With the number of sellers and listings that eBay hosts daily, OF COURSE it is impossible to be high on the page daily... most of us notice that there is a certain amount of *churning* of the heap so that many/most get a chance to be seen a bit better.. for a short period, and then it's somebody else's turn. Which means Gotta' make the most of that opportunity.
I don't use promoted listings or pay Google shopping, nor social media, etc.
I do take excellent photos, which seems to be the first thing buyers look at as they browse down the gallery. The good photos will bring sellers a lot of views! And that's the first step. Get them to come on in! Listing titles are good ones, so hopefully inviting to shoppers. And PRICES are great! MY stores are definitely where you want to shop!
Now that I'm back in action again after the last few months, I make sure I put up some brand new listings every single day, but not spread out over all the accounts. Concentrate on a couple at a time. Many buyers will click into those *New Listing* appearances and search for them daily. So get them looking in on what you've put up today. Often, they'll also glance down at what else you have listed, just out of curiousity, and sometimes you'll get extra sales just from that. They find something they weren't looking for, but... like it and buy it. Those daily New Listings are a way to get yourself front and center somewhere every day! (..and that helps move out some of that old inventory that's been sitting around too long.)
Have more than one selling account.. even several. It seems to really help me. That churning that ebay seems to do seems to mean that while a few of my selling accounts may not be getting top billing right now, a couple of others ARE! So I feel like it helps keep at least some of my inventory being shown well and given very high page placement at all times. Stuff from this account for awhile, and then stuff from that account will be given some time in the sun.
I rarely deal in OOAK, other than original paintings, and those are just waiting for not just a buyer who wants original works, but who also likes THAT one best, so those are always a waiting game. Otherwise, much of what I deal in is in competition with the same items from other sellers.
I don't have to pay much for what I deal in, so that there is some pretty good profit in the resale to make it worthwhile to me. The part of the country I live in isn't a high cost-of-living area, so second-hand merchandise is cheap to acquire. And, again, I don't believe in holding onto stuff to squeeze out the last penny from it. I have the same goal for everything I list: Flip it Fast! Get a decent profit out of it and keep it rolling! Price it to sell and move it out! While another seller is holding out for the last $5 he decides he has to have, I'm selling eight of those same things for less, but reaping a quick and fat-wallet profit while he's still waiting for that last $5.
It used to be that eBay was where a buyer came to find that *rare* item. Then as everyone and their uncle started selling here, checking out grandma's attic, we found out that what was considered rare... wasn't. They were all over out there. Prices didn't hold, and they couldn't be artificially forced to remain high simply by holding out. Value always seems to find its level, so holding out is a fool's choice, in my opinion. In this day and age of the internet and eBay, good results seem to call for moving your inventory quickly, over and over and over. I think that works best.
If one area of merchandise doesn't work for you.. you can't find it at low enough prices to make it work or whatever, find something to deal in where you can make some MONEY on it!!!
Good luck to us all. We all get to work our businesses as we want to, but these are some of the things that seem to work best for me right now. (Until eBay or e-commerce moves on to something else...)
