posted on March 4, 2003 08:58:57 PM new
I am a seller of women's clothing. When I first started selling I sold primarily garage sale finds and my eBay ID was basically my first name of Marc plus and additional word. I eventually moved into women's clothing and retained the ID with the man's name. I have a feedback of nearly 5000. When I compare my sales to to seller's offering similar items, many seem to be getting higher bids.
My question for the women bidders is, do you feel uncomfortable buying womens clothing from a man? The sellers that are doing better have a more generic eBay ID which does not give a clue to the actual seller.
posted on March 4, 2003 09:15:25 PM new
You are a Man and you eventually moved into Womens clothing? Hmmmmm,,,,,Cross Dressing....Yikes!!!! Actually,,,,Right On,,,,,whatever you feel comfortable in. Everything I sell is BI SEXUAL,,,,,,,
posted on March 4, 2003 09:44:12 PM new
I don't think I'd care whom I bought clothes from. But if you think it's affecting your sales, you might want to consider changing your user name?
On the other hand, there may be something very basic about your presentation in the auctions that is done better by others. Why don't you post a couple of auctions numbers and we women will take a look?
posted on March 4, 2003 09:46:44 PM new
I don't think it makes any difference. There is a poster in here, which he hasn't been here for a long time, and he sells womens clothes and seems like he does fairly well. Since he hasn't been here awhile I wonder how he is doing. Does anyone know. Is he still selling.
posted on March 5, 2003 12:59:15 AM new
I recently bought 2 bras from a seller, then realized the seller was a man. I only had a momentary twinge over that, but the bras were new, so no problem. I may have been more concerned if they had been used. Like, did he wear this stuff? EWWWW!
I do prefer to buy women's clothes from women sellers, but I'll be darned if I'm gonna pass up a good deal from any seller based on their user ID name! It would have to be a really offensive ID to pass up a deal.
I tend to agree with Roadsmith. Take a close look at the the differences between your listings and theirs. Not just the body of the listings and picture quality, but when your/their auctions close, starting prices, category used, and so on.
If you decide it is truly the ID, then, yes, change it and suffer through sunglasses for 30 days. And email any repeat customers with the change.
Yep, I would buy from "Debbies*Treasures" in a heartbeat! And I am a plus-size gal. But all the plus size tees are too short. We gals want to cover our stomachs, and 26" to 28" won't do it.
I suspect you got these from a Silhouettes closeout deal of some kind. The short tees probably did not sell well for them. (Just an observation, not trying to "dis" your auctions)
You may or may not know that their sizes run one or two sizes smaller than Lane Bryant, so putting the measurements of the clothing in the listings like you have is the only way to go. A 2X in Silhouettes is near the same as a 1X or so in Lane Bryant.
posted on March 5, 2003 07:15:06 AM new
I would have probably bought from you if I came across your auctions before. Great descriptions, great pictures, etc....but your name change will ensure more sells I'd bet. It seems more feminine. Good luck!
posted on March 5, 2003 07:19:04 AM new
hey,change your name to yves stlaruent,oscar delarenta,coco chanel,and see if it sells better.
some women like to obey men,so why not bring some of that stuff from the closet.
insurance co like to hire school teachers to sell as they know how to instruct people to take on more coverage .
Thanks for taking a look. I have done pretty well with the tees in the spring and summer. It may be just took cool right now to think about tees. The bathing suits are doing well though.
Basically I set a friend up with the direct source to Silhouettes (Hanover) and he is getting higher bids. His eBay ID is express_source and is using turbo lister to create ads which are basically ugly. We are both giving HammerTap (Channel Advisor)a try for the ads and I have decided to stick with the format of the link I posted. He is making the switch to HammerTap. We will be receiveing 5 new pallets this Friday from Silhouettes so we will be able to do a good comparison.
posted on March 5, 2003 10:27:55 AM new
Personally, I won't buy anything from Silhouettes or that came from a Silhouettes catalogue. Too many of the items I bought were extremely low quality and I had to return them.
I've noticed through the various liquidation sources there are a number of opportunities to obtain Silhouettes merchandise, which, I've gotta tell you, makes me wonder. Industry average for apparel returns is 25% but I bet Silhouettes runs higher than that.
You might consider putting some of the clothing up without mentioning it came from the Silhouettes catalogue. Just a thought.
--
Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more. --George W. Bush, 02/01/03
posted on March 5, 2003 11:24:34 AM new
Marc! I had no idea you were "Mr. Debbie". LOL. I know Debbie from another board. I'm one of your happy customers and a colleague at CA. Tell her "Aloha" from me.
The ad looks good (I heard you were changing from CA, but I thought you were going to Spare Dollar---not that it matters). Anywhoo, I think "Debbie's Treasures" is capable of being a very good brand name on eBay. It conveys personality and optimism. Add that to your very professional post-auction management system, and you will do well.
I better go put you under my Favorites before I forget. Best of luck to you.
posted on March 5, 2003 11:42:15 AM new
Marc, while I was at my Favorites I noticed you also changed the name of your other Seller ID. I'm not so crazy about that change. Too long and cumbersome, plus the implied conflict could give one pause. Upbeat, happy, optimistic is what you want when you are selling impulse items.
The Spare Dollar templates look good, but I would stick with the lighter colors as they seem easier to read. I'm in awe of your photography skills (under both IDs). Very good, very clear pics. Way to go.
Thanks for the data. I will keep an eye on your auctions. But I have to agree with Fluffy on one thing. I order once from Silhouettes and was not pleased with the quality for the price. But having had only one experience, I might condsider again.
I have been selling Silhouettes for more than a year now and that is 1000's of items. I've only had 2 returns and they were due to my error. I received 1 neutral feedback stating "Not What I Expected", but nice quality. If you take a look at the feedbacks, everyone raves about the quality. Everyone sees things differently. One thing for sure, I will stay with the Sellers Assistant listing tool. I really do not like the Channel advisor looks.
posted on March 5, 2003 01:45:15 PM new
HHHHHMMMMMMMM I too sell women's Plus Size clothing and that thought of a man's name never entered my mine. My problem is I also sell (and mostly) men's big and tall clothing.
I thought of having 2 id's long ago but that meant 2 set of auctionwatch fees. And since I am on the powerplan that did not make good sense to me, why pay them twice.
Funny thing though, as you are a man with a women's name... I am a woman with a man's name.
I always thought that unless the ebay ID name was ... well...weird... That it really did not matter.
posted on March 5, 2003 01:53:18 PM new
richierich:
My previous eBay ID was marcs-garage which was derived from my early days of eBay and garage sale hunting. It just seems that it does not fit well with what I am currently selling.
Guesss I will just have to see how the name change goes. There really is a Debbie here so it is in line with reality.
posted on March 5, 2003 01:55:44 PM new
While we're on a roll here. For those of you that have looked at some of my listings, do you like the Sellers Assistant or the Channel Adviser listings better?
posted on March 5, 2003 07:58:32 PM new
Many women like buying apparel from men. My ex-partner and current monkey used to work in one of our boutiques. Everyone thought he was gay, all of the manufacturers reps and customers loved him.
Women would constantly ask his opinion on what to buy or wear. They followed his advice slavishly. Women would actually bring in items from other stores and ask him if they should wear them. Those same women would ignore what I had to say.
2 things though:
1) He isn't gay
2) I picked out the clothes he wore on most days.
posted on March 5, 2003 09:27:04 PM new
"I have been selling Silhouettes for more than a year now and that is 1000's of items. I've only had 2 returns and they were due to my error. I received 1 neutral feedback stating "Not What I Expected", but nice quality. If you take a look at the feedbacks, everyone raves about the quality."
And at eBay prices, perhaps the quality is sufficient. Lots of people are happy with less when they pay less.
I sure won't ever buy again from the catalogue
--
Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more. --George W. Bush, 02/01/03
posted on March 6, 2003 02:32:18 PM new
I don't look whether the Ebay ID is male or female. What concerns me is the merchandise quality, customer service, and price. Good luck to you!
