U.S. Comics and British SF/Fantasy magazines

[ianthedruid]

Hi all

I'm relatively new to eBid, having come over from that other site just over a month ago, and have been steadily listing a number of U.S. comics and British SF/Fantasy magazines, getting a few "views" but no sales yet (sad face). Being honest, I'm not totally surprised by this - most of the stuff I have listed so far had already been on the other site and not sold there either - but there are lots more listings to come.

I have collected comics for as long as I can remember and have amassed a collection of over 18,000 items. As you can imagine, that takes up a lot of space and, a few months back, I decided it was time to "thin the herd". I'm not getting rid of everything - just things that don't fit the collection (I used to by pretty much everything that came out from Marvel and DC) or which I am no longer interested in. Most comics were bought from new and have been read once, then stored bagged ever since. Any that were bought second hand will be noted as such and any defects pointed out in the listings. I'm not a dealer or an grader so don't expect to see the likes of "Near mint" of "Very Fine" in my descriptions.

It's a similar story for the magazines - I was an avid reader of Starburst, T.V. Zone and Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly but, again, they are now just taking up space. Most have been read once, some haven't been read at all.

Anyway keep an eye out for my stuff (eBid ID - ianthedruid) and feel free to ask any questions, or even make suggestions.

Thanks for looking.
Ian

[hush77hush]

Hi Ian

Welcome to the tribe.
I am also a comic book seller and have been on here for over 10 years. have had some success on here and sales are growing all the time.
I am much the same as you, am not a dealer and am thinning out the herd too (like that saying).
5 things i would suggest is:
1) fill out your All About me page. A lot of buyers will look at this before they buy if helps the buyer build confidence in you. Fill out as much as you can about yourself your products and you policy returns etc etc.
2) signature for all forum posts with a link to your items. Use the same signature everywhere to post. Also start posting on some of the comic book related forums this will get you a few sales.
3) Think About putting all your listings into a store. This will put all your listings in one place and would make it easier to link to a website.
4) I am from the UK but am Looking at your listings on a German serve (long and boring work thing) and I can't see your listings so I think this means you don't offer worldwide postage? Why? Your limiting yourself open yourself up to selling world wide.
5) have you made all your listings google shopping ready? This is a great way yo get sales and views and always at least once a day promote your listings through social media.

Hope this points help you get more views and sales any questions feel free to ask.

[hush77hush]

Just had a quick look at your listings. They look great but I would think about the format you have listed them in.
Auctions may sell well on greed bay but we don't get the same traffic and it is doubtful you would get a bidding war unless you are doing a charity auction. I would list your items as auto re-posts at a length of 10 days auto re-posting 10 times this means they will appear in a newly listed search and an ending soon search every 10 days. Don't list the as run until sold as they will just move further and further down search as new comics get listed after yours.

[ianthedruid]

Hi - thanks for the reply (good to hear that somebody is managing to sell some comics on here) and for the suggestions, all of which are good.

I have filled out an "About Me" page, but you are right - it probably needs a little more detail.

Signature - good idea. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure I'll spend much time on the forums. This post was just a speculative "hello there, please look at my listings". You never know, though - I'll bear it in mind.

Store - I was looking at this yesterday, but I'm rubbish at coming up with a new and logo. I'm going to concentrate on getting some listings up at the moment. I'm nearly at the point where items I list won't have been on that other site, although (being fair) most of what I list will probably have limited interest. If they sell, they sell. If not, c'est la vie...

Overseas delivery - as I've mentioned, I work full time and am adding these listings in my spare time. I know the postage (for most things) to the UK, but would have to spend time working out costs for overseas. And, again being honest, most of the stuff I'm selling probably wouldn't be of that much interest overseas. Maybe when I have everything (or at least a lot more) listed, I'll start revising the listings to include overseas.

Google shopping - I thought that was done by barcode. And every time I try to use a barcode it comes up as "invalid". I'm not the biggest user of social media and most (OK, all...) of my friends wouldn't be interested in buying comics off me :-)

I hope that doesn't come across as too negative. I am truly grateful for the advice. If you know how I can get more free time to implement it, that would be great.

Cheers
Ian

[ianthedruid]

Hi again

Not sure what you mean by this - apart from my listings being for 7 days, I think I'm doing what you say. I auto-list ten times. I'm not expecting bidding wars and would be quite happy if the items sold at their lowest price - I just wanted to give anybody who was keen enough the opportunity to pay that little bit extra to secure anything they relay wanted. (Their choice to gamble.)

Cheers
Ian

[hush77hush]

It would be easier and to do it as a buy it now at a higher price with the option of making an offer. If I bid on the auction you have I will have to wait till the end of the auction to get the item as ebid dose not have the traffic of greed bay I could be the only bidder and have to wait 7 days till the auction ends to get my stuff I can get the principle of what you doing but not sure It would work on ebid.

[ianthedruid]

Yep, makes perfect sense when you put it that way. Thanks.