So you want to turn those views and watchers into money in your pocket - it takes effort
Have sold for a real selling career for over 41.5 years. Here are two guiding principles sets that helped me succeed. Yes this was in tete-a-tete seling situations vs online selling but you are still dealing with humans of all types of experiences in life and many generational changes that will continue on. As I see it and did apply them to my eBay selling years where my Listings was my best sales person. You have to be a bit creative to do thats it is easy to do. The goal is to get the watchers to stop and put eyeballs on your listing and stop and read in a very short period of time and become convinced they may want your stuff.
1. The Man (or Woman) In The Chair - wants know stuff about who they are dealing with
2. What are the added value benefits of the products and /or services you are peddling to day - there are books on this at your local library and else where. But you need to be short,sweet and to the point. Ditch those cool words like Awesome an Amazing - they are empty means - benefit is why people buy (and those reasons are many and varied - be concise. You only have a limited time to get a buyer or they will do a walk on by. Kinda' like going Bass fishing keep casting until you find what lure they like today.
In my younger years I read a lot of books and attended seminars on selling techniques - not certain what this Z group is/all about - that's your job.
Recall a situation where a buyer called me on an order that she just placed and had a few questions- one was need it for B'day gift by such and such date, answered her questions and then she asked how much room was left in the box in a large fixed rate box - she added 7 more smaller items in the- box all at my listed price but were shipped free. I assured her it would be delivered on or before her delivery time. Put in the USPS hands on a Saturday (a non business day - but USPS keep moving stuff). She was pleased when it arrived. Customer first approach is always best - yeah it is once in a Blue moon event but they came back for more later.
powell-collectibles
·1 year agoSome good advice in there - thanks. Unfortunately, some are bothered by free advice 😉
onefootflipper
·1 year agoIf your customers are calling you on the phone and you are using flat rate boxes and you are guaranteeing delivery dates for flaky customers who order at the last second then you have absolutely no idea how to operate an ebay business.
The overwhelming majority of competent sellers don't even use Priority mail anymore, much less flat rate boxes. Doing so is lighting either your money or the customer's money on fire.
I have been selling on ebay since 1998 and the last 4 years have been full time and the only customer that every called me on the phone was an abusive one 20 plus years ago who kept threatening violence over a $4 transaction that I had literally already refunded.
The worst customer in the world is the one who is ordering time sensitive crap on friday or saturday. Post office makes one mistake and you eat that shipping both ways because your stuff missed the event and then they return it every single time.
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@johnrj1226
Thanks for the insights on what's worked for you.
Maybe some of these tips will help my efforts, as well.
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoIf you don't try you will never know if it was right or wrong - digital pic is a whole lot cheaper than the 35 mm fil camera age (that where I cut my teeth oo making pics). Some people are afraid to change - that is where they get behind and loose interests
chapeau-noir
·1 year ago@johnrj1226 Thank you for passing on some of the fruits of your experience!
I took an interesting shot of the item but not the whole item e.g. if it was a shirt, I'd crop the shot showing the collar, size and brand label, pocket, a couple buttons, shirt pocket, brand name or logo & size - I termed these my show'em a little leg view - being creative (aka thinking out side the box) has some benefits - anything beside a shirt just handing on hanger and hanging on a closet door
This is an instant fail, though - I know, I'm in the clothing market. The reason for this is clothing shoppers by and large, look for the big picture first, then zoom in on details. Just a pocket, or a collar, etc., will create more annoyance than anything because people don't know what they're looking at. Clothing photography is actually pretty difficult just for that reason.
I can see this working, however, on something that is very detail-heavy.
The point I'm making is to tailor your methods to your market.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@johnrj1226
Hmmm, I may have you beat here but not sure ... worked my way through college at a machine design engineering firm and then full time with them for a year after graduation. I am certified to teach Industrial Technologies but teaching didn't pay squat back in the early 80s so went into Industry and worked my way up through Service - Project Management - Sales and Marketing - Sales ... that is a span of 48 years and still going today ... 42 of those years have been spent in the Packaging industry.
The BEST reference material I found was Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich", he was THE Man and his work became the basis for many of the Self Help books, tapes etc that followed.
One thing I was taught early on when I installed packaging machinery throughout North America was this, Sales makes the first sale but Service makes all the rest.
Now, of all that experience and knowledge a limited amount applies to Selling online. My view includes but is not limited to the following (without delving into too much detail):
-There are TWO "First impressions". One is the listing and the other is how the item is delivered. Obviously, the main picture on listings is extremely important along with well written accurate description of the item and secure packing is equally important as it shows the customer that the Seller cares.
-Are you selling "wants" or "needs"? "Needs" can also be acquired at local stores for most customers so selling online has to bring value for the price. This means online Sellers are competing with Brick & Mortar stores which can be a challenge.
"Wants" stand a good chance of quicker turnover.
-The venue is your partner: it's great to have a top of the line listing and bomb proof packaging but if potential customers never see your items it they will not sell. Most internet sales venues make their money off Fees ... the more fees they can obtain the more money they make. Any Seller participating in increasing a venue's income has to make sure THEIR profit margin is covered. It's true, it's all about money and Sellers need to make sure they are making THEIR money.
-Feedback & Followers tell you when you are doing it right: With a few exceptions customer Feedback will tell a Seller when they are doing it right. The three most repeated points I see in Feedback for what I sell are:
Fast shipping
As described
Packed well (securely)
If the number of Followers continues to grow over time that too is a reflection on a Seller's success and potential ongoing business.
-Know who your Customers are: IMHO each Generation shops and buys differently. For what I sell I know many of my customers are Baby Boomers, I suspect like myself they still prefer using a computer - laptop to shop online with. I doubt very many of my customers are from more recent generations.
I am sure others can add to this dissertation with valuable knowledge from their own experience and observations ...
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoEverybody has there own trail they have made and make or still make footsteps for their off springs. Not one of the 315 mill people in the USA will ever think alike - BTW I'm a 44 model and all I want to do on my "Smarter That Me Phone" is call, receive calls, send texts, leave a voice mail that very few wiil listen to. We have a larger screen monitor for our PC to VIEW (large font is pop and not too many dropped calls - oh arthritis in the fingers is pop and we see the eye doc at least once/year. Still can beat the youngsters (any one that doesn't have their Medicare Card or younger in a 2 out 3 game f back yard washers (Texas style game like horse shoes but safer for the kiddos - use big fat washer and a hole in the ground or a 20 x 20 pieces of wood). No one care who wins - no beer allowed kids are around. We like beer and a saw dust covered dance floor with sawdust and old time CW music - Georgia Strait back down to John Cash Merle Haggard and Willie tunes
candd205
·1 year agoI have a bit of advice too. ðŸ˜
I have over 40 years experience in my career field. When I was applying for other jobs. I ALWAYS said that I had over 20 years experience. I never once said I had over 30 years and for heavens sake never said over 40 years, of course by then I was winding down. Age discrimination against old farts is alive and well.
jewelbiz
·1 year agoYou know what?
Since I turned 80 past September am announcing it to the rafters!
Consider it a major life accomplishment and I am proud to have reached old age!
candd205
·1 year agoYou look mahhhvelous sister !!!!! Congrats on 80. I can only hope to be doing as well as you at 80. I'm hoping to make it too, since dad lived to 90 and mom lived to 84.
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoJust 85 years of experiences that no one else has or had or will ever have - hang in there and keep truckin'
PS: Aging isn't for sissies.
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoOnly worked for 3 companies. Retired from the last one did part time jobs after hanging up my sours in 2007 , did eBay selling from 2010 thru Oct 2020 - Had our last Grand and do alot of free day - best job yet.
worldcoinauctions
·1 year agoGood info, works in my B&M, frankly I don't worry about online sales. I'm just moving the stuff that doesn't move as well in person.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoYour advice is better suited for some products in some categories than other products in other categories.
What has worked in some businesses does not work in other businesses even in the real world.
For many of us, it is meaningless to tout the benefits of our product. There are none other than self-gratification. The product performs no meaningful function, it is want not a need.
Some products which are wants can have an enhanced chance of selling by providing a story that is relevant to the product. Many people want items which are collectible and are more likely to buy from a seller who puts it in context for them.
Buyers may know if an item is antique or vintage but may not know its actual age, who made it and how it was used. Some items are of historical significance - local or national. Some have ties to celebrities of their time whose story can be shared.
If one is a good story-teller one can do a low keyed "no sell - sell" effectively. You can give the impression that you know about this stuff and you are selling it because it is valuable in ways the buyer was not aware.
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoTo each there own view point - personally found there are many common threads between selling of anything - as have experience with selling stuff on eBay, Craigs List , our own garages sales, worked in retail stores (Sears Country stores), drugstores, used car lots heck even fresh vegetables and fresh eggs at our farm stand. And obviously have had a life long experiences as a buyer and had all types of experiences from top shelf service to just lousy service with lousy products Sellers with an attitude will find me moving under the exit sign or hear. In the end selling & buing is of any thing is a people to people exchange. Many on line sellers like to flex their "internet muscles" - like kinda' like they do at the bar on a 4 or more Friday night.
redlinear
·1 year agoWorthy advice. Bad analogy.
I've won three boats bass fishing. If you've resorted to throwing the tackle box at em', you're in trouble.
12345jamesstamps
·1 year ago'awesome an amazing'...true...these are not items and useless to use in my mind.
counter point...'antique or vintage'...why sellers continue to use these words is beyond me.
Any smart buyer will know it is antique or vintage or old.
Your business plan maybe worked in the past...but changes have happened.
Goal is 'repeat buyers' and should be in a mission statement.
And more and buyers use a iPhone or smartphone for a purchase...where a quick purchase comes into play without any other added features.
Watchers are basically nosey people to me.
You either buy it or move on...
gurlcat
·1 year agoHonestly I think you might be missing the biz a bit, yeah? Even a little? If so you should come back, whether you "need" to or not, just have a few listings going, of only the things you enjoy selling the most.
The boredom of retirement is a real health hazard for people with real grit in their blood, I truly believe that.
mylle2010
·1 year agoNicely put. And I agree ðŸ‘
pls-consignments
·1 year agoLike the OP, I too subscribe to similar standards of selling, which have benefited me in my early B&M retail businesses. HOWEVER, as mentioned , they can only be applied in "principle". Because no matter what a person is selling, their success is based on their ability to identify, plan, implement and adapt.
Those of us who sell primarily on this platform must navigate through the ever-changing rules and playing field.
Yet, no matter what a person is selling, their success is based on their ability to do simple math. Unfortunately, many new sellers must have skipped that class. 🙄
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoWorked for two Japanese companies over 14 years Mitsubishi & Komatsu. They were keen on what the termed "Plan - See - Do" method of continuous improvement in the business model.
Also Know As the PDCA or the Deming Cycle or Deming Wheel
Very similar to a motivational phrase a seasoned mentor ( the late J.R. Barber.) of mine laid on me when I was a young guy fresh out of college with my eyes wide open to the world- "Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best" Worked well for both business and personal improvement. Those gray haired ole foxes are great teachers (his name the late J.R. Barber.) - .
Ciao
and
luckythewinner
·1 year agoIn your 41 year career of "tete-a-tete" selling, were you ever selling
I'm not sure most eBay buyers are pondering the value add of my service or what my company stands for, because eBay will give them a 100% refund if they so much as think an unhappy thought.
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoValue added service example shipping time - getting it scanned in by carrier 1 day or sooner easy to do with USPS and shipping on a Saturday - a non Business day per eBay rules. It worked for me, eBay - eBay provable data - shipped 1665 items, received 1006 FB as a seller all but one Positive. Value added offer s tube the other guys that may be of value. Can't figure out why so many sellers have a no return policy when there is a 30 day eBay Money back Guarantee policy. Always had return policy never a free one.
Getting the shoppers to stop & look at your listing is key, Your key shot may do the trick to separate you from the masses where ever I could I took an interesting shot of the item but not the whole item e.g. if it was a shirt, I'd crop the shot showing the collar, size and brand label, pocket, a couple buttons, shirt pocket, brand name or logo & size - I termed these my show'em a little leg view - being creative (aka thinking out side the box) has some benefits - anything beside a shirt just handing on hanger and hanging on a closet door
FYW 41.5 years I sold forklift - lots of competition 200-250K new units sold in decent years in the US with more than 10 name brands plus low $ Chinese brands
bonjourami
·1 year ago"Always had return policy never a free one."
That is not Ebays policy with nad items, and a thirty day money back guarantee.
gurlcat
·1 year agoNow THAT'S some useful advice, I really like this idea. -Wouldn't work for every kind of item, but some definitely.
In fact you've inspired me. I have this necklace/earring set that I've relisted a couple of times, never seems to get many views. And it doesn't surprise me because whenever I've scrolled down my Active Listings page, the main photo of that set looks so 'blank', because most of the space is taken up by the very thin silver chain. So if I can't see much, that means buyers can't either, when looking at a search results page. So I've made a cropped version and replaced the main photo with it, VOILA! A little leg.
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoNice to hear - yep there is no one cure all that will trip every one's trigger.
Hint: Try a pic or two of shiny stuff like jewelry on black velvet type back ground. I found it gave me extra "pop" as black and darker colors adsorbs light and details of your item a bit sharper, red back ground works nice too. Lighter colors reflect light..
gurlcat
·1 year agoJewelry on a black background is certainly a fantastic look, if you can pull it off. -That is, if you have the equipment for it. The iPhone, perfect as it is for some kinds of photos, is abysmal when it comes to contrast like that. I've tried and tried (and tried and TRIED), and it's just not doable.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@gurlcat
I have the opposite situation with black diecast steam engines on a white background. I use a fluorescent and LED light and some of the best results come from NOT using the flash.
I am not sure how cell phone cameras are set up but in the old days when the flash was on and a digital camera focused on something the brightest white area on the subject was where the grey scale started for exposure. We learned in photography that for things like weddings it is best to have a camera that can override the automatic settings on a camera and some of the best results were using an older style SLR so all the settings could be adjusted manually on the fly ... so for weddings and a large white gown, what often happened with a normal automatic exposure was the dress was the focus and not the bride ... so for better results if was better to over expose (and essentially bleed out the gown) so the bride's natural skin colors showed up better.
Some darker items might photograph better on say a mid range color like red or green opposed to a full contrast to white. The same is true for lighter colored items ... reduce the total contrast between subject and background.
gurlcat
·1 year agoNow imagine trying to photograph tiny, fast-moving fish, through water and behind glass. -That was my assignment as an online fish monger, LOL. I ended up siliconing a little "photo booth" tank, only 3 inches front-to-back, to control the depth distance. But other than that, there was basically no way to get decent still shots just by pressing the shutter at "the right time" because you never know when the suckers will hold still for even a split second.
So what I did was just shoot video, and pull still frames from that. -But that was on an Android phone. I have an iPHone now, and I don't even know if that's possible with it. Here's my all-time favorite fish picture. You can't see all the blue guy's tail, but the way they came lips-to-lips like that was just a pure luck fluke, ha!
Then eventually I figured out the best way to make my camera understand shade/tint was to have a black and white background, to force the perspective on true dark and light, rather than calculate it based on the darkest or lightest colors on the fish. So a simple piece of black/white fabric taped to the back of the photo booth tank worked nicely.
onlinecentral
·1 year agoThe goal is to get the watchers to stop and put eyeballs on your listing ...
Most sellers have a crooked trapezoid photo. My straight, level, parallel photos with the excess space around the perimeter removed is the listing the buyer is more likely to click on.
... and stop and read in a very short period of time and become convinced they may want your stuff.
People watch Elvis impersonators and Kiss tribute bands. The goal is a performance as close to the OG or Real McCoy as possible.
Early on, I realized that is how my descriptions should be. I include all of the text from the retail package. That drastically reduced the number of Questions to Seller I was receiving. Looking through Sold Items indicated I was getting a larger share of sales compared with identical items with lame descriptions. The features, benefits, compatibility and specifications I include within the description seal the deal.
meme6253
·1 year agoSome Nice advice, But I agree with gurlcat, Most of that does not apply to online selling, Or selling in these Current & turbulent times.
gurlcat
·1 year ago*Just playing devil's advocate here. -It's easy for you to say it's easy to do when you're no longer having to do it, especially if markets have changed since you last did it, like buyers having less money to spend, for instance.
And although your post made some good points and has an encouraging feel overall, I don't see any specific advice about being creative with listings, nor can anyone look at your listings to see what you mean .... because you don't have any.
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoGave you that advice for free - now do your own home work and read, read whatever you wish as 85% of what we remember/recall comes thru our visions, 12% by doing and ~8% through our hearing.. But it looks like you have all your need figured out.
Since I started working in 1967 all the way thru to Oct 2007 have seen more ups and down that a Duncan yoyo. Retailed capital goods. Capital goods and Advertising are the first items cut in an economy down turn. The largest recession happened in the1982 it was proceeded by 2 smaller recessions in 71 and mid/late 70s. It took 4 years to recover from the 82. Do some googling research and bone up on the mortgage rates, inflation and unemployment rates of that yesteryear. When money gets tight and good jobs got harder to find people people buy necessities. I had to work smarter and harder to maintain our living.Found what was selling cause people dont stop buying
PS: Have 3 children ages 55 to almost 39 - gave them my advise on life things and they said thanks many years later They are experiencing the changes and believe the strong will survive and accept they will have to change tactics to maintain a slice of the that need w/o cutting into savings.
Still shop at Walmart like I did in1983 at a small Country size unit out side of Waco, TX today I can buy more thinks but Walmart has a significant issue with losses theft - it has doubled from 3 billion bucks/year to 6+ billion. Profit dropped from. 6.5 to 3.5%- volume is every thing to Sam Walton the Founder - met/talked with him briefly in Houston area - town of Katy
fbusoni
·1 year agoWhat advice was that, exactly? That selling takes effort?
I'm 65 and don't require homespun "wisdom" to know that, and something tells me that I am not the only one.
Your single anecdote about shipping on Saturday is a customer service insight. And delivering good customer service is just plain common sense.
No offense, but I don't see much value added here. Not sure that even Gen Z folks would either. regards
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoWhere did I state this if was an all cure - if the shoe doesn't fit don't wearit just do a walk on by. Do have a fa decade & 1/2+ on this planet than ya'- gotta' run to catch up. If my simple example was jist plain ole' common sense, then why a great number of eBay sellers use is by the bushel basket full do it or why do people use a "no returns". My simple answer - folks don't take time to read/understand.
Wasn't looking to get a star on my forehead or a poster of the month bumper sticker - if my post helps one person it is/was well worth the "zero charge posting.. Obviously you have got it all together. Are you good friends with Joe Namath of Beaver Falls, PA??
johnrj1226
OP1 year agoSorry you didn't find any benefit in my post. But found some articles you might be interested in -
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=mnet&hsimp=yhs-001&type=type9043493-spa-796-84469¶m1=796¶m2=84469&p=Medicen%20Cure%20alls%20in%20the%20early%20days