topic Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items in Selling

New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

luxory_jewellery — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 00:55:28 GMT

I am trying to open a side business by selling stuffs on eBay.

I am selling engagement rings made with cubic zirconia (middle grade ~ with high enough shine and durability) and 925 silver coated with rhodium (to ensure its shine is long lasting and avoiding alergic reactions (some people I researched are allergic to nickel which is in silver).

I priced my products quite low but not rock bottom low, as I cannot compete with bigger sellers who can get items at much lower prices.

I tried to have good pictures & some videos.

In IG (instagram), I have many likes.

I have people bookmarking or watching my items, but no one is pressing buy.

At this stage, I am hessitant in relisting the item before knowing how to ensure sales.

I wonder if anyone can help me to give any inputs about why these items are not selling.

Any advice is much appreciated.

My items can be found here

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/8-75-Carat-Diamond-Tennis-Bracelet-4mm-0-25-carat-VVS1-D-Clear-Round-Diamond/332672129099?hash=item4d74cdd84b:g:~BwAAOSwkLJbF7FP

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

imastawka — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 01:01:31 GMT

If you're talking this ID, then you have no completed listings for the jewellery, and they've been listed for less than 2 weeks.

How quickly do you think they're going to sell?

Ebay is very slow atm, and you're competing in a market flooded by the Chinese.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

luxory_jewellery — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 01:07:47 GMT

Thank you for your very prompt reply. It is ver much appreciated 🙂

So to summarize your points, as a solution, if I persist to sell these sort of items, I will try to do the following points:

1. Change my ID to something that reflects the item.

2. Try to get 1-2 similar items sold and get feedback on them.

3. Have competitive pricing.

Let me know if I"m not getting your points correctly ... 🙂

Thanks again 🙂

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

imastawka — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 01:17:15 GMT

I actually meant none of those points.

When I mentoned your ID, it was because some members come to the boards on another ID. It's not always the ID that they are referring to.

There are 'posting' ID's that some use.

I was merely pointing out that your items have not been listed for very long, and you need to acquire some patience.

Someone else may have some ideas on what you can do to sell competitively.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

kopenhagen5 — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 01:41:41 GMT

Your Titles are good, pictures are good and so is description.

As mentioned your eBay ID name is irrelevant unless you expect a lot of repeat customers then something easier to remember for the buyer may be appropriate.

eBay is just slow now and jewellery is one of the categories flooded with items.

I suggest perhaps buying a few smaller items to get your feedback score up a little, many might be hesitant to buy from someone with only 6 transactions showing feedback.

Also perhaps sell a few small items not needed around the house so you get at least seller feedback of 10, then the DSR stars begin to show and that can make a buyer feel more comfortable in buying from you.

Good luck.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

curraone — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 01:44:13 GMT

sorry I don't know anything about jewellery selling either

but you might want to fix this small error:

Keep it in the box it in the box whilst not being used.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

digital*ghost — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 02:08:14 GMT

I sell fashion jewellery, and have been for a few years now, so I hope I may be able to provide some info / advice that helps.

The first thing I need to say is that you really shouldn't be using diamond as a keyword for CZs, unless it's referring to the cut. A couple of your titles say 'Diamond Simulant', which is better, but the rings and tennis bracelet just have diamond in the title. Aside from anything else, people know that they can't get a diamond bracelet for $65, so someone who is actually looking for diamond jewellery - and your listing will show up in a search for it - isn't going to look twice at your listing. In other words, if you are using diamond for more attention, it's probably having the opposite effect. (There's also an eBay policy with regards to keyword spamming - using keywords not related to the item you're selling).

CZs are graded by A's - if yours are mid-range, they'd be AAA grade (A grade is the lowest, AAAAA grade is the highest) - having your items described correctly both in titles and descriptions is going to give buyers more confidence in your items, because you A) look like you know your stuff, and B) don't look like you're trying to mislead (I'm not accusing you of trying to do that, I'm just saying that by trying to cast a bigger or more attractive net, you can inadvertently give out the wrong impression as to your intentions).

When I first started selling jewellery, there was one main thing I observed and concluded about selling it online, based on the fact that it's one of the most saturated categories out there, not just on eBay, but pretty much all online marketplaces - - to be moderately successful you either need to have unique items, or have a large range.

If you go for unique, you can stay smaller because you'll have things people can't find anywhere else, so you'll have less competition and can catch niche buyers; if you have stuff that's available from multiple sellers at multiple outlets (and not necessarily exactly the same designs, but can be objectively described the same way), then having a big range is the best way to carve out your own corner. It's possible to take a little from column A and a little from column B to create a niche with non-unique items, of course - eg having a theme shop, personalising the items in some way (be it the piece itself, or unique, personalised packaging for gift-giving), or bundling them with items that may tempt someone more towards your item than someone else's ('free' polishing cloths is a common item used for that).

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

joztamps — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 02:36:39 GMT

Just on the question of building up feedback, the books tell you to build up some as a buyer before launching into selling, by ebay purchases of supplies and ancillary stuff you need for selling, purchases of other stuff you need, and small purchases of stuff you don't necessarily need, but do want.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

brerrabbit585 — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 04:24:34 GMT

The listing you included the link for is extremely confusing to me. The title says it's 8.75 carat diamond and the description says it's diamonds. The only place you mention cubic zirconia is in the item specifics, but even there you've got indications that it could be diamonds. If it's CZ it should be mentioned in the description!

If it's not diamonds you can't list it as diamonds, end of story. It's false representation and if you do sell any you could end up with a heap of negative feedback and your selling career will be over before it's started. Anyone who knows their jewellery will be wary of the contradictions in your listing and be even less likely to buy, so describe it exactly as it is and don't try and get more people to look at the listing by using words that don't relate to it.

A lot of people (and I'm one of them) won't have a clue what VVS1 D in the title means and I'm not really sure it's going to help the item sell to the sort of people who are likely to buy your sort of items. If I wanted to buy something relatively cheapish, I wouldn't expect to have to go and research what those things mean, so perhaps you could give a bit more detail.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

zanadoo_56 — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 05:04:48 GMT

I read the listing for the bracelet and also found the reference to diamond confusing....and frankly misleading. Of course diamonds aren't that cheap but it does nead clarification.

I don't sell jewellery (or anything on eBay actually) so maybe I'm being optimistic, but I can't see anything wrong with mentioning up front that they are cubic zirconias. Everyone knows that cut well they can look as bright as diamonds and I've heard of some wealthy people keeping the expensive stuff in bank vaults and wearing cheaper copies.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

wide-world-of-stamps — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 05:15:54 GMT

Yes, very confusing.

It leaves the seller open to not as described cases & negative feedback as not everyone will pick up the reference in the item specifics (or even read the description, as we all know!).

Cubic zirconia should definitely be mentioned in the title, & also more prominently in the description.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

lyndal1838 — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 05:25:29 GMT

You need to remove the word diamond from your listings....it is misleading.

And you need to cultivate some patience. Selling on ebay takes time....you may not sell your first item for weeks.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

brerrabbit585 — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 07:29:57 GMT

I am selling engagement rings made with cubic zirconia (middle grade ~ with high enough shine and durability) and 925 silver coated with rhodium (to ensure its shine is long lasting and avoiding alergic reactions (some people I researched are allergic to nickel which is in silver).

Why don't you put the bolded bit in your descriptions? It's a good selling point and may persuade some people to buy. At the moment your descriptions don't say what people are actually buying (because they're not diamonds but you don't mention zirconia) or any of the benefits of what they're buying.

Why not say you use medium grade cubic zirconia as a cheaper alternative to diamonds but you use medium grade for their shine and durability? Pointing out the positive aspects is always going to help them sell, whereas at the moment the listings just set alarm bells ringing and scare buyers away because of all the negative or conflicting descriptions. If I hadn't read your post in the forums I would never have known what I was buying if I'd seen your listing - they sound like two completely different products.

Why be afraid to list them as cubic zirconia in the title and description? Lots of people who can't afford diamonds would search for cubic zirconia and wouldn't see any listings using the word diamond because their search would actually be for "cubic zirconia -diamond" (which blocks all listings using diamond in them).

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

countessalmirena — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 07:42:23 GMT

@white888999,

First of all - without having looked at your listings (because I don't want to increase your page view without buying, as I seem to recall reading that this may be a metric that causes visibility for your items to lower) - I would say the following:

If a man went on bended knee and offered me a cubic zirconia ring as an engagement ring, I would not be impressed. A small natural diamond as the stone would be better than a large cubic zirconia. (Actually, I prefer coloured stones, and a ruby or an emerald or a medium dark sapphire or a padparadscha sapphire would be gorgeous in an engagement ring... but I know I'm in the minority, and most women prefer diamond solitaires for their engagement rings.) So... I am not sure that putting the word "engagement" into your title or description would be a good idea. If you list such rings as Stylish cubic zirconia dress ring (rhodium-coated silver band), I think you might perhaps get more searchers who are looking for that sort of ring, hence more searchers converted to buyers. That will positively affect your sell-through rate.
As has been mentioned by almost everyone else in this thread, don't use the word "diamond" unless you are selling genuine diamonds. It's one of the most annoying and off-putting things on eBay. It will have people who are looking for a diamond ring clicking onto your listing, reading it, and:
- either hitting the back button when they read "cubic zirconia" in your description, or
- going ahead with the purchase under the impression that the ring is a genuine diamond ring. The result of that would be bad; some of those buyers are sure to get an appraisal, and discover that it's CZ. There will be negatives, unhappy buyers, claims of "significantly not as described", enforced refunds, and a world of woe for you.

Secondly, as digital*ghost has said (and you should take great note of everything digital*ghost says, knowing that this is one of d*g's specific fields of expertise, and apart from that, d*g is one of the many very knowledgeable people on these boards - and there are other very knowledgeable eBay people who have also posted on your thread), jewellery is "one of the most saturated categories" out there. The competition is enormous, and a lot of your competition will be Chinese sellers who won't scruple to say "high quality", "best quality", "genuine", without those terms being true. (Some will even say "silver" when the metal is silver-coloured, who will say "diamond" when it's cubic zirconia, and in every respect seek to undercut and present low-quality or medium-quality or fake/replica items as genuine, high quality, etc.)

So... you need to differentiate yourself from that sort of seller. Don't scream "GENUINE!" in the title, and don't use the word "diamond" unless you're selling genuine diamonds. Don't think that buyers should realize from the price that they're not getting genuine diamonds; when it comes to eBay buyers in particular, there's a weird idea that one can get the real genuine item at rock-bottom prices by going straight to the source (i.e., buying online, cutting out the middleman - aka the jeweller's shop), and these buyers will expect an unrealistic bargain.

Think very seriously about whether you can compete in this category. There's no saying that you can't... but your business strategy must include a way for you to compete effectively against genuine Australian jewellers selling good quality (or medium-good quality) jewellery on eBay, against local or Asian sellers selling costume / dress jewellery of low through medium to high quality (at various prices - with the Chinese sellers usually able to offer the best value for various perfectly understandable reasons), and against jewellery designers who use a variety of stones (usually semi-precious) to craft pre-made or custom jewellery.

What can you offer to make yourself stand out?

Think about that, and use all the decision matrix tools you can to work out what to offer, how to present what you offer, and how to set your selling price (among other things).

And... again, as others have said, get your feedback up. Buyers will of course be far more reluctant to purchase from an eBay member who has a low feedback score, and few feedback comments/feedback marks given. Look at some low-value items that you wouldn't mind buying, and buy them. (Don't buy just for the purpose of getting feedback, as that's against eBay's policy... but there's no reason why the gaining of feedback can't be one of your reasons for purchasing.)

Any attempt to artificially increase your Feedback score, or lower another member's, is considered Feedback manipulation.

Best of luck!

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

imastawka — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 07:57:02 GMT

And further to that, don't under any circumstances, buy stock items with your selling ID.

Create another ID for that purpose.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

digital*ghost — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 07:57:26 GMT

@countessalmirena wrote:

If a man went on bended knee and offered me a cubic zirconia ring as an engagement ring, I would not be impressed. A small natural diamond as the stone would be better than a large cubic zirconia.

I looked at getting some loose 5A grade CZs some months back....

Then I realised that even just to get a couple of hundred machine cut stones (which are cheaper and slightly sub-par to hand cut), I'd have to temporarily bankrupt myself, and that was wholesale pricing.

I'd take a CZ. If I was the marrying kind.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

brerrabbit585 — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 08:11:36 GMT

Diamonds have never done anything for me - complete waste of money as far as I'm concerned. I've heard that once upon a time diamonds were really cheap but some bright person decided to use clever advertising and suddenly they were the in thing for engagement rings and they've been worth a lot ever since. I don't know whether it's true or not but it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

digital*ghost — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 08:24:28 GMT

@brerrabbit585 wrote:
Diamonds have never done anything for me - complete waste of money as far as I'm concerned. I've heard that once upon a time diamonds were really cheap but some bright person decided to use clever advertising and suddenly they were the in thing for engagement rings and they've been worth a lot ever since. I don't know whether it's true or not but it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

That would be De Beers - they are generally considered responsible for the idea that engagement rings should have a diamond and be worth 2(?) months salary, as well.

They allegedly monopolised the market and created a false sense of rarity by restricting availability, so they systematically worked to create demand but restrict supply to increase perceived value.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

brerrabbit585 — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 08:34:14 GMT

Haven't they found lots more diamonds apart from Africa now? I suppose it's too late because the idea's stuck well and truly in a lot of women's heads that they have to have a diamond or they're somehow inferior to everyone else. I know there are diamonds in the Kimberleys but I don't know how extensive the mines there are.

Re: New Seller Needing Feedback on My Items

digital*ghost — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 08:46:56 GMT

Apparently the mine in the Kimberleys is the largest in the world by volume, but quality is low so that's supposedly closing in a couple of years.

You can actually get your body turned into a diamond after you pass, which means you can literally personify the Pink Floyd song, if you're into that.