Seeking advice from other sellers.

[inhawaii]

I was doing some market research and discovered that i recently lost out on a couple of sales on this item to 2 other ebay competitors.

DOLE chewy pineapple candy

Listing #1 (mine) selling for $19.00 + $5.00 shipping

Listing #2 (competitor) selling for $18.99 + $5.00 shipping

Listing #3 (competitor) selling for $19.99 + $5.00 shipping

I'm trying to figure out why i lost those sales to my competitors and what i can do to make my listing better.  Any advice/input is appreciated.  Thank you!

[div_style]

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@lja440 wrote:

As others have said, pics could be better. Especially with food you don't want a dark dull photo.

Also there is the possibility that those sellers had other items that the buyers combined in the purchase. If they did the combined shipping discount could have dropped their total price well under you total price for that item.

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Good point.  I often buy from my saved sellers list, so I would not see anyone else's listing.

[inhawaii]

12:30 AM in Hawaii. Just got back from a long hard day at work and checked my post.  Look what i started!  LOL   

I did not take offense to jeannichio22's comment at all. 

To post something to get page views never crossed my mind. As a buyer,  page views mean absolutely nothing to me. I just assume they mean nothing to my buyers as well.  

I realize there are as many opinions out there as there are different people.   No matter what you post is about, it's going to bring out a whole gamut of responses. 

I do admit, however, that i like to talk alot.  I'm that way in real life too.  😃

Things to do tonight:

A) Change the battery in that **bleep** smoke alarm.

B) Pack 2 ebay orders.

C) Fix my photo.

D) Go to sleep.

Thanks again for everyone's input!

Sending some LOVE out to -----> justtheretohelp

[backroomnoir]

Think outside the box on your pricing.  

Gas station pricing should work...  $19.00 9/10 + $4.99 1/10 shipping.

[dqdnvwe0]

Not sure if it has been mentioned but you're in Hawaii... That can affect shipping time and that certainly can make buyers purchase from a seller that could get the item to them a day or so sooner, the search engine enhances shipping speed as a selling point as well... Not sure what you can do there, short of moving to the mainland...

[goldenmeowie]

You may want to put various different candies in a pkg rather than one and call it a mixed pkg.

If I hadn't tried any of those types of candies you have, i would rather buy a pkg that has many different types rather than one type. That way, I can figure out which ones I like and will buy more of later and which I don't like and not buy next time. If I don't like the candies because they're all ONE KIND or ONE FLAVOR only, then I may feel I wasted my money. Different kinds/flavors lets me explore and if I even like a few, I won't feel like I wasted my money. 

I like your posts-they're positive in nature-you want to improve your selling even as an experienced seller. You usually don't have negative horrible rants about allegedly scamming or entitled buyers and how none of it is your own fault.

[this*old*attic]

Your pics aren’t a deal breaker but could use work - don’t forget EBay puts competing items right on your page. All other things being equal, many will click the prettier pick

Maybe switch to $18.98?

Offer returns? You could experiment to see. This could make a big difference if people are curious but new to the product. I wouldn’t pay $25 to try a candy.

Add oz or other descriptors to title and description 

Add company history or some tidbit to the descriptions?

[this*old*attic]

Or lurking newbies could learn from the discussion...

[this*old*attic]

I don’t believe she was seeking advice on her motives...

[escuintla]

People sometimes are lazy or uneducated to do the math. 

Put your items free shipping, and $0.01 cheaper. That's all. I don't care if you have a Kardashian nude on there, I want the cheapest and fastest candy in my mouth. 

[inhawaii]

I fixed the picture.  Still not 100% happy with the way it turned out.  I may work on it again during the weekend.

I also lowered the price by a buck.  Even if it's temporary until i can weed out my competition. I am now the cheapest. 

Aloha and have a great weekend!

[equid0x]

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@backroomnoir wrote:

Think outside the box on your pricing.  

Gas station pricing should work...  $19.00 9/10 + $4.99 1/10 shipping.

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Interesting thought. Gas stations add the 9/10 because of a fuel tax surcharge. 

There were some studies decades ago about consumer psychology and pricing. One of the reasons the .99/.98/.97 price scheme is used is because some buyers have psychological barriers at certain price points. They may think $20 is too high, but at $19.99 their brain is registering a $19 item and that may be below that $20 psychological barrier, spurring a buy. The studied showed that buyers had a tendency to ignore the cents portion of the cost. 

That was the claim anyways... I think there have been other studies since that haven't conclusively shown that this is really the case. Nonetheless, it does seem to be common practice. 

I've sold things both ways, and in the era of lowest price searches, I think underpricing by a penny or what have you is probably of dubious benefit. I still do it, anyways. 

[equid0x]

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@dqdnvwe0 wrote:

Not sure if it has been mentioned but you're in Hawaii... That can affect shipping time and that certainly can make buyers purchase from a seller that could get the item to them a day or so sooner, the search engine enhances shipping speed as a selling point as well... Not sure what you can do there, short of moving to the mainland...

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Seller could consider warehousing on the mainland. Depends if the item is really worth the cost to do so. 

[equid0x]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

Your pics aren’t a deal breaker but could use work - don’t forget EBay puts competing items right on your page. All other things being equal, many will click the prettier pick

Maybe switch to $18.98?

Offer returns? You could experiment to see. This could make a big difference if people are curious but new to the product. I wouldn’t pay $25 to try a candy.

Add oz or other descriptors to title and description 

Add company history or some tidbit to the descriptions?

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The poster above you may have the right idea. Maybe a cheap sampler pack? If the product is unique, it may encourage more repeat customers. 

[lja440]

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@goldenmeowie wrote:

You may want to put various different candies in a pkg rather than one and call it a mixed pkg.

If I hadn't tried any of those types of candies you have, i would rather buy a pkg that has many different types rather than one type. That way, I can figure out which ones I like and will buy more of later and which I don't like and not buy next time. If I don't like the candies because they're all ONE KIND or ONE FLAVOR only, then I may feel I wasted my money. Different kinds/flavors lets me explore and if I even like a few, I won't feel like I wasted my money. 

I like your posts-they're positive in nature-you want to improve your selling even as an experienced seller. You usually don't have negative horrible rants about allegedly scamming or entitled buyers and how none of it is your own fault.

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Good suggestion.

I don't know how big those bags are but a combo lot that geared to fit in a PFRE would be what I would look for both as a seller and a buyer.

[cfr.mifr.psugmu3cv]

Just pray ebay doesn't put a Dole plantation ad up on eBay, that would weed everyone out.