Ruby Plaza Free/2nd Shop?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Capricious Crowns & Jewels on December 7, 2011 at 8:02am

yes, the second shop will be free.  Actually, I'm thinking seriously of opening a second RL shop for my artisan jewelry, because I have had very little business with RP, despite adding things, being featured, etc..  I sold most of my inventory at the jewelry convention in Providence in October, from RL shop owners and collectors, so I know they liked it, or they would not have purchased so much.  I just don't think we get the exposure or marketing on RP yet.  I'm still going to keep my RP shop for other things, but will stick with RL for my artisan things.  

Hope this helps! Dinah

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on December 7, 2011 at 8:43am

Hi Sandy

I think all shops are free till Dec 2012, but your 2nd shop would not be a flagship shop, so would revert to the charges and number of items etc for the non flagship shops after Dec 2012.

Permalink Reply by Graceful Shops on December 7, 2011 at 8:55am

I get most of my traffic to my RP shop but do have alot of items so add at least weekly if not daily. 

I also do see traffic from my RP shop to my RL shop. 

It makes me wonder though if since I had a RL shop under a different name in first few months of 2011 and closed it and had opened as a Flagship in April 2010 and then reopened the RL shop in Aug. 2011 if this is why I get less traffic to my RL shop. Pretty much started all over on RL. 3rd. time but now exclusive. 

Planning on staying put and RP gives me so much more variables to inventory I have. 

New items, vintage items, supplies etc...

Permalink Reply by Capricious Crowns & Jewels on December 7, 2011 at 9:08am

Even though I opened my RP shop Apr 2010 and RL Aug 2011, I get nothing from my RP to RL and they are tied.  I get much more on RL than RP in views, sales, etc.

Looks like we opened the same months LOL.  I don't have any new stuff except for my own artisan jewelry.  My RL shop has antiques and vintage.  It didn't do well on RP when I opened there so I switched to RL and sold much more at same prices and things.

Dinah

Permalink Reply by RC Antiques on December 7, 2011 at 10:11am

This is a really good topic.

I love my Ruby Lane shop, and find my habit is to list there.

Someone flagged a piece of wonderful Sajen jewelry in my Ruby Lane shop the other day.

So, instead of researching to verify it is 20 years old, I listed it in my Ruby Plaza shop instead, so, the flagger just saved me money, LOL.

I just cannot seem to get motivated with my Ruby Plaza shop.

To get traffic to Ruby Plaza, one has to list several times a week...I do feel that is the key...list several times a week in the same lane so you will appear on the main page of the plaza.

I will not give up my Ruby Plaza shop though, even after I have to pay for it.

I love the idea that I can list new items.

Just like the Sajen set, instead of researching to verify my listing, I just pulled it and put it in the Plaza.

I think, due to so many factors, Ruby Plaza will get the attention needed by RL staff, and it will generate more traffic.

They are giving us that listing area free till 2012, so, that means they are still working on the plans for that site.

I cannot understand why one would open a second shop on the Plaza though, unless, you wanted to name it differently to start fresh with a search popular name.

That's my point of view anyway.

Such as, if I were able to start over, I would have my shop's name include vintage, not antiques.

But, thankfully due to hard work through the years, I can be found on the net without too much searching.

Still, I am thinking of creating a new blog eventually, that will relate to vintage to new...when I do, my Ruby Plaza links will be posted there, instead of Ruby Lane links which is on my regular blog.

Best wishes, Linda

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on December 7, 2011 at 10:57am

Sandy, I also get far more traffic (and some months more sales) on my RP shop than RL, and my Google analytics show a lot of referrals from RP to my RL shop

I wouldn't personally want to do a second shop as I like having everything there "under one roof" and that it is all in my flagship shop

Permalink Reply by Graceful Shops on December 7, 2011 at 11:10am

A second shop would possibly bring traffic to both of the existing shops. 

From time to time I see dealers who have several shops on many venues including RL and RP. 

I had vintage and supplies separated at one time at Etsy and vintage clothing seperate from my other vintage on Tias. 

The email confusion is one of my main stall points on this. 

As I am Graceful Shops on FB I think it would be easy to just add the links to my new one there. 

I have an idea but I think possibly separating vintage from new items would be an idea also on RP or supplies/etc. 

I may have to end up doing lots on RP of sewing supplies. Such a tedious task to do small items for me. 

Even after Dec.2012 the monthly charge is a steal IMHO. 

---------

• Monthly Fee: $4.95
• Commission: 4.95%
• Setup Fee: Free
• Listing Fee: Free
• Additional Blocks of Items: Free
• Search Clicks: Optionally Available for a Nominal Fee

-------------

Every time I think of Ruby Plaza I hear in my mind:

Build It and They Will Come out of the Kevin Costner (my dreamboat) movie Field of Dreams. 

For a fairly new site it is huge IMHO. 

Roughly 1050 shops in less than 2 years is extremely impressive IMHO.

Still in Beta also. 

Still ecstatic I was able to be a Charter Shop. 

Permalink Reply by Swanky Selections on December 7, 2011 at 4:06pm

I get very few purchase orders from R.P. and when I do it's usually for my vintage fabric which  doesn't fit anywhere on R.L.  I'm aware that I could generate more traffic if I listed more stock, more often but with all that's going on besides listing, ie measuring, pic taking and descriptions and promoting, posting etc. for Ruby Lane, I just don't have the extra time. Vintage clothing is a hard task master. What with my 2 Facebook pages, posting on others pages, visiting and giving input on TVV, I haven't even got around to reciprocal links yet even though I know how extremely important it is for getting my shop name out there.

I also do 5 shows a year, and am planning in January to work towards using my vintage clothing etc. to help some charities with fund raising. I'm quite over extended but I love it all so wouldn't know which to eliminate except R.P. I've been toying with idea of closing it as I never have anything brand new to sell nor do I want any. On the other hand it is free so far and once in a while I get an order. I realize that I said I don't do much with it so it's not time spent, it's more like "guilty feelings" about neglecting it.

I wish all the best to those who feel able to handle more shops that's commendable. It's free and R.P. allows it so why not. The saying goes that you won't regret what you've done only what you didn't do. I think that's applicable here.---or you won't know until you try.

Oh yes, I should mention that I also have a life, you know, taking the dog to the vet, buying groceries, doing laundry, looking after my grandson, coffee with friends  just to mention a few of other "duties" besides sitting at the computor------don't we all?  I never feel bored and that's a good thing.

 :) Cheers

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Ruby Lane - Carol Augustine on December 7, 2011 at 5:33pm

Here is some info from me as an RL staff member and as 'me' the shopowner of one rl shop and one rp shop.

Ruby Lane

Ruby Plaza has pretty much the same amount of marketing as Ruby Lane. BUT, Ruby Plaza is for new items, so that is what is promoted. I don't know if anyone has noticed but I no longer include vintage items on FB in the groupings I do. This is not going to change. Only new items are featured on the RP home page.

Moving inventory back and forth and back and forth between a Ruby Lane shop and a Ruby Plaza shop is counter productive. If you put an item in one shop then you need to leave it there because it takes time for it to get indexed and show up in a Google search. If it does get picked up and then you move it someone clicking on the link in a Google search will land on a page that says something like 'this item is sold' or 'this item is no longer in the shop'. (I don't really remember what it says, but something along those lines).

Moving an item one time from one shop to the other is fine, but remember there will be a dead link in the one shop, and it will take time for the item to get picked up again under the new url, so in effect you are starting over.

Yes, it is true, adding items is key. Google likes an active shop. Customers like an active shop.  'New arrivals' and 'this weeks arrivals' are very, very popular searches on either site. And, yes, of course we like it, too.

RP is free so that does give you time to position your shop, ie do linking, submit to DMOZ, submit to search engines, do all those things we discussed previously on and off the 'laundry list'. (and, of course, you should be doing all of these things for you RL shop.) It is important that each shop do its part to attract visitors via search engines and shop ranking. Yes, we do marketing for Ruby Lane, a tremendous amount of marketing, but you should do your own as well, especially social marketing. (and Ruby Plaza)

I will be back in a bit to give you my thoughts as a shop owner. I have been super busy today. Carol

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on December 7, 2011 at 5:56pm

thanks Carol....btw not sure if you noticed the comments re DMOZ on the RL threads...but it seems they may no longer be accepting submissions from individual shops on marketplaces?

re moving stuff between RL & RP...I do that sometimes and have actually gotten a few sales from it....I agree not a good idea to do it frequently (for the reasons you mentioned re Google indexing)  but if something has been sitting in my RL shop a while with not many views, it just sometimes sells on RP when moved there and vv

Interested in your view on Sandy's idea of opening a second shop on RP (ie 2 RP shops) with each having different type of inventory?

Permalink Reply by Ruby Lane - Carol Augustine on December 8, 2011 at 12:20am

Hi Cheri,

No I didn't see it, that would shock me. Which thread is it?

Yes, I agree, if something is not selling in one shop then I would move it, too. But, I think once you make the decision to move it then you need to just keep it there. That is my thinking anyway.

Sandy,

Just so I am clear. You mean opening up a 2nd shop on Ruby Plaza. If so, is there a reason other than you have 700 items in one shop. Do you want to sell one particular group of vintages items in each shop. Such as, vintage collectibles in one and vintage fashion in the other one?

This is my opinion as a shop owner who has been on the site since 2001.

At one time I had several shops on Ruby Lane, all of them vintage, except for one, my artisan shop. I had a Book and Postcard shop, Books and Things; my favorite vintage shop, Hand Me Down Vintage, with mostly linens, fabric, my artisan shop, All Things Beautiful, and a couple of others, I can't even remember the names. haha. Back in those days Ruby Lane was structured differently, if you sold antiques, you had to have your shop in the Antique Lane, etc., etc. I am sure Dinah remembers those days, because she had a slew of shops also.  I did this because I thought it would be beneficial and 'look' nice and organized if I grouped specific types of items together under its own shop name label, and because of how RL was structured, you pretty much had too.

I would not do this again, unless I absolutely had to. The reason is the more inventory you have in one shop the better the shop and you can then focus your marketing on one shop, and linking, and others. You can market the like items on various sites, but you send them all to the same URL It makes life so much easier, and you always have inventory to add to get you placement in 'new arrivals' and 'this weeks arrivals'. That is a good thing.

No, I haven't noticed to the discussions about DMOZ lately. I am only aware of the discussion we had awhile back. I will have to look for them.

DMOZ - " it seems they may no longer be accepting submissions from individual shops on marketplaces" --- for whatever reason this rumor gets passed around and around and has for years... it is not a true statement. Nowhere in the submission rules does it state they do not accept marketplace url's.  DMOZ is an open directory. Its purpose is to provide good, reliable content to search users and to organize information on the internet. It is not affiliated with any search engine. Search engines 'feed' off of DMOZ but it is not governed by them. As long as you have a unique URL you can submit your site. If anyone has actually heard back from DMOZ, telling them their RL or RP shop/site has been declined because it is part of a marketplace, I will be shocked. And, even if folks thought it might be remotely true, it certainly wouldn't hurt them in anyway to submit their shop/site url. What's the worst that can happen? Nothing.

I will come back to the 2 shop part of this discussion tomorrow. I am out of steam.

Carol

Permalink Reply by Ruby Lane - Carol Augustine on December 8, 2011 at 12:26am

Just one more thing.

If I had one 'vintage' shop on Ruby Plaza, I would not open another one because the site is marketed as place to buy new items. If you want to open up a second shop to sell 'new' inventory, then yes, that is worth thinking about.

I will look around for the thread I mentioned above where we discussed the in's and out of DMOZ. ... tomorrow.

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