Half of my listings have zero views :( What to do?
Summary: In a discussion about how to address the issue of eBay listings receiving zero views, several participants suggest different strategies. zztop11 opens the conversation, and others, like rosachs, discuss the importance of relisting stale items and adjusting prices to remain competitive. dhbookds highlights the necessity of researching prices and optimizing listings for better search exposure. dam_764221 suggests that zero views might be due to poor search visibility rather than pricing, recommending improvements in title usage and item specifics. Overall, participants exchange ideas on enhancing listing visibility to attract more views.
I have about 610 listings and half of them have zero views. Some items have been listed for several years. Is there anything I should be doing to get these items moving? I have lowered the price. Should I continue to keep lowering the price?
dam_764221
·3 months agoZero views is a search problem, not a price problem. Your titles are probably using half of the 80 characters eBay gives you, and missing item specifics. That's what buries you on Cassini.
I stopped fixing mine by hand, I batch them now and it takes seconds per listing. Paste one of your titles and I'll show you what a fully optimized one looks like.
mypalrocco
·2 years agoI don't think your prices look especially high and you're offering free shipping on much of it so I don't know how much lower you could go before your efforts become little more than charity. eBay is playing games with peoples livelihoods with all the stupid stuff they're doing like hiding search results or flooding search results with completely unrelated items unless you use quotes around keywords, something most people don't realize they have to do now because it wasn't necessary before. I think the lousy economy (in spite of what the White House says) is also not helping matters but chiefly, this is eBay causing the problems.
I use a different account for selling now but I ecently and reluctantly (I hate feeling like I'm being bullied into doing something) decided to try using "promoted" listings. And while it hasn't generated any sales yet, I did notice a decent uptick on the amount of views I've had for the months prior on the couple items I promoted. To me, that tells me that they're manipulating views, and us.
mbub253
·2 years agoYour prices look fine to me.
dhbookds
·2 years agoDid you research any of your prices? New Light thingy with pods is about $35-45/free ship.......yours, used, about $35 +13 shipping to me. Your Harry Potter set about double of others.....
rosachs
·2 years agoThat's why old, stale listings need to be ended and relisted as new... pricing gets out of whack, keywords change, and Best Match placement/exposure is affected by both.
-Bob.
gamersbaystore
·2 years agoEnd the listings and relist using sell similar, and maybe update item specifics and descriptions while you're at it. The longer an item sits, the more ebay will bury it and hide it from potential buyers.
The reality is we're all at the mercy of ebay's algorithms, and ebay just isnt going to give you views on everything anymore.
I too have hundreds upon hundreds of listings that haven't had a view in months, some never a single view at all.
The only way to get more views is to give everything away practically for free, that's what ebay wants us all to do. If you offer out of this world prices, ebay will magically surface your listings to potential buyers.
rosachs
·2 years agoI've been considering this for a long time, and while eBay's primary advice is to lower prices, I don't think they realize (you would be astonished at how little some C-suites truly understand about the business they run) that constantly lowering prices only reduces the commission eBay earns. Even the paid promotional services are based on a percentage of sale price.... so the lower the price, the lower the commission.
Personally, I think eBay should spend more effort on grabbing eyeballs and engaging buyers, good buyers, PAYING buyers, and less on all the fee-based side shows. Raising engagement, bringing more buyers to the site, will not only bring back buyer revenue, it will also bump up eBay's revenue.
Buy hey, I'm just part of the 'noise', as one C-suite stuffed shirt once said. THAT attitude, especially at that level, should be grounds for immediate termination... WITHOUT your parachute, regardless of it's color. If you don't respect the people who pay your salary, you're in the wrong business.
-Bob.
rosachs
·2 years agoAll of the replies I've read are good ideas, but they have limited results. If your listings are years old, that is likely the major issue, along with price.
eBay's default sort for Search results is Best Match. BM looks at many things, and one of the important things it looks at is time-since-last-sale. Once you get beyond 90 days or so, especially in competitive categories, your listing will rank lower and lower and lower in the results. Low rank = low visibility = low possibility for a sale.
What I've been doing for several months now, as time permits, is ending a group of listings, and then reposting after reviewing the listing for issues as @dbfolks166mt listed. I'll do a quick update to the title (we've had more than a few temporary, as in they didn't stay around long, employees doing posting), check the description and images (remove mfg 'catalog' text and images and replace with our own), check the category and Item Specifics, and of course recheck pricing. The longer something has been sitting, the more 'off' the price will likely be.
Once I'm happy with the review, the listings are reposted. Generally, I see about a 10-20% sale rate within the first 10 days of repost - actual rate depends a lot on category. But it moves this old stock.
Even with all the power SixBit (my eBay mgmt tool) offers, this still takes a bit of time, which is why I do this only on a time permitting basis -- listing new stock is still our best money-maker. 🙂
-Bob.
chrisseascornerboutique
·3 months agoI've thought of doing this and have here and there, but do you feel the watchers are stale also at this point? I hate to lose a watcher by relisting.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoIt depends a lot on what the item is. I go through dead stock on occasion and have tired several things.
1. Tweak the title to help with possible search improvement.
2. Adjust the price and offer free shipping.
3. Bundle like items.
4. Use different pictures.
5. Try a different category
6. Use different venues generally local ones like CL or FB but other ecommerce sites also work.
7. Consign to a local consignment store.
8. Donate the item and take the tax write-off.
9. Bin the item for the annual garage sale.
I diversified across multiple platforms and venues long ago and eBay now only accounts for about 20% of my sales. There are simply too many options out there for buyers and you have to target multiple market places.
caldreamer
·2 years agoYour prices for "used clothing" are extremely high. If you want to sell these items you should add "best offer" option to your listing.
mountainmommie
·2 years agoDepends on your goal.
Selling brought me a lot of joy (and profit) for years. But I am tired now and refuse to leave my kiddos things that millennials, GenZ and Alphas (I got kids in all 3 of these) DO NOT WANT. I am moving through items quickly. When I don't see views, I offer it up locally or donate. I am trashing more of what I would consider still "useable" than ever before. My kids don't want the same things I did. If punctuation triggers people now, they do not need my home decor.
Do what you can and move on. Life's short.
ten_o_nine
·2 years ago@zztop11
I have lowered the price. Should I continue to keep lowering the price?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes. I would cut the price by 20% for all with no views for a month, then 30% and so on, and once they start to be a liability, I would donate them, I am going thru this right now to make room for new merchandise.
inhawaii
·2 years agoThe more desirable the item, the more views (and sales) it will get.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoYour preowned clothing prices are high compared to competitors.
Have you searched Terapeak to see sold prices of comps?