Ever felt invisible on eBay? How did you break free?

[thesoulyearns]

Going through a pretty poor patch right now. Hardly any views, watchers obviously mean nothing anymore (just sellers scoping out prices) and can't sell something for pennies.

Have any sellers gone through this patch where it feels like you are completely invisible to anyone with $1 to spend and how did you break free from it?

[jillywinkle]

I've had a store in ebay for almost 7 years, till lately. Now I just do a few auctions here. It's a mess.

jilly

[daylie*performance]

A couple of pointers I think may help you, try playing around a bit with your title wording so the searchable words customer word generally used are in it.

Also, you have the option when creating/revising your listing to add some fields for searchable catagories, so try adding these to clarify your item eg: DVD, CD, VHS Video etc...

This may help you get higher up on the searchable pages and be found, hope that helps!

P.S: Some constructive critisism; Your pics look fine, but maybe spruce up the description area a bit? Yu could try using a template, or just add some info about shipping, return policy etc to give some buyer confidence. 😉

[thesoulyearns]

Thanks daylie*performance for your personalised response. Just had a look at your listings - virtually, if not, everything has a bid at good prices... incredible. Top work... 🙂

I have about zero buyer confidence and it's frustrating. I'm happy to sell/list some things for 0.99c and get a bite because it's positive feedback (hopefully) at the end of the day. I do find it insulting to suggest some things I sell are worth less just because of some negative vibe people may get looking at my listings. It's not a problem with my pics or lack of description (with all due respect to your constructive criticism)... I've tried very detailed descriptions that they didn't help at all, so I really don't care to waste my time detailing something when all they do is hit the back button anyway... It's just no one "wants what I'm offering" so to speak. Frustrating... oh well, life goes on. I won't budge and give some things away for peanuts, though, when I know they're worth more. If they don't want to bid, sure fine they can find some of my rare stuff elsewhere. I just wish I knew what the heck was the reason people don't have confidence to bid or buy my stuff... it's not my listings at all, it's something else. Bah...

[thesoulyearns]

try playing around a bit with your title wording so the searchable words customer word generally used are in it.

This is actually, from what I understand, against eBay's rules. If you'll notice eBay's keyword spamming page, it says you can't describe your item by using descriptive words. It's a form of keyword spamming. I know 99.9% of sellers do it but that's precisely why I've tried to cut down on that on some of my listings.

If you'll notice eBay's own titles never contain anything but the title of the item, the year it was made or any other specific feature.

[digital*ghost]

You may need to consider that the CD market is not what it used to be, especially on eBay (CDs used to be the top selling item on eBay several years ago, but the ease in which purely digital libraries can be acquired and maintained has affected sales dramatically, and the market probably won't ever recover).

Also, as a quasi-digital format, it probably won't enjoy a revival like analogue formats have. Vinyl has remained a relatively consistent market, with occasional dips and swells, or cassette, which (frustratingly... for me anyway :^O) recently became "cool" again - not old cassettes, really, there's just been a bit of a resurgence in popularity by independent artists, but that's a bit beside the point. CDs just don't have the same nostalgic appeal because there's little organic sound and 'ritual' involved like there is with other formats.

That means when the popularity of that particular format wanes as it has, the best venue for selling them (and at decent prices) may not be a casual "hyper" market like eBay, where the casual buyer may be looking but not wanting to pay a premium. For premium prices, you need patience, and probably to sell premiums; the kind of market where dedicated collectors look for that one specific issue, even though they already own several other issues of the release.

In general, there's just no rhyme and reason sometimes as to an item's visibility and/or desirability. I had an item listed for months with a few views and one watcher, it finally sold early last week. A couple of days later, I'd finished a new one, listed it, and it sold a couple of hours later. So I made another one and listed it Sunday - excluding myself, no one's looked at it yet. I know in that instance it's early days yet (for my item), but it's just the way it seems to go sometimes, even for relatively consistently successful sellers. Patience is sometimes key, while paying attention to what the market can and occasionally does tell you...and ultimately, don't take it personally if someone doesn't want to buy your item. 😉

[thesoulyearns]

Thanks, D*G. 🙂

That's the thing with a store vs. no store. The 30-day listings seem like a big help as far as longevity. Do you have to pay an edditional listing fee to relist it the next month if it doesn't sell or is it a one-time fee? Honestly, my patience is sometimes very short... especially as I'm not a business seller and just want to get rid of these things but not for considerably less than they're worth. Some things can go to charity or for peanuts but not everything...

Selling is a personal thing, IMO. If someone buys, they like you. If they don't, they don't like you or they've just gotten a very good deal and are happy to give you a smidgen of what it's actually worth. Each listing is that seller's space. A different seller could throw their item in the trash can, stamp it down a bit, take it out, wash it off, photograph it ontop of the trashcan lid, write "good" as the only word in their description and still sell it for more than I did if my item was 10 x in better condition, photographed and detailed. eBay buyers... you've got me stumped as to what motivates you to purchase something.

[digital*ghost]

Selling can feel personal, but a lot of the buying process on eBay is quite depersonalised, so from the buyer's perspective they're probably not regarding you or your listings as you might think they are.

The thing is, when you're listing individual items, no matter which way you cut it, unless it's something in very high demand, with demand exceeding supply, there will be significantly more people who don't want to buy it than do, and of those that do, some will only buy it if it's cheap enough, some will only buy it some time in the future if/when they have the money...only one person can or will buy it, and while you can do a few things that will increase your chances, you don't need to create a listing that tries to sell the item to 99.99% of people who simply won't buy it, you just - IMHO - need to create a listing that shows and tells people what they need to know to make a well-informed decision.

With CDs in particular, it's a matter of having the listing there when the person who wants to buy it is looking for it, and that can sometimes be a long time. 

The listing fees with a store are recurring, 20 cents for every 30 days, although that would be 5 cents for CDs with a 9.9% FVF (on account of most media sellers having a high stock number with many that take months, or even years to sell). 

This may or may not help, but what motivates me to buy the things I do is that I want or need it, and it's at a price I'm prepared to pay. That's it. 😉 

[thesoulyearns]

Thanks, D*G. Yes, there is alot of good information in your posts as always. 🙂

A better statement might be that the whole process of buying/selling is personal - on both ends. It takes two to tango.

It's a funny thing this eBay stuff. Too personal and they won't buy... too impersonal and it may take months to sell for the right price. To be honest, I think alot of what motivates someone to buy is when they think the seller really doesn't care either way. As in, the buyer doesn't feel pushed into it... "hi there, this is for sale. Buy or not, no worries mate! thanks for checking out my listing!" - that type of thing. No pressure comes through and people actually gravitate towards that.

That reflects life alot too. Breezy, casual, relaxed = better. Serious, dull, just stating the facts about a listing = boring, not worth buying from. That's actually pretty on the mark, I reckon. Now, if only I could find a template that conveys a "relaxed" personality... 😛

[davewil1964]

I only list facts in my listings. No hyperbole, no gushy phrases.

Mind you the info I give is still a lot more than a lot of sellers in my category.

I rarely have the cheapest price for a specific item, but I still sell a few.

[bsal6160]

One of my favorite past-times is watching items that a seller thinks will sell, at an over-inflated price, and watch them not sell. Yet the same sellers keep re-listing them at the same price over and over. Dont they get the hint that its not going to sell at their price so should consider dropping it. I would assume that most sellers would be smart enough to realise that if it doesnt sell the first time then it wont sell at that price?