Why my items are not selling while other are selling for a higher price!

[amdj]

I have a feeling that eBay is playing tricks.  I see that my items do not even show up in searches.  I have many items that are listed for cheaper than other sold/completed items.  If this continues, I will just cancel the listings and move to another platform.  Any suggestions on why items that I have not selling -- I have a 100% rating, my item overall price - including shipping is cheaper and when you do a search, my item often does not show up!! 

[my_boston_baked_beans]

My items are just not selling period, but I am downsizing and this site is not supporting my income.

People will say it is what your are selling, that the category is saturated, the economy is poor, but I think it is eBay as a whole. I have items listed on other sites that are selling. I am a hobby selling so I can afford to throw a dollar or two at eBay, but not much more than that or I would be wasteful with my retirement. 

Try other sites to see if you get better results spreading yourself out, and DO NOT depend on eBay for an income!

[dhbookds]

What items aren't showing up?........give titles or item #

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

Why buyers pay more for items:

The higher priced seller...:

Has better reputation

Accepts returns

Used better pics

Described it better

Used faster shipping

Used cheaper shipping

Used free shipping

Has better luck

I sell a lot of a certain type of item across all variations of it. I have about a dozen of this one version/variation. I didn't sell any of those for 5 months. I raised my price 37% or so, meeting some of the highest priced sellers, sold 3 of them that next week.  Pricing lower is not always the best strategy...

Have you ever gone on Amazon or any store, compared items, and said "let me go with the one priced a little higher, I want to pay for quality?"

Some people feel a higher priced item is better quality, or a lower priced item must be lower priced for a reason! 

There are buyers who buy low priced items, always in search of a bargain. There are some buyers who always search for higher priced, in search of quality. 

By the way, the items I sell a ton of versions of, are often bought as gifts... people buying them as gifts will shell out more in the hopes it is higher quality because, it is a gift after all ... a lot of my buyers are giving these as gifts and are extremely satisfied with the "quality". I also made sure I perfected my pics, as I use them as stock photos and have continued to use them for months, so I took the time, and it pays off.

Whatever the reason for your experience, I'm not sure. But these are examples, take them and try to apply them to yourself, im making no statements about you and your listings/selling.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

Oh, don't forget ad spending!!! Ads help them show up!

[cardxcraft]

I've been buying a lot lately, and what I've noticed on the Ebay app is that the majority of searches are streamlined.  Meaning, only a tiny fraction of results are being presented to the buyer.  If you don't see the little tab at the top, see more items, those items will never be seen. This is just one factor in the many that are hurting sales.  See screenshot below:

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[fashunu4eeuh · Accepted solution]

Hello and welcome.

No, i think it is unlikely that eBay is playing tricks. I took a look at your 11 items. That’s a pretty small footprint for shoppers to find your listings out of a sea of items. The more you list, the better your chances of making a sale.

I also see most listings are at auction. Then looking at your Sold listings, i can see the majority of those were ended with just one bid.

Based on that, I would recommend selling most of your items at fixed price (with Immediate Payment Required). For the kind of goods you are selling, many folks don’t have the patience to wait to see if an item they need is going to be available to them.

Plus, it is harder for buyers to “price shop” goods at auction. where the price can fluctuate of course. As you say, you can beat your competition’s price, shipping (and don’t forget terms of sale too), then go head-to-head with them in the fixed price format where you could stand out in the pack.

If you disagree, and feel strongly the auction format is where you need to be, then at least consider doing 7-day auctions in place of the 10 days you are running now. The longer duration works best for highly coveted, in-demand or rare items where listing over two weekends brings a benefit of more eyes on the listing. As it is, i don’t think the longer length of time is bringing you anything additional and may actually get buyers to shun the listing even more as too long a wait.

I did some searches of your items and had no trouble finding you in the results.

Wish you much success and good selling.

[susanb1872]

Maybe the shipping costs could be a deal breaker for some buyers since you live on the west coast. I am assuming you use calculated shipping. So for an east coast buyer to purchase your items it will be more expensive overall (price  plus shipping). I live on the east coast and when I compare shipping to the west coast if is always high.

[kensgiftshop]

Most of your auctions only get 1 bid.

Is it worth making buyers wait a week to see if they win, when they can to another seller and buy it now?

[inhawaii]

Yes it definitely sounds like ebay is playing tricks.

Somehow making people buy the other guy's item at a higher price instead of yours.

Just the other day I was shopping for a widget.

I narrowed it down to 2 choices.

I decided to purchase the cheaper one.

Just as I was about to buy it, ebay made me buy the more expensive one.

[m60driver]

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@amdj wrote:

I have a feeling that eBay is playing tricks.  I see that my items do not even show up in searches.  I have many items that are listed for cheaper than other sold/completed items. 

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If you are selling items that many others have listed then you must use promoted listings (PL)  to just get views.  Only old old curmudgeons like myself use a desktop.  Most people shop on their phones and only scroll a few listings.  So if you aren't using PL for competitive items then you don't have much chance of being seen even if you are selling for less.  So perhaps raise your prices and use promoted listings.

[vendorberg2023]

The trick is simple as I understand: You list and don't take promotion, then 2 weeks nothing happens and you promote an item, viewers will arise from the dead and then you will see the offer after offer only issue at the end is that you pay for promotion and fees so u get peanuts, lucky if 50% of the price you were after:0) this is not mind tricks, I tested with 10 items and after promotion all sold for peanuts.

[redlinear]

I have often wondered why I still have a certain item? Why hasn't it sold? Why is this still here?
So, I search, sort to used, filter Lowest$ 1st.  
And my search includes just the basics, simple, like most any normal person would search.
Such as:  Can Am Commander Rear Axle
   Most of the time, It's a struggle to find MY OWN item titled "Can Am Commander Rear Axle"  (an item I know is there).  I KNOW it's somewhere, so I keep trying different things and switching pages until I find it.
  Usually, it's down there under "ITEM MATCHING FEWER WORDS"  (with every word I search in the title, item specifics, and throughout the description.
  I then switch to sold, and see that quite a few have sold, for more $$. 

My item is simply not being seen.  I only found it because I knew it was there and refused to stop looking for it.   
I can only imagine what I'm not seeing?

But, sooner or later, my item will sell.
I think eBay's just giving every item a chance every so often.
There's just an undeniable randomness about search result placement any more.

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.