eBay

mamawinner · ‎05-03-2014

My sister and I have beautiful jewelry for sale, all have been GIA appraised, and are listed at very reasonable prices, but we don't seem to be able to get a 'following' of buyers like I have seen with some other sellers. We are selling at about 30% of appraised value, and would be making a modest profit. We have listed these items consistently for about 9 months or so, and have updated, revised listing etc. We have considered starting the bidding at .99 cents, but that is scary to think the item could go at a very low price and we would lose out. Any suggestions? Our listings are under 'blingblingsisters'

i*m-stilll-here · ‎05-05-2014

The OP was about why some sellers can consistently get high bids on their items.

I have noticed this seller for years as someone who stands out as able to do just that and that was the reason for my post.

This seller is clearly stellar by eBay standards.

Rose, for some reason only you know it is very important to you to go through her listings in minute detail and point out that she is in fact the dregs and that I had it all wrong.

Really?

It seems she's not perfect ............... OK .................... but she still seems like a perfectly lovely seller to me.

rose-dee · ‎05-05-2014

@i*m-stilll-here wrote:

This seller is clearly stellar by eBay standards.

Stellar -- by using clever tricks to get around the rules and gain an advantage over other sellers? This is the Bernie Madoff definition of how to be successful.

She does have attractive pictures and concise descriptions, I grant you that. Fortunately for her, most buyers would never know or care if the seller is listing illegally on eBay. However she is just one report away from having all those listings pulled, and perhaps worse.

The OPs were looking for advice as sellers on how to get more attention/bids. If they follow this particular example, they'll be led astray and may ultimately find themselves restricted or removed from the site.

To the OPs: I apologize for the silly diversion of the last few posts. Quite plainly I'm sure you do not want to improve your listings and bidding levels by violating eBay's rules. I agree with the other posters that the hands are a distraction in the photos, and do not enhance the jewellery.

To get perspective, you could find (buy?) one of those little velvet-lined ring boxes -- the kind that engagement rings are presented in -- and photograph each ring in it, with perhaps a common object next to it, such as a fabric flower. You might also be able to locate a hand mannequin, or (as bizarre as it may sound), find an old mannequin and take one of the hands off it. Many big stores sell off their older, out of date mannequins, or you may find one at a clothing store sell-off.

With diamonds and precious jewels, try photographing using 2 or 3 strong light sources, rather than just one. You'll be surprised at how much more depth of colour and sparkle you'll get.

Jewellery is a tough sell in a big category, but the free shipping should help to get you at least more visibility.

lizzier-ca · ‎05-05-2014

I'd like to remind everyone to stay on the original topic of high numbers of bidders for items. Please keep things civil as well.

Thanks!

LizzieR-CA

i*m-stilll-here · ‎05-05-2014

Leslie: I'd like to ask if you'd remove the seller's item number I posted above? Please!

I really do feel that the way her good name was dragged through the mud here is just wrong.

That is a seller I've always had respect for and even though it's unlikely that it will harm her, I'd hate to play a role in that possible outcome.

When I posted her listing number the very last thing I expected was that her good name would get trashed here.

That's just not right.

renfrewite · ‎05-06-2014

@femmefan1946 wrote:

Perhaps people spending $800 on a ring wouldn't be concerned about paying $35 for shipping within Canada but I find that expensive. Also U.S. buyers are used to less expensive shipping costs within their own country so you might want to consider putting part of the shipping cost within the price of the item.

I'm another who agrees about "free" shipping. Some sellers get upset about this because they do not realize that they are supposed to add the cost of shipping to the asking price of the item.
Which is cheapest:
$5 item with $10 shipping?
$10 item with $5 shipping?
$15 item with Free Shipping?
Make shipping free to Canada and you will pay no FVFs on shipping to Canada or to international destinations.
Since the USA is our biggest market, make the cost of shipping there $0.00 . After all the actual shipping cost is in the asking price.

I would love to know how sellers can offer free shipping to Canada and the USA? Unless they are adding the cost of shipping to the USA into the asking price of the item. My heavy items cost double or triple to ship to the USA compared to a Canadian address. So this would not work for me the cost would be too high for Canadian buyers. The only way I could see this work is, offering free shipping to Canadian addresses, add the shipping cost into the asking price of the item, and offer not free shipping to the USA but only add the difference that you added to the price of the item to the USA shipping cost. So the shipping cost would be lower to the USA address than normal, but not free.

rose-dee · ‎05-06-2014

@mamawinner wrote:

My sister and I have beautiful jewelry for sale, all have been GIA appraised, and are listed at very reasonable prices, but we don't seem to be able to get a 'following' of buyers like I have seen with some other sellers.

I wanted to ask how long you've been listing your jewellery items on eBay as that can also be a determining factor. All other things being equal, it does take some time to build up a 'clientele', so to speak.

Most of us who have been selling for some years have regular buyers who come back again and again, but I don't think that happens quickly, and you're in quite a flooded category so you may need to give it a longer period to see results.

In the meantime though, think like professional jewellery sellers and take the best possible photos you can. Check a few competitors in the category to see what those with a regular turnover are doing.

As for the item mentioned earlier (see listing for a currently listed item), there are obviously many similar sellers who try to gain an advantage for themselves in attracting more buyers and bidders by circumventing eBay rules and policies. As you can see in that listing and all others in the seller's store, both the email address and website are displayed prominently. Both are "eBay illegal". It certainly isn't "trashing" to point out someone who is side-stepping rules in order to create an advantage in their favour. You can view the items for sale and draw your own conclusions.

Sadly, this kind of ruse to get around the email/website rules in listings isn't unique. There are many examples of such sellers on eBay, who make it all the harder for those who are following the rules to compete.

If this were a new seller I would assume they were simply ignorant of eBay's policies, but an experienced seller is likely well aware of what they are doing and why. I don't find this sort of selling style laudable, or worthy of respect, as exquisite as the offered items may otherwise be.

Such sellers can certainly be very successful by benefitting from their illegal advantage. But as I mentioned previously, I wouldn't suggest following that lead. As attractive as the listings may be, not only do I feel it is unfair to other sellers who work hard to adhere to policy, but it can, as you are probably aware, lead to serious seller restrictions.

rose-dee · ‎05-06-2014

@renfrewite wrote:
The only way I could see this work is, offering free shipping to Canadian addresses, add the shipping cost into the asking price of the item, and offer not free shipping to the USA but only add the difference that you added to the price of the item to the USA shipping cost. So the shipping cost would be lower to the USA address than normal, but not free.

I'm not quite sure I'm following you, but you might want to consider this: if a majority of your sales are to the US, offer free shipping to Canada and use the FVF savings you'll get that way on all your shipping (as well as the currently lower Cdn$) to "subsidize" your US buyers' shipping.

I'm not really a fan of the idea of loading shipping cost onto the item price. For one thing, as a Cdn seller, I think that may make it harder to compete with US seller pricing (depends on your category of course). Secondly, I'd rather not "trick" my buyers into paying their own shipping via a higher item price, while pretending to offer a lower shipping cost. To me that just doesn't seem completely fair.

I think we Cdn. sellers all struggle with shipping issues, especially if we're selling a variety of items of different shapes, sizes and weights. I tend to offer free shipping "promos", rotating them amongst the different categories of items, but I haven't yet got to the point of being able to offer completely free shipping on everything to everywhere. The added concern now is that without tracking, any opened INR case will become a defect, even if the buyer is just wondering about delivery timing.

My own opinion is that if you can afford to offer a shipping cost of anything under $10 for an item of moderate to high value, you might as well offer free shipping, as it may confer some advantage in search placement (at least according to the eBay powers that be).

gotwhatchuneed · ‎05-09-2014

Increasing your sales volume by selling lower priced items will move all your listings up in the search rankings, so does offering free shipping. Many people shop at the sellers store at the buy it now price after they win a sellers auction.

I think the prices are too high for used jewellery on Ebay, Appraisals have little to do with assessing a fair market value. You can ask whatever price you want it doesn't mean your going to get it. I can buy similar almost identical items brand new for less than half what your asking.