ONE OF A KIND SELLERS - What can we do that will help us compete?

[vintageista]

I am basically a OAK seller, do not purchase in bulk, almost never have even 2 of the same item. For quite awhile now eBay has been concentrating on sellers who have multiple NEW items, so that sellers like myself are the dinosaurs of the site!

I do not have the capital, nor the space to store bulk buys. Personally, I find no creativity in selecting wholesale items and attempting to sell lots of the same thing, the first ones may sell well, but when someone jumps in and undercuts you in price, or the next best thing comes along, you will probably eat the rest, at least that has been my experience the few times I have tried it in the past!

Is there anyone here, that may also be an OAK seller found any successful tips they would care to share that can be helpful to other seller's in this position. I've been here a long-time (20 years) and tried to weather all the changes, not doing as well as times past, but surviving. If things get any worse, I can't survive much longer, this is the worse November I have ever had, started about Oct 15 and still happening!

Management at eBay seems to largely favor seller's of NEW & MULTIPLE items at the expense of OAK sellers, everything in their algorithms is set up to favor that kind of seller, are there any ways we can gain even a tiny advantage in this environment?

[abfabvintage]

And my comment about "helpful" does not negate those on this thread who are and trying to be positive and  helpful. My bad. 

[tunicaslot]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

PowerBuyer here and totally agree on the search. it's borked. There is no intelligence in randomly narrowing categories and not telling buyers. There is no intelligence in only showing some items and not showing others that totally match the search terms.

The reality is that most Ebay sales are likely commodity items in bloated categories. You could be a five year old and find an iPhone case (although it could be counterfeit). It's the rare vintage floral tablecloth in the thousands of average floral vintage tablecloths that are hard to find.

If search is so great why do we now have so many cancelled orders and so many buyers who come here to complain that Ebay didnt' show them the better options until after they checked out?

Anyone who says Ebay's search system is functional cannot possibly buy much here.

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I don't like the search since AI has been introduced - but I'm finding the same problem over on etsy. I do a search for a clothing piece and the results show crystals and bath soaps that contain one of the words in the title. I have to filter and choosing clothing isn't even an option - until I click more options.

Sometimes technology isn't all it's cracked up to be. I have a GPS that supposedly you can just speak the address too instead of punching in the address. We've tried it a few times - the results are so maddening - it's hysterical - much easier and quicker just to punch in the address. We'd never leave the driveway if I had to wait for the GPS to understand us! 

[emerald40]

The other E has one of the worst searches I have ever seen.

You cannot filter out words so if you search diamonds,you get all the moissanite and cz.  At least here you can filter words out.

Also the search goes back to the default each and every time, so you have to keep putting in your search parameters.

[goodluckselling]

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@mybuyingside wrote:

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Yet eBay completes more than One Billion transactions daily worldwide and more than 95 Million active users.  Click here to read the article

Good Luck Selling!

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We've covered this article and your misunderstanding of it before, yet you are misquoting it again.

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I have not misquoted anything.  I used the data right from the article.  It says it in the third paragraph.

I usually include links when I make a claim.  In this case it is a third party article that just happened to include some data we would not have access to.

If you can prove the article wrong, then go for it but please quit making false accusations against my user name.  It feels like you are stalking me?

Good Luck Selling!

[tunicaslot]

Thanks moo - it's suppose to be a compliment when someone copies you - so I'll look at it that way - although I do always try to give credit when credit is due should I repeat something I've learned from someone else.

Here I've been feeling bad as I was asked to join another selling group devoted to helping sellers with sales on all the venues and haven't had time to post here. But it looks like it's covered - at least for now. Loosing so many good posters lately who have experience may cause issues in the future but I'm sure things will work out. 

I'll be on briefly to answer any questions I can - but it's alot nicer helping people who want help and aren't fighting you all the time.

If I don't get the chance - everyone have a wonderful holiday - and let's pray the Holiday sales are good!

[goodluckselling]

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@fern*wood wrote:

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@coolections wrote:

@fern*wood

Posters just let the OP know that her items are not one of a kind as her title suggested. Maybe she did not intend it to read that way but people are taking to way too serious. She'll be back with another no sales topic later.

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Actually her title reads "one of a kind seller" and aren't we all that in reality...

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Actually it says "ONE OF A KIND SELLERS (plural)  What can we do that will help us compete.

Which reads to me that many sellers like myself sell one of a kind items.

Good Luck Selling!

[moo*cow*corner]

I get so tired of seeing search results that are nothing even remotely close to what I was asking to see.

The catalog in my category is so screwed up it's downright pathetic.

My home address has to be formatted very carefully, or the PO kicks it back, and some days I think it's a minor miracle that I get my mail at all. My only saving grace is that I'm an ebay seller and I've got my carrier very well trained. She's actually drawn maps for the new subs so they can find me for carrier pickups!

[fuzzyfurball]

"I have read about clothing sellers diversifying and putting effort into following vloggers and generally putting more and different efforts into what they were doing~staying abreast of trends and what is selling and what is not, moving stale inventory out,  and they have increased their business significantly so it can be done.  "

You know, I really like the vintage look, but alas, like the rest of the US population, I'm a plus size.  If there were daring clothing entrepreneurs who could produce the "vintage" looks in the newest more durable and stretchy materials of spandex and such with the plus sizes especially at  affordable costs, I think they might find a new category of customer.

[livadia]

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@emerald40 wrote:

The other E has one of the worst searches I have ever seen.

You cannot filter out words so if you search diamonds,you get all the moissanite and cz.  At least here you can filter words out.

Also the search goes back to the default each and every time, so you have to keep putting in your search parameters.

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Put a minus sign (-) directly in front of the word/term you don't want to appear in search results and they won't.

[tunicaslot]

Looking at your store - you are doing better than most. An average Ebay seller sells 1% of their listings a day. If you have 400 items listed - you should sell 4. Most of us sell less than 1% a day. 

You have about a 30% sell thru rate a month - that's awesome as many other are running at 10% or 20% if they are lucky. You have to realize the past 10 yrs have been really tough with the influx of all the foreign goods - the changes not only Ebay but all the venues have made. Few - especially clothing sellers will ever see a 50% sell thru rate for used clothes let alone 100%. I realize you want to make more - but you don't really realize how good you really have it when compared to many others I know.

[div_style]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

@vintageista

Using OOAK for used clothing is trickery and especially for brand named used clothing.  Only having one of an item does not make it one of a kind and this is probably why buyers of your items do not trust your listing enough to buy them.

Good Luck Selling!

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OP does not use OOAK in her listings, nor does she imply her items are rare in her listings.  None of what you have said about her is even remotely relevant.

[goodluckselling]

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@div_style wrote:

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OP does not use OOAK in her listings, nor does she imply her items are rare in her listings.  None of what you have said about her is even remotely relevant.

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Read the thread title  - 

ONE OF A KIND SELLERS - What can we do that will help us compete?

Good Luck Selling!

[vintagecraze50]

Best way to get sales is to add new listings  daily as much as possible. Also, high volume of items. That's the only thing I know at this point to really help. Perhaps two for one discounts and other marketing strategies. 

[emerald40]

Posters are responding based on the verbage in her title only.  Many do not go to a person's actual listings.

If that is not what she actually meant, so be it, let her come and qualify her statment.

But then the whole premise of her thread is confusing because many of us sell only one item per listing.  And I wonder if we outnumber multiple listers. 

I know that I as a buyer do not care if you have one or 100 of a common item, if it suits my needs.  So imo her qustion is confusing as to why she thinks there is a competition between single and miltiple item sellers that would put the former at a disadvantage.  Unless she is talking price and that sellers  may be able to aquire them  at a discount and pass on the savings to a  buyer.

[vintagecraze50]

Yep, that's pretty darn good for online. we sell 80 to 90 per 31 day period current active about 500 something. Our stuff has a lower than avg sell through because it is somewhat expensive.