New seller trying to navigate this site

[Bittyboy101]

Thanks SC

I'll keep you and everyone here posted once I figure out what's the best approach to this no sales dilemma.

Have a great weekend everyone...

[Policequilts]

Thanks, some useful tips, I must try to fight my revulsion and let Zuckerberg track me all over the 'net. Not ready yet, but when I get desperate enough.

@BittyBoy, I guess GoldenWonders is right to point you at furniture restoration, a nice piece of lateral thinking. There are also groups for lock collectors. E.g. I've just tried searching "facebook lock collectors' forum" which gives several results. But I'm probably saying something you've already tried.

@JohnWalsh1
I totally agree with Facebook tracking you.
I refuse to get an account and giving them actually information about me (for general use)
It use to be, the marketplace could be seen by everyone, but to communicate with the seller, you needed to be a member.
Now, you have to have a Facebook account to even see anything for sale.
This is how I purchased my truck was when the marketplace was open VIEWING to everyone. ( and the person that I found the truck had hidden his phone number in the description so I didn't have to be a member to talk with him. I purchased the truck. )

@GoldenWonders
Great thinking "outside of the box".

**
****
*****

Every site has felt the lack of sales.
The majority of the sellers have felt the lost of sales / income.
You can jump from one site to another to chase a sale, but it becomes a waste of time.

Settle on two or three sites and figure out how to market yourself. You would have to do marketing with your own website or a material store.
It's just that the eBay was well known from the internet becoming more access to the public. So eBay really doesn't have to market themselves because they have been on the internet for a long time when there was no competition.

[SCcoins]

Just posting back to round this off. Unfortunately I can’t sell anything here, the final straw is a coin I had listed since I opened the account. I listed it on Vinted and it sold in 5 minutes.

That’s me done. You guys who are selling and doing well here - I take my hat off to you because I cannot crack it and I’ve lost the motivation to continue trying.

[Bittyboy101]

@ SCcoins

Yep, pretty much same here, had my stuff listed on here now for over 6 months and only sold one Emco Unimat lathe item in May 2025 and nothing else since then - No one here likes antique/vintage locks.

I probably would have had more chance of selling my locks if I had just thrown them down a bottomless well !!!

eBid = Only good if you have lots of books and comics to sell...

[tonnesofstuff]

@ SCcoins

Yep, pretty much same here, had my stuff listed on here now for over 6 months and only sold one Emco Unimat lathe item in May 2025 and nothing else since then - No one here likes antique/vintage locks.

I probably would have had more chance of selling my locks if I had just thrown them down a bottomless well !!!

eBid = Only good if you have lots of books and comics to sell...

It's so demoralising after all the effort one puts into listing etc. Torn between continuing and hoping or just giving it up.

[SCcoins]

I sold a couple of vinyl records on eBay recently and I went to the effort of taking a screenshot of others I had on eBid and printed it off with a note on how to locate them on eBid. I thought the buyer would buy the ones here, the sticking point was would he be prepared to come over here and do it.

The buyer sent me a message and said he would definitely be interested once they are available. They are available on here but he’s implying he will buy them once they are available over there, being careful to not directly say it so the eBay bots don’t block the message. I have really tried but I can’t seem to encourage buyers to come here.

[Stnenopmoc]

eBid = Only good if you have lots of books and comics to sell...

Not quite true. If you go to the Forum Home Page, top left, and look at 'Popular Listings on eBid' that will tell you what has relativly recently sold (and there may be more of them), not a book or comic amongst the current lot.

However if you sell unique, rare or very hard to find specilist items then customers will inevitably find you and stay with you.

For locks suggest Vinted may be a better option as a means to drag customers over, either that or go to antiques fairs and put a card with the eBid site address on furnature sellers tables.

[SCcoins]

I look at the recently sold list each time I log on and it tends to be the same block of sellers who get the sales.

The issue here is the newer seller seems to be in the wilderness and it can be for an indefinite period. Once the seller gets the captive audience the sales seem to be consistent but it appears as though those sales can only be kick started from eBid itself. The buyers who have never heard of it are so reluctant to come here on recommendation, however much they are comfortable with the seller who is pointing them in this direction.

If eBid was the only option for sales then it would be worth pushing a lot harder but the idea of listing hundreds more items and persevering feels like a sunk cost fallacy to me.

[leadhillsonline]

Since I came back in January I've only had 3 sales. As I'm now retired, I'm just clearing the last of my stock. Saying that when everything come January when every thing starts finishing I will close down again.

[singlecardsid]

I agree with you SC Coins. The other places outsell here by a considerable margin, at least they do for me. I simply cant justify time v reward spent here on new listings.

I spend nearly all my time on here deleting listings that have sold elsewhere anyway.

Like you I've tried to get my buyers to come here but it just does not happen despite my best efforts.

And here's the thing that nobody mentions when it comes to cards.

The main other platform I use is now cheaper as well, especially if the buyer makes an offer as then the buyer does not pay BPF,because if I accept their offer I do.

Buyers are getting very wise to that. I don't mind because its pretty much the same as the old fee system and on a sale here I will be paying Paypal 30p anyway.

I will still list cards here but it wont be my main focus which is a shame because I actually prefer it in terms of community and I really dont like much about the other place apart from the sales which have been going up week on week