eBay

calntom · ‎01-30-2019

Sales tactics that are working.

Selling in Lots of 2 or 5 etc. This has been working really well over the past 6 months since I did that with a ~couple hundred listings.

Promoted listings at 1%. I noticed that eBay creates a duplicate listing that is promoted. I think eBay takes the 1% when a customer buys off the promoted listing that they added. I just started doing this a month ago and noticed a certain uptick in sales during what was consistently a slow time for my sales.

I am just dabbling with the Volume Pricing. This looks like it should be a winner going forward. I kind of cringe when I see that my competitors are already using it on identical items that I have listed.

Been having some success lowering the price by 5% on items that are being watched or in carts. I only do select items from the list that eBay sends out. The conversion rate has been about 20% right of the get-go, translating 5 sales out of about 25 that I have lowered the price on by 5%.

I need to always be checking pricing to make sure that a competitor has not cornered the market on a certain item and make adjustments with some of the tools mentioned above to stay competitive. This is hard to do with 1,400+ listings.

I quit using markdown manager last summer after I went through all 1,200 listings at that time and got everything re-priced right where I needed it. I may start running a few markdowns again to see what that can drum up.

I try to get this verbiage towards the top of the description to help buyers identify that I am a USA seller:

--> Item in Stock by Seller and Ships from Seller's Location in Texas, USA. Prompt, Free Shipping.

Anyone else have any tools, processes, must haves/do’s in listings, tricks of the trade, etc. that they have been having success with and willing to share?

lsislanders · ‎01-31-2019

Thank you. I have been thinking the same thing, and I do believe it makes a difference. I am a buyer and seller, just a small timer. To support your point, if I see people watching something I really want, it makes me very anxious, and motivated to own it.

mcdougle4248 · ‎01-31-2019

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Personally, I think too much is made of the up and down of these stats. It takes only one impression to become one click through that converts, and you've made a sale. The significance of these stats is not so much about whether they are up or down over a period of time...it's more about the relationship between them. A lot of impressions, few click throughs? A lot of click throughs, few conversions? These are the numbers that can be helpful.

Your post makes my point: Despite the fact that those rates had all declined, your sales were UP. That's the number that matters. If there were a direct correlation between lowered impressions and lowered sales, that would be another matter, but people with lowered impressions can have lowered or increased sales.

Thank you, this makes sense.

ekmadonna · ‎01-31-2019

Exactly, I do the same when I am buying in the category I frequent the most for my own collection, I would even forgo placing a bid on an item and purchase at the buy it now price rather than gamble on losing something I really want even if it may end up costing a bit more. As soon as I saw someone watching it I would have to consider strongly whether to make the purchase NOW or wait. And as I mentioned, I know it has worked on my own listings. I think changing the buyers ability SEE THE AMOUNT OF WATCHERS was a VERY BAD DECISION for sales conversions.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎01-31-2019

You're welcome.

lsislanders · ‎01-31-2019

I suppose it depends on what one is buying, I tend to buy antique items that are not going to be available often, if ever again. It would be nice to get a better sense of what the competition looks like.

castlemagicmemories · ‎01-31-2019

@lsislanders wrote:
Thank you. I have been thinking the same thing, and I do believe it makes a difference. I am a buyer and seller, just a small timer. To support your point, if I see people watching something I really want, it makes me very anxious, and motivated to own it.

Watchers make me nervous when I am watching something I really want, too. I was watching two auctions for items that would/could go together, and my heart sank when I saw they had picked up 13 watchers as I figured I wouldn't have a chance. But I decided to snipe at the end, and I won both auctions because no one else bid.

castlemagicmemories · ‎01-31-2019

@lsislanders wrote:
I suppose it depends on what one is buying, I tend to buy antique items that are not going to be available often, if ever again. It would be nice to get a better sense of what the competition looks like.

I tend to buy items that are vintage/antique and it does give you a sense of urgency when you think that the item may not be available often if ever again.

So this may be your one and only chance. But sometimes there can be a LOT of watchers, who do nothing but watch. Surprising, but it happens.

calntom · ‎02-08-2019

@cashvaluerecovery2011 wrote:
Something I have always done is send a personal message with each sale to the buyer right after i print a tracking number. Letting them know I appreciate their business and that Im taking their merch to the post office and feedback is already uploaded. Gives it a human touch and sets yourself apart from 90% of other sellers. I also say please let me know if there is anything you are looking for in that same category and I will give you a heads up through ebay messages before listing it if it comes in.

My repeat buyers are my best buyer by far. Never complain. Never return. Both buyer and seller are comfortable with the other and the best part is I can get a little bit higher price than competitors on the same item because these buyers would rather deal with the known than take a risk with the unknown.

Other than that...........and may not be what you are looking for but its worked wonders for me..........is listing all my items locally on non fee platforms with safe local pick up at a bank. The few items I sale that way per week are automatically 13% less in fees but there is no free shipping, no returns etc.

Goodluck.

This is a great one you posted here @cashvaluerecovery2011

I do the same thing with a note to the buyer asap after the sale to let them know basically, "I got this and your order will ship on this date".

I think a communication directly from the seller helps to lock the buyer into the sale. It may keep the buyer from shopping around more for a better deal, thus avoiding a cancelled order.

gamersbaystore · ‎02-08-2019

The promoted listings is really working to drive sales for me. Not only does it increase the visibility of the items you promote, it increases the visibility of everything you sell. Often times the item someone buys may not be the item they first saw. They view the promoted listing, and often decide to view your other items for sale as well.

I have about 40 promoted listings right now, with an average 7% bid, and as much as 10% (The trending rate for video games has averaged 5.3% over the past month). I use it mainly on the higher priced games I sell, and it hasn't affected my profits at all. The increase in sales made it possible for me to pick more inventory to sell as well.

Promoted listings is a win-win situation for both ebay and its sellers.

As for volume pricing, my profits margins don't allow me to do this and still make a living. I opt for occasional 10% or 15% sales. Having a sale always worked to drive business for me, I usually have them whenever its dead slow and nothing is selling.

And as of this past few days, social media too has been driving sales for me. I have a lot of social profiles on a lot of platforms, so why not use them. Twitter has gotten me a lot of sales.

calntom · ‎02-08-2019

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
gopeterson,

The OP is measuring the only thing that matters in his experiment: the conversion rate. Did the action he took result in a sale? In 20% of the cases it did, which is actually a pretty good rate.

You are correct, there is NO way to know whether the buyer would have bought at full price or not. But that is immaterial.

The OP's objective was to prompt conversions, the OP was apparently quite satisfied to reduce the price by 5% in order to obtain the sale, and the OP actually ended up with a good conversion rate. (I've tried it, and have sold nothing, so it didn't work very well for me. But I'll continue to do it, because it takes only minutes and my margins allow me to lower the price by 5% or more without heavily impacting my profits)

Sitting around wondering whether it would have sold had the OP done nothing would be a profound waste of time.

@gopetersen @my-cottage-books-and-antiques

I basically "cherry picked" the items where I thought the buyer could be enticed by the 5% off. One of the sales was within a few minutes and another within the hour. I only did this with more expensive items, not bothering with the cheap stuff.

I have not been using Markdown Manager much at all since last summer. I just did initiate a MM sale of 5% off all inventory, just through Sunday evening. I wonder if any or all of those buyers that have items in carts or watched items will get a note for eBay?

Also wanting to see how items are effected by MM that are already in the volume pricing...

This MM sale looks to be propagated out already.

calntom · ‎02-08-2019

@frock_my_world wrote:
I took another seller’s advice from the PS Bosrd and shortened my handling time by quite a bit. This seems to have helped.
But I also re-did a bunch of listings too so not sure if the shorter Handling time is what has helped me or increased and revised listings.

Good one @frock_my_world

If you are selling items buyers NEED, then handling time can be critical. Buyers may even pay more if they can get the item quicker, depending upon their timeframe needs.

I mostly buy for need, so I am ALWAYS checking delivery date when vetting sellers.

calntom · ‎02-08-2019

@calntom wrote:
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
gopeterson,

The OP is measuring the only thing that matters in his experiment: the conversion rate. Did the action he took result in a sale? In 20% of the cases it did, which is actually a pretty good rate.

You are correct, there is NO way to know whether the buyer would have bought at full price or not. But that is immaterial.

The OP's objective was to prompt conversions, the OP was apparently quite satisfied to reduce the price by 5% in order to obtain the sale, and the OP actually ended up with a good conversion rate. (I've tried it, and have sold nothing, so it didn't work very well for me. But I'll continue to do it, because it takes only minutes and my margins allow me to lower the price by 5% or more without heavily impacting my profits)

Sitting around wondering whether it would have sold had the OP done nothing would be a profound waste of time.

@gopetersen @my-cottage-books-and-antiques

I basically "cherry picked" the items where I thought the buyer could be enticed by the 5% off. One of the sales was within a few minutes and another within the hour. I only did this with more expensive items, not bothering with the cheap stuff.

I have not been using Markdown Manager much at all since last summer. I just did initiate a MM sale of 5% off all inventory, just through Sunday evening. I wonder if any or all of those buyers that have items in carts or watched items will get a note for eBay?

Also wanting to see how items are effected by MM that are already in the volume pricing...
This MM sale looks to be propagated out already.

Well...…. While that MM Sale was propagating out just a while ago. A buyer bought one of these (292272369199) at full price, $16.10, and before I could finish dinner, he came back and bought 2 more at 5% off, at $15.30 each. There were 3 watchers on that item and I had sold some in the past.