Why am I not selling at all? (new seller account)

[ignatia]

 For the most part my images are good quality and my descriptions are concise and clear. I see no problem, but for the usual--that shipping from Canada is less than ideal, and also, I am not going for the lower end of pricing either. But only one sale in two months?

What am I doing wrong, if anything? I feel I am maybe being slighted as a new seller by algorithm, but have nothing but a hunch to support this. Views on my items but for a handful, are exceptionally low.

I should add, this seller account is new to me. I have sold before on eBay; but breaking in a new account with current conditions, is a whole lot different than what I faced in the past.

[ignatia]

Any help at all on the problem, would be appreciated.  I have no idea what's happening and right now, want to pull my listings to avoid wasting further precious time. 

[ricarmic · Accepted solution]

I'll preface this by saying I know nothing about your category (I'm a stamps kinda guy).

However you can probably answer some of the questions yourself.

For example, I searched "tangerine quartz"

There are 605 items running right now total (you have 12 of them or 2%).

Since July 192 have sold, it runs about 2 selling a day across all sellers.

This would appear to say statistically sales for these are going to be slow for you.

I didn't spend much time on this, if you run some queries against whats out there vs what you have and compare (many of them have astronomical shipping here to Canada, assuming they're in the US) against them that will likely help.....

That's what I do when I have product lines that are moving slowly......

[ignatia]

Oh for heaven's sake... why didn't I think of that...  Lol.

Thank you!

[esclyons]

i would take your name out of the title line,  every word in your title can be used for search results. i am sure people aren't searching tesseractthirteen.  i would use  extra key words to help with your search results..

Also i am not sure what customer base you are after, but listing in USA dollars, certainly won't help bring in Canadian buyers..

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

@esclyons

but listing in USA dollars, certainly won't help bring in Canadian buyers..

I disagree with this.

If a buyer is Searching on dotCA, she will see the prices in USD no matter what currency the seller listed in.

When she opens a listing, the price is shown in both currencies, with the listing currency first.

Most Canadians are bright enough to notice that. Not as sure about Americans.

And all the world understands US dollars.

Since the USA is the world's largest economy, listing on dotCOM makes good sense.

The only upside to listing on dotCA is that we have access to Calculated Shipping for our bulky and/or tracked shipments.

@ignatia

About shipping, have you experimented with moving some of your shipping cost to your asking price?

Which is cheaper :

A $10 item with $5 shipping?

A $5 item with $10 shipping?

A $15 item with Free Shipping?

There is no wrong answer. Each attracts a different kind of buyer. Personally I use the Free/include cost of shipping in asking price Shipping model. YMMV.

The Cassini algorithm uses sales as one of its criteria, unfortunately. So those who get sales get more exposure.

You did get a little bump when you were brand new, but that is long over.

If you are going to redo your titles, close the listing entirely and then list it as Sell Similar or as New. That may give you a little bump.

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

There are two maybe three problems with your listing.

First.

Have you looked at them on a smartphone? What you see when you are on a laptop or desktop is quite different from what your customer sees on her mobile.

One related suggestion would be to put size and weight in the title. And use Item Specifics.

Second.

Either you are selling metaphysical qualities or you are not. Your description is mixed on this. Rethink it.

You may be best to print that up and enclose it with the rock.

And then sell them the service, which is not allowed on eBay, but allowed privately.

Third.

You copied that bit about PO boxes from another seller, didn't you? PO boxes are the SAFEST destination. The owner needs a key to open the box and must go to the counter and sign for any parcels that didn't fit in it. No porch pirates, no wet parcels, no parcels found months later in the BBQ *

*Yes, it's a thing. Along with orders from cats, toddlers and babysitters.

[ignatia]

I am taking this all in.

For now my name in the title remains, and the reason for that is that selling crystals and similar is a very limited market, and maybe people don't know me now, but they will in time if I manage to make this work--that is the main reason it's there. Of course they won't be looking for me now!

As a buyer I have noticed that a lot of sellers don't describe items well enough, and I like to easily find the ones that do. For that reason I want to see if putting my name in the title ends up becoming a benefit (because I will describe items efficiently). I see that some of the top crystal sellers do the same. I have one issue with it though, that my seller ID is so very long. Dang  it. I wanted to use the numeral instead of spelling out the thirteen part, but someone was using that ID.

I've considered just writing part of my name, but that seems lame somehow. Besides, someone on eBay is likely using that as a user ID as well.

Thanks go out to those that offered logical points to consider.

** I wish to add one observation--in all my years using my other ID on eBay to sell items, I have rarely had a Canadian buyer, so I'll list on .com as long as that appears to be the case. 

[ricarmic · Accepted solution]

Aside from the benefits of making sure your "brand" (ie your ID) is seen amongst people, having it in all your listing titles will I believe cause them to be displayed more frequently when someone views an item you've sold or an item for sale because your common ID in the title is a linkage since it appears in all the titles (the bots think it is more similar because of that).

[ignatia]

"Have you looked at them on a smartphone? What you see when you are on a laptop or desktop is quite different from what your customer sees on her mobile."

I cannot use a smartphone where I am, unfortunately, so no. There's no available signal where I live. I have no way to see my listings. Do you mean they look distorted?

"One related suggestion would be to put size and weight in the title. And use Item Specifics.

Second."

I recognize this to be a valid suggestion. I began doing it that way, but found that it was harder to get listings live in a hurry with so much to change in each title. Plus since I decided to stick with a test of having my user ID there, there's no room for that in most cases anyway. However, if I find it a waste of space to have my username there, I will try other appropriate title types and see what works. 

"Either you are selling metaphysical qualities or you are not. Your description is mixed on this. Rethink it. You may be best to print that up and enclose it with the rock."

I thought I had made it clear that I am giving the service with a purchase and that it is not for sale, it is not part of the purchase. In my mind it's clear, but I'll read it again  .

"You copied that bit about PO boxes from another seller, didn't you? PO boxes are the SAFEST destination. The owner needs a key to open the box and must go to the counter and sign for any parcels that didn't fit in it. No porch pirates, no wet parcels, no parcels found months later in the BBQ *"

I assure you that I have not copied or plagiarized anyone's listing. I wrote that part myself and for good reason. Once I get going I will also sell some items from a warehouser. And when I do, they do not ship to PO Boxes. I am actually a writer apart from here, so have no problem writing original content. I get that you were merely remarking, but I wanted to make it clear that no, I don't do that.

Thanks, femmefan, for offering a well considered response.

[ignatia]

 ...interesting observation.

[ignatia · Accepted solution]

"About shipping, have you experimented with moving some of your shipping cost to your asking price?

Which is cheaper :

A $10 item with $5 shipping?

A $5 item with $10 shipping?

A $15 item with Free Shipping?"

I have tried shifting shipping costs into the price. I think in time I am going to go further with that concept. I found initially to get any sales at all I had to do some shifting.

I see I can send items cheaper with no tracking, but man, that is a bad idea in the case of costly items.

[ricarmic · Accepted solution]

IMO free shipping always gets favoured displays over items with charged shipping....

[ignatia]

"IMO free shipping always gets favoured displays over items with charged shipping...."

The one problem I face here, is that all of the items I buy are purchased internationally. Dang it. Thus as you know, shipping to here is horribly expensive. It seems that I can't compete with others if I include shipping, as the high shipping I pay becomes part of my item costs.

I suppose I am going to have to actually try doing that and maybe offer a discount with combined purchases or some such thing.

[goldnideas · Accepted solution]

Sale is extremely low these days.  I would say lowest in all times. 

As a suggestion  -use  Item specifics to the full extend.  

Your description is not visible on smart phone / gadget, and I'm using app. But don't be alerted,  that is the same story for  everybody .

 I've attached picture with how it looks on screen.

[ignatia]

Thank you for your insight, valuable indeed.

[ignatia]

...though off topic, I wish to say that when I open my store I intend to open it on .com. The updates here make it impossible for me to read on PC. It's become a real dog's breakfast, tbh. 

[ricarmic]

What I've had to do this year because of changing/increasing shipping costs to better serve my audiences is begin listing items on both .COM and .CA (which you can do regardless which site your store is on). I almost completely have free shipping and I ship stuff up to Bankers box size lots. (Everything is flat rate shipping).  My store is on .COM (I started it before there was a .CA)

The .CA items are things that are most likely to be purchased by and ship to Canadians so the free shipping is for Canadian shipping and I charge the USA and international folks extra shipping.

The .COM things are things most likely to ship to folks in the USA or Internationally so the free shipping is for them (Canadians still get if free there too).

Note, if you don't already know/remember, if you have free domestic shipping there are no selling fees on shipping charges anywhere else.

[femmefan1946]

"Either you are selling metaphysical qualities or you are not. Your description is mixed on this. Rethink it. You may be best to print that up and enclose it with the rock."

I thought I had made it clear that I am giving the service with a purchase and that it is not for sale, it is not part of the purchase. In my mind it's clear, but I'll read it again  .

There's no dispute about money here. You are clearly offering a free 'upgrade'. The problem is that you are both saying it works and that it doesn't work. You really have to choose one.

Here's what I mean.

DISCLAIMER

Though many claim these stones have metaphysical qualities, they are being sold as stones and crystals, not as cures or to aid in physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual healing.......All crystals I sell will be bionized, which means they will be treated in a way that draws out any less than harmonious energies ....great for chakra work, healing, gridding, meditation, .....Let me know and I will add that energy to the stone you purchase once your payment is completed. 

And so on. Those two parts contradict each other.

Also keep in mind that some of your potential customers are rockhounds and are not in any way interested in the 'energy ' of the rock.

If you can see a way to add those 'energies' to your rocks after sale, you will have found a new profit stream. If you do a printed circular would be the easiest way to reach the appropriate buyers.

it was harder to get listings live in a hurry with so much to change in each title.

Don't hurry. It takes up to 24 hours for any listing to 'index' and appear on the site in any case. And you have no control over that.

In addition to Imperial measures, add metric. Canada went metric in 1974 and only the USA and Myamar are holdouts.

I assure you that I have not copied or plagiarized anyone's listing.

I didn't mean to say that you did. I apologize.

Many long term US sellers refused to use PO boxes because they ship via UPS or FedEx who cannot deliver to PO boxes. The USPS clerks are not allowed to sign for courier deliveries.

The idea has taken on a life of its own.

Unless you are shipping by courier, accept any address you find in Paypal.

BTW- I was bored and started looking at my buyer's homes in Google Maps. A lot of what look like apartment numbers are lightly disguised PO boxes, just identified as Unit 123 or #123 instead of Box 123.

[femmefan1946]

I see I can send items cheaper with no tracking, but man, that is a bad idea in the case of costly items.

You know you get a 5% discount from PO counter prices when you buy a label through Paypal, Shippo, or SnapShip, right? You need a Small Business Solutions number, which is available on the spot in the PO or online.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

After that, have you heard the Good News about Cookie Jar Insurance?

Put a few pennies from each sale into a virtual Cookie Jar and then ship without tracking.

If you have an occasional Not Received claim you refund from the Cookie Jar.

The Jar is filled both with those pennies and with the (even more ephemeral) money you DON'T spend on tracked services.

Most sellers using Cookie Jar Insurance (self-insurance is the formal term) report actually making money on it.

Anything less than 2cm thick and 500 grams can go Letter rate. Which is cheap fast and untrackable.

Bulky items must go parcel rates which are automatically tracked.

So your shipping cost is malleable.

Then you have to decide your comfort zone on 'high value'.

A lot of this depends on your demographic.

If I were selling videogames, sneakers, horse tack, cell phones, or reborn babies, I'd be insuring and tracking up the ying-yang.

But my stampcollectors, seamstresses, and bookcollectors are a painfully honest bunch, and most of my sales go untracked unless they are bulky in which case the tracking comes with the service.

Most people are honest. Disputes are rare.

Yes, you see a lot of posts about them, but really those are man bites dog situations.