My Ebay Listings

[kagoshima06]

Hi Im kind of frustrated. I cant decide whether to upgrade or what. Im in canada, so to start with it seems that listing in canadian money and on the ca site is just not as good as the international or us site. anyway i am just not getting Any buyers, lookers, followers nothing. i have an item finishing up today, which if i had priced it correctly i think might have done ok, but i inadvertantly put the auction price the one i wanted to put as buy it now, well to make a long story short once i realized what the matter was i couldnt make the change so there it sits ...sigh anyway my Other listings..whats wrong ..any ideas would be greatly appreciated 🙂

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

You have raised similar questions a few days ago on another thread.

If you want an honest and candid opinion here it comes;

- You have zero feedback and many buyers will resist purchasing from a seller without any eBay experience (others may see you as a target for a scam).  The first thing a new seller should do is purchase at least ten items from different sellers on eBay, including many outside Canada, to understand what it feels like to be a buyer and build a feedback rating.

- Some of your listings (121436666977 for example) show "ship to Canada" only.  As such, they are not visible on eBay.com where many Canadian shop. As already explained to you last week, you must offer shipping to the USA (including a shipping method and shipping charge) to be seen on eBay.com

- Some of your prices are way too high for online selling

- Some of your shipping charges are way out of range. To charge $30 to ship (economy shipping) a decanter within Canada does not attract buyers.  They see that and hit the "back button".

In conclusion, start buying to get eBay experience and build your feedback rating. When ready to sell, start with relatively low priced items and absorb some of the shipping costs in your prices to make your items attractive to buyers, offer to ship within one day (not 3), offer to accept return from buyers if they are not satisfied (your "no return" policy will not attract buyers, more so since you are a new seller).

Ask yourself the question: "as a buyer, would you buy from yourself considering your prices, your shipping charges and policies?"

Good Luck.

[pjcdn2005]

Below is the link to the thread that you gave you and another seller some suggestions

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Traffic-Very-Low/m-p/269679#M33853

[kagoshima06]

Thank you very much for the great feedback. It was very helpful, although now it seems I have a lot of changes to make! Back to the drawing board. It's difficult though shipping to the US Canada Post is not cheap..sadly. Even shipping within Canada is pretty pricey. And I agree that people will be resistant to buy from people who are new. I do have one question. I have sold a couple of things (2) but although the people said they liked the items, well packaged etc. they didn't provide any online feedback. Do you request the person to do that?

Shipping question, If you ship items to the states is there a preferred method? One that is not quite as costly as Canada Post? (and sorry didn't see the response previously)

 I guess it's a learning process, but in the meantime I pay ebay fees and don't selling anything, but I guess that's the same for any new sellers.

The no return policy I agree with your take on that, as a buyer I would want to be able to return something, so will definitely do that.

and 1 day shipping I'm going to try that too.. ..maybe smaller items and free shipping going to give that a go. Okay thank you for the advice hopefully my next items will sell 🙂

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

"they didn't provide any online feedback".

Some buyers do leave feedback, others do not.  Feedback is voluntary.

"Do you request the person to do that?"

No. Absolutely not.  Keep leaving positive feedback upon receipt of payment and, eventually, positive feedback will come.

[rose-dee]

I looked at the list of your items currently for sale and many say "Shipping not specified" right up front in the search list.  You really do need to correct this problem.    

Buyers will see there is no shipping quoted and fear (especially with a new seller) that they're going to get a nasty surprise if they commit to buy an item.  Lack of a shipping amount will probably also affect your placement and visibility in eBay searches.  

If you are shipping only to the US and Canada, then you should set up one shipping rate (separately) for each, on each listing.  If you're also shipping internationally, you'll need 3 shipping rates on each listing.  

I've always preferred flat rate shipping because it gives me direct control over the amount and type of shipping for each item, but I know some sellers like to use calculated shipping.  Personally, I think calculated shipping is a bit of a trap for new sellers, as I think you have to have an experienced understanding of how shipping relates to selling on eBay before giving your customers the freedom to pick and choose how they want items shipped.  

It's just my opinion, but I believe flat rate shipping would be safer for a new seller to use.  It's true that shipping on eBay is not a simple subject, and rates are always climbing, but if you take the advice to do some buying for a while, you'll get a better grasp of how other sellers handle shipping, what works, what doesn't, what is attractive to buyers and what isn't.  

[pjcdn2005]

 Personally, I think calculated shipping is a bit of a trap for new sellers, as I think you have to have an experienced understanding of how shipping relates to selling on eBay before giving your customers the freedom to pick and choose how they want items shipped.

If the seller only lists one shipping service then the customer doesn't have the 'freedom' to choose so I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Depending on where they are located, I think that flat rate shipping can have more pitfalls for new sellers since they don't usually don't know ahead of time where the majority of their customers are and what the average shipping cost will be so basically they will be pulling a number out of thin air rather than using actual distances, weights and dimensions.

If light packet or small packet is being used in the U.S. then I would recommend flat rate but I think that it is a good idea to start out with calculated shipping for parcels within Canada.

[reallynicestamps]

I'd strongly suggest moving to US dollars if you plan to sell into the USA.

The world understands the US dollar, and Americans understand nothing else.

Well, maybe I'm not a fancy gentleman like you, with your... very fine hat. But I do business. We're here for business.-- Captain Malcolm Reynolds

[rose-dee]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

If the seller only lists one shipping service then the customer doesn't have the 'freedom' to choose so I'm not sure what you mean by that.

New sellers may not realize that they need to restrict shipping to just one option to protect them against buyers choosing the "wrong" shipping service (from the seller's point of view).  And the "wrong" service will often be the lowest priced service, which may not be the most appropriate for what is being sold. 

I see quite a few new sellers coming to these boards with issues around shipping because they have basically -- and mostly unwittingly -- given buyers carte blanche to choose whatever shipping service/price they like.  It might take a few bad experiences of that kind before a new seller realizes the problem.  Which is why I said I felt it might be a bit of a trap for new sellers -- it appears to be a simple solution to shipping, but I think it takes some experience to use it correctly.  

Depending on where they are located, I think that flat rate shipping can have more pitfalls for new sellers since they don't usually don't know ahead of time where the majority of their customers are and what the average shipping cost will be so basically they will be pulling a number out of thin air rather than using actual distances, weights and dimensions.

I disagree.  Flat rate shipping forces new sellers to actually learn about shipping rates and to set them thoughtfully in their listings.  A new seller who doesn't yet understand the complex ways that shipping affects selling on this site may feel they don't need to bother doing any research on shipping because calculated shipping will handle everything for them, perfectly, every time.  This is one of those examples of how new sellers can be misled into thinking they basically don't need to do or know anything to start selling on eBay.

Flat rate also allows direct control over shipping rates and permits a new seller to set specific rates (or discounts) for specific items.  Estimating flat rate shipping to various destinations based on median costs is easier than it might seem, even for a newcomer, but it does require a bit of research and a pencil and paper.  Those flat rates can easily be adjusted to be more competitive once a seller sees where most of his/her sales are coming from.  

Better for a newcomer to set a shipping rate that is an estimated median (or lower than the median) and attract sales than to leave it to an automated programme to give buyers a shock because the seller doesn't yet understand what kind of shipping costs his/her item weights and sizes are going to translate into. As I said, for experienced sellers who know what shipping costs their items will generate, calculated shipping is useful.  But new sellers may wonder why they aren't getting many sales until they "clue in".  

Lastly, I would say that flat rate shipping permits a new seller to easily roll in some percentage of the shipping cost into their item prices if they want to be particularly competitive in shipping.  That's a big problem with calculated shipping for newcomers -- it requires no effort, but will be charging buyers exact shipping (i.e. Canada Post prices).  I think a new seller would be better served by taking control of the shipping rates in their listings with a view to enhanced placement in searches and attracting more buyers, at least until they get established.  

There is probably a reason that, according to an eBay staffer, over 70% of sellers use flat rate shipping.  It would still be my first recommendation to someone new to this site.  I admit that means some work and learning on a new seller's part (which many people don't want to bother doing), but I'm thinking of sellers who are serious about establishing themselves here and making some reasonable profit.