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Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

I have excellent feedback (whenever I can get it- because a lot of buyers don't leave positive feedback) - super fast shipping and only charge USPS rates - no gouging on shipping plus I offer combined shipping discount - I research sold listings to make sure I price items fairly - most of my items r priced accordingly and consist of pre-owned but mint designer clothing as buy it now with best offer accepted - please feel free to peruse my listings and give any advice u can - thank u 

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

If you leave FB for all your sales you're getting about  45-50% FB responses which is normal to high. 

 

It also looks like you sell half a dozen items every month.

 

  • All caps can be hard to read. Try varying that  a bit.
  • And we're told that over 50% of online shopping uses mobiles-- and that the first four words of the title show best on a phone.

BTW-  It's "you" not "u".  Take the time to spell, your items are high value, try to sound more boutique-y.

  • You have sizes in your titles, which is good, but put dimensions in your Descriptions. Those vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even from garment to garment !

Your pictures are good, although laying a garment on the floor is not, especially with better garments.  You have a half-mannequin, can you fake something to show off pants?  Or use a  plain bedspread or a plain sheet on the bed? Or pin them below the half-manni on its stand?

 

RARE CACHE SOFT LEATHER FRINGED JACKET (SIZE 6) AND PANTS (SIZE 😎 - MINT

How about :

CACHE leather jacket Sz 6 leather pants Sz 8 Fringe soft black clean

Also the tag says Made in China and your Item Specifics say Made in India.

The word "mint" is a pet hate of mine.Try Like New/ Fresh/Clean(ed) or New Without Tags if appropriate.

 

I've been using Promoted Listings (at 1%, I'm cheap) and have found that I'm getting  a lot more Views and Watchers, though not much more in Sales of the promoted items. The PL sales cost me 58cents in August, but my non PL sales were up across all my Stores. I have no clue what that means in the long run.

 

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

My one rule to get more buyers is to list more.  As much as you can.  And yes, the previous answer was perfect.  Be careful with details.  If you say size six in one spot and size eight in another, I'm going to assume you don't care enough to put the right data.

 

Also, advertise.  Facebook and Pintrest are simple and easy.

 

I buy hang tags at Zazzle.com and include them in packages.  Sometimes with a percentage off the next order to try to get people to come back.

Good Moms let you lick the Beaters.

Great Moms turn them off first.
Message 3 of 40
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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

Thank you for taking the time to look at my listings and for your sound advice. I will try out your suggestions. 

Message 4 of 40
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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

It's mostly eBay. They've changed their algorithm or have lowered search results online. System glitches (like yesterday) don't help. They have a lot of fixing to do to get it back to where it was.
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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

Maybe try finding lighter weight stuff to sell. I myself am trying to move away from clothing sales since the shipping rates have gone up. 

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated


@movieman630 wrote:
It's mostly eBay. They've changed their algorithm or have lowered search results online. System glitches (like yesterday) don't help. They have a lot of fixing to do to get it back to where it was.

Its almost completely an Ebay problem that they are in no hurry to fix.  I read an article online (do not remember where unfortunately) that not only is Ebay cutting back big time on marketing expenses but that they have taken the programmers who were trying to fix the Broken Search Engine and moved them over to work on Managed Payments as they are further behind than expected and the CEO feels that is more important to Ebays future than fixing the search engine and helping Sellers actually sell something on Ebay.   So it appears that the Search Engine is not going to be fixed until after all Sellers have been moved over to Managed Payments, which may happen sooner than Ebay originally thought it would as more and more sellers give up trying to sell on Ebay.

 

Buyers are leaving Ebay right and left because they cannot find what they want because Ebay is focused only on maximizing their profits so rather than show the buyers what they want, Ebay shows them Promoted Listings which make more money for Ebay as well as those Sellers in Managed Payments which is less than 10% of total sales per their agreement with PayPal as that will also make more money for Ebay.  What they do not show is what the Buyer really wants to see so they go to other sites and make their purchases there for less money because the Sellers can have lower prices on those sites and still make more money per item sold.  Ebay just has not figured out that not only are Sellers tired of Disruptive Technology that the CEO continues to utilize, but Buyers are also getting tired of not finding what they want without all the extra clicks, so they leave Ebay and do not come back.

 

Until Ebay finally figures out that Happy Buyers AND Happy Sellers are the key to them starting to grow and begin to actually fix the issues that are causing them all of their problems, Ebays sales will continue to fall all while Ebay tries to dig deeper into their Sellers pockets for more money from less sales.  This eventually stops working as Sellers only have so much profit to share with Ebay before it is no longer worth the aggravation of trying to run an online business. 

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

I have some advise. Just my opinion. Be diverse in what you sell. The more diverse your inventory, the better. 

 

I sell everything from candy .... to clothing .... to the kitchen sink.

 

Good luck!

At Seventeen - Janis Ian
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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

Whenever I search ebay for anything lately it says there are 0 results and then a bunch of stuff underneath that have nothing to do with the key words i put in. I have to keeps switching words around, even used a thesaurus to come up with other words to try to find what i am looking for. Each time I get almost same results and most of the first few pages are all china or india even if i check US only I still get results from over seas. I tried searching something the other day with two words and i switched them around then got totally different results and neither were even close to what I was looking for. I used same search words on two other venues, one i sell on also and got exactly what I was looking for. So I do agree with you about the search problem.
Then I though part of the GTC listings is so they come up on google, so you google the search and every single thing I am looking for comes up with ebay link and you click it, I tried the first 10 results and every single one did not exist and brought me to a completely different page on ebay or just a search page with similar results. So I am very confused.
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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated


@starmct wrote:

I have excellent feedback (whenever I can get it- because a lot of buyers don't leave positive feedback) - super fast shipping and only charge USPS rates - no gouging on shipping plus I offer combined shipping discount - I research sold listings to make sure I price items fairly - most of my items r priced accordingly and consist of pre-owned but mint designer clothing as buy it now with best offer accepted - please feel free to peruse my listings and give any advice u can - thank u 


Your things look nice  to me . The photos are done well  but I do agree about  not  laying clothing on the floor .  I understand there's a space problem  sometimes while trying to show an entire outfit . However try taking  the photos on a table instead  and then just  take a photo of  the top  part and then the bottom in seperate pictures . Buyers will still  be able to see the entire  outfit that way . Also I would suggest   to try and diversify  a bit more on sizes . Plus size clothing for women are always good sellers if you have cute modern styles  and prints   and not things only a 80 year old  would wear  on her  way to church  like some of the department stores sell  in their plus size divisions.  Just a few tweaks here and there and you should  start to see sales improve IMO . Tulips

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

I hate listing clothing because I have to measure everything.
I won’t buy if the measurements aren’t in the listing. I just move on.
Dear God, please help me to be
the person my dog thinks I am.
Message 11 of 40
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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

The glitches that happen on the weekend are the worst becuase that is when people are shopping more online and when sales are the best. 

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

Read an article on Ecommercebytes that the promoted listings are  getting lost to a lot of buyers due to people using pop up blockers which do not allow them to see the listings. There was a video by the auction king on you tube that went viral about this, so viral that Ebay’s Management got involved in a response to it. I do not know all the specifics but Ina Steiner did her usual drama blog over this.

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated

Most clothing items can be shipped in a USPS priority mail padded flat rate envelope or first class in a poly bag for items 16oz or less.   This means a shipping cost of $5-$7.50 per item, I'm across the country from you and I'm seeing $15-$20 shipping per item, often on items priced at $15-$20, this a major turn off.

 

Stuffing clothes in an envelope may not seem super professional, but it's extremely common and your buyers won't actually care (they're used to it).  Also, given that these rates are identical or nearly identical whether you're shipping within your own state or cross country, it's easy to offer free shipping (if you have a $20 item shipping in a padded FR, just list it for $27.50 free shipping).  This can attract more buyers especially if your listed shipping times are fairly quick.

 

Also, definitely include measurements, unless someone is familiar with how that brand fits them, measurements are the only way to really know how it will fit.  Check out other sellers listing on similar item types (ie: women's jeans, girl's dresses, boy's dress shirts, etc) to figure out which measurements to take.

 

Also you can order regional rate A boxes free from the USPS site, those are a decent size with a shipping cost of about $8-$11 for some slightly larger items, they're a little smaller than a medium flat rate box

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Re: Why r sales so bad? I need some advice - very frustrated


@trustedbasset wrote:
I hate listing clothing because I have to measure everything.
I won’t buy if the measurements aren’t in the listing. I just move on.

A big DITTO,,  tulips 

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