Ebay -How to crack it?

[GoonerGary]

I know how to get around the estimate expectations, but then cassini sees you offering a slower service.

But it doesn't work for many sellers any more. Very experienced sellers making all the changes and realising that their business is going nowhere, until one day ebay brings in a system that retrospectively buries you. Big stores closing overnight and laying off staff because they finally realised that the race to the bottom just to stay on top of Best Match was leading to failure. Ebay reward the cheapest prices for that given keyword.

Ebay release a few stories about ebay millionaires when in fact everyone bar the outlet stores had their sales secretly capped. That's serious fraud and they have been lying for years about it. The point I'm trying to make is that you will maybe earn enough to think that you are doing ok on ebay when in reality there is only a limit you can reach. You are better off growing and controlling your own business, not letting ebay dictate to you because they think you work for them.

A business on ebay is very fragile. As soon as a big snow storm hits the country, close up quick!

[bigj2552]

I know how to get around the estimate expectations, but then cassini sees you offering a slower service.

But it doesn't work for many sellers any more. Very experienced sellers making all the changes and realising that their business is going nowhere, until one day ebay brings in a system that retrospectively buries you. Big stores closing overnight and laying off staff because they finally realised that the race to the bottom just to stay on top of Best Match was leading to failure. Ebay reward the cheapest prices for that given keyword.

Ebay release a few stories about ebay millionaires when in fact everyone bar the outlet stores had their sales secretly capped. That's serious fraud and they have been lying for years about it. The point I'm trying to make is that you will maybe earn enough to think that you are doing ok on ebay when in reality there is only a limit you can reach. You are better off growing and controlling your own business, not letting ebay dictate to you because they think you work for them.

A business on ebay is very fragile. As soon as a big snow storm hits the country, close up quick!

yes gary...there are / were some really big sellers on there with 50,000+ feedback banned because of the defect system....some with over 10yrs trading.

we are / do control our own business/s,own web site doing superb, and growing....as i said before, if you treat ebay ONLY as a means of promoting your items, it is still the largest market place online at the moment, so any items on there have worldwide audience - add in flyer and a discount coupon for your own web site with every ebay sale - use ebay to drive the traffic to your own site - its working real fine for us bud -
ebay is still way cheaper than adwords and the reach is very similar, prob wee bit more tbh.
we also utilize google ad-words, and find that ad-words - the more you put into it, to rank higher on google search, the more reach you have = more conversions / sales it achieves - putting £3.00 per day aint gonna cut that either lol

so dont dismiss ebay altogether gary...even if you are making little profit on ebay...little is better than none - and remember - think of it as a giant adverting platform for your own business bud

ps..we never had any bother with storms affecting sales / delivery's.....maybe just lucky or something....and no,. i,m not a ebay convert here either before you all say....i,m def not an ebay hugger either lol - its working just now so....

[smes9]

I know this is a bit of an old thread, but just been reading about cassini/ebay. I find it a bit unfair that the most popular listings get to stay on top - making them even more popular! Its a strange way of doing it. Watched this video which is pretty informative : http://www.webretailer.com/lean-commerc ... -engine/#/

[Ucase Ltd]

I know this is a bit of an old thread, but just been reading about cassini/ebay. I find it a bit unfair that the most popular listings get to stay on top - making them even more popular! Its a strange way of doing it. Watched this video which is pretty informative : http://www.webretailer.com/lean-commerc ... -engine/#/

Initially it does seem a little unfair but their logic is 'provide a great product and service and they'll reward you for it'.
If you have TRS status this really makes a difference.

It can be frustrating getting ranked when you're starting out on ebay but when you finally get your item at the top of the results AND for the selling price you want you'll be very thankful for it.

[Rivermansky]

I agree with this. I have a separate business on ebay selling clothes. I was starting to do well then sales fell off a cliff in about March 2015 and have not recovered, as did many others. I will be leaving there soon, I would do better with a table at a boot sale than ebay. You assume you are paying for a world wide footfall when you open a store but sadly that is not the case.

[samoht146]

I have used Ebay but found that the postage fee was a below the belt blow! Can someone explain it to me as I find all the jargon on the site diverse and doesn't make any sense to me-am I bit on the thick side or is there anyone else out there in the same boat? Is there a way to avoid these charges,the how to crack it vid.I found to be a nothingness-sorry ebay but it's how I roll.

[phoenixalpha]

Include P&P into the item cost - and offer free P&P - it'll increase your rankings as items with free P&P are higher up the list than items without free P&P

[UK Printed Mugs]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you will NOT make good profit selling personalised items on ebay. You will cover costs but you must see it more of a marketing exercise. Every one in twenty people may require a larger order once they see how good your products are though (you hope!). For example to post a mug via Royal Mail 48 (business rates) is £2.50 and you are looking at 50p for smash proof box. You then are looking at selling/Paypal fees around 60p and a quality mug £1.20. So you have total of £4.80. You need to sell at around £5 to get people interested so as you can see you are making no money for your time. As another member said last year it is about promoting yourself and so include flyers e.t.c. This is not a business to enter into lightly so do your homework (boring I know!). Olly

[samoht146]

Thanks guys,it is indeed a hard slog!

[bigj2552]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you will NOT make good profit selling personalised items on ebay. You will cover costs but you must see it more of a marketing exercise. Every one in twenty people may require a larger order once they see how good your products are though (you hope!). For example to post a mug via Royal Mail 48 (business rates) is £2.50 and you are looking at 50p for smash proof box. You then are looking at selling/Paypal fees around 60p and a quality mug £1.20. So you have total of £4.80. You need to sell at around £5 to get people interested so as you can see you are making no money for your time. As another member said last year it is about promoting yourself and so include flyers e.t.c. This is not a business to enter into lightly so do your homework (boring I know!). Olly

@UK Printed Mugs - giving your potential competition the willes are we ?

you can get high quality mugs from only £0.50p,when bought in bulk...
and you can sell mugs on ebay easily for £6.99-£7.99...we did last yr.........

to the OP...dont always go with the race to the bottom my friend....