selling postcards to attract buyers

[prflood]

I am just starting to organize  and have put postcards into grouping, and posting a few from my parents collections,but I do not seem to get much traffic in my listings, please any advice on listing would be appreciated. I did have luck with old ford mercury cards, but they are all gone...

[4166mcdonnell]

Here is what has worked for me:

1. DESCRIPTION: I aim for as full description as possible and try to include the publisher's name if known. So, to use a hypothetical example, instead of a simple description like "Restaurant Burlington VT Postcard", I would put more detail such as "Sea Shanty Restaurant Burlington, VT Curteich Postcard". I try to include the publisher in the description as there are collectors who collect according to publisher. For example, my favorite publisher for material from the 1960 through 1970's has always been John Hinde of Dublin (they made postcards for all over the world).
2. CHOICE OF CATEGORY: For a long time I was unable to sell a beautiful postcard that featured a spectacular look-out in the mountains near Salzburg, Austria. I had used the obvious category choice of using the geographical location but no interest was shown. I then changed the category to transportation / automobiles and in the description included the mention of Volkswagen cars and camper at.... . Not only was the card finally bid on, a number of parties started to bid against each other and really put up the price.
3. USE ALL OF THE EBAY DESCRIPTION BREAKDOWNS: Ebay really helps eBay postcard vendors by providing extras such as type of card (e.g. divided, white border, etc.), whether postally used or unused, etc. Potentail buyers search for postcards based on these terms so it is wise to use all the options that eBay provides.
4. IMPORTANT TO USE MORE THAN ONE PHOTO WITH LISTING: Customers have expressed appreciation to me for having shown pictures of both sides of the card and they have also complained about other vendors not doing so. For postally used postcards I usually add a third photo that focuses on the stamp(s) used as well as the postmark, especially if it is a slogan postmark. Some postcard collectors look for postcards with special commemorative stamps or other stamps of interest to them. There are also some collectors who look for interesting slogan postmarks.
5. COMBINED SHIPPING: Because postcards don't weigh very much, it is possible to offer the same shipping rate to cover multiple cards. Because of my generous combined shipping policy, I have regular repeat customers for my postcards.

Hope all of the above proves helpful.

John

[garylk50]

Hello postcard collectors .

I'm not a seller but you ever heard anything about selling your eBay items on Facebook.

You can probably go to Facebook and watch a few videos on connecting your ad are your eBay store to your Facebook page.

If it was me I wouldn't use my personal Facebook page but start a new Facebook page .

I don't know how this would work but it's worth looking into.

                                                                                                                                    Garylk50

                                                                                                                         That's it to next time

[deltilogical]

I think the above poster's comments about postmarks are important. Many people collect postmarks, such as postmarks from post offices that no longer exist or railroad postmarks (they would do the mail processing on the train).  I would recommend lookng at the SOLD auctions also to see if copies of your cards have been sold recently - can give you a price range to start.   If the card has value, it most likely be bid up.  If you have a chrome, state it is a chrome and not a Real Photo (becuase it is not a real photo). 

When searching, for me, its about the topic or location.   There are people who will copy the entire wikipedia text about a location into their auction listing which is ridiculous.   I believe ebay has specific rules about how you can claim the age of the card.  Don't get discouraged!  There are a lot of cards that are just of no interest to anyone anymore.

[deltilogical]

If you want to see how online postcard selling should work, check out delcampe dot net.  The site loads up quickly and doesn't jerk all over the screen.  The settings stick - so it doesn't revert back to "Best Choice" every other search.  The host doesn't hen peck its users at every turn trying to scrape up more revenue for the 1%.

I'm getting tired of dealing with ebay.  First, there is very little new material showing up.  80% is all the same **bleep** being recycled month after month.  How many years will you list a card for $40 that regularly sells for $5, clogging up the searches.  

Second, the search is working really poorly now.  When the page loads up, the pieces twitch all over the place.  Just as when it seems to be done, andI click on something, it jerks and the lick hits something else.  Most of these pieces are useless ads from ebay trying to get me to buy some stupid bracelet or purse.  Eery other time I search, it changes form New to the absurd Best Choice, which I assume are listings that pay a fee to be first in the search results.  ts the only expanation, other than the Best Choice is just stupidest piece of software ever.

All these little annoyances total up.  All these little annoyances are new and additional.  Ebay will efficiencize itself out of existence.

[4166mcdonnell]

I very much agree with testa69og's latest comments about delcampe. For the last month I have been busily swtiching over current stock and new listings from ebay to delcampe so that you will now find hardly any listings by me on ebay. What I especially love at delcampe, in addition to what testa69og already stated, is that their forum is chock full of information on postcards, especially on the French-language postcard forum (I understand French as a second language). There is a contributor, for example, who is a real expert on automobiles and other vehicles - both old and new. It has helped me list a number of cards where I was unsure of what vehicles were shown on the cards. There are other experts there who are able to translate cards in other languages, history experts, etc. I have been experimenting with them on a tiny scale for a couple of years and finally decided this past month to make a wholesale switch.