eBid Widgets

eBid plus sellers are allowed up to 5 free shops, and more if they pay a subscription. Because they’re mostly free, setting up shop is a very popular option. For small numbers of items a single shop of the “general store” variety is fine, for larger numbers specialisation makes sense. But whether it’s one, or many one of the toughest parts of setting up shop is choosing a name. You want to get it right, it’s going to be around a while you hope. So what are the things to consider?

Don’t use the default.

If you don’t choose a name yourself, your shop will be called userid-new-store-1, userid-new-store-2 etc. Not only is it ugly, it’s instantly out-of-date since nothing stays new over time, and it flags you to your buyers as an eBid numpty who hasn’t worked out how half the system works - not an encouragement to buy! ;o)

Keep it short.

Your shop name is also your shop address (URL). You’re going to want to promote the name and the address to bring in buyers, and you might want to print it on paperwork. So short is definitely sweet. “Kimbo’s Amazing Bazaar of Wonderful Delights” might look snazzy over a seaside shop facade, but the business cards would be hefty and kimbos-amazing-bazaar-of-wonderful-delights.ebid.net is quite a mouthful when somebody asks for your web address. 

Avoid punctuation.

As you can see in that example, punctuation doesn’t translate into web addresses. There’s a reason why many years ago when I first started putting things on the web I used the construct “… by Kimbo” which ended up as the user id “bykimbo” on so many sites; “Kimbo’s” necessarily would become kimbos which isn’t the same at all. You can, of course, omit the punctuation in the name, but include it in the banner or logo to show people you know how to use an apostrophe. However, if you include punctuation in the name, and present it that way, you’re adding an extra element that people can get wrong when trying to guess or pass on your URL.  Keep it simple. 

Reinforce your brand.

If you’re planning several shops, try for a point of consistency that either reinforces or even becomes your brand. If your general style is zany, and you sell books, DVDs and clothing, for example, go with Zany Books, Zany DVDs and Zany Clothes. They’ll work well together on your All About Me page, and people who know one shop will be able to guess at the others.

Give buyers a clue.

If you have a general store, or are selling an eclectic mix of clutter clearance, then a name that says nothing about what’s in the shop is probably fine. But if your shop is a specialist one, such as in the Zany example above, then let your buyers know what they can expect to find. And equally importantly, know which shop to choose if they’re looking for a specific item. There’s little point in announcing brightly that you have “lots of romances in my book shop”, if you have five shops all called things like “Gloria’s Delight”, “Gloria’s Great Prices” and “Gloria’s Peace and Tranquility”; call it “Gloria’s Books” and everybody will know what to expect and where to look. And that your name is Gloria.

Give the right impression.

It’s a nice touch to use your own name, or a nickname, when selling online - it gives a personal feel and is reassuring to buyers who can’t see the person they’re dealing with and like to be sure they’re trustworthy and honest. But do consider if your [nick]name gives the right impression, and if it works well with the items you’re selling. If your name’s Rusty, and you sell bikes, you might want to use something like “Big Bike Shop” rather than the more obvious but worrying “Rusty Bikes”.

Don’t rely on capitalisation.

If you use capitalisation to give your shop name meaning, do think carefully about how it will look turned into a lower case web address. The Pen Island shop name is a famous example of how these things can go wrong when converted. At least eBid will put hyphens in for you to preserve spaces, but if you choose to call your record shop “Bob’s Hits” and write the name as “BobsHits” to give a short, snappy URL there’s nothing they can do to stop the inevitable. 

Think Internationally.

Finally, do bear in mind that eBid is a globally viewable site and your customers could be browsing from anywhere in the world. What works as a title in your own location might read very poorly somewhere else. ;o)