Selling Christmas postcards and others, cash flow problems. Any tips?

[carlagraca]

Hello!  I sell mainly Christmas and some other greetings as well as anthropomorphic postcards, and they're taking a lot of time to sell and I have quite some money tied up on them and, for that reason, some cash flow problems. I usually buy bulk lots of 200-400 postcards where I pay on average 1.5€ for the Christmas(they're good ones, normally from Germany or Uk) and around 2€ for the anthropomorphic. I also don't believe I overprice my items. Do you have any tips for me? Thanks in advance for the reply!

[coolections]

With over 7 million postcards listed at any given moment all you can do is wait for a buyer. Don't waste time and money on promotions.

[44012]

I very much like your cards....I did not look at all your items but could you sell more similar postcards in one lot? Like 4 cat cards in one listing? Maybe you are, if so never mind.  I didn't look thru all your items but I love them! Hopefully if you have Halloween cards they will pick up soon.

[carlagraca]

Thank you for your suggestion! I guess I could do that to some of them. I do have a problem selling them at some low prices I get, many on the 40%+ discount mark. Maybe I value them to much, I don't know.

I really like Halloween cards as well, but since I'm based in Portugal, I can't find those here in Europe.

[splendidthreads]

What a beautiful collection you have!

Shipping is very fair.

It looks like a lot of buyers are ok with your prices.  You're averaging more than 100 PC sales a month. 

Maybe going forward put an indication of the date or era in the title of each card as you list it? It looks like the majority of yours that have sold in the last 3 months have included a date.  Besides drawing somebody who is looking for cards from a specific time, having the date included in the title might tell the buyer that yours are originals and not reprints. 

[cardxcraft]

You're doing pretty well; today it looks like you have 8 sales.  With a store your size, that's not bad.  I've seen many postcard sellers with 30,000 to 90,000 items.

I believe market presence critical in the postcard category, as it is in many categories.  If you have more inventory, keep listing.  

[carlagraca]

Thank you for your tips and  the compliment!I will add back the date on the postcards. Sometimes is hard to know what to cutout regarding keywords

[carlagraca]

Thank you for the reply! I did have some sales, but they were non-postcard related. 

There are quite a few sellers with a huge dimension indeed, but they also have more variety then I do, while I'm more niche as I only sell Greetings and Anthropomophic animals.

[richard1rst]

Assuming you want to stay with that same style, are there any other seasons or year round cards you could add to spread out your offerings?

I find fault with your "descriptions" block. It is too generic. You really ought to have some card specific whimsical comments to stir your buyer's imagination before all the generic stuff.

And I wonder how many people really know who Krampus is. A brief notation might be in order. I know he is common in central Europe but what about the rest of the world.  Surely, once informed, there are some adults who think "I know just the kid for that one".

[carlagraca]

Thank you for your reply! I guess Art Nouveau / Deco cards would also help out as they seem to sell year round.

Actually Krampus cards I don't have much to complain, but I guess could add a notation. The ones that are taking more to sell are the red background ones that, from whhat I know seem to be more common.

[splendidthreads]

Do you list any in the holiday section under collectibles?  There aren't nearly as many listed with the keywords "Christmas" and "postcard".  Wouldn't hurt to try if you don't already. 

collectibles and art> Collectibles>holiday & Seasonal> cards & postcards

[sfau]

Whoa - you sold several cards for over $100 -that is impressive!

[carlagraca]

Never thought about it, but I might give it a try.