Anybody else experiencing slow sales

[the_canadian_thrifter]

Business has been really slow this past month for me. I sell on 2 accounts and so far have only sold a total of 5 items this month. I usually sell around 5 items per week. I sell expensive collectable junk, usually making around $300-$500 a week and now I’m making nothing. I depend on eBay for my income and this is just frustrating. Anyone else experiencing slow sales?

[postit4me]

I find when eBay gives a promotional free listing not just 50 I'm talking hundreds even thousands it floods the market on the search engines and way more sales come. Maybe you remember when eBay would give 5000 free listings and 10 days to list.  I guess that is why sales are so slow.  I am on another site that does not charge for listings and they expire only when an item is sold. That way we can focus on the sales not just constantly listing items. My site is for a disabled adult to earn a few dollars not give it all to postage cost fees that do no seller any benefit.  

What do the sellers think?

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

@reallynicestamps

Size and weight works but handling & insurance varies widely between items.

It would be helpful if there were an area to input individual handling & insurance on items that require specialty care.

[reallynicestamps]

Are you using the Advanced Sell Your Item form or the 'simple-minded' one?

Because you can have up to four custom destinations and under "contact buyer" select from a group of commonly used destinations on the Advanced form.

There is a Rate Table available under Flat Rate, but by using Calculated Shipping, you will be putting the actual weight and dimensions of the packaged item into the form, which then calculates for destination using the dimensions and service you chose.

Sometimes the easy way is really the hard way.

[reallynicestamps]

Handling -- basically packaging, no?-- should be part of the asking price.

Insurance is either part of the service you chose or again part of the asking price.

The best insurance is excellent packaging, enough to withstand the package being dropped two feet and having a 50 lb box drop on top of it, without damaging the contents. Second is tracking that will prove delivery to that country -- not all services track outside of Canada or into some countries. Third is not shipping to countries that have a poor delivery reputation (which is why I don't ship to India or Israel - YMMV) . And then of course there is Cookie Jar Insurance for everything else, which is added to the asking price again.

Sorry to be so general. Since you are using a posting ID, it is hard to be more specific or to know how many listings or shipments we are talking about.

Over all my active accounts I have only about 5000 items, all of which fit into one or another size of poly envelopes. This skews my view of shipping, of course.

[momcqueen]

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@tryubik-useonlyasdirected wrote: .... It would be helpful if there were an area to input individual handling & insurance on items that require specialty care.

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There is. It's the Handling Fee field. You need all options enabled on the advanced listing form to see it. Also, we have almost no idea how to help you if we don't know who you are and what you actually sell. 

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

You are very helpful, I've probably learned more little tricks in my bit on this forum than in conversations with customer support over 12 years (not that they haven't been helpful as well).

I will keep my eyes open for an advanced postage field. It would be nice to show postage, signature & insurance (ie. $21.36, $2.60, $38.10). All our rates are set by either the USPS, CP, or FedEx.

Though if it is called "handling" we don't want to give the wrong impression as we typically don't charge handling unless its due to a specialty request. And these are rare.

Every so often someone will send us a message trying to argue postage is free. We politely write them back showing them our actual costs of materials, postage, insurance, signature, driving through customs, customs fees, mileage, other fees, and then show them the amount we actually state as shipping. It's always cheaper as we factor many costs into our cost of doing business.

Postage isn't our cost of doing business it is the customers choice dependent on a variety of factors and methods.

This email usually results in a sale and a thank-you for the clarification.

We also don't ship to Italy for @reallynicestamps stated reason. Our one sale to India went smooth but I must say we were nervous until it was "signed-off" with a positive feedback from the buyer.

[reallynicestamps]

Are you using the Simple Sell Your Item Form?

If you are not sure, but know how to post a screenshot, someone more tech-minded than me could tell you if you are, and also how to find the Advanced Sell Your Item form, which is what most experienced sellers use.

You may also be having problems if you are using a mobile to list.

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

If listing using eBay it is the advanced version as far as i know (the simple version is a waste of time for my requirements). Typically we use a third party so it doesn't really matter.

All items are individually revised immediately after post to check the Private listing box. Nowhere has a handling been seen and if it's called handling i won't use it so it doesn't matter.

Is there a way to add Private listing in bulk?

[momcqueen]

Buyers don’t see it’s a handling charge but suit yourself.

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

How does it show from the buyers perspective? (Just curious, if it builds into the shipping shown to them then it could help individualize with a shipping table.)

[momcqueen]

A handling fee is added to the backend of the seller's shipping cost. The buyer sees only cost of postage. 

[kawartha-ephemera]

Quote
How does it show from the buyers perspective? (Just curious, if it builds into the shipping shown to them then it could help individualize with a shipping table.) Unquote
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On the ebay listing form (in the shipping section) immediately to the right of the shipping service drop-down list is the handling charge field.

If I were to leave the handling charge field blank no handling charge is added to the carrier's calculation. An example of what a customer might see would be ;
Shipping via Canada Post Expedited - $15.00.

If I were to instead enter 2.50 in the handling charge field 2.50 is added to the carrier's calculation. In this example the same customer would see;
Shipping via Canada Post Expedited - $17.50.

The customer does not see the handling fee as a separate or extra charge.

[kawartha-ephemera]

There are a few other points I probably should have mentioned above.

-the handling fee field only displays when using calculated shipping.

- I see the handling fee field is now located a could lines below the shipping service field.

-There are actually separate handling fee fields for domestic and international customers which is handy. For example one could choose to charge a lower handling fee for domestic than international or vice versa.