If sellers found eBay's limitations on self-promotion a hindrance, they may embrace a new ecommerce site that actually encourages it. netSpray enables users to sell their own and others' items as a transportable ad widget on blogs, social networking sites, classifieds, and other places in cyberspace they call home. netSpray.com also has a marketplace where users can browse and buy the items for sale, and choose products to sell as affiliates.
In fact, netSpray was born from frustration with other ecommerce sites. One of the founders tried to sell items on multiple sites, only to find that he had to manage each individually, and had no way to centrally manage or know the status of the listings, according to President and CEO Ray Wolf.
"He was very concerned about overselling and not being able to deliver, given the importance of feedback ratings and the like. He knew to increase the likelihood of success he had to go out to multiple venues to engage their unique followers - some folks utilize Craigslist, others eBay, others local forums," said Wolf. He said online sellers, whether individuals, small businesses or large enterprises, are looking for a better way to engage their potential customers where they aggregate and spend time on the Web.
Wolf describes the netSpray model as going to where the customers are versus practicing a "find me" strategy, and says there is a "three to five times improvement in sales conversions vs. the "find me" strategy at a fraction of the cost."
"I have the same feeling about netSpray that I had about eBay when they first started," said online seller Mark Atomanczyk, who lists a variety of items such as walking sticks, clothing and games on his site. "They could be really big." Atomanczyk has listed about 100 items on the netSpray.com site, and uses it on his own website instead of a shopping cart.
He says he especially likes netSpray's affiliate program. "I have sold other people's items, and made commissions. I also use netSpray to list on Craigslist and Google Base, as well as putting the widget into all of my emails."
netSpray also gives small sellers an easy solution to having other people sell their items on an commission basis, although at this time it isn't a substitute for those looking for a full-featured affiliate program with a large, established base of affiliates.
Selling on netSpray
To sell an item via netSpray, users can simply create a listing via the site's "Sell" tab. They can also browse the marketplace by clicking the "Buy" tab from the homepage to locate items they may want to sell as an affiliate. They click "Sell This" from the item's listing and choose a method to post the item to their own website, blog, or a variety of social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter.
netSpray's basic "Seller Plus" service, offering unlimited ad listings, is free to use; users pay $19.95 for the more advanced "Seller Advantage" features, which includes the ability to change your item's price and quantity, and to view ad clicks.
Sarah, a vintage clothing dealer on eBay for seven years, says, "I have recently made a handful of listings on netSpray to try it out, and just had my first two completed sales last week. Everything went smoothly and I do like the ease of the site." For those sales, Sarah used a widget in a Craigslist ad for the item she wanted to sell, and the buyer used the widget to purchase it instantly online.
"I haven't tried to sell any products as an affiliate, but have been exploring the possibility of starting a blog around vintage/antiques and using netSpray widgets for my own items and others in that," she said.
Enough other people are trying out netSpray that the service is growing "at the rate we expect," and the number of users is now in the thousands, says Wolf. "Our metrics are showing that the number of widgets is growing, and more importantly, the views and click-thrus are growing at an even faster rate," he said.
Wolf says the company is intentionally managing expectations, and wants to build out the site based upon how online merchants can benefit most. "Folks need a way of leveling the playing field these days,...that is, access to tools that traditionally were only available to large organizations for many dollars."
More Features on the Way
Looking forward, an ad importer is on the horizon for netSpray sellers, which users requested. "One of the things that is core to our business is listening to our users," said Wolf. There will also be a netSpray University. "This is the educational arm of our business - training people how to use our applications and services, passing along best practices. One of the most exciting features will be our faculty: like universities, we have a program to attract the latest thought leaders and host their education components on our site for our users to benefit from," he said.
Meantime, it's likely that netSpray's use will grow organically with social networking. While nothing is set in stone in the Internet world, netSpray's model allows users to, in essence, take a virtual briefcase of their products with them wherever they are hanging out.
"What we know is that social media is growing and so is the number of sites," says Wolf. "People are spending more time at these sites searching for products and services than any other place on the Web. NetSpray's patent-pending application has the ability to go wherever the new sites pop-up…wherever clients aggregate. We can stay ahead of the curve for all online sellers. Few social ad marketers can say that."
More information about selling on netSpray is found here.
