eBay

musicyouneed · ‎08-06-2016

I sell CD's and I have thousands. I have been selling for a few years now and have decided to switch to .com as the Canadian $ doesn't work for me. I can't rely on free listings all the time especially with so much inventory. It was great when I was selling in USD and I was selling 50-100 every month but now the only US buyers I get are for the listings on .com.

So this is what I was planning. I have about 400 CD's either listed on .com or ready to go as drafts.

I thought that I would sign up for a basic store on a month to month basis which will give me 200 free listings on .com. After I get those listed, I will slowly convert the ones I have on .ca and put them in drafts on .com. I have about 900 listed on .ca and it will take be about 90 hours to do that. In mid September I upgrade to the next level which gives me 1000 free listings and 10 cents for each new listing. Again I will do that on a month to month basis and see how it goes.

Any advice, warnings, etc.

Do you put them as GTC? or do you do them relist twice? I thought that I might use the relist twice as when it ends I can review the price or twik the listing.

rose-dee · ‎08-08-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
"I'm not familiar with any discussions or 'urban legends' retated to gtc vs sell similar having anything to do with how well search does in googIe. If a listing has a new URLs every month it is less likely to get indexed by Google so it makes sense that long running listings are more likely to show up on google.

I'm not convinced that keeping a single listing running for a year or two that has never had a sale is going to achieve the best visibility in eBay's best match search. I know that some posters have mentioned that they have sold items that have been listed as a gtc listing for 1+ years but there is the possibility that they would have sold the item earlier had that listing been taken down, revised and then relisted a few months after it started."

Google was just one topic the eBay seminar leader touched on when speaking about exposure outside eBay specifically. However his presentation dealt with how to get better overall listing exposure (and better sales), both on eBay and across the web. All I can tell you is that his message was absolutely, categorically, that GTCs are better. And he repeated it strongly when some sellers in the room questioned that statement. I was as surprised as the rest of them.

"I think too that many people search using newly listed so a 2 year old listing is going to be near the bottom.

Unless the eBay rep said that more transactions result in a sale if an item was found using Google vs a listing found using eBay's Cassini search than I don't think that a gtc listing is better in all or even most cases. Imo it is best used fot multiple item listings that are going to have regular or at least occasional sales so that it stays higher in Cassini search."

Well, that may be your view of it, and as I said, eBay "urban legend" has maintained that refreshed listings are better, but that's the opposite of what eBay was saying. In fact, the eBay speaker was adamant that GTC was better for sales, and not just for multiple items. Google was only one issue of several that were discussed vis-à-vis listing strategies in general.

The fact that so many sellers in the room seemed surprised at this, and the fact that he repeated it 3 or 4 times in absolute terms, tells me eBay must have done some research on this point. I can only state here what was the clear and unequivocal message of that seminar - use GTC. (Go figure!)

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-08-2016

I'm more surprised that you are not demanding to see this research and just taking it as a fact. In the past you've been quite vocal about not believing eBay because they didn't show you exactly what they were basing their conclusions on or because you didn't agree with their conclusions.

I guess we all pick and choose what to believe.

ricarmic · ‎08-08-2016

Personally I only use stats etc they present as things to consider.

I always go by what I experience.

Their general statistics don't likely reflect my wee niche in my wee category.

Pierre and me and Femme, are all stamp people, however how and what we sell varies greatly (to someone who knows stamps).

So what works for Pierre might not work for me and vice versa.

My own experience with GTC listings has been good. I leave them up "forever" - having items sell that are 6 to 8 years old happens surprisingly often.

When I've done searches, sometimes very surprisingly very old stuff comes up much higher than my much more popular stuff that sells much faster but has not been listed very long.

I have noticed that the old stuff tends to have lots of views (ie 1000s) so that must do something to boost it cassini wise.

Anyway my 2 cents is that for me GTC is the best way to go!

Something else I haven't seen mentioned (or I missed) that I really like about stores is VACATION mode.... which I am on now. With aged parents, one never knows when I'll be taken out of commission with little notice so being able to hide my listings on a moments notice is very helpful. My wife would prefer me to use it to go on more vacations but selling stamps isn't a good way to become independantly wealthy...

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-09-2016

I agree that different things work for different sellers and on eBay it's impossible to imagine one way of doing things working the best way for everyone. I was thinking of you actually when i said earlier that some sellers have mentioned selling an item after it had been listed for 2+ years. I do still think there is a possibility that those items would have sold earlier had they been tweaked and relisted but.........maybe not.

I would love to use that vacation mode more often too!

rose-dee · ‎08-09-2016

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I'm more surprised that you are not demanding to see this research and just taking it as a fact. In the past you've been quite vocal about not believing eBay because they didn't show you exactly what they were basing their conclusions on or because you didn't agree with their conclusions.
I guess we all pick and choose what to believe.

Don't shoot the messenger, 'pj' ! I'm just passing along what I heard, which I thought might be of interest to others. I didn't say I subscribe to it wholeheartedly myself, just that I was surprised to hear it.

And yes, if I'd had a chance I probably would have asked on what data or studies eBay based this statement. I take most things that come out of eBay with a grain of salt.

I say 'statement' because, unlike most of eBay's pronouncements, in this case it was more than a mere recommendation. It was put in terms of "this is absolutely what you want to do". That would suggest either eBay felt it was on pretty solid ground saying it (whatever the basis), or that it has its own agenda for pushing GTC, for example a reliable, constant fee turnover. Who knows?

Whatever eBay's reasons or rationale, it was clearly not what most of the sellers who attended expected to hear (including me), judging by the remarks and questions afterward. Which is why I'm mentioning it.

pierrelebel · ‎08-09-2016

" It was put in terms of "this is absolutely what you want to do"."

The context is important.

Was eBay referring to GTC fixed price listings for multiple quantities?

rose-dee · ‎08-09-2016

@pierrelebel wrote:

The context is important.
Was eBay referring to GTC fixed price listings for multiple quantities?

No, in fact the eBay rep was challenged on that by one seller. His response was that sellers should use GTC for all fixed price listings.

Maybe I'll ask Mr. E. to follow up next year when he's at the convention. Of course by then, everything will have changed again on eBay, as it usually does, and this may no longer apply anyway.