Ebay note on non selling items

[jimmyjoejoe_jnr]

Has anyone else got a note on their unsold listings saying ebay recommend you lower your price to a certain $ value as similar items sold for that price.This is the first time I have seen this.

[transport-posters]

I've received these for a while now.

I actually ^ INCREASE ^ my prices if they don't sell, as my items are artwork, and I see them as rarer if they don't sell, so the value goes up.

I often find that if I increase my prices, they start selling.  A have a couple of theories: buyers wanting to buy it before it goes up too high or eBay being greedy and showing my items more when they get more fees from it.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@transport-posters wrote:

I've received these for a while now.

I actually ^ INCREASE ^ my prices if they don't sell, as my items are artwork, and I see them as rarer if they don't sell, so the value goes up.

I often find that if I increase my prices, they start selling.  A have a couple of theories: buyers wanting to buy it before it goes up too high or eBay being greedy and showing my items more when they get more fees from it.

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You know, I've done that too and it does work in a lot of cases. I wonder if it's as you said, a buyer was watching it, saw it has gone up and doesn't want to risk it going up again.

[transport-posters]

I truly don't understand it to be honest.  I've tried listing all my prints with lower prices, it seems to make no difference in generating more sales.  I think another theory is the psychology of it.  By it being worth more as an item, it must be better in the buyers' eyes.

[the4masters2013]

I used to get them all the time. I've found if you ignore them ( and delete the messages) eventually ebay gets the idea you are not changing your pricing on items.

[gumardee_coins_and_banknotes]

When I done Brand management at Uni, the Lecturer said only 10% of people in any market buy on price, the rest buy on other things. Market segmentation it is.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

I get them on my auctions all the time telling me to lower my price and list as a fixed price to attract more buyers. I list all my listings as auctions with a BIN option for those that prefer to BIN. Some sell as BIN, most sell as auctions. I just ignore those messages.

I feel sorry for the newer sellers when eBay recommends they start their auctions at 99c and they do. Then they sell for 99c and they lose out big time. They should be encouraging sellers, not trying to force them to lose money so they leave.

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I looked at my unsolds tonight before I relisted them and that message has changed. It no longer tells me to change to a fixed price listing and lower my price to attract more buyers. Now it tells me to drop my start price (most $1-2 below my starting bid, some 99c).

I had to laugh at one. It's listed with a starting bid of $9.99. It told me to drop my start bid to 99c and that other similar items have sold for between $70 and $280!!! Maybe I should have upped the start price! There is no way it's worth $70, let alone $280! If anyone has paid that price for this particular item, they are insane.

Just to put it to the test and given I won't be able to use anywhere near the 200 freebies this weekend, I relisted one for the start price eBay recommended ($2 lower than the original start price). I left it half an hour and ended it. When it fell into the unsold area, the message then told me to reduce my start price by $2....even though I listed it at the amount they said.

So, it seems that even if you take their advice and reduce your price, they will still tell you to drop it more. Must confuse the heck out of new sellers!

[davewil1964]

All my tips now are to start at 99c auctions.

For a store where I get 30 day (+3 relists) for 5c, vs $1.50 for 10 days max.

I would like to know which orifice they are dragging their data from re 'previous items sold for', given very few books are sold at auction. And even less when they are mass market paperbacks.