Listing Views

[theafkgamer]

Hey all,

I took a little break from selling a little while ago, and had deleted everything off my profile. Now that I have everything back up, it seems like my sales have been down 2000%. I'm checking my listings, and they seem to be getting next to no views. Could a few of you guys look through them and perhaps give me some tips? Or let me know what I am doing wrong? And for some of the listings with much higher views, it is because I am using GTC listings and have been around for time. Should I not be using GTC?

Also, are there any ebay alternatives that you guys know of besides Amazon? I think I need to find a backup to ebay.. I have stock just piling up here.

Also, Merry Christmas!! 😄

[pocomocomputing]

How long was your account dormant without listings?

If you are selling the same product and let the GTC listing end after a successful sales history, then you lost their higher visibility in search that the sales gave them.

Both factors above will make you start all over again in being higher in Best match search visibility. However, if the products sold in the past, you should be able to ramp up again.

[pocomocomputing]

The following additional comments are meant as constructive criticism. No offense intended.

While I was looking at your listings, the description is a mess, too many font styles, too many colors in the fonts, too many different sizes, too large a font overall. As well, there are conflicting font size and line widths causing lines to run over each other. It makes it hard to read quickly. The Canada flag is pointless as it has nothing to do with the listing description of the item being sold. It is distracting being first and may turn off American buyers.

A listing should be easy and quick to read with subtle changes in style to emphasize key points and draw the eye to that area. Your listing has distraction overload in it. None of the changes in style emphasize anything. It is like a kid in grade one discovering colored crayons for the first time and capital letters. Because the capability exists, it does not mean to go crazy using so many styles and changes in the text in the description.

You have a problem with your pictures in some listings. Your main picture shows two hats with a front and back look. Drop this. Someday a buyer will expect two hats are being sold in the listing because the picture showed two hats.  You may get a negative one day or low DSRs because of this. Since you have more than one eBay picture, make your main picture the front view and the additional pictures other views.

A general rule of thumb is to show only the item your are selling in the picture in your listing. Buyers may not read the description and buy only on the picture. If you have to have something else in the picture and it might be considered part of the item being sold, put a disclaimer in the listing. Sellers have been know to use a coin for sizing purposes in a photo or a ruler and had to put a disclaimer in the description because the buyer thinks they are included in the listings.

[i*m-stilll-here]

Switch to 30 day cycles and you'll get a lot more views.

IMO GTCed is the kiss of death.

[pocomocomputing]

Here is your listing with simple HTML formatting and a common font. HTML code is optimized.

http://PracticeWriter.com/?770B1

It is designed to be read quickly. It is quite sterile without color in the font. I saw no reason to use color to emphasize anything. The larger font and the bold and underline all draw attention to key areas in the listings with varying degrees of attention to the styling used.

I specified the font style to be Arial and Helvetica because these are the most common fonts for Windows and mac computers. I did not specify any font size leaving it to the viewers default browser size. With display screens ranging form smartphones to 20 inch computer display today, it is pointless to choose a size since it will be too big or too small for someone.

There is no point in having a photo of the item in the listing nor the Canadian flag.

I also modified the content in the shipping section regarding customs. You have a few negative words in there and imply that some potential buyers want you to lie. Avoid this negative feeling with the generic text that eBay provides. Please note that eBay no longer recommends that this text be included in the listings. Sellers still use it.

I added a Payment section. If you are going to offer combined shipping, you should give a time limit to pay. I used a generic 3 days. Choose what you need. Probably 4 days is enough. You might want to add a line saying to please contact you if they do not pay immediately if they are still shopping.

In the shipping section, you give delivery times.  I think it is pointless to give the type of service that you use from Canada Post as it is meaningless to most buyers. Just give the country and the estimated delivery time. You might want to switch to weeks instead since most buyers do not know what a business day is. Dumb it down to 1 to 2 weeks for Canada and 2 to 3 weeks  for the USA and 2 to 4 weeks for International.

Your current listing description is not a good description format in my opinion.

My thoughts and opinions. Take it as an exercise in listing design and modify to your needs if it the information is helpful to you.

[theafkgamer]

Thank you very much poco. I always thought that having a bright description would make it look good. But I can see your point. I will make changes to it later on today. In regards to the big picture I have in the middle of my listing, should I keep that? Or should I get rid of it?

And to i'm-still-here, is that just opinion? Or is it actually proven that GTC is no good?

Thanks to all that read!

[i*m-stilll-here]

I don't think there's any "proof" that GTCed isn't the best way to sell on ebay.

It's certainly the easiest and so for your items it might not be worth the extra effort of ending and restarting your listings.

For rare items clearly most sales occur just after listing and just before the item ends.

However, this may not be true for your items.

For rare items shorter cycles are best.

It's common sense because people search for newly listed when the item is BIN and ending soonest when the items is auction style.

That, and items which are listed GTCed are less likely to show in ebay's best match search.

For your stuff maybe it's worth a try if you have the time.

P.S,  I like your listings.   You've nailed those gallery photos right on with showing both views of your hats.  Your items are new and so descriptions are not that important and sales are probably made before anyone scrolls down past the initial photos.

You have a lot of competition and maybe people don't buy hats like that when it's cold outside .........???? 

[pierrelebel]

"Or is it actually proven that GTC is no good?"

It is a question of opinion and personal experiences.

I have had a eBay store for 13 years (closed it last November) using primarily GTC.  Sold millions (yes millions) of dollars worth of stamps (some scarce and rare) on eBay since 1998.

At the end of the day, there is no one method that is best for any one category.  You need to experiment and see what works for you.

Looking at one of your listings (281040784707) I find way too any words using different and very confusing types and sizes. I prefer something simple with fewer rules and policies (for example take a look at an old listing: 390447135110). I am a strong believer of the KISS system.

Good Luck.

[i*m-stilll-here]

I think the bottom line is if your sales are down and you've changed nothing else, then it probably has something to do with your item being a seasonal item.

You can tweak your listings here and there.  It probably wont hurt ............. but it's just too cold outside right now for your hats.

[theafkgamer]

Thanks i'm-still-here, I feel like in the case of hats, more pictures are better. I know that, personally, I love to see every single possible logo on a hat before I purchase one, so extra pictures would always be necessary.

Thanks Pierre. I'll give your advice a try later tonight.

[theafkgamer]

@i'm-still-here

I hope that's the issue! I wear snapbacks and fitted caps all year round, but maybe that's just me! LOL

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

You are selling hats. Use the word "HAT" in the title. Use the word "CAP". You are selling to bangers. You are also selling to their mom's, GF's, posse, etc. You are not making it easy for the uninitiated to find yer stuff.

You are writing your titles as sentences. No-one searches using "brand new and /!, etc.(new).

[i*m-stilll-here]

You are selling hats. Use the word "HAT" in the title. Use the word "CAP". You are selling to bangers. You are also selling to their mom's, GF's, posse, etc. You are not making it easy for the uninitiated to find yer stuff.

You are writing your titles as sentences. No-one searches using "brand new and /!, etc.(new).

I can't believe I missed that.  

Right On!  Use the word hat or cap in your title.

Also........ I'm not sure who all buys these hats....... (bangers or whatever), but in my mind they sell to guys who are balding and want to hide it with a hat........ :).

No?

I never see anyone out with them on in the winter, but I seem to recall you said you're a student so maybe that's a whole different market and story.

[pocomocomputing]

One thing I saw in your listings is that you are using a Flat rate of $12 for shipping within Canada.

You are in the Toronto area and have 6 million population (1/5 of Canada) in the Toronto region and 12 million (1/3 of Canada) in the Southern Ontario area. Add in Montreal area for another 5 million. So half of Canada is close to you.

You have a high cost of shipping showing for these buyers. 

You should consider using calculated shipping for Canada in your listings. Then use the global calculated shipping discount in My eBay Site Preferences set to 20% discount to reflect the saving you get for using PayPal shipping. Your listings will show a shipping cost of $8 or less for the Toronto region and less than $10 for southern Ontario all the way to Montreal. Buyers farther away in BC or the Marintimes will pay more than $10 but they are a small market.

How heavy is the hat (cap)?  The USA shipping cost at SP Air $15 seems high to attract sales. Is a cap packaged more than 500 grams? If you can get the weight down to 500 grams, then it costs is $10.10.

Buyers hate shipping costs. Try to minimize them in the lsitng.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Actually I*m, those hats, caps, baseball hats, are for bangers and posers. The beer belly crowd doesn't wear these.

I would use flat rate shipping for all of Canada set around $10 or less. Use Paypal shipping and plus or minus a buck every time.

[i*m-stilll-here]

Actually I*m, those hats, caps, baseball hats, are for bangers and posers. The beer belly crowd doesn't wear these.

Well, now I'm lost, and curious.

Is this something different?  They all look the same to me.

390102840271

[i*m-stilll-here]

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

I said "poser" not "hoser".

Papa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theafkgamer]

Selling to bangers? Haha! You guys are hilarious c:

I think I may need to do a complete overhaul on the listings then.. And I think I should change from flat cost shipping.. Lot of work to do!

[lucitabby]

Your listings are OK but you need to lose that Canada flag/info and have hat and/or cap in your title for people who are searching for a hat to find you.   I would also think that the hats could be flat and sent as Lettermail in Canada and Light Packet to the States.  Big savings on postage.