i am not getting any bids and giving away items

[huckhobartz]

Ebay sucks. as a seller....when i buy items they go thru the roof....yet selling some things...nobody bids and when they do noone upbids and i am giving away...i have had it!!!

[nudibranch4569]

always start your bid at the price you want for an item.

[huckhobartz]

i do and i have..i do Buy it Now ..yet noone bids

[westernstargifts]

Try adding more descriptive words to your title.  That is how buyers find it and the more you can fit in the better.  For example, in the listing for replacement bulbs, you could add the quantity and colours.  Use all 80 characters whenever you can.

[femmefan1946]

Take a look at your listings from the point of view of a buyer.

The first thing I noticed on this listing:

Replacement Bulbs for AFX slot cars

was that the shipping is more than double the asking price.

Is that valid? I'm a seller so I know it probably  is, if the things can't be sent Letter Rate. (less than 2 cm thick, less than 500 grams).

But a buyer doesn't.

So he ignores you and spends $25 bidding on the item with Free Shipping.

Now, Free Shipping just means that the price of shipping is included in the asking price but:

Which is cheaper:

$5 item with $15 shipping.

$15 item with $5 shipping.

$20 item with Free Shipping.

Which gets the most bids? Which gets passed by because the seller is obviously gouging on shipping cost?

You have up to 80 keystrokes as FREE advertising in your titles. Use them all.

You have up to 12 photos. Use them. And consider scans for flat items that need detailed pictures.

You don't accept returns? Don't be silly. If you accept Paypal you accept returns. Some buyers will pass you by for that unfriendly note.

Are you paying the post office for insurance and for tracked delivery? Have you ever lost anything in the mail? How much money have you wasted in unnecessary insurance premiums. Look into self-insurance and reduce your shipping rates.

How many fake Item Not Delivered claims have you had? Why bother with expensive tracking? (Well, given your product line there may be a higher chance of phoney claims that in the vintage SF paperbacks and discount postage lots which are a couple of my products.)

[mr.elmwood]

There are 80 characters in the title, use them all. That is your first line of advertising and you are not using it.

eBay allows up to 12 pictures, you have one? That is your second line of advertising and you are not using it.

The bulbs are $12 to ship? Creative wrapping in a bubble mailer and I bet they will go for $2.50. I have made thicker widgets than that get through the 20mm slot.

Canada is 5% of my market, the USA is 90%.

[mr.elmwood]

Let me re-phrase.

Selling a widget is a complex algorithm made up of: widget, title, pictures, shipping cost, where you ship to, stated policies, target market, etc.

Any ONE of these can de-rail the whole listing. Too many attempted sellers believe their widget has value and will sell with minimum effort. Not so. All sellers have to promote and advertise their widget as: the best, most desirable, buy mine, buy from me, do not buy from someone else.

OP, you are not selling to me very well. You are not giving me a BOOM BABY reason to buy from you.

I see you have only sold two items since 2004. A little early to be tossing in the towel, pointing and blaming, don't you think. The old adage of "when you point one finger forward, you are pointing three back" applies here.

You are not using any of the tools available, yet, you are blaming externally? I fail to understand that.

Let's take the bulbs for an eg. Make a 20mm slot and practice packaging to make it fit through the slot. I use a bubble mailer with cardboard inside. Cut out an outline to make the bulbs fit in the cardboard and then I would wrap with industrial grade shrink wrap. I get that at Rona for cheap.

I bet you can knock $10 off the shipping charge.

80 characters in the title. Use them all. Look at what other sellers are using for SEARCHABLE key words. Use them. This is you hook. This is where you have your ONLY chance to catch someone to look inside. Your words have to lure them in, kinda like the Monty Python milkman sketch.

Now, pictures. Twelve may be excessive, I do not know. Practice pictures and lighting. Natural light is best. Angles, top, bottom, long shots, close-up, part numbers, crystal clear focus.

Ship to the USA. Cost is kinda the same when it fits through the slot. 90% of my market. Small parcel is much cheaper to the USA than Canada. Bigger market and cheaper shipping? Hum?

There is a huge learning curve and frustration is a large part of it. The frustration never goes away, you just learn to deal with it.

The best sellers value add their listings.

[bb_cool_stuff]

There is a huge learning curve and frustration is a large part of it.

So true, it would be so easy to say we could keep frustrations to a minimum, but a New One usually presents itself.

I think over the years I have learned to manage my frustrations.

Too many attempted sellers believe their widget has value and will sell with minimum effort.

I miss those days.

[maximus7001]

Well I just took a look at your listings.

First of all with this listing:

"Replacement Bulbs for AFX slot cars"

1. The shipping is ridiculous. Nobody is going to pay an unnecessary fee of  $12US / $13.30 CDN for $4.89US item that can be shipped to Canada for $1.34 CDN. There is no reason that this item can't fit through the 2cm slot.

2. Canadians don't like buying with US dollars.

3. You are not even shipping to the USA which would cost $2.20 CDN to ship lettermail. International would be $4.36 to ship lettermail. USA and international sales account for more than 85% of our sales. Just selling to Canada would doom us as well.

Nice item by the way, I still have all of my AFX stuff from when I was a kid.

So look at our items to get a feel on how to list things so they will sell.

[huckhobartz]

yes thats exactly right....therefore that canada is 10% of the US we get swindled on all costs like shipping

i have underpriced postage.shipping and have eaten many costs NOW i am eating what i paid for items which i bought from US sellers

[mr.elmwood]

You are espousing a negative belief pattern. I have NEVER done that. If you say you are being hard done by, you will believe that. Mailing costs are a non-entity for me. Rarely part of my decision making process.

You are buying to sell? That is not how it works. I prefer the word "acquire". I pay, on average $5 on my retail $100. That is where I need to be to make a profit after ALL expenses.

Some things are not meant to sell on-line or on eBay.

[huckhobartz]

heres an example here in Canada...i recently sold 240 cassettes rock and country....i listed with 40 bux  shipping....it cost me 55 to send it

[huckhobartz]

No i am mot buying to resell...i started collecting the things i enjoyed as a kid......some things were not as sentimental after the fact ...pretty sad when it is not possible to get what a person paid for it.......a person should at least be able to buy the items back as in a real physical auction......looks like a lot of shilling is going on  or self upbidding.......no place for honest sellers i guess lol

[mr.elmwood]

Again with the negativity. There is minimal, at worst, shill bidding.

You want to believe the world is against you, eBay is not for you.

Here is an expression a friend of mine uses in business class: "Hobbies cost money, interests are free, business makes money". You had a hobby, a hobby costs money.

[huckhobartz]

its called reality and i think you are on the opposite end of it.....what planet are you from and what color is the sky  that you assume anyone would expect or want bad things to happen

the difference between you  and i .......i do not judge character based on someone i never met or hardly even know 

[huckhobartz]

to the ones with constructive assistance and advice thnxx

[amethyst1415]

I know what you mean. I shipped out a remote today that I received $8 for and the shipping (cheapest way possible...from Canada to the States) was $10. I lost two dollars. GRRR.

[femmefan1946]

Oh, did you think Free Shipping meant you don't charge your buyer for shipping?

It's an advertising ploy.

It actually means that the cost of shipping in INCLUDED in the asking price.

Which is cheapest?

$5 plus $10 shipping

$10 plus $5 shipping

$15 plus Free Shipping

Which would get the most hits and which would get the most bids? Which would have customers complaining about gouging on shipping?

Now, normally when I use Free Shipping, I will do Free Shipping for Canada and $0.00 for USA then charge International at the going rate less the cost of shipping domestically because that is already being charged.

[mr.elmwood]

Femme, again with my argument that folks come here complaining and pointing fingers only to end up with "oh".

Free shipping means, sigh, you do not charge an extra amount on top of the advertised price. Free shipping means, you include all S&H in the price.

"oh"

[richardsamuel69]

As stated earlier perhaps "eBay is not for you" everyone thinks it is simple, just like eBay wants you to think. I'll just do my spring cleaning and sell all of my old stuff on eBay and have a pocket full of cash and be done.

There are lots of things to learn and everything you have been told so far in this post is good advice. Do with it as you wish but after your last comment I have the feeling that you aren't picking up what members are graciously putting down for you.