Sales of designer and vintage clothing at the moment

[evetwigge]

Hi there

Been on ebay for about 15 years selling used designer and vintage clothing and I've never had such low sales. Items aren't even being liked.  I'm usually fielding offers every day but zero.  Is everybody else have the same problem?  Is it time to go elsewhere?

[technthread]

Many of your buyers are on another other site where prices and postage are cheaper. 

The days of being able to charge around the £5 mark for a Royal Mail 2nd Class small parcel on eBay are over as buyers are more informed now. If you persevere with eBay I’d suggest cutting some of those postage prices nearer to £3 to compete with the other site where they can pay around the £2.30 mark. 

[evetwigge]

Brilliant. Thank you. I've been racking my brave and changing key words in the title etc (as well as bringing prices down) and I'd never though of postage. (Although I've never had any complaints or feedback - I think people who really want something make an offer taking postage into account - ie looking to reduce or remove it by cutting the offer price.) But it's an easy change. I am of course looking at other sites and platforms...  Thank you.

[technthread]

It might be worth going into business policies (on desktop, not the app) and create a couple of policies that you can then select from to flesh the postage options out a bit.

This is guesswork, but going off how eBay push us to dispatch fast and offer express postage options, if you have those options rather than just 2nd Class maybe eBay will show your items higher up in the search.

[*vyolla*]

Can you factor the postage cost into your asking prices and have free P&P?

That will be very attractive to buyers.

[the-nutwood-collection]

[free postage] will be very attractive to buyers.

As an experiment, I created a new eBay listing for items that are available on other listings as freepost.  The items on the new listing have a lower price and a postage charge.

The sales on the listing with the postage charge are far greater than the freepost listings.  Initially, the new listing would have had greater exposure by virtue of being new, but the buyer preference for that listing has continued even though it's now several months old (I don't promote).  The maddening thing is that, because I don't offer freepost, I don't get the TRS discount on this listing.

On another platform, I have changed some listings from freepost to a postage charge.  I did this because updating the price of multiples every time RM raised prices was a pain in the backside.  I have seen no difference in sales volume.  This surprised me because the cost of one metre is £1.50, and the postage is £1.50.  I thought this might lead to a drop in low meterage orders because the postage is disproportionate to the cost of the item.  However, no change.

The question is, do buyers really want freepost?  It was a novelty when it was introduced, but has the novelty worn off?  Maybe they prefer to see an item price, and the postage is irrelevant if it's what they want. 

Buyers aren't stupid.  They know that when it's freepost, the postage is included in the item price.  Perhaps they value transparency?  £1.50 isn't unreasonable for shipping, so they're OK with it but, if it's bundled into the item price, they don't know what they're paying. 

[suelel1968]

I just looked at your items. Nice stuff, but the presentation in photographs could be better (said with kindness). Just taking the Mulberry scarf, there are about 3 colours in your photographs of which there are many. Take the photos out which are not the right colour. I appreciate you have explained the colour in your description, but many don't get that far. Also, the styling in your photos is not flattering. In the main photo try to show how the item will look when wearing. If the dummy is not the right size lightly pin the item to show how it will look. If it is a scarf tie it as you would wear it. The rest of the photos show the whole item and close ups of details. Do you want me to go on...........

Get a proper background or edit it out. The worst i do is a skirt on a duvet cover on the bed, but not on what looks like a parque floor. The curtain is distracting. One more thing and I really am trying to help, check your photos for blurr, the lable on the scarf photo is very blurred and check for lose threads or hair in the photographs and remove them. 

Yes, to free postage, 

Yes, to sell similar relisting. 

Check in sold prices to see if your prices are realistic.

I am not out to offend, i am trying to help. Are you a private seller? If so sell privately or update your "about" info. Good luck. 

[midi2525]

Just leave Ebay is dead. 

[technthread]

Some categories will always thrive on here. eBay is still the go to for many collectible categories, many buyers are likely to have been here for donkeys years and aren’t ready to leave.

Clothing is a really hard slog on here now though. Not for every type but for the clothing brands where the seller is competing with thousands if not millions of other listings I think they have to promote. As clothing is zero fees in some categories hopefully some business sellers can afford to bump up the promoted % and recover sales pre Xmas.