One of my listings keeps disappearing

[theElench]

The first thing I noticed was your ads. for kettles.

I found them on P.3, (of 164 results) when I searched for "kettles". When I searched for "electric kettles" (17 results) yours weren't in the results at all.

I can't stress enough how literal and Key-Word oriented the ebid search is. (I list in "Art Deco Glass Category" but I still always include "glass" in my title, it won't be shown in a search for "Glass" if it isn't there) It's so important to use your Titles to include the words a buyer will use when searching. The more the better. Adding the word "Electric" will get your kettles shown along with only 17 others, raising the chance of a sale. Brand name, colour and any other distinguishing features that a buyer might search for, will all help.

When it comes to selling feathers as craft supplies I know even less than I do about selling a kettle. When I started selling here, if I sold an item on obay, I always put a note in the parcel telling the buyer that I had more items on ebid and they were generally a bit cheaper because ebid charges less fees and still had paypal payment protection.

For me, Google Shopping has taken over from notes as sales on obay continue to decline. Although, as I'm looking at which of my items are included in their results, it seems that they have a distinct bias towards my older listings. So you might have to wait a while for yours to be shown. But still try to fulfil the criteria to get your items up-loaded so that they qualify to be shown in GS results in the future.

Edited to add. I always have one of my ads. on the "Plug Your Auction" board. It's free and I think gives me some indication of how many buyers are browsing for what I sell. I spot-light one item for a week and usually get between 20 - 50 views a week.

[hucker]

I do add lots of key words, anything I'd search for if I was looking to buy such an item. Since 99% of kettles are electric, I don't think anyone will be searching for "electric kettle".

Feathers sell quite easily, usually to artists in Portugal etc. I don't sell many within the UK! They come discarded from my 19 pet parrots, and half the time they're not in good condition, so there's a small supply. I just list a few batches once a year.

I don't get many repeat buyers, since I don't tend to sell things people will want repeatedly. I doubt you'd want to buy a kettle then another one. And if you wanted more feathers, I'd have run out.

[theElench]

Probably an age thing then At my age I can still remember when most kettles weren't electric, so to me a kettle can be an old "Heat on the stove type or electric. I have to admit that I've only had an electric type for many years, BUT (at 70) my first impulse was to type "electric kettle" into the search box, so some other buyers [I]might do so[I] as well.

I'd say that anything that even might get your kettles noticed is worth a try. Which is better? For yours to show-up in a search for "electric kettles" with only 17 from other sellers, or not being in those results and relying on being found among 164 results for "kettle".

Interesting what you write about feathers. Down here (Kent) we have flocks of bright green Parakeets and it's not uncommon to find their feathers in gardens. Perhaps I should start picking them up

[hucker]

If I search for kettle, I get a Crossley Kettle Desk Phone. So maybe people will add the word electric to get real kettles.

But since I never sell anything whatsoever on here, I can't be bothered. I list them cheaper than Ebay, but there's nobody here buying. I suspect Ebid attracts a lot of sellers fed up of high fees, but not enough buyers because nobody's ever heard of it. The only reason I know of Ebid is I was searching for an auction sight without fees.

Half the things I'm selling, I'm the only result, but they still don't sell.

Yes, you should collect them. To give you an idea of price, my last successfull sales (Ebay listing prices) were:
Green feathers (ranging from 2 to 5 inches) - £15 (inc postage) for 30.
Red feathers (ranging from 2 to 5 inches) - £40 for 40.
Haven't sold the yellow ones yet.

Most sell abroad, so include Europe.

Be vague about what bird they came from or you get morons asking if you have a DEFRA certificate for selling. I once had an idiot saying it was illegal to sell scarlet macaw feathers as they're a "body part". Like I'd kill a 2 grand bird to make a couple of hundred in feathers.

[theElench]

If you can't be bothered to change one word in a few listing titles, you'll most likely continue to sell nothing here. This is a much smaller site and doesn't have the "foot-fall" of an on-line giant. I'm convinced, going on numbers on my PYA threads, that some of my buyers only visit the site once a month, perhaps even less.

Your Join Date is June 2003, yet you write as though you only started listing at the beginning of April this year. Don't expect a stampede of buyers to your door. Buyers have to find you here, might come back a few times to see if you're still active and proving to be reliable enough to buy from. So keep signing-in regularly.

A quick look at the Home Page "Sold Items" shows that (yesterday?) among other items, a strip of film: a slide pack battery: a Purity replacement seat: a Robertson Jam badge: and some Arden dog food sold on here. By the time you read this there will probably be more and different items as the list is hours behind "real-time".

It took me a year to make my first sale here, I spent that time learning about the site. It isn't obay, probably never will be, I'll be off it even starts to turn into something similar. My advice to you is have some patience, learn how to give your listings the best chance of selling and keep on listing. Buyers are looking further than obay these days.

Good luck.

[hucker]

Can't be bothered? I have loads of keywords, everything I could think of. Works on Ebay. Yes there are less buyers here, but if there were an equal proportion of less sellers, it would work fine. The scales are tipped the wrong way.

I joined ages ago, tried it, sold not a lot, then left for Ebay. I'm trying again to see if it's improved. It hasn't. They need to do some advertising to attract buyers.

Not sure what you're on about with buyers having to find me and try me. I sell to a different person every time on Ebay. I don't sell the sort of stuff you come back to buy more of. And when I'm a buyer, I don't go back to the same seller, I search again, someone else might be cheaper next time.

Are you telling me only 10 things have sold today? Or what did you mean by directing me to that page?

If it took you a whole year to sell one item, that's absolutely terrible. I will continue to list everything on both sites (and Gumtree) for a couple of months. Then only list on the one which sells most. I see no point in spending my time listing everything on two sites, when I don't make a sale here. I've set the prices so I'll make the same amount of money on both, accounting for the fee difference. If I can't make the same money here as Ebay, what's the point?

[theElench]

It was you at post #24 that said you can't be bothered, perhaps I should have repeated it in quotes. You say you have "loads of key words, everything I could think of", yet I thought of another key word that you missed. Rack your brain again and then ask your family and friends what words they would search with. Look at your competitors photos and then your own. Do the same with descriptions. Everyone looks at obay, it's up to you to steer buyers to the same things on here.

You have 6 kettles for sale, to add "electric" to the title of all of them would take 10 - 15 minutes? Spending that short amount of time gets them visibility in another set of search results and increases your chance of making a sale. If someone had pointed out to me something so quick and easy, it would have been done by now.

On all sites, sellers come and go. Put yourself in a buyers mind. Quite likely making their first purchase on a new (to them) site. A seller with little Feedback. They may well look at your items several times, making sure that you are still here and listing, before taking the (to them) risk of hitting the "Buy" button. On obay they make it seem like only obay gives them Buyer Protection, they've weaponised the term. Many buyers have been brainwashed into believing that if they buy anywhere other than on obay, they have NO protection. When in fact obay gives them very little more than their legal rights and paypal buyer protection, both of which apply to purchases here.

No, I'm not telling you that only 10 items sold today on ebid. If you spend some time getting to know the site, you'd see that the "Sold" items are running hours behind the time now. What you see now will be different to what I wrote this morning, but still hours in the past. Why I pointed you towards the "Sold" section was to show you that things sell continuously and in a variety of categories here.

Yes it did take me a year to sell one item. I did what a lot of sellers do on arrival here. I listed a handful of items and waited to see what sold. Nothing did until someone here pointed out that my "Recent Activity" was months in the past, making my listings appear to have been abandoned. I learned to log-in a couple of times a week and to list something new regularly.

As I said earlier, buyers are frustrated with obay's awful search and the way it manipulates the results for obays' benefit. They're looking elsewhere, including on here. From selling 1 or 2 items a year, with obays help and after a few years I was selling equal numbers on both sites. The last few years my sales here have been better than over there. That seems to be the way things are going, this year 1 sale over there, 9 here so far.

[hucker]

I've edited many times, I've had enough. If Ebay can sell my items and Ebid can't, I go there, simple.

[theElench]

I suggested you look at the "Google Shopping" thread -- no comment or question to indicate you ever did.
I suggested you start a PYA thread to get more visibility -- no thread on PYA.
I suggested you edit 6 listings -- you've had enough.

So have I -- Good bye and good luck on obay.

[MPS16]

I suggested you look at the "Google Shopping" thread -- no comment or question to indicate you ever did.
I suggested you start a PYA thread to get more visibility -- no thread on PYA.
I suggested you edit 6 listings -- you've had enough.

So have I -- Good bye and good luck on obay.

I thought I would add my recent selling experience to this thread as it raises the question of

how did the buyer actually find my item which was

"
"Anchor Stranded Cotton Thread Number 562 Embroidery Floss"

The item was priced at £0.50 plus £1.15 P&P which is below the minimum price to be uploaded to Google Shopping
The Picture is an old one where eBid used to add their logo to the bottom right hand corner.
The buyer was new to eBid and I think they actually registered just to buy the item

Any answers on a postcard please