Share your tips for increasing sales

[vintagechinashop]

Good afternoon to you all 

it's very easy to get bogged down with negativity. I for one have in recent times been quite negative, but this morning I had a sale and yesterday I had 3 so I've decided to try and be positive in these uncertain times 

so I thought it would be a good idea to start a positive post 

would anyone like to share your tips for increasing sales. Something that has worked for you maybe or something you are trying to see if it has results 

I know there's no magic wand to be waved but let's see if we can try to improve our sales by sharing the love 

my first tip is to use sell similar on ended listings and to change just one thing. I think in the past I have been very complacent and just need to up my game a bit. I've been taking fresh photos of ended items to refresh the listing 

over to you 

[sheba-knows-best]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

 Quite alot get accepted, but yes, other sellers should probably make it a higher percentage. 

Although, all my listings allow offers very few buyers make them. Is it British reserve do you think? If they don't like 5% they can always make an offer for more discount but they don't. 

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Fascinating. I would say 95% of my sales are through 'make an offer'. The british are not at all reserved about offering on pre-loved!

I didn't initially like the idea of 'make an offer'. I felt that people would feel a need to offer  (or feel robbed) - feel awkward about doing so - and then wander away. But nope. I was proven wrong. It works great. I think Vinted has copied it now too? Some people still buy without offering, or offer - wait for 5 mins - then pay full price anyway (obviously worried about losing the item). 

I have found it works great to send out 20% off on £55+ items and allow counter- offers - but on cheaper items send out 20% off and exclude counter0ffers.

[sheba-knows-best]

Okay so my top tips are PL, find a competitor, and spreadsheets. And like OJ, I agree with mindshifts. It is all so easy to vilify ebay as fatcats and boffins in suits. But it's just a selling platform. And a selling platform is just a cost.  

I had my heart drop moment in week 34-36 this year (end of august) when I could see from my spreadsheet (TOP TIP: SPREADSHEET - it alerts you immediately to issues)  that sales failed to do their usual jump.  And I lost 2k vs 2022 in 2 weeks (ie I was running at 76k vs 78k rolling). A look at impressions (and people really need to look at 13mth in my opinion) showed only 60% of the previous september. Clearly I wasn't get my usual visibility.

First I stopped and thought. I remember - on one of my positive threads - a poster politely asking how I felt about having so much value in stock and still buying more (she thought she would be anxious). I replied - smugly, I recall people saying - that I could always throw open my doors and sell everything at a tenner each and pull in 15k whilst I sorted myself out. This was my mind shift moment. There was no need for such drastic measures. I could 'give to ebay' and 'give to buyers'  without resorting to a fire sale.

First I checked out my TOP TIP: COMPETITOR (a selling fiend). As usual he was doing well. I immediately copied, banging on a coupon for 25% off everything above £40 (I think).

Next I sat down - checked ebays dynamic ads advisory rates on various items - and did the maths and worked out how much I would lose by letting ebay have its wicked way with me (no cap). It was still way better for me than a firesale. So I put all my items on no cap dynamic. (And this is where we need a mind shift. Yes, I know, we already pay for visibility, so why should we pay for more. But the fact is, not everyone can be on page one, someone has to be on page 10 - that isn't ebay's fault unless they exclude people from selling on ebay - so just make sure it isnt you on page 10).

Within a week my impressions y-o-y had broken last year's ceiling.

Within 2 weeks my sales were back at 78k rolling.

Job done. I think my October sales ended up 44% up y-o-y vs September.

But what about profitability, I hear you cry.

Exactly.

But now I had momentum, visibility, I was back on ebay's like-list, so could play about.

SO first the 25% coupon came off.

Then I opened a new Dynamic Ad  'cherry picker' at a smaller % (which can be moved on a daily basis as can all dynamic ad rates)

So now every morning not only do I 'end and sell similar' - I also review watchers/looks on items and move these items to my cherry picker DA.

My cherry picker DA is stocked by items I treasure - that are more in line with where I want my offering to go. I believe they also bring in people who browse. I believe they bring in people who add me to their saved seller list etc etc

On my no cap DA - I have stock that has hung around for 18mth +,  stuff that is too bulky so takes up too much room etc. No cap DL is like my fire sale but much less drastic.

Okay - now for another mind shift - if you keep a spreadsheet and tally your DA/PL extra costs each week and divide them by your volumes - the numbers become 'palatable'. So my extra DA costs might be £300 a week, say, but if I have sold 40 items, then the extra PL is actually £7.50 per item. I don't have a single item that doesn't make more than £7.50 profit so no loss. Also most weeks I usually have my entire DA bill cleared by maybe just two items. The point is, ebay is just another cost, DA is just another cost. These costs have helped me clear space in my office and shift old stock and basically shift that cold stone from my heart and lift my mood and energy. And all the time the costs are coming down again... as every day more items move to the cherry picker list...

So by the end of October my sales were up 4% ytd with flat profits (I think). Yeah, yeah, I know, inflation. What can I say, it' a tough year...

I hope this makes a kind of sense. I know not everyone needs PL. I'm guessing it won't suit all businesses. I bothered to write this - and I am very busy with three jobs (ebay is just one of them and the only one that currently pays)  not to brag but to genuinely share and out of gratitude to the OP @vintagechinashop for being the one to start a positive thread.

best of luck with sales to all xxx

[sheba-knows-best]

I always forget something!Remember HALO items.

If one DA/PL item brings a buyer to your items, but they choose a different item, they pay the PL/DA on the item they buy, not the PL on the first item. So choose your NO CAP DA to bring people in, knowing they might buy a lower DA rate item.

[fatbobfan]

Adressed to the sell simlar users

I have a mixed inventory, I have popular items which turns over and rarer items which can sit for years, seems mad but but I get a good mark up and usually things sell, I have a featured shop so it uses up my excess listing allowance close to the 1500 

The turn over stuff is good Im happy, it seems to fit in with what Ebay want which are items that sell often. 

My concern is the rarer stuff, its not what I would call collectible or popular it can often go months with zero/limited views, the concern being that this has a negative impact on the selling account

I (recently) switched to sell similar but have been choosing to 'sell simlar' on a monthly basis not 3 months because of the zero views which I understand will happen because it is what I sell.

The 3 month rule is as per the Ebay instruction but do you end sooner? Right or wrong thing to do? Do you have criteria for ending and sell similar before 3 months

Thanks

[simplyessential_uk]

wow thats a lot to take in Im going to have to read that a few times but so much to think about. I really hate DAs and stay well clear as Ive had my fingers burnt with Google PPC but having a cherry picker DA etc is interesting. Food for thought and yes more sales (regardless of profit) is good for Ebays Algorithms and they see you are a good seller turning over items so thats always a good reason.
I notice you have 1.7k followers and thats good for coupon sending etc, I only have 557 so thats something Id like to increase, not sure how (any advice on that would be great from anyone)

[fatbobfan]

Point 3

How do you create your blocks?

Im asking as with 700 plus listings it would need to be managed correctly, seems a top tip I intent to implement

[goingfishinguk]

What is the opinion on 'Capitals' and 'special characters?'  The Prep for Peak suggests few capitals and few or no special capitals.

Two main contributors on this thread have a lot of CAPITALS and Special characters in their titles (Sheba-knows-best and Vintage China Shop) the other main contributor Simply Essential does not.

So which is correct?  That is the main problem facing people.  One day eBay says X the next day Y.  Same goes for length of titles, PfPeak suggests use all 80, I'm sure the video featuring Hannah or the Jean Luc person said shorter titles in their videos.

[ojewellery]

Its taken a while but essentially I spread my listings over the critical 90 days/ 13 weeks so they're not all due to end at the same time.   I sit down for one session a week and look at whats coming up due to end.  Like @sheba-knows-best I end before the first renew if no watchers/ interest, before 90 days if no sales activity.  It breaks it down so its not too overwhelming, should a week be missed its easy enough to pick up.

Many of my gemstones also have peak sales months as birth/ zodiac stones so I revisit photographs in theory about two months prior to their peek season - but sometimes it takes best part of the two months to get them uploaded as I time limit time spent on this as a nice to do but busy task.

[ojewellery]

For promotions I promote what I call lead in promotions so an initial discount about a month prior to when I see peek sales period being, this in theory generates a bit of traction that hopefully boosts sales at peek time.

My shop categories are by gemstone and metal, then necklaces, earrings, brooches, sets so I can promote by shop category

[sheba-knows-best]

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@simplyessential_uk wrote:

wow thats a lot to take in Im going to have to read that a few times but so much to think about. I really hate DAs and stay well clear as Ive had my fingers burnt with Google PPC 

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Just to clarify - in case we are at crossed purposes - I would not touch PayPerClick with my business model. People window shop me, so I cannot afford the browsers. Dynamic Ads are NOT pay per click - they are still pay per sale. DA is just PL where the %  moves up and down on ebay's whims. So yes, you have to trust ebay to charge what it wants on the day of the sale (whichever PL rate it says got you the sale). HOWEVER, you can cap your DA rate at say 3%. Then ebay will only move you up to the cap (and you may lose sales).

To give you an idea. If I look at my average PL rate for October - @ my uncapped month - my average PL rate was 12.39% (this on top of my FVF of course). BUT this was only up 3.53% vs September (where I'd been capped 2.5-11.5 on and off). So I got one hell of an uplift for not too much extra cash and got rid of a load of stock. 

I hate to say it - I like DA in terms of their flexibility and ability to transform sales (touching wood as I speak)- no one LIKES extra fees of course. But if I wanted extra sales today (which I dont) - I would just lift the cap on my cherry picker stock. 

With your business model - when stuff is getting close to sellby date - couldn't you firesale with DA?

[sheba-knows-best]

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@fatbobfan wrote:

Adressed to the sell simlar users

The 3 month rule is as per the Ebay instruction but do you end sooner? Right or wrong thing to do? Do you have criteria for ending and sell similar before 3 months

Thanks

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My whole business model is built on waiting for the right buyer.  On a pair of shoes first sold in 2018, say, I get one buyer offering me a £5 saying I am a @@@@ing robber to demand more for secondhand - and someone else leaving feedback saying they cant believe they got the same shoes years later for the same price they paid originally - I digress...  End every listing every month before it renews automatcially IF it has ZERO watchers. If a listing has a watcher, end only when it is coming up to 3 months.

[btr.style]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

Although, all my listings allow offers very few buyers make them. Is it British reserve do you think? If they don't like 5% they can always make an offer for more discount but they don't. 

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Completely the opposite experience for us. When offers were turned on by mistake in the early days, it was silly offers galore. 

Offers were then turned off and barely a day goes by where we don't get at least 2 or 3 messages with offers, most of them are completely ridiculous. Often we get people wanting £40+ off a coat that's listed for £100 (50% off RRP already), others can't even be bothered to say please,thanks or anything else and just message with an amount i.e "£55?". 

The answer will always be no, often with it being pointed out that we are a business, a shop, not a car boot sale where haggling in the norm. 

[sheba-knows-best]

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@goingfishinguk wrote:

What is the opinion on 'Capitals' and 'special characters?'  The Prep for Peak suggests few capitals and few or no special capitals.

Two main contributors on this thread have a lot of CAPITALS and Special characters in their titles (Sheba-knows-best and Vintage China Shop) the other main contributor Simply Essential does not.

So which is correct?  That is the main problem facing people.  One day eBay says X the next day Y.  Same goes for length of titles, PfPeak suggests use all 80, I'm sure the video featuring Hannah or the Jean Luc person said shorter titles in their videos.

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Personally I dont think it matters.

Bard suggests You Should Write Titles Like This

I swap and change when I do my sell similar sometimes

[fatbobfan]

The video is confusing if its the same one I watched it wasnt clear but said no to Caps Locks

We switched from ALL CAPS LOCKS to every day grammar, did that get  specific result? cant say as we changed alot of things at the same time. Ive asked on these forums previous about special charachters and been advised they are not seen in  the search. If I have the space I do both as people are lazy.  eg Heinnes and Moritz or H&M. The special charachter is the easy option and often the most well known so try and do both, cover by bets so to speak

[simplyessential_uk]

I use to have part CAPITALS etc and I will use & instead of and but I dont think it matters but Im guessing Google dont like the capitals so re external ads it may hinder but they say the same about white backgrounds yet some of my best sellers have my garden in the background and I think it gives context on size.
I know Ebay themselves have said first 4 words are the main ones to as long as I get that right I try to make sure that I use all 80 characters (as much as I can) so Im not sure how the shorter titles would help.

[simplyessential_uk]

Im turning over the ingredients monthly as I make all my Massage oils/salts etc to order and the creams turn over quick so sell by dates really dont apply.  I make most profits on my own branded products so I can afford to pay DAs on them so will have a look as there are some that dont sell that much on or get 0 views, which baffles me, so I will look at the DAs for them now.   

Dynamic Ads are NOT pay per click Am I confusing them with something else? I thought they were.

[vintagechinashop]

Thank you @sheba-knows-best  for such an informative post. There's some valuable tips in there for anyone who is struggling 

there's a lot of work that we can all do to hopefully improve sales.  I have a dear friend who is the most positive person I know Whenever I have a poor me moment he kicks me ( not literally) and tells me to get a grip and think positive.  I've read some real success stories and been envious of their success. Success as my friend tells me is 25% luck and 75% work ethic so that's why I've started this post 

we can all stare at our screens waiting for that sale but as my grandma used to say a watched pot never boils. So I'm starting to put my 100% effort in motion and with the help of all who are joining in in this post I'm sure we can all find success 

thank you to everyone who is contributing 

[tribalgiftsuk]

Thanks you @vintagechinashop for posting this thread. Its nice to read something positive and to lighten the load. Also appreciate all the ideas and comments so far.

I have been struggling recently  as well and been thinking about what has been going on with Ebay. I started to do a few auctions on some surplus stock which seems to be helping a little. I am starting to wonder if customers are looking more at auctions as they are trying to find bargains. Especially since the normal search method seems to not show all listings anymore , especially when you do a lowest priced search method. For a while over half of the  lower priced listings were being omited.

It would be interesting to know what the ratio of buy it now v's auction sales has been over Ebay over the last few months.

I  am going to auction bits and pieces now and then,  it seems to bring more people looking at my fixed priced items as well. I definately think it is worth doing a few auctions a week give someone a bargain and hopefully they will be back for more and will add you to their saved sellers. I think someone already mentioned it but i definately agree.

Thanks also for the DA addtip. I will always refuse a PPC ad route so any other work arounds are much appreciated.  They really are trying to push us into it, but it can only really work if you have 100's of an item to sell at a good profit margin. I think most of us are being squeezed to much as it is to do it.

So onwards and upwards, tickering regularly must help and will be my method for now 😀

[sheba-knows-best]

Just to reiterate in case of any confusion:

Dynamic Ads (DA) are not pay per click. They are a type of Promoted Listing (PL); but one that can move up and down in terms of the % you pay on a sale. You allow ebay to choose the % on any given day that your item sells. However you are able to cap your DA % ie 12% - then the fee per sale will roam up and down but never above 12%. 

There is never any proof, that the fee ebay takes is 'fair' and would have been the lowest 'winning' percentage. You have to take ebay's word for it. BUT if you look at the rate ebay takes it is not always at your cap. Again - I think it is important to see ebay as a cost not a horrid person with a cackle - if the fees you incur, spread across increased volumes, work for you, then use DA.  

[simplyessential_uk]

I thought DA were Promoted Listings Advanced the PPC - Sorry for the confusion

Now, I saw a YT video by "back from burnout" and she had a horrid week last year, as she moved all of her listings into promo groups so she could set different % for different valued books and her traffic fell off a cliff, Ebay told her that moving from one promo to another group can take a week so she should end the listings and relist them in a new promo group, she closed all her listings and did exactly as told and all back to normal  so Ive been wary of doing this and having seperate groups and moving them between- Have you noticed this?