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walkersteals



Posts: 30

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:47 am    Post subject: Help! Reply with quote

Can anyone explain why all the items I've listed are in my store, but none appear in the general listings. Do I need to change some option?
Thanks Guys
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cosmicray



Posts: 7286

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
but none appear in the general listings


Help us out and tell us exactly what you are referring to.

I can see items in your store.
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walkersteals



Posts: 30

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 12:16 pm    Post subject: Thanks Reply with quote

After I posted, I found the items. Genral I meant when a buyer just
goes on the lists they see before they get to the store.
I found them
Thanks for your help cosmicray.
I'm going to have a look at your store -OK?
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are two ways to get to your store. One is through going to the main ecrater site and finding one of your listings and the other is for you to give out your url and promote your store so that buyers come directly there and can't go to the main ecrater site from your store.

This is why it is so important that you are promoting your url all over the place so that they come to your store directly.
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walkersteals



Posts: 30

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:14 am    Post subject: Thanks Reply with quote

Just wanted both of you to know your help was very much appreciated yesterday. I visited both of your stores and was impressed with both.
Happy Selliing Guys!
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castellotesori



Posts: 4

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:03 pm    Post subject: Help...Why no buyers...lots of lookers??? Suggestions???? Reply with quote

Hello Ecrater Community Cool ....

Okay....I knew from various forum postings for this online store site and
other websites for online stores, that usually a norm is, that it
would take 2-3 months before one begins to receive sales.

I started my store around Feb 3-2012....I keep adding more items
as time allows me to do so...and I have a whole lot more inventory yet to
photo and post as well.

It is now June 18th and although I have lots of viewers per item, some more than others, month to month, I have yet to have a sale....trying not to be discouraged, but I'm trying to subsidize an already minimal personal income. I'm limited on just how much marketing I can do to
promote my store as well. Confused

Any Suggestions ... Greatly Appreciated.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you were possibly trying to start a new topic instead of hijack one that was already started that doesn't go along with your question. To start a new topic, do not click on reply at the bottom of the note, but 'new topic' at the top.

I will chec your store and see if anything stands out.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Other than wondering why a Star Trek 'collectible' plate is being sold as a Castle treasure, the one thing I see is you only have 45-46 items listed. It is a drop in the bucket when it comes to on line selling. And it can take a very long time to get customers with such a small amount of inventory, especially since you have several items in the $100+ range.

Marketing doesn't really have anything to do with money when you are selling on line. It is the taking the time to find the places where your ideal customer would hang out and market there. If you don't know who your ideal customer is, then you need to think about that because until you know who you are marketing to, you are whirling in the wind with no focus. It does take awhile to get customers and the higher the dollar amount of what you sell, the longer it might take.

I did notice that when I saw that plate you didn't have the word plate in the title if I recall correctly. I also looked at a brooch that had the words (only) in the title. Those were wasted characters as your listing should clearly state what you are selling. You have 100 characters here in case you didn't know. On the brooch you also spent the first few lines of the description using words like lovely, beautiful (sorry can't remember the exact ones). These are NOT keywords. No one searches for anything by inputting lovely or beautiful--remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder, just because you think something is beautiful doesn't mean a customer will. So you want to start out listing with the facts, just the facts. If you want to wax poetic, do later after you have elaborated all the facts, including that the earrings are available saparately.

Read the posts on this forum a their are a lot of good ideas on marketing and promoting your goods. Most of us haven't spent 2 cents to market our stores.
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castellotesori



Posts: 4

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you MoonwishesStore for your assistance. This was my
first posting so, thank you as well for your first posting, that I
should have click on New Topic, than Post Reply.

As to the Castle treasure (ie: StarTrek plate), it was more for
meaning "old teasures" or "antiques/collectibles"...and as to
the Italian meaning from which I derived my Store Name...tha'ts all.
Not necessarily "items for or from a castle"....ha ha.

I'll see about downing the terminology on my descriptions, pretty much
was self learning from seeing how other multiple website store owners
did their listings.

So like as to quantity of products available/posted - what would you say
a feasible amount would be to begin to acquire sales perhaps?....I still have quite an amount of ready inventory, just finding time to work it all in.

Thanks again... Very Happy
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maggiethehousecat



Posts: 2457

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

castellotesori, your titles are your biggest problem. I looked at a train plate and the title doesn't give artists name, that it is from the Hamilton collection or that it is a plate. Collectors of train stuff will be more specific in their searches meaning your plate won't show.

Little grey goose doesn't say it is a figurine or if it is porcelain, ceramic or china or what.

Your earrings don't specify if they are pierced, clip or screw back. Trust me, ladies do not wade through thousands of earring listings to find the kind they require.

Don't start a description with stunningly unique!!! or put ---- in your titles. It throws off search engines.

Know your merchandise. Some of your items are just recent imports of no value but you have them priced like they are collectors' items. If the first thing someone looks at in your store indicates you don't know what you are doing, that will be the only thing they look at.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
So like as to quantity of products available/posted - what would you say
a feasible amount would be to begin to acquire sales perhaps?....I still have quite an amount of ready inventory, just finding time to work it all in.


Hate to say this, but it depends. I started getting somewhat regualr sales once I hit 1000 listings, daily sales a couple thousand, and multiple daily sales at 5000+. The last few months have been a bit funky and sales are on a roller coaster ride, but generally I average between 3-6 sales a day and currently I have 7600+ listings. But then I sell sewing patterns, so you have to accomodte sizes, styles, etc.

Other sellers I'm sure get regular sales with a much smaller inventory than we have. But rarely have I heard of any seller with regular sales with only 45 items listed unless they have 100 each or some such thing of each item. Think of it this way. How many sales do you hope to have per month? Even at one a day we are talking about you selling two-thirds of your total inventory in one month's time--doesn't generally happen. I would guess at a minimum to get one sale a day you need somewhere around at least 300-450 well priced, well described items and that is just a guess.
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thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat



Posts: 10158

PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I tend to agree with Moonwishes here although I don't think your store needs 1000 items to succeed.

Look at it this way. If you sell inexpensive items such as sports trading cards or used DVDs or shoelaces, you should have a large inventory because buyers will probably be buying more than one item and they want to have a large selection to choose from. If you only have a dozen of each category, they will look for a seller with greater selection.

If on the other hand you are selling computers, bikes, antique china, or Waterford crystal, you won't expect as many sales per month and if you have really great items that are hard to find and at a fair price, you only have to have a handful of items to have a sale. People looking for your particular item will find you if you have a keyword filled title and complete description. They are looking for one particular item so huge inventory doesn't matter. You have what they want.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Number of items you have listed is also part of your business plan and making a plan that will work and lead to success. A while back someone asked if they had enough stuff listed and then when questioned said he was hoping for 30-60 sales a month if I recall correctly. Well he had only about 40 items listed. How can you sell 60 items if you don't have 60 items? I've been selling for a long time and so have a lot of us, and with the possible exception of the Ugly Sweater seller, none of us have ever come close to selling all our stock in a single month but what fun or a great way to lose our mind depending on how you look at it! Very Happy

I know I mentioned this a bit before, but I wanted to be sure I was clear for any other newbies who may read this so they don't think it was just you that needed more stock. Think about any big store that is having a going out of business sale, even on the last day (unless stuff is being moved to another store) they have stuff on their shelves that didn't sell and probably never will. So even with deep markdowns, most stores never sell out so you need enough inventory that will sell to cover expenses and make a profit even if you have some deadbeat items.
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magicmatch



Posts: 3

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,
Can anybody tell me how to change shipping location?
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theartsandlettersofmaggiethecat



Posts: 2099

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

magicmatch wrote:
Hi,
Can anybody tell me how to change shipping location?


Go to your admin, click on shipping zones in the left column, highlight the ones you want to add or remove and then click on ad or remove. That will move the locations either way you want them. Make sure you click update before leaving the page.
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