How to sell an old listing??????

[princess1651]

Need some help from experts!  I sell china and crystal, some gorgeous pieces I have marked down to ridiculous prices and they still don't sell.  What should I do?  Take the listing down, reorder the pics and post it again? new price it?  any ideas helpful............I have a store because I also sell facial products and have for 10 years.  This other part 2 years and its mystifying all of a sudden with some pieces....

beth green

princess1651

[greenrockcards]

Hello Beth! 

There is much to unpack within your question and I will do my best to keep it clear and concise. 

If reposing an item, we would highly recommend ending the current item then clicking on "sell one like this" from your own listing.

- It will give you the option to transfer the photos to your new listing as well so make sure to take advantage of that.

-From there, make sure to change a few things in the listing to invoke a higher level of interest. Check out how the titles from the sold listings similar to yours are worded and incorporate that.

Besides those tips, one potential "set back" I see would be how different crystal, china, etc. is from your main sales (facial products). I would believe the majority of your customers are there for you facial products and it would be a far leap from facial product to fine china. With that being said, posting a larger amount of items in the same realm of fine china and crystal could not only help these items sell but add on a second revenue stream if you keep it active and consistent. 

-Brian K.
Sales Manager
Green Rock Card Connection

[patd3283]

China and crystal tend to sell better in the Fall - preparing for Thanksgiving & Christmas - if we can do that with family and friends this year.

[duncanvr · Accepted solution]

Check your titles in the listed category versus those other sellers who sell similar to your china and crystal. Try to match your titles closer to the ones at the top of the search results. Take out capitol letters in the titles. Are you using promoted listings? 4th Quarter is coming most likely your stuff will sell better towards Christmas. Run a store sale 15% off.

[chapeau-noir]

I agree with the fall/winter sales being better for china and crystal.  What I would do is pull all of your listings for now and re-photo all of them in a more 'natural' environment - both china and crystal can be a slow sale because there's only so much people need of these pieces, and you want to show WHY having them would be such a great addition to dining. 

The most persuasive presentations I've seen and the ones that show off the pieces the best are done in settings.  The crystal against black, for instance, as I've seen you do makes a clear picture, but it's taking the life out of the crystal - showing it sparkling in lamplight on a table might be better, with also close-ups.  The plate photos are clipped so closely that one can't see how it looks in 'life'.  Think about how they look best - the lighting, think 'still life' - it doesn't really take a lot of setup, it's just deciding how they look best.

I sold about 45 pieces of Cape Cod glass doing this and I am in NO WAY a glass/china specialist - I was selling it for someone else.  I just photo'd it the way I'd seen it displayed by the professionals.

So I would recast the photos and list for holiday season. 

[postingid7659]

When I go to live auctions where they sell the home contents the china doesn't typically sell for much. The one auctioneer often jokes to think skeet shooting, or at one house on the water the joke became skipping it across the water like people do with flat stones.  

It has to be fairly special for people to pay much for it.  

All you can do is set it up good until cancelled and let it run.  Once in a while you get a sale.  Changing pictures around and so on to keep it fresh may help too.

[moondogblues]

You do indeed have some gorgeous pieces...do you offer combined shipping?  I read the description and did not see that.  That might help you sell some of the crystal as your shipping seemed a bit high to me.  Not excessive but a wee bit high.

[liawrig.nq8rdwqa3]

Check to see how many listings are in that category.  I shy away from categories and/or brands that have thousands of listings.  Not worth it.  Unless, you have kitchenware that's unusual or historical. 

[penguins_dont_fly]

@princess1651 

I'm also a china and crystal seller.

I looked at your listings

Your titles need some work 😞

Get rid of "Mint" "Rare", "Beautiful" etc in your titles.

Titles are prime real estate and should only contain keywords that buyers actually search for.

The first 5 Words are Key

The best SEO is [Brand] [Model] [MPN] [Color] [Size] and then any descriptors that the buyer might search for,.

For Pottery & Glass, Model=Pattern and MPN=Piece

Lets take this listing:

MINT Rare Set of 8 Gorham Crystal French Cathedral 7 1/4" Water or Wine Goblets

Try:

Gorham French Cathedral Water Goblets 7.25" Set of 8 Wine Glasses

Use the Condition Description box. This makes sure that the exact condition of the item is upfront on both a regular computer and on the app.

Excellent Pre-Owned Condition: No Chips, Cracks, Scratches or Clouding.  They appear unused.

Use your Item Specifics ... add some of your own ... Height, Capacity, Country of Origin.

These specifics show upfront on the app.

Now ... your description is better than most ... but it's actually a little too long.  You need to get your info across to a buyer quickly. Too many words cause a buyer to just "skim" and not actually read the whole description. Don't bother with the company info or any other extraneous information.

Give Capacity on glasses ... that is something I learned way back in the beginning.  

Eight (8) Water Goblets from Gorham Crystal in their French Cathedral Pattern

Clear Cut Leaded Crystal with a Vertical and Thumbprint pattern that resembles a Cathedral window

7-1/4" Tall x 3-1/2" Diameter with a ??? Ounce Capacity

Excellent Pre-Owned Condition: No Chips, Cracks, Scratches or Clouding. They appear unused.

Combined shipping blah blah

Please contact me with any questions you may have.

A suggestion for your pictures ... again, better than most 🙂  Turn off your flash when taking pictures of crystal and glass.  Try to minimize glare and "hot spots" by using bright, but indirect lighting.

50 to 60% of my buyers purchase using a Mobile Device. That number just keeps increasing every year.  Look at your listings on the app to see what your buyers are seeing (or not seeing).

Finally ... our season is almost upon us 🙂  over 40% of my yearly sales happen in October and November 🙂

[penguins_dont_fly]

I wanted to add.

Google Shopping likes plain backgrounds.  So does eBay,

Another poster said something about "natural settings" ... keep the plain backgrounds  ... your item will do better in search and it is much easier for a buyer to see that there are no flaws on the pieces.

[penguins_dont_fly]

This is a very bad habit of mine ... I finish a post and then remember something I wanted to say 🙂

Consider breaking up larger sets into smaller quantities.  Nobody hosts big dinner parties anymore and I find that most of my buyers are just looking for replacements or additions to their existing sets.

Instead of 8 Goblets ... I would list those as 4 Sets of 2 (multi-quantity listing). You are more likely to get multiple buyers for a pair (or 2 pairs) rather than 1 buyer that needs 8.  

[burns4thewin]

Just as an FYI aside. The Bunnykins copyright is from 1938, not necessarily the age of the cup/mug so be careful with ascribing age to the year of copyright.

Also, are you positive those pieces described as America Brilliant actually are? That's a VERY  narrow niche window.

[penguins_dont_fly]

---

@burns4thewin wrote:

Just as an FYI aside. The Bunnykins copyright is from 1938, not necessarily the age of the cup/mug so be careful with ascribing age to the year of copyright.

Also, are you positive those pieces described as America Brilliant actually are? That's a VERY  narrow niche window.

---

I agree with this.

And the statement that "Antique glass does get bubbles the older it gets" ... that is just not true.  Glass does not reliquify to get bubbles as it gets older.  All bubbles are present at the time the glass is made.

[vintage-car-magazines]

The only thing I can suggest is to change your titles to move the most relevant terms first. For instance

MINT Rossetti SPRING VIOLETS Set/6 Cups and Saucers Hand Painted Japan

...doesn't get to what it is until the 36th character. If the title gets truncated....disaster. If the search is for Cups and Saucers then search may rank your listing as less relevant than other listing that start with those search terms.

Other things to consider regarding search...

Is Hand Painted more important than Occupied? Your item will not show up in a search for Occupied Japan.

Condition is generally not supposed to go in the title. I'm not sure I completely agree with that, especially if the condition is a major selling point. If you keep it in, move it to the end. Again, someone is more likely to search for Cups and Saucers than for Mint.

You can use & in place of And to save a couple characters. You can also eliminate the plural is you need characters for more important words as search will automatically include them.

Don't use ALL CAPS.

Perhaps this...with characters to spare.

Cup & Saucer Set 6 Rossetti Spring Violets Hand Painted Occupied Japan Mint 

[vintage-car-magazines]

Another thought....

Your description has a paragraph plus, before your get to describing the item. START with "How do you say stunning" and move the other stuff to the end.

START with trying to sell the item they're looking at THEN try to cross sell. 

I'd also consider just saying that you pack extremely well so the item gets there and leave out that it's the reason that the shipping may be high. Let them draw the connection rather than pointing out that it's high. 

If you have someone who wants it they'll click Buy. If you have someone who wants it and you tell them shipping is high, they're going to go back and check the cost first and consider if they still want it. It's particularly important, IMO, when the difference between actual postage and high shipping is about $2. You could leave that statement in, charge less than actual postage and some buyers will still agree, "yeah, that's kinda high." It's not a path I would take them down.