Watchers but no bids

[jennyswardrobe]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd float onto the community boards, to find out how everyone else has been solving this issue 🙂

I put my items up for a incredibly low starting bid, I fill out all the relevant information about the product for sale. But I just can't attract enough watchers or followers. I literally cannot lower the starting bid anymore than it already is 😞 How do I gain more attention for my items? If I was at a car boot sale, my products at this price would be snapped up.

Thank you in advance 🙂 Jenny's wardrobe 🔖

[tressygirl]

Your items are lovely, high quality but you say incredibly low starting bid, but the fact you are not attracting bids shows that your prices are high.

Personally,  I think your items are priced at the highest ceiling level for those items, you may be better off listing them at that price,  but as Buy it Now items,  perhaps adding a Best Offer option.

@jennyswardrobe 

[jennyswardrobe]

Hi Tressy girl,

Thank you for your fast reply 🙂

I think I didn't explain properly; my items make little to no profit because of the original price paid. Hence why I cannot lower them anymore than they are already.

Which items seem particularly high that I am selling, and I will try to re-evaluate 🙂

[moldosgifts]

Rearrange your photos the first should be of the actual full item then the label and detailing follow.

People like to see at a glance what the item is.

[moldosgifts]

Also avoid stock pictures as your main photo

[jennyswardrobe]

Thank you so much Moldosgifts, how do I stock photos?

[*vyolla*]

Selling clothes that you no longer want that are non-designer is a nightmare, buyers expect to pay low prices for clothing, it's a difficult market.

Sometimes it's not possible to make a profit, but just to sell at what you paid for it to get your money back.

All you can do is to make your listings look as good as possible and check the actual sold prices of the items you're listing to get an idea of what prices they really sell for.

[jennyswardrobe]

Thank you, I've literally lowered some of the prices lower than what I paid, and still nothing. What's crazy to me is that the designer shoes I'm selling I have taken a massive deduction on, and still they struggle to get a watcher.

[moldosgifts]

The men's jacket is a stock image or an image screen shotted form elsewhere, that should not be you main image it should be of the actual jacket you can photograph yourself, you already have just switch them around.

Read up on stock photos they are generally images owned and photographed by some one else such as catalogue photos, you cannot use them without permission.

[*vyolla*]

It's market forces, unfortunately.

I do agree with @moldosgifts that you need to change the photos round. My main photo would always be a really good one of the item I'm selling, not the stock pic. 

[moldosgifts]

First image is of a label second image is a stock image not of your item

[tressygirl]

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@jennyswardrobe wrote:

Thank you, I've literally lowered some of the prices lower than what I paid, and still nothing. What's crazy to me is that the designer shoes I'm selling I have taken a massive deduction on, and still they struggle to get a watcher.

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Truly @jennyswardrobe  unless your items are of a vintage / one off style even designer brands there is so much competition all a buyer has to do is to select the Best Match option selecting Lowest price first, and you will find your items I'm sure,  will not be anywhere near the top.  A buyer will nearly always buy the cheapest item on offer.

Selling off unwanted used clothing as said, unless it's a rare one off ,  you are never going to reach anywhere near what you originally paid for said item.

I still feel your items would / could sell quicker not in auction format, someone wishing to buy a pair of Next trousers I'm sure would rather pay a price now, and receive the item in a few days , rather than wait 7 and still not be 100% sure they'll win the auction.

@jennyswardrobe 

[moldosgifts]

Both images are of poor quality this probably the main reason your getting very low interest, eBay have a tool you can use to improve these images, also take the sandals at a different angle so show the whole sandal. When you brows as buyer you would just drift passed these because they don't catch your eye so think like a buyer when listing.

[steel_dragon87]

To add: Often the cause of low quality images is a dirty camera lens. Try giving the camera lense a wipe and see if your photos improve. Most times they will!

Many people are unaware their lens is dirty  which is what produces slightly blurry photos. 

[suelel1968]

Yes, to put it bluntly, your photos are terrible! I dont mean to be rude, honestly, but people have so many items to look at they will just scroll past yours. Clothes are difficult to display without a model, but shoes are easier. Remove the wrapping unless you can't without damaging it. Put them on a table on top of white paper, with a white background. Photograph top, bottom, and both sides and take natty one for the main photo. Lighting is everything. 

Also, you need to get to the top of searches. Think about how you would search for gold sandals. Probably gold sandals size 8? Everything else with the exception of a brand or leather comes afther that. No one searches for "lovely" or "beautiful".

When you update them use "sell similar" and probably By it Now is the way to go, but people don't come to ebay to pay top wack. Use the sold items button on search to see what others have sold for. 

If i had a pair of jeans to sell i would probably use a main photo of them folded nicely with the label showing and the rest with a tape measure showing all the main sizes.

Sorry, it is quite a learning curve, we've all been there. 

[jma2815 · Accepted solution]

I’ve bought and sold high end clothing on here to keep my wardrobe ‘moving’ since 2020 and I agree with the other posters that your starting bids are too high and your photos are terrible. 

You won’t like this but if you really want to sell then I think you’ll have to reduce the prices. If I was in the market for a pair of second hand designer gold sandals I’d think £35 was a bit high.  (also as a seller I had a pair of worn-once designer shoes for sale for a couple of years - I paid £200 and eventually got £25 for them). 

If you are willing to sell for those starting prices put them on Buy-It-Now (with Best Offer) and they might do better, If I wanted (say) those sandals for a night out I’d not want to faff about for a week with an auction, but I don’t like auctions and I think younger people than me (who would be the ones looking at your items) like auctions even less. 

Also stock pictures, I can see why sellers use them (it makes your listing more appealing) but if the item is used I think its best to stick to pictures of the actual item for sale. Good luck! 

[moldosgifts]

Also titles are key the first 4 words are vital 

A useful website is Title Builder – Title Builder | eBay Titles & Keywords Generator

This will give you the most searched words on ebay for your item switch search to uk taop in what you think and it will give you allot more.

There are a few more but that is my main one.

Ebay say the first 4 words should describe what it is then at the end size and colour.

But can be a difficult one to get right as key words change all the time.

[lucy_farmer]

To be completely honest, I can't even tell what the second picture is *of*!

I'm assuming they're sandals, as they've been mentioned, but I can't quite see them (bit like a "magic eye " picture...)

[eastern-lights]

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@jennyswardrobe wrote:

I think I didn't explain properly; my items make little to no profit because of the original price paid. Hence why I cannot lower them anymore than they are already.

Which items seem particularly high that I am selling, and I will try to re-evaluate 🙂

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Forgive me, but I think you are looking at this wrong. There is no god given right to recoup your outlay or to make a profit. Whether as a business seller or a private seller.

From a private seller's perspective, IMHO, one should obviously be looking to get the maximum you can in a reasonable time scale. If that is more than you paid then great but if that is less than you paid, think of it as minimising your loss (if you must think in terms of profit and loss). Compare the price you get with the price you'd get if you threw it away, or donated it to charity.

They do say, never list with a starting bid lower than you are willing to accept; that is good advise, however it is a strange fact that a low starting price can sometimes end up with a sale for more than a higher starting price. Start with say a £20 starting price and an item might only make that £20 or even might not sell at all; list the same item with a £5 starting price and it may sell for £30. Obviously there is a risk.

[department28]

As others have advised, Buy It Now would probably be better than auction. At least with Buy It Now you can see how much interest your items attract over a few weeks, whereas many auction items just seem to slip through the net unnoticed, or sell for the opening bid. There is just so much stuff out there!