Sales Slow? Yeah. You may want to try this.

[bill.purvis2012]

The last 30 days sales could have been better, but not unexpected.  So, what does a seller do? Is there anything one can do to improve or do we just throw up our hands and blame Ebay and its algorithms?  Well, I'm the sort who digs in and tries one thing or another. Yes, it's work. But, it's a business.

I do all the 'normal' things: End listings, Sell Similar, Promote, Coupon, send Offers. These things work. But, another I'm doing is getting me results, so I'm sharing. Anything to help the seller community, right?

I've been revising pictures. Not taking new pictures, revising those I have.  Yes, I could do even better if I took the time to do some new photos, but who has the time?

I'm revising my listings by using the brighten feature. It makes a remarkable difference. Maybe, you already knew that. But, from looking at many seller's pictures I see that, like me, they can greatly improve their listing by just going in and brightening the pictures. So many buyers use the cell phones and they don't get a decent photo by doing so. especially if its dark.

Try it. Yes, it's work and takes time. But, it is affecting my sales in a positive way. So, I'm devoting time and energy to do it. Will take me a while to get them all done. But, I'm going to do it. The payoff is good. 

[newerused]

Awesome tip.

HOWEVER, please avoid making item look better than it actually is. I know that is not what you meant - I'm just warning everyone. 

I want to submit two photos; image used for a jacket I just bought on eBay and a photo I took when it arrived. You can hardly tell the two photos are the same jacket. The seller color corrected, sharpened and cleaned up their photo to the max. 
DON'T DO THAT! 

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

I'm having a tough time figuring out if you're being serious. 🤔

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The problem in solving problems is a problem problematically speaking...  I'm sorry, do you have an appointment? 😁

What ya' think?  Am I ready for the Walmart customer service desk or what?

[chapeau-noir]

The photo in the first photo is lightened to the point of colour being changed (those moody colourways are tough to photo without them looking like a blob).  That's a problem.  The rest looks fine, though the first photo is so tiny it's hard to see.

It's a good point, though - other enhancements I see in women's clothing are the sellers skooching in the waistline of a shirt or sweater in a flat lie, thus making it look 'curvy' when it's actually just a boxy silhouette.  Sometimes they pull it tight around the mannequin.  Someone once had an Ike jacket (WWII short army jacket) with the middle skooched in - cripes, it's menswear she was marketing for women.

[natoman777]

Some good thoughts here, but the bottom line is having items that someone wants to purchase.  We have had good sales, but also have the most inventory listed in our time on eBay.  Why?  Well, we didn't get to do a yard sale due to 2 new grandchildren being born... and some used to be for sure sales are taking longer to sell.  Also, some items that I am sure are going to sell do not.  We have sold a few things in the last month that we have had for over a year. 

I do believe sales increase when you list consistently.  Sometimes it is even good to cancel a listing near the end of the 30 days and use the "sell similar" to get more views.  Don't get discouraged, just be willing to be patient.  Tweak photos, lower prices, change listing title...whatever works for you.

[2013grotz]

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@newerused wrote:

HOWEVER, please avoid making item look better than it actually is. I know that is not what you meant - I'm just warning everyone. 

This is what I've always had in mind doing a lot of my pictures.  It's hard to get a good representation in pictures of how I see the item in my hand in front of me.  Problem is of course, the differing light and so forth.  Usually I just use natural sunlight where it's not glaring down on the item.  But I'm sure I could get it a lot more controlled than I do, but not really wanting to go into a full studio without the sales volume to support getting it.

But at the same time, I usually just crop the photo to the item and be done with it for this very reason, though I have all the filters and anything else I could ever want available in the software I process my pictures in.  The problem I and a lot of potential ebay buyers I've met have noticed too is how artificial a lot of item pictures can be, especially the trend of a lot of sellers to use artificial white backgrounds. 

Usually I counsel just that - if the photo is overproduced, beware of the seller.

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

@chapeau-noir 

Actually there's a website called "Humble Bundle" where they sell digital bundles be that books, software or games...  It is one of the quite legit operations, was owned by Ziff Davis inc. last I knew.

They often (and in fact now) have a bundle mostly via Corel inc.  That's Paintshop Pro 2022, Corel Video Studio 2022 and Painter 2022, After shot along with a bunch of DLC packs for like $40.  That's a DEAL and and a half.  Paintshop alone is worth that and 10,000x better than eBay's image gizmo which is ever so baysuck (sorry LOL).  They claim it a $1400 value, mmmm... Nah...  But for $40 clams its a deal no online seller should pass up.

[chapeau-noir]

I don't use eBay's image gizmo (I'm going to call it that from now on!) as I have software already (I used Corel back in the day).  Photoing is a challenge for me because I live in the woods, in a frequently dark climate and really have no place for photos without moving furniture to access it, so I have lots of sympathy for sellers struggling with photos, but yeah, actual over-production isn't good.  I use a white background because no one needs to see my 70s carpet, photo lights wires trailing around etc. lol.

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

I don't use eBay's image gizmo (I'm going to call it that from now on!) as I have software already (I used Corel back in the day).  Photoing is a challenge for me because I live in the woods, in a frequently dark climate and really have no place for photos without moving furniture to access it, so I have lots of sympathy for sellers struggling with photos, but yeah, actual over-production isn't good.  I use a white background because no one needs to see my 70s carpet, photo lights wires trailing around etc. lol.

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Ebyimizmo... Ebyimizmo... Happy Howlidaze to you!