What kind of stats do you look for on item categories?
I'm doing a little research in my primary category of sale, and I'm trying to determine how to make use of this research. This account is for my boss to sell extra inventory we have laying around, but I want to do that...y'know, effectively. If there's no market, it doesn't really matter if something is technically worth good money.
So, I'm looking at research, and wondering how effective this can really be for determining whether to make new listings, give the ones I have some tlc, or take them down altogether.
Let's take the stats gotten from looking up "Sunbrella" in the Crafts > Fabrics Category:
I have no idea what some of these stats mean...in practice, not in theory. Is a 20% sell-through rate bad? Or is that not an issue when taking other stats, like the high end of the price range into account? Does that price range complicate things? Do most of you not even bother looking at these statistics? I don't really know!
I've gotten some great advice here, so I hope it's okay if I trouble you guys for a little more!
fabrics24
OP4 months agoThank all of you for the replies so far! I'm really glad I asked; hearing the stats here aren't very accurate definitely clears a lot up. I'm glad to hear I can look at sold items and get an idea of what moves and how quick!
I'll have to test out how low I can feasibly go, and try to move as much inventory as I can. Once I get rid of a lot of this stuff, it'd be awesome to invest in some more valuable product, but right now I need to gather feedback and sell what I have.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months agoI agree with @caldreamer that the Ebay stats are not useful or relevant to your sales strategy.
You are selling remnants.
In my experience, people who buy remnants buy them because they are of the size they require, and are cheaper than buying the exact amount of fabric a particular project requires.
They often will choose a fabric which would not be their choice if they were willing to pay the full retail price.
To be diplomatic, you are targeting your sales to "frugal buyers".
The most important criteria for making the most sales, is likely to be offering the remnants at the lowest price you are willing to accept. You could simply test the effect on your sales by reducing the price within a preset range to see how far you need to go to see enough additional volume to offset the reduced margin.
mcdougle4248
·4 months ago@fabrics24
After taking a quick look at your listings, I narrowed the research criteria using the filters to reflect what I see you have listed and selected Sold.
It looks like you are the only seller who has sold listings with Condition: Used, Fixed Price, Price Range: $8-$30 in the past 30 days. I suggest you play around with the filters to get a broader idea of what is selling.
For myself, I watch my sell-through rate compared to other sellers selling handmade Christmas ornaments in the same condition and price range as my listings. If I see my sell-through rate dropping, I try to figure out the best action to improve it. For me, running a sale usually will do the trick
bashort
·4 months agoproduct research will always include a bunch of irrelevant items to the point of those stats are worthless in my opinion.
What I do is look at each sold listing in product research to find relevant matches and prices, then look at active offerings and then price somewhere in the midrange.
meme6253
·4 months agoIt's okay to come here as often as you need advice it is not a trouble, so feel free, I know nothing about fabrics, But I agree with caldreamer on this one,there tends to be a lot of inaccuracies with the stats,so you would be better off to check on similar sold items.
caldreamer
·4 months agoPersonally, I don't bother with EBAY stats as I find them wildly inaccurate and vague. They mix "brand new" with "used" items together so there information tends to be "way off".
In your case of selling specific type of fabric and color pattern (it would be better to check "sold item" to see if any sold and at "what price").