I just recently posted my fourth set of items for sale on ebay. On my first three sets, I sold about 1/3 of the items. I know that with the first two sets I was probably too close to Christmas. I have also noticed that I don't get many bids until just before the item ends (sniping). If any ebay users have a chance, can you take a look at my listings and let me know of any improvements I need to make (user name is cjpopeck)? Is a 30% sales percentage about normal? I would like this to be a good way to make a bit of extra money but it doesn't seem to be that profitable yet. Any suggestions are appreciated!

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), January 24, 2002

Answers

Here is a link to Cindy's Auctions

-- BRENT in 10-uh-C (bt@nospam.com), January 24, 2002.

CINDY'S EBAY AUCTIONS

-- BRENT in 10-uh-C (bt@nospam.com), January 24, 2002.

Well... it is one of those mornings for my HTML [grin]

I don't consider myself a pro on eBay but I have bought and sold on there for several years.
Your auctions are concise and to the point which makes them download very fast. Your pictures are a little far away for my preferences, but they are clear enough to get the point across of what you are selling, and if a buyer has questions they can ask for more pics. Also, your feedback is good enough to not raise any flags or character concerns.

Not to offend you or hurt your feelings but I feel that a lot of your items are what I would call "small ticket items" and therefore the freight makes the auction not a good value unless you can buy the items for less than a couple of dollars. When I am buying I always factor in the freight charges. A good example of this is your handcarved lamp. It is beautiful. Now setting up a hypothetical example, lets say that if I were at a yard sale and saw it for sale I would think that if I could buy your lamp for $15.00 there it would be a good deal for me. At $20.00, I would feel it is maybe at 'market value' ... that is at least to me. (That doesn't mean it is not worth more to someone else. You can get something appraised if it is seem by 100 people or more) Back to the lamp.
Well if I were to be the high bidder at $10.00 for this on your auction, I would think that I was the recipient of a great deal, however by the time I factor in freight ($8-$10 counting insurance) then my "great deal" has dwindled to an OK buy -- but not at a bargain anymore.
Now to carry this even further ... you have invested a lot of time taking and editing pictures and then by the time you write descriptions and upload everything I feel sure you have 30-45 minutes of your time invested. That makes it really difficult to see any fruits of your labors when you have odds like that stacked up against you. Please don't take this as a personal attack because it isn't. All of this are things that I have personally found from my experience of listing items and waiting on bidders that never came either!

I might suggest that you keep your eyes glued to your hit counter stats and see if you can find a pattern for the type of auctions that you run. For me (because I sell antique car parts) Sunday night auction closings work best. Also, I find that 3 or 5 day auctions that close late on Sunday nights do the best because most of my bidders snipe or just search for stuff that is ending that day. In other words, too much stuff out there on eBay for them to search out ALL the old car parts. I hope this helps some and Good Luck to you!!!

Cindy's Auctions

BRENT in 10-UH-C About Me EBAY Page

-- BRENT in 10-uh-C (bt@nospam.com), January 24, 2002.

Cindy, it is just that time of year. Everyting is kind of slow right now since Christmas. Also, the market is so flooded at Ebay unless you have some really unusual or valuable items you can't make a living off it any more unless you post tons of items at a time.

Also, keep in mind that it just depends on your merchandise. There are so many of the same items to choose from that Ebay buyers are going to go after the cream of the crop when selecting items. If you have an item with some rust..you can bet they are going to pay the little extra and get the one in perfect condition. Not insulting you, just the way the buyers go.

If you have a "hot" item, one that is the going thing for collectors, sky is the limit on how high the bids go..but just ordinary everyday things just don't get the bucks or the bids. Too many of them out there.

Your prices seem about right. My therory when I sell is that if I am getting rid of an item just because it is in the way or I haven't used it -- then ANYTHING I get for it is more than I had before. I will start that item off for $1. People love a bargain! Sometimes they will bid just because it is $1.

Another thing to remember is that since postage is so high now that $5.99 fry cutter is really going to cost them around $10 with the priority shipping. Keep the shipping costs in mind when pricing an item.

Your description are good. Right to the point. Good size photos. Don't let ANYONE talk you into fancy text, backgrounds, etc. It takes WAY too long to download and folks will move on rather than have to wait. They also don't like to read! Again, the choices are so many they will move along to the next one.

Remember also that people collect very specific items. Some of your items are those that are not collectable so, therefore, it means that you will only be attracting the "browser" or, for instance, someone who hand cut french fries last night and decided it would be easier with a french fry cutter and took a look today. Just the way Ebayers are.

It is extremely typical for the last minute bids. Everyone wants it at the low price and usually will wait and attempt to get it lower in the end buy not upping the bid prior to the end. You usually get what we call the "Ebay Wars" during the last hour of your auctions.

One thing to remember is you can NEVER predict what an item will go for. I listed a set of sterling cups that I got at a garage sale that I clean up (cost me $5). Nothing real special, but nice. Should go for somewhere in the $35 range with the sterling mark it had. Mint book price was $55 - but these weren't mint. Two bidders got into a bidding war and they went for $255. Go figure! I found another identical set in near mint...they went for $20. You never know.

One thing I find always sells consistantly is childrens clothes. Here I had been fidleing around packing up those silly antique dishes in bubble wrap, foam peanuts, etc. -- with clothes you just fold and stick in a self-seal priority box (although I do wrap them in tissue paper first - but most sellers don't). Who knew!

Other consistant high price sellers for me have been: Hall China (especially pitchers and teapots), fancy teapots, chintz teacups or teapots, silver salt spoons, salt sellars, butter pat dishes, daisy butter turns, and china sets in complete services for 8 to 12 -- and those darn kids clothes! (Note: key to selling kids clothes is to do so in "lots" - such as 10 shirts, 8 pairs of pants, etc. or in complete outfits).

-- Karen (mountains_mama@hotmail.com), January 24, 2002.

Another note: Brent, is right...timing is everything! You want people to see your items. People are home on nights and weekends mostly. Since the bidding wars occur at the end, you want to time that so your auctions aren't ending when everyone is a work! Sunday night ending bids around the 10 to 11 pm est range have worked best for me. Remember the time changes around the country!

You can use the Ebay's free Mr. Lister so you can download all your auctions at the right time. Remember the time you list them is the time they will end. I find 5-7 auctions do best. Longer than that people just forget about them or something better comes along. Even those 7 day ones can be long unless you use the "Buy It Now" feature.

-- Karen (mountains_mama@hotmail.com), January 24, 2002.

I would really suggest that you sign up to accept PayPal. I never bid on an item that doesn't accept it....I live too far out of town to be running in to get a money order all the time. I have to *really* want the item for that, and usually there is another item listed who's seller does take Paypal and I will bid on it over the other one.

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), January 24, 2002.

I'd like to second the advice given about Paypal. It's almost a priority for me now as a buyer from Canada--saves me the hassle of converting CDN currency to deposit into my US checking account.

I see that you offer shipping to Canada--thanks for that--and if you had the time, you might consider quoting the cheapest shipping rate to Canada (surface letterpost) in your auctions. Overall, your auctions look very polished. Good luck with them.

-- Orest (greyjayca@yahoo.com), January 24, 2002.

I sell on ebay as well (userid briches2) , and sell nearly 100%. I use this $ for my "cabin in the woods fund" as I call it. I'll get there one day! I mainly sell scrapbooking items. Maybe it depends on the type of thing you're selling??? I think one important key is the way you "title" your auction so that it gets as many "hits" as possible. Also, I only accept paypal with my auctions. Although it may limit some buyers (if they don't have it), it is so much easier to use that it makes it worthwhile for me. Also, I have found you have far fewer people "bailing out" of the auction if it is paypaled. The speed of receiving your $ makes it worthwhile too! I think it could also be helpful to state in your auction "check out my other auctions, I would be happy to combine shipping" or something to that effect. HTH :+)

-- briches (vesely@webtv.net), January 24, 2002.

I agree you should sign up for Paypal. 9 out of 10 of my auctions pay with Paypal. Get their business premier account with debit card. Paypal isn't insured like a bank so I wouldn't let much money sit in your account. It's prudent to link Paypal to it's own bank checking account instead of your own personal checking account. Same goes to the credit card you link it to, use one with a low limit. I've never had a problem with Paypal and would like to keep it that way. C2it/AOL Quickcash is another you could offer. I use both of those. Got rid of Billpoint/Ebay after too many errors.

Your listings look fine, clean and simple. I guess you could improve the picture quality. Maybe more light when you take them. If you have a scanner, you might find that the scanner will present a better picture than a camera for alot of things like books and anything else that'll fit on the scanner bed. 30% sales isn't bad for assorted items. I personally don't think low dollar items are worth the time unless you're selling mass quanity. Not much profit in a one time $2 sale after you consider your costs and time.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), January 24, 2002.

here's one way to get more 'hits'. It's against Ebay rules to keyword spam but white text on white pages can't be seen so it's unlikely anyone will know or care. This is for getting hits on words entered into title and description searches.
enter your description search keywords here one space between words no comma

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), January 24, 2002.