10-08-2018 10:07 AM
I have been selling on eBay for two years, mostly vintage finds. I am up to nearly 800 items in my store. I have 60 day FREE returns, one day handling time, 30 day listings (with automation rule to relist), 10 percent promotion level, and I list at least one item every day, usually more, although once in a great while I will miss a day.
I called eBay yesterday morning and they did some sore of reset/refresh on my account supposedly and it did nothing. I have had the worst few weeks since starting eBay. I am just really disgusted with eBay and I know I am not the only one, but PLEASE does anyone have any secret tips. I know I am grasping at straws, but this is my only source of income and I am trying to support a family of four. My kids are still too young to stay at home alone and I am doing this to avoid childcare costs that would eat my paycheck if I worked outside of the home.
I know my inventory isn't exactly high demand, but this is the kind of stuff I have always sold reasonably well. I do not have the funds to improve my inventory, shop clearances, or anything like that, especially after paying all the selling and store fees. I do have maybe a few dozen **bleep** things on there because it was from when I first started and had no idea what I was doing or what sells. But I also have lots of stuff that typically sells within a week or two. But not lately.
I hate feeling desperate, and I am painfully familiar with eBay's ebbs and flows, but this is ridiculous. I feel like giving up on eBay, but it is really the only thing that is compatible with my family responsibilities right now.
Anyone?! LOL. I will be forever grateful if someone knows a real way to fix this. Although I am sure many sellers have similar problems right now.
10-11-2018 09:40 AM
Well first of all do you simply want to increase sales or would you rather make more money?
10-11-2018 09:55 AM
Thanks, I already know not a designer name lol... Told the OP to not put into his title, but mentioning it in the narrative, it indicates USA. OR he can put it in IS if the actual "designer" label doesn't indicate USA. Thanks again.
10-14-2018 07:06 AM
@monster-deals wrote:Well first of all do you simply want to increase sales or would you rather make more money?
Good point. selling a lot does not always translate into profits if stuff not priced correctly...
I always wonder though if there's a point to making more sales just so that eBay pushes you forward in results because they feel you're a serious seller. Any opinions on this?
10-14-2018 08:44 AM
If an item gets watchers but no buyers several relisting cycles in a row, let it rest for a couple weeks, off eBay, before relisting it. Make the buyers think they have missed their chance. sapphireseal --
Maybe I should try that method . I had a necklace listed for 30 days that aquired 10 watchers in that time . I was pretty certain it was going to sell . However it didn't and it just relisted again for another 30 days and without much interest from anyone now . I don't get it . Tulips 😞
10-28-2018 08:23 PM - edited 10-28-2018 08:27 PM
Why does no one want to accept that they may not have items that people want? Everyone wants to blame some mystical technical glitch. Sometimes its just as simple as no one wants your stuff.
Browsing your inventory, it looks like the contents of my local Goodwill store, but with prices that are 15X higher. Just looking at one of your items at random, a vintage Nautica sweater for $37 shipped. Sure, there were 208 vintage Nautica sweaters sold on E-Bay in the past 60 days, but 93 of those sold for under $20 shipped. So already, about 50% of your competition is much cheaper.
And there are currently 868 vintage Nautica sweaters for sell. So you are only looking at about a 25% sell through every two months. So if you are in the top 50% of pricing and only 25% of E-Bay's inventory moves, you may sit on that item for 8 months.
And oddly, every single sweater listed was listed by someone with an E-Bay store. So any advantage a store might give you over a causal seller, doesn't exist for you. Every store is probably giving the same handling time, the same return policy, probably all top rated sellers. Every advantage negated and cancelled out, because everyone is on a store.
So for that item, you are looking for that one buyer who will pay top dollar, so you are looking for the top dollar buyer. The reality is demand ebbs and flows. If you can't put an item on E-bay and hold it for 6+ months without financial pain, you are in the wrong place to cater to top dollar buyers. Often, you will be catering to an audience of one, and you have to wait for that one to find your item.
I sell vintage collectibles, and I can list rare items from the 1940's and have them sell in a week. The next month, I can list the same items, and they don't sell for 9 months. Ebb and flow. I don't operate on a shoestring budget, so I can afford to have my money tied up for that long. Nearly everything I have ever listed has sold, it's just a matter of how long it took. About the only exceptions to that are books and movies. I've had to haul those things off to Goodwill several times.
There are also two types of buyers out there, and you only seem to cater to one of them, alienating half your market. Some buyers will NEVER make best offers. They hate negotiating and will ignore buy it now. The second type of buyer will only buy of there is a Best Offer. They just will not pay a BIN price. You must price your item close to what the the market will bear, but have enough margin to at least knock 5% off the price if that will land you a sale.
10-28-2018 08:29 PM
10 other people, selling a similar necklace, was watching yours to see if it sold, because theirs wasn't selling either.
Watchers don't equate to sales. Often they are just other curious sellers of similar items.
90% of my items sell with zero watchers.