A different idea for advertising

[devitt]

Hi,

I posted earlier about my idea of distributing leaflets with ebay sellers, thanks to everyone who replied. However, I have made a change bearing your advice in mind and wanted your opinions please.

I will create raffle coupons, which will have room for a logo and website address. On these coupons will be a 5 digit code, everytime a batch of coupons are sent out, a few of them will have a winning code entitling the winner to a prize.

The business who requires advertising, will be able to order however many raffle coupons they wish from me, I will create the coupons with their logo and website address on. Then I will locate an ebay seller who sells similar items as the business I am advertising. They will be able to earn a commission on every one of the coupons they include with the products they sell. If they agree to this I will send them via post the amount of coupons they have agreed to distribute.

The ebay distributor must agree to make their buyers aware that they will receive a free raffle coupon with the product they have bought. To do this they must state this information on their bidding pages as an extra to their service.

When receiving the product with the coupon the buyer will be able to enter the 5 digit code on the website of the business I am advertising. The business must have a part of their website where the buyer can enter the 5 digit code and their ebay name, to check and see if they have won. This way the website of the business I am advertising will get hits and we can know whether they have received the coupon or not.

To make the sure the ebay distributor is not entering the codes and the names of the winning bidders themselves, an email will be sent to the ebay name given stating whether they have won or not.

Any opinions on this would be great
Cheers

[The Stealthy One]

Wow! Once it sunk all in, I think it's a great idea! It may be a bit too complicated for folks to understand, though - which would cause them to just disregard it. Is there any way to simplify the process a bit?

For instance, why not give each eBay seller a private login where they can print the raffle tickets themselves, treating each print job as an "order", which would allow you to track how many they distribute? This would cut back on your costs of printing and shipping, and would make things easier for the eBayer.

As for requiring a notice to be placed on the auction page, I don't think that's necessary either. If the ticket has an eye-catching design, it will sell itself when the package is opened. And because it's such a pleasant surprise anyway, I imagine it would receive more attention than if the buyer already knew it was coming.

But then, that's just my 2 cents.

[devitt]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply

Okay if say I make the ebay seller print the coupons, only the design matters anyway, that is a good way of saving time and money. Also, I liked your idea of making login for ebay sellers to print off the coupons thanks for that, in fact I will probably do this as this will essential in knowing how whether the seller is in fact printing them off.

What I said about the seller placing a notice on their bidding page, was really not for selling the coupon, but I get what your saying and it's a good point. It was more the idea that the buyer will be expecting a free coupon, which may make the ebay seller think twice before not distributing the coupon.

[Satch]

I think its a great idea!

It does sound a little bit complex when reading......but when you work it out in your head it would work really easy in practice, so I wouldnt simplify it much more.

As long as the service you provide is really professional (just so ebay sellers trust you and see you are serious) and the coupons are nicely designed and clear what they are, then I see no reason why it shouldnt work.

Great idea and good luck with it!

[Bestmiler]

Great idea. It's different than anything I've heard of.

[Deejay]

Could the ebay seller not just give all the coupons to one of his mates and win the prize himeself?

[devitt]

well, I will be keeping a record of the winning bidders usernames for the ebay seller who is distributing the coupons. If the ebay seller enters the winning bidders username when checking whether the coupon is the winner, they will not get anything out of it, if it is the winning bidder because an email will be sent to the ebay user through ebay itself notifying them of their prize.

[The Stealthy One]

After thinking about this more, I only have this to say.....Run with it, run with it, run with it! You've got a great idea!

[devitt]

Ok thanks, I will do, it will start to get the ball rolling then, your opinions are enough for me!

[Bestmiler]

Don't let anyone tell you its a bad idea. All you have to do now is take some action, which I'm sure you will. The rest will be easy.

[Newton]

Yeh I'd find this sort of idea interesting for my own business in the Australian market. (not the one in my signature.)

[cube3]

Its a good concept but just curious what will the prizes be like?

[devitt]

Well, I've been trying to sort this side of it out, and I have got to make it worthwhile for the ebay seller to print and distribute the coupons.

At the moment I have had success in interesting a couple of ebay sellers already, but it means each coupon bought by the business will cost 25p. This may be too expensive, what do you guys think.

[greggomatic76]

Super concept but they are right, if you could simplify the idea down you could pitch and sell it much easier to sellers.

[The Stealthy One]

I think 25 pence would be fine. Even in the U.S., that's only roughly 50 cents (half a dollar).