eBay

pinetreecottage · ‎06-30-2015

I wonder, when I go to "Advanced" at the top right corner of my summary page, and search sold items, they all show from the US. As I sell the same sort of collectibles as what seems to sell on ebay.com, I'm surprise I'm not having any luck. I'm on ebay.ca, should the items sold by Canadian sellers not show here? Or is it an indication, that we Canadians simply aren't selling? I'm trying to figure out how to sell, going forward. I have in the last 3 mths, or so had very little success. Most listings sit for 5 days with 2 - 5 people looking, then the listing ends with no sales. I have been very successful in the past 13 years, but that's come to a grinding halt. I have tried "free shipping" "calculate shipping" auction, buy it now, you name it, I've tried it. Nothing works. Any suggestions?

Cheers and thanks.

pierrelebel · ‎06-30-2015

"Most listings sit for 5 days with 2 - 5 people looking"

???

Why limit your visibility to 5 days when you can offer 10 day duration for the same price if you insist in doing "auction"?

"but that's come to a grinding halt."

Times are changing! Maybe it is time to do what most other eBay sellers have been doing: offer your listing at fixed price (30 days) instead of short term auction (5 to 10 days).

View solution in original post

pierrelebel · ‎06-30-2015

I searched for your listing on both eBay.com and eBay.ca and the listing shows correctly on both sites, both showing a Canada location.

I frankly do not understand the problem.

pinetreecottage · ‎06-30-2015

Exactly, what IS the problem? that's the question. It's a puzzlement. I'll just keep plugging, and see how it goes. For me this is a fun hobby that I love, however selling is more fun than not selling. 🙂

pierrelebel · ‎06-30-2015

"Most listings sit for 5 days with 2 - 5 people looking"

???

Why limit your visibility to 5 days when you can offer 10 day duration for the same price if you insist in doing "auction"?

"but that's come to a grinding halt."

Times are changing! Maybe it is time to do what most other eBay sellers have been doing: offer your listing at fixed price (30 days) instead of short term auction (5 to 10 days).

femmefan1946 · ‎06-30-2015

You might also check what your listings look like on a mobile. According to an article in the Globe and Mail Business Report, written my a high level eBay Canada executive, 62% of transactions involve a mobile device at some point.

You might also consider putting up more items. The more you have for sale, the more often you sell, and the more often you sell the higher you are in Search.

After a hiatus last year, I reopened my Stores. On this ID sales did not really start up until I hit 500 unique items. Now I am once again shipping daily.

pierrelebel · ‎06-30-2015

"62% of transactions involve a mobile device at some point."

I have seen that comment a few times of the boards but have not been able to find a link to it to provide background and context.

Does anyone have a link to the article?

femmefan1946 · ‎06-30-2015

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/more-and-more-shoppers-are-online-s...

Andrea Stairs is Managing Director of eBay Canada.

But I did have the numbers slightly wrong-- dysnumeria strikes again.

We bet early and significantly on mobile – as of last April, 50 per cent of eBay’s nine-million Canadian visitors had a mobile touchpoint in their purchase journey and 33 per cent interacted with eBay exclusively on mobile. Retailers need to be where their customers are buying – and that now includes mobile.

recped · ‎06-30-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:
"62% of transactions involve a mobile device at some point."

I have seen that comment a few times of the boards but have not been able to find a link to it to provide background and context.

Does anyone have a link to the article?

It's in the quarterly or annual reports, has been for the past couple of years. Not the financial statements themselves but in the presentation.

They use the term "touched by" to calculate the number, that means that a buyer either bought on mobile, paid via mobile or looked via mobile. It does not mean the entire transaction was done on a mobile device.

For example, you are lying in front of the TV browsing on your tablet, a few hours later you get off the couch, go to your desktop computer, find the item again and purchase. That would be "touched by mobile".

"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.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-01-2015

In order to be considered 'touched' does the buyer have to actually click on the listing while on a mobile or is it enough to simply be on the search page?

rose-dee · ‎07-01-2015

@rose-dee wrote:
@femmefan1946 wrote:

You might also consider putting up more items. The more you have for sale, the more often you sell, and the more often you sell the higher you are in Search.

After a hiatus last year, I reopened my Stores. On this ID sales did not really start up until I hit 500 unique items. Now I am once again shipping daily.
I've wondered about this too lately. After many years of selling successfully and regularly on eBay with a "Basic" store, often with no more than 80 to 100 items at a time, 2014 slowed down and this year in particular has been dismal.

Despite having more items listed than ever, offering more free shipping (and subsidized shipping) than ever, more discount sales, a wider variety of items, and maintaining my TRS, 100% FB and close to 5 star rating, I can't believe how little activity there has been.

It feels like a quantum shift from 2 years ago, and I can only speculate that eBay's search mechanisms now favour sellers with a higher number of listings. I've really done nothing but improve everywhere I can think of, but the results are actually getting worse. (BTW, my customers are generally "adult" PC types, not the walk-as-you-talk mobile crowd, although I've tried to cover myself by using eBay's gallery extensively and keeping descriptions shorter and plainer for the smaller items). Meanwhile of course, shipping and everything else is costing more.

Sorry -- didn't mean to give a "woe is me" story, but like the OP, I've been really puzzled and quite frustrated that extra efforts haven't paid off as they used to. Maybe my buyers have simply gone elsewhere now that eBay promotes itself as the place to go for the latest "techno-stuff" or mass-produced commercial items. Maybe vintage/antique is a dying category on eBay and my days are numbered here.

I'm reluctant to take the expensive leap of getting the next store level up, in the hope -- as you say -- that hitting some magic number of listings will make a difference, especially if it ends up making very little difference at all. I'd almost rather spend that money on my own website and on targeted marketing and take my chances there.

Whoops, sorry, my post got duplicated for some reason...

femmefan1946 · ‎07-01-2015

Vintage/ antique is certainly changing.

A longtime antique store here in Victoria (Faith Grant) has moved from Fort Street to Oak Bay Avenue and smaller premises. The 3rd generation owner said in a newspaper avenue that she is selling more things that are small and decorative and less in the way of antique furniture. And I've noticed that a lot of antique stores now carry as much mid-century modern as 19th century or earlier.

Are a lot of your customers re-enactors? I see people wearing similar clothing at science fiction conventions who are either cosplaying or steampunk enthusiasts. Most of them make their own costumes, and it is interesting to attend panels on how to make armour with foam and paint. I don't think I've seen any sewing panels though.

I've pretty well stopped offering the 50s-80s SF titles that were a mainstay when I started selling. They just don't sell any more, and much as I love Asimov, Bishop, Dick, and Robinson, they no longer have a place on my eBay shelves. The cult titles like Lem, Wyndham, Delaney still move.