eBay

goldrushfinds · ‎05-12-2018

O.K., I am frustrated. I follow a number of sellers, and a few of them have **bleep** pictures and wrinkled clothing, and consistantly get way higher prices than I can. They sell through their listings faster than I do and get prices I could only dream of. I can list the same exact item (with much better pictures and not wrinkled) for 30% less and my item sits and sits and theirs flys off the shelf. Something stinks. Additionally, their rating and feedback is no higher than mine. What to do.

Anonymous · ‎05-12-2018

Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you, but I can empathize with you! The same thing happens to me and I can't figure out why. I will do a search on something I have listed - my pictures are way better, my price is competitive if not lower, I have great reviews....... and they may have 11 watchers and I don't have any. I honestly cannot figure out why. I play with the title, sometimes I make my title almost identical to the one with all the watchers, and nothing changes. But then sometimes I have listings that have very few views and no watchers....the listing ends and all of a sudden I have 5 watchers. Crazy, isn't it!

emerald40 · ‎05-12-2018

Did you check fedback to see if these are all new buyers or returning customers?

I stick to a few sellers (some who are higher priced, with not the best of cameras) because I have bought from them before and I trust them.

goldrushfinds · ‎05-12-2018

That's a possibility, I will give it a look. It still is frustrating. They consistently get super high prices on used shirts, much above the predominant market value. For instance, Men's Nat Nast silk bowling style shirts. The predominant market value (used) may be $20-30, but they always list them at $45 and they always sell fast. Makes me sick. Mine sit forever at $25-30.

goldrushfinds · ‎05-12-2018

Yes it is crazy. It just does not feel like a fair playing field. I am not inclined to put forth much more effort on this site, as I feel there must be better opportunities elsewhere. I am up for a fight, but only if it is a fair one.

citrine146 · ‎05-12-2018

The mystery continues and I am one of those, like you, who is surprised too.

I've had an item listed recently and my starting price was half of what I could see from others who were selling a similar one. Being rare and limited, I'm sure there's not that many of them left anymore moreso that the item is new with complete packaging.

My item had watchers but no bidders which made me think that I was doing something wrong.

For the meantime, I'm setting it aside and list it again another time.

emerald40 · ‎05-12-2018

@goldrushfinds wrote:
Yes it is crazy. It just does not feel like a fair playing field. I am not inclined to put forth much more effort on this site, as I feel there must be better opportunities elsewhere. I am up for a fight, but only if it is a fair one.

_____________________________________________

Why are some restaurants always packed and others fail.

Why are some stores busy and others are liquidating.

Part luck, part skill.

But can you really call it unfair unless you see something you can point to.

castlemagicmemories · ‎05-12-2018

Wish I had the answer for you, OP, I'm sure it is frustrating.

It just doesn't make sense, does it.

auctionpet · ‎05-12-2018

It's possible they promote via social media. Some folks are very active and gain a large following. Using instagram, facebook, twitter, you name it! This type of promotion would draw buyers directly to their items versus using ebay search, which is a mess.

jonathankirkland · ‎05-12-2018

@goldrushfinds wrote:
That's a possibility, I will give it a look. It still is frustrating. They consistently get super high prices on used shirts, much above the predominant market value. For instance, Men's Nat Nast silk bowling style shirts. The predominant market value (used) may be $20-30, but they always list them at $45 and they always sell fast. Makes me sick. Mine sit forever at $25-30.

This may make no sense whatsoever and seem completely counterproductive - but humor me.

Have you ever tried raising your prices to match those of your competition?

Try pricing yours extremely competitively with theirs, like almost exactly the same or within a dollar or so. What if, perhaps, even though your listings look better, for some reason the buyers are tricking themselves into thinking "well it's more expensive, therefore it must be higher quality."

It certainly can't hurt to try that, and see if it works. Good luck!

goldrushfinds · ‎05-12-2018

You may be right. I am not that much into social media, but it may be a definite plus, particularly in these challenging times.

goldrushfinds · ‎05-12-2018

I have to say, this thought has crossed my mind as well. I think there are a huge bunch of low ballers out there, who just want it cheap. Then there is this other smaller group that thinks if it is too cheap, it is probably junk. I do think these high priced sellers have sold themselves as high end retailers.

jonathankirkland · ‎05-12-2018

@goldrushfinds wrote:
I have to say, this thought has crossed my mind as well. I think there are a huge bunch of low ballers out there, who just want it cheap. Then there is this other smaller group that thinks if it is too cheap, it is probably junk. I do think these high priced sellers have sold themselves as high end retailers.

Honestly I am a firm believer in trying anything new to see if it will work. If your sales are this sluggish and frustrating it cannot hurt to perhaps give it a try for awhile at least!