eBay

coastwindchimes · ‎02-06-2004

For months (years?) I have doubled up on the categories (since I mostly start my auctions at $1, the fees were not too bad, I thought). But I wonder if it is worth it. I have not seen anything from eBay claiming 30, or 50 % more bids through double categories, so think perhaps their statistics do not support the extra cost. After all, don't most people search through key words? At the same time, this week for the first time I listed mostly in just one category, and do seem to notice a considerable drop in the number of hits on my auctions. So does anyone have any ideas on this?

phoebescollectables · ‎02-06-2004

timo43,

You would be surprised how people get to your auctions. I always had certain preconceived notions of how it happened until I started using sellathon. Sellathon replaces your normal page counter with a counter that will tell you how they got to your auction, if they are watching your auction, if they are a repeat visitor and even the words they used to find your auction (if thats how they found it). The information they provide is fanatastic. Check it out.

Check out Sellathon!

systemagic · ‎02-06-2004

Thanks so much, phoebescollectables, that sounds like a really valuable source of marketing information.

Like so many other Ebay promotions the efficacy of the strategy, in this case doubling your listing categroy, seems to depend on the item and, in this case, the categories chosen. I had a stock of alarm clocks shaped like drum sets, for example, and, despite lots of competition, consistently outsold everyone else. Many sellers had the item listed under clocks, many had them listed under drums, some had them listed under both. I had mine listed in two categories one of which was a more generic "musical instruments" as opposed to "drums". This worked well and no other seller seemed to notice. Some even plagerised my ad copy and/or photo to no avail.
For this reason I'll often check out the category listings of the most successful sellers to see if there's a slighly unusual category that garners extra buyers. Occaisionally this works well.
Ebay currently seems to be downsizing the number of their categories to their more generic forms so perhaps this strategy is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Marty

coastwindchimes · ‎02-08-2004

Thank you, phoebescollectables-- I will be giving Sellathon a try. Nice timing, too, as my Ruby Lane subscribtion is just ending. Ruby Lane gave some interesting statistics, but nothing all that useful when it came right down to it, I found. This looks more interesting-- especially the part about the words people use to find the auction... that could be really good. So thanks again. Tim.

whoscloset · ‎02-15-2004

phoebescollectables

Thanks for the Sellathon tip! It provides great information that has already increased my hits and sales. The new Version 2.0 is amazing!

Monique

Monique