Ebay is really hard to sell on! or is it just me.!!??

[sapres-92]

I have been listing stuff for a while now and to even get views seems almost near impossible,  what am i missing, i have a range of stuff and i think priced ok but still hardly anything.

can someone please look at my listings and see where i am going wrong, i know my clothes will not be everyones taste but thought i might of got some views on them atleast 😞 😞 😞 

[plpmr]

One thing that's happening more now is, since buyers have to pay fees they check out sellers even more to see if they are paying fees [paying more money] then they need to because the seller should be registered as a business seller.

[sapres-92]

I can understand that as when i ran a business on Ebay i used to get really fed up with so called private sellers selling 10s of thousands of stuff and saying they are not a business, im just trying to get rid of my jewellery surplus stock at stupid prices and get rid of stuff i no longer need, surely people can see that when seeing my listings?

[irobot100]

So im no expert but i think a few things are at play here ... 1st the Buyer Protection Fee shows up like sore a thumb with odd price listings, this would put some off straight away ( This is not your fault). 2nd your still a relatively new seller, some buyers prefer a higher feed back,  this will come with time ..... yes buyers can be a little lazy at giving good feedback at times but sometimes a courtesy message to them asking if they've received the item as expected does the trick.. 3rd i may be being a little picky but on some of your listings brands are missing and maybe put at the start with a Capital.....most of your photos are really good, however some are a little distant and some have little contrast with your background...always try and get good close ups especially with jewelry ....compare your listing with other sellers and see what would appeal to you if you was a buyer......its hard getting onto a roll , your doing good .keep at it

[deba3602013]

I've always done that.  If I see someone listed as private seller but operating like a business, I move on.

I don't report, I just don't support.

[deba3602013]

How did your selling go when you had a business?

What age range do you think would be interested in your items?

I think that eBay is less for the under 40s than it was a few years ago.  They shop at vinted, facebook mkt place and etsy.  For the most part.

[sapres-92]

Not sure how old the people were who were buying my items back then, but i think going on the photos they were all different ages,  yeah i did ok, would sell at least 10 items per day in my jewellery and not obviously tried to sell clothes before, so have no clue, so going on that i might have to try Vinted then, i have way to many clothes and stuff in general and they will never fit in my new place! 🙂

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I sell for several family members and we are all different sizes and i find that the smaller sizes are the worst sellers!  Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about that.  I did notice that a couple of your items did not have the size in the title and i had to go to the description box to see that they were way too small for me...... 

[sapres-92]

Thank you for all advise, when i used to sell my jewellery professionally i used to spend hours on the photos, but now i just want to have a clear out i did not think that would matter so much, wow how things have changed how you have to compete these days with all the businesses out there! and yes as for feed back it seems so hard now to get buyers to leave any, but after selling on another site for years and they were always saying do not ask the buyers for feedback as it was rude i have never bothered and just left them to it.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Afternoon Sapres

At the moment it is a difficult period to sell in. What with the economic situation effecting people's spending power and then eBay adding on the buyer's premium it isn't easy. It's not you but just the times we are living through.

One observation that I would make and that has been a personal gripe of mine for some years and that is sellers who put clothes on the floor to photograph them. Ir doesn't matter how clean your floor is just don't do it.

Some of your items ie clothes you have hung on a door coat hook,which is great,do that with all of them,or alternatively put them on the bed.

Just carry on listing, offer a variety of items and describe them warts and all. When describing something outline the benefits not the features. For example if you are selling a tennis racket don't say this is the top of the range racket weighing 300 grams rather say this ultra lightweight racket will not put any strain on your wrist and thus help you swing faster and smoother and will take your game to the next level and improve

your success and match winning percentage.

Just keep listing and good luck.

Dingo

[sapres-92]

thank you so much, the only reason i put the clothes there (and yes its very clean lol) is because the lighting is such better there due to the french doors 😞

[deba3602013]

Just carry on listing, offer a variety of items and describe them warts and all. When describing something outline the benefits not the features. For example if you are selling a tennis racket don't say this is the top of the range racket weighing 300 grams rather say this ultra lightweight racket will not put any strain on your wrist and thus help you swing faster and smoother and will take your game to the next level and improve your success and match winning percentage.

If the AI description feature ever goes down, you can fill in for it. 

[the-nutwood-collection]

I photograph my items on a deep windowsill because the lighting is better, but I put down a length of crushed velvet as a background - so it doesn't look like a windowsill.

Source a length of suitable fabric and throw that down on the floor, then it won't look like a floor.  

[edwardian-dreams]

If you have an iPad or phone you get AI enhanced photo studio sort of thing (not sure about the browser that’s a bit of a dinosaur for photos)

it changes your backround to whatever colour you want and the pictures look smarter 

Some items need this  but not all 

but however great your photos ebay hides listings anyway imo

Or doing something  so that people don’t see them

Compare  Vinted where I sell I get loads of views and likes

here it’s a tenth or so if that 

[dch2112011]

I have had a quick glance at your listings and sales - in March you have had 6 sales with 43 listings and in Feb 10 sales 

I don't think you are particualarly doing badly but share your concern that you could be doing better.

Your prices are competitive and in some cases potentially too cheap - strangely this can put buyers off particularly when the postage cost is similar to or greater than the item price - this can make buyers think that the postal price does not warrant purchasing a low price item - I know this can seem illogical to a seller.

Pictures are the draw to the eye and more importantly to search not only on ebay but google and bing - research what all these mediums look for in a picture to feature prominently in the search engines , Use as many picture slots as you can 

Title - number one importance for search words / phrases - take the blazer you have for sale -  maybe look into 'jacket, work, office, suit jacket, smart, casual, slim fit,  The list is endless but try and find the terms that most buyers will punch into the search engines.

Item specifics use them to their fullest extent - look at fit, sizing, colours, design, manufacturer 

Description - try bullet points - title - 4 or five bullet points - test to see how it looks on a mobile - the aim is to get it all in on one page as one view without flitting page to page.

Maybe look at delivered price and see if it makes a difference - hides delivery cost especially when you want £5 for an item and £4 delivery -  remember search most popular is cost plus postage so you will show in position on total price.

Your prices are relatively low and your competition is fierce but your items are one off - visability is king - the down side is you have to keep working on a listing to get position and once sold you have to start again - which with a business with repeat items is a continuos improvement on one listing - you have to do it everytime you list a new item from scratch.

Once you get to know what attracts buyers via search and you get views from relevant buyers the sales will increase but you are well on the way with what you are doing - you are getting sales regularly - you just want to build on your good work to increase sales and the speed they sell at - it isn't all about price although price is important.

[dch2112011]

Just another pointer for search terms for small, medium or private sellers is that it is extremely difficult to compete with the major volume sellers who have the resources to optimise the top search terms which makes competing extremely difficult.

The answer is to pick a couple of the lower ranked search terms and optimise these - when you are selling one item you only need one buyer unlike a major seller who needs thousands of buyers - they will not be so interested in the lower search terms and because of this it is easier to dominate the search engines on the lower terms.

With google for example we aim for 20 search terms per item within the top 100  and out of those we aim for top spot with one of the  20 search terms  and top five with at least 2 of the 20 search terms - to achieve this we have to optimise some of the lower ranking terms.

The theory is that if 10, 000 searches a day for the item, and your optimised search term attracts 1000 searches you will sell but not in the same number as the major money spenders.

On one web site we own and run - we constantly get offers from the majors to buy front page space boxes because of the rankings - we always refuse even though they are non related products because it drives traffic away from the site. They can advertise on a non visibile page but that's another story. 

[suelel1968]

I think the clothes are great and well priced. In general I think you should always put a photo that shows the whole item as the main picture.  As a buyer, I always look for pictures which include a tape measure showing measurements which I can compare to a similar item I own  for fit.  The prices you want you might want to try V. There is good free software to get your pictures back off eBay and use again elsewhere if you haven't kept them.  V makes the buyer pay returns postage in all instances so a plus for clothing which is a tough sell.

[thetimetower]

Just bad time. End of tax year. End of month. Start of spring. Hopefully in a week things pick up. Even at 25% promo fees i'm selling nothing lol

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I agree with you, the first description sounds better to me, the second definitely sounds AI and would put me straight off buying.

[sapres-92]

Wow thank you so much for all your advice, i will read through it all tomorrow and take it all on board.