wondering if anyone has figured out how to get visibility on Ebay.

[van4653]

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??

[theteamsetguy]

Another way you can get more exposure is having a lot of followers. I put a little note with all of my orders that thanks them for their business and if they were happy with their purchase to remember to follow me on eBay. 

I have over 2,000 followers and I now get more than half of my business from repeat customers. It took a long time to get here though.

[van4653]

 I am starting to switch over to fixed price.   I used to have good luck selling at auction.  One person was asking why if I could sell at my shop, why list it..  Co Vid had shut us down for months and also closed our shows, most large convention centers were being used for vaccines and testing.  It will take a couple years to rebuild the clientele, if ever.  So I had started back on Ebay which with my show and shop schedule had been hard to keep up so I let it slide and Ebay removed my earlier ID and feedback.  So had to start new.  With the amount of visibility Ebay should have, my items should bring more on here than at my shop.  But now I'm being told to drop my prices, take a loss and smile....  cash is cash...  not really.   I have an investment in computers, new phone and supplies I had to upgrade to try to supplement my income with Ebay.  So it is very frustrating to get all the hateful remarks along with the helpful posts that have been here.  I will delete this whole thing when I figure out how...

[this*old*attic]

Ok, but it didn’t sound like processing.

It sounded like “my prices are midpoint and fine, I paid XXX and need to make a profit. Price isn’t the problem, I’m hidden in search.”

Over and over.

We don’t know you, so I’ll accept it was a misunderstanding.

[this*old*attic]

OK, come on. Now you’re back at “I have to get back my investment.” Sometimes you can’t.

And deleting the whole thread instead of keeping it up as advice for you - and others - to refer to?

Well, it’s not a good look.

[van4653]

I never left getting back my investment... at least this is my living..  income..  whatever you want to call it.  I did't realize anyone would want to refer to this, it is mostly just shots at me,  like I'm not accepting advice, etc.  I didn't even have time to read this all yet...  opinions vary.  I cannot make a living by having more expenses than income.  I have bills to pay just like everyone does.  We have done shows for over 20 years, but our health is changing the things we can do physically.  I was looking for key words or other suggestions as far as getting pulled up in searches.  Not a major critique on me.   No one seems to know why the word Hack shows up on my listing page all the time in different drop down (choice of words) boxes when listing and Ebay wants you to choose categories, etc.  I have had a pretty good year with the brick and mortar, but could only do 4 shows this summer, so need to supplement my income..   I do like your pictures, and have a new phone to learn with, so hopefully will improve that area.  One step at a time...

[wastingtime101]

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@van4653 wrote:

it is mostly just shots at me,  like I'm not accepting advice, etc.  I didn't even have time to read this all yet... 

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You've been replying throughout the entire discussion and several posters commented that you were not open to any advice based on your responses. Nobody expected you to change your listings overnight, but they were frustrated when your replies indicated you were putting down most of the advice offered.

You likened my comments of genuine help to threats. Can't even imagine what prompted you to say that - and you think others (blunt, direct yet helpful posts) were hateful when you made those comments towards those who are donating their time and expertise to help you?

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@van4653 wrote:

 I was looking for key words or other suggestions as far as getting pulled up in searches. 

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You got plenty of advice about your listing titles and some key words.

You received an offer to see if your listings were being pulled up in searches when you were asked for examples of the listings that you couldn't find in search. No examples were provided.

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@van4653 wrote:

No one seems to know why the word Hack shows up on my listing page all the time in different drop down (choice of words) boxes when listing and Ebay wants you to choose categories, etc.  

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Two posters gave you an answer on that. It's an animation character family with the name hack in the title. Has nothing to do with your listings or your visibility.

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@van4653 wrote:

 I do like your pictures, and have a new phone to learn with, so hopefully will improve that area.  

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That's great. And in the meantime, you can edit some of your photos using eBay's photo editor, for example go to these listings (are they duplicates?) and make use of the crop tool in the photo section of the listing form. 225220711395 and 225223031203

This listing I would remove until you can redo the pics. 225222199398

Many of your photos are passable, but some of the images really do stand out so prioritizing those for edits or re-takes would be to your benefit.

Work on setting up a designated photo area. Get 2 pieces of white poster board to use in an L-shape (cheap option) or a photo box that comes with lighting (less cheap option, but generally affordable since most of your items are small you could get away with a small model). Think about getting a tripod to avoid shaky hands and blurry pics. It's a great investment, and there are many inexpensive options out there. There are even mini desk-sized tripods that hold a smartphone for really affordable prices.

[this*old*attic]

The “major critique” is intended to HELP. There are several issues together likely causing problems.

And someone did answer. That funny scramble of symbols and letters is literally the name of an anime show. I learned something new myself there.

 

[chapeau-noir]

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@van4653 wrote:

I never left getting back my investment... at least this is my living..  income..  whatever you want to call it.  I did't realize anyone would want to refer to this, it is mostly just shots at me,  like I'm not accepting advice, etc.  I didn't even have time to read this all yet...  opinions vary.  I cannot make a living by having more expenses than income.  I have bills to pay just like everyone does.  We have done shows for over 20 years, but our health is changing the things we can do physically.  I was looking for key words or other suggestions as far as getting pulled up in searches.  Not a major critique on me.   No one seems to know why the word Hack shows up on my listing page all the time in different drop down (choice of words) boxes when listing and Ebay wants you to choose categories, etc.  I have had a pretty good year with the brick and mortar, but could only do 4 shows this summer, so need to supplement my income..   I do like your pictures, and have a new phone to learn with, so hopefully will improve that area.  One step at a time...

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This was just explained.  Please understand, the categories that show up in the item specifics drop-downs are shown to EVERYONE, not just to you. Don't worry about them, just chose the one (or not)  that works.

The "major critique for (you)" is only what we're telling you to improve sales.  We can't just say "Oh, your stuff isn't being purchased because it's a day that ends in "Y"), it's because of HOW YOU LIST.  That's it - it's in your hands and we're simply trying to show you how.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

No one is being hateful.  You just don't like the answers.  It feels like we're not getting through.  People gave you very specific examples of why your prices are too high & what to do to fix your photos.  You just seem to dig in your heels & say 'welp, I need to make X amount'.   If it doesn't sell, you're not going to make X amount anyway.   There is no magic formula. 

Most posters are VERY experienced with multiple decades of selling here.   Whether it's your intention or not, you're coming off as though you're disregarding everything we're telling you.  Sometimes the market won't bear what you want to make & in those cases, isn't it better to sell a bit cheaper than having it sit on your shelves forever?   It's your call, you can take the advice or ignore it.  But extremely experienced volunteers gave up their time to legitimately try & help you, in good faith, please respect that & the time they donated.   We see the improvements you can make & told you what they were & yes, they involve you changing up some things.   When something you're doing isn't working, it makes sense to consider changing it up.   Compare your photos to the photos of the people posting here.  You'll see a big difference. 

And you have been given the answer twice to the Hack//sign thing.   The only reason the text editor here in the forum wouldn't take it, is b/c it looks like HTML.    It's apparently a character in anime & is not hurting you at all.  Unless of course your item doesn't have that series on it.  In that case, you'd want to remove it. 

[van4653]

I changed the offer setting for your offer price, but since it timed out, I cannot get it to accept..  you can re-offer or not..  you have been pretty decent in your responses and I appreciate that... thank you

[this*old*attic]

We have ALL been decent in our responses.

 If you remain defensive, and keep viewing what we offer as an attack, it makes a great excuse to dismiss the suggestions you didn’t want to take anyway.

Don’t do that. You say you’ve owned a brick and mortar for 20 years, did Ebay for awhile, regularly did shows, etc. Was it always smooth sailing? No.

So, buckle down. 

And, for what it’s worth, the phone app I use is PicStitch, the free version. You pic from a zillion templates (I regularly use 3), it opens your photos, you tap your choices, they pop under your template choice, and you drag and drop with your finger. It even auto-crops what you leave hanging outside the template. Then you save.

 I can lay in bed half watching tv, and create galleries in 1 or 2 minutes each. It’s rather magical.

[onefootflipper2]

If you are getting out of physical location selling then the ebay prices are the only ones that matter.  You might have to take a loss on every single item that you currently have in inventory, particularly if you were buying stuff people brought to you based on what you were able to get in person.  You either take the loss or take nothing, and then it all sells for 50 cents each some day (hopefully many years off) at the estate sale to someone else who will put it on ebay themselves.

The general opinion among resellers is that ebay is by far the most profitable venue. It is generally a pretty rare opinion that you can get more in person for things than on ebay as ebay is usually considered the highest possible price on used and collectible items.  When I am at the flea market buyers are actively checking ebay prices against what sellers are offering and using those prices in their negotiations. 

[buyselljack2016]

eBay is a tough road when your "business model" more or less requires you to get "retail" for your items.

As has been posted many times on community threads..................  you make your money when you buy the item............  as in, you need to buy loooooooooow.......

With rising "seller costs", shipping, packaging, fees....  there are things that I have sold for a long time that I can still source, but no longer are worth my time once all the costs factor in.   As I have little else to do, I do not factor in my time. If I did, I would probably stop selling, cause I'm pretty valuable🤣

I'm sure you will work on it when time allows, but let me be another to suggest..............   get the hands out of the photos😄 

And to be another to beat the dead horse.................  BIN.  More exposure for the $, and may some day show on a google search.

[buyselljack2016]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

What is your point in posting your traffic page?

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It was requested by another poster.

The 270K impressions at least shows that the OP's listings are not "hidden".

[van4653]

what does impression indicate?? It isn't anyone looking..  just in a list somewhere?? Someone searched like items??  If they actually got to mine,  the odds are against not having anyone curious enough to look..