We Need Customers- UGH!

Are you listing auctions to drive customers to your store?

Have you ever visited ETSY ETSY?

I think you'll be quite impressed. Check the forums with etsy..there are alot of great minds there.

I'd also open an ecrater store which is free. I'll check your meta tags and more later...I'm online for just a second.

Best of Luck,
Donna

I am having similar issues with starting out on ebay. When I do sell something it goes for less than what I paid. It looks like your feedback is mainly from buying. Have you ever sold any of your jewelry on ebay?

I have found that I have to play around with starting prices and have just started doing fixed price listings to try and get my prices where they need to be. I think a mix of fixed price listings and auctions is they way to go. The auctions drive people to the store and the fixed price items allow them to buy instantly.

You may need to reach out to your customers through other means like a myspace page or a blog. Also, make sure that your listings have good key words in the title.

Just learning this stuff myself but I have spent a lot of time reading these message boards for tips.

www.outfitkit.com

If you have an eBay store, supplement it by listing some auctions as well. Each auction will let customers know that you HAVE a store and provides a link to it in the auction listing.

If you decide to do some auctions, having them end on a Sunday evening is almost always best for many eBay sellers. People are usually at home then, and it always rates as the best day for higher selling prices. As with everything eBay, trial-and-error is the best teacher. Try different days and different times to see how they fare for you and your particular product category.

Since you are selling jewlery, identify your target customer - young women perhaps. When are they usually at home? When would they most likely have time to spend on the computer (maybe when the children are at school)? In your case, it might be better to end your auctions on a Tuesday morning!

Another option is to cross-promote your store with another eBay seller. Check the eBay "help" center for how to do this.

Good luck!

Have you tried Etsy? I saw on my posting that you said you now have an e-crater store. Etsy isn't free but it is for all things handmade. It could be that it was just brought to my attention but I have seen it being linked in several places. One place was a pretty popular fashion blog that I read.

My friend just opened a store there last week and sold two items. I don't know if those sells were people she didn't know or if they were her friends.

I saw your ad and think the gift wrapping for mother's day is great.

oops. Didn't see Donna's posting about Etsy. I still think it is really great for handmade items.

quote:

Originally posted by chuckiii3:
If you have an eBay store, supplement it by listing some auctions as well. Each auction will let customers know that you HAVE a store and provides a link to it in the auction listing.

If you decide to do some auctions, having them end on a Sunday evening is almost always best for many eBay sellers.

Another option is to cross-promote your store with another eBay seller. Check the eBay "help" center for how to do this.

Good luck!

I don't find Sunday to be the best on all of my IDs.

My best is Tuesday, Wednesday and lately Thursday has been kickin bootie as far as sales.

Cross promote yourself in your ads. If you sell clothing...note that you have a matching belt, piece of jewelry, shoes whatever to match and use a link back to your store or eBay search seller items.

It's all trial and error.

I'd also highly advise using Sellathon (the paid subscription) for a month to see how your customers are finding you (key words, times, time zones etc)..then move forward with that knowledge.

Cross promote only with a seller you trust. I cross promote my selling IDs with one another...can't get much sweeter than supporting all of your selling IDs.

ETSY is great. Lots of handmade items.

Open a free ecrater store. Open a myspace and have loads of online sellers as your friends so you can network. Blog. Open a blujay store, Yahoo auctions are free.

Market yourself...there's too many persons online that are selling similar items...stand out in the crowd.

Use free websites such as geocities, freewebs, etc to build web pages (most are drag and drop design) to build up marketing back to your items or build your own website to sell items.

Don't give eBay any extra money for items that are proven to not work....i.e., frivilous extra's such as bolding, sub-title (the words aren't in search features with eBay)featured if it's not a large ticket hard to find item etc. eBay will gladly nickel and dime you for everything you sign up for.

You have to KNOW your market and you have to market yourself...daily!

Some great places I hang out for knowledge:
http://www.otwa.com/
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.php
http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/index.html

I personally like The eBay Stores Community Help Board.

From the link for the eBay Community Forums find your specialty on the right hand side and read, read, absorb and learn.

If you have time...peruse your category to find the most successful sellers and watch them for a month to see what techniques they used to become successful.

Good Luck,
Donna

Sunday is also really bad for me. I haven't sold a single item on Sunday. For me it tends to be in the afternoon on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

I think it has to do a lot with the age and gender of your market. My buyers are younger women and are probably browsing while finishing the day at work or right after class.

The weekends just are not good for me at all.

What a great post suthrnjewl - it's so good I'm printing it for future reference - does that sound sad? Nevermind.

Thank you and everyone else for contributing to this forum and giving us the benefit of your experience.

Oh how kind of you to take the time to say that about me.

Thank you so much!!!!

Printing it out? Nope not sad. It's a compliment to me that you feel that way.

Why don't you consider joining my selling forum for hints tips and more on selling online?

Auction Sellers Motivators

The group is public and we'd love to have you join. Drop me a hello once you join and I'll get you all situated.

Take care,
Donna
(by the way, I play the flute, too)

Am I dumbmer than dumb???
I have everything on auction and I have an Auctiva Store that just shows those auctions. Should I be doing a BIN thing in the store? How do I do it and not have it expire??

And Have a several auctions otherwise?
I sell a few items, but listing fees are killing me! I am losing $$ hand over fist!

If you want to look and give this newbie an encouraging word, either Granny's Treasure Basket or Snowangel-5cats.com.

HELP please!!
Meowy

Dear Designs By Sister
I know how you feel when it comes to this.But i would suggest you to run your item in 3 ways to increase your sales.FIXED PRICE , AUCTION FORMAT AND YOUR EBAY STORE.
That way buyer will more happy to buy and bid.I would aslo suggest you to advertise your store in google.It's free of charge and you will have more bidder and buyer.

Good luck

quote:

Originally posted by snowangel:

Am I dumbmer than dumb???
I have everything on auction and I have an Auctiva Store that just shows those auctions. Should I be doing a BIN thing in the store? How do I do it and not have it expire??

No you're not dumb, it's all quite confusing to start with. Anyone can do a Buy It Now listing, I think you just need to have a feedback rating of at least 10.

To get things to appear as store inventory, you need to open an EBay store, the insertion and gallery fees are lower, but I think the final value fee is higher. You also have a subscription to pay. EBay store items don't appear in search results unless there are very few search results for what the buyer is looking for.

There have been suggestions for adding an option to sell only in the auctiva store, but that's not likely to happen.

I've had a look at your items. Your listings are all very pretty and the pictures are great. The only thing I could suggest is that they are maybe too pretty for some buyers. For example there might be men looking to buy your items as presents and they might prefer something plainer in black and white - just a thought. I'm from the UK and so haven't got much of a clue about how much dollars are worth, but if you are selling used items you might want to try lower starting prices. With Buy It Now you can start with a high price to see if anyone likes it and then drop it in the last day or two if needs be.

Good luck.

A few key points to remember...

Summer for many is excruciatingly slow, it all depends on what you're selling. Timing can be everything.

You HAVE to have some regular auctions, store items don't show up in a regular search (Unless there are a certain amt. availabe, forgot the number)

My sales were through the roof in April, May, and June but now.....lets just say I don't have to check my ebay everyday anymore

Good luck!!

Always mix it up on your auctions.

Buy it now, auctions, Make Offer, Auction with a Buy It Now...etc.

And also as a foot note if you have a store...use Mark Down Manager..it reindexes your sales.

Best of luck,
Donna