05-26-2018 03:27 PM
My excuse is being a senior but I lack a lot of patience when it comes to reading eBay enhancements. It seems that Catalogue Numbers associate with Brands; at least NEW merchandise. If I'm listing used English bone china for example, is there any new requirements for such a Seller in Canada?
On an aside I've very few items on eBay because of no sales and thinking my items are not being found in Search, it's hard to get motivated to list more and more. Do people see hope in the Summer Seller Update?
Thanks in advance for sharing any comments that might help a small seller sell some collectibles on eBay.
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05-26-2018 04:21 PM
As a senior myself, I think a lot of the problem is in changing tastes.
I began here 20 years ago selling vintage science fiction paperbacks.
I sell fewer and fewer of those, and more and more of my secondary line, sewing patterns.
And I almost know why.
When I go to science fiction conventions, most of the (under 40) fans are talking about movies and TV, rather than books. And there are dozens of cosplayers, young women (and a few men) who have designed and sewn their own costumes to masquerade as their favourite characters, from those shows.
Times change. Sales of unpopular items will drop. My daughter owns no teacups, at her house you get a coffee mug. She doesn't even own a set of good china or any silverware. Look at most decorating magazines and they feature bare, spare, colourless houses. (They don't look like homes.)
And while the Millennials actually outnumber we Boomers, they don't live the way we did. Which is not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing.
It's just different.
As retailers, it's our job to figure out what our customer wants and supply it.
But I still buy every John Wyndham title I see anyway.
05-26-2018 05:59 PM
05-26-2018 06:10 PM
Hi again!
As a note, there is a lot of aspects to observe amongst other sellers:
-sure style of listing is important
-do they have run sales
-do they have/run promoted listings
-do they run both auctions and fixed price
-how "big" are they compared to you in terms of sales, # items running etc
-description style
-picture style
-price (I almost NEVER try to be the cheapest)
-probably other things I'm not thinking of at the moment.
(a couple hours observing what others do and stuff that might work for you is time very well spent)
In my experience, as one example, if I find a "new" way to picture/display something it generates some excitement and extra sales. Then other sellers see what I'm doing and 3 months later there's a pile of the same style pictures/display out there from others and again I have to go figure out something new again.....
That's an unfortunate consequence of competition, continual evolution is required.....
05-26-2018 06:48 PM
05-26-2018 04:21 PM
As a senior myself, I think a lot of the problem is in changing tastes.
I began here 20 years ago selling vintage science fiction paperbacks.
I sell fewer and fewer of those, and more and more of my secondary line, sewing patterns.
And I almost know why.
When I go to science fiction conventions, most of the (under 40) fans are talking about movies and TV, rather than books. And there are dozens of cosplayers, young women (and a few men) who have designed and sewn their own costumes to masquerade as their favourite characters, from those shows.
Times change. Sales of unpopular items will drop. My daughter owns no teacups, at her house you get a coffee mug. She doesn't even own a set of good china or any silverware. Look at most decorating magazines and they feature bare, spare, colourless houses. (They don't look like homes.)
And while the Millennials actually outnumber we Boomers, they don't live the way we did. Which is not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing.
It's just different.
As retailers, it's our job to figure out what our customer wants and supply it.
But I still buy every John Wyndham title I see anyway.
05-26-2018 05:30 PM
05-26-2018 05:37 PM
What I do in my world, is look to see what is out there and how it is selling.
I took your: "Royal Albert Tea Cup and Saucer Silver Birch" item and did a comparison shop (by the way this is my Mom's favourite pattern).
There were about 28 of them running at this time, yours was almost if not the best priced.
I looked at what had sold, 7 since the beginning of April, the lowest half your price, a few as much as over 3 times your price.
What I would do if it were me, is look at the practices of the ones selling for 3 times your price and emulate/experiment to try to match their style, if you can.
I get quite excited when I have something that I cannot find running or sold as there is no comparison shopping happening then!!
When my sales slow or stall, as they seem to have at the moment, I watch, observe and try to find things that I can do differently than others (because some eventually copy me and I have to go and find something new again) through experiments etc.
Given 7 of those tea cups have sold in under 2 months, there is still a market, you just have to figure out what the sellers have done differently from you to get noticed......
05-26-2018 05:59 PM
05-26-2018 06:10 PM
Hi again!
As a note, there is a lot of aspects to observe amongst other sellers:
-sure style of listing is important
-do they have run sales
-do they have/run promoted listings
-do they run both auctions and fixed price
-how "big" are they compared to you in terms of sales, # items running etc
-description style
-picture style
-price (I almost NEVER try to be the cheapest)
-probably other things I'm not thinking of at the moment.
(a couple hours observing what others do and stuff that might work for you is time very well spent)
In my experience, as one example, if I find a "new" way to picture/display something it generates some excitement and extra sales. Then other sellers see what I'm doing and 3 months later there's a pile of the same style pictures/display out there from others and again I have to go figure out something new again.....
That's an unfortunate consequence of competition, continual evolution is required.....
05-26-2018 06:48 PM
05-26-2018 07:01 PM
05-26-2018 07:45 PM
Don't you feel eBay has been gearing up in hopes that more and more people buy NEW
They like big sellers, who are a steady income stream, but unlike many, I don't think they actively work against smaller sellers or sellers of vintage over new.
The big sellers are likely to be sellers of new, if only because procurement is easier for them.
And even small sellers report that the more items they have listed the better their sales.
If you have one piece of Royal Albert Silver Birch, you may be found in Search.
But if your customer is looking for a dessert plate and your only piece is a dinner plate, you won't get the sale.
If another seller has a full service, broken up into individual pieces, she is likely to have that dinner plate and get the sale.
And then since she has more sales than you, she moves higher in Search for the next customer.
and that those purchases will be through eBay.
Well, yes to that part.
Have you ever looked at Ruby Lane?