Are "Variations" for trading cards worth it?

[diliber1]

I've been creating individual listings for all of my individual trading cards and I use the bulk import feature to create those listings. 

I'm curious to hear what other people's experiences are with the "Variations" feature (both Good and Bad):

1. Does it rank higher in search results? Some of the top sellers out there use variations
2. Is it easy to setup a lot of new cards (i.e. via a Bulk Import)?
3. Is it hard to track different features like Reverse Holo, Cosmos Holo?
4. Do fees change? 
5. Does each variation count towards your seller limits?
6. Are there limitations (i.e. with the Mobile App)?

I am open to all feedback!

[bashort]

I do not know anything about what you sell but as a buyer I like variations for some related items.

I think they are good if you have multiples of everything listed and can keep everything in stock, that listing can then be a "go to" for repeat buyers.

In my opinion if you can not keep most everything in stock or just have one of each I would not bother

[diliber1]

I really appreciate the reply! As you can see with my sample questions, I've overlooked questions regarding "what buyers are looking for" 🙂

[turtles-trading-post]

I sell first day covers to stamp collectors.  For some reason we don't have the option of variations in our category.   I'd love to have it.

I can have 5 first day covers for a specific stamp issue.  One has no address on it.  Three have different nicely typed addresses and one has an Airmail sticker on it.   That's 5 different faces.   Right now, that's 5 individual listings, and I fear that when buyers go through my store they will tire of seeing the same thing pop up over and over.

I cannot put the 5 photos in one listing and tell the buyer to "pick 1".  First it's against eBay policy. Second buyers will screw that up.  There will be the guy who doesn't read, and thinks he's getting all 5 items pictured.   I've even tried to list the 3 with different addresses in one listing with one picture, with text stating  "address typed may vary".  Then I get replies, "That isn't the one in the photo!"

[kensgiftshop]

Since cards are different items, not variations of the same item, I think it's abusing the variation option.

[bashort]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

Since cards are different items, not variations of the same item, I think it's abusing the variation option.

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what do you base this on?

[thelongball]

Variations in cards have existed for a 100 years. But just not all cards have them other than the new stuff. A variation is a basic card that comes in multiple ways. Today's cards are made in the base of course, but then with the advent of numbered cards they come in a multiple of different colors and names. When listing a card that has variations available, you have to spell out which one your selling, as it can determine the value that is there. Nothing about variations is abused in cards as its a necessary feature in many instances. The key is you better list it as the correct one that it is or you end up with a INAD.  With the older cards there are things like example being issued with a copyright line or without. Correct players statistics or a error version with wrong stats. For card sellers this all comes down to how much knowledge the seller or collector has. New sellers in the card industry tend not to know about older card variations sometimes when listing. They sometimes list a valuable card using the common cards price point. Thats were the Sharks jump out of the water to take advantage of those with less knowledge. The same happens the other way a lot also. Then someone is trying to sell something as rare when it's really not. Card selling isn't a child's game anymore and those that know what they are doing can be very successful at it. It just takes making a lot of mistakes to learn though. 

[diliber1]

I am seeing in some instances, when searching and sorting by lowest price, the variation listings appear first, since the lowest cost variation is bumping it to the top.

[onefootflippers]

Variation listing trading cards is one of the biggest mistakes you can ever make. 

You will be making a listing that takes ages to make, is very difficult to update and that buyers do not want to click on. Most savvy buyers won't click on variation listings due to them not having what they are looking for at a reasonable price 95 percent of the time).

Finally you will be in competition with 50 other people also trying to sell the same worthless base set cards for near nothing all of them hoping and praying someone will buy multiple cards at once to make actually pulling them worth it.

You will make more money throwing those worthless base common cards in the trash and concentrating on cards of actual value.

If they aren't base cards then they should not be in a variation listing.

[kensgiftshop]

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@bashort wrote:

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

Since cards are different items, not variations of the same item, I think it's abusing the variation option.

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what do you base this on?

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Common sense....

[inhawaii]

My opinion...

Variations listings are not for selling 100 different cards, they are if you are selling 100 shirts, 25 red, 25 blue, 25 green, 25 whIte.

[onefootflippers]

I looked at your store original poster. 

I promise you what you are doing is not worth the time it takes to do it.  

On those 1.30 shipped cards you clear 10 cents after expenses and that is putting the expense of the card at zero. Can you source, list, file, pull, package and ship 200 of those per hour?  If you can't do that process in 18 seconds then you can't make $20 an hour doing it. If you can't do it in 36 seconds then you can't make $10 an hour doing it.  Every refund will put you back even further and low dollar pokemon customers love making claims. 

My other account is a huge all card store and I figured out the minimum price worth pulling and shipping is $2.83 shipped. That isn't sourcing, or listing or any of that, that is just pulling and shipping. I  no longer list any cards in that store. I just ship them. 

I know what you are going to try to tell me, you are going to say that your customers all buy multiple cards. I know that isn't true, I sell the same exact cards and 95 percent of my customers don't even notice when I have a buy 1 get 1 free sale and still only order 1 card. Every once in a while I get a whale who will order exactly enough to force me to ship their order as a package and even that is no picnic as it takes a long time to pull and double check a 30 card order.

My ebay profits doubled in one month after I stopped listing cheap cards and started listing literally anything else I could get my hands on.

[1786davycrockett]

@diliber1 

Don't get me started on the '89 Fleer Billy Ripkin. . ..

[onefootflippers]

I love this thread. Original poster having been given the useful information that they are only clearing 10 cents on those cards they are selling for $1.30 shipped has responded by putting some cards up even cheaper than that. 

[diliber1]

Thank you for sharing. I do sincerely welcome feedback. I certainly started of with selling base cards in the early days but have stopped listing them to focus on Holos/Reverse Holos.  Next, I will focus more on higher-end (Graded) cards, but I don't think there is anything wrong with starting small. 

I just never cleaned those up. Those cheaper cards were removed today. I forgot they were even there and you only focused on a handful of cards while I had 2,900 different listings. I'm guessing when you looked at my store the other day, I had a promotion already scheduled to get rid of items, and you may have gotten notified that the $1.30 cards dropped more in price. Honestly, nobody buys those so I didn't care to touch them. 

Keep the feedback coming! I definitely do appreciate it.