HugeNerd - 10:12 pm on Jun 4, 2009 (gmt 0)

I recently took my AdWords budget for my main e-com site down from about $500 to $750 per day (down from almost $1,000/day 2 years ago) all the way down to $150/day max. Sales suffered, of course, but not nearly by the percentage which I cut my ad spend. Granted, I am operating in an industry where the manufacturers absolutely dominate the first couple of pages of natural results and a few very, very big, very well known companies (i.e. (B)Lowes and Home De(s)pot..couldn't resist) and their various e-com operations, of which they have many, invest heavily in AdWords -- though they, too, are cutting back. Long and short is that I'm still around and still making money after cutting the cord, so to speak. I'm not completely weened off AdWords yet, but I'm now a functioning addict...

I'd suggest you investigate Amazon. I've been selling through their portal since December and am quite happy. With Amazon, their fee is a flat rate and is taken out as a percentage of each sale, so my ROI is determined by only two factors: how much time I spend adding product/writing descriptions and the sales price I set. Amazon takes care of all the advertising...simple, straightforward, easy math for me! I also gained access to customer base which previously didn't even consider me a viable option. Amazon has more than made up for the sales I've "lost" since cutting my AdWords budget.