posted on April 3, 2000 01:05:27 PM new
Hey everyone I am having no luck selling much at all. I have done my research but I have only sold a few things and its not even enough to cover what I have featured, I have been using Yahoo, but now I am trying Ebay, I get alot of hits and still nothing, My prices are low. I just cant figure it out. I even signed up for pay pal to make it easier for people to purchase but thats not working either. DOes anyone have any advice they can give me. My email address is [email protected]
Thanks and I truely appriciate it.
posted on April 3, 2000 01:14:32 PM new
Sales are wonky, dude! I don't know what the patterns are. Hot on eBay is luke-warm on Yahoo. What sells on Yahoo doesn't get a hit on eBay. I've also seen Amazon sales are down. Maybe it is just a lull before the summer frenzy? I hope so, in your case...and mine! ;-D
posted on April 3, 2000 07:23:38 PM new
January & Febuary were record months for me. Sales up by 40% through heavy advertisement. March when very well till the 4th week of March. It was down pretty bad. I've restarted focusing on my web site & also eBay. I don't use other auction sites. Bidbay have been doing semi aggresive ads on TV, it might account for decrease in Yahoo traffic.
posted on April 3, 2000 07:40:19 PM new
Hmm.
(1) What're you trying to sell? Is the market for your item already flooded? If so, you've got a choice - make buying from you a better deal, or switch to other merchandise.
(2) Got a GOOD pic in your listing? I've passed over so many auctions with pix that show mostly somebody's sofa or kitchen floor or are hopelessly out of focus or the color is questionable. If you can't take the time to supply a good pic, why should I take the time to send you my business?
(3) Got a coherent description, including dimensions, flaws, condition (not "good" - "on a scale of 1-10, this is a 5" )? How about shipping terms? "Buyer pays shipping" is enough to scare me off in a hurry. "Buyer pays $3.55 Priority shipping" lets me figure that cost into my total bid.
(4) How high is your opening bid? If it's approaching retail, you're outta luck. Bidders expect at least the chance of a bargain, even if they end up paying twice retail. Be aware too that most items at online auctions do sell for below retail.
(5) Are you spell-checking your listings? So many get lost because the title's misspelled (e.g. "Flinstones" for FlinTstones, "stripped" for "striped" ).
(6) Are you sufficiently familiar with the item you're offering to confidently sell it? "I don't know what this is" with an opening bid of $50 (and yes, I've found a couple of those) is not encouraging.
(7) How fast is your listing loading? If your pic's too big or you've added sixty aniGIFs, half your audience will click to the next listing before they even get a peek at your item.
(8) Is your listing easy on the eye? I've found several auctions with white type on a yellow background. Now THAT's smart, huh?
(9) Are you annoying potential customers with canned music on your listings? Lots of folks surf late at night and don't like getting shot out of their seat by some screeching synth rendition of Greensleeves.
Phew! Hope that helps.
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Apr 3, 2000 07:40 PM ]
posted on April 8, 2000 06:15:52 PM new
Good going Hartcottagequilts bravo.
clap, clap, clap, now if some people would only take that advise.
I see people putting 15.00 shipping charges on an item i know they can mail for 4.00, trying to make thier money on shipping.
That was really well said.
posted on April 8, 2000 07:54:08 PM new
The bigest things I found that count on yahoo. is the good picture
uploaded to yahoo so you have the tumb nail for the view photos only no thumb nail 80 to 90% wont even know you have sales on yahoo.
I dont have the best camera and have found a few times takeing a new shot different back ground will sharpin it nicely, and an item that got no interest for a week or two sells nearly over night with a clear shot.
as far as the canned music it dont work on yahoo you'll find none on yahoo.
get a small list of items up on yahoo and add to it daily people like change not seeing just the same ole thing everyday for weeks,this not so much a problem on ebay because of the listing fees.
list for less days and feature lots of item up there in the auctions it cost .25 cent per day on yahoo to get your item to the top and seen
become a buyer get rateings they help big time the higher the number the better the buying on your sales.
list items with a lower starting price yahoo offers a buy price sell a few item low usually if you get people looking they will check out your whole list, some times it pays to take a lose offer free shiping if they win two or more items totaling up to X amount.
always offer the lowest rate to ship and give the choce to pay priority insurance and other frills.
keep your bidder rateing low 0 or none many many "newbies are biding NOW".
paypal is ok to use its great for some but dont push the $5 to join or say join and save $5 bit people are tired of it just offer paypal in EOA as a way to pay with CC.
surf the auctions daily keep up on the going prices and where the bids are not always best though to sell the hotest thing as it puts you in a catogory 1 of 10 million something is not best.
if there is more then one of the same item you are trying to sell find another cat for your item and be lower even if only a quarter .
good luck non of this will work all the time but if just one of these things works once per item your selling
posted on April 9, 2000 06:52:13 PM new
Just a couple of thoughts.
Are you listing items that are unique, or are they boutique -type items you might find in a mall shop. Either will sell, but if you are listing the latter, your prices will need to be really low to make inroads on Yahoo.
Also, I've had very good luck NOT including pictures with alot of collectible type items. I know this seems counter-intuitive, but the seasoned collectors scan listings by the title, not by looking for pictures. I've had some great sales. I think part of this relates to the fact that many bidders are sick of the load-times
on our pages.
[ edited by azrae on Apr 9, 2000 06:53 PM ]
