Local Pickup Thoughts

[mountainmommie]

I am moving out of state so my current listings are not indicative of what I'm about to ask ... but, before I choose to move some of my inventory ...

I am doing a very good turnaround on local pickup items OFF eBay. I have zero interest in local pickup ON eBay. I have items I've listed in the past that sit for a long time and then sell quickly on other sites through pickup.

Some people will say ... well, go sell 'em over there then. But what are others' thoughts regarding why this would be happening? Do buyers not search for local pickup on eBay? Do buyers not search certain items for local pickup on eBay? Does eBay not do a good job of marketing local pickup? I thought maybe it's a regional thing, but I've lived in 3 states the past 5 years and local pickup always does well for me other places too. Is it an income thing?

The exposure we get on eBay is by far more vast (duh) so why don't the same buyers who find us on XYZ find us here?

In the end I guess it doesn't matter -- sold is sold. But I gotta say, I am perplexed.

[pburn]

Is the "OFF eBay" site your using a local/regional site? Or is it national/international as well?

[mountainmommie]

They are sites that offer services nationally but allow buyers to drop down into local listings. Kraig and his list are not where I do my best off eBay business. I'd say ... third.  My best one is definitely a site that allows you to search local but utilizes the Book of Face to spread the word about its site.

I don't think I would say any service/company that you as a seller would not know of.

[mountainmommie]

And before I get kicked for talking about other sites ... we're never going to be able to compete over here for sales like this unless we can actually talk about the pros and cons of other experiences.

[mountainmommie]

I guess my point with my last comment is ... it isn't one site that I do overwhelmingly well at. I think it's less about other places and more about eBay. What are we missing over here with local pickup?

[mudshark61369]

@mountainmommie,

  "I think it's less about other places and more about eBay. What are we missing over here with local pickup?".

Right off the bat, I would say a filter button at the top results pages for Local Pickup items. They have ones for Auctions & BIN items.  If they added that in combination with the "distance from" filter, then maybe more people would look for local pick up items.

On eBay Motors at the top of searches for Vehicles, along with Make, Model Year is a drop down distance menu that pre-fills a person's Zip.  Most listings in Motors are local pick up, so the programing is there.