Lots of fish, yet no bites! HELP!

[nars_collectibles]

Hey all. I am fairly new so I expected low sales at first but seriously disappointed so far. I have a lot of very good deals on coins and vintage books and I'm selling ALL WAY UNDER even what most on eBay are selling them for. Yet, it's like my store doesn't exist. Should I use my invisibility for good or for evil? lol Seriously though, any tips? I've spent hours uploading very detailed pictures and descriptions, etc. I've tried both auction and Buy It Now. I've sold a whopping 4 items. 

[coolections]

This is Ebay and it is open to everyone. When you cannot stand and compete in this competitive market it time for change. Also you do not have to ask a question here to get a response to your reply. Everyone has an opinion.

[tunicaslot]

No one is missing your point - but if you come to an open forum to give an opinion or comment - you have to expect replies - that's why it's called a discussion. If you are not open to discussing the issue than what's the point?

Big stores certainly want to get rid of their inventory but even they have a cost point where they won't just give it away to the public - they either donate the items and take the full cost off their taxes or they hold some of the inventory on the clearance racks and continually mark up and mark down until someone buys it.

[luckythewinner]

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@nars_collectibleswrote:

I have a lot of very good deals on coins and vintage books and I'm selling ALL WAY UNDER even what most on eBay are selling them for. 

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When you say what most "are selling " them for, are you talking about asking prices on current listings, or realized prices on sold listings? 

And when you say what "most" are selling them for, are you saying you don't have the lowest prices? 

[ted_200 · Accepted solution]

I suspect he meant "selling for" = asking prices.

Since I was last here he's sold a couple more coin items (including a nickel at 99¢ + Free), a couple of books, and has bids on 3 items ending in the next couple of days.  '64-D Quarter is currently at $3.15.  Further out, he's got a couple of bids on the Buffalo Nickel lot.

I don't know anything about the books, but he's got a bid on one of those too.

[lewisburggold]

It will take some time.  You just need more items listed.  Best regards

[southern*sweet*tea]

I don't know anything about coins or the coin market, so I won't go there.

I can tell you that vintage books can and do sell, but it takes A LONG TIME to sell them. The right person has to come along who wants that particular book in that particular condition. It may take a week, a month, a year or more.  When selling old books you have to have a HUGE amount of patience.  As to listing more, it makes sense, because the more you have listed at any point in time, the greater the chance of someone seeing what they want (and hopefully buying it).

[rschissler]

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@fine_findwrote:
I think everyone is missing the point as to my comment. I wasn't asking any questions and therefore didn't deserve an answer. Those asking questions do deserve answers and your time would be better spent helping them instead of getting upset with me over my comments. But to clarify, I do stand by what I said. We pay for eBay to supply a safe place where individuals can sell there items in competition with each other, and now we are having to sell our items in direct competition with eBay regardless of what you want to call them or how FEW you say there are. As for researching the prices, these stores do play a role in lowering the prices as it is their job to move items quickly and in order to do so keeps lowering the price on items until they sell whereas an individual selling the same item would not necessarily lower their price had it not been for eBay's Valet/Consignment selling for less dropping the prices on researched prices. They have a direct impact on those prices. I'm right about that.

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Those who are letting eBay sell their stuff as Valet/Consignment are obviously OK with the prices  they are getting, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it.  Sure it may have an impact, though extremely minor I'll bet, but it's still  a free market for buying and selling.  

[muttlymob]

I have a lot of very good deals on coins and vintage books and I'm selling ALL WAY UNDER even what most on eBay are selling them for.

On some of those older books in not so good condition, I can easily find the same books in similar or better condition for under $5, including shipping, on a major bookselling website.  Your prices are not in line with others available.

Research is important.  On eBay you need to look at actual selling prices not just listing prices.  With books you should look at outside bookselling sites to see the asking prices and the availability.  Not all old books are valuable.  Even genuinely rare books are not necessarily valuable.  Sometimes they are rare because no one wanted them then and they don't want them now.

[thatsallfolks]

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@fine_findwrote:
How many? Too many. Perhaps being you think there are only a few, you could tell me how many there are. But when it takes the ability to list 100,00 per month and how quickly an item must sell, then that becomes a problem for all sellers here, especially the smaller stores that rely on these stores to make ends meet. I remember when they first came out as a test, and they were nothing like they are now.

As for being obsessed, not al all, just enlightening the others so they can ask other questions. 🙂 As a keeper of the statistics, exactly just how many do they have?

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I'm only aware of a very few Valet sellers. Since you claim there are many, the burden is on you to point out who they are. We don't do snipe hunts here.

And the ability to LIST 100k/month doesn't say anything about how many of those listings actually sell, or for what price. The Valet sellers accept items in a limited number of categories, and they don't accept low-priced stuff, because it's not worth their time.

[nars_collectibles]

Thank you for your response. Regarding being able to find the same books in "not-so-good" condition...I think that's actually my selling point - my books are in better condition. I guess if someone wants to buy a sub-standard book then yeah.

[nars_collectibles]

Thank you ted. Since I posted this, I have actually been doing quite well! And yes, I meant "selling for". I know there's a learning curve to this selling thing. Hopefully, I'm learning well. 🙂

[fine_find]

If you are a seller on here and you are okay with the value of your items decreasing lower and lower over time then that's fine with me. However, I would bet it is not okay with the majority of sellers here and I'm one of those.

I give up on you. There's just no getting through to some people. You're right even when you're wrong, right?

[fine_find]

The burden isn't open me, you are the one that stated there were very few. I just said "too many". In my opinion, any competition with eBay is too many.

You are right about eBay and its ability to cherry-pick what they sell. I'm sure a lot of sellers would love to have that ability too. But they aren't eBay and cannot afford to have stuff sent to them so they could go through it and choose only the best for themselves to sell. Nope, they cannot. You have to be really BIG to be able to bring stuff to yourself and then return what you don't want and keep the rest. My, my how sweet it is to be bigger than everyone else.

As for not selling what they keep, my money is on eBay to sell 100,000 per month just as they say they can. Otherwise, that number wouldn't be there and that's where the standards and prices are lowered, and the researched prices. Ta-da!

[muttlymob]

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@nars_collectibleswrote:
Thank you for your response. Regarding being able to find the same books in "not-so-good" condition...I think that's actually my selling point - my books are in better condition. I guess if someone wants to buy a sub-standard book then yeah.

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Sorry, but in my opinion books that are torn, stained, missing covers are not selling points.