Boosting Sales

[horsinarounddiscounttack]

Anyone out there who can give me some tips on boosting sales - I try to have some auction style listings up all the time, but this starts adding up to big money between the listing fees and not making enough profit (if any) on the item. I have added hundreds of items to my store which has helped some, but still not enough. If I lower my prices I lower my profit and don't seem to increase my sales.

HELP!!

[pjcdn2005]

Some of your shipping prices may be a deterrent , especially to the U.S. It looks like there are items that would be under 1 kg that you could ship to the US using small packet air or ground for less than what you are charging with expedited.You wouldn't have delivery confirmation but items would still be insured up to $100.

Also, for items that you ship out of North America, I would suggest that you give a shipping price. A lot of people can't be bothered to ask so it might help increase your out of country sales.

[westernstargifts]

Hi there,

Your listings and store look great to me.

One thing you can do is make the most of your titles. Use every space and fill it with pertinent information. Leave out words and symbols, when possible, like and, with & hyphens. It is better to use descriptive words that buyers might use to search for your product and it doesn't have to read like a sentence. You can also replace them with the ampersand for and, and w for with.

Listing auctions does cost money but consider it an advertising expense. List as many as you can afford and space them out. If you can't list too many, then list them at the time of day when you get the most views. Space out your fixed price listings over the month so there is always something ending each day.

Have you thoroughly researched your competition and the completed listing to determine if your prices are competitive? You don't have to be the lowest but try to price them somewhere in between. If there is a lot of competition and lower prices try adding something to give it added value....It could be information, a free gift or superior communication and service.

Hope this helps. And welcome to the board. I don't recall seeing you post here before.

Judy
westernstargifts

[pjcdn2005]

Listing auctions does cost money but consider it an advertising expense.

Hi Judy, Auctions don't seem to do anything for me ever since they put stores in core. I do use them once in a while on higher priced items because the fvf is less expensive. So I'm curious if you find that your auction items are actually selling more than fp or do you think that they just get your name out there more?

[dipmicro]

Listing auctions does cost money but consider it an advertising expense.

Hi Judy, Auctions don't seem to do anything for me ever since they put stores in core. I do use them once in a while on higher priced items because the fvf is less expensive. So I'm curious if you find that your auction items are actually selling more than fp or do you think that they just get your name out there more?

Auctions bring more traffic. The most traffic they bring when they are ending.

This does not relate to bidding as such but the way they receive visibility - auctions are basicaly displayed "Ending First" even when you select Best Match - so they will be on the first page during certain time range. The FP item may never get on the first page.

[westernstargifts]

Listing auctions does cost money but consider it an advertising expense.

Hi Judy, Auctions don't seem to do anything for me ever since they put stores in core. I do use them once in a while on higher priced items because the fvf is less expensive. So I'm curious if you find that your auction items are actually selling more than fp or do you think that they just get your name out there more?

"Auctions bring more traffic. The most traffic they bring when they are ending.

This does not relate to bidding as such but the way they receive visibility - auctions are basicaly displayed "Ending First" even when you select Best Match - so they will be on the first page during certain time range. The FP item may never get on the first page."

Exactly. I don't always list a ton of auctions. Sometimes sales are just plain slow no matter what you do. Many of the auction items go unsold but they show up on the first pages and you do get more visibility that way. It gets traffic to your store. When I shop I don't go through pages and pages of search results. If I see something I like I tend to look through the seller's store to see what else they have for sale. If I like what I see I will spend more time there.

And you always get the people who don't want to wait for the auction to end. They will check out your store for your BIN listings. Even when I list auctions at low start prices I still get buyers who pay a few dollars more for the BIN option. Those are sales that I might not get if I don't list some auctions to be seen.

[zarzuella]

You do need to make better use of your titles - keep it simple and include the obvious.
For example, if I am looking for a 'sheepskin saddle pad' your item

Engel 100% Merino Sheepskin Half Pad w/Pommel Roll

does not come up in basic search, but a competitor's does:

ENGEL SHEEPSKIN HALF PAD SADDLE PAD MEDIUM #3315M
And, unfortunately, it is cheaper.

[dipmicro]

And you always get the people who don't want to wait for the auction to end. They will check out your store for your BIN listings. Even when I list auctions at low start prices I still get buyers who pay a few dollars more for the BIN option. Those are sales that I might not get if I don't list some auctions to be seen.

In saturated market the low starting price + higher BIN seems to work somewhat. Most of the niches on eBay seem to be saturated.

I see sellers listing 20 auctions within minute from each other, it's a waste of listing fees, list them at different times, slightly change the title, similar category and possibly the gallery image as well. If you are selling same items over and over I recommend Selling Manager Pro and setup automation rules.

The auction is most visible when ending. My observation is that 50 auctions evenly ending within 24hrs catch about same amount of unique visitors as 5,000-10,000 30-day FP listings evenly spread within month. It may just work out to be the same cost. FP are visible exactly opposite than auctions - they are highest when new and they slowly sink (if unsold). Popular FP listing will sit at the top all the time.

Less-popular GTC listings remember their Best Match rank when relisted. If you have item that sells less than once per month, you may get better visibility on it by creating brand new listings instead of GTC. Sale or editing seems to temporarily reset the Best Match rank as well.

Someone told me that listings with low quantity are more likely to sell. There is a guy making living with software utility that maintains your published stock levels low despite the real levels. I did not try this myself, but it makes sense.

I use mainly 3-day auctions since they mostly work when ending I want them turn faster. I did not have much luck with 1-day auctions, even though they turn fast, it takes approx 12hrs for new listings to get indexed, so you get only 12hrs of visibility as opposed to 2.5 days with 3-day auction. Many casual users come to eBay only once per day.

I did an experiment two months ago and listed 10,000 FP listings randomly spread in time (one listing every approx 4min) and terminated my 50/day auctions. This provided about the same visibility according to Omniture. If you look at it, the LF cost is about the same (10,000 FP = $500/m, 50 auctions/d = approx $500/m). Disadvantage of FP is that you need to carry many SKUs (I have approx 2000 SKUs, so I had 4-6 listings per SKU to achieve 10,000 FPs), however with auctions you can circulate 200 items for similar amount of sales. The eBay invoice with 10,000 $0.05 lines on it is scary.

[axe_n_gear_music]

For those looking to boost sales through to X-mas, check out this announcement:

"From September 28 through January 7, list Auction-style free at any starting price, including high-ticket items. You can list up to 100 items for free every month in nearly any category, and pay only if your item sells. This offer applies to all sellers except those with current eBay Store Subscriptions on eBay.ca or eBa.com."

Love that last line....In trying to woo new sellers, eBay totally leaves their bread & butter money makers with store subscriptions, left out in the cold to pay their higher fees for auction style listings. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! X-(

Way to go FeeBay!

AXE