Discouraged

mtnmemories · Posts: 63

Hi, am getting very discouraged,as it's the 3rd. week of Oct. & no sales.
I have almost 200 items listed, is it really worth it,to keep listing more.?

I am getting lots of looks,but no takers & I have lots of variety w good prices & ship chgs.

It's very hard to stay motivated & since eBay sales took a nose dive,it's less fun & more work. than ever.

Do others feel this way or only me?

Maybe just having a bad week Sad

thanks for listening & any advice would be helpful.

I have Business cards made up & send w everything we sell, but lately,it's only been our books on half.com that are still hanging in & we are selling them at giveaway prices.

kollectibleklutter

EtchingsandCollectibles · Posts: 396

zickit · Posts: 21857

Having your own store takes commitment. A commitment for less then a year is a waste of time.

Search engines can take MONTHS
One day a buyer will be looking for what you have.

200 items in a store isn't much. Look at any brick & mortar store - you think they would survive if they only had 200 items?

They more related items the better. This store id of mine has over 2500 items in it. Heck my ebay store used to have over a thousand items at any given time.

Don't be afraid to list the others in other places as well. The more exposure you have for yourself the better.

I been here since March 2005 and there is not way I could survive on this site alone. Maybe someday, but not yet. I have a 5 year commitment to ecrater.com in my business proposal. After yr 4 I will start thinking about my next steps - if I haven't already.

ebetterbargains · Posts: 14

I really see what you mean. I deal in a business with much piracy and it is hard to tell if thats what it is that detures people from my site. I don't want to spend 900 to 1000 per month on my site and only sell 1 or 2 items. so I minimize my google search. If it is piracy that leads people away, is it because they think i have bootlegs or is it because they see the movie on my site and then go find it to download themselves? But I wont be giving up. I've invested too much time and money in this business venture. I went and got all licenses and tax numbers needed. Im legal. Thanks Very Happy

Buytime · Posts: 516

KollectibleKlutter
you have a great looking store, hang in there.
best wishes

Kenny

Tsurfer · Posts: 636

KollectibleKlutter

Your store looks great just give it time. I doesn't cost anything so keep listing away. They will come.

Sandritocat · Posts: 45

Hi. Did you say this is your FIRST 3 weeks with no sale or have you sold before and just 3 weeks of no sales in October? If the latter, I went the whole first month (Sept) without a sale ~but so far in October I've made 5 sales. I know that isn;t great but its a start. I only have 200 items listed but I'm adding daily. I also sell on Ebay and Amazon and both have their slow times and while I've done outstanding on ebay the last couple weeks I've been at a stand still on Amazon and that is where I have the MOST inventory. So, give it time and keep listing because it doesn't cost to list here!
Sandra

hongkongdirect · Posts: 2

One simple thing: if it's free, I will stay as I have nothing to lose. In long term I may have a reward, why not? Treat it as long term investment, with no money invested, just a little effort and gain a chance to win in the future, why not?

Ecrater is getting stronger and stronger because it's free. Nobody lose. You don't need to close it as you don't need to pay. Just leave it if you want. Ecrater is a world with birth only and no dead, so mathematically it will have more than 10 millions of products to sell someday, at that time, buyers will be attracted and the sellers will be happy. In the worst case, even it closes, you lose nothing.

richshobbydepot · Guest

You got to hang in there. I've only had 2 sales since Aug here but things seem to be verry slow right now. Over at my Feebay store I hav only sold 1 minor item all month and that is way down from normal.

It just seems to be the trend at the moment.

hongkongdirect · Posts: 2

So at least you have sold something. You have nothing to lose, only win.

Like me, I have subscribed some large auction sites and online shops, although some of them are very weak in sales, when I count them all together, I still can earn money. The point is at the moment do not rely on only one market place, if you can, have as many as possible. You still sell your goods in ebay, yahoo, amazon but at the same time you still can sell 1 or 2 in other free sites, why not?

richshobbydepot · Guest

Yes quite correct. You can't put all your eggs in one basket.

I started moving my items here because of the funny stuff ebay has been pulling.

peaksislandsilverco · Posts: 105

Hey there, I have been at this about as long as you have and not one sale, however I have also had alot of hits. I now have 273 items in my store. Heck I had 175 items at ebay and sold 2 items and it took like 3 weeks there before I got a sale. That does not get me down though, I only have 5,862 items left to list..lol

I also have my own store front online that carrys all items but I havent gotten any visits there. I say keep listing and focus more on your quanity then your sales.

The more you have to choose from the more options buyers have. I might not have what buyers want posted yet, thats what keeps posting. And the fact that christmas is comming soon and I have a weird feeling things will turn by november.

Im waiting fot the search engines to pick up this site. Ive spent 475.00 to at least get my site on the first page of all search engines. I hope they will index before the end of november, I could use more exposure.

Ok I wasted enough time here back to posting.. Good Luck!

craftswagon · Guest

H everybody, I am a newbie here. I also feel discouraged sometimes although I had 4 sales so far( in less than 2 months, and with only a few items listed) They are all the same items. Many times I want to go back listing in bay, but just quit in the middle when I think of how much I have to pay for something I may not sell. Listing is tiring in bay too.
anyway, I will hang in here and see.
I learn a lot here. thanks evryone.

http:// www.craftswagon.com
http:// www.homedecor100.com

snowflakememories · Posts: 207

Hang in there, I had 5 good sales in October just advertising on my main site and passing the link to the current customers. (Yes from other auction sites too).
I' m using the eCrater store as a show room to display my products and I have received additional email orders for special collections.
The Site generates business, but not too many people know about it yet.

At the contrary I do not rely too much on visits through the main eCrater store, like froogle search, even thou my listings are at the top of the search.
By proven experience, once the customers follow the link from froogle, they simply don't find or look for my store, they see the product they searched and then they are lost in the main eCrater front end.
My customers, I guess, are mainly coming directly from my domain www.snowflakememories.com to my eCrater store or from their bookmarked links.

And now one penny of RFD Vermont comment (you can skip it by clicking the return button at any time).

I understand the advise of many who are saying keep the store open, because it's free, you don't have anything to loose.
I respectfully disagree with the message behind, it may be free in the sense that there are no fees to pay, but unless this is a "hobby" for you, we are investing so many hours of our time that we have to make this site to work, or just leave. No dead beaten horses, they stink.

So "Proactive" rather than "Passive" , proving that each individual store is a nice and safe place to buy. We owe this to each other. Then customers will come.

tchgiftsandthings · Guest