Tips and Tricks for Increasing sales bullet pointed by Gemini Ai

[ojewellery]

Following on from @vintagechinashop thread Share-your-tips-for-increasing-sales 

I cut and past all 17 pages into Gemini Ai to create me a 'Key Tips' sheet to help motivate on those days when the negativity creeps in.  No magic wand option on the list, but its a good reminder of plates to keep spinning.

General Tips:

• Stay positive and adaptable: The eBay landscape is constantly evolving, so it's crucial to maintain a positive outlook, adapt to new trends, and be open to trying new approaches.
• Engage actively with the platform: Regularly update your listings, refresh photos, and interact with buyers to demonstrate to eBay's algorithm that you are an active and engaged seller.
• Utilise "Sell Similar": This feature allows you to quickly relist ended items with updated photos or descriptions, saving you valuable time and effort.
• Diversify your listing strategies: Don't solely rely on "Best Offer" or auctions. Experiment with different listing formats and price points to determine the most effective approach for your items.
• Leverage eBay's free promotional tools: Take advantage of free promotional tools offered by eBay, such as the newsletter, promotional banners, and shop headers, to enhance visibility and drive traffic to your listings.
• Explore external promotional platforms: Consider utilising platforms like YouTube to create engaging videos showcasing your products and directing viewers to your eBay listings.
• Step away when needed: If you're feeling overwhelmed or frustrated, take a break from eBay and return with renewed focus.
• Network within the seller community: Participate in eBay meetups or engage in online forums to share tips, learn from other sellers, and stay informed about the latest trends and best practices.

Listing Optimisation:

• Optimise item specifics: Ensure your item specifics are accurate and comprehensive to improve search visibility and help buyers easily find your listings.
• Use high-quality images: Employ clear, well-lit photographs that showcase your items from multiple angles to effectively capture buyer interest.
• Craft detailed and compelling descriptions: Provide accurate and comprehensive descriptions that highlight the key features and benefits of your items.
• Incorporate relevant keywords: Strategically incorporate relevant keywords into your titles and descriptions to enhance search ranking and visibility.
• Offer competitive pricing: Conduct thorough research on similar items to ensure your prices are competitive while maintaining profitability.
• Consider utilising Promoted Listings: Explore the use of Promoted Listings to increase visibility and drive traffic to your listings. However, carefully assess the costs and ensure they align with your business model.

Additional Tips:

• Monitor your performance closely: Regularly track your sales, impressions, and other key metrics to identify areas for improvement and adjust your strategies accordingly.
• Stay informed about eBay's policies: Maintain a thorough understanding of eBay's policies and guidelines to avoid any issues or penalties.
• Provide exceptional customer service: Respond promptly and professionally to buyer inquiries to build trust and encourage repeat business.
• Embrace experimentation: Don't hesitate to try new approaches and experiment with different strategies to discover what works best for your specific business on the eBay platform.

[auctiongabble]

It's easy to get bogged down into negativity when trying all these things and nothing seems to work.  What sort of % profit margins are you working on if you dont mind me asking?  As we are both in Jewellery field of selling, 

Ive gone through listing titles and changed them tried different things, i think my pictures are fairly good, items specifics completed as many as i can that are relatable.  Tried promoting but noticed no difference.  Which leaves me with prices but factoring in costs for items and fees its getting tight.

Does listing new items everyday help?

[ojewellery]

It is very easy to get bogged down in negativity!  Its also a quieter time of year but Valentines is round the corner followed by mothers day so still a few marketing push opportunities.

My profit margins vary enormously across the items I supply.  My own designs I completely restructured my pricing based on market achievable prices around 18 months ago.  In comparison to on sale items the profit/ item sale would appear very high but there are so many other factors to take into the numbers - branding, trademarking, EAN registration, design ownership and time etc etc.  That area is becoming the core part of my business and is slowly gaining traction on eBay.

Historically I sold Clogau gold of Wales as the bulk of the business and items had an rrp price and you could fairly easily establish an eBay price based on previous eBay sales.

I've dabbled in other items and late autumn did a deal with a production partner to buy one off of around 400 sample items so I could look at the mouldings/ stone settings and gold weights to help me evolve my own gold range.  I got these at a good price and have been able to sell at discounts that I wouldn't normally be able to achieve.  These are only on eBay.  My own designs are on Debenhams, Etsy, Amazon and my own site.  I have an omnichannel approach so have consistent across platform pricing.

Industry averages for pricing semi luxury jewellery items i.e. precious metals and semi precious/ precious stones are often quoted as typical mark up of 2 - 2.5 times.  My understanding is typical fees paid by sellers in the jewellery category on eBay are around 26%. We each have to do our own sums and evolve a business model that stacks up for our needs.

Does listing new items everyday help?  

Activity on an account, everyday, helps.  So listing generates new interest and views, customer interaction, which has a positive effect.  Activity can be created in other ways like answering any questions on listings - how often do we get a question on a listing and then someone else buys it.  Other things like ending selling similar - especially if you play a bit with photos (even if its just their order) change the title order and revisit key words, then there are the make an offer, send a coupon, create a sale on a selection of items or multibuy promotion, sending a newsletter - its free and provokes account interest.  Not all things at once.  A bit of something every day (many things can be scheduled so you're not stuck having to do it on a daily basis).

Pricing is fascinating.  Have you tried revising up?  This is one of those bizarre things that with luxury items can work.  I'm not suggesting on everything but if you search any fairly niche items you have, where do you sit?  I've put 25% on an item that's been stagnant for maybe a year and relisted it, its sold and got positive feedback.  Your item needs to be in your customers price bracket.  If you're on at £175 and their looking to spend around £250, they may never even see your item.  I think a reasonable percentage of jewellery buyers go in with a bit of a budget or find the mid price point for the sort of thing they're looking for and that becomes their budget.

Promoting is fascinating.  I find it works.  Not a fan of promoted advanced, never got that to stack up but standard - even at a few percent brings in some sales.  Turning off definitely had a negative effect but I continually play and test.  The system is for ever evolving.

[auctiongabble]

Thank you for the reply, and valuable information and advice you have provided me.  I will certainly need to re-read this a few times, you have definately given me some interesting ideas on how to view things from different perspective.   Certainly a few things to try over the next few wks. 

Ive come across your posts and products every now and again on ebay, never realised you are doing this well!! Across multiple sites and in high street department store!

I certainly need to have my own eccormece site setup too, i have looked at various options of off the shelf or complete bespoke.  So considering options on this atm.  

Seeing your products, packaging etc has given me ideas to brand myself more / redesign my brand.

One thing i have reaslised is certainly not to have eggs in one basket with just one platform.

There was a spell before christmas when they introduced free selling for private i was getting low offer after low, wanting 50% discounts.  I either ignored their offers or just blocked whether this has had an impact on algorithm for me, i don't know.

Pricing is an interesting one and something i need to revisit, mastering margins is a difficult one.   With some of my items being somewhat uniqe / vintage and custom made its difficult to find similar for pricing ideas.  Another thing ive seen on here, unfortantly for uk sellers of jewellery, the uk site is flooded with overseas sellers by as much as 6to1 ratio.    What they market as being real is far from it but people are drawn to the price... in the past had a customer trying to compare one of my natural diamond rings to one that was cheaper only for me to point out to them that the other one was a clarity enhanced diamond!

I have found that when listing items, it comes up with suggested price range based on similar sold.  When i checked out the items that sold, the seller would have made a loss, based on sale price, fees, packaging / posting etc.  They would have ended up with less than melt value of the item. 

Ebays suggested prices are meaningless and all Buy it now or best offer items are always going to be priced more than what ebay think.  So i can see this having an impact on whether items get seen to a point.

I have run tests and my items do appear using various keyword searches so i like to think that is one thing i have right.  

I tried promotions for 3 months and it done nothing, my opinion is that if a business is going to take commission on items then there needs to be a certain amount of advertising they need to do to justify it. 

Last month was good for me, buyers that knew what they wanted and knew it was offered at good prices.  Hopefully there are still some left that will look on ebay over time.

[ojewellery]

In response to your doing well comments.  I'm doing okay and making a living.  Its been a very wobbly path and I'm still at the microbusiness stage but I feel I've got a bit of direction and a stronger feel for what my business is now.

Setting up as a brand in the way I did, was with hindsight quite expensive.  Minimum order quantities for untried items, my magpie tendencies to try too many different things at once, needing to create a brand story (not that I'm really getting that across yet).  That goes for my marketplace expansion too.  I got peeved at eBay over something and spread myself so thin I ended up doing lots of things not very well.  I've had to pull right back to push forwards.

Not all platforms are as understanding or nurturing as eBay (not that I'm claiming they've got it all right) but some are very aggressive if things go wrong (regardless of fault) so you can find yourself out in the cold with out a lot of recourse.  Likewise on your own website with chargebacks - theres no platform buffer.  Two days ago a customer placed an order, cancelled an hour later.  I initiated the refund.  Her bank hadn't processed it yet so she opened a chargeback.  I was temporarily down her payment x2 +£10 admin fee.  I had to fill in the lengthy counter claim form, deal with the customer wanting to know about the Klarna credit agreement she'd taken out, I knew it'd ultimately get resolved but it takes time and money.  Each chargeback, even cancelled ones, have an impact on SEO.  I did nothing wrong but I can't control that so I move on - I try to focus on things in my control. 

I agree not all eggs in one basket but also its worth having a bit of established trade and success in one area to fund pushing into another.

I wish I'd taken more time to plan and would recommend having a plan, that has flexibility in it.  Jewellery is a very, very competitive field yet there is still money to be made.  Good luck.

[fatbobfan]

A lot of gem information in your post, sorry for the pun!

Only mentioning as Im guessing it may be of interest but I was watching an online auction house 'live' recently and the auctioneer commented on the big increase in Clogau popularity

May or may not but thought I'd drop it in on your Clogau comment

Will the new President effect gold prices?

[ojewellery]

Clogau are a great British success story.  They're really lovely people to buy from too.  The whole business ethos, way they treat staff, local business' and customers, is something for any small business to aspire too.  The world feels more in harmony when good things happen to nice business' that are about more than the bottom line.

Regarding politics and speculation on the gold market, traditionally international trade wars, physical or political wars create a spike in gold prices.  The news has had none of that has it?

[fatbobfan]

Ah I see do dont invest in gold then 😂

Me just being a nosey burger,not in the know,

So when the worlds in crisis  as in now, retailers (you) have to increase as well? Stating the obvious but if your price per gram is attractive to the melting pot? Seems a crazy system, guessing more to it than my knowledge, but certainly interesting

[ojewellery]

I have never got my head around it - if I had I'd be very, very rich!  Golds been traded for thousands of years and keeps going.  I'm not quite that old yet.  Some jewellery sellers change their price twice a day, with the markets.  Its the same with suppliers - prices are not fixed until moment of dispatch, or you pay upfront prior to production (which can be months) based on gold weight to fix the rate paid.  You can pay insurances to ease impact of currency and gold market fluctuations.  

Interestingly the diamond market is significantly down (over 20% in the last couple of years) - my thoughts on that are market confusion and fear of saturation by man made diamonds - rarity value has depleted.

Covid was great for gold sales, yet post covid when there should naturally have been a downturn, for higher price goods, has also been good - I'm way too smaller sample to have a clue.  I just watch my numbers and endeavour to make sure sales - costs (including my time) > 0

[auctiongabble]

Many factors affect the gold price even decisions made by our new wonderful government....especially with CGT.  This created a surge of people scrapping gold in the forms of jewellery, bars and non CGT exempt coins to purchase CGT exempt coins such as sovereigns and britannia coins.

I invested in it 2008, then gold was £4.50 per gram for 9ct now £27.60! When the prices rose years ago alot of antique pieces were lost to the melt pot.

In the space of 4 to 5 months gold has increased 30%, ive had to adjust prices on items on a weekly basis.

Silver for me is the one to watch, this has always been held back (most markets are manipulated to a point but silver in particular)  A refiner even told me to hold onto silver, that tells you something.....

Ive read reports that gold will reach highs of 3000, 4000, 5000 dollars over next 5, 10 plus years.  $3000 by end of this year early next, easily achiveable.

I refuse point blank to trade any items that have man made diamonds, there is no resale value on man made diamonds.  Antiques and jewellery markets are known for trends and things that didnt sell will come round full circle and be popular again for a period of time.  

It is true, the market for high end pieces is still there.  Quality will always sell!

[gardenhomeuk]

Thanks for sharing everyone. New to the forums and am enjoying reading others experiences. Hopefully I will be able to contribute moving forward.