Serious Pep Talk Needed

[cutie.loves.beauty]

Could somebody please fill me in on why my items are selling at a snails pace?

Ive used this site for a long time as a buyer and a little bit as a seller, ive googled and looked at old questions and answers on this board, so i like to think i know how it works, but I must of missed a memo about something??

Just to cover all of the things I currently do or have done.

Revising and improving all my listing titles

Accurately filling in item details

Selling similar in lots

Offering combined postage

Asking market value or slightly below market value of an item

Asking 50% + LESS than the value of an item

Switching up photos or improving photos

Ensuring theres proper description on every listing

Promoting listings

Best offer is on, on specific items because I am even willing to offer (gasp) an even further discount, I just want it sold! Im even willing to entertain lowball offers since ive had some items posted for ever and not even a single offer, let alone a view.

Views on most of my items are quite low, with a few that get a bit of traffic but never find a buyer.

I get the odd inquiry and then the person often just disappears after I respond. I am kind and courteous to all customers, even if I can not help them because I feel good customer service is the basis of a good reputation.

I am always actively working to improve my listings in some form since I am aware the market for cosmetics is very saturated.

The only thing I could say I am guilty of is not having a photo of every angle of every item, however its all new, and if its not got any flaws I dont always find time to take all those pictures, so most listings have one maybe two. I do on occasion use stock photos which I know isnt recommended but it is usually only till I get around to photographing it myself.

I actually find pictures arent the be all end all anyway, and I have had multiple sales of items before I even had a single proper photo up.

I always respond to my customers, am helpful, ship out quickly and maintain a high rating. A couple of snarky buyers left me a neg so im at 96%, but because of that Im on my best behavior going forward and havent had any customer issues in a long while.

I do still buy as well and support other sellers as often as possible because I understand how frustrating it can be to sell good items like I have with slow business.

I always leave positive feedback immediately as both a buyer and seller.

I recently purchased a scale to up my game and I have recently updated all of the weights on all my items, and was surprised to see that I had made some poor estimates before, however most of my items are less than 1 pound so its not even that bad. I want to offer the best possible shipping price to get an edge on other sellers, and believe me when I say Im cutting it pretty tight. Im a "no frills" shipper, just the absolute essentials, ( to be clear, I never compromise an item to make it lighter for shipping) And Ive gotten comfy shipping small packet to the states, and very few issues. Therefore, I can ship my items very cheap to the us which I estimate more than half of my buyers come from.

Except..none of these things have improved a thing. Business is painfully slow these days no matter what I do it seems.

Currently 90% of my listings are 50% or more below market value with still no takers.

I search up many of my listings and my items are the lowest priced BY FAR, (shipping too) and yet no sales of certain items even after months and months.
Im afraid to lower my prices any further, because I feel like if I do Ill be either breaking even (then what is even the point) or even going into the negative.

Not only that, but I see sellers listing some of my items I have and successfully selling them at market value or even far above.

Considering many of these same items are readily available in shops, Id honestly love to know who is actually paying those prices? Are they aware they are paying 3X more than it cost to just go to the store?? Why are said buyers bypassing my obviously much better deal??

I do know that sometimes an item is low demand and people just arent looking for it so that no matter what you do it will lead to poor sales.

But most of my items are quite relevent I feel, some of my items Im very aware are rare and sought after items. Apparently not on here though lol!)

I do not do currently do auctions and dont plan to begin any. I feel like those attract flaky buyers, and so far they are not a problem for me with fixed listings.

So what can be done?

I am beyond frustrated and having a very hard time keeping up a positive attitude about this any longer. At one point I kind of enjoyed it, now I cant say I do.

Im tired of pricing stuff so low just to get it sold so I dont have it in the way day after day. Its also depressing since I paid full price for it, so far the earnings has been absolutely dismal. I feel Ive stooped far too low. Even items I got on sale cost me much much more than it seems anyone is willing to pay. I am now much more careful about what I purchase,because if I change my mind I cannot just "sell it on ebay" and get most of my money back, which I once believd.

I know you guys say dont price too low, but if I dont, than my listings just sit for ever and ever with crickets chirping so I get discouraged and lower them!

Im NOT asking or expecting to recoup the 100% full value of my items, but I would appreciate a fair price that makes it worthwhile, which Im not getting.

Im starting to consider giving some stuff away just to clear up some space since im making pennies on here for all the work I do.

I do not do auctions and dont plan to begin any. I feel like those attract flaky buyers, and so far they are not a problem for me with fixed listings.

Please offer some insight???

Ps. I realize Im opening the door to simescrutiny with this post but please be kind, Im very sensitive.

Thank u

[flipistics]

Just looking at your first item, the Glamglow Plumprageous Matt Clear item, there's another person selling it with the box for $19.99 USD and cheaper shipping. Amazon in the States is selling it for $24.99 USD with probably free shipping.

Your shipping also feels a little high to Canada, but I'm not sure if Canada Post allows you to ship those products or not (I never sell them so I haven't really looked into it). If they do allow them to be shipped, using a small flat rate box might lower your shipping a bit at least to some parts of Canada.

Another thought: You really aren't supposed to put words in a picture like you are for combined shipping. I don't know if eBay is penalizing you for that or not (probably not), but it's something to think about.

Definitely add more photos. Go nuts on them. You should probably also look into and note and/or photograph the expiry dates as it may not even be legal to sell them.

Finally, in the performance tab download and read through the Listings Quality Report. It may give you some ideas of things you can improve.

In general, if something isn't selling there's either lack of demand for the item, it's priced too high, or there's something wrong with the listing or visibility of it that's keeping people away. 

[flipistics]

BTW, for regional items Canada Post also has regional prepaid bubble envelopes that you could use. I'm not sure if you can buy them over the counter or if they're only available online. For you, I believe regional covers the Western provinces and cost $16.80 (I think).

[reallynicestamps]

The first thing I noticed was that some of your pictures , aren't.  "Coming Soon" may fool the bots checking new listings, but not actual customers.

If you don't have it, and therefore can't photograph it, don't list it. If you have it photograph it.

Your pictures are clear and pleasant.

The other problem is those two negs. Welp, negs happen, and one should age off soonish, but you need to get more feedback to change your percentage, which is all most people look at.

You can list more items , although you are close to the 250 item limit for Free Listings without a Store. And Stores are not free. They are a monthly subscription fee.

Or you can use this ID to buy. Your purchases don't have to be what you are selling, in fact it's better if they are not.

Buy whatever household stuff you need from sellers that ship  fast and leave FB on shipment. Toothpaste, tube socks, wall decals, cheap jewelry from India -- cheap enough that you don't even care if it arrives or if you will ever wear it. 

[byto253]

Qtips and generic magic erasers are my favourite feedback padders 🙂 

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

I am not familar with cosmetics. I would guess the following two reasons are why your items aren't selling well.

1 - The market segment you're going after doesn't see eBay as a place to buy OOP cosmetics. So you're swimming uphill with a very small market to sell to.

2 - The cost of shipping erodes any value that you offer to the buyer. If you have something listed for $20, and it costs you $20 to ship it, it has to be valued at $40 or more for someone to buy it. 

That is not me saying you're overcharging on shipping. A flat rate box costs $20. That's a fair price. I am stating that the shipping costs might make it impossible for you to compete with the value people can get through buying cosmetics elsewhere. 

Assuming cosmetics are allowed lettermail, my suggestion would be to offer oversized lettermail shipping prices for anything that is less than approx. 2CM in thickness and 500g in weight. For something that weighs under 100g, you can ship it for 1.84 (2 P-stamps) and the cost of a size 0 bubble mailer (let's say 50 cents). 

Look into Chit Chats or Stallion for US shipping. You should be able to ship a size 0 bubble mailer under 400g for $7-$10.

You also have to keep in mind that we're in a recession. Maybe the economy doesn't meet the exact terms of a recession, but anybody who sells online will tell you that over the last 3-6 months, business has been scaled back. The pandemic was an extreme situation for online shopping where people saw a massive uptick in business. Someone could do everything wrong and still produce loads of sales. Right now, if you want to produce sales you have to grind and claw and do everything right. 

In terms of the stuff you already have listed, you have to find a way to get your shipping cost as low as possible via lettermail so that you can charge lower prices. In terms of stuff you list in the future, I think you should do some research about sells and doesn't sell for competing sellers and figure out which types of cosmetics you should stock or whether you should look into an entirely different type of product to sell. I think it's possible that the market for OOP cosmetics on eBay isn't large enough to produce significant sales for all sellers of all sizes.

[darak10]

yup. this.

shipping parcel rate within Canada via CPC is going to kill you and drive away customers.  I dont even think one of the discount shippers would save you, honestly, its still too much.  This is the biggest factor harming Canadian ecommerce retailers.  Second the lettermail recommendation; I dont know if you can do this but if its possible to pivot to shipping items you can send lettermail within the country (not to US or anywhere international, you cant do that anymore) to save on shipping it will help you big time.  Shipping items with Canada that in their package are thinner than .8 " will help you reach many more customers, and will increase sales.  For me as a customer, paying $20 shipping for an item within Canada, forget it, not interested.  That would push me to find it locally or last choice would drive me to buy from the UK or Germany who can ship internationally here for less than ten bucks Canadian, sometimes around as little as $5. Buying from the US has become a complete joke for most stuff because of their obscene shipping rates here - which they pad $10-$15 extra for some reason, it doesnt cost them anywhere near as much as they charge (you see them, $25-$30-$35 to ship here from the US)...they must think we are stupid, only a moron would go "oh yeah $25 shipping for a smaller consumer item from the US to Canada is totally reasonable" lol, but thats just an aside due to endless eye-rolling going on whenever I look for items on here and see the ridiculous US shipping rates. 

[femmefan1946]

shipping items you can send lettermail within the country (not to US or anywhere international, you cant do that anymore) to save on shipping it will help you big time.

If you are not confident of shipping goods by lettermail internationally, the trick is to put them into the letterbox, not across the counter where the clerk may notice and refuse the shipment.

The smaller and more "letterlike" the more likely this is to succeed. You want your shipments to be handled by people trying to move everything along as best they can, not clerks who feel they have to examine and do it right.

However, almost everything I sell is paper, so my experience is not your experience.

And Canada Post does not allow goods to be shipped outside of Canada as "letter rates".

[ricarmic]

I don't know anything about your market but what I do when I have worrisome lulls is check out my competition (actually I watch a few all the time).

Find ones that are selling what you are trying to sell.

If they aren't selling either then you know its most likely a market situation and you'll just have to batten down the hatches until the market gets better.

If they are selling, then carefully look at what they are doing different from you, not just for the item(s) that are similar but their overall process/practices. 

Your shipping costs are very high against the item value, which will mean either it has to be something rare/hard to find, or folks in remote locations will be the ones most likely willing to purchase it.