How can I get more followers and improve my sales?

[snvintage]

I stopped selling in 2008 and 9 months ago, my husband and I started selling again.  How can I improve?  How do you get more followers?  What is a billboard?  What kind of video do you put in your store?  Does it help?  We sell vintage and antique, which is slower than most, I know, but we are part time and retired, so it is our lane.

SN Vintage.

[estate_echoes]

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@snvintage wrote:

I stopped selling in 2008 and 9 months ago, my husband and I started selling again.  How can I improve?  How do you get more followers?  What is a billboard?  What kind of video do you put in your store?  Does it help?  We sell vintage and antique, which is slower than most, I know, but we are part time and retired, so it is our lane.

SN Vintage.

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Followers are going to be gained by having popular items, lower prices and or more visibility. 

I see a link to your store, maybe also having a link to the same category may help. 

Try promoted listings at a low percentage. This may increase organic views 

Refresh older listings by ending and relisting.

Link to store on social media.

[kensgiftshop]

I think of followers and watchers the same, they are just numbers.

Unless the item makes sounds or moves, I think videos are a waist of time.

I think older items are getting harder to sell, because people don't collect like they used to.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Since 2009, the interest in much of what you sell has declined.

Many of us who have accumulated items are faced with no interest in what we own.

To be honest, there is little you can do but list more items and hope to find a surviving buyer. Even lowering your prices might not spur sales unless they are low enough for some other seller who has a buyer to profit on it.

Followers or watchers do so because they have seen something which interests them, show more items and improve the odds.

[mam98031]

@snvintage 

I think one of the simplest and easiest things to do is run a Mark Down Sale.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling-tools/discounts-manager?id=4094

You don't need to give away your stuff, but set a percentage you are willing to give off, I often use 10-15%.  Then I select the listings I want to be on sale.  You don't have to do all of them.  But this is the easiest and quickest way to potentially bring in more sales.

Send Offers.  You can see all the listings you can send offers on easily from the Seller Hub.  Check it a few times a week and send out offers.  Again you don't need to go crazy with a discount, just something you can live with.  They sometimes don't bear any sales, but then other times they do.  It is usually worth the time to send them out.

https://www.ebay.com/sh/lst/active?offers=sendNewOffers&source=filterbar&action=search

That is just a couple things you can do without moving into some Promoted Listing tool.

[estate_echoes]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@snvintage 

I think one of the simplest and easiest things to do is run a Mark Down Sale.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling-tools/discounts-manager?id=4094

You don't need to give away your stuff, but set a percentage you are willing to give off, I often use 10-15%.  Then I select the listings I want to be on sale.  You don't have to do all of them.  But this is the easiest and quickest way to potentially bring in more sales.

Send Offers.  You can see all the listings you can send offers on easily from the Seller Hub.  Check it a few times a week and send out offers.  Again you don't need to go crazy with a discount, just something you can live with.  They sometimes don't bear any sales, but then other times they do.  It is usually worth the time to send them out.

https://www.ebay.com/sh/lst/active?offers=sendNewOffers&source=filterbar&action=search

That is just a couple things you can do without moving into some Promoted Listing tool.

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Do markdowns bump you in search results? Maybe the lower rices help

After 6 days of no sales... I implemented someone's suggestion of a very low fixed rate promotion. The surge in organic views was noticeable.

[aerospacesurplusnett]

promote all your listings to the MAX, do pay per click, offsite ads, store ads and maximum your campaigns, in the end you will see more sales but your fees and costs will triple

[redlinear]

Pay eBay more

[kensgiftshop]

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@estate_echoes wrote:

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Do markdowns bump you in search results? Maybe the lower rices help

After 6 days of no sales... I implemented someone's suggestion of a very low fixed rate promotion. The surge in organic views was noticeable.

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Has it helped with sales any?

I tried promoted listings when they first come out, years ago and did notice more views, but didn't seem to make any difference on sales.

I sold more without promoting, then I did with it.

[gloryglorygifts]

I don't make videos to put on here. I make them to post on my social media accounts, with a link to the store. In the comments on fakebook, I put links to the direct products mentioned in the video.  I introduce new and old products and generally just try and have a little fun with them and provide a little knowledge. i make them public so everyone can see them and shutdown the comments to friends only. Those do work for me.  

Good luck to you and welcome back! 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I believe the billboard is just the banner at the top of your store, but it doesn't look like you have a store.  

Followers have to come on their own, you can't really do anything to get more followers except to have stuff that people want to watch.  Also, followers really have nothing to do with your sales.  It's just a shortcut for people who like your stuff to be able to quickly get to your listings.  They don't help with search standing, they don't get you any special perks, they just kind of sit there LOL.  I do have a store & I haven't done the video & don't plan to.  I also don't do videos for my items.  I honestly have never looked at anyone's store video.  Not that many buyers even shop via stores, I don't think there's any advantage to having a video.  If I were to do one, I would probably talk about how long I've been in business & I would try to differentiate myself from the competition.  I don't think it hurts anything, but I also don't think people are going to seek it out & watch it.  

As others have mentioned, you could try promoting your listings.  Will cost you a little more, will probably increase views, but whether or not it increases sales would be the key.  Unfortunately there just are not many people interested in what you're selling, as the new generations don't value the same things the older generations did. 

[12345jamesstamps]

In your titles...state what the actual item is.

Are you selling a 'vintage' or a 'Fenton...'

'Fenton should be the first word and leave out vintage.

Most buyers have common sense and can see a photo and know it is vintage or rare...

Work with your titles...

'Rare'...'Hand-blown' I suggest putting words like that in descriptions and conditions.

Just a few ideas.

[powell-collectibles]

For me, followers should come with time. When I follow a seller, it is because he’s done a good job – good listing, accurate description, reasonable cost, etc.

[estate_echoes]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

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@estate_echoes wrote:

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Do markdowns bump you in search results? Maybe the lower rices help

After 6 days of no sales... I implemented someone's suggestion of a very low fixed rate promotion. The surge in organic views was noticeable.

---

Has it helped with sales any?

I tried promoted listings when they first come out, years ago and did notice more views, but didn't seem to make any difference on sales.

I sold more without promoting, then I did with it.

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I believe it did help with sales. 6 days of no sales. Then promoted a couple hundred listings at 5% and had 2 to 3 sales everyday for 6 days. There wasn't much increase in promoted views. But a huge jump in organic. I do link my store and similar categories.

[estate_echoes]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

In your titles...state what the actual item is.

Are you selling a 'vintage' or a 'Fenton...'

'Fenton should be the first word and leave out vintage.

Most buyers have common sense and can see a photo and know it is vintage or rare...

Work with your titles...

'Rare'...'Hand-blown' I suggest putting words like that in descriptions and conditions.

Just a few ideas.

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Hard

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

In your titles...state what the actual item is.

Are you selling a 'vintage' or a 'Fenton...'

'Fenton should be the first word and leave out vintage.

Most buyers have common sense and can see a photo and know it is vintage or rare...

Work with your titles...

'Rare'...'Hand-blown' I suggest putting words like that in descriptions and conditions.

Just a few ideas.

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With some items that they still make , when I want the old version I often search with the word "vintage" to try and filter out the newer items. But as you said, probably not that necessary with fenton.

But of course with such a horrible search engine it's hard to tell what is best to do