eBay

arkworkincs · ‎04-12-2024

HI I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE ELSE IS HAVING THIS ISSUE.I USUALLY HAVE 200 OR SO ITEMS LISTED AND USUALLY GET 20 BIDS OR SO WEEKLY, NOW I HAVE HAD 0 BIDS FOR 2 WEEKS NOW.I KNOW ITS THE SLOW TIME BUT NO SALE FROM BIDS FOR 2 WEEK IS FAR FROM NORMAL IN THE 20 PLUS YEARS IVE BEEN ON HERE.ANYONE ELSE SEEING THIS?

mr_lincoln · ‎04-13-2024

@theteamsetguy wrote:
@arkworkincs ,

I have a question for you. Since a great majority of your items only get one bid and sell for your minimum bid amount. Why are you still doing auctions instead of fixed price with buy it now? I have yet to see a good answer from sellers who still use auctions for most of their listings.

The days of listing a 100 items via auction and getting bids for 95 of them on eBay are long gone. Buyers don't want to bid and wait days to see if they win. I rarely do auctions anymore and have plenty of sales with fixed priced with buy it now. Just list at the absolute lowest price you will accept and I bet your sales will increase. Also, for every item you have up for auction I'll bet there are 3 other sellers with the same item listed as buy it now.

Auctions was a novelty in the beginning of eBay until Amazon and other websites came along that offered faster delivery to satisfy buyers who want instant gratification.

@theteamsetguy

I can provide you with at least one good and proven answer to using Auction formats from my own multi-year experience selling. For me it's simple. The starting prices on my auctions are the same as prices I would generate for BIN listings. This is also the advice I give Sellers who get caught taking eBay's advice for starting auctions at 99 cents and wind up being unhappy with what their item sells for. So in my case, if an auction sells on day 7 for one bid it would be the same as a BIN selling 7 days after I list it. The advantage to auctions is that they have the opportunity to bid higher and a certain % of my auctions do that ... and some have gone rather high which makes it well worth using the auction format.

The other advice I give Sellers using auctions is to determine when they should end. Back in 2016 eBay posted the splash page below on sales and ending auctions on weekends, specifically Sundays.

For my categories the end time is not as critical but time of day is. For example knowing who your Buyers are helps there. For example, Pyrex might work best ending during the day for mainly women who shop at that time while hobby stuff for guys might do better ending during evening hours when they are surfing the internet. But in general, weekends have always yielded the most sales.

Doing a quick check on my recent sales since about March 17th over 20 auction items sold for more than one bid.

But to your point, I am not advocating selling EVERYTHING auction format but Sellers have to figure out what "might" sell as well or better Auction style instead of BIN.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

hartungcards · ‎04-13-2024

"A suggestion on what’s wrong and how to correct it "

I'd suggest there's nothing wrong, and nothing to be "corrected" here. As Mr. Powell pointed out, you've had at least a dozen sales in the last week or so with bids on them, which kind of refutes your assertion that you've had "0 bids for 2 weeks now." If you can figure out a way to "correct" the inevitable inconsistencies of retail sales, then by all means, please share with the class.

arkworkincs · ‎04-13-2024

Ok let me state this again those sales were from offers I accepted there were no sales from bids

hartungcards · ‎04-13-2024

A sale is a sale is a sale. I still don't see what the problem is here. I mean, the Union Pacific Cattle Stock Car you sold yesterday had a bid. I guess your drought is over.

dbfolks166mt · ‎04-13-2024

So you only see 12 listings? I currently have 229 listed how did you determine only 12.

Interesting, now I see 222.

pastcache · ‎04-13-2024

Don't 7 day auctions generate more traffic than the same item BIN at 7 days? I find they get an ending soon boost and appear higher up in search results.

stevescho · ‎04-13-2024

I suggest you turn off all caps on anything you write, and in every listing say you allow returns and offer combined shipping. That should improve your feedback and reduce complainers. Many buyers won't touch any seller under 99% positive feedback. Good luck.

rock-obsessions · ‎04-13-2024

I have went over your page to possibly help to achieve a solution.. My assessment is like that of everyone else.. Auctions are a past exploit that has unfortunately left the building.. Also, as another said.. Feedback is super crucial.. The way you are coming back at customers is not going to go over very well these days, with the new customer perspective.. My dad sold on eBay for over 20 years as well and has recently gave it up, due to auction style listings and not want to change with the times. Everyone can be wrong, or you can take constructive criticism and move forward or you will sink..

Good Luck

mr_lincoln · ‎04-14-2024

@pastcache wrote:
Don't 7 day auctions generate more traffic than the same item BIN at 7 days? I find they get an ending soon boost and appear higher up in search results.

@pastcache

That is possible, I just know that since they changed the way Views are counted sales on my BIN items have fallen off drastically. In my categories nobody seems to be in a big rush to get their items so waiting for an Auction to end is not a big deal.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

movieman630 · ‎04-14-2024

My Grandfather loved trains. I hate to say it but the popularity of the "model train" has suffered in recent years. My Grandfather passed away in 2015 and with him the last person to collect anything train related in my family.

In my humble opinion you're too heavily focused on an over saturated category with a dwindling customer base.

Years ago my Mother had a dollhouse shop. She sold a lot of high end doll house furniture and accessories. But after the hobby started losing interest her business started to suffer. I told her back then, start expanding into becoming a hobby shop instead of just focused on dollhouses. She didn't, and her business had to close a couple years later.

Evolve or close. Is the sad reality in business. My advice is to expand into other kinds of items. Bundle non-sellers into lots and auction them off.

movieman630 · ‎04-14-2024

@rugerskick wrote:
Hi,

People may not be collecting train items as much as they used to. They may not be spending as much on non-vital items.

Being almost all train items you've got a narrower segment of potential buyers.

Also most if not all your listings are auction style. It may have worked better for you in the past, its not as popular as it once was.

You bring up a good point. I rarely bid on auctions anymore. It has to be something I REALLY want for me to bid and I'll bid right up to the last second. But anymore I get discouraged on lots or items that I may have clicked the BIN button on if they don't offer that and it's auction style. ESPECIALLY with shipping calculated. I just won't do it. It's not worth my time to "be there" when it ends to make sure I get it.

I say at the very least start your auction listings with a BIN or BO option. Give someone the chance to just buy it and forget it. I don't want to have to set an alarm to come back and bid on something at 2 AM when it's just a "meh" kind of purchase.