest problem with the whole thing is that when your store status is changed to "affiliate" and you are no longer searchable, they don't let you know - you just have to figure it out for yourself. Then - which item did they "think" is dropshipped? The fair practice would be to notify you first so you can prove you own the item, because let me tell you - they are not too swift about putting you back into the search. I'm still not searchable and I repaired my store over the weekend and have been emailing them daily to PLEASE take the "affiliate" status off my store. Still hasn't happened. If the moderator takes the time to tag your store with affiliate, it's not that much extra effort to let you know this was done so you can fix it or prove you own the item

Thx,
KT
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thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat



Posts: 10158

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuchiestreasures wrote:
I guess my biggest problem with the whole thing is that when your store status is changed to "affiliate" and you are no longer searchable, they don't let you know - you just have to figure it out for yourself. Then - which item did they "think" is dropshipped? The fair practice would be to notify you first so you can prove you own the item, because let me tell you - they are not too swift about putting you back into the search. I'm still not searchable and I repaired my store over the weekend and have been emailing them daily to PLEASE take the "affiliate" status off my store. Still hasn't happened. If the moderator takes the time to tag your store with affiliate, it's not that much extra effort to let you know this was done so you can fix it or prove you own the item

Thx,
KT


Supposedly when you signed up on ecrater you read and agreed to the terms of use. Ecrater is certainly not perfect but since they allow you to list here for free, I'm not sure you should hold them responsible for doing anything more than what they do: provide a free site for you to sell.

I have a major problem with affiliate/drop shipping on ecrater--more here than on eBay and other paying sites. Besides making the site look boring and repetitive, the large importers/manufacturers/distributors who use affiliate/drop shipping exploit the site by getting free advertising every time you list one of their items. At least on eBay they are having to pay for the listing even though it is the seller who is paying and if the seller is willing to foot the advertising bill for a big company, bless them.

I'm led to believe some of the companies require registration/usage fees etc so I'm not really sure what the ecrater seller gets out of this. It seems like it is a win-win situation for the company and a lose-lose situation for every one else involved. Have you ever stopped to consider what the internet would look like if restrictions weren't placed on drop-shipper/affiliate companies and their associates? It would soon grind to a halt.

There is a good reason Google blocks the listings. They exist to make money. They don't do that by allowing the company who makes the pink flamingos to have 20,000 free ads on Google.

I'm not sure what you fixed. I just had a look at an assortment of your items and all the photos looked like stock photos to me. If you meant you fixed something else, then I don't understand your post.

Also as I understand the moderator position, they are watchdogs only and if they see something amiss, they notify the administrator. Only BigTall has the ability to monitor this forum and lock or delete posts when the site is being abused.
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zickit



Posts: 21857

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
What a cool way to knock out your competitors for awhile. You can become a moderator of your favorite category, find something in your competitors store that you "suspect" is dropshipped, and take that store out of the search engines, only you don't have to email the store to tell them to prove they own the product and have been taken out until they comply


NOT POSSIBLE!!!
A mod can only call the store to the attention of the ecrater.com team - the mod does not have the ability to ban or flag a store themself. ONLY RECCOMMEND IT!

Quote:
I thought the moderators were only moderating the forums, but with the recent calls for more moderators, maybe some of them are actually moderating the stores now?

Dimitri can not be expected to do it all. We all have to pitch in and do our share. Whether that is reporting stores in violations of the terms or commiting to cleaning up and watching over a category that you have knowledge about.

Quote:
I still think the bottom line is that each seller has to promote HIS/HER OWN STORE, not ecrater.com. (I know I'll get hollered at for that and probably locked for going OT.)

I agree 100%! That's what ecrater,com is all about. Stores promoting themselves! ecrater.com is a shopping cart - it promote itself as one even.

Quote:
I guess my biggest problem with the whole thing is that when your store status is changed to "affiliate" and you are no longer searchable, they don't let you know - you just have to figure it out for yourself. Then - which item did they "think" is dropshipped? The fair practice would be to notify you first so you can prove you own the item, because let me tell you - they are not too swift about putting you back into the search.


Think about it -- ecrater.com team is one and a half people! If they took the time to email everyone NOTHING would get done!

As a category mod --- I have emailed a few sellers that put their items in wrong categories to get more attention (I guess) it's not an error when someone list 50 items all similiar, all belonging in the same category but they put some here, some there, etc.
I did get an email when I screwed up - not sure who the mod was - BUT I mistakenly put ONE item in the category above where I was suppose to. NOW, me personally as a mod, I just move one item to where it belongs, but this mod didn't just move it - they made me - I thought it was silly for just one item out of 230+ I had to figure out which one etc.
So it's basically up to the mod as to wether they want to fix it or move it.
BUT when it comes to banning, or flagging as an affiliate -- mods can ONLY SUGGEST IT!


Quote:
Only BigTall has the ability to monitor this forum and lock or delete posts when the site is being abused.

TRUE! Well Dimitri has the power too, lol, but he normally leaves it for me.
EXCEPT certain forums - Like this one - Suspended Stores - I can't touch. IF I could I would certain move this topic out of here as I don't think this is the right place at all. Not being found in a search has nothing to do with being suspended!
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 6:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuchiestreasures wrote:
and have been emailing them daily


I wouldn't recommend doing that...
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kuchiestreasures



Posts: 32

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I cannot use stock photos even though I physically possess the item?

Thx,
KT
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