cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Need Help Please

Hi Everyone,

 First, let me introduce myself. I am Willy Wilson, I'm the Manager of Row's Books And Items.

 I hope you can help me out, my sells have been really slow. I've been advertising on eBay, Facebook, Twitter. During our Grand Opening Sale we sold 3 books during that hole week. My feedback has been good, traffic to my store has increased. We have over 120 books up. But no sales! You can see my traffic report that I added. I hope you can give me some ideas!

 

One more item, how can I change my store back to a new store? I've looked and can't find out how.

Message 1 of 8
latest reply
7 REPLIES 7

Need Help Please

Sorry I forgot to add my traffic report. Traffic.png (42 KB)

Message 2 of 8
latest reply

Need Help Please

Well, frankly, your choice of titles baffles me.

I'm shipping from Canada, so shipping cost is very important. Your listings have an average of $27-28USD ($35CDN) shipping cost.

That's because from the look of things they are coffee table books. Not only are these sold as gifts (not to people who buy them on purpose) but they tend to be large, heavy, and low information.

 

Pay attention to the books that sold.

Going only by feedback, there were three books on gardening, one on Mormon catechism, and one ebook on email selling .

Keep in mind that for secondhand bookstores, bestsellers aren't.

And any books (like the Time-Life series) that were sold by subcription have little or no secondary market.

 

You need to specialize.

On this ID a few years ago I was selling publications by the British North American Philatelic Society. These titles were extremely esoteric and had a small potential audience, but I was one of the two sources world wide. (The other was my husband. laughing) Although these were expensive, priced from $50 to $300, there was a demand and I did well with them. We sold the stock to a client when we retired and moved.

 

On another ID here, I sell vintage science fiction and fantasy, some theological criticism and some gay literature (on consignment from a friend who was financing his husband's immigration to Canada). Also Bescherelle.

FWIW, the religious titles have the worst customers. YMMV.

 

My advice is :

Specialize in something hard to find.

Pay attention to what titles sell and find more.

Don't be afraid to donate turkeys.

I found I needed to get my listings over 500 when I closed down for a couple of months while moving, to get back to where I was selling before retirement.

Books are slow sellers. I have sold books that I have had in stock for a decade. So watch what you pay, and how much you are spending in listing fees.

 

Oh yeah, social media.

I added Facebook to my advertising mix about a year ago.

Good thing-- it's free.

Bad thing-- it takes time.

Bad thing-- not a single sale or enquiry in a year.

 

 

 

 

Message 3 of 8
latest reply

Need Help Please

Thank you for your post.

Will try to look for items that you mentioned.


Below is to answer what you said, “Well, frankly, your choice of titles baffles me. I'm shipping from Canada, so shipping cost is very important. Your listings have an average of $27-28USD ($35CDN) shipping cost.”

 

I had a handling charge for international sales of, $2.00, it has been removed.

As far as shipping goes. All books are shipped by media mail, that’s the cheapest way to ship. I do my best to have the proper weight per book. Some books have the weight in the settings from the ISBN, for those that do not they get weighed so the proper weight or close to that weight is used.

Now as for our listings, most of those books are listings on eBay, they must sale. Pricing of books, I search eBay for those books that match the same condition as the book I’m up loading, of course the same title. Some times I can’t find the same condition as my book. What I do is, look for the highest price book that is above the condition of my book, then I find one that is below the contention, and price it fairly between this two prices, most of the time I’ll price it closer to the lower price book. If there is no books the are same or higher condition than mine, which does happen occasionally, I give it a fair price.


Thanks again for your post.

Message 4 of 8
latest reply

Need Help Please

There is no international media mail.

The cheapest international shipping is by USPS First Class International Parcel, which includes confirmation of delivery.

 

Some books have the weight in the settings from the ISBN, for those that do not they get weighed so the proper weight or close to that weight is used.

Eeek! Never ever trust the catalogue!!.

For a while there entering the ISBN for a particular edition of Anne of Green Gables brought up Item Specifics for Lady Chatterley's Lover.

And many titles have the same ISBN for multiple editions, including both hardcover and softcover.

You can buy a scale for very little. My own Starfrit weighs up to five kilos and cost less than $20 CDN on sale at Canadian Tire.

 

Your pricing on your titles is fine, it's the choice of titles that concerns me.

The price is less important than the number of the same title (and/or edition) being offered and much less important than the number of sales.

 

most of those books are listings on eBay, they must sale.

Sale is a noun. Sell is the verb.

And nope.

 

I mentioned Bescherelle. This is a relatively easy title for me to find, since most immersion students need a copy, but is hard to find and expensive in the States.  I can charge more than my average asking price for it and it doesn't stay in stock for long, especially in September.

There are only 36 copies of the French version on eBay and most of those are antiquarian. Only two are the schoolbook.

Niche titles move faster.

Technical titles move faster. (Either very up to date or very very old).

 

Your pricing system is sensible. As long as you are covering all your costs.

BTW, did I mention Addall.com?

This is an accumulator site for books. As a rule of thumb, if Addall has more than five pages of a title on offer, I don't try to sell it.  But you have to read the listings carefully.

 

 

Message 5 of 8
latest reply

Need Help Please

Thank you
Message 6 of 8
latest reply

Need Help Please

When I look for something to sell. I look up the item and see how many there are to sell already. I looked up scrapebooking books and there are 32,000. It is hard to sell an item with that many other ones in the same catagory. They get lost in all those books. It either has to be the cheaperst, hard to find, unique, and with so many online books, and info, people are not buying books like they used to. I used to buy a lot of books, but why, when the info is online.  Just my opinion. Hope you find a way to sell a lot. 🙂

Message 7 of 8
latest reply

Need Help Please

Overall, I believe it's been slow on e-bay and there is more competition then ever. Not just with books but with many other items, collectibles etc.. I believe people are buying what they need and not what they want, until the economy turns around. So the only suggestion I can make is to pay the xtra 2.00 for a bolder heading for your books, this will probably help people find your books quickly.. I don't mean everyone of them, but the books you feel will add more views to your site. and bring possible purchases..
Message 8 of 8
latest reply