Postcards

[findakeepa]

Hi, I would really appreciate some help with this question. I just started selling again on eBay. So it’s a new learning experience since covid. In the past when I had quite a few watches on my items I usually received more than one bid. Now I can get 100 views with 5 watchers and no bids. Not just one a few items. Most of them. Looked at listing and shipping prices and I’m in the ballpark on both. My past feedback was 100%. I don’t just take a picture I give a complete description of the condition of every postcard. Someone told me that bidders copy your pictures and then don’t have to bid. Is that why I see some sellers using a watermark. I had one person not pay and eBay wanted me to file a nonpayment but I’m not doing it. This is a difficult time and I don’t know what’s going on in their life. Only watchers and not enough bidding is making me think about not selling anymore. Just retired in October because my job had so many people with COVID so I need to do something. All the best. Appreciate any help. Stay safe. Thanks so much 

[coolections]

You have two days left. Very few people will bid before the last second of an auction. Watchers are just watching your postcards and will decide the last day if they actual want it. With that said, postcards are not a real good item to auction with so many out there listed on Ebay. It may be best when your auctions end, to change the format to BIN on those that don't sell this time around.

[southern*sweet*tea]

There's a lot more competition now than there was just a few years ago. Everyone and his brother sells here now.

There are currently over seven million postcards listed here.  Unless you have something hot, trendy and popular it takes some time to be seen and to sell collectible items. You're selling in a crowded category to a limited interest group, so it will take a while to sell something.

List fixed price, or fixed price with best offer. A lot of buyers don't bother with auctions anymore, they'd just rather buy an item and be done with it. Unless you have a following, auctions should be reserved for items that are truly rare, hard to find, or special in some way. (and even then there's no guarantee of bidding.)

As to the unpaid items - Ebay gives a buyer 48 hours to pay. After that 48 hours is up, file an unpaid item dispute and close it out 96 hours later. That gets your fees back. If you don't, you're paying for deadbeats. Buyers know they need to pay. If there is something going on in their lives that they can't pay for things they buy, they don't need to be buying in the first place, and you certainly don't need to be paying for that.

It's good to be empathetic, but don't let that empathy take money out of your pocket.

[findakeepa]

Thanks so much. Really appreciate the quick response. Only 8 out of 106 sold so maybe I’ll try it. All the best 

[findakeepa]

Thanks so much. Really appreciate your help and it makes a lot of sense. Going to try it and will also get my fees back. Never thought of that. All the best 

[maxine*j]

I agree with coolcollections.  Think about using fixed price listings because I believe that, in general, buyers are far less interested in auctions than they once were.

[funkyfreshmike.2013]

Watchers could be other sellers waiting to see if your item sells and for how much - don't put too much weight into it. As far as people who don't pay on time - reach out to them and see what's up. I give them an extra day or two for jumping on a UPI. 

[annadryl]

It might greatly help to identify the stamp(s) used in the title of your listings. Something like "#105 1c Victoria (1880)". This would draw in the whole other stamp crowd that is also interested in the cancels, markings and usage. They may be very common stamps but this will get a lot more views, click-throughs, watchers and sales. The research takes time but may bring in buyers from other categories. Research info is online and in the Reference section at any library. Good luck~

*edit* Fixed price might work better here as auctions aren't as big a thing any more, especially around the Holidays. I'd probably try both.

[m60driver]

Most postcards, an oversaturated market on Ebay,  don't sell for much if they sell at all.  And your shipping is high for an item that can easily be shipped in an envelope for  one stamp.  You can make some money selling postcards on Ebay but only if you buy in bulk for very small amounts per card.

[duncanvr]

I have 436 collectors following my ebay store, and countless other ebay members that buy from me so I can run auctions and expect bids. You have zero following your store which means your postcards have to be found one at a time by collectors among thousands of other ebay sellers selling postcards. Some of those sellers have thousands of postcard listings and have a following. With no following you have to have quite special cards for them to sell or start common ones at 99 cents to get a bid from guys willing to spend next to nothing for them. Its very hard the postcard market is saturated. I have had luck with old Asian postcards from the early 1900s. But most anything else is a hard sell. You may possibly sell the 5 with watchers if they sniped them. All the others you would be better off putting them on BIN. Apart from that you don't have enough listed to compete with the bigger postcard stores. But good luck and I hope some sell for you.

[maros9416]

I think your keywords could be tweaked, perhaps not for more views but for the person who is going to pay $8 per card. Can you name the exact streets or other characteristics that a specific collector would be looking for? It seems to me that people that are nostalgic for a place or type of building are the ones that will appreciate the card the most, and pay the highest...Postcards are a long term selling item, definitely they should all be BIN, with a link in your listing that brings the buyer to view the rest of your listings with one click.

[refried.jeans]

Thomas Sowell is a good source of common sense.

[annadryl]

Undead Thread.

[lis331]

I used to pay 50 cents per vintage postcard on Ebay, now the price are through the roof for a single one. I get it that you have charged at least $1 to break even, but since there are so many duplicate postcards on eBay, why are postcards going anywhere from $3-4 to $20+? A lot of the super expensive postcard are even that rare or special!

I also don’t get where the sellers are getting all the postcards that haven’t been canceled or written on. Did people have hordes of unused old postcards & now they are in the open market?

if I’m going to buy a vintage postcard, I’d much prefer postcards that have been canceled & have a message on them.

thank you 

[lis331]

I meant to say “a lot of expensive postcards *aren’t* even rare or special!”