Now I understand why!
I see why mine only has 2 views. It is in a category with 720,000+ others & with 63,000+ sold. Less than 10%. How are you supposed to sell something that has decent value without waiting 6 years for someone to come along? lol Wow! Truly disappointing. There has to be a better, more reliable way, no? I won't say what it is because I'm certain I would be accused of trying to promote my item(s) here.
83 comments
12345jamesstamps
·8 months agoJust got a discount on that Naruto CCG Shippude....
I assume you are listening to someone here...it was $294.95 and now it's $34.95.
Not that I am watching it mind you...but because I looked at it I got the offer.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoI took the advice of the gentleman & dropped the price.
kandf_vintage_finds
·8 months ago...maybe sell items that are HTF, 1 of a kind, sought after or "Rare"
reallynicestamps
·8 months ago...maybe sell items that are HTF, 1 of a kind, sought after or "Rare"
"Rare" is not a synonym for "valuable".
jonathanbrightlight
·8 months agoYep. I’ve looked up some very rare books, ones I can’t find anva for sale anywhere.
You wanna guess why they weren’t available anywhere?
No one wanted them.
1786davycrockett
·8 months ago@jonathanbrightlight
"I’ve looked up some very rare books, ones I can’t find anva for sale anywhere."
"You wanna guess why they weren’t available anywhere?"
"No one wanted them."
A friend of mine who managed several rare book stores for nearly 30 years once told me: "When you have inventory for which there is no market, don't give up -- create a market."
All it takes is a lot of ingenuity and some elementary sales skills.
Another of my old bookseller mentors from 60 years ago thought up a great one, which worked incredibly well for his store: "Invent a holiday." Just assemble stacks of related, non-selling books on a display table (with attractive signage, balloons, ticker-tape, etc) in celebration of a humorous, wholly-fictitious holiday -- "Happy Colonoscopy Day", or "National Arson Week", or "Change Your Socks Month" -- get it?
Bizarre and outrageous always sells.
loose_goose_garage
·8 months agoOf the same edition books that have sold in the past 3 years, the only ones that brough over $100 have many more signatures than the one you have listed.
Also, the note you have in the listing photos says that Glines signed that white label and sent it to the original owner, who then applied it to the page.
This is less desirable than a physical signature on the page itself as these other examples have.
Just some info and my opinion, still a neat book especially with the survivor note.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoThank you. The only one I saw that sold had 3 autographs & went for, minimum, $150 US. I thought having the added note gave it a bit more value.
gloryglorygifts
·8 months agoThe short answer is that ebay wants you to promote your items with a high percentage. That seems like the only way you are going to sell something that is in a category with 720,000 similar items. Even then, you aren't guaranteed a sale. As we discovered on these boards, different browsers see different things and aren't consistent in searches so that just adds to the confusion. We are at the mercy of ebay.
itsjustasprain
·8 months agoAt some point (preferably before you start listing those items - whatever they may be) you have to read the room. If there are eighty bazillion listings like yours then a garage sale or other local on-line sale forum might work better for those items.
bashort
·8 months agoIf the supply is a lot bigger than the demand the result is lower prices and or lower sales, if there is a way around that I would like to know what it is.
hartungcards
·8 months agoIs this a Lions Club banner?
12345jamesstamps
·8 months agoTaking photos of an item is not easy.
I always use natural sunlight and do it near a window...no lamps or lightbulbs.
So, hours are limited during the winter to do that.
A black piece of paper also helps for the background.
I am kinda thinking you are using an iPhone and not a camera...but not sure.
With that said...to really get an audience(window shoppers) a seller needs to stick to one category if that seller is only selling a few things.
The more items listed the better.
As far as the medal....winner of what?
Tennis, bowling or ?
Might want to say what a person did to get it.
lakefor94
·8 months agoYou are owning it @sakic92710
Best of luck to you sourcing in 2026.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoIf we are talking about the metal Naruto coin you are vastly overvaluing it by a factor of at least 10. Only one metal naruto coin like that has sold for more than $20 in the past 3 years and that was a japanese market one. Most of these various coins sell for $10 or less.
That would have been a promo item that came in Naruto marketing kit that any hobby shop with a distributor could have ordered for $10 ($10 for the whole kit, coins and posters and other such items). It would have theoretically been handed out to a store tournament winner, however the various Naruto card games have never really been popular enough to have much success attracting the minimum number of players to have an event in the first place.
The card store I worked at had 200 seats in the gaming area and was packed every night and we were only able to get Naruto events to go off for about 6 weeks after the last reboot (or major rerelease) of the game before we had to start cancelling them for not getting 8 people signing up.
The game is dead again from what I understand and promo items for dead games are not big money. There are only about a half dozen cards for that version of the game that are even worth $200 or more and they were the ones that were like 1 card in 100 booster boxes level of rare. Promo CCG items never approach the value of the rarest cards because only a handful of collectors are interested in the promo items.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoThe item I am talking about is not the medallion. This medallion is not the standard one that is sold with the product. This was awarded to tournament winners only. There is only 10 different characters, so only 1 of each was handed out for every 10 tournaments.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoI understand EXACTLY what it is which is why I went into depth explaining the exact source of it. The ones that came in the products are worth even less. I worked in a CCG card store for years. I specialized in that stuff for years after on ebay. It is one of my expert areas.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoSo, you are telling me it is only valued at $30?
onefootflipper
·8 months agoI can't find any reason why it would be worth any more than that, more like $20. There are no comps for any of these coins over $25. This is a local tournament coin (aka, it came in a marketing kit), there is a complete set of them $400 or best offer that has been sitting unsold for almost 5 years now.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334375075114
So yes, you are way, way off the mark on it. I am sorry if you paid a lot for it.
And "coin" is the keyword for these, not medal or medallion.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoOne seller has the set of 10 on for $2000. The person with 9 for $400 lists them as damaged & a bit rusty.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoI give up, you obviously know more than I do about one my expert areas, and yours must be worth 10 times the highest comp ever.
Value will only fall on these, as that version of the games died 10 years ago and the fanbases of the anime based games generally completely lose interest and sell of their collections before they turn 30. But I literally learned nothing from running the ebay of a large CCG store for 2 years before specializing in the same stuff myself for 3 years, so don't listen to me, just look at the unsold listings, not the sold ones.
kibble-net
·8 months agoUmm.......... maybe don't sell the same junk that everyone and their grandma is selling? Just a thought
I would tell you my strategy, but like your products---- that's a secret, too.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoI do not sell junk & your comment is not helpful at all. Just trying to insult. You put little 'thought' into your response.
tarotfindsandmore
·8 months agoYou could tell us what type of item it is without posting a link to the listing, if you're genuinely concerned about being attacked for trying promote your listing. People regularly post links their items to get feedback on them. Whether its titles, pictures, general "please look at my store", or pricing, we see posts like this almost daily so I'm not sure I'm fully buying that concern over looking like you're trying to promote your item is behind the reluctance to share what the item is.
eburtonlab
·8 months agoI see why mine only has 2 views. It is in a category with 720,000+ others
Are your potential buyers searching by keyword or just browsing the entire category? If browsing, then I agree: they are unlikely to find your item among nearly three quarters of a million other listings in the category. Think about how long it takes to scroll through an entire page of search results at 240 items per page looking for a particular item and then go on to the next page. Now multiply that by three thousand pages. Very few buyers have the time or patience for that.
But it does not matter how many items are in the same category if your potential buyers are searching that category by keyword; then it only matters if you are using the correct keywords to list your item and how many other items actually turn up in the particular search. Items in the category without those keywords can be ignored.
There is little to no competition. Being in a generalized category does not mean the item is not unique onto itself. Only found one similar, online, that had sold & it went higher than my asking price.
If there is no competition and you are still not getting many views, then the item may just be "thinly traded"; that is, at any given time, there may not be very many buyers looking for that item, and hence, not that many of those items are being sold.
Or else possibly you are using the wrong keywords or listing in the wrong category -- or possibly even on the wrong site -- compared to where your potential buyers are actually searching for that item.
Or perhaps there really was only one highly motivated collector willing to spend a lot, and that was the buyer that bought the last one sold on eBay for a high price to fill a hole in a collection, and now all the remaining potential buyers are not as motivated or willing to spend as much -- or are not looking as hard. Perhaps the last one that was sold was that last of its kind that will ever sell at anything close to that price.
luckythewinner
·8 months agoHow are you supposed to sell something that has decent value without waiting 6 years for someone to come along?
The fundamental flaw in your logic is that your item was "supposed to sell" on eBay. Nothing is supposed to sell on eBay just because it was listed. If that was the case, then everyone would be rich!
Truly disappointing
Your disappointment should be directed at yourself, for mistakenly believing that your item was worth more than it actually is. All eBay did was point that out to you.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoBoth of the points you are trying to make are incorrect. I never said it was supposed to sell on eBay or anywhere else. I said it, in general. #2 - There was only 1 other that I saw on eBay & it did sell for more than what I am asking. Also - I allow for offers. My price is not locked it.
hotwheelsbum
·8 months agoBut, but, what about ALL those Commercials ebay has out that shows it to be simple. Take picture, type in a few words, list, SELL! Cha Ching Cha Ching Cha Ching - Money Money Money!! That's what the Commercials push.
That probably why ebay probably has an 80% continuous turnover rate with Sellers coming and going. Learning the truth about ebay the hard way. 😆
itsjustasprain
·8 months agoUm... cite please? 80% turnover over what period of time?
hotwheelsbum
·8 months agoYou think every Seller that attempts to SELL on ebay sticks it out in the long run?
How Funny. 😂
I bet ebay holds a less than 5% retention rate for every "New" Seller that tries selling on ebay. Millions and Millions and Millions of Sellers have probably attempted to sell on ebay, and have walked away long before they hit a dozen sales, 2 dozen, 4 dozen, so on. Ebay is not for everyone, and not everyone who has sold an item or 2 on ebay has stuck it out. Sellers here come and go, by the Millions I bet.
itsjustasprain
·8 months agoOf course not. But 80% turnover over 10 years is probably close to normal for an on-line selling forum whereas 80% turnover over 10 months or 10 weeks would not. See how that works? The period of time is part of the statistic - without it there is no meaning. So - where did you get your 80% from and over what period of time?
luckythewinner
·8 months agoThe OP is not a newbie to eBay.
In fact, this is not his first post claiming that all his listings are not showing up.
Here is a post from November that claims not all his items are showing up.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Not-all-listings-show-up/td-p/35364178
hotwheelsbum
·8 months agoWhere did I say OP is "new to ebay"?
I went back 6 pages looking for where I said that.
Never found it.
Why?
Because I didn't say OP was NEW to ebay.
What I said was a General Statement not directed at any one member in this conversation.
Just a General Statement in regards to what YOU said to the OP.
In fact, read what is actually being said. Not what you think is being said. 😂
vintage-camerastuff
·8 months agoYou need to work on the lighting of that very shiny medallion. Hard to see the details with those bright pictures. Better lighting would certainly help.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoI've tried to get better photos but find it impossible since it is inside the plastic cover.
yeswayrecords
·8 months agoHi. Sometimes using a scanner to scan photos of certain items can improve the visibility of fine details.
It might be worth a try to help smooth out the plastic cover.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoI used to use my scanner but had to buy a new iSmart PC & it will not recognize the device; even after downloading proper drivers. The scanner is about 17 years old.
eoma689485
·8 months agoForgot to mention- I do understand it is a Metal Medallion, but the majority of those seeking this item are not going to type in "Metal," they will type in Medal way before they think to type in Medallion.
eoma689485
·8 months agoFor example, let’s say I have a "Naruto Shippuden Zetsu Tournament Winner Metal Medallion." First I would check for any misspelling and get rid of “Metal†and replace it with “Medal,†then I would rethink the category of Trading Card Singles, and go with an Anime Category, such as Collectibles & Art – Animation Art & Merchandise – Animation Merchandise – Other Animation Merchandise.
That category gets the attention of the audience I would be trying to attract, as Trading Cards is one of those categories that is stuffed to the gills, and it makes more sense to place a Naruto item with other Naruto items.
Good luck with all of your eBay transactions.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoI will go change that category now. Thanks for your advice.
hotwheelsbum
·8 months agoI had to go check, go look this up to see if this was an actual item, real, or just something you made up to use as an example.
It is a real item.
Nerd. (Just Kidding! 😅)
reallynicestamps
·8 months agoAnd stamps sell better if you have the Scott number for easy search.
That's how your customer would look for them.
You can access Scott at the public library, all twelve volumes.
tarotfindsandmore
·8 months agoHave you considered changing categories? We don't know what the item is so it's impossible to say what other categories may be appropriate, but it may help people find this valuable, historical item. Many items belong in several categories so it's possible you chose the most flooded when others are just as appropriate. For example, I sell a fair number of mugs. They could go in either Home or Collectibles. I always choose collectibles where I can winnow down the exact category to the point where there may be a dozen others of the same type rather than hundred or thousands.
christworks
·8 months agoWith all due respect, you are confusing value with price.
Economics 101: Supply and demand determine price. You have described a situation where there is a gigantic supply and relatively not much demand. Whatever you are selling may have sentimental value, utility value, and perceived value, but it likely has little monetary value and thus requires a lower price to move it in a timely fashion. In cases where demand is nil, it may not matter what price you put on it. Nobody will buy it. I just moved several dozen of those type of things out of my store. It felt good.
Time to move on to something else.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoNot with this item - no. It has historical value.
jonathanbrightlight
·8 months agoHistorical value is not a guarantee of monetary value.
I agree that you've been criticized on these boards plenty of times. Not for sharing what item you're talking about so that a conversation isn't mostly pointless, though.
tobaccocardyahoo
·8 months agoWhen I consider listing an item, my first question is does it have merit?
The second question is. does anybody care?
It never is how many are in the category. The category may be huge, but no sane person will browse an Ebay category looking for something to buy. They will search for what they want to buy. They will narrow the search. A thumbnail on the search results is a limited source of clicks, especially with the poor photos many sellers provide. Even a photo which is quite informative in full size fails as click bait.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoRegarding my item, there is not a 'gigantic supply.' There is little to no competition. Being in a generalized category does not mean the item is not unique onto itself. Only found one similar, online, that had sold & it went higher than my asking price. I cannot remember the exact price but it was $150 US or higher. So, no, I'm not discarding it as worthless or marking it at $10.
The joys of the community board. Only have 2 responses already & both feel it necessary to jump in with a negative aspect. lol So many assume others do not have the experience they have.
soh.maryl
·8 months agoWell, will not start out with the obvious statement that not everything listed on eBay will sell or will sell quickly because you have a wealth of experience here and you know that.
And also obviously items listed in a category where there are 100,000 choices will not sell as easily as items in smaller categories.
If you know of a "more reliable way", that you can't share with us, then why are you not using it?
sakic92710
OP8 months agoWhat I can't share with you is the item I am discussing. If I was aware of a more reliable way, I would be using it.
1786davycrockett
·8 months ago@sakic92710
"What I can't share with you is the item I am discussing."
Which makes it very difficult for us to offer specific suggestions which may be helpful to you.
Why is this such a big secret?
sakic92710
OP8 months agoI've seen on this board long enough to know I will get criticized for trying to promote my item by discussing it in particular.
1786davycrockett
·8 months ago@sakic92710
"What I can't share with you is the item I am discussing."
This kind of reminds me of the sick patient who seeks a doctor's advice, and who won't tell the doctor anything about "what ails him," but still wants the doctor's advice on a cure.
Unless we can see the listing in question, it's nearly impossible to offer credible suggestions.
And your argument that "I've seen on this board long enough to know I will get criticized for trying to promote my item by discussing it in particular" does not seem applicable -- you're not actively "promoting" your item, you're simply inquiring about options to promote it more effectively.
Actually, the criticism which you may be wishing to avoid is becoming more virulent, due to your hesitancy to disclose the identity of the item.
Conceivably, the solution to your problem may be as simple as a better choice of keywords in your title line -- but we'll never know, unless you decide to provide the identity of the item.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoIt is the autographed non-fiction war book, "Four Came Home."
1786davycrockett
·8 months ago@sakic92710
"It is the autographed non-fiction war book, "Four Came Home." "
Excellent -- let's start out with your title line -- VTG 1966 Four Came Home HC Signed Col. Glines & Robert L Hite & Signed Note
If I were listing this book, I would eliminate the words "VTG 1966" and "HC" and "Col." and "Robert L. Hite".
The term "VTG" and "vintage" have been overused to the point where it has become meaningless, and simply becomes jumbled up with other "vintage" or "VTG" items -- better to eliminate this entirely.
The date of publication is not necessary in the title line, as you will be including that information in your "Item Specifics" section.
Your "Item Specifics" (under "Features") is the place to indicate that this is a "HC" (hardcover) book, and also that it includes the original dust-jacket.
Instead of the rank "Col." in the title line, it may be more "search friendly" to provide the author's first and last names instead -- "Carroll Glines".
Finally, the name "Robert L. Hite" will not be familiar to well over 99% of your potential buyers -- so save that as well for the "Features" section of your "Item Specifics" section (under "Autographed" -- you already note in your "Description" section that the book includes a personalized note from Robert L. Hite, who was one of the surviving members of the imprisoned Doolittle raiders).
Under "Topic" in the item specifics section, I would suggest several short lines, such as "WW II Survivor of Japanese POW camp" or "Imprisoned WW II 1942 Doolittle Raider" or similar.
The title line that I would ultimately suggest would read as follows -- FOUR CAME BACK - Carroll Glines - 1942 WW II DOOLITTLE RAID - AUTOGRAPHED NOTE.
That provides a title line of only 78 characters, and also adds the significant keywords "WW II DOOLITTLE RAID," which should be the magnet which attracts potential buyers to your item.
By the way -- your "Item Specifics" section leaves some confusion about the book, however: the title indicated is not "FOUR CAME HOME", but rather "the POETRY of LIFE". That alone may be confusing potential buyers.
(I actually sold one of these several years ago -- they were remaindered heavily in the late 1960s -- and it may also include photographs and maps. If so, also include "illustrated" under "Features".)
Very good book, by the way -- good luck!
luckythewinner
·8 months agoRegarding my item, there is not a 'gigantic supply.' There is little to no competition.
You implied there was a lof competition because you mentioned in your post that there were a lot of items in the category, but left this crucial detail out of your post.
The joys of the community board. Only have 2 responses already & both feel it necessary to jump in with a negative aspect.
I am not sure why you feel it necessary to leave out important information, unless perhaps you just want to invite criticism so that you can jump in with a negative aspect.
All that aside ...
The number of listings in a category do not really affect visibility as long as your item has something unique that a buyer can search for. And it sounds like your item has that because you talked about not finding many others.
So I will only amend my post to say that it sounds like no one is searching for your item, ofr if they are they do not want it.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoOr it just does not show up in their search.
eburtonlab
·8 months agoOr it just does not show up in their search.
As a seller, there are many things you can do to maximize the chances of an item appearing in a particular search. It may not be possible to guarantee that the item appears in a specific search, and eBay and your buyers can certainly do some specific things to prevent that from happening, but certainly there are some obvious factors that can make a listing more or less likely to appear in a search.
As a seller, it is in your interest to take steps to make sure that the item appears in the highest number of relevant searches so that you can reach the highest number of potential qualified buyers.
luckythewinner
·8 months agoI obviously cannot prove whether an item did or did not appear in someone else's search.
But in 20+ years of reading these boards, I have easily found countless thousands of items that sellers have "suggested" are not visible.
I'll happily give it a go for you if given a concrete example.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoJust because an item shows up in your search does not mean it shows up for everyone. It has already been proven to me that individuals searching for something does get different results. If you disagree with that, you are wrong. If you agree, then your offer to do an independent search does not have meaning.
eburtonlab
·8 months agoIt has already been proven to me that individuals searching for something does get different results.
There are some very specific reasons why two different users can perform the "same" search and see different results -- for instance if one user is in a location the seller does not ship to. And in many cases, two users can think that they are performing the same search when they are not actually doing so.
If you specify a search completely enough so that there are no hidden differences -- like location or default parameter differences (sort order, items per page, list or gallery view) -- two qualified users performing the same search at the same time will see the exact same results delivered by eBay.
luckythewinner
·8 months agoIt has already been proven to me that individuals searching for something does get different results. If you disagree with that, you are wrong.
The fact that search results are tailored to the searcher is something that is widely know and that eBay freely admits. They have always admitted that the geographic distance between the buyer and the item are taken into account.
But the fact that search results differ does not mean that items that eBay hides items from some buyers and not from others.
If you disagree with that, you are wrong. If you agree, then your offer to do an independent search does not have meaning.
Your two statements above are not logically complete, and do not consider this option: I agree that the order of search results differ by user, but I disagree that eBay hides items by user except for obvious or well-known reasons (like the seller does not ship to the buyer location, or the search criteria triggers a category-specific search).
I do not think that eBay is hiding your item from people who are searching for it. I think you are disappointed that it has not sold, and would rather blame eBay that question your own selling ability.
reallynicestamps
·8 months agoOnly found one similar, online, that had sold & it went higher than my asking price.
There are two doohickeys in the world.
There is just one person who wants a doohickey.
The other guy got his up first and the person who wanted it bought it.
Now there is one doohickey and no one who wants a doohickey.
I'm in the process of dropping all my vintage SF/F paperbacks because after 20 years of selling into a slow but stable market, there appear to be no more buyers for my particular inventory.
Time Colonist Book Sale - here I come with 200 titles I paid between 10c and $1.00 for and stored for years and years.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoYour comment about a doohickey is completely meaningless. You have no evidence that your opinion is factual.
slippinjimmy
·8 months agoNow that you have come to that realization maybe you will be more careful when selecting items to sell.
Obtaining the right inventory at the right price is the foundation of any successful merchant.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoThis was not something I went out seeking for reselling. A few years ago, it was purchased in a large lot of vintage items that I got at a flea market. The woman sold me everything for $40. She just wanted the table of items gone. Doubt she was aware of the details of each item because I only recently discovered this particular item's best quality.
marnotom!
·8 months agoOr maybe she was aware of the “value†of these items and she still wanted them gone because nobody was interested in purchasing them at full price.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoYou can make guesses on the situation all you want but I sold 3 items out of 140-150 & got my money back, so your guess is wrong. 🙂
marnotom!
·8 months agoSo you’ve sold roughly two percent of what you purchased. I’m glad that you got your money back on your investment, but you’re still stuck with a lot of stuff nobody seems to want, just like the person from whom you purchased all that merchandise.
sakic92710
OP8 months agoI have not attempted to sell most of yet as I was trying to sell items I know are easier to sell or less expensive for postage. The thing that annoyed me was there was a high percentage of paper goods & she applied price stickers. Instant damage!
krazzykats
·8 months agoUsing a hair dryer can make it easier to peel off the price stickers.
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