topic Re: eBay Sales are not moving in Selling

eBay Sales are not moving

1688store — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:09:13 GMT

Hi,

we sell arcade gaming joysticks and components on eBay, previously we sold one joystick on the 28/8/2015, however after updating the listing using professional templates no sales. Any help will be much appreciated.

John Zhao

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

everard6920 — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:31:31 GMT

Okay, I don't know why your items aren't selling, but for a start, the nuclear green and magenta text has to go. Hurts eyes.

I don't know what your listings looked like before you changed them, so it's difficult to say what the problem is. There may not even be a problem - sometimes sales are just slow.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

chameleon54 — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 00:25:32 GMT

@everard6920 wrote:
Okay, I don't know why your items aren't selling, but for a start, the nuclear green and magenta text has to go. Hurts eyes.

I don't know what your listings looked like before you changed them, so it's difficult to say what the problem is. There may not even be a problem - sometimes sales are just slow.

Agreed, I found it very hard to read the green and magenta text too and gave up.

I dont know anything about joysticks but searched arcade ps3 joystick. Your items came up very well in searches on the first page. Maybe yours are super proffesional, but the Chineses sellers are offering similar looking items for half the price and they come with funky graphics and plastic bodies that would appeal to the casual buyer.

If yours are elite type proffesional items have they been reviewed in gaming sites and blogs ? Can you get a mate to write you some glowing forum posts and product reports on popular sites ? Maybe ask a few questions such as "Hey I saw this controller for sale second hand, does anyone know about them" and then just answer the question with how great they are and you can buy them here. insert link ( yeah I know, but this is marketing, do you think all the advertising we see is snow white and true ? ). Is it worth sending one to some respected online gaming guru to get his appraisal. ? And yes they are going to have to stand up to independent appraisal and be worth twice the price of similar products if you go down this path. Good luck with it all.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

thendreamer — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 00:31:41 GMT

@chameleon54 wrote:

Chineses sellers are offering similar looking items for half the price and they come with funky graphics and plastic bodies that would appeal to the casual buyer

I think this is his biggest problem, his listing does not stand out. The title really should say it's Australia Made, made with professional grade components or something along those lines. It's just got a generic title (Arcade Balltop Black Joystick X10Y for PC and PS3 Game Controller) with a faily generic listing graphic.

Descriptions are rarely read these days, templates are a complete waste of time.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

dylan11235813 — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 00:43:04 GMT

It was good to see the traffic from forums and other sites but eBay new peice of work is a piece of rotting poo

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

1688store — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 13:34:02 GMT

Hi thendreamer,

you got a good point about the title, I've just changed the title to Australian Made Joystick Superior Parts and Quality X10G PC PS3 Game Controller.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

digital*ghost — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 02:47:18 GMT

I just looked at one listing and couldn't see any issues with the listing format, text colours etc, but speaking as someone who may look at these kinds of items from time to time, I'd personally prefer to see more about the one you're selling and less about other people's '**bleep**py' products. (For example, when advertising high quality, 'superior products', it kind of ruins it when you don't leave it at that - if you look at top of the range product advertising, any reference to inferior quality products tends to be subtle and general, while the focus remains on the actual product being sold - I think it conveys better if you show enough confidence in the product that you don't have to keep reminding people other products are **bleep**py 😉 ).

Things like photos of different angles (esp. a top-down view), would also help, and also - just speaking as someone who has only ever used stock controllers - what kind of finish the wood has (i.e. is it laquered, or somesuch), or how likely am I to get splinters after a few months of banging around with it.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

dazzledayz — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 03:28:50 GMT

Perhaps you could also value add?

If you manufacture these yourself you could always offer ongoing product support, repairs, upgrades, tradeins etc

I don't think you are doing too badly.

Another Au based seller with a similar item priced at 59.95 only sells 2~3 per month.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

1688store — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 10:52:25 GMT

Very good point, I will do some product photos with different angles and focus on my product rather than someone else's.

Thanks

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

harley_babes_hoard — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 11:50:26 GMT

Good to see you are willing to take advice.

I agree with the other comments about other peoples listings. Nothing is a bigger turn off for me than a seller saying how bad, cheap, inferior another sellers products are..

good luck I hope your sales pick up soon.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

saarzi — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 12:14:40 GMT

Its been talked about for years on other forums how having a coded template, or a lot of HTML drags down your listing in the search results, and can even hide your listing. Apparently Ebay has trouble reading them and / or puts them in the "spamming key words / using unrelated words" pile (which ranks lower).

Whether or not thats true, I have no idea. But plenty of sellers have tested it and swear its happening. heres one.

I have also read on Ebay pages (written by Ebay) that plain text will rank better - Ive been trying to find it again, but cant remember where it was - maybe it was an old page.

Ebay promotes templates because its looks smooth and professional and trustworthy, so gives higher conversion. Thats not to say the HTML / code wont rank you lower if thats the way the search engine works (not that it was programmed to do that). If it is happening, it could be a delicate balance between the two.

Test what works - take out the templates, see if sales go back up.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

harley_babes_hoard — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 13:10:59 GMT

whenever you make chances to any page it is going to take time for it to be indexed again. The same as if I make a change to my website it takes time for google to index it again.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

digital*ghost — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 13:45:20 GMT

@saarzi wrote:
Its been talked about for years on other forums how having a coded template, or a lot of HTML drags down your listing in the search results, and can even hide your listing. Apparently Ebay has trouble reading them and / or puts them in the "spamming key words / using unrelated words" pile (which ranks lower).

I had heard many similar things, but here is a thread from 18 months ago, started by robshelp (of Freeform2) who mentioned this issue.

In summary (for anyone not wanting to click to another thread 😄 ) :

"We can't be sure how search engines measure relevance but the presence of HTML and images is certainly not a handicap."

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

lane-ends — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 19:57:57 GMT

Pink writing is too small, keep in mind many people search on their phone, especially in tihs catagory.

Unfortunately fewer people read the descriptions now as that is an extra step on a mobile app.

other than that it comes down to demand.

What else is around, not just on Ebay?

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

bakeandfry — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 21:03:11 GMT

I had a look at one of your listings, first thing i noticed was 3 pictures of the arcade stick, each one having different coloured buttons, in the item description you say to add what colour buttons the buyer would like in the notes, fair enough, but for mobile use i have to pinch and zoom the description just to read it, and sometimes it can be difficult to navigate the writing, due to a slight movement of my finger, can you add a drop down box for selectimg different coloured buttons? Makes it easyer for mobile users.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

1688store — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 00:18:04 GMT

Some mobile device is set to request desktop sites only, however that can be changed according to your mobile user manual.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

bakeandfry — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 07:16:49 GMT

Sorry, i ment to say for mobile users that use the app

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

1688store — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 10:41:40 GMT

I've updated my listings according to everyone's advice, but still no sale in 12 days and how do I boost my sales like other sellers.

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

digital*ghost — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 11:37:27 GMT

@1688customarcades wrote:
I've updated my listings according to everyone's advice, but still no sale in 12 days and how do I boost my sales like other sellers.

When you have a more specialised product, I think sometimes it can take a while to really get things up and running, as even if you're offering the best product on the market, if no one knows that's what it is, people will tend to stick to what they know, so I would personally work on building brand recognition and reputation.

In the meantime, though, there's a couple of things that may help boost traffic and / or sales, these may not all be suitable for you, but hopefully even if not, it will lead to more ideas.

The easiest way to increase traffic is by diversifying range (particularly at different price points), so that people who are interested in arcade sticks could find you via other products.

Another way to start getting some product / brand recognition is - if you can afford to do so - to get some independent product reviews from well known / respected tech or gaming sites that can guarantee (in as much as possible) that they will review the product (if nothing else, this can help build brand recognition, so it probably wouldn't hurt to have your brand name in item titles).

You could always try promoted listings, as well (I just need to mention first, I have never used them myself, so can't tell you how well they work, and honestly I feel eBay gets enough money out of me so I would personally be reluctant to use them....but...) The way these are supposed to work is you nominate an amount (percentage of sale) that you're prepared to pay to get more visibility in search results in specific areas, but you only pay that amount if someone clicks on your listing from one of these extra placements, and goes on to buy it (within 30 days of clicking on it).

Re: eBay Sales are not moving

lyndal1838 — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 11:44:43 GMT

Give it a chance.....it is not yet 3 full days since you first asked your question.

If other sellers of the same items are selling a lot more than you are then look at their listings and see what is different.

There is not other way to boost sales.