FWIW, in 2016-2019 when I had 300-500 active listings, it was always as you describe in the beginning of your video. I'd briskly sell many items then have no sales for maybe 5 to 10 days, then brisk sales, then no sales, and so on. Most buyers were repeat buyers and they'd "complain" they could only find my listings in their purchase history OR at the bottom of search. Then after some days my listings would be back near the top of search. Eventually I realized eBay was modulating the position of my listings in search, probably after I sold some amount over a period of time. Sales throttling. I also had a few uncommon and unique items disappear from search results even though the listings were active. I could enter the exact listing title, not just specific keywords in the listing title, and my listings weren't found in search. But after a few days they were the first listing. And that would repeat. Every time I complained to eBay they suggested promoted listings would be the solution. And then I understood the underlying reason.
Yup. eBay's algorithm has every reason to behave like a slot machine: incentivize new sellers and people with low sales volume to continue using ebay by giving them wins from time to time, even if their listings are terrible, but then also tempt people who do well to keep playing by promising a return to glory...for a price. It's actually rather scummy how they can deprioritize good sellers (to some extent; I'm sure they want good sellers to do well) when good sellers are likely to be paying more in fees and subscriptions. But they can get away with hiding their algorithm under the umbrella of "trade secrets". Which is all fine and good; I'm not suggesting they shouldn't have that right. But it's hardly a heavenly situation.
Justin, what you described is EXACTLY what I experience all the time. So much so, that whenever I do make a big sale, I always tell my husband, ‘Ok, it’s going to be quiet for awhile’. I’m so glad you mentioned this - I thought it was only happening to me!
I’m thinking it’s a matter of perspective. If you think about it on a monthly scale for example let’s say you usually sell $1000 worth per month on average, would it truly be that strange if you sold most of that $1000 in the first week?
I find with feedback I get it when I do a great job packing (using the right size box(or using a box at all lol) using bubble, filling void with news paper and taping well. People spend good money on this stuff. They want it to arrive in the best way it can. Also if you have 2-3 day shipping ship the items you can early. If I have items due out Wednesday that sold but I’m shipping the stuff from the weekend I ship it all out Monday and the early stuff usually gets me a “wow got here super early and packed great! Will shop again” type feedback. Hope that helps
Feedback tip…I always print a packing slip and on my packing slip I write thank you! And below that I write “feedback appreciated” and I draw a little happy face… And I noticed an increase in feedback so just a tip…🙂
💯 I send a thank you card with every purchase that says ‘thank you for your purchase, don’t forget to leave a review, your feedback helps us provide a better service to our customers’ about 20% of my sales have feedback. I also prioritise customer service too. Even going to the lengths of tracking every order and if the package is sent to a local PO for collection, notifying the customer to let them know it’s available for collection from the PO and guiding them through the process of need.
One time I sold a $600 item, I’m a $1k per month seller so pretty small. The next few days were MASSIVE. I kept getting more and more sales. That’s kind of the opposite of what you said, but I’m sure it’s different for everyone.
I agree that it is more like this than the other way around. I do think eBay throttles you when you move something big (one single high priced item) when you are new or when it is the first few times you've moved something in that price bucket. Generally when I have a good sales day, I have another good sales day. I sell around 18k a month.
Your information is so helpful in so many ways. I'm a new seller of 3 months and I can already see I purchased things to sell that I should have just passed on. However, when one of the items sells I'm so thankful for the lesson.
Just started watching you a couple of weeks ago. SUPER job, brah! Re: "if you have a day a really big day that goes well above what you normally sell" I've been selling 23 years on eBay and I've seen that happen with me dozens of times ever since 2016 when eBay started changing the servers to AI. In October 2016 my sales dropped by 50% LITERALLY overnight, and yes I know what that word means. Never came back. Doesn't matter what I sell, how many items I list. At within $100 of my 'hidden dollar limit' I see almost no more sales that month. There's a dollar limit eBay just won't let me break. Once I get close to it, BAM! zero to very little sales for days. Doesn't matter what month, season or date of the month it is. Every time I mentioned it to anyone in 'eBay world' they told me it was a 'conspiracy' all in my head. But I know it's a fact, at least for me. So I"m SO glad to hear another seller saying they've seen that pattern. Thanks.
You hit the nail on the head! Listing daily, and all of the other things to poke the algorithm, but my sales so far this weekend are the worst I've had in 12 years on the platform.
As a eBay seller and occasional buyer, eBay does a more than adequate job reminding buyers to leave feedback for you. Doing more would not accomplish much except, as Justin said, risk annoying them. However, I also wait until my free return window closes 2wks after delivery, and (when applicable and positive) leave feedback for the buyer. I have the same copy saved in eBay that auto populates. “Thanks for your business! I hope you enjoy the item.” That usually inspires about 20-30% of my buyers to go in and do the same for me. I’ve been able to amass a high amount of positive feedback compared to my total # of sales with little effort.
SIDE NOTE: never, EVER leave negative feedback for a seller as another seller…no matter how terrible the experience. I made this mistake only once, and the seller found out I was also selling and started doing a ton of crazy stuff. Essentially, they would buy cheap items, and immediately open a return and leave negative feedback. Blocking wasn’t enough. After I reported their main account, they continued to do this with two other fake buyer accounts they made. I was forced to temporarily disable my account for over a month, contact Ebay for help multiple times (they were amazing!), and eventually changed my handle and remove my personal info from the account so they couldn’t find me after I turned it back on. They even had someone local come to my home and throw black baseball caps in my yard. It finally stopped once I contacted eBay to remove my original negative feedback. It was terrible. Almost quit reselling entirely fearing I was putting my family in danger. I’d say you run the same risk leaving negative feedback for buyers. People are crazy.
I still don’t understand the meaning behind the caps, but it felt ominous and definitely seemed connected to the eBay stuff going on after the third one appeared in the span of a week
My sales down lots I send many offers people don’t pay a big waste of time I think , how much value do u list each day. Postage is a joke we pay for satchel tape bubble wrap box it’s always more grr yes a cost
On eBay if you buy items you need the seller will almost always leave feedback. eBay does not separate the feedback so you can grow your feedback by supporting other seller by buying items you need from eBay instead of Amazon or other online sites.
U read a comment, then break it down. That’s beyond great bc, the question may be confusing due to ‘resellers verbiage’ that some are not yet familiar with, etc. Thank you!
Thank you, I've been saying that for a long time. If I have a good week of sales it then goes dry for like a week. It's like they limit what I sell then cut me off from views. I also noticed if you divide the U.S into thirds, one week all my sales are in one area, then the next group of sales are in a different third and so on. Never like 1 sale in NY and 1 in CA. It's like I'm only visible in the eastern region, then out west or in between. What are the odds.
Thanks for another great video Justin. I’ve learnt a lot in the last month since I came across your channel. Is there a list of operators that can be used when searching eBay listings to find average selling prices? I know that you can search for alternatives if you place them within brackets and separate them with commas. e.g. Tablet (Amazon, Samsung, Google) will return matches only where the title includes the word Tablet and also Amazon, Samsung or Google. The ‘-‘ symbol means exclude the term that follows e.g. HP Printer -ink -cable will results with HP Printer in the title but only where they don’t include the words ink or cable. HP Printer -(ink, cable) does the same. There must be more functions that I don’t know of. Although far from perfect this at least helps refine results somewhat.
I've often been tempted to put a large discount code in the description to see if people read. I do however have many readers comment on how happy they are to learn the back story on an item (we sell vintage, and curate every item that we can find from the supplier where it is from).
We can no longer figure Ebay. Listing daily, we might have two sales a week. Listing daily, another time could bring in five sales a day. Just have no clue any longer. Yes, we do VERY good and thorough descriptions and take plenty of photos. If something is sold as is, we put this in the title and the description. Unfortunately, though you have this written out, Ebay for some reason allows some buyers a refund, when they say something not working when the listing says NOT TESTED or FOR PARTs only! Yeap, traffic is still very very slow. But we still list daily. We never ask the Buyer's for feedback. Drove us crazy in the beginning but we just do our best customer service (list properly, good photos, packing well, shipping immediately and when delivered we are happy). Hopefully the buyer is happy as well.
I got a box at my local UPS store. It’s convenient because I’m usually there to ship anyway, and no one has my real address. Plus I can get emergency shipping supplies if I run out of something.
It drives me crazy when people don’t have a description. Mostly when it’s something important like the size, how many, what it’s made of for certain things. Esp if they don’t have many or good pics. Love your channel! ❤
It's probably because when they're shopping on their phones, they have to click a separate link to see the full description, which I believe is a flaw in the app. Some people may be too lazy to link to the full description, and some may not even notice the link.
What drives me crazy is when people sell women's clothing without measurements. We all know women's sizing is all over the map. A small in one brand may be a medium in another. Measurements should be required fields, IMO.
I have repeatedly experienced two or three zero sales days following the sale of a $300-$400 item. Most of my sales are under $45 except for the repeat $300-$400 items which I list and sell about once a month. This is completely predictable with my account which has been open since 1999.
Justin superb videos! Simple, clear and to the point. I’ve had lost/stolen envelopes using USPS. I drop the envelopes at the post office inside mailbox. I have a 8-10 ratio of success. I’m wondering if sports cards are noticeable and tempting to snatch? Do you always get your items scanned at the post office? Quick note- I’m not a fan but in the legal docs on your eBay contract it states pineapple people get preferred listing status.
Your experience on feedback is strange to me. I didnt realize that was common for people to have low feedback rates. Im sitting at 1000 total sales with almost exactly a 50% feedback left rate with 465 positive feedback at 100%. I dont reach out to buyers ever about feedback. I do sell almost exclusively collectibles, comics, etc. So maybe that makes the difference. But I guess I am either doing something right that I was unaware of lol or I should be grateful for a great customer base. Youre the only ebay youtuber I watch. Great content. Love just having your videos playing in the background while I list. Keeps me motivated.
Another thing of you don’t mind. How do you price items by the lot? Do you price the whole lot or just one item? Thanks for you videos and honesty your great!
I have definite proof that no one reads much of anything ob ebay period. I sometimes sell empty cases for video games but I had to start putting NO GAME as the first 2 words because no one would read the entire title and would either want to cancel later that day or want to return it after I shipped it out. It took me a few months to figure this out and now I don't get too many cancellations. Also, I have the big ebay day and maybe two in a row and then for at least 4 or 5 days my sales are lower than normal. I think that I have a certain cap for my sales per week/month because it seems I don't really have any breakout months anymore. I used to average around $250 a day but now most days I struggle to get $150.
I have noticed the big day, little day theory, but just write it off as the randomness of online selling. I would be interested in seeing if you come up with any data-based theories based on your software. Would be very interesting and informative I think.
My favorite pizza includes both pineapple and anchovies. Sweet/salty is pretty awesome. Regarding sales, when I'm listing every day, I make sales... old stuff & new stuff. When I fail to list for a couple days, nothing sells until I list something. Definitely feels like a correlation.
Hey, I often hear that listing every day is very important. But is the daily part actually important? Wouldn't we expect more sales listing 35 things on Sunday rather than listing 5 per day Sunday to Saturday. I'd personally rather list as much as I can on the weekend than creating a bunch of drafts I list throughout the week. What are your thoughts?
Hey Justin, Interesting subject on the algorithms of ebay. I've been recently upgraded from Above Standard to Top Rated (within the last 10 days) and my sales tanked last week. Seems somehow related, and I'm not sure how to correct it. I also struggle with the decision to open an ebay store as opposed to my current business model. Biggest issue I'm having is I reach the max number of listings I can make due to the monthly renewal of existing inventory of items. I have some big decisions to make that affect bottom line with additional expenses for my side hustle. Thanks for the great information and insights. I appreciate your business approach and I walk away with really great topics to consider. (such as the description aspect of the listing-I think you are correct, most buyers don't care/read them anyway)
I love your content, but I do take umbrage on the topic of 'you can't create buyers'. In my experience, repeat customers and followers of my store are more likely to buy my items than anyone else. I have overly buyer friendly policies because I believe repeat customers are the key to a solid, sustainable, reselling business. I know I'm nitpicking, but I figure you will likely agree with me. Thank you again. You've taught me a lot, and I really appreciate your logical approach.
that makes sense. repeat customers aren't really a thing for me (i sell such a wide variety of stuff across all categories) but can see how that would be the case if I sold in a particular niche that attracted repeat buyers. thanks for the context!
Hi Justin - love your videos - learn something new on every video. My question: How do you determine how much of your profits you use for new inventory? Do you have a percentage you use from your last months sales? Thank you.
I was sitting here wondering why it seems like every time I have a really good day, it's followed by crickets for at least a couple days. I actually thought I was being paranoid, but seeing this video I feel a lot better. At the very least, my paranoia is shared. 😁
Yes ..I noticed after i sold my Ctx 3030 metal detector years ago for over 1k the sales did slow up .. but I didn't have many products liste either.. I noticed you were saying it was best to not put too many items out at first, What would be a good number to put out if I'm opening a store for the first time? Thanks
? Have you found, either through data in Flipwise or anecdotal, success in sending out specific dollar amount offers versus percent off offers? Meaning, do you see anything that shows an offer of $25 or $24.95 is more likely to be accepted than a random offer of $24.48, for example?
Ever since I hit the 500 mark on listings, my sales have dropped by a significant amount. I just realized it as I’m wondering what has changed. I’ve dropped almost all my prices to the lowest, and still nothing. Like days go by, and nothing. So weird. I’m thinking maybe I need to just push on and keep listing, or “keep calm and carry on” lol. Nothing else I can do.
I just had an item delivered to the buyer that was damaged during shipment. Luckily the item was shipped Ground Advantage so it was insured. Do you have any experience filing an insurance claim with USPS?
Hey Justin. Love the weekly videos, game changer for me at 6 months into the eBay game. I am located in Nova Scotia Canada. I have recently switched all of my listings to international. When using calculated shipping am I only concerned with shipping to eBay location in US or do I ship non US International? Any thoughts? Thanks. Rob
1) Buyer 80% of the time do not read the title or ad. Justin is right. They ask questions where the info is in the title and caption. 2) In Canada, it's easy to to change your address to be your local post office's and it's free. It's only for packages.
I also have experiences the big day slower sales situation. I noticed that ebay seems to only let me sell up to a certain gross dollar amount per day and after that it is like sales disappear. Kind of sucks because if things maintained the same velocity, i should be selling more per day. I use a volume model in my store. Been selling for 3 years.
I been doing ebay for about 2 months now and buyers do read the description. I always make my descriptions as detailed as possible so that way I can decrease the amount of returns as I can. only things I dont add details to are brand new items
Hi Justin. Thanks for the great advice. I sold 4 dinner plates and 1 arrived broken. Buyer has been very kind and is asking for a replacement, which I fortunately have. I am new at this. What is your suggestion regarding sending another plate and asking for help from eBay? They were sent via Ground Advantage. Will USPS cover my loss? Thanks a bunch.
Hi Justin! I am a new subscriber to your channel and have also joined Flipwise, and both are GREAT! I am new to the Ebay Store group and I have a couple questions about monthly limits. I have a basic beginner membership subscription for my store which claims up to 250 listings insertion fee free, however my "current monthly limits" are a max of $500 listed/sold or 35 items listed/sold. Will I be able to list $500 more and or 35 items more next month or will I be stuck with only being allowed a max of $500 or 35 items in my store until the monthly limits become raised? From your experience what does it take and or how long until my monthly limits increase? Thanks much!
Most states list the home address of the managing owner PLUS the name and address of the registered agent. However, if you use the street address of your post office and add "Unit #1234" for your box number, you may get away with it 😉 Where there could be trouble is when you open your bank account with that address, and then ebay verifies you with your driver's license. If your DL has your home address and your account uses the business address, you have to make sure ebay seperates the two. One is public facing and one can be private.
Hi there. I’ve noticed from time to time that you sell purses. Designer purses. Do you use eBay’s authentication service when you sell these high-end brands? I’m very nervous about selling some purses that a friend gave me even though she says they’re real. How do I let eBay know that?
Really interested in flipwise. My wife and I are full time together. Getting the books and backend in order has just been a struggle for us the last 2 years (full time for both) since we rely on the income completely right now every bit counts. Just curious why a sliding scale for the use? Do you ever have trials or discounts? Just trying to be conscious about the money leaving the business. Again every bit counts. We have a goal to start end of December so next year we’re using it from the go. Just curious why and if. Thanks.
I've got a promo available; details in the video that will be published this evening! We use sliding scale so that smaller sellers can get the benefits of using it without breaking the bank. Plus the bigger a user's store, the more it costs us to run, the smaller the store, the less it costs us.
@@justinresells thanks for the reply! I’ll keep an eye out for the new video. Sorry if it sounds like I’m being a cheapskate, it’s just…. I am lol. The summer slowdown is real and we’re just being cautious of spending extras when overhead has already gone up so much for us recently. Either way it seems like a great product I can’t wait to try! Much appreciated!
I had always suspected that - like having a quota to meet. Which really sucks because the days that I sell a lot to meet the quota it gives me a false sense of optimism that sales will be the same the next day. I have only been doing this for 2 years
Thanks for the heads up about the food processor blades. I never considered that. Do you avoid any and all brands with blades or was there something specific about Cuisinart?
Ebay used to have a toggle off/on for displaying your address on shipping labels, but it went away. I called support and found out that it was removed and that there is now no way to do that. I went at that time and got a PO box. A relatively small cost for peace of mind.
Would you ever consider doing a semi-regularly store / account review? Something where you go through a subscriber’s store and give feedback on a couple of listings and store setup and branding (if applicable)? (I’d like to sign up for this 😂)
I've experienced both, slower and higher average sales after a big sales day. I think it's totally random. We all sell primarily random items which lend themselves to random sales. I suspect the thrill of a big sales day makes us a little more optimistic about our sales and start projecting a bit. I just view those big days as the exception, not the following days. They are probably closer to the norm than most will admit. It all evens out in the end. The stochastic process helps explain how I view this topic.
I don't know if you ever experience this but I put 3 listings for auction on ebay and two of the three just didn't pay after winning the auction. What's up with that? I was trying to get rid of consoles and it's taking forever because I have to put in a 7 day auction several times.
Quick question. I am a newer eBay seller that offers free returns. I recently had a return for some jeans. I was able to send the return label through the app. I then waited for the item to get back to me and when prompted to send the refund, it asked if I wanted to include shipping. Since I offer seller paid shipping wouldn’t this be automatic when processing a refund. I made sure to click the “include shipping” checkbox to make sure the seller receives their shipping fee back. Am I also charged for the return label separately?It’s still a bit confusing. Appreciate the help.
On the mobile app, you can click the title right under the pictures and the description will open up. You don't have to scroll down to find the link. Hope this helps! :)
Pirate Ship handles insurance claims paperwork for you so shipping an insured expensive item through them makes it easier to file claim as opposed to USPS.
Hi Justin, what proactive actions do you take to give your listings a bump in hopes of a sale? Especially for those things that have been sitting for months. For instance, I end a few items daily and sell similar. I occasionally sell an older item the same day by doing sell similar. Any tips? Thanks!
That's wild about item descriptions. I make very detailed descriptions, for my video games. Individual lines for disc, case, case art, booklet description. I mention that there's no fakes, I mention how I ship and at the end of the ad I have a little "Hey! Check out my store" section. I know when I buy something, I read everything! Maybe that's just because I'm a seller...so I read. Plus I always think that if I didn't mention that a booklet was ripped, for example, Even though it's visible in the pics if I didn't mention it, that'd be all a buyer needed to get their money back.
Here's something to try. I assume you examine sold listings for pricing and other data. When you do that, click into the listings and see just how many descriptions are a single sentence, often just the title repeated, and yet they've sold. As far as condition issues, that belongs in the "condition" box, which will display separately from the item description.
@HeyImWatchinHere. oh I believe you! I'm sure the majority of people don't put much info in. I only do it because you have to put SOMETHING in the description area and it's just as fast to write one line as it is to paste a template in, and edit one or two things if need be. I can go from blank listing to complete liating with multiple pics and a full description in less than 100 seconds so it's worth the minor time penalty to add the large description.
Hey man when you price up your items and they sit for a while do you drop your prices or make any kind of promotion or you just patiently wait even if it takes 6 month to sell this particular item? Well do you have a patern of pricing high or same as actual market and evry specific time you drop the price a bit? Obviously, im sure when you buy item, you make sure to have a good profit margin in case the worth happens so you can play a bit with the price no?
There’s no “lighthouse effect” or on again off again phenomenon to the algorithm for sales. It’s pure Apophenia and you only notice lower sales after big sales when there’s lower sales. If you look at your yearly chart and look at all the spikes and what follows then there’s no real pattern. Just reversion to the mean.
I’m sure my products get advertised via geographical location. I have had multiple customers from specific areas on the same day. Recently two customers from the same small Scottish island on the same day. 🤔
When you delete and sell similar items, will you do that for items with watchers? I have been selling for a couple years, and watchers always seem worth keeping.
I do it no matter if I have watchers or not. I want a buyer not a watcher. And usually if the item has a lot of watchers then when I relist/sell similar they all come back anyways.
probably cause your best items are sold and then you're left with less desirable stuff. i've never experienced this or blame it to that. a lot of things are more seasonal and beyond your control and sometimes it's just a new seller who came into your space and you're not the lowest anymore.
Hello, thank you for doing these videos, I find them to be very helpful. I have just started as an eBay seller and sourcing items to sell, my question is am I expected to launder clothing items, 🤷Thank you for taking time to answer.
Hey Justin, appreciate the videos and more so the Flipwise app, so thanks! So question, do you have experience with Ebay's authentication program? I sold some Nike shoes New in the box with authenticity tag and they were returned by authenticator stating "shoes have creasing" they were not knock offs apparently but they were sent back due to signs of use. I also received negative feedback from buyer like i was selling non-authentic shoes. I don't normally sell shoes like this. Is this normal feedback from Ebay authenticators?
You are so right about the good day of sales with the following 2/3 being much lower theory. Happens to me all the time. I have actually been tracking it and with you now also talking about it; I have proof 😢😅
Thank you so much for answering my question!! I really appreciate the feedback, thank you for the information. I had a $1000 sales week this week, I’m going to add your advice and hope to make even more! Thank you man!!
I'd love it if you made a video showing how you part out certain things. I've picked up a Nuwave and a few food processors, and I'm not completely sure how to dismantle/split up some of the parts to list and maximize my profit.
You are in a great position with actual data and the skills to explore sales patterns. Please do so, until then it's just the usual ebay seller magical thinking, self-selecting anecdotal evidence, and the human brain trying to assign patterns where they don't exist. "X comes in threes" we all know... but of course our brain decides when and what counts. My gut instinct goes the other way. With the exception of pure commodity new items and real seller performance issues it makes no sense to think ebay is "allotting" sales to sellers based some magic formula. It just isn't in their best interest. Their best interest is making a sale. I am not willing to believe that ebay is saying in effect "sorry buyer, you want this particular used shirt in this particular size, but that seller has had enough sales for this week so we're not going to show it to you".
You bring up some good points. I know it is all conjecture (but isn't conjecture fun?) but I think it is less about eBay stopping a sale from happening completely, because as you said their whole business is obviously built around generating sales... but more so deprioritizing your items in search amongst competitors. The vast majority of sales come from the first page of listings and so when your items aren't prioritized in search (for myriad reasons known and unknown) you get fewer sales. So it's not that they are preventing it from being found entirely, but placing it far enough back in search that it is unlikely to result in a sale. Appreciate the back and forth!
@@justinresells I can sum it up this way - I've been reading comments from ebay sellers on message boards, from the long defunct original ebay groups to youtube comments to private sites, since 2008. That is not in any way a claim to authority, but simply to indicate the sheer number of posts I've read over many varying versions of ebay and it's systems. No matter the ebay version or system, it's always the same magic thinking, always the same pattern seeking. To me, Occam's razor cuts firmly on the side of human brain irrationality vs ebay machinations. Unless you evaluate real data and show me otherwise.
As far as feedback: I’ve considered adding a thank you, which I already add on a mini card or sticker, but with something along the lines of: “Thank you for your purchase! Please message me directly should you have any questions or issues. Positive feedback is most appreciated!” I’ve purchased items on eBay from sellers who have added a 3x5 card or piece of paper with this typed out nicely to their packages and think it’s a good idea.👍
Normally if I have a big day I find I then have a terrible week following that. But then again my entire store feels like it’s been terrible for about 6 months now. And I only really (there’s some exceptions of course) focus on STR.
Is there a policy that requires an LLC to change the name shown on the label? It let me without having one but I do have some prop...I may be in the wrong 😅
To get more positive feedback, I print and tape a short note on each item when I ship it cheerfully saying I'll leave positive feedback after the buyer does - let's do this together! About 35-40% of my sales get positive feedback (almost all sales are books). I agree that contacting them after the sale to request feedback seems too aggressive and annoying.
Not too sure why you find contacting a buyer for feedback after sending them the item a bit aggresive,it's part of ebay and it does help the seller. I have some buyers who contact me so much about their item and I go out my way to help them with the item. When i send the item i ask them when they have time can they leave feedback. Some buyers just point blank don't leave feedback which I understand is at their discretion but I think after me going out my way to help them then a bit of feedback doesn't go a miss.
that's crazy. I actually noticed this phenomena that big sales days are followed by a few very slow days or even a week. I'm not as high volume as you so maybe that's why my lull is longer. So weird.
High sale day followed by several slow days is normal. Question is why is that? Why would ebay limit sales? It hurts them and the sellers. Doesn't make sense to me!
I have multiple examples of buyers not reading the description such as A buyer routinely buys items and sends a message or leaves negative or neutral feedback and complains about the list of flaws that was clearly listed in the description. Very frustrating 😕 !! I onetime reminded the buyer " That the imperfections were clearly listed in the description. She responded clearly I didn't read the Description !! 😂😮
Ebay doesn't assign sales to sellers based upon how much they've sold. I've been selling for 25 years on Ebay and can say with confidence that this is definitely not a thing. Sales are determined by the market, but the market is a fickle beast. What you are describing is random statistical variance. It would be weird to have the exact same sales day after day that never varied at all, wouldn't it?
I agree. It would seem to me eBay would reward big sales rather than "punish" them. eBay makes money when stuff sells and is unlikely to care if that comes from a user who just had a big sale.
Lol, I knew you were going to catch some heat about the pineapple pizza. My question is, and it may be a strange one, but I don't want to anger the ebay. I have heard of people using private auctions or low cost auctions to send items to family/friends and take advantage of the shipping discounts. Is that something ebay might frown upon?
Happens to me every pay period - I make the same amount within a couple dollars. If I have a great weekend, I pay for it with a slow couple of days so I can make my normal 2 wk amount.
I've been selling on ebay since 1997 with my name and home address. I've had a few crazy buyers but nothing where I felt threatened. I have their name and address as well. I too will sell a large ticket item and then crickets days afterwards. Descriptions and pictures are never enough as some buyers don't look at all pics and or read. I had to explain to a buyer what heel and toe taps were even though they were pictured. She loved the mules/shoes and said they were in great condition but she was going to throw them away( never asked to return them) because of the miniscule taps felt like leggos while walking.The toe one was the size of a tic tac. I then explained they are easily removable. She thought she had to pay someone to have them removed. I said to get a knife or other sharp flat object to lift them off. She still couldn't understand the reason for them. I told her to google it since my explanation of protecting the bottom of the shoe didn't register with her. I'm amazed some people can get through their day since selling on ebay all these years.
I find that many don’t read the description. I have sold items and then have had people complain about something that was clearly explained in the description.
FWIW, in 2016-2019 when I had 300-500 active listings, it was always as you describe in the beginning of your video. I'd briskly sell many items then have no sales for maybe 5 to 10 days, then brisk sales, then no sales, and so on. Most buyers were repeat buyers and they'd "complain" they could only find my listings in their purchase history OR at the bottom of search. Then after some days my listings would be back near the top of search. Eventually I realized eBay was modulating the position of my listings in search, probably after I sold some amount over a period of time. Sales throttling. I also had a few uncommon and unique items disappear from search results even though the listings were active. I could enter the exact listing title, not just specific keywords in the listing title, and my listings weren't found in search. But after a few days they were the first listing. And that would repeat. Every time I complained to eBay they suggested promoted listings would be the solution. And then I understood the underlying reason.
Yup. eBay's algorithm has every reason to behave like a slot machine: incentivize new sellers and people with low sales volume to continue using ebay by giving them wins from time to time, even if their listings are terrible, but then also tempt people who do well to keep playing by promising a return to glory...for a price.
It's actually rather scummy how they can deprioritize good sellers (to some extent; I'm sure they want good sellers to do well) when good sellers are likely to be paying more in fees and subscriptions. But they can get away with hiding their algorithm under the umbrella of "trade secrets". Which is all fine and good; I'm not suggesting they shouldn't have that right. But it's hardly a heavenly situation.
Same here, nothing then sales, nothing, sales. Weird
Justin, what you described is EXACTLY what I experience all the time. So much so, that whenever I do make a big sale, I always tell my husband, ‘Ok, it’s going to be quiet for awhile’. I’m so glad you mentioned this - I thought it was only happening to me!
Me too. That pattern started in 2016 for me.
I’m thinking it’s a matter of perspective. If you think about it on a monthly scale for example let’s say you usually sell $1000 worth per month on average, would it truly be that strange if you sold most of that $1000 in the first week?
I find with feedback I get it when I do a great job packing (using the right size box(or using a box at all lol) using bubble, filling void with news paper and taping well. People spend good money on this stuff. They want it to arrive in the best way it can. Also if you have 2-3 day shipping ship the items you can early. If I have items due out Wednesday that sold but I’m shipping the stuff from the weekend I ship it all out Monday and the early stuff usually gets me a “wow got here super early and packed great! Will shop again” type feedback. Hope that helps
Feedback tip…I always print a packing slip and on my packing slip I write thank you! And below that I write “feedback appreciated” and I draw a little happy face… And I noticed an increase in feedback so just a tip…🙂
💯 I send a thank you card with every purchase that says ‘thank you for your purchase, don’t forget to leave a review, your feedback helps us provide a better service to our customers’ about 20% of my sales have feedback. I also prioritise customer service too. Even going to the lengths of tracking every order and if the package is sent to a local PO for collection, notifying the customer to let them know it’s available for collection from the PO and guiding them through the process of need.
The sale spike followed by crickets....spot on.
Absolutely agree, a PO Box address is safer for ship from and return to address protection.
One time I sold a $600 item, I’m a $1k per month seller so pretty small. The next few days were MASSIVE. I kept getting more and more sales. That’s kind of the opposite of what you said, but I’m sure it’s different for everyone.
I agree that it is more like this than the other way around. I do think eBay throttles you when you move something big (one single high priced item) when you are new or when it is the first few times you've moved something in that price bucket.
Generally when I have a good sales day, I have another good sales day. I sell around 18k a month.
@@dogcatmousecow533 Wow, that’s impressive! How many hours a week do you work?
Your information is so helpful in so many ways. I'm a new seller of 3 months and I can already see I purchased things to sell that I should have just passed on. However, when one of the items sells I'm so thankful for the lesson.
Same!! I am a newby and am learning a lot. Definitely being more selective in my second month!
Have you guys started as a sole proprietor? I'm about to start, but overthinking, probably... Then there's that issue with your home address.
Just started watching you a couple of weeks ago. SUPER job, brah!
Re: "if you have a day a really big day that goes well above what you normally sell"
I've been selling 23 years on eBay and I've seen that happen with me dozens of times ever since 2016 when eBay started changing the servers to AI.
In October 2016 my sales dropped by 50% LITERALLY overnight, and yes I know what that word means. Never came back. Doesn't matter what I sell, how many items I list.
At within $100 of my 'hidden dollar limit' I see almost no more sales that month.
There's a dollar limit eBay just won't let me break. Once I get close to it, BAM!
zero to very little sales for days. Doesn't matter what month, season or date of the month it is.
Every time I mentioned it to anyone in 'eBay world' they told me it was a 'conspiracy' all in my head. But I know it's a fact, at least for me.
So I"m SO glad to hear another seller saying they've seen that pattern.
Thanks.
You hit the nail on the head! Listing daily, and all of the other things to poke the algorithm, but my sales so far this weekend are the worst I've had in 12 years on the platform.
As a eBay seller and occasional buyer, eBay does a more than adequate job reminding buyers to leave feedback for you. Doing more would not accomplish much except, as Justin said, risk annoying them. However, I also wait until my free return window closes 2wks after delivery, and (when applicable and positive) leave feedback for the buyer. I have the same copy saved in eBay that auto populates. “Thanks for your business! I hope you enjoy the item.” That usually inspires about 20-30% of my buyers to go in and do the same for me. I’ve been able to amass a high amount of positive feedback compared to my total # of sales with little effort.
SIDE NOTE: never, EVER leave negative feedback for a seller as another seller…no matter how terrible the experience. I made this mistake only once, and the seller found out I was also selling and started doing a ton of crazy stuff. Essentially, they would buy cheap items, and immediately open a return and leave negative feedback. Blocking wasn’t enough. After I reported their main account, they continued to do this with two other fake buyer accounts they made. I was forced to temporarily disable my account for over a month, contact Ebay for help multiple times (they were amazing!), and eventually changed my handle and remove my personal info from the account so they couldn’t find me after I turned it back on. They even had someone local come to my home and throw black baseball caps in my yard. It finally stopped once I contacted eBay to remove my original negative feedback. It was terrible. Almost quit reselling entirely fearing I was putting my family in danger. I’d say you run the same risk leaving negative feedback for buyers. People are crazy.
I still don’t understand the meaning behind the caps, but it felt ominous and definitely seemed connected to the eBay stuff going on after the third one appeared in the span of a week
I think you said it perfectly about sell through rate. The more you drop the price on an item the faster it will sale.
My sales down lots I send many offers people don’t pay a big waste of time I think , how much value do u list each day. Postage is a joke we pay for satchel tape bubble wrap box it’s always more grr yes a cost
On eBay if you buy items you need the seller will almost always leave feedback. eBay does not separate the feedback so you can grow your feedback by supporting other seller by buying items you need from eBay instead of Amazon or other online sites.
U read a comment, then break it down. That’s beyond great bc, the question may be confusing due to ‘resellers verbiage’ that some are not yet familiar with, etc. Thank you!
Thank you, I've been saying that for a long time. If I have a good week of sales it then goes dry for like a week. It's like they limit what I sell then cut me off from views. I also noticed if you divide the U.S into thirds, one week all my sales are in one area, then the next group of sales are in a different third and so on. Never like 1 sale in NY and 1 in CA. It's like I'm only visible in the eastern region, then out west or in between. What are the odds.
I love your subtle sense of humor 😂
Most definitely something is going on with their algorithm where after big sales days things fall off.
Thanks for another great video Justin. I’ve learnt a lot in the last month since I came across your channel.
Is there a list of operators that can be used when searching eBay listings to find average selling prices?
I know that you can search for alternatives if you place them within brackets and separate them with commas.
e.g. Tablet (Amazon, Samsung, Google) will return matches only where the title includes the word Tablet and also Amazon, Samsung or Google.
The ‘-‘ symbol means exclude the term that follows e.g. HP Printer -ink -cable will results with HP Printer in the title but only where they don’t include the words ink or cable. HP Printer -(ink, cable) does the same.
There must be more functions that I don’t know of. Although far from perfect this at least helps refine results somewhat.
I've often been tempted to put a large discount code in the description to see if people read. I do however have many readers comment on how happy they are to learn the back story on an item (we sell vintage, and curate every item that we can find from the supplier where it is from).
We can no longer figure Ebay. Listing daily, we might have two sales a week. Listing daily, another time could bring in five sales a day. Just have no clue any longer. Yes, we do VERY good and thorough descriptions and take plenty of photos. If something is sold as is, we put this in the title and the description. Unfortunately, though you have this written out, Ebay for some reason allows some buyers a refund, when they say something not working when the listing says NOT TESTED or FOR PARTs only! Yeap, traffic is still very very slow. But we still list daily. We never ask the Buyer's for feedback. Drove us crazy in the beginning but we just do our best customer service (list properly, good photos, packing well, shipping immediately and when delivered we are happy). Hopefully the buyer is happy as well.
Same thing about the high sale slow for 3 days after. Happens all the time
I got a box at my local UPS store. It’s convenient because I’m usually there to ship anyway, and no one has my real address. Plus I can get emergency shipping supplies if I run out of something.
It drives me crazy when people don’t have a description. Mostly when it’s something important like the size, how many, what it’s made of for certain things. Esp if they don’t have many or good pics.
Love your channel! ❤
It's probably because when they're shopping on their phones, they have to click a separate link to see the full description, which I believe is a flaw in the app. Some people may be too lazy to link to the full description, and some may not even notice the link.
What drives me crazy is when people sell women's clothing without measurements. We all know women's sizing is all over the map. A small in one brand may be a medium in another. Measurements should be required fields, IMO.
@@KT-fn6methese are always in the item specifics. Why restate it in description?
@@simbalantana4572 yes! We aren’t sure what it’s going to be like in person let alone on a listing lol
Ask before you buy, it's usually someone new trying to figure things out.
I have repeatedly experienced two or three zero sales days following the sale of a $300-$400 item. Most of my sales are under $45 except for the repeat $300-$400 items which I list and sell about once a month. This is completely predictable with my account which has been open since 1999.
Justin superb videos! Simple, clear and to the point.
I’ve had lost/stolen envelopes using USPS. I drop the envelopes at the post office inside mailbox. I have a 8-10 ratio of success. I’m wondering if sports cards are noticeable and tempting to snatch? Do you always get your items scanned at the post office?
Quick note- I’m not a fan but in the legal docs on your eBay contract it states pineapple people get preferred listing status.
no way the post office is losing 20% of your outbound packages/envelopes, that is just not likely or possible.
You using the *Pineapple Pizza Blanket* as an example listing was too good! 😂💀
I READ every description before I bid or purchase.
Your experience on feedback is strange to me. I didnt realize that was common for people to have low feedback rates. Im sitting at 1000 total sales with almost exactly a 50% feedback left rate with 465 positive feedback at 100%. I dont reach out to buyers ever about feedback. I do sell almost exclusively collectibles, comics, etc. So maybe that makes the difference. But I guess I am either doing something right that I was unaware of lol or I should be grateful for a great customer base. Youre the only ebay youtuber I watch. Great content. Love just having your videos playing in the background while I list. Keeps me motivated.
Another thing of you don’t mind. How do you price items by the lot? Do you price the whole lot or just one item? Thanks for you videos and honesty your great!
I have definite proof that no one reads much of anything ob ebay period. I sometimes sell empty cases for video games but I had to start putting NO GAME as the first 2 words because no one would read the entire title and would either want to cancel later that day or want to return it after I shipped it out. It took me a few months to figure this out and now I don't get too many cancellations. Also, I have the big ebay day and maybe two in a row and then for at least 4 or 5 days my sales are lower than normal. I think that I have a certain cap for my sales per week/month because it seems I don't really have any breakout months anymore. I used to average around $250 a day but now most days I struggle to get $150.
All caps is screaming, we literally have to scream at the customer for them to understand.
I have noticed the big day, little day theory, but just write it off as the randomness of online selling. I would be interested in seeing if you come up with any data-based theories based on your software. Would be very interesting and informative I think.
My favorite pizza includes both pineapple and anchovies. Sweet/salty is pretty awesome. Regarding sales, when I'm listing every day, I make sales... old stuff & new stuff. When I fail to list for a couple days, nothing sells until I list something. Definitely feels like a correlation.
Hey, I often hear that listing every day is very important. But is the daily part actually important? Wouldn't we expect more sales listing 35 things on Sunday rather than listing 5 per day Sunday to Saturday. I'd personally rather list as much as I can on the weekend than creating a bunch of drafts I list throughout the week. What are your thoughts?
For some reason I've been obsessed about pineapple ham pizza lately, its sooo good
Hey Justin, Interesting subject on the algorithms of ebay. I've been recently upgraded from Above Standard to Top Rated (within the last 10 days) and my sales tanked last week. Seems somehow related, and I'm not sure how to correct it. I also struggle with the decision to open an ebay store as opposed to my current business model. Biggest issue I'm having is I reach the max number of listings I can make due to the monthly renewal of existing inventory of items. I have some big decisions to make that affect bottom line with additional expenses for my side hustle. Thanks for the great information and insights. I appreciate your business approach and I walk away with really great topics to consider. (such as the description aspect of the listing-I think you are correct, most buyers don't care/read them anyway)
I love your content, but I do take umbrage on the topic of 'you can't create buyers'. In my experience, repeat customers and followers of my store are more likely to buy my items than anyone else. I have overly buyer friendly policies because I believe repeat customers are the key to a solid, sustainable, reselling business. I know I'm nitpicking, but I figure you will likely agree with me. Thank you again. You've taught me a lot, and I really appreciate your logical approach.
that makes sense. repeat customers aren't really a thing for me (i sell such a wide variety of stuff across all categories) but can see how that would be the case if I sold in a particular niche that attracted repeat buyers. thanks for the context!
I agree with your assessments....I experience the same....it's like on and off button....or the doghouse ....consistently inconsistent
Hi Justin - love your videos - learn something new on every video. My question: How do you determine how much of your profits you use for new inventory? Do you have a percentage you use from your last months sales? Thank you.
I was sitting here wondering why it seems like every time I have a really good day, it's followed by crickets for at least a couple days. I actually thought I was being paranoid, but seeing this video I feel a lot better. At the very least, my paranoia is shared. 😁
Hello Justin, I’m new on reselling and I bet you hear that a lot, I have a question, how do you check modems if they will work and the hours it has?
Yes ..I noticed after i sold my Ctx 3030 metal detector years ago for over 1k the sales did slow up .. but I didn't have many products liste either.. I noticed you were saying it was best to not put too many items out at first, What would be a good number to put out if I'm opening a store for the first time? Thanks
? Have you found, either through data in Flipwise or anecdotal, success in sending out specific dollar amount offers versus percent off offers? Meaning, do you see anything that shows an offer of $25 or $24.95 is more likely to be accepted than a random offer of $24.48, for example?
Ever since I hit the 500 mark on listings, my sales have dropped by a significant amount. I just realized it as I’m wondering what has changed. I’ve dropped almost all my prices to the lowest, and still nothing. Like days go by, and nothing. So weird. I’m thinking maybe I need to just push on and keep listing, or “keep calm and carry on” lol. Nothing else I can do.
I just had an item delivered to the buyer that was damaged during shipment. Luckily the item was shipped Ground Advantage so it was insured. Do you have any experience filing an insurance claim with USPS?
Hey Justin. Love the weekly videos, game changer for me at 6 months into the eBay game. I am located in Nova Scotia Canada. I have recently switched all of my listings to international. When using calculated shipping am I only concerned with shipping to eBay location in US or do I ship non US International? Any thoughts? Thanks. Rob
1) Buyer 80% of the time do not read the title or ad. Justin is right. They ask questions where the info is in the title and caption. 2) In Canada, it's easy to to change your address to be your local post office's and it's free. It's only for packages.
Can you explain how to do this in Canada? Thanks
I also have experiences the big day slower sales situation. I noticed that ebay seems to only let me sell up to a certain gross dollar amount per day and after that it is like sales disappear. Kind of sucks because if things maintained the same velocity, i should be selling more per day. I use a volume model in my store. Been selling for 3 years.
I just sild my first item.... I'm freaking out! It was the most expensive item listed...a true Gem ! Hope all goes well after this!
I been doing ebay for about 2 months now and buyers do read the description. I always make my descriptions as detailed as possible so that way I can decrease the amount of returns as I can. only things I dont add details to are brand new items
Ham and pineapple pizza is the best. Yum! I find it hilarious that people complained though. Never apologize. Your taste buds are your bidness.
Hi Justin. Thanks for the great advice. I sold 4 dinner plates and 1 arrived broken. Buyer has been very kind and is asking for a replacement, which I fortunately have. I am new at this. What is your suggestion regarding sending another plate and asking for help from eBay? They were sent via Ground Advantage. Will USPS cover my loss? Thanks a bunch.
Hi Justin! I am a new subscriber to your channel and have also joined Flipwise, and both are GREAT!
I am new to the Ebay Store group and I have a couple questions about monthly limits. I have a basic beginner membership subscription for my store which claims up to 250 listings insertion fee free, however my "current monthly limits" are a max of $500 listed/sold or 35 items listed/sold. Will I be able to list $500 more and or 35 items more next month or will I be stuck with only being allowed a max of $500 or 35 items in my store until the monthly limits become raised? From your experience what does it take and or how long until my monthly limits increase? Thanks much!
You know why after a big day of sales there is crickets after? It’s called “reversion to the mean”.
Or to the “average”.
Most states list the home address of the managing owner PLUS the name and address of the registered agent. However, if you use the street address of your post office and add "Unit #1234" for your box number, you may get away with it 😉 Where there could be trouble is when you open your bank account with that address, and then ebay verifies you with your driver's license. If your DL has your home address and your account uses the business address, you have to make sure ebay seperates the two. One is public facing and one can be private.
June I sort of stopped new listings. My sales were virtually the same. I am listing again, so we will see.
I am currently on a 1-2 sales a week loop on EBay. So frustrating.
Same. As a new again this yr reseller, I sell a big thing or several bread n butters in a row… then there’s a week lapse… consistently
I see that as well. If i sell 3 or more items in a day you can bet I'll sell nothing for several days.@@valeriesantos8178
Hi there. I’ve noticed from time to time that you sell purses. Designer purses. Do you use eBay’s authentication service when you sell these high-end brands? I’m very nervous about selling some purses that a friend gave me even though she says they’re real. How do I let eBay know that?
Really interested in flipwise. My wife and I are full time together. Getting the books and backend in order has just been a struggle for us the last 2 years (full time for both) since we rely on the income completely right now every bit counts. Just curious why a sliding scale for the use? Do you ever have trials or discounts? Just trying to be conscious about the money leaving the business. Again every bit counts. We have a goal to start end of December so next year we’re using it from the go. Just curious why and if. Thanks.
I've got a promo available; details in the video that will be published this evening! We use sliding scale so that smaller sellers can get the benefits of using it without breaking the bank. Plus the bigger a user's store, the more it costs us to run, the smaller the store, the less it costs us.
@@justinresells thanks for the reply! I’ll keep an eye out for the new video. Sorry if it sounds like I’m being a cheapskate, it’s just…. I am lol. The summer slowdown is real and we’re just being cautious of spending extras when overhead has already gone up so much for us recently. Either way it seems like a great product I can’t wait to try! Much appreciated!
I had always suspected that - like having a quota to meet. Which really sucks because the days that I sell a lot to meet the quota it gives me a false sense of optimism that sales will be the same the next day. I have only been doing this for 2 years
Thanks for the heads up about the food processor blades. I never considered that. Do you avoid any and all brands with blades or was there something specific about Cuisinart?
Thanks for addressing my question!
Ebay used to have a toggle off/on for displaying your address on shipping labels, but it went away. I called support and found out that it was removed and that there is now no way to do that. I went at that time and got a PO box. A relatively small cost for peace of mind.
Would you ever consider doing a semi-regularly store / account review? Something where you go through a subscriber’s store and give feedback on a couple of listings and store setup and branding (if applicable)? (I’d like to sign up for this 😂)
I've experienced both, slower and higher average sales after a big sales day. I think it's totally random. We all sell primarily random items which lend themselves to random sales. I suspect the thrill of a big sales day makes us a little more optimistic about our sales and start projecting a bit. I just view those big days as the exception, not the following days. They are probably closer to the norm than most will admit. It all evens out in the end. The stochastic process helps explain how I view this topic.
I don't know if you ever experience this but I put 3 listings for auction on ebay and two of the three just didn't pay after winning the auction. What's up with that? I was trying to get rid of consoles and it's taking forever because I have to put in a 7 day auction several times.
Quick question. I am a newer eBay seller that offers free returns. I recently had a return for some jeans. I was able to send the return label through the app. I then waited for the item to get back to me and when prompted to send the refund, it asked if I wanted to include shipping. Since I offer seller paid shipping wouldn’t this be automatic when processing a refund. I made sure to click the “include shipping” checkbox to make sure the seller receives their shipping fee back. Am I also charged for the return label separately?It’s still a bit confusing. Appreciate the help.
On the mobile app, you can click the title right under the pictures and the description will open up. You don't have to scroll down to find the link. Hope this helps! :)
Just tried this on iOS but it didn’t work…
@@justinresells Well darn! Works great on my android. Wonder why it's not functional for both.
Pirate Ship handles insurance claims paperwork for you so shipping an insured expensive item through them makes it easier to file claim as opposed to USPS.
Hi Justin, what proactive actions do you take to give your listings a bump in hopes of a sale? Especially for those things that have been sitting for months. For instance, I end a few items daily and sell similar. I occasionally sell an older item the same day by doing sell similar. Any tips? Thanks!
That's wild about item descriptions. I make very detailed descriptions, for my video games. Individual lines for disc, case, case art, booklet description. I mention that there's no fakes, I mention how I ship and at the end of the ad I have a little "Hey! Check out my store" section. I know when I buy something, I read everything! Maybe that's just because I'm a seller...so I read. Plus I always think that if I didn't mention that a booklet was ripped, for example, Even though it's visible in the pics if I didn't mention it, that'd be all a buyer needed to get their money back.
Here's something to try. I assume you examine sold listings for pricing and other data. When you do that, click into the listings and see just how many descriptions are a single sentence, often just the title repeated, and yet they've sold.
As far as condition issues, that belongs in the "condition" box, which will display separately from the item description.
@HeyImWatchinHere. oh I believe you! I'm sure the majority of people don't put much info in. I only do it because you have to put SOMETHING in the description area and it's just as fast to write one line as it is to paste a template in, and edit one or two things if need be. I can go from blank listing to complete liating with multiple pics and a full description in less than 100 seconds so it's worth the minor time penalty to add the large description.
Hey man when you price up your items and they sit for a while do you drop your prices or make any kind of promotion or you just patiently wait even if it takes 6 month to sell this particular item? Well do you have a patern of pricing high or same as actual market and evry specific time you drop the price a bit? Obviously, im sure when you buy item, you make sure to have a good profit margin in case the worth happens so you can play a bit with the price no?
There’s no “lighthouse effect” or on again off again phenomenon to the algorithm for sales.
It’s pure Apophenia and you only notice lower sales after big sales when there’s lower sales. If you look at your yearly chart and look at all the spikes and what follows then there’s no real pattern. Just reversion to the mean.
I’m sure my products get advertised via geographical location. I have had multiple customers from specific areas on the same day. Recently two customers from the same small Scottish island on the same day. 🤔
I have strangely gotten the west coast 9x out of 10 + I’m on the east coast.
I can't stand that they hide the description on mobile. This causes more returns because buyers don't see it or read it.
When you delete and sell similar items, will you do that for items with watchers? I have been selling for a couple years, and watchers always seem worth keeping.
I do it no matter if I have watchers or not. I want a buyer not a watcher. And usually if the item has a lot of watchers then when I relist/sell similar they all come back anyways.
I going to posit that more RETURNERS AND ORDER CANCELERS don't read descriptions. Everyone else probably gives them a look-see
Huh?
probably cause your best items are sold and then you're left with less desirable stuff. i've never experienced this or blame it to that. a lot of things are more seasonal and beyond your control and sometimes it's just a new seller who came into your space and you're not the lowest anymore.
Getting a PO Box would add to my cost which I already make almost nothing. Haha.
Do you have a video about creating an LLC?
Hello, thank you for doing these videos, I find them to be very helpful. I have just started as an eBay seller and sourcing items to sell, my question is am I expected to launder clothing items, 🤷Thank you for taking time to answer.
Wbay’s policy states that the clothes need to be clean.
Hey Justin, appreciate the videos and more so the Flipwise app, so thanks! So question, do you have experience with Ebay's authentication program? I sold some Nike shoes New in the box with authenticity tag and they were returned by authenticator stating "shoes have creasing" they were not knock offs apparently but they were sent back due to signs of use. I also received negative feedback from buyer like i was selling non-authentic shoes. I don't normally sell shoes like this. Is this normal feedback from Ebay authenticators?
You are so right about the good day of sales with the following 2/3 being much lower theory. Happens to me all the time. I have actually been tracking it and with you now also talking about it; I have proof 😢😅
Thank you so much for answering my question!! I really appreciate the feedback, thank you for the information. I had a $1000 sales week this week, I’m going to add your advice and hope to make even more! Thank you man!!
I'd love it if you made a video showing how you part out certain things. I've picked up a Nuwave and a few food processors, and I'm not completely sure how to dismantle/split up some of the parts to list and maximize my profit.
Often times if you type in the product name and number in an online search, you can find that product’s manual which will show the assembly of parts.
You are in a great position with actual data and the skills to explore sales patterns. Please do so, until then it's just the usual ebay seller magical thinking, self-selecting anecdotal evidence, and the human brain trying to assign patterns where they don't exist. "X comes in threes" we all know... but of course our brain decides when and what counts.
My gut instinct goes the other way. With the exception of pure commodity new items and real seller performance issues it makes no sense to think ebay is "allotting" sales to sellers based some magic formula. It just isn't in their best interest. Their best interest is making a sale. I am not willing to believe that ebay is saying in effect "sorry buyer, you want this particular used shirt in this particular size, but that seller has had enough sales for this week so we're not going to show it to you".
You bring up some good points. I know it is all conjecture (but isn't conjecture fun?) but I think it is less about eBay stopping a sale from happening completely, because as you said their whole business is obviously built around generating sales... but more so deprioritizing your items in search amongst competitors. The vast majority of sales come from the first page of listings and so when your items aren't prioritized in search (for myriad reasons known and unknown) you get fewer sales. So it's not that they are preventing it from being found entirely, but placing it far enough back in search that it is unlikely to result in a sale.
Appreciate the back and forth!
@@justinresells I can sum it up this way - I've been reading comments from ebay sellers on message boards, from the long defunct original ebay groups to youtube comments to private sites, since 2008. That is not in any way a claim to authority, but simply to indicate the sheer number of posts I've read over many varying versions of ebay and it's systems. No matter the ebay version or system, it's always the same magic thinking, always the same pattern seeking. To me, Occam's razor cuts firmly on the side of human brain irrationality vs ebay machinations. Unless you evaluate real data and show me otherwise.
As far as feedback: I’ve considered adding a thank you, which I already add on a mini card or sticker, but with something along the lines of: “Thank you for your purchase! Please message me directly should you have any questions or issues. Positive feedback is most appreciated!”
I’ve purchased items on eBay from sellers who have added a 3x5 card or piece of paper with this typed out nicely to their packages and think it’s a good idea.👍
Normally if I have a big day I find I then have a terrible week following that. But then again my entire store feels like it’s been terrible for about 6 months now. And I only really (there’s some exceptions of course) focus on STR.
Is there a policy that requires an LLC to change the name shown on the label? It let me without having one but I do have some prop...I may be in the wrong 😅
no, the llc is not a requirement
To get more positive feedback, I print and tape a short note on each item when I ship it cheerfully saying I'll leave positive feedback after the buyer does - let's do this together! About 35-40% of my sales get positive feedback (almost all sales are books). I agree that contacting them after the sale to request feedback seems too aggressive and annoying.
Not too sure why you find contacting a buyer for feedback after sending them the item a bit aggresive,it's part of ebay and it does help the seller. I have some buyers who contact me so much about their item and I go out my way to help them with the item. When i send the item i ask them when they have time can they leave feedback. Some buyers just point blank don't leave feedback which I understand is at their discretion but I think after me going out my way to help them then a bit of feedback doesn't go a miss.
that's crazy. I actually noticed this phenomena that big sales days are followed by a few very slow days or even a week. I'm not as high volume as you so maybe that's why my lull is longer. So weird.
High sale day followed by several slow days is normal. Question is why is that? Why would ebay limit sales? It hurts them and the sellers. Doesn't make sense to me!
Excellent video quality and great information as always. Thanks!
I have multiple examples of buyers not reading the description such as A buyer routinely buys items and sends a message or leaves negative or neutral feedback and complains about the list of flaws that was clearly listed in the description. Very frustrating 😕 !! I onetime reminded the buyer " That the imperfections were clearly listed in the description. She responded clearly I didn't read the Description !! 😂😮
Ebay doesn't assign sales to sellers based upon how much they've sold. I've been selling for 25 years on Ebay and can say with confidence that this is definitely not a thing. Sales are determined by the market, but the market is a fickle beast. What you are describing is random statistical variance. It would be weird to have the exact same sales day after day that never varied at all, wouldn't it?
I think you're probably right, but I still want to run the numbers and see!
I agree. It would seem to me eBay would reward big sales rather than "punish" them. eBay makes money when stuff sells and is unlikely to care if that comes from a user who just had a big sale.
Lol, I knew you were going to catch some heat about the pineapple pizza. My question is, and it may be a strange one, but I don't want to anger the ebay. I have heard of people using private auctions or low cost auctions to send items to family/friends and take advantage of the shipping discounts. Is that something ebay might frown upon?
I highly recommend getting a PO Box. I know someone that as we speak is getting daily threats that ebay has done nothing about.
Would love a deeper dive into the llc stuff. I wanna go legit! Also Flipwise has been an amazing tool, I’d be a mess without it 😂
Happens to me every pay period - I make the same amount within a couple dollars. If I have a great weekend, I pay for it with a slow couple of days so I can make my normal 2 wk amount.
Definitely agree on the feedback
I put some descriptions and found no they don't read the descriptions.
I've been selling on ebay since 1997 with my name and home address. I've had a few crazy buyers but nothing where I felt threatened. I have their name and address as well. I too will sell a large ticket item and then crickets days afterwards. Descriptions and pictures are never enough as some buyers don't look at all pics and or read. I had to explain to a buyer what heel and toe taps were even though they were pictured. She loved the mules/shoes and said they were in great condition but she was going to throw them away( never asked to return them) because of the miniscule taps felt like leggos while walking.The toe one was the size of a tic tac. I then explained they are easily removable. She thought she had to pay someone to have them removed. I said to get a knife or other sharp flat object to lift them off. She still couldn't understand the reason for them. I told her to google it since my explanation of protecting the bottom of the shoe didn't register with her. I'm amazed some people can get through their day since selling on ebay all these years.
Hello fellow '90s ebayer 👋 I wonder how many of us there are?
I find that many don’t read the description. I have sold items and then have had people complain about something that was clearly explained in the description.