Disapointed as a member for several years

[garswogge-0]

sold alot in the past years so far this year has flat lined after paying all promotions doing everything that i could do paying out $$$$ with no return on investments at all looking at other avenues to open my store 

[hartungcards]

$2-$4 items with $8-$10 shipping tend to be slow moving items.  Not to mention not very profitable.

[fashunu4eeuh]

I see in your Completed listings that you have made 69 sales in the last 3 months.

And while that is great, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

It looks like you did some deep discount sales at 50-75% off. In addition, many of your items were priced modestly, with quite a number of transactions under $10.

In stark contrast to sales pricing,  some shipping costs seemed high in comparison. Lower-value goods with high shipping costs can be a touchy combination. Some shoppers will invariably hit the back button.

Where profit is concerned, not everything is a good fit to sell on eBay. Were you using the micro payments program with PayPal before the big  change to Managed Payments? That was a nice perk for sellers with goods priced below $10. But it is getting harder to turn a profit with inflation and shipping costs hitting sellers with a double whammy.

As you state you are not making enough to warrant remaining here, perhaps adding a higher-priced inventory could satisfy some of your profit needs. Whatever choice you make, wish you much prosperity and good fortune.

[pls-consignments]

I just comped a couple of your items. It does appear that you're overall pricing is on the high side. Unfortunately, we are dealing with an unusual amount internal and external challenges that now require competitive pricing. Yet, that will be dependent on what you'll need for your margins in order to compete. 

Also, it may be time to give additional attention to your photos. They all appear to be on the dark and dull side. Once I made these adjustments, things leveled out for me. Hopefully that will be the case with you.  😉

[mordecai8614]

@garswogge-0 

Having reasonable shipping might help a little. $8.30 for pins, patches, coins that cant weigh more than a couple ounces seems like a ripoff. There's also no reason a cheap children's book should cost $12.97 to ship. If I was a potential buyer, this would be a huge turnoff

[luckythewinner]

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@garswogge-0 wrote:

sold alot in the past years so far this year has flat lined after paying all promotions doing everything that i could do paying out $$$$ with no return on investments at all looking at other avenues to open my store 

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Most vinyl LPs ship by media mail anywhere in the USA for $4.13. Charging $10.80 to ship an LP will turn off anyone who buys vinyl on eBay.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

I see nothing you have listed or sold in the past 90 days to be what I would call a hot seller.

You have under 1k listings active and have made what I think to be a reasonable number of sales based on demand for your items and number listed.

You might sell more if you lowered your prices, but also might not because of the large number of similar items on the site. Many buyers look at their total cost for an item so your high shipping costs may not be hurting if your item prices are low.

Seeing a drop after years of selling is not uncommon. Your current offers might not be as attractive as past offers. Your past customers who were beginning collectors may be advanced collectors and you might not have anything to offer them that they do not have or do not want.

I sell low demand items. I deal with the low demand by making more items available. For logistics reasons, I am listing less than I should, and seeing a sales drop under current conditions.

I am listing about half of the 10k items it would take for me to level my sales, so it is feast or famine,

Competition is tough. The number of buyers who have limited budgets for such item is also high.

[mordecai8614]

Many buyers look at their total cost for an item so your high shipping costs may not be hurting if your item prices are low.

Sure. And for an item that a buyer really wants that is true. But for buyers who are on the fence & thinking it over, $20 + free ship looks a lot better than $7 +$13 shipping on a 6 ounce book that ships for about $4 media mail. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I see a shipping price that is twice, or even 3x, higher than the actual rate, even if the total price is reasonable. There's a lot of psychology that goes into pricing. You want to entice, not offend. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@mordecai8614 wrote:

Many buyers look at their total cost for an item so your high shipping costs may not be hurting if your item prices are low.

Sure. And for an item that a buyer really wants that is true. But for buyers who are on the fence & thinking it over, $20 + free ship looks a lot better than $7 +$13 shipping on a 6 ounce book that ships for about $4 media mail. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I see a shipping price that is twice, or even 3x, higher than the actual rate, even if the total price is reasonable. There's a lot of psychology that goes into pricing. You want to entice, not offend. 

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You are right about that, but how many of the OPs items does anyone really want? If his is in better condition than other offers, or cheaper than other offers, the total price is probably all that matters IF the buyer can do arithmetic.

IMO the issue is the products, not the listings.

[mordecai8614]

IMO the issue is the products, not the listings.

@tobaccocardyahoo 

I agree, that should be OPs first priority. For some people though, finding new markets & better stuff can be a big ask. In the meantime, something as simple as changing the shipping costs from "high" to "normal" could help & I feel is just better business practice anyway. You're right though, the inventory is the bigger problem

[yuzuha]

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@mordecai8614 wrote:

Having reasonable shipping might help a little. $8.30 for pins, patches, coins that cant weigh more than a couple ounces seems like a ripoff. There's also no reason a cheap children's book should cost $12.97 to ship. If I was a potential buyer, this would be a huge turnoff

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Agreed. I ship lightweight items like that all the time and even if you put them in a small box, they won't weigh more than 4 oz. That's $3-something if you're passing along the eBay discount and around $5 if you aren't.