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 

[the_book_seekers]

I think many have become negative as what has worked in the past doesn't now. 

[simplyessential_uk]

Definitely up for a positive post and idea sharing and Ebay is always changing so good to keep up. So many people come to the posts and never changed anything in years and why would they if its worked but Ebays never the same from month to month and suddenly they dont know why sales have dropped off over night

I have been looking at Ebays AI, not to use as its rubbish, but noticed its looking at the item specs when writing it so eg -I ask it to write my description and where I think it should make sense I change that in the item spec as imo the algorithms are looking at that. So in one it asked for material and I had but the plastic bottle thinking thats what its come in, as in "material" and when I asked AI it write my description it said something like "made with ..plastic bottle" so I have now changed the item spec asking for materia to "essential oils" as that tells me its looking for something different than I thought.  So if someone now types in eg Massage oils made with essential oils it will find me, well thats my theory  - testing at the moment so early days.

Yes the sell similar is definitely my go to and I sort my listings by ending soonest and before it relists I will close any with 3mth and no views, change title and start again.  I also try to make it cheap so the 1st sale will also give a bump up (rather than waste on increasing promos which i dont go above 2%) and increase thereafter.

[suelel1968]

Hi,

I was reading about the Algorithm yesterday and it resonated with my current thinking. 

"... basically the more time you spend on eBay working on your store, the more eBay rewards you by sending more traffic your way. We always say “never leave your eBay account to rest”"

I decided to split some bulk listings up into parts because they hadn't sold and didn't have enough offers to put them all on (sorry to mention offers) That is when i realised that putting items on without the offer seemed to get me more viewing and not just for those new items. I have also taken some long standing items off the offers, put the price up and veiwings have soared. I have decided to add some new items regularly without bothering with offers.

I always offer 5% off to watchers, again it adds to engagement and sales are what is required. 

I set Buy it now  so that offers are within what I would accept  and never refuse an offer, no matter how much i want to!

I have started to use Collage photos where the whole object does not always show detail. A picture tells a 1000 words so 2 pictures must be better.... Who knows!

Sales have improved, it might be xmas, it might be my current levels of engagement with the sight only time will tell. Actually one of my best selling times was last year after Christmas when there were no offers for a month so that convinces me that just using offers every two weeks is bad for for us. 

[simplyessential_uk]

Sorry if Im slow but "I decided to split some bulk listings up into parts because they hadn't sold and didn't have enough offers to put them all on (sorry to mention offers) That is when i realised that putting items on without the offer seemed to get me more viewing and not just for those new items. I have also taken some long standing items off the offers, put the price up and veiwings have soared. I have decided to add some new items regularly without bothering with offers." 

What do you mean by Offers? - Do you mean not adding "best offer?"

[simplyessential_uk]

Ill also add that I am now using my shop 100 autions a month - Never bothered in the past but as I dont have to pay promo on them I just put the prices slightly less and different keywords to the BIN and I get some sales that way, trickle a few a day which also helps with the "keeping your shop fresh" I did also read that about Ebay  (etsy is the same) keep refreshing and changing and adding new stock.

[suelel1968]

No, sorry I meant 80% off offers. 

[simplyessential_uk]

I didnt bothered with them - thought they were for non business 😃  Never mind x

[messier44000]

Repeating myself here (excuse me)

Yes - once again I mention You-tube for free advertising and increasing traffic (sales ?).

OK the end sales were on the website and public open days. But could apply 

if you sell only here, and if you have a product suitable for a you-tube demo.

Just some recent examples from countless over the last X-amount of years.

Last week - Customer sees a product video - Heads to the website and spends £299

At the weekend - Customer comes to my open day. "Hey I saw your YT channel" and spends £248

This week - Customer sees a product video - Head to the website and spends £319

I hear it time and time again where buyers will say they saw the item cheaper. But would 

rather buy from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Costs nothing to try if wanting to get more numbers to your pages.

Well it does costs me a little now as I am investing in better video editing software

[vintagechinashop]

Very interesting what you say about offers. In the past I've always used best offers but lately I've listed some without so I'll keep an eye on those and see if it makes a difference 

I tend to agree with the price. I have had some good sales when I have increased the price. I think sometimes people are suspicious when an item is too cheap. There are sellers in my category who have a lot of success and their prices are not the lowest. There are people out there willing to pay for quality 

[suelel1968]

I just select Selling when I read the boards and the basic principles are the same. I apologised for mentioning offers because i realise the OP is a business seller. Lets not take this thread off topic for the sake of  the OP, who liked my post. I am just glad if I can help. 

[suelel1968]

Hi, have you tried videos of some listing? It's quick to do on a phone and it shows you are not hiding anything in your photographs. Got to keep it short and can only add one for each listing. 

[fatbobfan]

As you have done photo's, wording, sell similar our red dashboard is now more green but would add that it doesnt happen over night, takes a while to trickle through, the bigger picture for us was understanding the system better and understanding our competitors. 

Our top tips

1. Do your own research, understand the Ebay selling system, understand how the search system works.

2. Watch the current Ebay best practice videos, others disagree but its the tools we currently have.

3. If choosing paid promotions ensure it can be part of your successful business model, understand it.

4. Take the good advice from the postive posters on these forums (thankfully we did) and their generosity really helped. Dont take all the negativity on these forums as gospel, what might not work for some, does work for others. 

5. Read/Use these forums, there are some good snippets/tips on reducing costs and saving time. Post on these forums if your unsure on issues in the last 6 months I have been given some brilliant helpful advice, especially time saving ones. 

6.  Take 2/3 main/1st picture images and alternate them when/if ending/selling similar, Zoom In/Out, Close up/ different angles I believe changing the first image will improve the search result (seems to work for us) and the bulk editing tool does this really quickly (thanks @magpiecorner1 )

8. First four words - Im trying to figure it out for us but getting your wording right/accuracy in spelling is important and a simple spelling mistake can lead to zero views, so double check when listing

@simplyessential_uk a few good points, it seems we have to work the system to get results, not a fan, costly in time with many many listings but we can only use the system as its given. Work it, change price, image, wording. I think your tip of getting a Sales History going is so important

[simplyessential_uk]

I only think the sales history is as important for algorithms, not for buyers who see "X sold" but that was a year ago - I can sell something very quick and then think Ill get more stock in of that as it was a good seller, but a week later its dead and no one buys it and Ive changed nothing, so its fast moving sales history that I think is the key

[sheba-knows-best]

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@simplyessential_uk wrote:

Yes the sell similar is definitely my go to and I sort my listings by ending soonest and before it relists I will close any with 3mth and no views, change title and start again.  I also try to make it cheap so the 1st sale will also give a bump up (rather than waste on increasing promos which i dont go above 2%) and increase thereafter.

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Yes I totally agree. This is my everyday task - it is twofold:

1) End the items ending that day anyway that will be three months old - and 'sell similar'

2) End the items ending that day anyway even if they are only one month old IF THEY HAVE NO WATCHERS.

I think point 2 may be a 'new twist'? It seems to have resulted in @ 50% of my items always having at least one watcher which I cant help feeling the search engine will like.

Finaly I would say about this - it is no good doing it 'on and off' or trying it for a few weeks and then giving up. I seriously think constancy is everything with this little trick.

[sheba-knows-best]

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@simplyessential_uk wrote:

I have been looking at Ebays AI,

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I havent been offered ebay's AI as yet. But I have tried Bard as you suggested before. I did get one really unexpected sale. I'm not convinced but absolutely, when an item fails to sell - I will throw my hands up and give Bard a go with the keywords.

Thinking about it, if people start ASKING Bard "what do I search to find a lovely leather jacket on eBay"... then maybe I am going to see some convergence if I put what it wants  🙂

[sheba-knows-best]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

Hi,

I always offer 5% off to watchers, again it adds to engagement and sales are what is required. 

I set Buy it now  so that offers are within what I would accept  and never refuse an offer, no matter how much i want to!

I

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Hmm - interesting - I'm not in your sector so maybe  price has a different effect. However I usually list at least 20% above my minimum (usually more) and rarely send out offers for less than 20% off. I dunno. This is interesting. Offers sent to my email from big retailers are rarely less than 15% (I think maybe never). I think buyers are kind of insulted by a 5% off??? I could well be wrong... As I say, this is food for thought.

[sheba-knows-best]

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@messier44000 wrote:

Repeating myself here (excuse me)

Yes - once again I mention You-tube for free advertising and increasing traffic (sales ?).

---

I know you have mentioned this loads and I have been intigued and tried to find you on Youtube once or twice (not looked hard, I admit).

Could you link? Or if you aren't comfortable with that, could you say what you do in your videos? oreven suggest what I should do as a vintage clothing seller? I only ever use youtube for DIY videos (how to resurrect a chicken that can't lift its head, how to get biro out of leather etc).  I have watched a couple of ebay help videos too. But how could I use it to sell clothing???  Very interested...

[ojewellery]

So many  great things mentioned already .  Three things I'd add more about keeping a business mentality than immediate sales generation. 

1)  Be present - when you're listing do your best, check the current policies, keep things fresh.  Work to the rules that we have and the time you reasonably have available to dedicate to it.  We may be able to make change requests for the future but the bigger the marketplace the slower (requested) changes to the system will be, regardless of how right or logical we are.  Whilst having a good moan has its value in getting things off your chest, no one is going to read the moan and boost your business - we've got to find that drive to do that for ourselves. 

I like reading, sometimes business philosophy books and read one many years ago by Riccardo Semmler - he had an at your desk policy.  If you were at your desk you were working.  If you weren't working, go feed the ducks, pick your children up from school, sort out the thing thats stopping you.  Its work achieved that gets results not hours sitting at your desk.

2)  Step away - everyone needs a break.  If you're really frustrated in the short term grab a cup of tea, walk round the block, play on another platform for a bit.  When you're too deep into a problem or frustration you rarely find a clear path forwards.  Its like when you can't sleep because something is spinning in your head then you drift off and the next day that insurmountable problem is just a hassle to work through.  If you step away and realise that the current climate you're just not making enough, you're not a failure.  You don't necessarily need to throw in the towel, you need to ensure your time spent is proportional to the return gained so eBay can become a side project to a day job/ part time job/ other platforms but its time to move forwards.  Swings and roundabouts with platforms they go through their phases.  If you can have a couple of different options for income streams it can help relieve the pressure of when something odd occurs.

3)  Rotate your time/ effort/ promotions.  I break my listings down into blocks and work on improving a block at a time, promoting a block at a time so I just about always have some form of sale and some form of coupon on but on maybe 1/12 of my stock.  I use the eBay promotions tools some are cost (not time) free like the newsletter, promotional banner and shop header - they generate interest, keep you current and ultimately sales.  Bard is great for generating '1000 characters for my eBay newsletter mention promotion x, and seasonal even y' and if you ask for it in UK english it'll even do that for you.

[suelel1968]

Hi, that comment about being insulted by 5% made me laugh in a good way! Yes that sort of offer has made me laugh in a bad way when i have received them, but that would be on much more expensive items than I sell.

2 reasons for doing it. Firstly, i can't stand the note on the screen telling me about watchers. OCD i suppose and a terrible reason to do it. But secondly, if engagement with the process is important to the Algorithm it is important to me too. 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.