Competing with TRS Sellers

[Callidus]

Hi all.

I just wanted some feedback from yourselves on how you distinguish your items for sale to be a 'better buy' than a seller that is a TRS Powerseller.

Now we all like competition but currently I am pulling in an 'average' amount of sales to the amounts I usually do.

I do have a couple of TRS accounts that do well however new accounts without this status I am struggling, bigtime!

So what do you offer that your competitors don't? We all know FREE SHIPPNG + FAST DELIVERY and all that bull but is there something I can do to improve sales on an account with no TRS / Powerseller Status?

I have even gone to the extents of offering a FREE COPY of an item worth £10! with every purchase (I buy for about £1.50) so not a huge hit - making £10 per item still!

Thanks in advance

[Ebayorbust]

Sell the item for substantially less on these newer accounts than on the TRS accounts. Even if it is only a temporary measure it will stimulate sales.

[Callidus]

Problem is that I find with this Ebayorbust is that once I bring the price down not only does it cut my margin which I am not too worried about initially but all the other sellers bring theirs down and it totally devalues the product. The item I am selling sells on AMZN for £34 and currently is going for £22-26 on eBay.

[tcw7]

Originally Posted by hdavey10

Problem is that I find with this Ebayorbust is that once I bring the price down not only does it cut my margin which I am not too worried about initially but all the other sellers bring theirs down and it totally devalues the product. The item I am selling sells on AMZN for £34 and currently is going for £22-26 on eBay.

Why not switch to AMZ?

[JJGold]

Perhaps you could try higher quality pictures, a better laid out listing, more action words in the description, a longer merchandise return policy......

[Callidus]

Originally Posted by tcw7

Why not switch to AMZ?

Want me to be honest?

I haven't a clue how AMAZON works nor do I understand stealth as well as I do with eBay. Plus, I have heard some horror stories with AMZN keeping money forever, deleting accounts and god knows what else.

[Ebayorbust]

Originally Posted by hdavey10

Want me to be honest?

I haven't a clue how AMAZON works nor do I understand stealth as well as I do with eBay. Plus, I have heard some horror stories with AMZN keeping money forever, deleting accounts and god knows what else.

Depends very much on what you sell.

Try running 1 day auctions starting just under the the BIN price and send as many second chance offer as possible.

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by hdavey10

Want me to be honest?

I haven't a clue how AMAZON works nor do I understand stealth as well as I do with eBay. Plus, I have heard some horror stories with AMZN keeping money forever, deleting accounts and god knows what else.

When Amazon keeps money, it is usually because they believe the seller does not exist or is selling counterfeits. On accounts that may just have some customer service issues or bad metrics, they still suspend the account and will give you your money (minus any refunds) in 90 days. I make this statement based on what I have seen and experienced, others may have different opinions.

As to competing with TRS, you can try making a better listing, offering a longer return window, or lowering the price. Eventually, if you ship quickly and give good customer service, the account in question will become a TRS account.

Whatever you are selling has a fantastic profit margin. Others want in on it too. That is why the competition lowers their prices to compete with you. Sure, a $20 profit on a $3 item is wonderful, but if others are cutting the price, I'll take a $10 profit, or even a $5 profit rather than losing sales to a competitor.

As someone who frequently buys on eBay, I can tell you how I look for common items on eBay. Let's say I need a 12 volt adapter. I will search for it, then I will click on the option for NEW and then US SELLERS ONLY. Next, I sort the results by price, low to high. I then choose the lowest price seller I feel comfortable with.

Many others do the same. eBay is probably the most competitive marketplace in the world. Of course, as you experienced, you do NOT have to be at the lowest price to make sales - but then your sales will just be "average".

[Dmshark25]

With my product I do all auction and it doesn't matter whether I have 100 feedbacks or 0 feedbacks everything I list always sells and I make between $25-$45 profit off each item. I automatically start each items opening bid at a price where I'm making $10 profit and it always shoots up from there. Free shipping in my case always attracts more bidders and the price gets driven up to more than what it had been if I charged for shipping .

So I rarely use buy it now unless I have a real hot item that I know if I mark it down to a certain price than it will blow out in large quantity within a day

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by Dmshark25

With my product I do all auction and it doesn't matter whether I have 100 feedbacks or 0 feedbacks everything I list always sells and I make between $25-$45 profit off each item. I automatically start each items opening bid at a price where I'm making $10 profit and it always shoots up from there. Free shipping in my case always attracts more bidders and the price gets driven up to more than what it had been if I charged for shipping .

So I rarely use buy it now unless I have a real hot item that I know if I mark it down to a certain price than it will blow out in large quantity within a day

Although I sell mostly using the "Buy It Now" option, Dmshark25 is right on the money here. Auctions can be a good way of getting sales too - they sometimes take on a life of their own and sell for more than the lowest priced item on "Buy It Now".

I have combined the two in the past, using a BIN listing for - maybe 10 items. Then I ran an auction for 1 item starting at 99 cents. I put a link to my store in the auction listing. Sometimes, a buyer would get outbid, then go to my store and use BIN to buy my item. So, it increased sales for me.

These days, I sell mostly out of print books. Selling those via auction simply does not work, since not enough people would be interested for me to get the price I want. For what I sell, Amazon works best, but eBay can be good as well. It may take me 6 months to sell a book I purchased, but my profit margins are usually 200% or higher.

Auctions are a fine idea, as long as whatever you are selling is a popular product. It does not always work for niches.