topic Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about?? in Selling

Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

keri1128 — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 13:36:17 GMT

Hi there.

I am fairly new to selling on eBay and my items do not have a high final value, therefore they are low profit as well. Fees from eBay and Paypal really eat into any profit I might be making, but I don't know that I could sell enough in a month to warrant opening an eBay store. Particularly with store items not appearing in general search results. The 20c insertion fee is appealing, but it would take a lot of them to make up the $49.95 in store fees per month.

It's a pity that eBay aren't able to offer lower fees for items that are recognised as having a genuine lower end price. It would certainly help me to compete with the sellers in China and Hong Kong who sell identical items at lower prices and with free postage!!

My only real drawcard to buyers is that my items do not take 4-6 weeks to arrive when travelling by regular mail, instead they take 1-7 days. Thankfully I am enjoying the eBay experience at the moment and will continue to test the waters and see if I can make myself some pocket money. But I won't be quitting my day job just yet.....lol.

And what is the real benefit of being a Powerseller? Do you get a reduction in any fees?? More prominent displays in searches?? Surely there is a reward for being a consistently good seller who manages their sales well and looks after their customers. After all, Powersellers are making more money for eBay aren't they?? I would have thought they deserved better discounts than casual sellers. Is Powerseller a name only? Is there any attraction for Buyers??

I'll look forward to any constructive comments that anyone can offer.

Regards, Keri.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

lyndal1838 — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 15:32:52 GMT

Hi Keri,

I am not a seller so can not answer all of your questions, but with the low number of listings that you have at the moment it would not be economically feasible for you to have a store.

You should be getting the 30 Free listings a month too, unless you usually have a lot more items listed than you have now.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

davewil1964 — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 15:46:55 GMT

It's been years since shop listings didn't appear in general searches. The recommended number of listings for a store is supposedly 100+.

Personally, I wouldn't try to compete with Chinese sellers on price. Try upping your prices. As you said, you have the advantage on postage times, so buyers should be prepared to pay a premium for that.

No idea about powerseller. A lot who get it come on the boards whinging because they don't get free listings anymore. As long as you tick all the boxes, PS will also give you Top Rated Seller status, which allegedly engenders trust with buyers.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

phorum_junkie* — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:03:25 GMT

You are selling in a very oversubscribed category so unless you can offer something other buyers can't you are going to struggle.

Do you just buy the beads to sell or do you make things with them? If you do make things why not sell them. The more items you list the more exposure you will get.

The postage time is not really a great advantage, depending where you are there are always going to be buyers somewhere who will probably have to wait over to weeks for your things to arrive and quite often items from HK arrive fairly quickly.

I used to do a good trade in selling tee shirts which I embellished with beads and/or sequins. I advertised them as one of a kind items and never did two exactly the same. That was back in the days before I had a store when I just auctioned about 20 to 30 a week. Sadly I no longer have the time or the energy left to do that anymore.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

the-kazbar — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:23:14 GMT

... Particularly with store items not appearing in general search results.

And what is the real benefit of being a Powerseller? Do you get a reduction in any fees?? More prominent displays in searches?? Surely there is a reward for being a consistently good seller who manages their sales well and looks after their customers. After all, Powersellers are making more money for eBay aren't they?? I would have thought they deserved better discounts than casual sellers. Is Powerseller a name only? Is there any attraction for Buyers??

Hi Keri,

Store item listings appear in searches exactly the same as any other listings now, and have done for a few years. In fact, an on-going multiple qty listing will move higher up the search rank once it has achieved some sales, compared to a once off listing.

As for being a PS, well ebay doesn't offer us anything except for another discussion board exactly the same as this one. To get Top Rated Seller status (TRS) you need to first be a powerseller and TRS is supposed to offer better search rankings (the jury is well and truely out on that though).

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/top-rated.html

Sadly, there are no fee discounts, special advantages or incentives to be a PS.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

putney32 — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:37:29 GMT

if you are new to selling you need to read the ebay rules about Keyword Spamming.

I'm pretty sure you are not allowed to say your beads 'compare to Swarovski,if they are NOT Swarovski beads !

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

syrupsmummy — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:43:40 GMT

Now cheapest store fee is $49.95 per month. It means, if you sell 100 items you pay 50c per item for store fee on top of 20c insertion fee plus 7% FVF.

So if you sold $3 item in store you pay $0.91 (50c + 20c + 21c) for fee when you sell 100 items per month.

If you only sell 50 items per month you pay $1 store fee per item. So for $3 item you pay $1.41 ($1.00 + 20c + 21c) for fee.

Insertion fee can be reduced if you are selling multiple quantity. If you list quantity 10 and sell all your insertion fee per item will be reduced to 2c per item.

You need to consider all factors to consider if a store is for you or not.

I think at this stage if you are not a powerseller yet using 30 free listing is better option. Once you become a powerseller you will lose 30 free listing. So you can thin about a store because you need to pay insertion fee 50 per item to list.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

digital*ghost — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:20:50 GMT

I would personally take out the line in the description about not being able to compete on price with Chinese sellers - you want to market the advantages of buying from you without the first point being "you can get it cheaper elsewhere", if you know what I mean. So, highlight what those advantages are, eg local stock, fast shipping, quick delivery, maybe quality control if you cull the duds.

With a small range in the beads category, I think it's going to be difficult to really make it worthwhile, in that only a limited number of people will find you, and they will probably buy only a couple of items at best.

I buy a lot of jewellery findings and to be honest, there's a limited number that I'm prepared to pay more for to get it faster etc. If you get to the point where you're considering having a store, aside from increasing your product range to cross promote your items, I would recommend having a really good range of more unique items - there are no tensha beads currently located in Australia on eBay (except in already made products), very few unique handmade lampwork beads (take a look at the current bid price of Magma Beads ~Vintage Lace~ Handmade Lampwork Beads), and just a couple of the more unusual Czech fire polish beads. There are also some absolutely beautiful semi-precious beads out there that will cost a little more to invest in, but at the same time, that's why there's fewer of them located in Australia.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

flashback_deals — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 23:02:32 GMT

If you list sheap mitems, don't forget payPal takes out 30c per transacton + a bit over 4% in fees too

If you list cheap items, the 30c fee is a killer

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

keri1128 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 01:16:19 GMT

Thanks everyone. There are some really great pieces of advice in your replies.

I do buy in bulk, but I am testing the waters to see what sells right now. I know that myself I was getting annoyed with ordering stock and then having to wait weeks for it to arrive. So I was hoping that being a genuine Aussie located seller would appeal to others. Especially if I was close to the overseas pricing.

With regards to the person who stated that I can't say 'Compares to Swarovski'. Well my beads do compare and they are exactly what the Chinese sellers list as genuine Swarovski. I figured that I was being honest and letting people know that whilst they aren't Swarovski, the quality is similar if not just as good. I get really annoyed that other sellers blatantly list their stock as Swarovski and trade on that good name when their item clearly isn't. You will note that my newer listings do not use the Swarovski name as I am hoping that the Positive Feedback I have received from Buyers will speak to the quality of the product I am selling.

I did all the calculations as to whether the quantities I have would be worth setting up a store for, and they would be, but only if everything sold. That's why I'm trying out some of the more unusual and less available shapes, as well as the tried and tested Rondelles. I have plenty of stock here, but I am selling it bag by bag until I decide whether to take the plunge with a store.

So thank you to those who shared some valuable insights with me. I really do appreciate the time you have taken to reply to my questions.

Regards, Keri.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

keri1128 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 01:25:20 GMT

Point taken putney32.

Thankyou for drawing my attention to this and I will adhere to the policy you have directed me to. It's hard to know everything that eBay expects and to be honest, I used other listings as a guideline for my own. Figuring that if they had been allowed to trade as such for as long as they had, that what they were doing was acceptable. Clearly eBay have issues policing things like this, but I am not one for violating policy if I am made aware of it.

My understanding now is that whilst it is not OK to use the comparison in the Title, you can draw a single comparison in your item desciption, provided it is accurate and relevant.

Thanks again.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

chuk_77 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 01:49:30 GMT

kerri as a bead buyer I want to point out something.

You use the term Swarovski when clearly they are not but what exactly are they?

The beads i had a quick look at looked to be acrylic, it would help buyers like myself, looking for particular things to know exactly what the bead is made from and how big the holes are too (been caught out there a few times)

Also practise taking the photos in natural light so the there is no flash on the pics and the beads are all the same colour in each shot

Having said all that, I'd love to see more aussie sellers selling beads with comparable prices instead of having to wait for items from Hong kong.

Your prices are in the ball park for me to buy from you, but I'm just not sure exactly what it is I'm buying

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

crypsynight — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:13:19 GMT

When it comes to selling beads, the only pattern for sales is that there isn't one.

I've had items that haven't sold for 6 months, then sell out in a weekend. Things are also rather quiet at the moment, so 'testing the waters' wont give you a very accurate idea of traffic.

Looking at the listing with the red hearts - you may wish to include full dimensions including thickness and the size of the hole.

Just one thing i noticed - you have postage as $0.60. Do you incorporate the rest into the base price, or are you posting them in an envelope? If in an envelope, you may wish to reconsider as they go through AP's regular letter sorting machine, and the beads are at risk of being caught and ripped out of the envelope. Also bare in mind that AP aren't particularly 'delicate' with their handling.

I also agree with the previous posts - take out the bit about China from your listings.

And the bit about Swarovski.... If they are high quality, then list them as 'A' Grade. By stating that they compare to Swarovski, the only thing you are highlighting is that they aren't Swarovski.

I try not to look at what else is available in the category. You've got Chinese Crystal listed as Swarovski, lampwork listed as Murano, zinc alloys listed as Tibetan Silver, item locations being Hong Kong Australia..... You just have to ignore it, with the hope that they get caught out in the end (but don't hold your breathe)..

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

chuk_77 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:25:08 GMT

just got all excited looking through your store crypsynight

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

chuk_77 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:28:19 GMT

sorry for the hijack of the thread but how come your listings have never come up when I search crypsynight? I'm obviously doing something wrong considering you sell what I look for

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

crypsynight — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:29:01 GMT

:^O

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

keri1128 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:32:59 GMT

I'm certainly learning a lot today.

Chuk_77. My beads are Crystal Glass. K9 Crystal is another definition I have come across.

If you are looking for the perfection that Swarovski offer, mine will not be what you want. But the beads I sell are high quality and have a brilliant sparkle. And yes, I am finding it very difficult to take good photographs of them. Natural light is, as you say, best. But it is very difficult taking photos of such small items.

I will start putting the hole dimensions in my descriptions. But generally they are 1mm. And yes, I too have been caught out with that, like you.

When you say acrylic, I think plastic, but these are most definitely not plastic. You can buy an identical product in Spotlight, for twice the price I am able to sell for.

I originally started purchasing beads to make jewellery for myself, but was so impressed with the quality and the comments that I was receiving when I wore my bracelets, that I thought maybe there was a market for them. I don't know that I would sell my jewellery as it is such a personal thing and from what I can see, the competition (again mainly from China) is huge in that department.

Cryspynight. I send my beads in what Aust Post call Padded Bags, which are envelopes lined with bubblewrap. I was able to source them fairly cheap (through eBay) and factor them into the cost of the beads. I didn't want to inflate my postage cost to cover packaging as well. I figure that I have to absorb some of the costs myself to keep my prices competitive.

And thank you for the suggestion that I sell them as A Grade. I'm going to have lots of revisions to make over the next few days.

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

chuk_77 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:36:42 GMT

try using the macro setting of your camera (the little flower)

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

crypsynight — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:37:41 GMT

No idea, I've been around for years. Maybe because you've fallen asleep by the time you've browsed through all the 'Location-confused Chinese' Australian sellers.

After all, we all know, ebay lists all our items all the time...apparently 😐

Re: Do stores get enough traffic for low Final Value items?? What is PS about??

licoricebabyandfabmama — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:37:53 GMT

Sorry dont know if its been said but in regards to your quote

, I used other listings as a guideline for my own. Figuring that if they had been allowed to trade as such for as long as they had, that what they were doing was acceptable.

Assuming you took a look at the chinese listings then DONT, lol

IMO the chinese sellers never list anything as what it actually is, they come from a selling culture where everything is pretty much a copy of everything else Rarely do i even see them use their own pictures when selling.

Just list your items in the best way you can of what they actually are. People that know what they are looking for will find them and appreciate not having to look at another chinese website. This way you will also avoid buyers being disappointed in what they have received and leaving neutral or negative feedback about quality.

Also I find people still do look solely for items located in Australia because there is more trust and even though shipping time is getting quicker and quicker from china you still never know how long you could be waiting for.