posted on October 24, 2003 07:18:59 PM new
LOL....
"Show Me the Money!!" (Just watched that last night.)
Me thinks everybody has some measure of cycles on here.
Ace, that is pretty funny about La Crosse in Quebec!
If I was the paranoid type (big smile), I could dream up this conspiracy theory that EBAY reels in the new sellers by giving em a couple of good sales to boost their confidence bam! their on their own.....and by then...well, its too late...they took the dive...but since I am not the type, I cant conceive of this. (Although I do think Paypal tries to recruit non-cc accounts into cc accounts.)
My posts are getting wackyer than Jacks. I better go have a drink and chill out. hahahah......
[ edited by neroter12 on Oct 24, 2003 07:45 PM ]
posted on October 24, 2003 07:52:30 PM new
DAMARISCOTTA, hit it right on the head about antique stuff. Good items are selling well and everyday items are for the most part a waste of time and money listing. Funny thing has happend about ebay prices. A year ago when I made house calls the people would say "I saw this item on ebay for $xxxx" dollars, now I ask them if they have looked at what their items are selling for on Ebay. LOL
posted on October 24, 2003 09:17:58 PM newMe thinks everybody has some measure of cycles on here.
Well, actually, no.
Unless you want to call the variance between 95% sellthrough and 99% sellthrough a "cycle". Me, I don't think that's enough of a difference to be a distinction.
Envious Ace thinks I'm bragging but it's simple fact: the more stuff I list, the more stuff I sell. That's not so much skill as the format.
I tried "traditional" eBay auctioning recently on a different ID. Took 10 really nice items, photographed them beautifully, priced them reasonably. 5 got no bids at all. 5 sold. None were bid up beyond the start price. 1 of the solds turned out to be an arrogant Canadian, and I don't ship to Canada. So call it 40% sellthrough.
Pretty dismal. Can't make a living that way.
--
Making the world a more decorative place, one eBay bidder at a time.
posted on October 24, 2003 10:06:30 PM new
I am envious of your setup. You have to have a hell of a sterling silver closeout wholesaler connection. It's got to be a lot of work photographing and doing the auctions and filling orders and almost everything is unique. Even if you were to make only a few dollars per auction it still adds up in the volume you do on ebay.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
posted on October 24, 2003 10:34:24 PM new
Anyone would be envious of the setup. The key has to be the wholesale connection. Whatta great find. Congratulations.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
posted on October 25, 2003 06:17:31 AM new
Well, Fluff, you've got your thing there with the jewelry. And you practically own the category, so how could you not keep selling??
Its different when you are trying to offer unique or (what you perceive as) HTF collectibles. It's another type of consumer altogether. I cant offer, say, a retired Boyd's collectible for .01 cent and charge 9.00 on the shipping even if its worth 20.00 or better, and I paid a few dollars for it. I don't feel comfortable doing that. And even then...I don't know....because EBAY is so huge now, most times, I am even surprised people find my stuff at all. There is just so much out there!!
Anyway, Christmas sellers will be doing good selling "new" stuff at better than retail prices but for some reason I don't think this will be a banner year for anyone, except maybe you and I don't say that maliciously.
posted on October 25, 2003 07:50:24 AM new
Tessa, Fluff doesn't quite dominate her category or even the one cent no reserve jewelry sellers but she does very well with her auctions.
Here's the big Banana in her area ( #81 on the top 500 feedback list 4 months ago )
Even though the big banana does offer a form of combined shipping Fluff's s/h terms are not really that bad when compared to Bidz.com and many sellers on ebay. It's all clearly stated several times in her auction description ( in a tone that everyone should understand ).
Offering Fluffy a sterling silver olive branch.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
posted on October 25, 2003 08:40:01 AM new
One week good, one week not so good. I've been getting a lot of Ask Seller A Question emails, though. There is one I must share, though. I had a camera I was selling for someone else and I got a question, a rather stern one. "When I looked at the camera, you said you didn't know if it worked or not!! Then you said you took multiple pictures with it, apparently you know if it works or not!!!!!!"
What the ad says is that I took multiple pics of the camera not with the camera. Nothing like getting yelled at by email first thing in the morning.
I chuckle now, but I didn't this morning.
Cheryl He has his own throne (Revelation 13:2) and his own worshipers (Revelation 13:4).
posted on October 25, 2003 08:41:51 AM newIts different when you are trying to offer unique or (what you perceive as) HTF collectibles.
Yes, that's absolutely true. That's why I got out of selling antiques and collectibles.
Well, OK, one of the reasons.
Supply is a big problem, as many of you know. Some people deal with that by ordering cases of fakes and repros. We've all seen phony depression glass, baby top milk bottles, faux Staffordshire dogs, etc. I just couldn't stomach that.
Research, as discussed in another thread, is dicey. Oh how I wish I still had some things that I let go for a pittance early on because I couldn't find enough information about them at the time. And yet you can't keep everything if you want to keep buying.
Just to give you an idea of what boneheaded mistakes I made: In a thrift shop I found a five piece set of "Margo" Taxco sterling silver ballerina brooches and earrings. I bought for $15, sold for $50 at a fleamarket, and thought I was doing OK. Later I found out: 1) I'd sold them to a well-known sharpie dealer, 2) the dealer convinced me I had not already given him change from his three twenties and so scored an additional $10 discount, 3) and he re-sold them for well over $500. (I later saw this guy shilling his own Bauer oil jugs at a live auction.)
With new jewelry, what you see is pretty much what you get. I have probably let a piece in 14k white gold (hard to distinguish from silver) slip by, but by and large there's no mystery about silver jewelry.
Making the world a more decorative place, one eBay bidder at a time.
posted on October 25, 2003 08:46:31 AM new
Yes, viccap99 does huge volume. I've been watching her for a while. She is welcome to that business segment; it's all low-end costume jewelry. Not what we sell.
--
Making the world a more decorative place, one eBay bidder at a time.
posted on October 25, 2003 04:43:10 PM new
Thanks, Fluffy! It's nice to know even the queen of Vendio and jewelery has made some bloopers. Maybe there is hope for me yet!!
lol....
posted on October 25, 2003 05:18:32 PM new
I found another ebay seller that also sells quality merchandise including a lot of sterling silver at one cent with no reserve.
Jewelry shipping is a bit high at $5 but there is some combining to encourage multiple buys within a one week period ( ie. 3 items / $10 )
posted on October 25, 2003 07:34:09 PM new
Sales have been bad for the last 10 days. If, I do get a bid I can''t get them to pay me. All of sudden they won't use Paypal they tell me they are sending me a payment through the mail but I don't receive it. It is really bugging me. And my Ebay fees are creeping up.
posted on October 26, 2003 09:25:12 AM new
Same here, sales have been GREAT, and that includes eBay and our web sites, last week we could hardly keep up with orders, but it has slowed down again......yes it seems to be running in weekly cycles.
Not being a sports fan I didn't even consider the World Series -
I did think about Pay Day timing.
Damariscotta, I don't think it relates to what one is selling, as we sell the same items year around, and have via the internet and eBay since 1996.
I think holidays do have an effect on all retail sales - that is, during holiday times buyers are often spending more funds on food, etc., for the celebration, like for Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc., and that leaves less discretionary income to spend on ebay and the internet.
Damariscotta, regarding your list:
-Able to ship easily - We definitely consider this before purchasing items to post on the Internet......not as much EASE of shipping, but items which aren’t given to too much breakage
-Low start ...........We only sell BIN, so low start doesn’t relate to our posting
-No reserve ................Doesn’t relate, as we don’t post standard auctions, they just take too much time to move an item
-Good eBay track record .............Occasionally that is a consideration with us, but not necessarily
-Bidding interest .................Not sure I know what you are talking about here
-No saturation ...............We sell two particular items, where eBay is saturated with such in various forms, but none just like ours, and ours are priced considerably higher than most in this category, as ours are larger and more unique, and we have been selling them consistently for a couple of years...........We fine QUALITY, AND PRESENTATION, more important that saturation...........
-Suitability for auction format
We have found quality of the item and presentation as 2 of the most important elements. We have also found uniqueness of presentation a plus for us. We DON’T use the templates offered by any of the services, nor do we simply show the item – we often show how to use the item in unique ways........and we often show items in different lighting, what can be very dramatic..........
No, such presentations aren’t time consuming, we have our own templates which we create in the FULL size program, FrontPage, and we keep such because we selling redundant items year around.
We JUST discovered the major difference a good camera can make. We were using a decent cameras, but my husband handles our web site of Clubbing Clothes, and was having a VERY difficult time getting definition in his pictures of sequined evening wear. After I made an intensive study of Digital Cameras, repair ratings, abilities of the camera, etc. etc., we chose a Sony 5 Megpix, with a Carl Zeis lenses, and the difference in our quality and definition in pictures is just beyond words, and we are still learning this new camera. This camera is a bit pricey, but I check all over the internet for the best prices from reputable dealers, and because our business is based on the quality of our pictures (99.9%) of all our business is on line, most through our web sites, good pictures are a MUST......therefore we felt this camera a good investment for our business (and a tax deduction).....I have already seen the difference it can make via sales just occurring on items previously photographed, and then rephotographed with the new camera.
and I don't say that maliciously.