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. 

[lookng2015]

You only have 26 items listed. That's a very small target to hit.

[fine_find]

As a new seller, I hate to be the one who burst your bubble but will. Here's how it works now on eBay. A buyer finds your item and is ready to buy, and then EBay shows all buyers before they make a purchase from you, the sellers who have better prices than you so they can pick the best price. With eBay now in direct competition with the sellers (consignment stores), they are giving stuff away and forcing you to do the same or not make a sell. They can give it away and make more off of it than by the fees they would get from you selling it for a higher price. These consignment stores move stuff through very quickly by reducing the price each time it is listed in order to make a sell within a month of first listing the item. Do you know what it takes to be a consignment store? The ability to list over 100,000 items per month. You read that correctly. Wouldn't you like to know how many stores they have like this? Oh, and by the way, they make more in fees from these stores than what regular sellers pay. So, these stores are not going anywhere, they are here to stay and it is the little stores that will have to find another way to sell their wares. What little profit I make goes to pay for the store subscription and fees. I find that I barely make that now. This is not the eBay we used to know and love. It is a mean machine that cares only about how much it can make and trust me, it is making it and without our help because it doesn't need us anymore. It figured out how to be the major seller as well. I don't know what else to tell you other than good luck because we all need it now.
CW

[lookng2015]

@fine_find
Please provide statistics on how MANY of these eBay consignment stores you believe are on the site. Because they are VERY few.

Now eBay showing buyers other stuff when they're about to purchase yours does happen, but they're not these consignment stores you're obsessed with.

[fine_find]

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?

[fine_find]

After a moment to ponder, I couldn't help but wonder, why are you defending eBay so aggressively?? All these sellers are asking for answers and you chose mine to respond to? Did you bother to take the time to read any of my other answers to the different sellers' questions or did you just choose to get rankled on this one?

[ted_200]

Well... you did good getting the money you got out of what you sold so far. 

Normally I'd suggest more descriptive titles and better keywords for those mixed lots of proof/mint singles, but you've got a basic supply-demand / price issue there anyhow.  Most of those sets sell for less than your price on 3 coins, and supply way exceeds the demand too.  That error dime appears to be post-mint damage, but it has a bid... that might or might not end up being a problem, I'd only be guessing.  You might get a taker on the Buffalo Nickel lot.  I'm not sure if you'll be lucky or sorry if sell the 1963 Nickel with one bid and Free Shipping.  The '64-D quarter listing will get bids and get past $3.00, but if it makes $4.00 I'd be a bit surprised.  I can buy BU '64-D quarters by the roll for about $3.25 each locally.

I move coin listings by selling everything as a 99¢ auction, but I suspect you might not like the results if you were to try it on a lot of that stuff. 

[ted_200]

You only have 26 items listed. That's a very small target to hit.

I rarely have that many listings active.  Coins in general will sell readily, but he's currently got problems with demand and price targeting.  A lot of that stuff is very common and has thin demand, it will have to be sold at a discount to get it to move quickly.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley

That's not going to work too well, at least not in this case...

[annadryl]

@kevin~

Your listings, pics and prices all look good. As mentioned, list A LOT MORE. I dunno about that consignment stuff, but the simple fact is that there is a ton of competition and that's just how it is.

A couple stray thoughts:

- Auctions rarely sell anymore. Those fun (and patient) bidding days are long gone. People want it fast now. I think all your sales were fixed price.

- Sales almost always happen on initial listings, not relists. Those get buried.

- O yeah, list more stuff!

Can't think of more, it's late. Good luck

[ted_200]

A couple stray thoughts:

- Auctions rarely sell anymore.

Actually, auctions sell quite well in the Coins categories - assuming we're talking about an actual auction, and not an over-priced BIN start price pretending to be an Auction.  There are some examples in my sold items. 

[ted_200]

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@lookng2015wrote:
@fine_find
Please provide statistics on how MANY of these eBay consignment stores you believe are on the site. Because they are VERY few.

Now eBay showing buyers other stuff when they're about to purchase yours does happen, but they're not these consignment stores you're obsessed with.

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He might be talking about the eBay Valet sellers. 

But in terms of what the OP is selling, those sellers are a very minor and non-competitive part of the eBay marketplace.  They do more harm by putting up ridiculous listings that drive actual coin buyers away from eBay than they do from the standpoint of drawing away any buyers from other sellers.

[annadryl]

Ted~

Aye, you might be right. I used to sell stamps (and just a few coins) and it seems to be more in the Collectible's market. Some would be more patient there 

[tunicaslot]

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@fine_findwrote:
After a moment to ponder, I couldn't help but wonder, why are you defending eBay so aggressively?? All these sellers are asking for answers and you chose mine to respond to? Did you bother to take the time to read any of my other answers to the different sellers' questions or did you just choose to get rankled on this one?

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She's not defending Ebay aggressively - just stating how it is. Many sellers come here full of anger because they don't bother to research the market before listing and pricing their items here. When you don't have a niche market and sell in oversaturated categories - you have much more competition.

[fine_find]

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.

[coolections]

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@ted_200wrote:

You only have 26 items listed. That's a very small target to hit.

I rarely have that many listings active.  Coins in general will sell readily, but he's currently got problems with demand and price targeting.  A lot of that stuff is very common and has thin demand, it will have to be sold at a discount to get it to move quickly.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley

That's not going to work too well, at least not in this case...

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That cannot be true. The OP like almost every other seller that starts these topics said his stuff is lower than everyone else's sold items.