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 

[vintagewatchpart]

I've posted some top tips here before but I will post some more now given that so many Ebayers are struggling currently looking at all the "no sales" threads.

1. Focus on what you can influence. A lot of Ebayers are moaning about Ebay. I do it quite a lot (promoted listings, search functionality and private sellers particularly) - these things have certainly affected my sales and profit but I have two choices - I can sit here and moan about them and get involved with those threads all the time or I can crack on with what I can control, try to figure out new things for myself and work with what we have.
   
   
2. Review what you sell. A lot of what I sold readily a few years ago, sells badly now. I don't buy it any more to sell. Wrist watch market is strong now but the pocket watch market has seen a huge decline, so I no longer focus on it and avoid it.
   If you sell for example, plug sockets, and you used to sell loads and now you don't, look into it. Is the platform flooded with other sellers selling the same items as you and are you in heavy competition, if so you need to be the cheapest and best and if you can not compete, yes its a real shame but you will have to possibly think of something else to sell.
   I'd get new and different stock in all the time no matter what I sold but it needs to be something special and unique because the internet is pretty flooded with generic cheap goods.
   
   
3. Take part in all of Ebays promotions if invited and margins allow it - as Sheba says. I am getting invited to tonnes. There are only about 4 days in November when I don't have a coupon on! 
   I no longer promote as you probably know, I don't half bang on about it... but to put it into perspective if my sales continue as they are this year I will have taken home an additional £14500 by not promoting and this includes all the fees from the co-funded coupons.
   
   
4. Look for patterns in the algorithm and work with it.
   Save up all your best offers for 1 day per week - Friday evenings are recommended for conversion (thanks to my pro trader advisor) and send all at once. Ebays algorithm loves it when lots of items are getting lots of views and whenever I batch send out like this I find a lot of items sell to others who just buy it full price and other items I sell get more traffic and sales.
   If you don't send offers, this is just one of those things now buyers expect on the platform unfortunately so it's worth trailing a slight price increase just to send offers out.
   
   
5. Don't ever use auction, only buy it now.
   I am seeing sellers listing items on auctions going stupid cheap - they don't get visibility any more and many get lost in a flood of product and are never found.
   One seller I follow lists everything starting at 0.01 and I watched 6 parts that are worth around £30 each sell for the 1p. That seller continues to list in that way, it is insane. How hard would it just be to spend a couple of mins researching to list them as a buy it now. I'd rather do that and get the £180 than 6 pence.
   
   
6. Newsletters, like Sheba said again, you can send one out every two weeks. Do whatever you can to get eyes on your product and most sellers don't know they exist. 
   
   
7. Build up a community who follow you, be a brand. I have 5.2k followers and around 10% of my sales are repeat. It works well if you sell different items that appeal to the same person, use it to your advantage. I have a link in every item to save me as a follower and all of those people get updates when I list new items and I still see patterns when I list and around 15% or so of what I list sells in the first 24-48 hours mainly from repeaters who follow me to see the new products.

I can probably think of a lot more, may add to it if I remember something but I think the main thing is that Ebay now is not the same as Ebay a year or 5 years ago and if you aren't adapting you may get lost in a flood of products and never seen. Yes, Ebay has lots to sort out but we can't do much about that other than talk about it constructively, feed back where we can and hope that action gets taken. I think that recent wave of Private to business seller accounts converted was down to these discussions.

When I was a child I used to collect Tea Cards, trading cards, cigarette cards and stamps. I'd go regularly to local fairs and get new ones to fill gaps in my collection and see flurries of elderly war veterans filling gaps in theirs, swapping and conversing. Some cards were a fortune.
Sets that were worth £100 in the 90s are worth about £5 now in many instances. Same with other things I used to collect. One of the first things I sold on here was a Wade big ears figure for £130 I think it was but you can now pick up that same one for £5-£10. I was in with Beanie Babies and bought them for £6 from the shops and sold them to the USA for £60, those same ones are now worth about £2.

The point is is that things change and we have to roll with the changes sometimes and look at what we sell and the trends. 
The rate at which things are changing and advancing now is insane compared to what it was. There is a fact somewhere I forget where it is from but something like the current generation will experience a 1000 years of change in their life time - basically the changes over the next 80 years will be the same as the previous 1000 years. So the changes experienced between say 1950 and 1960 over 10 years is more like 2024-2025 now.

If Ebay is not working for you but your website or other platforms are, perhaps don't worry about Ebay any more and focus more of your time on what is working. 

[bojangled]

@vintagewatchpart and @sheba-knows-best 

I have been dragged down, falling into the negative mind set with the recent changes, and these boards don’t have, by nature, much positivity. (The whole reason I don’t do social media).

So thank you for bumping the thread.

Just one point you both mention sending offers, it really doesn’t work for me. Sent 120 out after ‘saving them up’ end of last month, 2 takers. 
This month I’m going for a short term sale event, seemed to more success with that, more eyes on listings rather than a select few that may not visit their inbox in the 4 day period.

Re followers, I have mentioned this in another thread, on the orders page it’s interesting to see that you can now see if a buyer is a follower. 

And your paragraph about rolling with change vintage, spot on, I always bang on about the Who Moved My Cheese? book but it’s very relevant to online selling and trends. 

Jo

[fatbobfan]

I have a similar experience with sending offers, but I keep on reading this thread and again it popped in the recents posts by a few so I sent my 126 offers sent and almost 24 hours later had one bite.

Monetary wise, my inventory is of a similar value, £10-£30, with Sheba, VWP and OJ have higher value inventory so where as we chuck £1.50 to £3 to entice, they chuck a very big chunk of change, very atractive, its the only thing I can put it down to.

Would be interested on thoughts abouth the other 125 offers sent and not taken up, not the fact they've not taken the offer, more of why are they watching? I regularly have 100 plus watchers even with ending and sell similar on a regualr basis, thats 10% of my inventory being watched and a success rate of offers of 2% tops historicaly.

Then again a sales a sale. I think I will have to impliment it more often, VWP and others historically have mentioned keeping the algorythm happy, all helps

[technthread]

One of the packaging suppliers I use started to run sales around 12 months ago. They do it rarely but I can estimate the pattern now. It has meant that I don’t buy from them at full price anymore but wait for the sale event. I think sales are risky if you have repeat buyers / consistent product lines. If you’re an everything seller and most listings are one off’s, then sales shouldn’t have the same negative effect on normal day to day sales as I am citing there. 

On the points about watchers, I am confused by it too. I’ve had items that pop up saying they are in someone’s basket, weeks go by I’ll drop the prices by as much as 50% and still they don’t sell.

Other items will get a good amount of watchers, nobody counter offers an offer I send so I price drop and price drop and still no sale. At that point I conclude most of the watchers must be other sellers as I’ll cancel and sell similar and the watchers re-appear like clockwork and ignore offers etc.. I’ve started pulling items off eBay and listing elsewhere where I am getting easier sales. 

[ojewellery]

I agree a higher basket price means offers are real money discounts and my latest 1-1 said that offers were most successful at higher basket prices so that ties in with your findings. 

Each of these features is rather nuanced though.  The act of sending an offer, just like listing/ selling similar/ putting a sale on, creates activity on the account.  I don't know what your typical views to conversion rate is but 2% direct conversion would seam not unhealthy to me.  I've never monitored post bulk offer account activity but my gut is its slightly up on pre offers another little halo post activity.  

As an aside I've recently created buyer groups and when I created a voucher code earlier this week I used the option send code to buyer groups that appears.  Its been a successful coupon and I wonder if this 30 second extra action was another of those little things worth doing. 

[sheba-knows-best]

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@bojangled wrote:

@vintagewatchpart and @sheba-knows-best 

I have been dragged down, falling into the negative mind set with the recent changes, and these boards don’t have, by nature, much positivity. (The whole reason I don’t do social media).

So thank you for bumping the thread.

Re followers, I have mentioned this in another thread, on the orders page it’s interesting to see that you can now see if a buyer is a follower. 

Jo

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I agree - me too with social media. I have kept relatively quiet lately on the boards precisely because I am lucky to have zero FVFs til Dec 31st and didn't wish to rile, but I feel the negativity has been detrimental to the posters themselves. After all, the zero fees to private sellers whilst , yes, I agree, a kick in the teeth, is not so much worse than it was before ie 80% off most weeks (and like everyone else I've had to deal with that for years in one of the most crowded categories for private/business sellers). Yes, ebay needs to sort it out. But focusing on your enemy's firepower rather than your own, is never a wise move IMHO. (Unless they have nuclear and you have a water pistol of course 😀)

Where do you see whether someone is a follower on order page please?

[sheba-knows-best]

Not replying to anyone in particular but my thoughts on make an offer/sending out offers... sorry if its all a bit random. Just food for thought I hope.

First, I agree, they don't always work. I can send out 200 and get no bites. But another day I can send out 50 and get 3.  But I still get tetchy when people say on these boards it "doesn't work for my business". I don't offer free returns, next day post, multi buy. Not because they wouldn't all increase my sales. They would . But because I dont want what I perceive to be the proportionately higher hassle associated with these features in my category. (I'm applying the 80/20 rule).  I agree with OJ - sending offers is a tool which buyers increasingly expect (if there is no make an offer) - and to ignore it completely, not because you hate its side effects, but because you cant seem to get it to work seems a bit... weak...

Thoughts on getting offers to work... I think people need to look at their items...

1) Is your item likely to be a pressie? (as opposed to a long thought out aspirational purchase).  If it's a pressie then people wont wait to be sent an offer maybe (they want their pressie in the post). But if you have send an offer enabled they might send one if they are price comparing. Yes you will have to have your phone handy, (or have your reply automated) and not get tetchy when people send low offers (who knows why they have, dont make assumptions) - but it might just get you a quick sale in these tough times.

2) Is you item on the other hand an aspirational item, a buyer is probably price comparing and thinking hard about. Then make an offer / send an offer should help. As it gives you a chance to see (when someone offers) if the price point has moved.

3) Is your item unique?  Do you have, say, a Springsteen, one-off gig advert - dated 14 February 1981? Me, I'd stick it on at £30+ using "Springsteen fan gift valentine birthday christmas 14 February 1981 aged 43 born 1981" or some such thing and allow 'make an offer'. It's priceless as a gift for the right person!  Obviously you also then need high volumes to wait for the right person to come along... but hey, you can still accept the low offer from someone who just collects Springsteen memorable if you feel like you've been waiting forever... 

4) ... which is, I guess, how I think when it comes to sending offers. I consistently look at my sales for the week not on one item.  If most of my stock is priced cheekily - then some will sell at a great price each week and some at a low offer. Sometimes I groan when I accept an offer - I know it could get more another time - but that other time hasn't come fast enough for the sales target I have this week.

5) Works better with expensive items? Whilst I can see that giving someone £100 off a £400 leather is probably more tempting that £1 off £4, equally getting people to part with £300 in a cost of living crisis is no mean feat. If OJ says sending offers works better on higher price points, I won't disagree...  but equally we risk more when we send them out... (who knows if a buyer was just about to buy at full price)

Like I say, rambling, but all food for thought... and maybe not easily applicable if you sell branded Nikes...😀

[bojangled]

Lots to absorb there @sheba-knows-best 

I am quite lucky in the fact I can fill the title and create so many item specifics that some of my ads and posters are unique, so your comments are appreciated.

Last Christmas  the posters flew out for exactly that reason, I think I may have lapsed a little on my detail.

On the orders page for example if you have a ‘repeat buyer’, click the username and you get this pop up:

If they are a ‘follower’ it’s underneath username. Haven’t see it on regular one off transactions yet, but I would assume it would be there?

Jo

[sheba-knows-best]

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@bojangled wrote:

On the orders page for example if you have a ‘repeat buyer’, click the username and you get this pop up:

If they are a ‘follower’ it’s underneath username. Haven’t see it on regular one off transactions yet, but I would assume it would be there?

Jo

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Thanks for info... I will look.

And thanks for seeing my post was 'food for thought' not me thinking I could sell your stock better than you can! I once came across an inexpensive amazing coat that looked exactly like a cavapoo/cockapoo dog. I listed it as "cavapoo lover birthday etc etc" and got the asking price because it was such an amazing one-off.  I genuinely love vintage clothing and paraphernalia and that means I don't think any price is too cheeky if it goes to the right person because they will love it for life.

[sheba-knows-best]

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@technthread wrote:

One of the packaging suppliers I use started to run sales around 12 months ago. They do it rarely but I can estimate the pattern now. It has meant that I don’t buy from them at full price anymore but wait for the sale event. I think sales are risky if you have repeat buyers / consistent product lines. If you’re an everything seller and most listings are one off’s, then sales shouldn’t have the same negative effect on normal day to day sales as I am citing there. 

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True - same here - but I'm now a repeat customer and tend not to price check as avidly as I used to, because I know this seller is no trouble,.

[exponential_developments]

A tip to increase sales, have a darn platform that works, this mornings glitch, can't send offers.........

[triple512]

Yep, take the site back 20 years or so should do it and we might even see people using eBay again.

To be fair, there are are some great ideas in this thread, but if you step back and take a real look at what’s going on, it’s simply a reducing number of people using eBay to buy from.

Search and promoted listings are to blame.

As a buyer, I don’t want sponsored ads all over the item I’m trying to read the description of.

Especially as eBay in its desperation to maximise their profit from the dwindling number of clicks is now putting totally irrelevant items up to tempt me. Nor do I want eBay hiding what I’m really looking for as that ad may not earn enough for the platform.

As a seller, it’s great constantly messing with ad formats, key words, promotion rates etc. but ask yourself: What’s the point of being top of the search if no one is actually looking anymore…..?

Unless something major changes to draw buyers back this site will be gone within the next 12 months.

[ojewellery]

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@triple512 wrote:

yourself: What’s the point of being top of the search if no one is actually looking anymore…..?

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There are many issues with the site, the market place  market environment has changed.  One of the big issues I have, is the forums are a very negative place at present blaming eBay for the global market climate.  I'm in no way pretending some issues are not site based but we can only do what is in our power.  Lots of things are in our own power to change. 

Not every account is in terminal decline.  I'm up over 20% on eBay vs November last year.  I work damned hard, it is more work this year than last and last year was more work than five years previous but there are customers (in their millions) still buying. In contrast my Etsy is down on last year. 

People doing okay are less likely to be posting here because often being positive leads to getting personal attacks and they're busy making money.  In contrast August (on eBay) ended 45% down, Etsy wasn't.  A delay in stock arriving, issues with listing images and having to rework lots of listings, price increases - lots of reasons.

Many, many millions are still spent on the site and I'm a minnow, not greedy, I'll do what I can to get a share of that.  Whilst keeping an eye on my overall business numbers and cross platform portfolio.

This thread is one of those little glimmers of light that when I start to feel a bit lost, I have a skim read over and think right lets get back with getting on.  Some things work, some don't.   Having a moan is great for getting things off your chest but its easy to get lost in the sea of mirrored opinion as an excuse that its out of our control.  Isn't it better use of time to take positive action and do something proactive because there are still millions of buying customers to present your offering to as well as you can - we're on a four week countdown of peek season left this year I'm going to keep pushing and take stock/ reflect in January.

[sheba-knows-best]

Great post @ojewellery 

Thanks to ebay's zero fees in my category I am recovering from a tough summer and look set to have my highest ever profit year in 15 years on ebay.  Sales look set to be about 7% down y-o-y but that's not too bad in a cost of living crisis when you don't sell cheap (or that's what I tell myself).

But it has been a learning trip.  In the latter part of this year I have reconsidered markdown events (I used to rely on coupons and send an offer), used newsletters, timed coupons for mid month allowing markdowns for most stock at month end and timed coupons to give double discounts with ebay's coupons; all notified to the buyer via newsletters (sometimes with a sharpened marketing aim as I have also learned about buyer groups).  I have also trialled offsite advertising and shop advertising.  And I have  overhauled my buying and stock choices (which will trickle through slowly of course)

Certainly there hasn't been much time for letting off steam on these boards.

[vintagewatchpart]

I was going to post in the "Dead November Sales" thread but decided not to bother. My sales are up 60% on last year, are my best November sales ever with a week left to go of the month and it will have been my first November ever having not promoted a single listing - don't think that would go down well with anyone!

You are spot on. Many of the moaners are justified in their moaning with changes suddenly and unexpectedly hitting their sales, but nothing will make those sales suddenly just like they were weeks or months ago.

I have had periods of 4-5 days of real concern even recently where sales were just way off. I find whenever I list anything new, get some sales, things pick up again. It is harder work and I have to list more and more often but I have come to accept I can't copy what I did 1, 2 or 3 years ago or I would be in terminal decline both on the way I list items and what I actually sell.

I have had to adapt and change what I focus on and how I sell items, what I do is unique but there are many people in the used collectables space that do the same thing.

Items that I could sell easily on their own are no longer shifting, so I now sell those items in cheaper lots to get rid faster, keep the stock turning and sales coming.

If I have parts that are available elsewhere I always ensure that when I list I am the cheapest in the world and if it's a watch I look at what has sold and price at market value. If it's something unique I price it reasonably and find it leaves me with very little ending/relisting/dead stock clearing to do.

The site is awash with product to sell - and standing out, being different and selling goods that appeal to people are what will make sales.

[fatbobfan]

Top tip

and @sheba-knows-best 

What rates do you get, if you dont mind me being nosey, sorry its a while the subject was following your packaging suppliers and the sending you discount

[fatbobfan]

So much useful/helpful information in recent posts, especially the conversion rate on offers, my sending of offers was usually because of a read on here or desperation and not getting a bite on over of a hundered sent is disheartening, thanks for the replies on this subject, gives a bigger picture view,  not just a single interpretation. 

What are peoples thoughts on Send Offer rates and Coupon rates? I tend to do a 10% on both. less seems (maybe just my thinking) not very enticing. I did a couple of follows yesterday and got 8% and 15% one was issued immediately after the follow the other was this morning. What rate do you send and perhaps more interesting what do you receive? 

[fatbobfan]

I knew you gave a good post on Coupons (176) answered a question I forgot the answer to😂

[sheba-knows-best]

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@fatbobfan wrote:

What are peoples thoughts on Send Offer rates and Coupon rates? I tend to do a 10% on both. less seems (maybe just my thinking) not very enticing. I did a couple of follows yesterday and got 8% and 15% one was issued immediately after the follow the other was this morning. What rate do you send and perhaps more interesting what do you receive? 

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Apologies for not answering. I only came here to bump this thread because it completely and utterly does my head in, how can a thread on 'tips for improving ebay' (which you can't control) be consistently at the top of the business seller board, whilst a thread 'on tips for increasing sales' (which you can at least try and control), always sinks onto page two within days? I know, I know, a rhetorical question, its because they think ebay has taken their control away from them... they're wrong... it's just not as easy as it used to be.

Anyhooooo.... to bump this thread, answer @fatbobfan and be constructive...

...On SENDING OFFERS

I rarely offer less than 17.5%... unless my items are under £25 and then it's usually 10-15%. I frequently offer 20-25% and sometimes 30-45%. This is when I  really need to kickstart my visibility.

If I send an offer and ebay is also co-funding a coupon (at say, 25%) I  sometimes remind the buyer to use the coupon (ie: UK buyers don't forget to use code FIRSTDIBS15 at checkout for an extra 15% on top of this offer price xxx) If you do this, watch out, you will get buyers say they accepted the offer and couldn't use the coupon. That is their mistake. Just offer to cancel.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As I understand it, your own coupons and 'send an offer' do not work together. The buyer has to use one or the other. Remind them of this if they offer and you accept/counter.

On COUPONS

Usually 25-30%

I often try and coincide them with my own sale event or an ebay co-funded coupon. Then send a newsletter entitled: Double Discount anyone? Which announces a new coupon titled 24% off for 24 hours only. Send this coupon in the newsletter to tally with the last 24 hours of your sale event/or ebay's co-funded coupon.  

I realise if people are seller lower price items they can't discount as much, or if you have stock with lower margins. However I believe it is the principle of timing the double discounts which really tempts buyers so maybe do 7.5% + 7.5%?.

I hope this helps.

[vintagechinashop]

Thank you @sheba-knows-best  for trying to keep this thread alive. 

as sellers we are all seeking to improve and increase sales. I’m sure there must be many more of us out there who have tips to share so let’s try and keep this going