People remove my items from their watch list after I send them offers

[subet-3]

Or so it seems. And they never bite, out of the dozens of watchers I did have. I used to sell on EBay back in 2020, and business was never this slow. Is there something I’m missing, as in, is there a better time of day or of the week to send offers? Supposedly Sundays are supposed to be the busiest day of the week on the site, and I had one very small sale today, made even smaller by EBay’s fee increase for sellers. 

[onefootflipper]

A few things, don't hold the cards. You don't need a scanner, a lot of card sellers use a mounted document camera like an ipevo siggi HD Plus or similar.

Second, you are charging package shipping on cards under $20 that can go standard envelope for under $1.  You will get zero sales on those cards.

This video shows how to pack for standard envelope.

https://youtu.be/f9SPX370_IE

In the card world people normally say "auto" and not "autographed", and the two words do not forward to each other in the search.

Finally, your extremely segregated price points leads me to believe you are either guessing prices or researching based of listed cards and not sold ones. Research off solds, if there isn't one, then use the closest one you can find as a guideline.

[selsa84]

Send offers as soon as you're able to. Don't wait because they may lose interest. 

[sin-n-dex]

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@ajs_coins_and_alchemy wrote:

Seeing your hand in the pics, and you holding the items, as well as your constantly changing and very "busy" backgrounds, both those things scream "unprofessional" to me. I literally went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and paid $5 for some clean nice black velvet for a backdrop for my coins. I like it. Everyone is different. But your hands as well as your computer/desk/table/counter or whatever I see in the backgrounds don't seem to be helpful.

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I went to take a look, because I'm someone who chooses to use a very busy loud blanket for my background on most of my items.

Yeah, the scenery in the room is pretty busy and very distracting, definitely not intended to be the background, it just is.

I defend busy backgrounds under most circumstances because my busy loud background is how people doing a search and scanning photos know that I'm selling something, my listing jumps off the page (for returning buyers that is... I'm memorable that way). I have less busy backgrounds for certain things (like stamps and banknotes) where you don't want the busy to distract from the busy thing you're photographing. Seeing as how my coins are in holders, I don't worry too much about the busy black and gold weave around the holder.

C.

[mam98031]

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@annadryl wrote:

It's very possible, in fact it may have been a reminder of something they forgot was even on the list. I got an offer for some shipping supplies I was watching (I forgot, no longer needed) and it was time to get in there and clean up that list. Don't take it personally. Very few watchers are actually buyers, even with discount offers. Good luck~

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That is a guess.  It may be true, but none of us have any way to tell if it is true or not.  We can't see who the watchers are.

[reallynicestamps]

Watchers watch.

Viewers view.

All watchers and all viewers are members who did not buy.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@annadryl wrote:

It's very possible, in fact it may have been a reminder of something they forgot was even on the list. I got an offer for some shipping supplies I was watching (I forgot, no longer needed) and it was time to get in there and clean up that list. Don't take it personally. Very few watchers are actually buyers, even with discount offers. Good luck~

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That is a guess.  It may be true, but none of us have any way to tell if it is true or not.  We can't see who the watchers are.

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I think you misunderstood the meaning there. They didnt mean buyers vs sellers. They meant those who will buy vs those who will not buy (just watch).

Don't need to see "who" the watchers are, just know that many watchers inevitably will not buy. Hard to convert a "watchet" into a "buyer".

[yuzuha]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

Remember that once you have sent a watcher an offer, they do not receive any further offers on that item.

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Honestly, that's one thing I wish eBay would change as both a seller AND a buyer. Just because I don't accept an offer today doesn't mean I wouldn't accept it a month or two down the line if sent to me again.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

Remember that once you have sent a watcher an offer, they do not receive any further offers on that item.

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Honestly, that's one thing I wish eBay would change as both a seller AND a buyer. Just because I don't accept an offer today doesn't mean I wouldn't accept it a month or two down the line if sent to me again.

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Sounds reasonable that a buyer who maintains the item on watchlist should become eligible (again) each time item re-lists (every 30 or 31 days) ...

If its b/c you viewed multiple times or added to cart, then no. But if you keep item in watchlist, you should be eligible again. If someone argues it amounts to spam b/c multiple offers, i argue remove the item from your watchlist b/c you must not be interested if you consider it spam!

[downunder-61]

 I used to sell on EBay back in 2020, and business was never this slow.

2020 was an outlier - I think all sales boomed on all online venue's, obviously as people could not, for the most part, leave their homes, so not a good year to compare to.

In saying that, yes, eBay is, I think, at an all time low for a lot of people.

[mam98031]

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@downunder-61 wrote:

 I used to sell on EBay back in 2020, and business was never this slow.

2020 was an outlier - I think all sales boomed on all online venue's, obviously as people could not, for the most part, leave their homes, so not a good year to compare to.

In saying that, yes, eBay is, I think, at an all time low for a lot of people.

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Oh yes.  Sad days do to the Pandemic with all the deaths and shut downs in 2020 & 2021.

But for online sales, for me, it was AWESOME.  For me in continued through the first quarter of 2023, then dropped off the edge.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

@sin-n-dex 

It is too bad that we cannot view your impressions and views, and compare then to sellers who sell similar items and use white backgrounds impressions and views, to validate our beliefs that listings with busy backgrounds get fewer clicks.

Certainly that is the belief of online marketeers who place ads.

[sin-n-dex]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

@sin-n-dex 

It is too bad that we cannot view your impressions and views, and compare then to sellers who sell similar items and use white backgrounds impressions and views, to validate our beliefs that listings with busy backgrounds get fewer clicks.

Certainly that is the belief of online marketeers who place ads.

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I can probably post a screen cap, but then you'd need to find someone with similar items and a plain background to see if your theory is correct that I get fewer clicks.

It's possible newer buyers are less likely to click, but 75% of my business is repeat business, and many of them decide they want something and search, and buy mine when it comes up in the search.

Another thing is that photos with plain white backgrounds (or background removed) are sometimes flagged as stock photos or drop shipping, and the unique background is like a watermark. Since I can't actually watermark my photos or put text in them (against the rules), I use a unique background to identify it as mine.

C.

[ohabanero]

As a buyer only maybe I can shed some light on this phenomenon. So I place tons of items in my watch list and have to regularly go cleaning it out because I decide I am not interested in these things after all. However when a seller sends an offer that i either don’t like or decide at that time I’m not really interested anyway I’ll frequently just unwatch it from the item listing page where I ended up after opening the seller offer message. Convenient to just remove that item then and there so it’s gone already when I go to clean out my watch list which is something I put off because it takes extra time to do that. Most of the time it’s because I was just  “window shopping” anyway but often times it’s also because sellers think that if they offer 10 percent or something off an item that will push the watcher to buy but many items are open to best offer and as a buyer I want a lot more off than most of the offers I get. Hence I figure if that’s all you’re offering off then I’ll pass. In my experience I’m better off offering 25 or 30 percent off before I get an offer and most of the time a seller won’t bite on that size discount after they’ve offered me 5 or 10 percent. so hope that helps. 

[ohabanero]

As stated I’m not a seller so I don’t know how complicated it is to message a watcher or if it’s even possible but I believe it is possible and as a buyer I think I would be more likely to end up making a purchase if I got a message instead of, or in addition to an offer telling me to make an offer of my own. That is a door opener to wheel and deal vs just get an offer for example 10 percent on a 20 dollar item is only a 2 dollar discount. So I’d suggest making sweeter offers or just message your watcher and say hey make me an offer on this. ( THEN you can see where your buyer is at and work from there.) On another note if you are not leaving “make offer” an option then that’s a closed door as well. Big retailers jack their prices way up so they can offer huge discounts. Buyers love to think they got a lot of money off. It seems like a no brainer to figure out what’s going on but it WORKS! LOL

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.