Author Topic: So how tough would you word this item description to compete? (Read 17084 times)

ernest_price · « **on:** June 29, 2009, 11:41:48 AM »

I have a quality computer item [multiples of them] that sell for around $80 new in B&M shops. I got them cheap and am selling them for $29.99 with free shipping to Australia.

A number of overseas sellers are selling them for $0.99 start auction price but with no postage shown. You have to go to their merchant facility, click on multiple options that don't work first time, then eventually you find postage ranges from $25 to $60 depending on where you are in Australia.

Note also their item looks the same but is essentially cheap junk compared to the brand name I'm selling.

How would YOU word your item description to effectively sell against this style of seller?

cueperkins · « **Reply #1 on:** June 29, 2009, 11:59:48 AM »

Hi Ernest.....say something like......Don't be fooled by cheap OS look alikes.....This item is a brand name etc etc. and postage is free....

I'm sure there's more you can say, but I'd state the positives of buying this item from you, instead of OS sellers, but without mentioning the other sellers or their product. i.e. delivery is assured within 7-10 days, via Aust Post etc.

And consider that it costs the same amount to post an item back if a buyer is not satisfied, so it's cost prohibitive if the thing goes pear shaped. Just ask Countess....

Buying from you by comparison within Australia, means that returning the item is easy if unsatisfied etc....can you believe that one of the new return policy categories is 'I changed my mind'? God help sellers, that's all I can say.....That's not even the case under Consumer Protection laws in this country...what can Ebay possibly be thinking ?

If the items have no warranty, then offer them as liquidated stock, never used and offered at a reduced cost compared to retail....I'd even get a comparison price of what the same one sells for in B & M stores...careful with any links on ebay though...lol

*CountessA* · « **Reply #2 on:** June 29, 2009, 12:45:56 PM »

Ah, this is a challenge - how to give the item listing a sense of genuineness and quality without sounding like a shoutie ad or a cheap Asian listing trying to impress buyers with false claims.

Hmm.

Is this brand made in Australia? If so, you could include in your title the following:

[BRAND] [item] Australian-made.

If it's not manufactured in Australia, perhaps the following...

[BRAND] [item] to Australian standards

... and then add in the description something like this:

Genuine quality [item].
This is a genuine [brand name], not a cheap substitute. It's manufactured to Australian standards.
The quality of this brand speaks for itself - no cheap-and-nasty junk components, just excellent quality. This is not a cheap import.
Usually $79.95 - now selling for $29.95.
FREE SHIPPING Australia-wide.
Satisfaction is assured.

RiffRaff · « **Reply #3 on:** June 29, 2009, 01:03:49 PM »

As previously mentioned, up-sell your own item without bagging the opposition.

Exposure will help sell your items before the overseas imports. If what you have is a popular item, I would suggest a featured listing for multiple items and increase your price to off-set the cost. If an item costs $80 in a B&M store, people will pay $39.99 as easily as they will pay $29.99. Particularly if you use a subtitle that reads *FREE POSTAGE - AUSTRALIA WIDE*.

Focus on the quality of the item and brandname in your listing and it will sell itself.

ernest_price · « **Reply #4 on:** June 29, 2009, 02:21:01 PM »

Thanks all. Exactly what i was looking for. Each great ideas and doing it now.

llama · « **Reply #5 on:** June 29, 2009, 08:42:54 PM »

When I am selling items like that, I make a point of including "FREE POSTAGE FROM SYDNEY" or "TRUSTWORTHY AUSSIE SELLER" or similar in the title.

I also put *RRP $80* in the title too.

Subtitle may work well as well - in fact, as Riff says it might be worthwhile to increase the BIN a bit and then use that Value Pack thingy to include Subtitle.

Make sure to do a completed items search, and price at the correct point to just undercut the opposition. Remember, in a "Sort By Price (incl Postage)", the naughty OS people with unspecified P&H will be right down the end of the list.

ernest_price · « **Reply #6 on:** July 03, 2009, 07:44:13 AM »

Well what a fascinating few days selling these items.

Just to recap:

I'm selling at $29.99 with many of all your good suggestions in the item description. RESULT: No watchers, no questions, no sales.

Competitors still at $0.99 start and $25 to $60 shipping depending on where you live in Australia. They have sold around 10 of these items over the last few days.

Sooooooo - I go down the dark side. I set 3 items to $4.99 with [forgive me Lord] $25 fixed postage to Australia [i.e. 3kg satchel plus $15 handling]. I sell all 3 of them in one day, with one person congratulating me on my cheap shipping [noooooooo!!!!]

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I should surrender my eBay seller passport immediately.

ernest_price · « **Reply #7 on:** July 03, 2009, 09:02:17 AM »

Just checked again - competitors now this morning all at $15 postage anywhere in Australia. Maybe I have earned my eBay seller passport back

HellWest'nCrooked · « **Reply #8 on:** July 03, 2009, 11:01:14 AM »

I am glad you have sold your products...but where is the buyers reasoning??
I am a buyer only and I can't work out what on earth they would be thinking and
not buying from a safe Aussie seller with very reasonable prices in the first place.
#shakes head#

ernest_price · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2009, 11:53:37 AM »

The $0.99 with no shipping prices shown in the body if the auction is a big drawcard [despite the total lack of logic in there].

You should read the feedback from these dropshippers. It's just line after line of "good item - shipping too expensive" or "item poor quality but at a good price" or "received item ok but took forewver" - and that's just the positives and neutrals. The negs are ugly, but they still keep at that 98.9% area and don't run foul of any ebay rules/requirements.

Let's see how I go selling the balance of the items. I've canned the $25 shipping option - it made me feel dirty, despite being a succesful sales strategy.

*CountessA* · « **Reply #10 on:** July 03, 2009, 03:14:00 PM »

Ernest, that is absolutely fascinating.

I don't think like those buyers. My mind truly doesn't work in the same way. But to sell on eBay, it seems one has to think like a foolish buyer...

Congratulations on selling some of those items, but I can certainly sympathise with feeling as though including $25 shipping might make one feel as though one had been rolling around in pig excrement.

It's all about tactics, though, isn't it? You'd certainly think potential buyers would LOOK AT THE FEEDBACK, and would REALISE that 99 cents is ridiculous and that the sellers must be making up the money in some other way.

Are they demented?

I'm going to open up a club for non-demented buyers. It certainly won't have 5 million members, I can see that...

llama · « **Reply #11 on:** July 04, 2009, 03:25:46 PM »

Very interesting indeed.

The main problem with that strategy is that they buy based on the 99c, and then get remourse when they see that the item only cost $10 to post, not $25. So, the risk of negs is pretty high I reckon.

I have never had any luck with free shipping myself... the items must look "too dear" or something.

ernest_price · « **Reply #12 on:** July 04, 2009, 05:04:30 PM »

Most of what I sell is 3kg satchel sized and around 1kg packed. So even local postage is cubed to around $7.20, intrastate is roughly satchel cost and interstate is way more than satchel cost. I just do 3kg satchel for everything unless I know it fits in a 500g satchel.

I did free postage on a few lots last year - got the worst postage cost stars ever

I think some people think 1 star rating means N/A

I also agree that the free shipping does make the price look bad and could cost sales in the case of buyers with not enough time to look into it properly.

I wonder if ebay could ever set a max shipping cost? Then again, the dodgy dropshippers would just probably inflate the item dimensions to suit the $ they want postage to be and nobody could tell unless they were reported.

At least in this case the competitors have reacted and dropped their shipping to $15 fixed against the ridiculous $25-$60 they had last week. I'm no better off but at least the buyers are.

ernest_price · « **Reply #13 on:** July 04, 2009, 05:22:01 PM »

Forgot to add one of the funny moments with all this free shipping vs at cost shipping stuff.

One guy had been a watcher the previous week when I had the items active without free shipping [but didn't show as a watcher as he just used the item name to check back]. He actually asked me if I'd drop the price on the free shipping item by $10 as he wanted to do cash on pickup. I was stumped for an answer for a few minutes while I sorted it out in my head

.

What was the correct answer?

*CountessA* · « **Reply #14 on:** July 04, 2009, 11:45:52 PM »

My hope is that you told him you would not reduce the price of the item, but you would FULLY REFUND the postage cost at the time of pickup.

ernest_price · « **Reply #15 on:** July 05, 2009, 10:09:58 AM »

Close to what I said - but not as succint

Will be interesting with the potential for free shipping mandatory in certain categories probably coming here in the next X period. See the current eBay CS free shipping thread re UK changes.

Ok for me with most of my stuff known as 3kg satchel anyway, but will be a minefield for some sellers should the categories be extended.

I'm selling something at the moment that's very heavy and the shipping cost variance is scary between local and say WA regional destinations.

ernest_price · « **Reply #16 on:** July 05, 2009, 01:05:11 PM »

^ meaning you were more succint than me - I rambled and bumbled around

ernest_price · « **Reply #17 on:** July 07, 2009, 11:09:49 AM »

The saga continues. I'm getting a bit tired of the free postage now.

While it seems to work ok at times, it's just too random when buyers don't check and it seems the free postage person misses out overall to the drop-shipper. Maybe I need to be a bit more pointed in the item title so will try that.

Was contacted by a potential buyer who said he wanted to buy my item as it was a brand name but it was too expensive. "Could I drop the price down please?". I asked him how much would he have to pay for 'another' item? He said "99c plus a few dollars for shipping I reckon. I haven't checked yet". As these things are fairly light but bulky they are cubed for parcels and postage is often not 'just a few dollars'. That's why I use 3kg stachels.

I asked him to check what the postage was for the 99c item he saw and get back to me. Next thing I know I have a BIN sale

So while I'm happy with that, how many potential sales have I lost because the buyer didn't bother to ask. Yet I can't compete with the cheap junk at 99c as my quality stock doesn't cost <$16 [their 99c + $15 postage at competitors]. My conclusion is that the quality, more expensive stuff finds it hard to compete at eBay now. I feel like I'm selling in a $2 shop with a $20 item!

Not depressed and will keep going forward !!!!

We need a vent smiley

*smee* · « **Reply #18 on:** July 07, 2009, 09:30:00 PM »

A vent smiley ....hmmmm will see what I can find
In the meantime heres one or two frustration ones to go on with

ernest_price · « **Reply #19 on:** July 08, 2009, 09:24:56 AM »

That first yellow one is fine

*CountessA* · « **Reply #20 on:** July 08, 2009, 11:03:17 AM »

I'll add that to the emoticons here, then, shall I?

ernest_price · « **Reply #21 on:** July 08, 2009, 11:44:09 AM »

It gets my vote!

*smee* · « **Reply #22 on:** July 08, 2009, 11:56:34 PM »

We need a vent smiley

I agree .... my turn to vent ..... some ebay buyers get right up my skirt !!!!!!!!

I listed an item last week $9.99 starting price , get a bid almost straight away ...
So this ~~cretin~~ person is winning right up till the last moment and gets outbid ... no drama I have 2 of these so I send a second chance offer and a message .... nothing not a skerrick of interset from this ~~Goose~~ person in the allocated 24 hours so I think I will list second item but before I do I send another message saying second chance offer had expired but I was going to relist but before I do give them another chance at a bin for their original bid of $9.99 another day goes by no response so I list as a new item .. starting price $9.99 again .... guess what .... she has bid ..... fair dinkum you cant help some people and it cost me another listing fee ..... not much but still ..... hope she gets outbid now !!!!!!!!

*CountessA* · « **Reply #23 on:** July 09, 2009, 01:09:39 AM »

How does this suit as an emoticon to express the need to vent?

And this one for indulging in a bit of melodramatic over-reaction...

*smee* · « **Reply #24 on:** July 09, 2009, 08:43:17 AM »

very good countess I can see them coming in handy at times for many people

*smee* · « **Reply #25 on:** July 10, 2009, 09:32:02 PM »

Here we go again !!!!! where do these people come from??????

my description .......BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED R4 GRAN TORINO

Their question ........... Dear smeeagain61,

hello, as you dont have a picture of this dvd i'm just checking that it is in fact a store-bought australian region 4 edition, are you sure its not a copy of any kind

??????? fair dinkum !!!

ernest_price · « **Reply #26 on:** July 10, 2009, 10:15:37 PM »

S'ok - as much as I'm not hung up on but always interested in DSR's to see how happy my buyers are - what rating on postage cost do you think I got from the majority of buyers from the sales last week that were free shipping?

Guess

*smee* · « **Reply #27 on:** July 10, 2009, 10:19:15 PM »

um 1 - 3 I would say most would rate as 3

ernest_price · « **Reply #28 on:** July 16, 2009, 05:06:24 PM »

Just got the last feedback in.

Mainly 3's, 1 x 4 and 1 x 5 for Postage Cost.

The killer was one where I sent it 5pm and they got it by 11am the next day. DSR for Postage Time = 4

I just reckon people click on the wrong bit and couldn't be bothered clicking again

I'd go crazy if this stuff ws actually something I obsessed on. Not that I'm obsessing now, no, really I'm not at all. Not much at all, ever.

*CountessA* · « **Reply #29 on:** July 16, 2009, 05:11:01 PM »

Oh, Ernest, you didn't send it to them the week before they ordered. That's your mistake.

:mperror: (And it's just as well you're not too obsessed by these unfair DSRs, or you'd be trying to reboot a few lives, hmm?)

ernest_price · « **Reply #30 on:** July 16, 2009, 05:22:42 PM »

Wish I could find that similar one where it says "Log off and get a life" with yes and no radio buttons and a check box for "Remind me again in 1 year"

ernest_price · « **Reply #31 on:** August 29, 2009, 11:18:53 AM »

So tested the water again with another round of free postage sales and the result was............

...... another round of mixed 3, 4 and 5 rating DSR's on postage costs

Quite seriously, eBay has a problem with their input method of DSR measurement - they rely upon it yet many people mean to put in '5' yet end up with giving a seller '4' because of that clunky method eBay use of clicking the yellow bit on the stars. When a buyer takes the time to email to say thankyou because an item arrived extra fast and freepost [and it did] they really didn't mean to pop in a 3 in the postage time and cost sections

News:

Author Topic: So how tough would you word this item description to compete? (Read 17084 times)

ernest_price

cueperkins

RiffRaff

ernest_price

llama

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

llama

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price

ernest_price