ebay listing visibility- any ideas?

Hi everyone - I need some ebay help!

I just listed a Sony PS3 MetalGearSolid 80gb bundle on ebay for the going 'buy it now' price of 699 and free shipping and it didn't sell! This product is selling consistently at this same price and condition - looking at the completed auctions, only 1 or 2 (at higher prices or with high shipping) haven't sold.\

I have been selling on ebay for years, and have always had great success until this year. It is as if none of my auctions show up in the listings when I look for them using the right keywords etc.

I'm a powerseller, with a 98.7 / 4.8 rating (I don't get the 98.7 because my other page says its a 99.8) and since they put the best match in place my sales have virtually stopped. Down from 30 / month to 0.

If anybody has any advice or can help, please know I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks - Anne

Well if it were me, I would drop the 'buy it now' option and do a regular auction. People will start bidding low, but just add a 'reserve' on your listing so you get at least what you want to sell it for...The thing is that when you use the 'buy it now' option, people know exactly what they can get it from you for and if they look at the best match they might go there because they see the same price with cheaper shipping, or some other small bonus and go with the other guy...

I don't normally suggest using a reserve on auctions, but in this case you need to protect your minimum selling price..However, by starting you bids at a low price people will bid trying to get it at a low price for a high ticket item and then they normally get caught up in bidding wars..Believe me it works really well..I've gotten way more than my reserve price on a lot of items by doing this...Some people just get caught up in the bidding and often bid just because they hate to get beat...Good luck..

could try it in store at fixed price and add it to google base. never had any luck with fixed price on auctions myself but i dont sell that type of stuff either

Thanks for the help - I will give both a shot as I can get the units readily here.

Just an update - I canceled my auctiva membership, and now my auctions are showing up better. This makes little sense to me, but it made a marked difference in just 24 hours.

That's weird Anne. I wonder why Auctiva would have anything to do with it. Maybe I shoudl cancel mine!

My stats for store visits to my software (a regular item) is vastly different (although its only been 2 days). They went from 8 per day in June to 49 and 51 on the last 2 days. My auctions are again showing in Google - maybe its a weird coincidence but I'm very happy with the results. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know -


...a few hours later -
I'm editing this post as I just made 2 sales today alone - I think there is something funny going on!

Then that settles it. I am cancelling my Auctiva account becuase my sales have been really SLOW!

Then that settles it. I am cancelling my Auctiva account becuase my sales have been really SLOW!

Let me know how it goes. I had 2 more auctions sell today. My traffic stats weren't working today. So far it seems to have made a big difference - hope it helps you tomorrow.

SLOW SALES this month on eBay. Cane someone take a look at my store & tell me what I can do better? Thanks.

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Should I even have a store? Any suggestions would help! Thanks guys & gals.

Lisa

SLOW SALES this month on eBay. Cane someone take a look at my store & tell me what I can do better? Thanks.

Here's the link: Link hidden: Login to view

Should I even have a store? Any suggestions would help! Thanks guys & gals.

Lisa

Hi Lisa - nice looking store.
EBAY WAS DEAD THIS MONTH!!!! Oh, terrible - I wonder too if I should have a store anymore. AFter the burst I got at the end of June, it died right back down. I checked with ebay reps and they said, yes it has been awful, so I don't think that it is me alone.

The only suggestion I have is that you use your store description to put better information in. The description is indexed by search engines, so make it keyword rich (maybe use brands that you carry etc) and be sure to turn your 'listing feeds' option (in your store manager) to ON -

Other than that, I think we are all in for a long summer. Hope this helps

Thanks so much Anne. I thought it would pick up a little this month because of back to school shopping. That's why I listed all the sweaters & tote bags.

I'm hoping too - I just got a profit back loaded with sheets, towels, fuzzy slippers.

Should I even have a store? Any suggestions would help! Thanks guys & gals.

Lisa

I have a suggestion for you. Accept personal Checks. Really !!! I have accepted checks for the last 2 years and have never once had a bad check for an ebay purchase. And we have accepted several hundred checks. Accepting checks should boost your sales and some of the final prices. I dont use paypal either so If I buy anything the seller has to accept a check for the payment.

We've even accepted money orders with no problems. This can even be a deciding factor in how many bidders you get. I would say 35% of my sales are paid by check. When you allow bidders to use a check you will increase the amount of bidders you have watching and bidding up the prices on your auctions.

Wow! I can't believe in this electronic age that that many people still write checks! I'll give it a whirl. Thanks Jimmy.

Yes everyone I know has been complaining about slow sales on ebay. I think there are several factors in this.
Slow Economy- People are not spending as much on ebay
Ebay- Ebays changes have had a more negative effect then they wanted
Competition- Ebay has some strong competition now that thousands of sellers have moved away. Although ebay has stated they would gain more buyers they really did forget to note that the majority of the sellers are the buyers and that when they left they stopped buying on ebay and started buying on the competitors sites.

I have actually seen my sales off of ebay increase on Amazon, I have seen many sellers state Ebid is starting to work really well for them. So in turn I think that ebay really hurt itself by pissing off the sellers..

My advice is don't forget you have many options for yourself. If you can multi task list the same items on multiple sites. I have the same items on craigslist as I do on ebay and the same on amazon as I have on craigslist. If an item sells for MY price before an auction ends I will cancel the auction or listing on the other site.


Dont be willing to loose an item for way less then its value if you have other options to sell that item. Dont just list on ebay if there are other sites you can try and sell on. Yes you have items that other sellers are selling lower. But have you ever shopped on places like ebay. There are people that don't want to wait to fight for an auction only to lose after waiting 5 days. I have lost hundreds of auctions over my time on ebay and I wont bid on an auction anymore. I think of the hundreds of auctions I have bid on I have only won 3. If the seller does not have a buy it now price I wont buy it. Look at the closed auctions sometimes for items. Many of the buy it now prices sell higher then the auction prices. Just because a buyer would rather pay a higher price then go through the drama of loosing an auction.

Also consider the layout you use if you sell on ebay. It can have a major impact on your sales.

One of the big mistakes alot of my buyers for our profit packs think is that every item in their pack will sell immediately for big profits. But they don't think of the big picture. You have to put yourself out there for your products to sell. I have watched several profit pack buyers sell their items with horrible descriptions. I have sold the exact same items for much higher in the past and there is a reason why their item sold low.

They think if they just list the item with no decent layout and all text that the auction will sell for huge money. I spent over 300 hours creating my listing template that I use today in my auction. I went through 20 different designs and spent countless nights adding and removing text and experimenting on auction styles. I have also seen auction from sellers that are selling them very well and you can tell that they put their time into the auction. If your sales are slow. Critique your own layouts. Ask members of salehoo to critique your layout. Some sales can be lost just due to a simple problem with your layout.


Yes you may not have a lot of items to start your business up and you really need your items to sell. But when me and my wife started on ebay we ran at a loss for 5-6 months buying items, filling our store. Building our reputation and more. But now with our rating just on ebay our auctions tend to sell higher then before. We never sell items for prices less then we wanted them to sell for. Just because you do a search on completed listings and you see your item selling for $22.00 does not mean you cant sell it for higher. For instance.

I had a big cappuccino machine listed on 3 different sites. I did not want to sell the item for lower then I though it was worth. So I set a price and listed it on 3 different sites. Took 1 re listing and about 5 days but it just got a bid this morning for my price of $1499.00 Several other units had prices of $1200 and less and got no bids. But after being patient and sitting on the product for a few weeks I got a bid. We canceled the Amazon and craigslist listings and were letting it sell on ebay.

The services I use for ebay are Squaretrade and Reliabid. I pay them a decent amount of money but having those services does help me increase my sales so I do keep them. If you have a service that is not affecting the sale of your product then dont use it. Auctiva I personally do not like. It just looks cheezy to me. If a buyer wants to see my store they will click on the link I give them.


Dont spend money on services that don't work. If you are paying for a store and it costs you more then you think you should be making to have it ,close the store and just run a fixed price listing on multiple sites.And take advantage of sites where you can list for free. If you have to pay ebay to sell an item and your paying more then $9.99 to list and sell after fees. Run a Newspaper ad for that item. Run the item in a public auction ( I have had really good luck selling items I wont put on ebay in public auctions). Use multiple sales avenues. And be willing to try new sites. Ebay is hurting. There are still many pissed off people staying away from ebay and visiting the forums to discuss how bad ebay is doing.


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Thak you for all the great advice. I know on Amazon it's about $40 per month to list items unless you have an identical item. I'll take alook on ebid & the others you suggested. I already started an ecrater store. Forget iOffer. I don't like that site at all.

Jimmy YOU ROCK!!

I have been reading these boards to learn all of the great info. that people are sharing, and I am blown away at the cumulative knowledge that is here. Thanks for creating this site, and for having an online community that is geared towards helping each other instead of seeing everyone else as competition.

I want to say I was generally pleased with the profit packs and figured they would be a good way to 'test the waters' and learn new sales strategies.

Your excellent post is making that task much easier!!

Thank you - thank you - thank you!!