What should my sales conversion rate be? Currently at 1.3% with a 2500 item store.

[andyishenry]

I'll be hitting my one year anniversary at the end of this month.  The better part of the last year was spent figuring out best pricing practices, free vs. paid shipping, make offer vs. set pricing, promotions and sales and so on. Throughout this journey I have tried numerous combinations of the above selling variables and after a year I still do not have a answer as to which way is best.  What I'm finding is that the market controls everything and whether or not you ship for free, allow offers or do a 50% of sale it doesn't change much.

The only Ebay myth/advice I've been able to confirm is that activity does pay off. It seems the days I post a lot of new listings I'll have a uptick in sales the next day. 

I'd be happy for anyone to look at my store and offer advice if they like and I can do the same. 

https://www.ebay.com/usr/andyishenry

Thanks, 

[orangehound]

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@andyishenry wrote:

What I'm finding is that the market controls everything and whether or not you ship for free, allow offers or do a 50% of sale it doesn't change much.

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If by "market", you mean "eBay", then you are correct.  eBay distributes sales among sellers of the same class.  It can have the effect of capping your sales - meaning, doubling inventory won't produce much of a difference in sales.

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The only Ebay myth/advice I've been able to confirm is that activity does pay off. It seems the days I post a lot of new listings I'll have a uptick in sales the next day. 

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 There are two things you may be noticing.  First, eBay gives a visibility boost to newly listed items.  Second, an item that is in-demand and reasonably priced will sell typically in the first 7-days; also, the highest probability of a sale happens in the first 7 days, and about 60% of all sales happen in the first 30-days of a listing.  After 90 days, if an item hasn't sold then it's chances of selling are quite low.

[iart]

I don't think this is correct: "whether or not you ship for free, allow offers or do a 50% of sale it doesn't change much."

Newly listed items do seem to attract more attention but we're also long-term sellers. Several times a week people will buy items we've had on line for over 2years.

But your sell through rate is okay, I think. Ours is about 1% weekly.

Good luck!

[axiombody]

I would say conversion rate truly depends on what you sell and further down the line how inexpensive also supply and demand of each individual item.  You have many different kinds of items so it would probably vary.  My conversion is 2.4-3.0 depending on the sales and how big they are.  Hard to find items priced higher with less people interested are worth selling at a lower rate.  I sell basic clothing mostly at little profit and expect to sell them quickly hence higher conversion/turnover.  I try to almost sell as many as I list and my price is more based on that.  That is me only though.  Each item should be priced according to availability and demand.  Time does slow down views so I also lower the price over time but I find items that aren't as basic as clothing lowering price doesn't have the same effect as you have to wait for the right person to buy.  I get better every year as you will.

[mcdougle4248]

Posters to this thread, just curious...Are you getting conversion rate data from the performance area in Seller Hub?  

[axiombody]

Yes.  On the bottom left side of the main "summary" page

[mcdougle4248]

@axiombody 

Thank you for the clarification. 

My sales conversion rate is usually in the 8% - 12% range.    

[mightymouse]

I'm not that really interested in the sell through rate because I do get sales on items I have listed for over 2 years or so also. I do get a small pop in sales when I list new items but I also list new items every week anywhere from 10 to 50 items. Some times I get no sales on the newly listed items for months, it just depends on who is looking for what. My rule of thumb is 1000.00 in sales for every 400 items I have listed (sometimes it is more or less) and during the holiday's that could double. The only thing I worry about is my monthly cash flow rate. As I buy about 3 times more than I sell (only list about 20 % of what I buy on Ebay), as long as I have enough at the end of the month for expenses and to buy more. I could stop buying and still sell at the same rate for about 8 years still. I still live by what old time sellers taught me back in the late 60's and early 70's. "anyone can sell anything buy to make money at it you need to buy at the right price and have the cash available when it is available"

[axiombody]

That is a good conversion rate. You sell unique items at a low price. I have a couple in my watch list myself now for the future. Love your artistry.

[mcdougle4248]

@axiombody 

Thank You 😊

[1tuna]

........general reply............

I have often wondered the same thing and I like to use the 10 % rule,It works like this for me,if you have 2400 items listed you should be able to sell 240 items a month as long as you are still adding in that many fresh auctions.I sell 2000 items a year out of 2400 listed.I think the key to good sales is adding 50-60 pieces a week.I do not think sell thru rates can be maintained if you are not adding fresh items weekly

[founditforyou2019]

Your store looks great and your completed listings is very positive. You definitely have a little bit of everything with  what appears to be a focus on vintage electronics. My sales conversion rate is 1.4% with 549 listings. I've tried the free shipping and that's great with light weight items. The bulk of our inventory is fine china, dinnerware and crystal all of which is extremely delicate and heavy and a good portion of our buyers are on the west coast. Free shipping is not an option and would kill us with cost to ship from Alabama. FedEx Home price reduction has helped tremendously and we really try to just break even with shipping. We have definitely moved to selling in groups with our dinnerware based on exact weight of the items plus $1.00 extra per box / package. It has worked out fairly well overall. We run items on sale starting at 10% off up to 50% off depending on how long we've had it listed. Over 50% of our sales go to California, New York and Florida. Check out our store and tell us what you think! Thanks, Warren & Gigi

[handyhandz4u]

Comparing sell through rates has no relevance everybody has different parameters to work with.

For instance if you sell an item with free shipping for 2$ in a first class envelope without tracking and have a 100% sale through rate, you work yourself silly, and earn no money.

Or you sell high end items for a $1000 or more and no free shipping and have a 0.5% sale through rate, you work leisurely.

Sale through rates are only useful for yourself, to compare on a monthly bases how you are doing. But you already know that, because last month you had a surplus and this month you don't.

[sg51]

Sales conversion percentage is a function of what you are selling and how you are selling.

I'm basically a liquidator.  When I sell, the stuff moves.  If it doesn't sell quickly, something changes. My conversion rate is 80-90%, and the ones which don't sell on one listing are experiments which didn't work out.

But I could imagine a store based on the experiments which didn't work out.  I come across a lot of stuff which is obsolete, but someone paid over $100 for it at some time when it was not obsolete.  Much of that stuff is utterly worthless. Some might be worth $50 to someone, sometime.  So if I were to create a store with 2000 items at an average of $50 each,  I'd be successful selling 20 of them per month.  Or at least more successful than today when the stuff goes into the recycling or gets donated.  I see a lot of stuff in antique stores which I can't sell and don't even try.

[mr_lincoln]

@andyishenry   I read a good post one time on "price point" ... for example:

$ 9.95 is better then $ 10.00

$ 14.94 is better  than $ 15.00

$ 19.95 is better than $ 20.00

$ 49.95 is better than $ 50.00

And so on.

I think it is also important to set the lowest priced item you will sell ... when I first started I was anywhere from $ 5.00 and up.  Then I figured some things out and set my lowest priced item at $ 9.95 plus shipping.  I have now worked that up to $ 14.95 and hopefully later this year will raise that to $ 19.95.  In other words, as you acquire lower end inventory ask yourself if it will sell for your minimum price ... if not then pass on it.

You will spend just as much time prepping a $ 9.95 item as you will a $ 49.95 item. 

Diversity is also important ... have several good selling categories.