Sales Conversion Rates Question

[cb-boards]

We are in the process of trying to increase our sales conversion rates;  taking the ultimate end price that an item goes for in an auction out of the equation, does it make a difference ONLY with respect to the sales conversion rate whether there were 10 bidders or 1?

For example, if I list an item with a starting price of $9.89 and it gets 1 bid,  hypothetically might it be ultimately better if I were to set a lower price of $0.99 and get 10 bidders who bid the item to $9.88 as getting 10 bidders for an item has a more positive effect on my sales conversion rate then the $0.01 I would have made otherwise?  Or does the number of bidders in an an auction NOT make a difference towards the sales conversion rate & it is immaterial towards the rate regardless of whether you had 1 bidder or 100?       

[cb-boards]

Not really but thanks for the reply.

[bubbleman2010]

Low to no demand merchandise won't move no matter how many loss leaders items you use to increase your conversion rate. It all has to start with in demand if low to no demand and you're filing income taxes correctly donate it and take the write off if not filing taxes toss it in a dumpster...

[scstool · Accepted solution]

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@cb-boards wrote:

My question is whether or not the number of bidders in an auction impacts the sales conversion rates.  I don't see as to how it could possibly matter whether or not the auction is for a TV set, a set of tires, or a dress.

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After seeing this I have to change my answer a bit.

Number of bidders has no impact on sales conversion rate unless you consider the case where the number of bidders is zero.

If you have 1 bid you have 1 sales conversion.

If you have 1 million bids you have one sales conversion.

But it is meaningless unless you factor in price and more importantly profit. Figuring out profit is where it get's complicated.

Sort of makes you see how Government accounting works.

[cb-boards]

Thanks for the advice.  I don't mean for this to come off as rude but it is really irrelevant with respect to my question.

[cb-boards]

"Number of bidders has no impact on sales conversion rate unless you consider the case where the number of bidders is zero.

If you have 1 bid you have 1 sales conversion.

If you have 1 million bids you have one sales conversion."

Thanks!  That is all I needed to know.  I spoke to CR earlier and they were kind of evasive which is why I wanted to ask here.

[scstool]

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@cb-boards wrote:
For the sake of this question I am only concerned with the impact the number of bidders has on a sales conversion rate. Ultimately of course profit is what matters. This is self-evident.

If I can drive my sales conversion rates higher then this will enhance my visibility of the stuff I want to focus on and ultimately generate more sales and more profits. This is my end goal. I simply want to know if having an auction that attracts a lot of bidders has a more positive impact on my sales conversion rates then an auction with 1 bidder.

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OK, I see what you are getting at.

Visibility is different than conversion rate. What you are really trying to do is advertise through sales. In that case more bidders means more people looking at your product.

So my latest answer is more bidders will give you the same conversion rate but higher visibility.

It takes some skill with advertising, SEO,  and branding to convert the higher visibility into sales and profit. Something I can't offer much help with but maybe others can.

Then there is the Ebay search factor where sales affects search placement to consider. But that algorithm has not been deciphered yet.

[cb-boards]

I am fully aware that visibility is not the same as a conversion rate.  However a higher conversion rate generates greater visibility which, assuming there is demand for a product and it is well priced, generates  sales.  I am taking it 1 step at a time and focusing on getting my conversion rate higher; if the more bidders an item had would help drive these conversion rates higher then I would use lower prices on the auctions of the stuff I am just trying to unload quickly as I'm less concerned with getting an extra few bucks on an item that I don't intend to carry going forward as an item sold for $11.39 with 12 bidders would have been better then $11.95 with 1.

[scstool]

Yes if you were concerned more with visibility than profit 12 bidders would be better.

Of course 12 bidders can be very different than 12 bids.

It sounds like you have multiplies of product vs. one of a kind?

I am not sure anymore if there is a way to market to losing bidders, you may want to look into that. Ebay is tightening things up as far as seller/buyer communication. If they had a way they would completely isolate sellers from buyers.

Ebay has various tools to drive sales. For example you can have a seller newsletter that your customers can sign up for. Do google searches on your product and see if your products are showing up. 

Also, I have to agree with Bubbleman. What you are selling is one of the most important factors in driving successful sales. Even inventory you are stuck with. I have plenty of that.

[cb-boards]

We have 3 main types of product lines; we are in the process of liquidating 2 of them to focus entirely on the 3rd why is why I am not terribly concerned with whether or not I can make an extra buck on something I am not focusing on any longer IF it were to generate a higher sales conversion rate.

For example, let's say I sell 100 items via an auction this month at an average of $12 each and each one gets 1 bidder.  I would rather sell 100 items off at an average of $10.90 each if I had so many bidders one these that it drove my sales conversion rate 1% higher then it would have been in the prior scenario.  This being the case because, I believe, that 1% better conversion rate would give me better visibility & placement on the items I do want to focus on and would translate into more then an additional $110 profit.   

[mr_lincoln]

@cb-boards  Oh, sorry, was not able to answer the specific question though some others have and you have a solution picked for that.  Great.  Just some additional advice on Auctions ... ending them on a Sunday has been documented by eBay as a good time for them to end.    To optimize the number of Auction listings you have to cover a month you can run 10 Day Auctions starting on a Thursday, you get two full weekends of exposure plus an ending day of Sunday.