Why am I not selling?

[maevefrazier]

Hello I’m a new seller can anyone look at my items for sale and tell me why I get views but no sales? Have sold only a scarf. 

[sockmonkeydave]

@maevefrazier

Not much market for text books that are 10 years old ???

[maevefrazier]

Of course I get that part. But there are several things getting many views and no bite... hmmm thought maybe there is something obvious I did wrong I’ve only been on for 3 days however

[1786davycrockett]

Well, for one thing, you have zero feedback.  Some buyers are hesitant to make purchases from sellers with zero or little feedback.  Perhaps if you made a few small purchases, and left immediate feedback for the sellers, in which case the sellers might give YOU some feedback, to move you out of that ZERO column.

Also, you only seem to have 9 items for sale.  Since you are allowed to list up to 50 items for free, you should probably take advantage of that, and list some more.

In addition, diversify -- list a wider variety of items, to attract a larger number of customers.

[swenson8781]

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@aminshatnawe wrote:
Of course I get that part. But there are several things getting many views and no bite... hmmm thought maybe there is something obvious I did wrong I’ve only been on for 3 days however

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Nothing wrong that I can see at a quick glance.  However, selling on here often takes patience, most items don't sell instantly, some items can take months to sell, sorry!

[luckythewinner · Accepted solution]

1) IMHo no one is going to bid at auction for string lights. And your Buy It Now price + shipping is substantially higher than I can get them at the big box store. 

2) Old textbooks are not in demand. Especially for ones that have not sold recently, and which are priced at double or triple what other sellers are charging. 

3) Your Better Homes Bedskirt has no business as an auction (it is the only one being offered as an auction; the rest are fixed price). Commodity items you can get at any Walmart or Target are probably not good candidates for the auction format. 

So in short - IMHO your items are not selling because they are not attractive to buyers. And since you only have 9 listings, the chances of a sale are not very good. 

[sockmonkeydave]

@maevefrazier

Well In a few weeks university will be back in.

Often text books have the same title over many years, but the edition changes.

So yes, I can see you getting hits, but no sales.

[maevefrazier]

Ok that gives me some perspective that I may have ignored. I thought Ebay was more about convenience and willing to pay more ... looks like those guys maybe have gone and went ... too late in the game perhaps

[maevefrazier]

I have 16 items... that I can see listed live... another person has said 9 too. It must not be showing everything.. I’ve seen a lot of glitches today that could be why

[femmefan1946]

I thought Ebay was more about convenience and willing to pay more ...

It can be-- My DD is two mountain passes away from the nearest WalMart, and that's the only department store within 200 km. Add in a little winter..... She buys a lot online.

Like most buyers she is looking at Price+Shipping.

But there are some things that are not saleable. Charity book sales often refuse donations of National Geographic or encyclopaedias. University texts are in the same category. Profs can be very fussy about which book they want  you to use.

I strongly agree with buying a few items to build feedback. You'll need a digital scale for example. Shipping is even harder than getting the sale.  Look for a North American seller who leaves fast Feedback. And leave feedback yourself if she doesn't leave it first.

But your pictures are good as are your spelling and grammar.

Most sellers agree the first four words in your title are most important, especially for mobile shoppers. And Title is one place not to worry about grammar.

For example: Kirkland's Set of 3 black picture frames.

You have 80 keystrokes to sell your item.

Three (3) picture frames tabletop BLACK Kirkland New

If the brand were ...ummm... Prada, then put it first. But I think that company is pretty generic.

(I'd consider going with fractions instead of decimals in the sizing too, but that's not as important. Heck I mostly use metric and no problems so far.)

There are 140 million listings or more on eBay every day and a 40% sell through.

But you have 50 Free Listings every month, so at this point it's just your labour.

I don't like to see more than one Shipping option. To me, the buyer is going to opt for the cheapest service, but expect the more expensive one. Because: human nature.

YMMV.

[orangehound]

The egg poacher that you start bidding at 19+6 S&H is cheaper on Amazon at 24.16

[maevefrazier]

This was valuable feed back and I learned some things thank you

[annadryl]

Record  winter weather, power outages, fires etc. are affecting at least half of the country at the moment. That can't help!

[thallidguy]

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@aminshatnawe wrote:
I thought Ebay was more about convenience and willing to pay more ...

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If you have rare or unique items, that is still true. You do not have rare or unique items. They're commodity items that people can get anywhere, as others have said. The kind of items that you are selling, people shop eBay for them because they're looking for bargains.

[rschissler]

For 99% of buyers, myself included, I think eBay is for paying less for an item.