Thank you for listening. My advice is maybe more "tough love" & honest but it is up to date.
You're on the right track but like it or not this IS a business and getting more so every day. Ebay isn't Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist at least, not anymore. The category you have chosen is popular and most of your competitors know exactly what they are doing.
Shipping Costs:
Part of being a Seller in Canada is figuring out how to deal with your competition. In your narrowly defined category your competition is in the USA. I get that. So is mine. I would suggest first you find out the cost of shipping a card from Los Angeles to Orlando via USPS. That is your target. Next to compete you may need to sell your cards in lots of 2 or more. It costs about $14 to ship up to 250 grams from the Canadian west coast to Florida insured and tracked. You can't compete selling one $10 card. Either sell the cheaper ones off in lots or throw in a fog machine.
Let's say for fun you had a brick & mortar store next to 5 other Pokeman card dealers. Shipping isn't the problem. You have other problems like variety, selection, pricing and customer service. Ebay is no different. For example your only other competitor with the French version of your card clearly defines the condition in the section called "Condition". The reason they do that is because they know shoppers buy Pokeman on their cell phone, not their desktop. On the other hand, in your listing, under "Condition" you said “Overall lightly played, look at photos and description for condition”. Unfortunately Buyers often skip the "Description" where you define the condition. By not taking advantage of the Condition box you have eliminated most of your potential buyers. In 2021 the C Box IS the description. You should cut and paste it into the description just in case someone looks there.
The main reason I think that you need to diversify is so that you can sell something easy and less risky than a $114 item. You need to go through the shipping process and deal with lower level customer service. Mostly you need to feel how great it is to sell something! That is what keeps us going. I had a music retail center for 22 years and I still have the $2 bill from my first sale of guitar picks. Not a Yamaha $3000 DX7 ...guitar picks. Your first sale is your most important. When I opened that store in 1984 the only person who came in the door for two weeks was the mailman... with bills.
Surely you have other things you can list in a category much less cut throat than Pokeman. Most of the active sellers now are busy listing Back To School and Halloween items. You have no idea how easy it is to sell a fog machine.
You're right about fixing your zero feedback. There are so many counterfeit cards out there you need to get sales and build that trust rating before putting out your big items. I recommend you pull the French card until you gain some knowledge. It might not have occured to you but you can also build your feedback score by buying stuff from Ebay sellers to build that feedback. You can buy a guitar pick shipped all the way from Japan for $1.00 free shipping. You will get a positive feedback score of 1. You get the point...
I'm glad you agree on the name change. Many of my customers are sweet elderly Grannies buying gifts for their loved ones. POISONXX in a name will surely scare all the gifting Grannies away. Get a name that also allows for other categories.
Recap:
- Sell something.
- Learn how to ship.
- Stand in line at the post office.
- Be nice to your Buyer.
- Spend the money.
- Repeat
Keep it simple, safe, low risk.
ITWM
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