Why aren't my items selling

[meelo_darling]

Greetings, 
After many years selling on ebay US I am trying my hand at Ebay Australia. I am still learning about the prices things sell for here. 

I have many items listed for auction but so far my sales rate has been low. I seem to top out around $200/month (which I assume is too low to be due to sales throttling...?)

Would any of you be so kind as to tell me why you think my sales aren't going better? Are there any obvious changes I could make?

I would love to lower my prices further but since I offer free shipping, dropping my prices much more means I wouldn't make any profit. However, I am still interested in what you think about my pricing and any other reason my auctions aren't more successful.

Also, most of my items are only available for purchase in Australia. I could consider opening them up to international sales, but I am concerned about buyer fraud if I do so...

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! 

[imastawka]

Apart from anything else, my pet hate is a store that has 'other' as categories.

I know you don't have many listings, but surely you can categorise them?

[meelo_darling]

Hi there, thanks for your advice! I am having trouble listing my items in categories. Can I create simple categories, like "Pet products" that I name myself? Then how do I move the items over to that category? I have tried but I haven't been able to figure it out...maybe it's just me but it seems a bit tricky!

[brerrabbit585]

Too much distracting stuff in the pictures.

Titles too hard to read because of uppercase, lowercase, uppercase, lowercase. Fair enough, highlight the odd word but not every second word. Title has to be easily readable as buyers may only give it a second's glance on their way past.

Same applies to the pictures - they don't expect to have to play "Where's Wally" to see what's actually being sold. You've got a split second to grab their attention on the way past and pictures of Aussie flags and trucks with fast & free delivery aren't going to grab their attention.

And why on earth are you wasting money and paying for a shop when you have so few items?

[kopenhagen5]

As mentioned you may be better off by closing the store and just using your 40 free listings per month.

Have each listing as a BIN for 30 days.

Stores become viable when listing 100-200 items upwards.

[brerrabbit585]

You can create your own categories and call them whatever you like. Go to the A-Z help index (found under the policies link at the bottom of every page, I think) and have a look through it.
Someone else might have the time to guide you through it but I don't.

[imastawka]

I think the others might be right about paying for a store with so little to sell.

A waste of money.  You can list for 30 days now with a non-store

But for the categories.  Name them what you want.

https://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/store-categories.html

[springyzone]

I thought the photos looked quite professional & sure, some look a bit cluttered with fast & free plus the aussie flag but at no time was I confused as to what was on sale from the pictures. They are close up & clear.

Some of the titles I found confusing at first glance. I can see you've tried to hit as many search words as possible but for instance, it took me a little while to figure out what on earth the faux camera was. Might be worth simplifying the titles slightly.

I can't see any reason your items would not sell though as if someone is scrolling through the photos, they will see what is on offer easily enough.

The question is whether they will want it. I have no idea. It seems to me you have a lot of keyrings and small jewellery items. If those aren't moving well, you might need to look at slightly different items.

[ausbargainbasement]

Also remember Australia is a smaller market place than the US as well.

[*tippy*toes*]

Why aren't your items selling? Probably because no-one wants them at the moment. If you're getting $200 a month, you're doing a heck of a lot better than a lot of sellers. 

Re the fast and free thing on your photos. Probably not a good idea to have that. Gives buyers a false sense of security. Fast and free only shows on listings of buyers near you. In your case, ACT, NSW, Vic and maybe, maybe not Qld. None of the other states will see it when they look. If someone in WA sees that, they might expect you to post express and will ding your stars, or open an INR when it hasn't arrived "fast".

You're selling a USED, open bottle of hair product for $28? I don't think it matters what something costs new, no-one in their right mind is going to buy something like that that's been used. I'm not even sure for health reasons you can sell it. Probably best to check the policy on that. I can't be bothered doing it for you. As buyer only usually read the title and look at the main picture, don't be surprised if someone does buy it then complains about it being partially empty.

As others have said, unless you're going to list another 100+ items, you'd be far better closing your store. You can have 30 day BIN's or auctions. Unless you go over 40 per month, you won't pay a cent in listing fees. Means you're not paying whatever a store costs each month if you have a quiet month and don't sell anything. EBay will still take their cut of your zero sales for the month.