HOW DO I GET A VIABLE LEVEL OF SALES ON EBAY

[affordablequalitybrandedproducts]

Hi Everyone,

I am very concerned at how poorly my ebay sales are performing ... I must be doing something wrong!

My Customers are largely happy and I have 100% Feedback (680 Positives).

I principally sell top of the range branded stationery products and my total stock of about 1650 listings that I offer on ebay is worth about $400K at usual retail prices.

Mainly I match Office Works pricing, and I am currently offering 50% off that "usual retail price", with the support of my suppliers for a few months.

For past retail experience, this level of stock at usual retail prices would result in sales of about $5K per day, but at 1/2 price those sales would more than double.

On ebay I am only selling a fraction of that ... like 2 to 3% of the above typical retail store sales. 

I am terrified as to what my sales will drop to when my suppliers promotional support pakages end and my prices have to go closer to usual retail prices. Given that my overheads are kept to an absolute minimum, I will still be able to disount my Office Works based pricing by say 20% but it seems to me that ebayers expect a lot cheaper than that and I will need to increase my sales at least 5 fold over what they are at 50% off !

My listings are NOT split in product groupings and that might have a bearing, but most of my customers inform me that they know what they are looking for and just type it into the ebay search engine anyway ... I do have multiple item sales so that seems to not be too much of an issue and it would take days to spilt everything into separate product categories.

Your similar experiences and any suggestions would be sincerely appreciated. 

Thank you.

[englishrosegardens]

You're right, of course. Contact details do not include a website address! I was probably led astray by all those sellers who do have their websites in their listings, in one form or another.

[cridco]

These are my personal books, so not a business. I have sub categories where necessary when the category has too much diversity. I use categories like a map, I guess, or a pathway to make it easier for customers to fibd what is there. Take the category books - wellness and wisdom, I am considering organising that better because the collection seems to be getting too diverse.

[affordablequalitybrandedproducts]

Hi,

I can find any listings or significant feedback at your ebay username. Do you perhaps sell from a different ebay username?

[lyndal1838]

Chameleon has several other selling IDs. for both business and private selling.

Many sellers prefer not to use their selling IDs on the boards....at least not their main IDs.

[affordablequalitybrandedproducts]

I did not think that ebay would permit more than one ebay account for anyone. 

Anyway, could you please direct me th the ebay store that was being referred to as I would like to see what is on offer.

[chameleon54]

I prefer to keep my stores ID,s private in regards to the forums as one of them was interfered with as a result of an accidental post several years ago. ( I posted with my main store ID once by mistake. ) The unwanted attention forced me to shut the store down for several weeks, resulting in no income when I desprately needed it.

For the same reasons, I dont disclose the specific niche that the stores sell into, but it is related to heavy industry. Very much a small specialist field that I have had previous vocational experience with.. 

Our private account which is making better sales than the stores some weeks, sells general collectables, rare books and vintage car parts. I used to restore and play around with old cars 30 years ago and regularly attended auctions of automotive garages and wrecking yards. I would buy huge bulk lots of parts just to get the component I wanted with the rest piled in sheds on a farm. These old parts have now matured to become highly valued and sought after. The private account is more vibrant than the stores with collectables and vintage car parts still highly sought after on ebay.

Another area that this account sells into from time to time is " garaginalia ". This is old service station related memorabilia such as enamel signs, old oil cans and oil bottles. This field is white hot at the moment with some rare oil bottles and signs fetching $2000-$3000.

This account only uses the 40 free monthly listings, but often recieves the 150 or 500 free listing offers that appear on forums. ( thanks to all who post the links ) . It is now selling more than our smaller store and will be declared as income to the ATO this year as its sales have got a bit out of hand.

[englishrosegardens]

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/multiple-accounts.html

This explains multiple accounts. Just remember that if you open a new account you'll have restrictions on how many items you can list on it for quite a while (until you've proven yourself), and paypal may hold your payments for 21 days unless you get your accounts linked (or complain to the ombudsman).

There's a reason that a lot of sellers use posting IDs and not our selling IDs in the forums. If I used my selling ID you might think "Oh, she does well, I think I'll start to sell what she does." While I do want buyers to find me, I don't tell other sellers what I sell in case they muscle in on my territory. You'd do better to look at how your competitors do things than those in the forums anyway.