Auctions Suck

[debvor]

Lately my auction activitey has sucked. I have auctions that have anywhere from 50 to 200 view with multiple watchers and no sales. Also, most of the items that are bid on (and that is very few) don't go up but the first bidder wins the auction even with scores of views and multiple watchers. Is Ebay manipulating this? Is there a glitch that no one knows about? Something just isn't right. 

[lovefindingtreasures2]

Alas, the CEO of eBay announced sometime I believe this year that CHINA is the direction they are heading. They want MORE Chinese massive sellers, they make eBay a huge amount of money. Probably more money now than their US sellers combined. Anyone know?

There are categories I used to sell in and do very, very well. Now I cannot be seen because of the mass of Chinese dealers with same products. I had to stop selling certain lines of items, no visibility, no way of getting any.

This is affecting a lot of categories, the sheer volume of Chinese merchants in the same categories, who can sell for pennies on the dollar compared to us and ship for near nothing. US sellers can't even begin to compete with them, the shipping kills us.

[lovefindingtreasures2]

Depends on what you are selling. I just had an auction close at near $50 on my other account, best sale I have had on eBay in MONTHS!! Buyer paid within a minute too.

Auctions are still very useful, for the right items. Just don't start them low, you are likely to sell it for .99c that way.

[mr_lincoln]

@lovefindingtreasures2  wrote: " ... My pricing has gotten SO LOW in an attempt to make a sale here on eBay, my items were underpriced on the other platform. Listing them at a higher price and they sell right away, tells me my price was too low. eBay has TRAINED me to expect nothing for my items, to not believe in my items, to expect NOTHING. ..."

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That is where I think people make their biggest mistake selling on eBay - and that is racing to the bottom of the price ladder just to make a sale.   And you are right, it is what eBay tried to condition sellers in their thinking. One poster's signature here on the The Community says, if it doesn't sell raise the price.  It works ... I've quite a number of posts on the Community where Sellers say "I have the lowest price and it still doesn't sell but others do"  well, guess what, time to raise your price.

One model I find that works well is acquiring inventory in lots that can be broken down in to numerous listings.  The price structure is such that only a few (and in quite a few cases ONE) sales cover the lot cost and all sales after that are pure profit.  After a time, as things slow down on the remaining items in that lot they get grouped in to one larger lot and if they don't sell after that its off to the local box lot auction for a few more bucks to add to the profit ... painless to be honest.

[cs497kcpope]

(its-all-in-the-details-xo) You are so wrong! I have tried both! And my auctions do better than fixed price. I think that I sold about two items in the last 6 months with the fixed price! I would not have any sells if I didn't have my auctions!! But I do list them for the amount that I need to get for my items. Although .99 cent auctions are a thing of the past.

[lovefindingtreasures2]

I tried the selling at a higher price, never worked for me. I think I have tried most of the ideas people have had work for them.

One lady said every time she got a new watcher, she raised the price and item sold. I tried that, nothing.

I won't list all the things I tried, but I've tried most of them suggested here that sounded plausible.

I now do exactly what you wrote above. I acquire inventory, pull out the ones I think will sell for decent profit, get them sold (though lately, not on here), then put some of the others up piece by piece until interest seems to die down.

I then make small, either wholesale lots of same or mixed lots and first put them in auction at a price I would be good with. Then any unsold wholesale lots go BIN. After that, I make a big mixed auction lot of them and auction off a big or huge lot. Those get sales, and that's what went for nearly $50 last night plus $12 in shipping.

It's slow but it works.

[iart]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

... they are able to get a couple dollars cheaper than our base price because they are NOT following eBay's recommendations, and they shoot up to the top of the search simply bc their base price is lower??

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Yes. Yup. Uh-huh. Absolutely.

I'm surprised this hasn't been more obvious for awhile. If in doubt, simply check the Growth recommendation ebay offers.

[mr_lincoln]

@lovefindingtreasures2wrote: " ... It's slow but it works." 

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Exactly, I've tried things others have suggested and they don't work for what I sell.  Its a process and to minimize unecessry piles of stuff that doesn't move they get their day in the sun and if they don't shine they go elsewhere.  Different categories come with different Buyers and for each there's a success formula but often it requires trial and error.

Late last year I did a Promoted Listing Campaign for every single Fixed Price item I had for sale at a modest % and ran it for 30 days ... for lower volume categories one does not need to max out the PL % ... eBay was giving $ 30 free credit so that was using house money, it worked out well.   It was done again early this year with similar results.

[clothesusa]

To Whom it May Concern:

I registered with eBay December 1996 (Before their stock went public) I have seen many changes in eBay. Some have been good, and some have really been bad. Ebay used to be really fun but it is a real job now because of all the silly rules they keep adding. eBay has really changed with dis-respect to the Sellers who are the lifeblood for all sales. Without Sellers there would be no eBay. It seems like eBay leans more to the Buyers and they don't seem to stick up for the Sellers. The Feedback changes have greatly changed eBays thinking. The buyer can leave Negative feedback and the Seller cannot. This policy by itself is why many Sellers have left eBay for other Internet Sales. Also a big reason for the sales slump is because of the increase in shipping costs. By the time a buyer buys an item and pays for the high cost of shipping the product is not a good deal. eBay is still a good marketplace but because of all the changes there are other internet sales avenues to follow. You need to shop around.

Leo, clothesusa in Boise, Idaho.

[jewelburrito]

Absolutely. When I buy on ebay, I always filter to "US only." I don't know why anyone even wants to buy from China. Seems as though eBay wants to compete with Wal*Mart.

[jewelburrito]

Yes. This. I always start a listing off as an auction and run them that way at least twice before switching to a fixed price listing.

[jewelburrito]

I've stopped buying on Amazon except for ebooks. The "fulfilled by Amazon" merchandise is simply not worth it because it's either junk made in China or old merchandise bought at retail arbitrage prices and resold towards the end of its shelf life. I wish eBay would go back to emphasizing collectibles instead of fungible items because like you said "be like Amazon" is a losing approach.

[nc-daydreamer]

Personally, I don't buy from auctions unless there is NO other choice.  Most of the time, I won't even look at an item unless it is BIN. I don't like the wait, the haggle or the risk of  losing. I buy something, I want it yesterday, not in a week after everyone else looks at it too.

[weaselsrule!]

Interesting that your sales were fine until about April then they fell off.  I have found the same over the years and I would say that it has more to do with people not being stuck in the house in the winter months and spending time looking for items as opposed to springtime + where people are out doing things.  Typically buyers return in September/October and hang around until at least March. So here's to better days ahead. Good luck.

[debvor]

Sales always have a downturn in the summer but this was something entirely different and from what I am reading there are hundreds of thousands of sellers experiencing the same thing. Oh and here it is in October and sales have not recovered. 

[newmonter]

"Best Match"  sucks. It is killing views and sales. You are not alone everyone is screaming. This cannot be helping eBays bottom line either.  Items should appear as are listed they that way we all get a fair shot.  I cannot imagine why eBay thinks that this is good for anyone, but what can we do? I wish we could petition some sympathetic billionaire to set up a new site for disaffected small sellers. Oh and buy the way Best Match isn't helping buy it now listings either.