How many relists till you give up???

NJ Marty

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Do you have that item you thought would sell but get 0-1 views and keep relisting with no luck. Even changing or having 2 categories, the correct ones you think. Keep relisting hoping for a bite or put it away for a bit and relist down the road?
 

I have items that have run for a year or more before selling. I recently just pulled an item that never sold after 16 months and I dropped the price a few times until it's not worth even messing with anymore, so I threw it in the scrap pile and ended the listing. It depends on what the item is. I have some obsolete parts that not many people will need, but some day, someone will be looking for that part to repair their old equipment and I'll be the only one offering it. That's the type thing I keep listing. If it's a pair of $19.99 used shoes that I listed 6 months ago and dropped the price 3 times and no one wants them for $5.99, then they go in the trash or goodwill and I forget about it.
 

Ebay is strange and everything depends on who happens to be looking at items like you have on any particular week. I have recently been selling off some 60s vintage slot cars. Some go quick and some I have re-listed for 2 months and they finally sold. One that I thought was odd (but I'm not complaining) was a lot of 3 really nice older cars. I usually start at my minimum I would take and sell at no reserve. I started at $75 for the lot. No bid but 10-15 watchers. Did that for a couple weeks then dropped the opening bid to $60. Same deal, no bids but several watchers. So I re-listed again starting at $50. They sold for $85 bucks... :icon_scratch: I think they key to that one was to start low and get people hitting that "bid" button. Once they did it turned into a bidding war between a couple guys. If a month or more has gone by with no bids though usually it means you're price is too high.
 

I've had a similar item like that... I was selling a guitar pedal starting it at $29.99 with a BIN at $39.99. Must've relisted it like that 5 times, but on the 6th time, not an hour after relisting it, someone bought it for the BIN.
 

Mostly agree with all the replies except one. Just because it doesn't sell after a few months doesn't mean that it is priced too high. More often with me it just hasn't been seen by the right person. I raise my price as often as I lower it on a often relisted item. Remember the rule of perceived value. If you think it is cheap or worthless, so will your potential customer. Good day all.
 

That's the great thing about having a store. It's a way out of not having to continue to relist, or sell at break even or a loss.
 

Mostly agree with all the replies except one. Just because it doesn't sell after a few months doesn't mean that it is priced too high. More often with me it just hasn't been seen by the right person. I raise my price as often as I lower it on a often relisted item. Remember the rule of perceived value. If you think it is cheap or worthless, so will your potential customer. Good day all.
This is also true and reminds me of an old story. Guy puts a stove on his front lawn with a big sign that says "FREE". It sits there for weeks. Finally he changes the sign to say $50 and that night someone stole it...
 

NJ Marty:

Keep listing until you sell - as long as you don't have to pay a listing fee.

Raise and lower the price from time to time (the "Hawthorne Effect"). I've read that the majority of eBay items are sold with just one bid. So you're tossing your hook out there looking for just one fish.

You never know how people search - or when.

I just got a bid on a book I've been listing and re-listing and re-listing for at least 6 months. Sometimes I re-list right away, sometimes I wait a few days, thinking somebody might be watching and then go "Dang! I missed it." That's why I almost always raise the price on the first re-list. eBay suggests lowering it - but why should I reward somebody who didn't pull the trigger right away?

You also never know when somebody else will list your item for more money and make yours look pretty good (that, of course, works both ways...).

Bottom Line: Re-List!

Good luck to all,

~ The Old Bookaroo
 

I haven't sold much this year, and as a rule do not relist. That's because I start the listing lower than most would.
 

Certain items need to be seen by the right person. I've had several recent customers that haven't made a purchase in 6 months to well over a year ago, until now.
 

I have an item that just sold last week. I had relisted it 8 times.
 

NJ Marty:

Keep listing until you sell - as long as you don't have to pay a listing fee.

Raise and lower the price from time to time (the "Hawthorne Effect"). I've read that the majority of eBay items are sold with just one bid. So you're tossing your hook out there looking for just one fish.

You never know how people search - or when.

I just got a bid on a book I've been listing and re-listing and re-listing for at least 6 months. Sometimes I re-list right away, sometimes I wait a few days, thinking somebody might be watching and then go "Dang! I missed it." That's why I almost always raise the price on the first re-list. eBay suggests lowering it - but why should I reward somebody who didn't pull the trigger right away?

You also never know when somebody else will list your item for more money and make yours look pretty good (that, of course, works both ways...).

Bottom Line: Re-List!

Good luck to all,

~ The Old Bookaroo

I apply to the same tactics that you use with good success. I'll relist after a day or two with a higher price and sometimes get sales pretty quick when I had some watchers that didn't pull trigger. Logically, it really don't make sense, but in a lot of cases for me it has.
 

I've had very few items on ebay that didn't eventually sell.

I had some postcards that I left on way too long. I'm still surprised that they didn't sell. I also had some early Snap-On tools that I listed at stupid-crazy-insane prices. They didn't sell after 6 months, but I didn't expect them too either. The old saying of "Fish for a big fish", well...I was fishing for a whale, LOL.
 

I think i've sold darn near everything I ever listed eventually. Except one that sticks out because I look at it everyday. It's a controlled bubble Murano fish that I couldn't give away for some reason. I stopped listing it after a year or so. It's sitting in a china cabinet right now. I started high with it around $149.99 or something and every 3 months I lowered the price till eventually I was at $29.99 I believe. It was still too much I guess. It's a nice large piece standing 15" tall with no damages. I have since been told that it was "probably" made in Mexico. I guess there's no market for Mexican Murano glass, lol. Here it is-

100_2943.webp
 

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