Difficulty selling multiple items

peter021072

I'm trying to sell two bottles of specialised dog shampoo. Somewhere in the listing I placed x 2 but can't see this in the preview.  So do I place x 2 in the title and use double the price of one? I would have expected buyers to have a option to buy one one or more units. 

I'm trying to send this using my old stamps but I can't get to the option to do this as discussed in the other thread.  Perhaps it's because I'm a new seller?

Annoyingly it's trying to convince me to sell it as cheaply as smaller and diluted foam versions. The products look nearly identical, which makes my shampoo look expensive.

soolin

peter021072 said:

I'm trying to sell two bottles of specialised dog shampoo. Somewhere in the listing I placed x 2 but can't see this in the preview.  So do I place x 2 in the title and use double the price of one? I would have expected buyers to have a option to buy one one or more units. 

I'm trying to send this using my old stamps but I can't get to the option to do this as discussed in the other thread.  Perhaps it's because I'm a new seller?

Annoyingly it's trying to convince me to sell it as cheaply as smaller and diluted foam versions. The products look nearly identical, which makes my shampoo look expensive.

Assuming you are a private seller then multiple listings are not easy, and may not even be possible for new selelrs. Either sell one bottle ata  time, ie. allow one to sell and then list the other, or just set up a listing showing that the BIN is for 2 identical items, and then buyer will get both for the BIN price. 

As for simple postage, again this might be automatic for new selelrs, existing private selelrs can opt out  - when you try and list is there anything near the postage box that says anything covered in this thread?

Simple Delivery- how do I opt out. - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Don't forget as well that if using stamps you will need to pay the PO price and not the discounted RM price for a parcel. 

peter021072

soolin said:

peter021072 said:

I'm trying to sell two bottles of specialised dog shampoo. Somewhere in the listing I placed x 2 but can't see this in the preview.  So do I place x 2 in the title and use double the price of one? I would have expected buyers to have a option to buy one one or more units. 

I'm trying to send this using my old stamps but I can't get to the option to do this as discussed in the other thread.  Perhaps it's because I'm a new seller?

Annoyingly it's trying to convince me to sell it as cheaply as smaller and diluted foam versions. The products look nearly identical, which makes my shampoo look expensive.

Assuming you are a private seller then multiple listings are not easy, and may not even be possible for new selelrs. Either sell one bottle ata  time, ie. allow one to sell and then list the other, or just set up a listing showing that the BIN is for 2 identical items, and then buyer will get both for the BIN price. 

As for simple postage, again this might be automatic for new selelrs, existing private selelrs can opt out  - when you try and list is there anything near the postage box that says anything covered in this thread?

Simple Delivery- how do I opt out. - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Don't forget as well that if using stamps you will need to pay the PO price and not the discounted RM price for a parcel. 

Yeah, this is more or less what I've done but it doesn't look competitive!

Regarding the stamps, I bought a few hundred quid's worth of 1st, 2nd class letter & large letter stamps about 20 years ago (albeit swapped for the new monarch!). 1st class stamps have risen 511%

& 2nd-class stamps 347% since 2000, compared to 135% CPI between those dates, so I'm quid's in if I can use them in the way I intended, but Amazon and Ebay make it difficult!

savergrant

peter021072 said:

soolin said:

peter021072 said:

I'm trying to sell two bottles of specialised dog shampoo. Somewhere in the listing I placed x 2 but can't see this in the preview.  So do I place x 2 in the title and use double the price of one? I would have expected buyers to have a option to buy one one or more units. 

I'm trying to send this using my old stamps but I can't get to the option to do this as discussed in the other thread.  Perhaps it's because I'm a new seller?

Annoyingly it's trying to convince me to sell it as cheaply as smaller and diluted foam versions. The products look nearly identical, which makes my shampoo look expensive.

Assuming you are a private seller then multiple listings are not easy, and may not even be possible for new selelrs. Either sell one bottle ata  time, ie. allow one to sell and then list the other, or just set up a listing showing that the BIN is for 2 identical items, and then buyer will get both for the BIN price. 

As for simple postage, again this might be automatic for new selelrs, existing private selelrs can opt out  - when you try and list is there anything near the postage box that says anything covered in this thread?

Simple Delivery- how do I opt out. - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Don't forget as well that if using stamps you will need to pay the PO price and not the discounted RM price for a parcel. 

Yeah, this is more or less what I've done but it doesn't look competitive!

Regarding the stamps, I bought a few hundred quid's worth of 1st, 2nd class letter & large letter stamps about 20 years ago (albeit swapped for the new monarch!). 1st class stamps have risen 511%

& 2nd-class stamps 347% since 2000, compared to 135% CPI between those dates, so I'm quid's in if I can use them in the way I intended, but Amazon and Ebay make it difficult!

Stamps don't need to be 'swapped for the new monarch' just for barcoded versions if they are machin definitives.(and that predates the queen's death)  You don't need to swap any coins you have for the new monarch either.

Is your ebay account new or have you just not used it to sell before?

peter021072

savergrant said:

Stamps don't need to be 'swapped for the new monarch' just for barcoded versions if they are machin definitives.(and that predates the queen's death)  You don't need to swap any coins you have for the new monarch either.

Is your ebay account new or have you just not used it to sell before?

Yeah,  they still have the Queens head on, it's just the addition of the barcode that's changed.

Checking through my account again, I've been using it since 2006 as a buyer, and surprisingly it tells me I've sold 1 item. However, I've just had to go through a process of verification and setting up a direct debit to sell, so it felt like I was setting up a sellers account. 

peter021072

Not a single person has viewed the advert!  Trouble is, because I'm selling two bottles, it superficially looks like I'm trying to sell it for double the price. I've activated the auction option, and the base price per unit shampoo is probably cheaper than any on offer, and certainly much  less than I paid for it.

There are also versions of the shampoo in slightly smaller bottles (200ml v 250ml), and bottles with a foam version all which are cheaper because they contain less shampoo, and the ebay algorithm seems to be compare it with these!

soolin

peter021072 said:

Not a single person has viewed the advert!  Trouble is, because I'm selling two bottles, it superficially looks like I'm trying to sell it for double the price. I've activated the auction option, and the base price per unit shampoo is probably cheaper than any on offer, and certainly much  less than I paid for it.

There are also versions of the shampoo in slightly smaller bottles (200ml v 250ml), and bottles with a foam version all which are cheaper because they contain less shampoo, and the ebay algorithm seems to be compare it with these!

What do the completed sale prices look like? Has anyone else sold the excact same ones you are selling and if they have try copying how they listed, obviously take your own photos, but follow the pricing and description / title used on sold items. 

peter021072

I suppose the sold ones differ in one of the three respects I've mentioned. That is they:

• can be sold individually with the option of more (I was unable to set up this) 
• are 200ml rather than 250ml, hence look cheaper 
• are foam rather than pure, hence look cheaper

the Ebay algorithm treats these all the same, and yes I got tricked into buying one of the cheap versions when I was a buyer!

Of course most are established Ebay sellers which I suspect is the real problem here:

My title also leads with 2 bottles of xxxx shampoo rather than xxxx shampoo, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

I've only had it up for just over a day but the fact that I've not had a single view implies something is badly wrong.

Of course I could give up trying to minimise postage, and go for the expensive individual sale, but this is always the disadvantage of online sales, postage compromising the return.

peter021072

It's been relisted without a single view!  However, there seems to be a glut for this product particularly the smaller bottle version.  Most small bottles sell for around £15, the slightly larger one I'm selling £20. My 2 larger bottles are listed a few quid below these prices (on a per bottle basis) although I've offered a cheaper auction option at around £14/bottle.  However, someone has decided to sell it for £0.99 which wouldn't cover their postage. No wonder mine won't sell. What is going on here?  I noticed one seller (not this cheap one) received a complaint stating it wasn't genuine.

peter021072

Presumably I can delist from an auction without a penalty if there's no bid after 2 weeks?
Obviously no ones going to buy whilst a £20 version of the shampoo is going for 99p from an established seller. I might as well give it away, or use it as car shampoo!

soolin

peter021072 said:

Presumably I can delist from an auction without a penalty if there's no bid after 2 weeks?
Obviously no ones going to buy whilst a £20 version of the shampoo is going for 99p from an established seller. I might as well give it away, or use it as car shampoo!

As long as there are no bids you can safely remove your listing with no cost to yourself . *

* (unless you added any pre payable extras like a reserve or a BIN to an aucvtion)