posted on June 16, 2003 03:29:45 PM new
What is your sell through time selling on Ebay? I sell antiques and collectibles on ebay. I am guessing it takes me around an hour to sell an item on average. You all know the routine take photos, list, find category, answer emails, invoice, check paypal, pack, post office trips, feedback's, ect. What do ya think, am I working about right on the sell through time or am I slower than a snail. I am not talking about the sellers that sell the same item all the time. I am asking you sellers that sell a different item everytime what you think??
posted on June 16, 2003 03:33:50 PM new
That sounds about right. I almost never sell the same thing twice so it takes a while to do all of those things you listed (I forgot how many steps there are!). When you listed the steps out it made me think.
posted on June 16, 2003 05:21:24 PM new
What are you guys selling to make it move so fast?
Geez! I couldn't move my merchandise on Ebay, went back to Half.com.
posted on June 16, 2003 05:25:47 PM new
sellin' antiques
p.s. edited to add they even put a SpellCheck on this message box for us now! ... aren't they considerate???
[ edited by aintrichyet on Jun 16, 2003 05:26 PM ]
posted on June 16, 2003 05:39:55 PM new
Salgal48--------
I think bigpeepa means to actually do all the work to get auction up and listed to sell, not that the item sells an hour after its listed....don't we all wish!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to know I'm not slow. I thought maybe I was just slow about getting everything done. Sometimes I have to take 3 or more photos to get just the right angle or light, especially on close ups and difficult colors like black or purple. I figured out since selling is slow I'm making about $1.75 an hour. Bummer.
posted on June 16, 2003 05:45:18 PM new
I sell jewelry mainly. It takes me longer than an hour. Prepare area for pictures. Take pictures at least 4 or more per item, then edit them, put them in vendio, do auctions and then clean up. From start to finish about 1 1/2 hours. When I sell ties it is less as my pictures don't have to be so picky....
posted on June 16, 2003 07:10:32 PM new
libra: it used to take me at least an hour unntil I started using a made up dummy auction that I store in AW pending. I have all of the TOS made up & only have to change the description & category, & price. Add the pics & I am done. About 15 minutes for it all. This doesn't count taking pics etc & uploading them into AW, sorry Vendio. Since I went on DSL, that only takes a minute or so.
posted on June 16, 2003 07:51:10 PM new
I also have a premade template. One for each of the distinct items I sell: Movie Posters, lps, 45's and postcards.
Now, all I have to do is fill in unique values and it only takes about 5 minutes per. I upload pics via ftp to CA and when I use Vendio I use SAPro and list offline.
It used to take me nearly an hour and it has taken me several years to perfect all my templates. These, mixed with short keys where they are all stored and can be inserted with two keystrokes, makes it very quick.
I spend one day taking photo's for the weeks listings. Then, I just grab a stack and list. It wouldn't be that easy if I were dealing with larger or bulkier items, but I did do the same thing with jewelry I listed a while back. I just slipped each piece into a baggie as I shot the pic.
posted on June 16, 2003 09:03:40 PM new
sanmar..You can store your "dummy" auction as an "inventory" item in Vendio...then when you go to "create listing" select the appropriate inventory item and you are ready to fill in the blanks and launch. I have inventory items for each type of postcard i list - I select category, choose the image, set the price and add any extra verbage to the listing that may help sell the item (ie: keywords such as different state abbreviations etc). I save a lot of the boiler plate wording in my global selling preferences and those are plugged into every auction..if I don't waste a lot of time by reading the postings in here ,(I don't think it's really a WASTE, but it is a distraction!) I can pump out 50 unique listings+ per day.
posted on June 16, 2003 10:05:45 PM new
Does this "dummy auction" work for collectibles, all of which are unique? Couldn't I just do dummy auctions and leave them in pending with no time chosen for launching?
I might try putting up 20 dummy auctions, leave in pending, and play with those this week when I list. But wait, I can't get to the auction page unless I've chosen a category, right?
Kiara, what are you doing these days, now that the category choice comes first? Weren't you the person worrying that it would throw off the way you list, since you usually just took the pictures in order? (Sorry if my memory is wrong.)
posted on June 16, 2003 10:35:02 PM new
Hi roadsmith,
I sell a variety of things like you do and most times I know which item I plan to list so choose the category and then go from there. I very quickly got used to the new routine when Vendio changed it. Besides, I can always change the category within the page.
Other times I click on Image Hosting and browse through my pictures because I have many things packed up and I sometimes forget what I have. I also move some of my website items to ebay or some of my RL store items so at times it's a lot of things in different areas to keep track of.
I do partial auctions and just leave them in my pending auctions with no launch time, I have done this for years. I have only about 20 there now and some have been there for months. Some because it's not the right time to sell and others because I just haven't got around to getting the things ready to list. Sometimes I just put a partial description when I'm in the mood to do it and it is a reminder to list the item.
Except for my TOS, each auction is different from the next one. I am slowing down now until fall because my RL business will occupy most of my time again.
posted on June 17, 2003 02:26:59 AM new
I have been using Vendio for years - long before they went to a paid service and just discovered the "profile" creator. It's in the inventory under profiles. I have about 25 profiles made up for various items from dvd's to clothes to videos. Each one is worded slightly different. It was well worth the hour or so it took me to figure out how to create them. Last week I listed about 100 or so magazine ads. It took me 20 minutes to make the profile including inserting a link so they could view the rest of my ads with the click of the button and I had them all listed in about 3 hours. Well worth looking into. Granted my items are easy to list (I don't do high end collectibles), but I can easily list something in less than 10 minutes including pictures.
posted on June 17, 2003 04:24:43 AM new
I have got to thinking about this and it really is taking me about 2 hours per item to sell on eBay. Since the last 2 months I am averaging only 50% of my items selling. It takes me about 1 hour per auction and every 2 auctions I sell 1 item.
posted on June 17, 2003 05:21:26 AM new
Hi All, It looks like we all share the same problems. I also copy and paste this message into my auctions. Then fill in the description above it. "PLEASE SEE MY PHOTOS AND GOOD LUCK BIDDING.<BR><BR>BECAUSE EBAY'S AUCTION SITE IS DOWN OFTEN, I SOMETIMES END MY AUCTIONS EARLY IF I HAVE NO BIDS. PLEASE BID EARLY TO INSURE THIS AUCTION IS STILL AVAILABLE. I AM A CERTIFIED (SQUARE TRADE) MEMBER AND MY FEEDBACK'S ARE GOOD SO BID WITH CONFIDENCE.<BR><BR> U.S.A. SHIPPING COST FOR THIS ITEM WILL BE $ PLUS INSURANCE IF NEEDED. INSURANCE IS OPTIONAL, YOUR CHOICE.<BR><BR>ALL MY AUCTIONS ARE GUARANTEED 100% TO BE AS DESCRIBED OR YOUR MONEY BACK LESS SHIPPING COST". Notice the end my auctions early part. I am getting eariler bids since I put this in.
posted on June 17, 2003 03:40:26 PM new
Kiara: So can I leave auctions in "pending" for a very long time or is there any deadline from vendio? That's a great idea.
posted on June 18, 2003 05:23:24 AM new
roadsmith - instead of "pending", try using the "inventory" item (to the left in sales manager) it does the same thing and lasts until you change or delete - you can have a bazillion different listings saved and you title them - they appear as drop down when you start a new listing..REAL TIMESAVER!
posted on June 18, 2003 07:10:17 AM new
Hi, I like this thread, I am under the impression that most of you spend a day taking photos then you list. Is this really a big advantage? I find I must take photos then list, so therefore I am taking pictures and listing on a daily basis. I sell an assortment of mdse, There are certain days I am in the "mood" to list a certain category or item and certain days I am not, so I just move on to something else. This does seem like a time waster.
Reenie
posted on June 18, 2003 08:33:32 AM new
Neglus: I"m going to try your suggestion, to use inventory instead of pending. One question: Do I have to remember the title I've given the auction item? I usually give a working title (like etched glass pitcher) when I"m using pending, then change it when I polish things up.
posted on June 18, 2003 08:37:36 AM new
Latte4two: This is interesting! I too have to be in the mood to sell certain things. I tend to list a variety of collectibles and books each time I do a batch because I need to have different kinds of auction items to watch. Sometimes I like to look at my shelves and begin picking off the big space-hog items to make room for more. Sometimes I look around at the things I have lots of--postcards, jewelry, books, souvenir spoons, dishes--to find what I want to list this week.
And, in fact, I have to be in the mood to do all the work! Sometimes after a couple of intense weeks, I need a week or more to myself to catch up with cleaning, cooking, errands, all the odd stuff that gets in the way of us selling 24/7.
posted on June 18, 2003 11:05:34 AM new
Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
I tried creating an inventory profile and what a time saver that will be. Before this I was only able to list 4-5 items an hour. It will be interesting to see if this speed things up a bit.
