eBay

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-18-2014

Seriously. I've been selling since 2004 and I understand natural lows and highs in sales. I check my category, magazine clippings, often, and the sell rate is usually somewhere around 20 percent. Now of 72000 llistings 950 sold, in that category. I haven't made a sale in two weeks. This never happens. You can look at the pages of sold items and see a dramatic drop around the begining of January. I know it was Christmas. I've been doing this since 2004. Sales actually kinda go up after Christmas usually. I assumed it was people spending their Chrstmas money. Something is wrong. Is it that shopping cart? Aaargh.

Has anyone else noticed this???

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

That's a great idea!

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

That sounds cool for those ladies. I like an ebay, selling online type of situation. Clippings are never going to replace a full time job, not even with ebay back to normal. Thanks for sharing though. It's interesting to hear what people do.

i*m-still-here · ‎01-21-2014

blue: You've cut out ads from magazines, mounted them nicely, and sold them. I have to hand it to you for being able to do that.

It's something anyone could do and maybe it's just run its course.

I really am impressed that you pulled it off at all.

If you could do that and make money at it, then you have the ability to start up with something new and fresh.

I can't think of any other on-line venue where you could sell something like that.

femmefan1946 · ‎01-21-2014

"IMO the gown should have been valued at 100 times the amount the shirt went for."

It comes down to this...there are a lot more deep pocketed hockey memorabilia collectors than Lucy collectors.

Here's another thing-- collectibles get stale dated.

Lucille Ball died in 1989, 25 years ago. Her last program went off the air in 1986, because it wasn't getting the ratings the network needed.

Wayne Gretzky is still active, but he has not played since 1999. Fifteen years ago.

We saw this in our shop when the Elvis stamp came out. The fans who bought them were overwhelmingly in their 50s and 60s. Many of the men had ducktail haircuts. But a month later, we were using the stamps as postage.

Same with Diana. Interest went on fairly strongly for about six months then dropped dead.

Collectors also age out. After 60 or so, many collectors stop buying. (Not stamps fortunately! That's the exception, with active collectors being 45-80 years old.)

So if your product attracts a lot of 55 year olds (or Boomers generally) find a new product soon.

i*m-still-here · ‎01-21-2014

Marilyn Monroe!

rose-dee · ‎01-21-2014

@bluedaisyclippings wrote:

Right now I'm going to list as much as I can and have blind faith that ebay doesn't want me to go out of business any more than I do and so everything will eventually work out 🙂

I'd say that's the best thing to do. Don't despair too quickly. Give it time, and meanwhile list as much as you can.

I was near depression in late November and all through December with the dismal activity. Suddenly after New Year's it seemed the buyers returned, and so far I've had the best month in the last 6.

Personally I think there will always be a pool of buyers for what you're selling (even if it's smaller than it used to be) but you may find you have to source different types of material that will appeal to different age groups.

Generally speaking though, I feel the heyday of eBay "boutique" sellers is past, and those of us who are left standing need to be so much more proactive, resourceful, observant and versatile than we used to be.

There was a time when I could list an antique replica garment and have it sold in a few days, almost every time. Now they still sell, but it takes longer, and I have to be willing to make adjustments and compromises (lower shipping, store sales, Best Offer, etc.). It's just the way things have evolved here, and I honestly doubt there is a better venue anywhere else.

Like you, I abhor the idea of having to "start all over again" with the technology and quirks of a different site, and I feel I've invested so many years here that it would be crazy to throw that away now. My own response has been to try and find ways of changing and branching out within the eBay structure. For example, in the past year I've added categories of items to appeal to younger buyers, and to men, and this year I'll be adding a couple of new categories to my store that I'm hoping will appeal to an entirely different set of buyers from those I usually get.

I'd say this: use the experience you've gained here to see where you can innovate or re-tool to appeal to new or different buyer groups in order to stay viable as a seller (maybe get into world news clippings to appeal to history junkies or sports magazine clippings to attract the guys?).

I admire you for having crafted a business out of something as simple as magazine clippings -- that takes chutzpah and creativity! Best of luck, and keep looking ahead.

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-21-2014

This is just a wild guess but since we are not supposed to put borders on our pictures anymore, I wonder if they consider your black background as a border and so have flagged your listings??

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

If I understand this, it's not that mine won't come up in a search. The problem is that my item can't be added to a shopping cart. I'm assuming my buyers are just moving on to other sellers thinking they can't buy from me. I can count my Canadian buyers on one hand, in the ten years I've been doing this. So if they are the only ones who can buy from me, I'm not surprised to have zero sales.I have NEVER gone this long without a sale, while having this many listings. I can't stress enough that I understand the difference between regular sales fluctuations and when something is wrong.

Anyway. I guess I'll have to suck it up or quit ebay.

rose-dee · ‎01-21-2014

@bluedaisyclippings wrote:
The problem is that my item can't be added to a shopping cart. I'm assuming my buyers are just moving on to other sellers thinking they can't buy from me. I can count my Canadian buyers on one hand, in the ten years I've been doing this. So if they are the only ones who can buy from me, I'm not surprised to have zero sales.

I know there have been a lot of sellers talking about this problem (see the last Wed. board discussion). EBay's response has been useless, in my view. It seemed to me they aren't planning to make any changes to the existing situation, but just relying on introducing the cart to .ca to resolve the problem -- but when?

In the meantime, would it be any help to put some sort of announcement/banner across the top of all your listings (or at least on the main store pages) to let US buyers know that there is a technical problem with eBay that may interfere with multiple purchases, and asking them to contact you directly if they want to make multiple purchases?

I don't know if I've mentioned it previously, but Pierre Lebel (a knowledgeable seller who is always on these boards, as you probably know), seemed to think that having a US customer log onto eBay.ca and purchase from there would permit multiples. That soundsas if it would work. If that's the case, you could add a note to this effect in your announcement.

All of that still wouldn't explain why you haven't had any individual sales from US buyers -- or have you? If so, and if you've had individual and multiple sales to Canadian buyers, then you can pretty much assume the problem is the one-item cart. And that's rough if a lot of your sales are multiples. I'd try putting up the announcement and see if that makes a difference.

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

I assume I would be told if a listing of mine was flagged for breaking a rule? All magazine clippings will appear to have a border simply because of their shape. The same could be said for stamps. It's just that the pages have to sit on a table to be photographed. I supposed I could crop in a less symetrical way so they don't look so much like borders. I don't know. Now I'm worried about this!

I'm going to say this again because I keep reading posts here that insinuate I'm just oblivious to sales ebbing and flowing. My sales didn't peter out, they stopped cold. I have been selling these for ten years and still watch others doing the same. I'm a bit frustrated that this part is being misunderstood. I've come to the forums only a few times. The last time I came it was the same sort of thing. Something strange had happened to my sales. I called ebay. They had no idea what I was talking about so I came here. It was when the search stuff changed. Something about google, phones, ebay and good til cancelled listings. Some of you will know what I'm talking about. Well, sure enough I switched my listings from GTC to 30 day auctions and my sales came back.

So here I am again at the forums with a weird sales stoppage. And sure enough, I read about this shopping cart issue. Clearly, it is the problem. Only this time, I can't just go and apply the recommended fix. This time I'm just screwed, waiting for ebay to give me the ability to be put in somebodies shopping cart. I don't care if Canadians have them or not. My buyers are in the USA and International.

I've been thinking that maybe the answer is in having auctions. Because everyone is allowed to bid. Whereas with the shopping carts, I'm thinking people think they MUST put stuff in the shopping cart before buying. I've read that USA and International buyers can buy from us but only one item at a time and they must pay right away. If I was on a site and could not add my one and only item to the shopping cart, I would assume I was not allowed to buy it. On most sites the only way to buy is by first adding the item to your cart. I'm not sure how easy it is for shoppers to see that mine can be purchased.

Does that make any sense to anyone?

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

I was thinking about putting something in my listing titles or on my store. The wording would have to be very diplomatic with no mention of gliches. I don't want to bite that hand that is currently withholding food from me, haha.

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

I've written it here elsewhere but forgot to say to you that I have had zero sales to anyone anywhere for 15 days.

rose-dee · ‎01-21-2014

@bluedaisyclippings wrote:

I've been thinking that maybe the answer is in having auctions. Because everyone is allowed to bid. Whereas with the shopping carts, I'm thinking people think they MUST put stuff in the shopping cart before buying. I've read that USA and International buyers can buy from us but only one item at a time and they must pay right away. If I was on a site and could not add my one and only item to the shopping cart, I would assume I was not allowed to buy it. On most sites the only way to buy is by first adding the item to your cart. I'm not sure how easy it is for shoppers to see that mine can be purchased.

Does that make any sense to anyone?

It does make sense, and I completely understand your situation. I doubt it's the background frames. (Ask Pierre Lebel directly about that -- send him a private email -- since I seem to recall he dealt with that question some time ago when the new photo restrictions were announced. He had the same concern in photographing stamps on a black background that appeared to create a "frame").

As a buyer, I've had exactly the problem you describe in trying to purchase from a US seller -- I wanted to buy 3 items, but after purchasing the first, and having it go to the cart, the only option was "Pay Now". In other words, you get trapped at that screen, and either process payment through to Paypal, or -- what? I've seen other buyers reporting this issue.

In my case, perhaps because I've been around eBay for a while and am a seller, I decided to use the "back" button to retrace my steps and purchase the next item. At the end, I went to my "Purchase History" page and paid for the items individually, with the shipping shown, and emailed the seller to refund excess shipping, which she did. All very awkward, and probably not very intuitive for most buyers -- but it did work.

I think that if eBay won't take the bull by the horns on behalf of sellers and either address this issue, or at the very least put up an announcement for all buyers to see, the only choice is for sellers themselves to post a notice on their listings (or on store pages). There should be more push on this from sellers at the weekly discussions -- it could ruin many.

rose-dee · ‎01-21-2014

@bluedaisyclippings wrote:
I've written it here elsewhere but forgot to say to you that I have had zero sales to anyone anywhere for 15 days.

Do you usually have many buyers from the US in a normal month who purchase just one item at a time?

If you do have a regular, fairly predictable number of one-off sales to the US, that might indicate it's not the multiple-item cart problem but something else, something even more bizarre.

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

Most of my sales are one at a time.

I'm not sure I understand this. I've read that even single items from Canada can't be put into a shopping cart. When I shop, I browse the store, adding items I want to the shopping cart. When I've seen everything, I go to the cart and get rid of what I won't be buying. This is the type of shopper that I can no longer sell to. Also the person who likes to browse now but pay later. I have time to browse on breaks at work and on the bus, etc but I only pay from home.

So, the multiple item part is not good for anyone but is not likely my problem.

As long as auctions are on sale that is what I'm going to try. Mass auctions.

I'm starting to wonder if ebay canada and ebay usa are rivals or allies.

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-21-2014

I think I've found my problem! I was reading somewhere on these boards where (you?) explained the free listings are on both dot ca and dot com. Well, the free ones I've used only show up on the dot ca counter. I have used zero free dot com auctions. This didn't stop me from selling before but do you think this could be my problem now? I have never been sure whether to select the Canadian or US site when creating listings (on Inkfrog). I did recently make a new template where I selected dot ca as the site I list on. Do you think I should switch this to dot com? This part confuses me.

Your advice comes highly recommended. I imagine you get a lot of questions. I would really appreciate your help and can't thank you enough.

brandeentertainment · ‎01-21-2014

I must say the tide have to be changing as all my time on these threads and BB has always been the optomistic one on the boards about sales and making changes etc...

Are we all doomed :):):):):):):)

gifts_of_elegance · ‎01-21-2014

It doesn't matter what you sell, as long as you have product knowledge. I sold cross-stitch magazines for 3 years and did exceptionally well. It was fun too. Those were the good old days! (2002-2004). Right Pierre?

rose-dee · ‎01-21-2014

@bluedaisyclippings wrote:
I think I've found my problem! I was reading somewhere on these boards where (you?) explained the free listings are on both dot ca and dot com. Well, the free ones I've used only show up on the dot ca counter. I have used zero free dot com auctions. This didn't stop me from selling before but do you think this could be my problem now? I have never been sure whether to select the Canadian or US site when creating listings (on Inkfrog). I did recently make a new template where I selected dot ca as the site I list on. Do you think I should switch this to dot com? This part confuses me.

Your advice comes highly recommended. I imagine you get a lot of questions. I would really appreciate your help and can't thank you enough.

While waiting for Pierre to pop up, I would say off the top of my head that it shouldn't make any difference if you specifically list on EBay.com as a Canadian seller. I believe it's where you are registered as a seller that defines what features and policies will apply.

Pierre will I'm sure be able to confirm or refute this -- once he arrives.

i*m-still-here · ‎01-21-2014

blue.......... I posted this above, but I'm going to say it again because so many sellers have been complaining that their items are not selling and they are blaming the search (Cassini?).

I like to keep things simple.

List a desirable item for 99 cents with Free Shipping.

If it sells quickly, then the problem isn't the search.

If it sits and sits, then that is a good indication that the problem is the search.

It might cost you a few dollars, but that might be money well spent.