Opened store - now no sales

[iamineden]

Hi, I am rather new to eBay selling. I have a single product which was selling about one per day, so I figured I should open a store so the listing would gain rank.

However, after opening the store one month ago, I have not had a single sale ever since.

Why would this be? The listing is exactly the same apart from that it is now "good until sold"

[clarry100]

If I was a buyer of this item there are a couple of things I see on the listing that would have me running for the hills.

Your postage charges are high and could be considered profiteering.

$2.50 when it would cost you 60-cents (if the thickness is 5mm or less) plus envelope and possibly a label. So no more than $1.00. I think $2.00 postage would be more attractive for this item.

$12.00 for express option when the Aust Post fee is $10.55 for the 500-gram satchel. I know you will lose some of that in fees but we just suck that up so the buyer just sees the Aust Post fee and nothing more. Works for us!

I see a couple of things in the listings that might be a contributing factor in the search rankings.

Firstly your pics are contravening the new picture rules. No borders or embedded text apart from watermarks.

Also check your picture size. At least 500-pixels on the longest side.

I see an embedded link to amazon in your description. Off-ebay links are a no-no.

Also eBay now prefer 30-day returns to qualify for better rankings and to get the "eBay Premium Service" badge.

Along with FREE Post, 30-day returns, compliant pictures etc.

Others may spot some other aspects I have missed.

[harley_babes_hoard]

I wouldn't want a pair of scissors posted as a 60cent letter. There is nothing wrong with it being posted as a large letter for 2.50. 1.20 for the post, 1.30 for the padded envelope, labels etc you could hardly call that profiteering or excessive.

[zelly888]

Clarry how do you handle your items without charging for them? Yes there is a postage cost but don't you add a handling fee to your items? I do as it does cost to drive to the post office.Most sellers times are not for free.

[extra-keen]

Why do you not look for more lines to sell. Even if they just direct folks to your main product. For instance - If I sell a hair clip, I will also let buyers know I sell ribbon too, and vice versa, thus allerting buyers to the fact that I have other items for sale. More exposure, better marketing and at the end of the day hopefully more sales.

[digital*ghost]

A pair of scissors can't be sent for 60c even if the envelope is under 5mm, presuming they are rigid, anyway.

IMHO, for the time being I would lose the store, for no reason other than the fee isn't worth it for only two listings. Without a store, you still get 40 free listings per month, meaning you can list your items as BIN every ten days and still have 34 free listings remaining, and the percentage break on FVF you get with a store wouldn't make up for it either unless you were selling more than $1000 per month (presuming you're subscribed to a basic store). If you have more product lines that can cross-promote one another, a store is much more viable. 

The only thing in your listings that has the potential to lose buyers is the bit about no responsibility for lost items - you can be made to be responsible (financially) via PayPal for any item sent unregistered etc, but even a buyer who understand that could think it would be more hassle than it's worth to try and resolve an issue that crops up. I always think, aside from the basic necessities such as payment time frames, information in listings should generally focus on the benefits of buying from you, not the drawbacks 😉 .

Almost everything I sell goes as a letter; I provide a registered option because some buyers like to use it, but most go unregistered/untracked and so far the number of lost items (plus cost to replace/refund) has been minimal to insignificant, so it remains simple enough to keep my postage costs low (which = higher sales) and issue refunds/replacements for any lost items (which is significantly better for customer relations). 

[sparrow2207]

You are essentially wasting money opening a store and only offering one type of item for sale.

I would be closing the store uness I had hundreds of different items to sell.

I am sure ebay is rubbing its greedy hands with the prospect of all the extra money you will be giving them every month.

Some items are very cyclical.  Summer grooming for dogs and then owners let it go during colder months.  The pink handles may also be a turn off for some purchasers.

[clarry100]

Zelly,

We don't charge any extra for handling. We consider it's built into our profit margins.

So for postage we only charge about what it costs us.

Majority of our items take 2x stamps: $1.20. (small number are 1x stamp or 3x stamps)

Plain Envelope: about 12-cents.

Plastic protector bag: about 5-cents

Cost of address/return labels & print: about 10-cents.

That's say about $1.50 at the most so an extra 50-cents on top for good measure covers anything else we hadn't thought of (handling??).

Then the above is built into our item prices and we offer FREE postage. I know we lose some of that $2.00 in fees when its FREE post so the 50-cents more than covers that.

If we do any auctions we drop the start price but add separate $2.00 postage.

And if a buyer purchases 6 or more items and they happen to want express post then we don't charge any extra for that service. Anything under 6 and we charge the $10.55 Aust Post fee. Yes... and we lose out maybe 15-cents on the PayPal fee for that, but it's not too often.

Also if a buyer buys more than can fit into a standard regular mail envelope (or two) we go to Click 'n' Send 500-gram tracked satchel but we don't charge any extra for that either.

So we think we don't profiteer from postage charges, but I do'nt think we lose either.

Our vehicle usage is tax claimable so no extra for that.

[iamineden]

Thank you everyone for the help. I "think" I have fixed things. Have deleted the store until I can afford to extend my product line. I had figured at the rate I was selling - that it was a good idea to have access to the "good 'til cancelled" so I could keep the sales history etc., but when sales just stopped instantly - that was confronting 😛

The actual postage costs $1.20 and there is packing etc. Plus I live out in the country, so petrol costs. However, I have now made it free shipping.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond, much appreciated!

[babylonfuture]

Looks like have made some good changes to your listings. If free shipping is not working, then go back to your old way of listing. I noticed price for the item went up during november/december - are your competitors at around the same price as you are now??

At least once a month checkout your competitors , check their pricing / sales and also see if there any NEW competitors...

Good luck!