eBay

van4653 · ‎10-27-2022

I have over 200 items listed, but rarely do they get looked at.. with the outreach of Ebay, they should at least be getting views. Cannot afford to do a store yet, and at this rate, never will. I offer some free shipping. I keep relisting and adding new listings. Ebay will only let me cancel an "order" when someone doesn't pay and out of the little I've sold, I have had a couple of those lately. I tried to ask a representative when I called on another issue, and the guy just said I have to do my own promoting. I have added my seller ID to my shop advertising. But Ebay is supposed to be advertising.. all I ever hear in this part of Iowa is about Ebay motors which sounds like Ebay owns everything in it... I have a wide variety of items, and I check if things are selling before I list anything... what do you think??

carltonfactory · ‎10-27-2022

The random starting price auctions is confusing- are those starting prices based off what you want to get for the item? Do you want multiple bidders, or just one single bidder? If you have items with a consistent customer base, might as well start the bids low (or atleast offer free shipping, and cover your costs in the starting price) to attract more interest. Most people are going to scan over your listings and not bother clicking in bc the starting price is too high...People want to feel like they "win" when they are bidding, not paying market value.

If you want/need market value, definitely do Buy It Now.

onefootflipper · ‎10-27-2022

You have to research prices, you can't just guess.

I know you are not researching prices because I picked an item of yours that would be easy to find duplicates of.

Annie Sandy coin Bank Red Dress Penny Bank Applause 1982 #53 movie advertising

Yours is up for auction starting out at $46 shipped. 9 other people have this item available buy it now as low as $16.99 shipped. Only two of these have sold in the last year, they sold for $12 shipped and $19.50 shipped.

No one is going to click on, look at or make an offer on something listed at 3 times the going rate.

You have a Winchester Repeating Arms belt buckle for $24. 500 other people also have this belt buckle. This buckle tends to sell for between $1 and $6 plus first class shipping.

I can assume from those two that all your prices are probably bad.

onefootflipper · ‎10-27-2022

Also, ebay stopped being about auctions at least 10 years ago. Most customers won't even look at auction listings anymore.

gotta-have-it-collectables · ‎10-27-2022

How does this help visibility?

Or Sales?

aprilmoviebuf2000 · ‎10-27-2022

@van4653 wrote:
@van4653 wrote:
People have to actually see the auctions before price makes a difference. I am not new to this. Just hadn't used ebay for awhile so they got rid of my other seller ID. I have to price what I need because nothing ever has competes cause no one even sees the listing in the first place. Am buried somewhere. I didn't inherit my items.. I have a brick and mortar business..

And there is the difference. I do believe your problem is the auctions, among other things. Buyers just pass them by for the most part, unless it is a highly sought after item.

I don't want to get on you, But I did look at your listings. You have some nice and unique things. We are not perfect by any means. We have this store for our "slush" stuff, and another one that does better frankly. And I am going to be blunt. Your photos need work. Views are not happening for you I think not only because of the auction format, but you are not showcasing your items the way they could be. Take your time before you take that photo shot, your pics are blurry probably because you are rushing. Whether you are using a phone or a camera, blurry photos happen when you rush and don't focus. ( It's happened to us.) Get rid of the clutter in the background, get some good lighting (tripod lighting with daylight bulbs), and get your hands out of photos. Having a photo staging area with decent lighting, a good platform so you do not have to hold items in your hand, and a good neutral backdrop is doable for not a lot of money.

Your descriptions are too long. Buyers don't need a mini novel, they just need the particulars. Try using a bullet point format instead, give what buyers need to know about the item (including flaws), and nothing more. A lot of buyers are viewing on their phones these days, and the long drawn out description just loses their interest. We are old school too, and this is something we have had to adapt to. But it's the truth. On a few of your descriptions I had to really look to see the pertinent info, such as measurements. Good luck.

rschissler · ‎10-27-2022

The fact that you have over 200 items at auction, and no bids, should tell you that your prices are too high. You can't blame it all on lack of advertising. While auctions are fine on some things, there is no point in doing auctions that get no bids.

vintagecraze50 · ‎10-27-2022

Sell in a niche that does not have 30 million items for sale.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎10-27-2022

eBay has not been advertising for awhile now, except for eBay Motors. They dropped it along with their customer service call center at the beginning of the pandemic. Neither has been resumed. So if you are hoping or counting on them to advertise, they are not. It makes no sense, of course, but it is the status quo.

I agree with the others, auctions aren’t helping you. At least be far more selective in running them. Choose the most in demand or rare items if you continue on that route.

“People have to actually see the auctions before price makes a difference. I am not new to this…”

The advice given here in no way reflects a belief that you are some newbie unaware of what is going on. But you made the effort to solicit input from other sellers, why not try out some of the suggestions given?

And with respect, i disagree with your above premise. Consider the possibility that most items are visible, and that the prices shown could be preventing click-thru. Pricing most certainly has an impact on whether or not a buyer opens a listing. They see the thumbnail and the price. Either could attract or repel a potential buyer.

Good luck to you, and hope your sales improve with the upcoming holiday shopping season.

femmefan1946 · ‎10-28-2022

Drop the Auctions. They are eBay 's brand, so they default newbies into a dying part of the site. Over 85% of listings are Fixed Price.

Now for the same cost, you have 30 days for customers to find your products and they do not have to wait to see if they are outbid.

Remember eBay is not your friend. EBay is your landlord.

All eBay suggestions are good for eBay, and if they are good for the seller too that's an unplanned result.

femmefan1946 · ‎10-28-2022

About advertising.

I do see eBay advertising. Not on TV because I mostly watch streamed on demand which has no advertising.

But I see eBay ads on FaceBook, and on some news sites and comedy sites like Reddit.

We sellers tend to be older than our customers -- we're selling because we are downsizing-- so we don't necessarily see the same media as the kids* today.

* kids being anyone under 50.

boomersbiz46 · ‎10-28-2022

I also have a wide variety of items 1000 listed. Mostly antiques, collectibles, antique books & back issue magazines. (they do sell). as of 10/28/22, I sold 30 items this month. Last year I was selling 80-90 items per month. I've been selling since 2007 and I have a Top Producer status.

Last year I had 1,200,000 impressions. Currently I have about 210,000. I promote very little so far, choosing to give the discount to the buyer.

Is this a factor in selling now? Or is it the economy?

dbfolks166mt · ‎10-28-2022

It's not so much about visibility these days as it is about the environment sellers are operating in. A lot of it depends on what you are selling. You have a diverse set of items listed but the buyers market may be limited for a lot of them. Things have been slow for a lot of sellers lately and eBay's quarterly reports reflect the downturn in the GMV as well as the reductions in active buyers and sellers. Some of this may be related to the economy, rising costs as well as competition. I diversified across multiple ecommerce sites and local forums long ago and now sell less than 20% of my items on eBay. In some cases I was forced to do so as eBay's list of prohibited items continued to expand along with the VERO monitoring.

A lot of others have commented about not using auctions. I have always leaned towards the auction format simply because it allows me more freedom with my own personal time. I post items on Sunday as 7 day auctions and can for the most part ignore things until the following Sunday. BIN requires daily monitoring and potentially packing and shipping should an item sell. So it all depends on whether you do this as a job or as more of a hobby.

As far as auctions being dead on eBay that may or may not be a fact I have done fine over the years using that format. In addition I used to source from a LOT of local online auction sites but that environment is becoming saturated with buyers and prices have gone through the roof. I see items selling through the local online auction houses at up to 50% more than they are selling for on eBay. There are also some bargains to be found but those are becoming few and far between.

kensgiftshop · ‎10-28-2022

@gotta-have-it-collectables wrote:
How does this help visibility?
Or Sales?

Now days, people want their stuff yesterday, they don't want to wait a week just to see if they win the auction.

Some people won't even look at auctions, they just scroll right by them, I know I do.

With fixed price listings, I think you have a better chance of other search engines picking up your items that has been listed awhile..

With auctions, you only have a few days for people to find the item.

Have a great day.

van4653 · ‎10-28-2022

I take offers on most items... so that is basically the same as single price items, but maybe I will put a few on that way.. I really just need to know how to get the search engines to even show my listing at all...

van4653 · ‎10-28-2022

I check all items as I get to listing them.. and if I am able I try to midstream my pricing.. my problem is that the search engines rarely seem to pull me up... I use my husband's ID to search and see if anything shows up when I type in something I have for sale. In some of my dropbox thingys when I am listing it says hack:// on some.. is someone holding me down???