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thecheapskirt
Posts: 2123
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 Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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Well, sellers with hundreds and thousands of sales have offered you advice, but you just want to ignore it and listen to the dude with 1 sale.
Good luck to you. |
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A-Better-Way
Posts: 3363
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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Check your mesages, "PM"
Last edited by A-Better-Way on Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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A-Better-Way
Posts: 3363
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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| thecheapskirt wrote: | Well, sellers with hundreds and thousands of sales have offered you advice, but you just want to ignore it and listen to the dude with 1 sale.
Good luck to you. |
Hey now ! , I am creeping up on ya, lol
I don't think it is ingoring, it's all good advice |
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zenden
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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I appreciate everyone's advice here, not just the 'dude with one sale..' lol..
It's a learning experience, i've had my store open about 5 months so everyone's experiences are helpful. |
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viewfinders
Posts: 1561
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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| zenden wrote: | Hi Livesandlovesofmagicthecat...
I've only had my store open for a few months. I am into new age, holistic, cruelty free products.
I don't understand why you would question my motives or interest in selling online just because my sales are low.
I want to have an online business and make a living selling things I use and/or believe in - pretty simple. I don't have a crystal ball and do ritual spells but that doesn't mean I can't sell these products that offer those options to people. |
I wasn't questioning your motivation. I was suggesting that if you hadn't examined your motivation you should. I don't know you so it would be very presumptious of me to suggest YOU hadn't thought it through. |
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zenden
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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If something is a desire no matter what the prompting, it's a good thing, and I think everyone should follow those feelings and passions. It's all good - my motivations are many..
Thanks for your replies.. |
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MoonwishesStore
moderator
Posts: 17389
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Zenden, are you into new age, holistic medicines, wicca? I ask because if you are not, you are flogging the wrong products. Makes no difference what line of products you sell, if it isn't an area that interests you, you won't do well. It is no different than an 80 year old woman selling makeup who hasn't worn lipstick since her wedding day or a couch potato selling camping gear or exercise equipment. If you don't know and believe in your product you won't be very good at promoting it.
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I too echo what was said here adn not because I know or don't know you. I see that those that have TRUE passion for their products and sell within a niche tend to do better in selling than those who look at their items as a commodity--just something to sell. The problem comes in when everyone and their brother are selling the same products, using the same descriptions as you apparently are. I am not into New Age or Wicka or any of that ilk, but I am sure there must be more ways of selling items related to it than by selling the same stuff everyone else sells. Find your unique niche and market it through a blog or whatever to show that this is something special and needful for your buyers to have for their lifestyle. Or maybe you also have a fun hobby like fishing that you could sell fishing stuff better.
The following is part of my philosophy about running a small on line business. Not directed to you for the most part, but something to think about.
I think many on line sellers make the mistake of deciding to sell on line, going for the easy route like drop shipping and voila! They are in business in an hour or two flat. Would a regular brick and morter business survive with that little planning? Hardly. Starting a busines of any kind takes work and research so that when you actually set up your business, you have any idea of what your product will be and who your customer will be and promote to THAT customer. It means investigating different venues to sell on to find the ones that would work out the best for you. You know your competition (and for you, Zenden, in particular it sounds like you have huge competition) and you have already decided how you will handle that competition. You have set your business goals and decided on the actions you need to take to achieve them. Then you start doing the actions to get yourself selling.
This is why I have trouble at times with 'newbies' coming on the site that haven't spent even an hour or two researching ecrater, much less what they want to achieve as a business. Then they want us to tell them the secrets of success when they have already jumped into the deep end. Part of surviving jumping into the deep end is knowing how to swim in the first place. I knew for years that I wanted to start some kind of small home based business. I read every book and magazine article that I came across on how to start and run a small business so when the opportunity landed in my lap, I was ready to take advantage of it. Then as I took baby steps to selling on line, I read everything I could about listing, writing titles, customer service, etc. Mistakes were learning opportunities to not repeat. Successes were learning opportunities to repeat over and over to continue the success. There is constant ongoing learning that has to take place to become successful doing what we are doing. There is no easy about it which many drop shipping places would like you to believe, that if you build a store they will come. But trying to start a store selling the exact same things as many other stores with no variance is the equivalent to hitting your head over and over with a hammer. All will do is give you a headache, but not make for great magical sales.
Trying to sell the same thing as every one else is doing is going to be very difficult and I can just about guarantee you that doing it by dropping your prices and trying to undercut other sellers is not the way to make money.
Just thoughts to think about. Sorry for so long a note, but it is the meat and potatoes of on line selling. |
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zenden
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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I appreciate your reply Moonwishes..
You're right - It is not easy selling products that 100's of others are selling. And having a knowledge of the product or passion for it doesn't always bring in more sales , sometimes people are just looking for something, they know what they want, they know there are 20 people selling it so they find it the cheapest. I've had people purchase from me on other marketplaces because I was 10 cents cheaper than a high power seller , or perhaps they just liked my name better. Who knows.
I'm not into fishing, (fishing certainly isn't fun for the fish)
Finding a niche is always preferable, I'm sure, but there are also hundreds of high power sellers that are only selling for a profit and know nothing about what they sell. I think you can make an online business successful either way.
You are so right about dropping prices, that is absolutely not the way to make money.
It's finding what works for each of us I guess. I was just looking for some advice about promoting ecrater and products as traffic to ecrater just doesn't seem to be enough. Even the high power sellers I've seen here are only selling 4 -10 products per month.. Is that considered good for this site? |
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thecheapskirt
Posts: 2123
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| zenden wrote: | | Even the high power sellers I've seen here are only selling 4 -10 products per month.. Is that considered good for this site? |
Keep in mind many of us have more than one store on ecrater. So if you looked at my feedback on this store, for example, you wouldn't get a complete picture of what I've sold on ecrater.
Last November and December I had over 500 orders in my other store, and many of those orders were for more than one item. That store is seasonal, so it is (thankfully) much slower the rest of the year. But it is NOT something I sell anywhere else (not on eBay, not on Amazon). Just ecrater.
I started it in 2009, and I use social media to advertise (started with a blog, Twitter and Facebook, now I get a lot of traffic from Tumblr, Wanelo and Pinterest too). But then again, it isn't something where I copy and paste other people's words... I write all the descriptions myself, I take all the photos myself, etc. |
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FoxAndFish
Posts: 1585
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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| zenden wrote: | | Another reply here indicated that my descriptions were not so great being taken right from the manufacturer |
That would be me. I asked you what you think is great about your product descriptions.
| zenden wrote: | | I don't see anything wrong with that |
Perhaps that's part of the problem. I'll try to re-explain why copying product listings is not in your best interest and how it could be affecting your lack of sales.
1. B/c your product information is the same as that from other sellers of the same products, your listings do not distinguish you from all the other sellers using the exact same text...both in your store and in search engines. Differentiating yourself from your competition is one route to getting sales. You're not giving customers any reason to buy from you.
2. Copying product information that has typos makes you look sloppy.
3. Copying product information that makes claims...claims that you cannot substantiate yourself...seriously damages your credibility. Again, your listing for Sea Chi Leave On Moisturizing Treatment states: "I personally grew two inches of new hair in 2 months." The mfr makes the exact same claim. Did both you and the mfr grow 2 inches of hair in 2 months? If not, you're being dishonest. Huge turn-off for customers.
4. Copying product information without any personal input fails to demonstrate involvement in or knowledge of your products, which makes you as a seller appear less authoritative and therefore less desirable as a source.
Customers are in some ways not stupid. They know when there are 10 listings for the same product, all with the same info, that the sellers are just acting as middlemen, just a pass-thru to turn a buck. So of course the shopper is going to look for the cheapest price, b/c there is nothing else to distinguish one seller from another. There are only so many ways to slice the competition pie: price, service, rarity, and authority. Small sellers can't compete on price. Unless you're overnighting orders, you can't compete on service...and you already have negative feedback on service. Your items are readily available, not rare. So that leaves authority...and you're going to have an uphill climb on that b/c mfrs will have you beat there. So what's the plan to make yourself desirable as a seller, which you say you are having a hard time doing? One way would be to distinguish yourself from everyone else selling the same thing thru expertise...and one way to demonstrate expertise is to write original listings that express your command of your field. You say you're into New Age and holistic. How would a customer have any idea of that? You haven't even shown customers that you're interested enough in your inventory to talk with them about your items in an original, personalized way.
| zenden wrote: | | I haven't used every product on my site to give a personal description, who has? |
I have. I know every product I sell inside out...based on both personal and professional knowledge and copious research...and have included in every original description both relevant detail and consumer benefit. It would be unthinkable, as well as counterproductive, to do it any other way. |
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zenden
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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I appreciate and value your feedback however, for me to use all 600 (so far) products on my site including listened to cd's, read books and used dozens of other products is just unrealistic. With the items that I handcraft,like jewelry, I can attest to wearing them and how I made them because I, well,made them, as you probably do your over 500 products sold last November and December. No?
I just don't see that rationale as being realistic. I agree that descriptions being more unique is good however, if a customer is buying a product like a nutritional remedy , I'd think they would want to have the manuf. description, ingredients and claims, you're right they are not stupid, and because they are not, they know the many sellers get them from the same source. If I added something personal for a product that I used, great, but my description only? |
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thecheapskirt
Posts: 2123
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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| zenden wrote: | | I can attest to wearing them and how I made them because I, well,made them, as you probably do your over 500 products sold last November and December. No? |
If you are talking to me, no, I do not make anything I sell. |
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MaggietheCatsMeows
Posts: 2853
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:54 am Post subject: |
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| FoxAndFish wrote: | | zenden wrote: | | Another reply here indicated that my descriptions were not so great being taken right from the manufacturer |
That would be me. I asked you what you think is great about your product descriptions.
| zenden wrote: | | I don't see anything wrong with that |
Perhaps that's part of the problem. I'll try to re-explain why copying product listings is not in your best interest and how it could be affecting your lack of sales.
1. B/c your product information is the same as that from other sellers of the same products, your listings do not distinguish you from all the other sellers using the exact same text...both in your store and in search engines. Differentiating yourself from your competition is one route to getting sales. You're not giving customers any reason to buy from you.
2. Copying product information that has typos makes you look sloppy.
3. Copying product information that makes claims...claims that you cannot substantiate yourself...seriously damages your credibility. Again, your listing for Sea Chi Leave On Moisturizing Treatment states: "I personally grew two inches of new hair in 2 months." The mfr makes the exact same claim. Did both you and the mfr grow 2 inches of hair in 2 months? If not, you're being dishonest. Huge turn-off for customers.
4. Copying product information without any personal input fails to demonstrate involvement in or knowledge of your products, which makes you as a seller appear less authoritative and therefore less desirable as a source.
Customers are in some ways not stupid. They know when there are 10 listings for the same product, all with the same info, that the sellers are just acting as middlemen, just a pass-thru to turn a buck. So of course the shopper is going to look for the cheapest price, b/c there is nothing else to distinguish one seller from another. There are only so many ways to slice the competition pie: price, service, rarity, and authority. Small sellers can't compete on price. Unless you're overnighting orders, you can't compete on service...and you already have negative feedback on service. Your items are readily available, not rare. So that leaves authority...and you're going to have an uphill climb on that b/c mfrs will have you beat there. So what's the plan to make yourself desirable as a seller, which you say you are having a hard time doing? One way would be to distinguish yourself from everyone else selling the same thing thru expertise...and one way to demonstrate expertise is to write original listings that express your command of your field. You say you're into New Age and holistic. How would a customer have any idea of that? You haven't even shown customers that you're interested enough in your inventory to talk with them about your items in an original, personalized way.
| zenden wrote: | | I haven't used every product on my site to give a personal description, who has? |
I have. I know every product I sell inside out...based on both personal and professional knowledge and copious research...and have included in every original description both relevant detail and consumer benefit. It would be unthinkable, as well as counterproductive, to do it any other way. |
Best post I've seen on the forum in donkey's years. |
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MoonwishesStore
moderator
Posts: 17389
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Even the high power sellers I've seen here are only selling 4 -10 products per month.. Is that considered good for this site? |
Did you check my feedback and sales? If all I had been doing here for the last 4 years was selling 4-10 products a month, I would be long gone.
This weekend brought back to me why it is so important to know and understand your stock. I had a woman write to me to say I had sent her the wrong item. I researched everything I could in my database and box of patterns, and told her what I did since I couldn't understand how I could have sent her the wrong pattern as it wasn't here anymore and I only had one copy each of each size. I had sent her the larger of the two and she said I sent her the petite size. I didn't understand why she refered to it is as the petite size instead of by the size numbers, but I still had the smaller pattern here, so what did I send her? Other patterns sellers here should understand immediately and know what to write to her once she explained that I had sent her not the Misses pattern but the Misses Petite pattern. Both are included in the pattern. So I was able to write her back that she had the correct pattern, how to use it for her needs, and other info for next time she is pattern hunting and invited her to ask any more questions if needed.
This ability to understand the problem and answer it is born of true knowledge about my products and about sewing in general. I suspect that some pattern sellers would have had NO clue as to what the woman was talking about and how to explain things to the customer, but others could have. It is what separates the commodity sellers from those that really truly know and love what they are selling. Part of which is what Fox and Fish so eloquently explained. No I don't have to make up all 7500+ patterns I have in stock to understand them, but I sure need to understand patterns and sewing to do a good job at selling them. Even those that are selling outside of their hobby or items they don't actually love, to continue in the business and be good at it, need to keep up with changes in the industry, what is rare, what is hard to find, and a multitude of other bits of specific knowledge. |
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A-Better-Way
Posts: 3363
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:46 am Post subject: |
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good post
FoxAndFish  |
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