posted on December 3, 2000 07:42:32 PM new
I've been selling on eBay for almost two years. I sell mostly children's clothing, but some other things, too, such as Pottery Barn linens, women's clothing and accessories, whatever I come across. Almost everything I sell is new, purchased for eBay sale. Twenty items a week is about the most I ever do, usually less. I have a good following and almost 300 perfect feedback. I run pretty ads with good pictures and good prices. I've always done well. It's not a living, but it enables me to home-school my child, pay for extras and, this past summer, we spent a month in Mexico on my eBay profits.
Lately, though, I can't seem to GIVE this stuff away! For example, I have some beautiful children's clothing from Saks Fifth Avenue that I have tried to market any and every way I can -- all kinds of pictures, low prices, offers of free shipping. I even purchased some tights to match the outfits at Old Navy just so I could get the Old Navy keyword in my auction titles and maybe get more hits! Nothing is working, I mean NOTHING. I have 17 auctions up right now, with ONE BID, and even that is from a loyal customer who looks for my stuff and is always bidding on something.
I am curious -- last week I was at my mother's for Thanksgiving, and I looked at my auctions on her computer. My pictures were all blurry and hazy and hard to see. But then so were many other pictures on eBay. She has AOL and uses Netscape Navigator. I started thinking maybe my pictures are messed up on lots of people's computers. ????
If anyone has the time, I would appreciate your looking at my auctions and seeing if the pictures look right.
This time last year I was making so many trips to the post office I felt like I should just move in down there. Now I'm just doing terribly on eBay. Any other ideas what might be wrong?
posted on December 3, 2000 07:56:59 PM new
Hello savannahmom!
This is what you call over saturation. eBay is saturated with like items, people can be very picky, and get great prices with the seller loosing profits with eBay fee's, time involved, etc.
posted on December 3, 2000 07:57:36 PM new
Well everything looks good to me except the part about "I am happy to accept your personal check if I have done business with you before or you have a feedback rating of 50 or more."
I get alot of new users that bid on my items. I have been the first feedback for many of my buyers. I accept checks from all of them.
You can accept checks from anyone and simply hold them before shipping.
I was burnt 1 time by a lady that paid with a check. The check bounced and I lost on the deal, but she had a feedback of over 100 !!!
If you take that term out of your auctions I am sure you will get more bids from new users that like to pay with checks. It is actually alot easier for a new user to buy if a seller accepts checks. Plus, if a user can only purchase using checks you are turning them away for reasons that can vary from just plain laziness to the closest place they can get a MO is 50 miles away.
I take any form of payment check, mo, paypal, etc....
I figure if they want to pay me, I don't care how they do it. They can send me pennies if they want !!
posted on December 3, 2000 08:14:34 PM new
Hi,
I think the blurry picture problem might come from a the monitor is old, or pixcels not set correct, or maybe a inexpensive monitor. I find that with mine also on some other PC's.
Thanks, Brian
posted on December 3, 2000 08:18:31 PM new
I took a look at your auctions and, as noted here, they look great and professional. You've done a nice job making sure the pictures don't appear poor in quality. Good job on that.
The next thing I did was look at your competition. I looked for the same manufacturer and sometimes the same item. This is where you're getting killed. You're competing directly with 10 - 40 other items, and frankly, you're losing. Your starting bids are 4 - 15 times the opening bid of your competitors and their bidding isn't even that great. They're scraping by with $4 or $5 bids. Someone who has done a search will immediately see that you're often the highest price on the page and probably skip over your listings completely.
As has been noted above, you've got a bit of competition and they're taking you down quickly by undercutting you. Granted, much of what's in the listings may be used clothing but, as indicated by the success of stores like Once Upon A Child, people know that kids grow out of clothing quickly and clean, good condition used clothing is very attractive to potential bidders.
posted on December 3, 2000 08:20:45 PM new
Thank y'all for checking out my pix. That was really bugging me after seeing how messed up they are on my mom's computer. I think she must need to adjust her monitor or something.
Cix, I am going to take your advice about the checks. I may get burned, but that's better than losing sales.
Loose Cannon, you made this ol' Savannahmom's day! (I don't know how to make those blush thingies, but if I did there would be one here.)
I guess I'd better find something different to sell than kids' clothes. I guess eBay has just become everybody's big garage sale, and the competition in the clothing category is just too fierce. Or maybe things will pick up?
posted on December 3, 2000 08:57:59 PM new
I just call 'em like I see 'em.
It will pick up, sooner or later. It better!
Anyway, if you can diversify a little and offer a mix of different things, it certainly can't hurt.
Collectibles never cease to amaze me. Of course it's everything from A to Z. But you never know what will bring a good price.
Recently I rediscovered some forgotten leftover "junk" from garage sale buys stored in a box. I dug out a small vintage paper item that I thought looked interesting, but never got around to listing it before. Had absolutely nothing into the item. Put it on ebay for 2.95 and lo and behold the thing brought 24.50! If I had known someone would want it that badly, that thing would have been listed months ago.
posted on December 3, 2000 10:20:10 PM new
Savannah--Your prices are too high for the average bidder. Folks are looking for bargains. Have you heard about "The Secret" which was a lively topic of discussion this past summer?
Start everything at $1.00. You may lose money on some items, but gain on the others.
It looks like everyone's sales are way down, which is why I "unregistered" recently. I may list a few leftovers after the holidays under my other id.
The Little Me reindeer outfit was available recently at Factory2U for $6.99--$6.00 less than you are asking and with instant gratification and no shipping charge.
Your sales may pick up right before and just after Christmas. Folks have new computers they are anxious to try.
Last year my fall sales were great, but from Thanksgiving to Christmas the bidding was dead. Just after Christmas the bidding heated up again.
I think overall that ebay has run its course. The economy is slowing down and bidders are watching what they spend.
posted on December 4, 2000 04:51:47 AM new
Savasnnah - AOL's software does something wierd to pictures. If you turn OFF compression the pictures are better.
As for the rest ... you are experiencing what all the other sellers are: competition. Keep checking what your competitors are doing, and adapt. If they are selling used, emphasize NEW WITH TAGS.
Make it as easy as possible for bidders to buy ...
posted on December 4, 2000 05:56:58 AM new
AOL Users - to get rid of 'blurry, compressed images' do the following.
Go to your AOL toolbar, click on MY AOL.
Scroll down to PREFERENCES - A box pops up with 3 rows of icons.
Click on the WWW icon in the first row.
A box will open with several tabs, Click on the tab that says WEB GRAPHICS (tab of far right).
If your system is set for compressed images the box next to USE COMPRESSED GRAPHICS will be checked. Uncheck the box. Close all open boxes.
Log off AOL, log back on and your images should correct themselves. They will be slower loading but you will see the true pictures sellers have put up.
You may have to hit refresh a few times on auctions you have viewed already to establish the new 'non-blurry' image.
Everytime you upgrade to a new version of AOL the default is to use compressed images so be sure to turn it off if you want clear, concise photos(provided the seller actually took clear pictures in the first place!)
posted on December 4, 2000 08:34:14 AM new
Thank you all for the suggestions and comments. So funny about those "compressed" images on my Mom's computer (by the way, it's a Gateway, and she has a top-of-the-line 19" monitor). She is convinced it is just the pictures on MY AUCTIONS even though I showed her some others that looked screwy, so she will not even consider adjusting anything on her monitor! Actually got me thinking it was MY PICTURES that were the problem.
As for the prices, yes, you are right that my prices are often higher than the competition's. Actually, I start my auctions with prices as low as I can afford to sell them and still make a profit, the problem being that I have been burned so often with those $1 No Reserve or even 1 Penny No Reserve auctions I tried. Yes, I'd get eight or nine bids most of the time, but still end up selling an item I paid $7 for, for under $5. And so much of the time it seems the items go for the opening bid amount, so I just can't afford to start out so low. I have experimented all over the place with prices.
But yes, there is A LOT more competition now on eBay. It's too bad bidders don't take into account whom they are buying from. I would much rather pay a little more for something and buy it from someone with an established feedback record than take a risk on getting something shoddy from a person who is just out to make a quick buck and has no concern for the quality of the item or its condition. But that's just me. Also, I buy clothes myself on eBay, for me and my daughter, and my husband buys for himself. I am the kind of person who, if I find something I like, it seems to be in good shape and the seller has a good reputation, I will pay whatever I have to to get it (within reason, of course). I know there are others like me out there who feel the same way.
I guess I am just in a slump, and that, combined with the increased competition, makes for NO SALE this Christmas.
