Turning Views into Bids

[blondi82]

Hi all

Giving Ebid another go, so want to jump ship from the other site.
I get lots of views but no sales, any idea what more I can do?

Many Thanks

[cerealmunkee]

Nice photos, good descriptions, decent prices, value for money shipping costs, decent all about me page....lots of views but no sales?.....i wonder why?....i mean....are the prices charged on ebid the same as you charge elsewhere?...if so then, there's no real incentive for anyone to register to the site and make a purchase.
There's no fvf on postal costs to worry about and the fees over here are lower than elsewhere, so this allows us to offer lower prices than the other place for example.

I'm unsure if you've thought about selling outside of the UK?....its worth thinking about., its well worthwhile.
The other thing to take into account is that Ebid doesn't enjoy the same amount of buyer traffic as one or two of the other sites, but ...its still worth sticking it out here until this increases. If you're currently doing okay elsewhere then theres no harm in carrying on there and using it to promote your activities on Ebid. Many sellers operating across more than one site often include promotional literature in their packages informing buyers that they sell on ebid and provide comparison prices., in the hope of attracting them to register here.....and sometimes it works quite well.

Something else that came to mind when i took a look at a couple of your listings. Its been suggested that using Make an offer feature can actually work as a barrier to making sales as it encourages potential buyers to pause before the hitting the Buy it now button. I'm not sure what to think, but there could be some truth in this theory, and it did encourage me to stop using the feature.....you could try it and see how you get on.

[CapesTreasures]

I've been here for 3 months and posted a wide variety of my merch from Ebay but no bids yet. So many people have said they are moving to another site and I keep hoping it will be here, but I haven't seen much of an increase in numbers of auctions or sellers here.
Not sure where they are all migrating to as Ebay becomes increasingly difficult for the small time seller / buyer. I guess I'll just hang in there and keep listing on ebid, although it just not may not be the place for American sellers.

[cerealmunkee]

The E££y sellers that you refer to are i suppose guilty of wishful thinking....sure enough they mostly talk about moving to another site, but many simply stick it out where they already are and those who are restricted or can't carry on decide to stop selling altogether....at least online.

Some of these sellers have come to ebid, but have given up with the site as sales weren't there to be made as they'd expected. Many expect others to have built the site up for them already and aren't prepared to bring anything new here.

I'm not entirely certain if this site isn't the place for American sellers, the reason i say this is that i've shipped to United States from Ebid...not large amounts i admit, but i've still been able to attract US buyers., so the site must be getting some degree of exposure.

Its certainly worth hanging in there and looking to the future. I guess that the more that you list the greater the chances of selling something.

[RameRetro]

Hi all

Giving Ebid another go, so want to jump ship from the other site.
I get lots of views but no sales, any idea what more I can do?

Many Thanks

It's good that you are getting lots of views. Getting key words into your titles for Google Shopping is obviously helping with this. I have been here for three months. I get lots of views too but I am averaging about three sales a week. OK, that's not as much as I could get on TOS, but I do keep more of the profit. Sometimes the views do translate into sales!

I have just made a sale to the USA, so I think you should consider stipulating that you are prepared to ship internationally. I know others have had some success in selling to the USA in particular.

There is also some circumstantial evidence that I have made a sale through using the "Plug Your Auction" facility here in the forum, and also by showing items on my Google+ account.

Do use the forums and add a signature to your posts showing a link to your items/store. People will look you up and it will increase your exposure.

Also, the more items you can list, the greater your chance of success as your exposure will be increased.

Some people think that "make an offer" adds an extra hurdle to securing a sale. I use it on a small number of selected items and have made sales, though in most cases I have achieved the full asking price anyway. Realistic pricing is important. Although I don't list on TOS much now, I still keep an eye on the prices there and try to go a bit cheaper wherever possible, in the knowledge that I won't be fleeced by exorbitant fees.

You do need to play a bit of a long game here, but stick at it. Unless you are able to list hundreds of items here (many do!) you may well need to continue using other platforms, either on or off line. I also sell at antiques/vintage fairs and hand out business cards with my ebid store address on it. I also put a card in with any sales I am still making on TOS.

You have to work a bit harder here, but personally, I think it is worth it.

[blondi82]

I am no longer selling on the other site it became so hard, A buyer returned my items and they were wrecked but of course the other site gave her money, she blackmailed me and said she would come to my house and give me a slap if I didn't refund her, After getting her money back she even sent a message through there site laughing and admitting what she did to the items but the other site were not interested and no action was taken against her They sent me the same standard message about returns over and over. So I quit there

Thanks for all your advice, I am going to try it out with usa included to ship to and will take best offer off to test. I imported all my items from another site instead of changing my prices I just put it all in a 15% sale - So which looks better lower prices or a 15% sale?

Thanks all :-)

[cerealmunkee]

Selling online isn't particularly easy irrespective of where you decide to try to sell....yes, the other site that you refer to is a hard place to do business, but Ebid isn't really much easier, There are many past E££y sellers who wish it to be 2004 all over again. They would love to be in a time where buyer protection was as good as none existent, and they could get away with the most ambiguous descriptions in their listings....but much has changed and while Ebid aren't forcing any buyer protection onto us all there's an automatic expectation placed on us all that we'll deal fairly and openly.
Besides this with paypal being the automatic choice for many buyers you'll find that the same stunts in terms of unhanded buyer behaviour can be pulled on you on this site as they can elsewhere. The main difference is that as a seller you can reward such behaviour with a well earned red dot.

If someone sends you threatening messages then this is a matter for the police as its a serious offence and often will be dealt with...forget making reports to the site involved as they clearly don't care.

It's good to learn that you've taken the decision to post to the United States.....its a safe destination, just remember that you'll need to fix a cn22 customs (for lower value goods) form to any package that you send out of the European union. I ask the post office to give me some to fill out at home.
While you're at it give some consideration to shipping to other destinations. When you take a look at the territories that Ebid mark on the listing form, the only ones i would advise steering clear of if you're feeling nervous are Hong Kong (customs delays), India (Customs delays and a corrupt postal service), South Africa (high chance of theft), Italy (the north is safe but the southern part is plagued by theft, sicily and sardinia)....But everywhere is not a problem....this morning i sent a package to the Netherlands, and last week France.

Nothing wrong with importing all of you listings from another site, especially as you're aware that we pay lower fees over here. I'd say that as time allows you would do well to adjust your prices to Ebid rather than using the same pricing structure and then adding a reduction. I'm not certain that you need to slash your prices by as much as 15% though.
On another well known auction site/selling platform a 10% final value fee is added to what you sell. When selling with Ebid if you're a seller + then you pay 2%, then you need to account for the paypal element which as you know is a flat 20p plus 3.5%. Lets say for the sake of over complicating things that your total Ebid fees are 5%?. You can reduce tour selling prices by this amount....after all ....this is an alternate selling platform that we're all trying to build into something that becomes as well known as the other sites and i'm not sure that a race to the bottom in terms of headline price is going to achieve this....are you?

Don't forget that you need to leave yourself enough to provide a good quality postal option. By this i mean, leave yourself enough cash to be able to send your items to your buyers in such a way that they receive them in perfect condition...this is a postage and packaging cost, not a postage one only.