You can read "Why 60% of eBay Auctions Don't End in Sales" here. Reply to this message to discuss it.

Wow! 40% would depress me dreadfully! I sell antiques and collectables, and regularly achieve 95% successful sales. How do I do that?
Trust – people can read my feedback.
Honesty – I mention and photograph every fault [if there is one] so people know exactly what they are getting.
Hard work – I research and properly describe everything I sell.
Fair postage – I do not make a profit on postage.
Low start price – 99p and no reserve. If it is worth £100 it won't sell for much less.
Timing – a 10 day listing, starting on Thursday evening and ending Sunday evening, giving two weekends to gain maximum exposure with both trade and private buyers.
Photographs – I never take just one when 8 or 10 or 16 would better, and always in focus.
Last but not least – I use Auctiva, a wonderful tool that has made my life so much easier, and managed to improve my sales by 10% from the day I signed up for it. Thanks Auctiva..!

I have about a 70% success rate, which is pretty good considering I have little feedback (only started out)

40% I think would have put me off right at the start.

Nice email eclecticoldsod but you have not sold anything for the last two month and two things in April not that good.

It would be nice to see sell through statistics broken down by category and price. Otherwise, I don't really see how the numbers are useful.

true sgm, it could be people listing say birthday cards that get only 10% sales, and maybe antiques are getting 90%

A breakdown would be really nice.

Don't know if this article was to hype Ebay Stores or what?

Sounds more like a spin tale from Ebay, and if stores are the ticket think again!

With no promotion or hardly any items showing up in search, it is a waste of money.

Especially in the summer months, when it turns into giving a donation to Ebay.

Agree with some of the other post...clear pictures, fair shipping, and communication!

eBay used to be a lot better. Now it's stuffed to the rafters with knock-off peddlers and inflated shipping scammers. eBay said they would fix that, but to be honest it seems like it actually got worse. I used to have better than 95% sell through rate on 3 day auctions starting at .99 cents. What a pity it is that eBay needs their third-party vendor partner companies to write fluff articles to stay alive. I use eBay very sparingly these days.

Looks like a fluff piece to me as well. I list on eBay when I'm not busy with other work, or when I have estate pieces that need eBay exposure. My sell through is well over 90%.
Eclecticoldsod has it right (though I do make a small profit on shipping (maybe half of minimum wage when all is said and done), regardless of sniping from the peanut gallery.....
Since much of what I sell is on consignment and needs to be sold in a timely manner, a store makes no sense economically for me. I wonder if anyone else has experienced huge sales with a store - those I know that had them once have all shut them down.

Stores don't seem that good to me

The main killer is the auctions not showing up in a search. I can't understand why I would want to pay a monthly fee and higher final value fees just so I can be hidden from searches and list for 30 days at a fraction of the cost.

I list all my items BIN for 10 days, and most sell within that time, the odd one slips though and then is snapped up as soon as I relist (most people seem to view my items by newly listed)

Every article or post like this tends to over simplify or generalize conditions, results, items and strategies. Forgetting about that for now, I would like to know using the mostly $10 "one of a kind" type items, exactly how much does Ms. Dralle make per item on average and how does that work out on an hourly basis? What did she pay for these items? $1 to $5? My experience is that people don't pay much more for an item on eBay than at a garage sale especially when you factor in postage. But let's assume that the seller pays $5 for the item and sells it for $10. Take off your selling fees and you are at about $9. So you made $4. So, what is your time worth? Let's use $10/hr (about $20,000/year) which is low but let's use it. How many of you can post about 9 items an hour assuming a 40% sell rate? This would include taking and editing pictures, writing a description and maybe doing a little research. I am not but you should factor in packing materials and time to pack. The number simply don’t add up for me. I can see where you can increase your income by working more hours but I just cannot see how anyone could possibly be making $10 per hour selling $10 items.

It would be hard to disagree with eclecticoldsod’s approach but whatever time Ms. Dralle is spending on posting her auctions, I am sure he is spending at least three times longer posting an item. Even with a 95% sell through more time devoted to selling sounds like a bigger losing proposition to me.

It baffles me completely how eBay has increased its fees over the years and still stays viable as a marketplace for people trying to make a living selling on eBay. I guess there is no end to the number of people that think that eBay will work for them. Most sellers that were making a living on eBay are long gone.

F.Y.I. For me at times when I sell, eBay has always been and still serves as a glorified yard sale and though prices have fallen dramatically you can usually dump things quick. Great prices if you’re a buyer though the honesty and professionalism of the sellers on eBay now is a far cry from those selling 5 years ago or so!

ebay says they have 40% sell-through
ebay lies
Although my sell-throughis much higher than this, when I search completed listings I typically see about 10% successful listings.
It is really sad to see so many, including Auctiva, readily accept ebay lies.

She's kidding, right? With all of those negative feedbacks, she's trying to tell US how to succeed on eBay????

I read the article recently in another location and I think it is right on. A definite working business plan. From the comments on here, guess not too many people will implement it. I already have a store for one of my seller names and it makes its way in sales. I use the auctions as lead in items to get people to the store to buy from there. I also have another seller identity and buy and sell small antiques and collectibles. I have been thinking of definitely implementing the mentioned articles plan. Particularly since I am already buying and selling the same kind of items.

Face it, we would not be having this conversation except that all of us sell on Ebay, like it or not. I am no friend of Ebays, just a user, like they do with me. I'm there to make money, simple as that.

I agree with most of the article. There are many variables that can affect a good selling strategy.

First, my business plan (yes, everyone should have one) is based on a high level of customer service, which has certainly been lacking on eBay. If I consistently please the customer by selling quality products, ship the day payment is received (Priority Mail), respond to emails quickly, and follow up with customers after the sale, the profit takes care of iteself.

While I do not sell that many items in my store, it does get a high volume of page hits from buyers wanting to see my other items. Also, if you use keywords well in your store, you get visibility in Google searches. Often, I do Google searches on my products, I frequently see my store on the first page of search results.

I also have over a hundred folks on my list whi want to get email messages when I have new products come in.

Oh, yes my sell through is about 65%, and I am ecstatic about it. I could make it better, but I could also lose money ;-)

The new fees have hurt a little, but free gallery images helps. Also, my dsr's have been good enough to get 5% and once 15% off my Final Value fees.

I ramble. Overall, I am still doing pretty well financially on eBay and plan to stay awhile. Good luck all!!

I think the article is 60% fluff, 40% fantasy and I give no value to someone’s advice whose sell through rate is lower than the Ebay average. I could sell 1000 items a month but am unprepared to have to churn through 3000 items to achieve such "success". In playing darts I can hit the bullseye guaranteed, as long as I am throwing 3000 darts all at once. Heck, something’s got to stick.

Ebay I fear is dying or already dead. The actions it has taken and the ones it has planned are just the flailings of a Monopoly trying to protect its golden egg.

I'd love to see what kind of marks (DSR?) Ebay would garner based upon its customer service.

Item As Described: 2.4

Ebay needs to drop the illusion that they host online auctions. Since they chose early on in their existence to allow, and actually encourage snipe bidding, they have degraded the auction experience and the fun aspect for bidders. Automated sniping is the primary reason where you'll see a dozen watchers on your listing only to have it expire without a single bid.

Communication: 1

Canned responses not genially directed at your question or concern. I can not think of any other company where I spend $50 or more per month where I can't get someone on the phone when I have an issue.

Shipping Time: 1


Equate shipping time with their time to respond to complaints and they deserve a 1 or less. I have often alerted them to NARU sellers who then just pop up again and continue selling the same illegal items. One recent one was Australian Seller of Magic Tricks and importing Mercury containing (heavy metal) trick dice. They did nothing (he was NARU'd and popped back up) and last I checked, had 20 negatives about other fraudulent items ($100 card decks).

Shipping and Handling Charges: 0

Equate this rating with the fees you pay to them. Even at the standard 40% sell through, more fees are paid on failed listings rather than successes. The degrading of active bidders requires me setting an opening bid high enough to cover my costs which gives Ebay more on the listing fees. As higher opening bids (close to value or historic data) makes successful sales less likely, it is a losing proposition. Paypal. Paypal is a monopoly and Ebay will SOON attempt to make it the ONLY acceptable method of payment. Not horrible per se except that Paypal charges higher transaction fees and the same regardless of source of funds. In the real world, a debit pin based transaction is cheaper for a merchant than a signed CC one. Ebay charges the same HIGH fees for a bank transfer or payment from an existing balance.


Yea Yea, I know.

No selling activity in recent history on my account. We all have multiple ID's don't we?

I sent a couple of support cases through to them

Never heard back, and a couple of weeks later I get a customer service review..

quote:

Originally posted by jik444:
She's kidding, right? With all of those negative feedbacks, she's trying to tell US how to succeed on eBay????

yikes

http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=thequeenofauction...+by&Many=ON&ref=home

I do realize that when you sell in volume you get more negs than most... but selling dishes with dried food on them? yuck!

quote:

Originally posted by eclecticoldsod:
Wow! 40% would depress me dreadfully!

The last 3 months my sell-thru was 29%, 39% and 43%. I'm not depressed at all. My category's typical sell-thru rate is 30%, and, ultimately, I am making enough money to not have to work a "9-5 job" and can live off my ebay profits, so I am quite happy with how well I'm doing, thanks.

Everyone has a different business model, and don't be so sure you can judge a seller by appearances.

acutally, I find it hard to make even 25% sell rate. I posted 10 items last month and only one item sold. I will try duckie's model of posting more at about a rate of 9.99 and see if more folk buy.
Right now the only people getting rich off of me are Ebay and Paypal.