eBay

imaschnore · ‎08-09-2015

Sales have been down for 6 months. The number of Buyers and Dollar average has been decreasing. Defect count has gone UP due to fewer Buyers over the months. Hmmm. Better pictures, accurate description, currency, percentage discount, combined ship discount. Can not Control Sales must Manage Expenses. Suggestions Welcome....

sylviebee · ‎08-22-2015

gifts: The comment was directed at me as well and you didn't offend me.

As I posted above: I do know something about collecting Swarovski.

In the beginning Swarovski catered to the collectors market, but they simply produced too much too fast and then they added pieces which simply dwarfed the originals in design and colour.

The collectors market all but died.

As I posted above: The Lovebirds went from the initial issue price of $300 (or so) to over $3,000 within a few years.

That piece should be in the $10,000+++ range now, but instead it's selling for $1,000.

That speaks volumes.

I sold a few pieces recently and they sold for less than expected. Many rare pieces are selling below issue price.

eBay can't manipulate the collector's market.

It is what it is.

sylviebee · ‎08-22-2015

gifts: I posted before I read your post.

I agree with everything you said. That's exactly what happened but I'm pretty sure that the first pieces all sold for $300 but you had to buy a membership.

That price was stable for years.

You do seem to understand what happened.

Why then blame eBay for diminishing sales?

Swarovski crashed their own collector's market.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-22-2015

@73rhc wrote:
"What you overlooked is that 'gifts' was speaking in the past tense. I'd bet that the 3 years 'gifts' referred to didn't include 2015. That was then, this is now. "

Then what was the point of this post? She was obviously being obnoxious in her reply to the other poster. Many here believe they are the experts and no one else knows what they are talking about. Just like so much conjecture, here. Never assume.

I've been a "hobby" seller here since 1997. Admittedly, the good ol' days are gone. But, my sales have been consistently similar for the past several years. I don't work any harder. I keep it simple. I list, follow the rules, sell what I can, ship and then move on. And I'm sure tat my revenues are the same, if not more than yours. And I'm not saying this to be mean nor boastful. I'm saying that with little effort, the results are the same. Like it or not.

I stopped selling Cross Stitch patterns in 2005. I just didn't have the time for them anymore.

I am not a "Hobby" seller, I take my business very seriously and I work very hard at it. I have increased my inventory multiple times and

feel that 25% of what used to be normal sales volume is not satisfactory.

sylviebee · ‎08-22-2015

@gifts_of_elegance wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:
@gifts_of_elegance wrote:

There were 12 Lovebirds sold in 60 days (June-August). The ones on auction started bidding as low as 1 cent and as high as $400.
Sales came in as low as $360. There were a few "Buy-It-Now" around $700 but each one was "Or Best Offer" and they sold in the $600's. Only one sold over $1,000. These prices were the result of "over supply" and "pressure", not normal market conditions.

______________________________________________________

Gifts: I read your post again, and this comment doesn't fit. The rest of your post is pretty much spot on.

The Love Birds used to be the most coveted piece, and the first series must still be heavily sought after.

The Love Birds were only offered for the first year and many collectors missed it.
It's impossible that there was an "over supply" of this piece.

If the love birds crashed as low as you say the collector's market has to be very very soft.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-22-2015

Pierre, I couldn't care less about the Swarovski Collectibles. I don't really have that much that I can't keep for myself. If they sell, fine, if not, that is okay too.

My concern is the jewelry. I feel they are not getting the exposure. I used to have 1,500+ lookers a day, the past few years they have been around 100. It matters not how many listings I have, if I sell internationally or just locally, the dollar value is always the same per month. Last September I sold a very expensive set of china with serving pieces so I went way over the normal volume. Right away ALL my listings were place at the very end of every category and kept there for over a week.

I have tried to introduce Christian Dior Sterling Silver jewelry in my line for almost 2 years with no success. Each listing goes to the very last pages as soon as I list it. I sold only a very few pieces.

Pierre, you and I could argue over this until the cows come home, looks like neither one of us will convince the other. We are just frustrating each other.

Have a great week-end and all my best to your Mrs.

sylviebee · ‎08-22-2015

gifts; There are many possible explanations for that.

Is it possible that what you are selling as new now has a secondary market all its own at a much lower price?

That would account for increased listings, fewer views, and decreased prices.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-22-2015

@sylviebee wrote:
@gifts_of_elegance wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:
@gifts_of_elegance wrote:
There were 12 Lovebirds sold in 60 days (June-August). The ones on auction started bidding as low as 1 cent and as high as $400.
Sales came in as low as $360. There were a few "Buy-It-Now" around $700 but each one was "Or Best Offer" and they sold in the $600's. Only one sold over $1,000. These prices were the result of "over supply" and "pressure", not normal market conditions.

______________________________________________________

Gifts: I read your post again, and this comment doesn't fit. The rest of your post is pretty much spot on.

The Love Birds used to be the most coveted piece, and the first series must still be heavily sought after.

The Love Birds were only offered for the first year and many collectors missed it.
It's impossible that there was an "over supply" of this piece.

If the love birds crashed as low as you say the collector's market has to be very very soft.

Check the "sold" sales under Swarovski Lovebirds here on eBay. Also check "Completed Sales" and you will see how many were not bid on at all.

I did not say that there was an "over-supply" but you can bet there were many pieces stored in warehouses that were now cleared out.

I have several books on Swarovski Collections and the "Lovebirds" are shown as $150 original retail.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-22-2015

I don't really have that much Swarovski Crystal to worry about anymore. It only counts as 2% of my inventory. Its the jewelry that makes up most of my inventory.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-22-2015

"What do you want eBay to do - very specifically - to improve the visibility of your listings (understanding that it is done at the expense of your competitors visibility)?"

I want my listings to be shown in all the areas I am willing to sell to. I am not expecting it to be done at the expense of my competitors. Just list them in the order they end and list them all. No more black-outs and no more favoritism in search placement.

sylviebee · ‎08-22-2015

@gifts_of_elegance wrote:
Check the "sold" sales under Swarovski Lovebirds here on eBay. Also check "Completed Sales" and you will see how many were not bid on at all.
I did not say that there was an "over-supply" but you can bet there were many pieces stored in warehouses that were now cleared out.
I have several books on Swarovski Collections and the "Lovebirds" are shown as $150 original retail.

Gifts, It was a long time ago, but as I recall it the memberships cost $33 and the Limited Editions cost $300 for total of $333. I can't recall if that was before of after taxes. It's possible that the LoveBirds were $150 and they jumped the price to $300 the next year.

To buy the Limited Edition you had to buy the membership and they destroyed the cast at the end of the year and dismantled or destroyed the remaining pieces.

Since the collectors market didn't exist yet, where did al the pieces in the warehouses come from?

I do see that there seem to be a lot of LoveBirds, but the only way to make sense of that is that everyone is dumping them because the later pieces are so much prettier and the collector's market no longer exists.

sylviebee · ‎08-22-2015

gifts: Do you list good till cancelled or at 30 day intervals?

If you're using GTCed try 30 day intervals for a while.

Anonymous · ‎08-22-2015

Agree 1000% We all should be treated equal. Never mind those big sellers. Put small sellers in better equal search. I am sure that small sellers sell more than the big sellers like China, Honk Kong that sell cheap **bleep** things and never send them!!

pierrelebel · ‎08-23-2015

"Just list them in the order they end and list them all. "

Buyers have the ability to change the search result page to show "ending first" if they wish.

That may not be a good thing for you - listing with 30 day duration. Your listings would only show up on the front page for a few minutes once every 30 days.

When I look at the sub-category Jewellery & Watches >Fine Jewellery > Fine Earrings > Precious Metal without Stones

I find 69,500+ listings on eBay.ca and 94,900+on eBay.com

If eBay were to handle each listing equally - without preference for Top Rated Seller, or sellers offering one day handling or offering free shipping, allowing return, etc... - how often will you listing been seen on the first page of search results? and for how many minutes?

95,000 listings = 3,800 pages at 25 listings per page = 126 different pages seen in one day = 5.2 per hour = or about 11 minutes per month.

How many minutes do you get now?

Let's face it: that is NOT the real problem. Potential buyers may not buy your product because they have so many more to chose from. If eBay.com only had 10,000 listings in that category instead of 95,000 your sales would improve. If eBay.com only had 5,000 listings in that sub-category your sales would improve a lot. But there are 95,000 and all sellers (large and small) face the same fact: there is a lot more competition today that a few years ago.

pierrelebel · ‎08-23-2015

"If eBay were to handle each listing equally - without preference for Top Rated Seller, or sellers offering one day handling or offering free shipping, allowing return, etc... - how often will you listing been seen on the first page of search results? and for how many minutes?"

And yes, eBay does give preference to sellers offering to accept returns and offering "free shipping".

Sellers have the ability to control these factors giving better placement in search results (if that factor is important to you) If your competitors do it, it places you at a disadvantage not to do the same.

73rhc · ‎08-23-2015

Everything you say is spot on!!!

But don't forget, there are egos at play here. Some sellers think that they are only ones on the planet. And they usually tell you how much they've sold and that their selling limits are $13 gazillion. And they should get top search results, every single time!!

Their egos get so inflated, that they don't realize that they are more expensive than their competitors. Because, obviously, theirs are better.

73rhc · ‎08-23-2015

Let the games begin!

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-23-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:
"Just list them in the order they end and list them all. "

Buyers have the ability to change the search result page to show "ending first" if they wish.

That may not be a good thing for you - listing with 30 day duration. Your listings would only show up on the front page for a few minutes once every 30 days.

When I look at the sub-category Jewellery & Watches >Fine Jewellery > Fine Earrings > Precious Metal without Stones

I find 69,500+ listings on eBay.ca and 94,900+on eBay.com

If eBay were to handle each listing equally - without preference for Top Rated Seller, or sellers offering one day handling or offering free shipping, allowing return, etc... - how often will you listing been seen on the first page of search results? and for how many minutes?

95,000 listings = 3,800 pages at 25 listings per page = 126 different pages seen in one day = 5.2 per hour = or about 11 minutes per month.

How many minutes do you get now?

Let's face it: that is NOT the real problem. Potential buyers may not buy your product because they have so many more to chose from. If eBay.com only had 10,000 listings in that category instead of 95,000 your sales would improve. If eBay.com only had 5,000 listings in that sub-category your sales would improve a lot. But there are 95,000 and all sellers (large and small) face the same fact: there is a lot more competition today that a few years ago.

Yes, buyers can change it to "ending first" but items that are on a black out in areas will still not be shown. Recently I was in the market for a certain pattern of china. It was not available on eBay.ca or eBay.com. I logged in to eBay.co.uk and there were a lot of listings there. The pieces I wanted were available internationally, so they should have shown up on ,ca and ,com

I have almost 1300 listings (can do more). That means that 43 listings would show up daily with 30 day listings. I would definitely change them to 7 day listings if I knew they would not be blacked out and would show without doubt. I usually scheduled my listings to

show betweeen 8 A.M. to Midnight) I would have a listing end every 5 minutes with 7 day listings. I used to schedule my listings every 15-20 minutes with 30 day listings, I just stopped doing it that way this year.

It makes no difference how many listings are in the sub-catagory. I sell designer brands and there are not that many listings under Christian Dior. Even in Swarovski, buyers know that the real stuff can be found under "Collectibles, Decorative Collectibles, Swarovski". People looking for designer brands search by brand name. I also sell Burberry's of London, Minton, Varga, Ciner, Boucher, Balenciaga, Gontie, Rochas, Trifari, and more brands.

Before "Best Match", every time we had a free listing day, I ended up with about $9,000 in sales. I know there are more sellers, I know there are more listings, but there are also more buyers so the competition is about the same.

73rhc · ‎08-23-2015

Please explain the Christian Dior comment. A quick search came up with over 37000 items. What am I not getting?

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-23-2015

Pierre, I always did ONE DAY handling. I actually ship the same day.

Its only in the past few months that I do not take returns. My return policy was always "returns accepted without any conditions". I changed it because eBay no longer refunds FVF, seller has to pay for return shipping and end up with a defect in the bargain.

As for "Free Shipping", I did that too for 14 months, both to Canada and USA. It did not make a bit of difference except cut into my profits.

It cost me $8,000 last year. I still subsidize part of the shipping cost.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-23-2015

@73rhc wrote:
Everything you say is spot on!!!

But don't forget, there are egos at play here. Some sellers think that they are only ones on the planet. And they usually tell you how much they've sold and that their selling limits are $13 gazillion. And they should get top search results, every single time!!

Their egos get so inflated, that they don't realize that they are more expensive than their competitors. Because, obviously, theirs are better.

I am not expecting to get top search results, just equal search results. Also, I expect my listings to be shown during their duration in all the places I sell too. Is that unreasonable? Don't you expect the same?