Tips please on selling via Ebay?

[Katianne]

As I have mentioned in a few other threads, I have just reopened my Ebay shop. Previously I had a shop for about a year and it worked really well for me. I did hesitate to open it again due to price increases, but following a post from another forum member re: how well she was doing, I was inspired to give it another go.

I really want to make a go of selling my crafts as one day I would like to reduce my hours a little at work to allow me to concentrate more on what I actually love doing! (Yes I know, I'm not the only one!). But to do that I need to show my OH that my mosaics can remotely compansate for say a day less in my day job per week.

So, this is my task...I need to generate as much interest as I can in my work and at the moment my starting point is Ebay (yes I know there are mixed opinions on this). It worked well before though so I want to see if it does again.

I only opened my shop on Friday and I think I am just inpatient, but traffic over the last few days has been minimal. I have only listed items in my shop, not on auction, so I wondered if it would help to list on auction as well? I used to do this but seeing as my shop items now appear in the regular searches I wasn't sure if I needed to? Then again, people like to think they are getting a bargain, and maybe having something on auction would attract more people in?

I would really appreciate your thoughts on how I can generate more interest through Ebay? E.g. are there any tips when listing, should I pay extra for certain features such as an extra category???

In addition to Ebay I also plan to do a regular events to generate local interest, list of Etsy and Folksey and also aproach shops etc.

[onlyme]

Yes there are mixed opinions about *bay, but I've always done pretty well on there too. As an artist, I only have to think about the charges I'd have to pay to a gallery to stop me worrying about *bay's price increases, as a gallery would (and have) charged me up to 40% of the selling price of a painting. I'd say go for it, and include an auction sale because if it does nothing else, it will draw people to your shop.

[goldy1]

Please read all the changes since you were last listing I have heard things are different also check out the post offices new policy on insuring your parcels.

[Katianne]

Please read all the changes since you were last listing I have heard things are different also check out the post offices new policy on insuring your parcels.

Thanks Goldy1 - I have read that the post office now will only refund you the value of the item, in terms of materials. Will have another good look on their website so thanks for pointing it out.

[Bath-Bomb.Com]

Hi katianne,

I did a lot of research with regard to the changes and decided that, rather than just having a grumble anout the price increases, I woul see if i could make it work for me. In the main the charges have been moved to the 'back end' of sales - so it's cheaper to list in a Fixed Price format and the charges have increased on the Final Value fees. Augtions don't seem any cheaper but Gallery Pictures are now free - which I think benefits the craftsperson.

Since September, when the fee changes came in, my sales have doubled (and doubled again) so I'm more than pleased. I would suggest the following:

* Do list some auctions - it generates traffic and traffic means sales.

* If you can list multiple items on Fixed Priced Formats that will help in your search placements - One of the changes is that, when a buyer searches something, items are listing by best match & best sellers so if you have 10 of an item listed and some of them sell, that item gets moved to the front page and on up, so that more people will see it - and it generates sales.

* When I first started selling on Ebay I was a bit obsessed with worrying about the fees and how much of my sale went to Ebay. Quite honestly, when you start selling lots you stop worrying about it and you can't sell anything you haven't listed. So get listing...

* Don't use some of those little extras that Ebay tries to get you to use - like listing designers - the costs mount up and you don't need them. You can make a template in MS Word and cut and paste it into Turbo Lister (PM me if you want some instructions). My listings all look like web pages with lots of information about Postage, the item and me - my listings are all colour co-ordinated and 'branded'

*Take good photos...nothing worse for a buyer than going to a listing with a tiny fuzzy picture that tells you nothing about the item...

* Take good photos...just incase you didn't take the last point seriously...

* Be professional - people come back if you are polite, efficient and don't engage in slanging matches. Even customers who have had a problem wll come back if they know you are honest and will sort things out without resorting to rudeness.

* Don't sell anything for less than it's worth to you - I rarely start an auction at 99p (unless the cost of the item is less than 99p) people will still bid if they can get something for less than the fixed price listing.

* Brand your items -if your listings look the same, and you pictures have a 'look' and your descriptions are interesting and engaging, people will browse your store and add you to their favourite sellers and that will generate more sales.

*Don't be tempted to only list one or two things to see how it goes - you wouldn't go to a market or craft fair (or open a shop) and only put 2 or 3 things out to "see how it goes" - and there's not much that is more irritating than going to an Ebay store to find there are only 2 things there - it gives the impression that you are just a part time seller and you might not care about your customers. I know cost might be an issue so set yourself a budget -for instance put aside £100 for your first month's fees and fill your shop.

* The other way I generated sales/income was that I started out making soaps and bath bombs and the like - I had all the ingredients s I started selling soap base, petals, bath bomb mix etc - there are a lot of crafters out there so if you can sell to them too you might generate a bit o extra business.

Anyway, I'm sure there is more I could say but I've been up since 5 am and I'm working 14 hour days trying to keep up with my Christmas sales so I'm heading for bed

Oh...and Good Luck

Jude

[Katianne]

Thank you!!!

Wow! Thanks so mch for sharing your expertise and experience Jude. It was your post on another Ebay thread that actually spurred me on to re-open my shop.

Can I just ask a few questions...

Do list some auctions - it generates traffic and traffic means sales.

I have listed one if my mirrors on auctions and started it at a price that, if it sold for that, would more of less cover material costs. Would one on auction be enough or would you suggest having any more on?

If you can list multiple items on Fixed Priced Formats that will help in your search placements - One of the changes is that, when a buyer searches something, items are listing by best match & best sellers so if you have 10 of an item listed and some of them sell, that item gets moved to the front page and on up, so that more people will see it - and it generates sales.

I have listed with a quantity of 100 for each mirror - not that I have that many but as mine are made to order I thought that would be ok? Does this mean though that once one sells I cannot revise the listing (e.g. changing something in the description) other than adding the notes at the bottom?). Is a quantity of 100 too many?

Don't use some of those little extras that Ebay tries to get you to use - like listing designers - the costs mount up and you don't need them. You can make a template in MS Word and cut and paste it into Turbo Lister (PM me if you want some instructions). My listings all look like web pages with lots of information about Postage, the item and me - my listings are all colour co-ordinated and 'branded'

Yes please to the instructions - would you mind PMing me?

Don't be tempted to only list one or two things to see how it goes.

I'm off to add to my shop now...

Thanks again Jude!!!

[Bath-Bomb.Com]

I have listed one if my mirrors on auctions and started it at a price that, if it sold for that, would more of less cover material costs. Would one on auction be enough or would you suggest having any more on?

I usually list a few things every day to keep the momentum up - if you can make it small(ish) things that don't cost you too much to make and aren't expensive that seems to work better.


I have listed with a quantity of 100 for each mirror - not that I have that many but as mine are made to order I thought that would be ok? Does this mean though that once one sells I cannot revise the listing (e.g. changing something in the description) other than adding the notes at the bottom?). Is a quantity of 100 too many?

I list 10 at a time for the very reason that you can't revise the listing - you'r only talking pennies to list in fixed price format and I think it's better to list more things at smaller volume to be honest.

Yes please to the instructions - would you mind PMing me?

Will try and do it today.

If you can personalise an item or aim it at children or teens that also might help and make it clear in your item title "Personalised funky mirror for a teenage girl" or something like that. Oh and in my research I found the best sellers on Ebay seem to be Gifts so try and mention that your items make lovely gifts - they will appear on searches for people looking for gifts.

Thanks again Jude!!!

You're welcome

Edit: Must have been really tired this morning - so have changed the "personalised fuky mirror" to "Funky"...although a "Fuky mirror" sounds interesting :P

[ChrisCoxon]

Some excellent advice here. might give e.bay another try.

[Noodlefish]

Hi,

Great advice given already.
I may have this wrong but previously when I have attempted to add extra photo's *bay tried to charge me. So for me, the 1st pic was free then it seemed to be 12p after( I don't have a shop on there so I don't know if this is why??)

What i do to get round this is use their 1st photo free thing and then any extra photo's I have hosted on a free photo site and add them in the html tab (don't know if i can mention the name of photo site here so PM me if you want to know)

It seems to be a photo site recommended on the forums there too.

[gigglinggoblin]

I would love to know how to paste in a word page, I have always wondered how people manage to get those gorgeous sparkly backgrounds and all the info, I can do pics from online photo albums but nothing more, if its not too much trouble could you let us in on the secret too?

I have also been wondering about using ebay to advertise my website. Does anyone know the rules? I know you cant have your address on the listing but could you send a compliment slip with the address on if someone orders something or could you send an email with a discount code or something? I know they will have help pages but I am guessing they wont tell you the loopholes!

[Bath-Bomb.Com]

I've put the instructions on a seperate thread as there seemed to be a lot of interest:

http://www.craftsforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=19236

Noodlefish: Yes, if you try to add pictures via Ebay they will charge for any after the first gallery Picture but if the pictures are hosted on the internet you can paste them into the page - I don't 'do' HTML but my MS Word template instructions will tell you how to get around that.

Gigglinggoblin: I don't know how to do the sparkly backgrounds and fancy stuff (I suspect it's a GIF hidden in the HTML.

Advertising - build an About Me page and you are allowed to put your website address on there - that's really the only place they'll let you put it. My trading name is Bath-Bomb.Com and I have a nifty little logo/page header that I used to use for my listings but they made me take it off because of the dotcom bit - I did point out that it is the name of the business and they wouldn't suggest that Marks & Spencers or Lush should remove their trading name but they said "No Way Jose" or words to that effect. There is another (similar) business to mine that has the user name, shop name and logo which clearly gives his URL but I think he threatened to leave when they told him to stop advertising his website so I guess if I wanted to fight about it I might win!

I read all the rules not long ago and I think the following are true:

You can send out confirmation emails (once people have purchased from you on Ebay) that include your web address - you could make this an auto responder that encourages customers to go to the website - I offer a Postal discount for multiple purchases that include website & Ebay purchases.

Always put an invoice or business card in your Ebay Parcels that very clearly gives your web address - lots of my customers do a combination of shopping on Ebay and the site. Oh, and keep a few special things just for your website - I get lots of emails saying that I have some nicer things on the site and a larger range of stock.

I think one of the rationales for Ebay's charges is that they do all your marketing for you but they can't make your customers come back through Ebay so many of your customers might only buy through Ebay once. In terms of marketing to a worldwide audience Ebay is pretty cheap compared to the alternatives, like Google ads; advertising in an international magazine that reaches a distribution rate of millions - sorry but it is!



Jude <----does NOT work for Ebay

[LunarraStar Jewellery]

I didnt realise i could list say 5 items in my fixed price listings for the exact same price ..which means when one sells i dont have to pay to relist!

Such a good tip!