trying to list on .com

soolin

dougk wrote: »

Soolin., why do you think you are not selling on the UK site?
I think its because people have had enough of the blatent profiteering by ebay/paypal in the UK and the fact they take no notice of their customers wants/needs/suggestions.

It's just as bad though on ebay.com I pay exactly the same fees and take all the same risks. Rightly or wrongly I blame the stupid best match which despite all my tinkering (thanks to Steve) still won't return my items anywhere near the first page.

soolin

In response to greeneye's post number 6 I have just done a guest search on ebay.co.uk for one of the items I am selling. There is one seller with an identical auction finishing in 27 minutes with his item going unsold at 99p and a BIN that is roughly the same as my BIN allowing for the dollar/sterling trade off. That auction is set to 'worldwide' postage. There are half a dozzen other sellers with identical items all with no bids.

If I search ebay.com I only get my items and none of the others show up at all on any of the first half dozen pages or so I have searched.

I have just logged into ebay.uk and can now see that there are a number of these items unsold at 99p, all with worldwide exposure.

That rather suggests that to hit the US market specifically the item needs to be on ebay.com.

ArmitageShanks

We've tried the N. America visibility option in the summer with limited success. When compared to listing direct on .com there is big gulf in the in the exposure you get, which backs up what soolin says. Also the 30day listing fee structure also makes it more appealing than NA vis.

Pricing for us difficult biggest we sell our own brand, and although in some areas there are direct alternatives to go on, it's a case of trial an error. Predominantly listed at higher prices than our .co.uk, primarily to subsidise postage (the max we charge is $20, cost us £20). Since a few days before the election things have quietened down, but prior to that we had something going pretty much every day (around 40 US listings). But am I aware that things tend to be similar in price (numerically) in the states to here. So after our next container arrives in a few weeks and I have more stock to play around with I think I will try a more wholsesale 'like' pricing structure. Obviously depends on what you sell.

As for payment and currency conversion. Paypal keeps fairly close to interbank, so I'm content there. The fluctuations in sterling has cost us thousands for orders we've made since the summer; paypals' drop in the ocean in comparison. Although we can take cards and amex, and I suppose cheques and bank transfers I've got most of our .com listings set to immediate payment required. A far cry from my approach on .co.uk, but I really want to keep .com transactions as simple and straightforward as possible.

With out a doubt the most crucial thing is being able to ship cheaply with fedex, only about a fifth of our range can go airmail, and that's all fairly low value. Being a courier aficionado (hmm....geek) has been very useful for us as business in its infancy.

soolin

Thank you Armitage, it is useful to see that my basic experience is echoed on a larger scale.

My ebay.com sales are so basic, immediate payment required and all light enough to go airmail..the dearest item so far has been a little over £9. I've run out of my goods now having sold oodles overnight again and am *almost* tempted to buy up the same items on ebay.uk and resell to .com. I'm just working out the profit margin now.

ArmitageShanks

3 months in and it's certainly been worth while, however not all plain sailing:

Missed our PS discount for November as we were only 4.5 for postage charges. Had one neutral for slow delivery- posted same day, but judging by the feedback it took 3 weeks. The average delivery time seems to be 2 weeks plus to the US (with airmail). Better to Canada. Summary USPS :rolleyes:

One thing I wish I'd known before was International Destination Sort Rates
are available to anyone spending £2500 a year on airmail (which isn't much really), and the rates are excellent. I suppose this how our friends from China make it work. :rolleyes:

....and I've this weird thing of google mapping almost every place we send to in the states.:cool:

Edit: now trying to recruit someone to do ebay.de/fr for me. Sterling:eek: Though I'm sure as Gordon has saved the world, saving sterling will be a walk in the park for him!:rolleyes: