eBay

6thsensecollectibles · ‎12-30-2022

I have a competitor selling the same product in the same condition at way higher price and for obsur reasons, he sells more than me. I tried everything. I noticed the tendancy for a few months now. Tried to relist, changed pictures, description, markdown sales, etc. I'm losing sales on regular basis. My listing has high placement and high visibility

eBay item number: 195322672508

Most recent exemple those 25th celebrations packs actually $6.43 with free shipping. I sold 2 packs since october. Today again i see his listing sold this variation, 2 packs ($9.00/each + $3.00 + $1.00 shipping), so 2 packs for $20.00

eBay item number: 313547657281

Is that an algorythm thing?

I have better ratings, better feedbacks, more followers, free shipping, better price, promoted listing while he don't. My listing seems a no brainer to me but his listing still taking sales. I don't really understand. This is strange. Any idea about how he can have sucess selling 30% higher on long term?

byto253 · ‎12-30-2022

Is the other seller in Canada or the US. If sales are to the US, that may be it.

reallynicestamps · ‎12-30-2022

If he has higher Feedback than you, he may have a returning customer base which you have not yet built. Those returning customers know that he will meet their expectations.

Some consumers feel that the higher the price the better the quality-- even on identical mass manufactured goods. And it is "feel", logic plays no part in this.

Most buyers only look at the FB rating and think 95% -100% is an "A", although 95% is absolutely awful. Few actually read feedback.

You have been a member since 01/22. When did he join eBay?

Is that an algorythm thing?

Yes.

When you sell something, eBay places you slightly higher in Search. With literally millions of Pokemon cards this is a very slight "slightly".

It even affects destination.
If you sell a card to Alberta, you are more likely to be seen in AB, and your next sale is likely to be AB.

Again this has to do with the millions of cards. It appears that eBay circulates listings from one area to another, and if sales are happening for a given seller in a given location, the algorithm keeps your listing there a bit longer. (Our paranoid American colleagues call this "throttling" because of course they do.)

As a minor critique, this sentence "Card pictured is the actual copy shipped unless more than one in quantity (1 sold, 2 or more available). In this case, picture is as showcase" should be the FIRST line in your description. And you should probably delete pictures of Sold cards.

However, I don't understand what "picture is as showcase" means.

You spend a lot of your Description on your shipping practices, most of which are covered by eBay Standard Practice and therefore unnecessary.

You mention bubble envelopes*. Which made me notice that although you have 400 listings, you do not have a Store. You have only 250 Free Listings and pay 35c each for the others, unless you have already discovered the dotCOM/dotCA loophole, or have been given more Promotional free listings.
If the latter, keep an eye on your Seller Hub in case those freebies suddenly disappear.

I'm not sure if it is possible for you, but I scan my stamps rather than photograph them. This allows me to magnify and centre my pictures.

*Because one of the minor perks of Store subscriptions is a quarterly coupon for branded shipping supplies.

flipistics · ‎12-30-2022

The other seller appears to be selling worldwide, and you appear to only be selling within Canada. That's likely the difference. There's nothing wrong with doing that, but you can't expect to sell the same volume or with the same speed.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎12-31-2022

@6thsensecollectibles wrote:
I have a competitor selling the same product in the same condition at way higher price and for obsur reasons, he sells more than me. I tried everything. I noticed the tendancy for a few months now. Tried to relist, changed pictures, description, markdown sales, etc. I'm losing sales on regular basis. My listing has high placement and high visibility
eBay item number: 195322672508
Most recent exemple those 25th celebrations packs actually $6.43 with free shipping. I sold 2 packs since october. Today again i see his listing sold this variation, 2 packs ($9.00/each + $3.00 + $1.00 shipping), so 2 packs for $20.00
eBay item number: 313547657281
Is that an algorythm thing?
I have better ratings, better feedbacks, more followers, free shipping, better price, promoted listing while he don't. My listing seems a no brainer to me but his listing still taking sales. I don't really understand. This is strange. Any idea about how he can have sucess selling 30% higher on long term?

@6thsensecollectibles

That other seller may also be promoting at a high rate. Bumping them up in the standings. Making less but selling more of the same item(s). It's a possibility. Difficult to know exactly what causes better visibility. That's a well kept hidden secret.

-Lotz

recped · ‎12-31-2022

@byto253 wrote:
Is the other seller in Canada or the US. If sales are to the US, that may be it.

@6thsensecollectibles

This^^^^^^^

You have perhaps 1.5 Million potential buyers, the other seller has perhaps 150 Million potential buyers.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

kenneth686321 · ‎12-31-2022

you only sell to Canada. You need to offer shipping to the US in order to reach most of Ebay customer. Maybe add worldwide shipping too

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎12-31-2022

You do not ship worldwide.

Look into a company called Chit Chats. You should be able to ship to the US for roughly $7-$9. Anything in a bubble mailer under 400 or so grams is usually roughly in that range. Figure out what you can do for combined shipping, and work that into the price.

I would advise you to possibly get rid of free shipping for Canada as well. Free shipping is good if you have a product where there is little or no chance of cross selling, or selling multiples. Because someone who would buy your sleeves is likely to need more than one, by charging for shipping but including combined shipping rates, you are more likely to get people to justify buying multiple units from you at the same time.

Lettermail goes by 100 grams. Hypothetically, let's say your mailer weighs 10 grams, and each one of these packs weighs 45 grams. Then you can offer people greater value through buying multiples. For example, instead of someone seeing that there is no benefit to buying 2 right away for $12 w/ free shipping, when they explore your item they will see that through buying 2 right away, they can get 2 for $10 ($4 x 2 item price, +$2 shipping w/ free combined shipping for 2 items). Figure out all your weights and your combined shipping.

The other factor is that this person has a head start on you. They have 75 sold items. eBay defaults to the Best Match. Which means if someone searches for this product, they will appear higher than you, and people will be more likely to click on theirs.

If this is a product you intend to sell long term, for years, here is what I would do to win the Best Match placement.

1) Investigate your Canada Post lettermail rates, how much multiples of your item weighs, and then create shipping rules that allow you to offer your customers better value through combined shipping (not free shipping). Because this is a consumable where people will be more likely to need multiples, strong combined shipping rules will give you more unit sales which will raise your best match placement.

2) Investigate international shipping costs and add those to your listing. At the very least, you NEED to sell to the USA. Look into a company called Chit Chats and a company called Stallion. Same deal with Canada Post lettermail, investigate combined shipping rates.

3) Get your postage stamps from Costco or Rexall (when on sale). Costco offers them for 95 percent off. Rexall offers them for 90 percent off once every few weeks. Additionally, you can put two P stamps on a package that requires 1.94 oversized. This saves you 10 cents. Theoretically, you can ship a 1.94 oversized package for 1.66 if you buy your stamps at Rexall, or $1.75 if you buy them at Costco.

4) If this is a long term play, consider selling items at cost or at a slight loss for the next month or two. Ask yourself, how much would you spend to get the top search spot for this item? Once you have figured out your combined shipping prices, removed free shipping, and opened up international shipping, first try putting a very high percentage in promoted listings. Additionally, raise your price to his (It's working for him), and if promoted listings and the new shipping policies don't boost your sales, consider also doing a markdown sale on top of that.

Then once you start getting momentum with eBay's Best Match due to sales and engagement from more customers, figure out a promoted listing percentage that works and still allows you to make a profit and scale your promoted listings back so that you're now able to make a profit off of the items.

You can see by his higher price that price isn't the issue. It's likely placement in the best match, and tha fact that he is opened up to international shipping and you aren't.

If this is just a 1 time thing you're selling, and you don't intend to restock your inventory, then the above won't be relevant.

6thsensecollectibles · ‎12-31-2022

Thank you for the answers. I do not have any problems selling overall or with my shipping methods tho. The thread was more about this specific listing against my competitor one. I do ship to united states, just not this listing. Packs are big and i assume they would not pass the borders as letterpost. Shipping as small packet or as parcel the price would not have any sense it's useless. I have doubts it's because he ship worldwide personally. Those packs are commons, other countries have them there's no reason to buy from canada twice the market price

Is there any way to verify what's the location of buyers on a listing that is not our?

6thsensecollectibles · ‎12-31-2022

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:
4) If this is a long term play, consider selling items at cost or at a slight loss for the next month or two. Ask yourself, how much would you spend to get the top search spot for this item? Once you have figured out your combined shipping prices, removed free shipping, and opened up international shipping, first try putting a very high percentage in promoted listings. Additionally, raise your price to his (It's working for him), and if promoted listings and the new shipping policies don't boost your sales, consider also doing a markdown sale on top of that.

I already have the better placement, already promoting while he's not, already running sales while he's not

That's the main problem. My listing is already beating him on all points. I'll check to see if it could be because sales comes from outside canada, that's the only thing i see

reallynicestamps · ‎12-31-2022

How do you know you have better placement?

How do you know he is using Promoted Listings (or not) and at what percentage?

already running sales while he's not

Sometimes when you are the lower price, the customer's perception is that your item is not as good/ worth less. It's a perception not a fact, but there you are.

In our B&M store, DH did not have discount sales.

with my shipping methods tho.

The suggestion was that you can lower your shipping costs and either pass on the savings to the customer or better your profit margin

Packs are big and i assume they would not pass the borders as letterpost. Shipping as small packet or as parcel the price would not have any sense it's useless.

Chit chat and other forwarders also ship parcels using USPS rates (plus a small service fee).

While all sellers using eBay shipping get some discounts from Canada Post rates, CC gets and passes on their greater discount from cheaper USPS rates.

The default Search is Best Match.

But some buyers use About to Close or Newly Listed.

Do you have an item or 20 opening and closing every day?

Some buyers Search with Lowest Price First-- these are cherry pickers and bottom feeders and will give you more problems than buyers who pay more.

Instead he gave trade dollars (think Canadian Tire Money) which could be used on the next purchase. The value of the trade dollars was determined by how much sales tax the buyer paid. The eBay equivalent is coupons.

The value is thus not discounted and the customer was encouraged to return if only to use the coupon.

@ilikehockeyjerseys Lettermail goes by 100 grams.

The maximum weight for Letters is 500gr. But the increments are 30g, 50g, 100g,200g,300g,400g,500g.