Great info.
Sell on Ebay? Here's how I do it.
Hi,
I've been printing heat transfers since 1987 and selling on Ebay since 1999. I would like to tell you my experiences and what I did.
Started selling stickers. Offered about 20 different designs and sold 0. Couldn't figure it out and did a search on there selling similar stickers. They were selling quite a few and quickly learned that they offered hundreds of different designs. What did I learn? The more designs you offer, the more likely you will sell. Went from 20 stickers to 500 and sales immediately started to get real good.
As time went by it occurred to me that why not offer my designs on t-shirts Duhhh!! So here's what I did.
Did a search on Ebay for similar t-shirt designs. Viewed each seller, read their feedback and watched what design sold, using their feedback. Had a better idea as to what was selling and for what price. Checked out shipping and other costs too.
So I started offering t-shirts that I printed and in a multitude of designs. Sales were good but as my market niche is very limited to model railroaders, car enthusiasts, etc.. sales started to level off which I expected. I still offer the same shirts and designs that I started with and still do OK.
What I really noticed are the newer people who start selling on Ebay and the price of their shirts is so low I have to chuckle. I have always perceived that the products I print should be the best I can print, sell at a fair price and make a fair profit. Naturally my shirts may be a few dollars more than theirs but I use a name brand shirt, 100% cotton and still have a money back guarantee. What did I learn? If you sell your printed products at a cheap price and maybe make $1 a shirt then you are not only cheating yourself but potential buyers may think that your shirts, being so low in cost, maybe there's a problem with the. If you sell your shirts at a fair price, reasonable shipping and be competitive, you will sell shirts. If I'm going to spend 30 minutes printing 4 shirts and make a dollar per shirt or spend 20 minutes printing 2 shirts and making $8.00 per shirt... see my point.
Selling on Ebay and other similar sites takes time especially on the feedback issue. I'm nearing 5000 feedbacks and it wasn't done in a month. Took some 4 years. I've also found that in my case, for every 4-5 items I've sold I usually average only one (1) feedback.
Brings me to another thing I've experienced.
I created my artwork. Ready to go onto a heat transfer sheet size 8x8". Good for t-shirts. How could I expand my sales? Took the same artwork, resized them and using the same images I offer sweatshirts, caps, mouse pads, wall signs, wall clocks, mugs, etc... using the same image.
Take the same image and using my graphics program I can personalize just about all of my stock designs. The one shirt design now opened up a brand new product line.
I now have an Ebay store and for me, well worth it. Customers are from all over the globe but mostly USA.
I could go on and on but you need to be awake so you can plan how you want to attack Ebay.
So, if you want to sell on Ebay:
1. What do you want to sell? T's, caps, mugs???
2. Learn from your competition: price, shipping, feedback, what sells.
3. When you are ready, do it. Don't think about it, just give it an honest try.
4. Price fairly, offer quality products and TRY to ship by the next day.
5. Low or no feedback? Remember it takes time. Be patient.
6. If you can, offer a variety of different products, using the same design. After a while you'll see what design sells and what doesn't. Adjust accordingly.
Please remember that I'm just trying to take 18 years of selling on Ebay and trying to explain how I've done it. Just like painting a house, there are 20 ways to do it but as long as it gets done right is what matters.
Hope this helps.
Fred
I've been printing heat transfers since 1987 and selling on Ebay since 1999. I would like to tell you my experiences and what I did.
Started selling stickers. Offered about 20 different designs and sold 0. Couldn't figure it out and did a search on there selling similar stickers. They were selling quite a few and quickly learned that they offered hundreds of different designs. What did I learn? The more designs you offer, the more likely you will sell. Went from 20 stickers to 500 and sales immediately started to get real good.
As time went by it occurred to me that why not offer my designs on t-shirts Duhhh!! So here's what I did.
Did a search on Ebay for similar t-shirt designs. Viewed each seller, read their feedback and watched what design sold, using their feedback. Had a better idea as to what was selling and for what price. Checked out shipping and other costs too.
So I started offering t-shirts that I printed and in a multitude of designs. Sales were good but as my market niche is very limited to model railroaders, car enthusiasts, etc.. sales started to level off which I expected. I still offer the same shirts and designs that I started with and still do OK.
What I really noticed are the newer people who start selling on Ebay and the price of their shirts is so low I have to chuckle. I have always perceived that the products I print should be the best I can print, sell at a fair price and make a fair profit. Naturally my shirts may be a few dollars more than theirs but I use a name brand shirt, 100% cotton and still have a money back guarantee. What did I learn? If you sell your printed products at a cheap price and maybe make $1 a shirt then you are not only cheating yourself but potential buyers may think that your shirts, being so low in cost, maybe there's a problem with the. If you sell your shirts at a fair price, reasonable shipping and be competitive, you will sell shirts. If I'm going to spend 30 minutes printing 4 shirts and make a dollar per shirt or spend 20 minutes printing 2 shirts and making $8.00 per shirt... see my point.
Selling on Ebay and other similar sites takes time especially on the feedback issue. I'm nearing 5000 feedbacks and it wasn't done in a month. Took some 4 years. I've also found that in my case, for every 4-5 items I've sold I usually average only one (1) feedback.
Brings me to another thing I've experienced.
I created my artwork. Ready to go onto a heat transfer sheet size 8x8". Good for t-shirts. How could I expand my sales? Took the same artwork, resized them and using the same images I offer sweatshirts, caps, mouse pads, wall signs, wall clocks, mugs, etc... using the same image.
Take the same image and using my graphics program I can personalize just about all of my stock designs. The one shirt design now opened up a brand new product line.
I now have an Ebay store and for me, well worth it. Customers are from all over the globe but mostly USA.
I could go on and on but you need to be awake so you can plan how you want to attack Ebay.
So, if you want to sell on Ebay:
1. What do you want to sell? T's, caps, mugs???
2. Learn from your competition: price, shipping, feedback, what sells.
3. When you are ready, do it. Don't think about it, just give it an honest try.
4. Price fairly, offer quality products and TRY to ship by the next day.
5. Low or no feedback? Remember it takes time. Be patient.
6. If you can, offer a variety of different products, using the same design. After a while you'll see what design sells and what doesn't. Adjust accordingly.
Please remember that I'm just trying to take 18 years of selling on Ebay and trying to explain how I've done it. Just like painting a house, there are 20 ways to do it but as long as it gets done right is what matters.
Hope this helps.
Fred
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
Hey nice post.
How do you list your products tho ? How do you mass put them onto Ebay ? Iv been researching Ebay for the past month and i know the top sellers and top selling products in many niches.
It seems to me its about getting high in ebay search and to beable to mass upload from what i gather.
I mean i see businesses who offer simple designs but are offering like 250,000 items
How do you list your products tho ? How do you mass put them onto Ebay ? Iv been researching Ebay for the past month and i know the top sellers and top selling products in many niches.
It seems to me its about getting high in ebay search and to beable to mass upload from what i gather.
I mean i see businesses who offer simple designs but are offering like 250,000 items
Hi,
I've been printing heat transfers since 1987 and selling on Ebay since 1999. I would like to tell you my experiences and what I did.
Started selling stickers. Offered about 20 different designs and sold 0. Couldn't figure it out and did a search on there selling similar stickers. They were selling quite a few and quickly learned that they offered hundreds of different designs. What did I learn? The more designs you offer, the more likely you will sell. Went from 20 stickers to 500 and sales immediately started to get real good.
As time went by it occurred to me that why not offer my designs on t-shirts Duhhh!! So here's what I did.
Did a search on Ebay for similar t-shirt designs. Viewed each seller, read their feedback and watched what design sold, using their feedback. Had a better idea as to what was selling and for what price. Checked out shipping and other costs too.
So I started offering t-shirts that I printed and in a multitude of designs. Sales were good but as my market niche is very limited to model railroaders, car enthusiasts, etc.. sales started to level off which I expected. I still offer the same shirts and designs that I started with and still do OK.
What I really noticed are the newer people who start selling on Ebay and the price of their shirts is so low I have to chuckle. I have always perceived that the products I print should be the best I can print, sell at a fair price and make a fair profit. Naturally my shirts may be a few dollars more than theirs but I use a name brand shirt, 100% cotton and still have a money back guarantee. What did I learn? If you sell your printed products at a cheap price and maybe make $1 a shirt then you are not only cheating yourself but potential buyers may think that your shirts, being so low in cost, maybe there's a problem with the. If you sell your shirts at a fair price, reasonable shipping and be competitive, you will sell shirts. If I'm going to spend 30 minutes printing 4 shirts and make a dollar per shirt or spend 20 minutes printing 2 shirts and making $8.00 per shirt... see my point.
Selling on Ebay and other similar sites takes time especially on the feedback issue. I'm nearing 5000 feedbacks and it wasn't done in a month. Took some 4 years. I've also found that in my case, for every 4-5 items I've sold I usually average only one (1) feedback.
Brings me to another thing I've experienced.
I created my artwork. Ready to go onto a heat transfer sheet size 8x8". Good for t-shirts. How could I expand my sales? Took the same artwork, resized them and using the same images I offer sweatshirts, caps, mouse pads, wall signs, wall clocks, mugs, etc... using the same image.
Take the same image and using my graphics program I can personalize just about all of my stock designs. The one shirt design now opened up a brand new product line.
I now have an Ebay store and for me, well worth it. Customers are from all over the globe but mostly USA.
I could go on and on but you need to be awake so you can plan how you want to attack Ebay.
So, if you want to sell on Ebay:
1. What do you want to sell? T's, caps, mugs???
2. Learn from your competition: price, shipping, feedback, what sells.
3. When you are ready, do it. Don't think about it, just give it an honest try.
4. Price fairly, offer quality products and TRY to ship by the next day.
5. Low or no feedback? Remember it takes time. Be patient.
6. If you can, offer a variety of different products, using the same design. After a while you'll see what design sells and what doesn't. Adjust accordingly.
Please remember that I'm just trying to take 18 years of selling on Ebay and trying to explain how I've done it. Just like painting a house, there are 20 ways to do it but as long as it gets done right is what matters.
Hope this helps.
Fred
Thanks for Sharing ! nice post
You'll find that you need to start small on eBay until you get things going. For example, if you post one t-shirt design with 5 different color shirt options and 4 different size options - you just used 20 "products for sale" in eBay's eyes. If you're a new seller and limited to no more than 100 listings .... you post 5 different designs, you're done.Hey nice post.
How do you list your products tho ? How do you mass put them onto Ebay ? Iv been researching Ebay for the past month and i know the top sellers and top selling products in many niches.
It seems to me its about getting high in ebay search and to beable to mass upload from what i gather.
I mean i see businesses who offer simple designs but are offering like 250,000 items
I'd been listing on eBay for years and finally got enough room to be able to post what, for me, works out to be about 50 different designs. Even then, I need to be careful and be sure to edit listings as shirts sell so that I can keep the right sizes available.
True, this is.You'll find that you need to start small on eBay until you get things going. For example, if you post one t-shirt design with 5 different color shirt options and 4 different size options - you just used 20 "products for sale" in eBay's eyes. If you're a new seller and limited to no more than 100 listings .... you post 5 different designs, you're done.
I'd been listing on eBay for years and finally got enough room to be able to post what, for me, works out to be about 50 different designs. Even then, I need to be careful and be sure to edit listings as shirts sell so that I can keep the right sizes available.
Good morning,
If you have the 'free' store you can list up to 50 or 100 items. Like Paradigmprint said, each size counts as 1 item, each color counts as 1 item and each design counts as 1 item. If you list a1 shirt size, color and design that's 3 items. If you put a quantity of 10 as being available for sale, that is a total of 30 items listed.
I have a premier store and I have up to 1000 items I can list per month for a monthly fee. I do nout use the 'Good Til Cancelled' option because with the products I offer, I get rid of the dead/no sale items.
If I have 100 different license plates and none sell for the 30 days, I let the listing expire and replace it with something else that may sell.
I generally try to space what I list by the week and add on or replace when needed.
Example: I have 1000 listings and today is 9 February. My next listings are set to expire in a few days so when they expire I'll either relist them for another 30 days or replace them with somenthing else.
When it get near the end of the month ( the 25th), and I have 100 shirts getting ready to expire, I'll let them expire and replace them with something else. My monthly total is now back to 1000 items. The counter does not register what you already have listed, ONLY what you list during the new month.
When the 1st of the month rolls around and my listings counter is set back to 1000, I'll relist those expired 100 t-shirts and my total in my Ebay store is 1100. I do this with multiple products so I usually have a total of 1200-1400 actual listings. This is great to see what sells and what doesn't. I just let them expire and still stay at the 1000 products per month.
With an Ebay store, each product is counted as one item. Shirt size, color does not matter. As an example, I have shirts size medium to 5XL (7 items) in 3 colors for a total of 21. In a store, it counts as 1 item only. In the Free store it would count as 21 items.
I hope this makes sense.
Fred
Melbourne FL
If you have the 'free' store you can list up to 50 or 100 items. Like Paradigmprint said, each size counts as 1 item, each color counts as 1 item and each design counts as 1 item. If you list a1 shirt size, color and design that's 3 items. If you put a quantity of 10 as being available for sale, that is a total of 30 items listed.
I have a premier store and I have up to 1000 items I can list per month for a monthly fee. I do nout use the 'Good Til Cancelled' option because with the products I offer, I get rid of the dead/no sale items.
If I have 100 different license plates and none sell for the 30 days, I let the listing expire and replace it with something else that may sell.
I generally try to space what I list by the week and add on or replace when needed.
Example: I have 1000 listings and today is 9 February. My next listings are set to expire in a few days so when they expire I'll either relist them for another 30 days or replace them with somenthing else.
When it get near the end of the month ( the 25th), and I have 100 shirts getting ready to expire, I'll let them expire and replace them with something else. My monthly total is now back to 1000 items. The counter does not register what you already have listed, ONLY what you list during the new month.
When the 1st of the month rolls around and my listings counter is set back to 1000, I'll relist those expired 100 t-shirts and my total in my Ebay store is 1100. I do this with multiple products so I usually have a total of 1200-1400 actual listings. This is great to see what sells and what doesn't. I just let them expire and still stay at the 1000 products per month.
With an Ebay store, each product is counted as one item. Shirt size, color does not matter. As an example, I have shirts size medium to 5XL (7 items) in 3 colors for a total of 21. In a store, it counts as 1 item only. In the Free store it would count as 21 items.
I hope this makes sense.
Fred
Melbourne FL
Hi Fred
Thanks for the advice. You said "Example: I have 1000 listings and today is 9 February."
Just wondering how you post these to ebay ? Do you use turbo lister or some other software ?
I have used Linnworks before to manage sales from multiple places but i have never had to list alot of items which i will have to do very soon.
Wondering what the best way to do it is, generic t-shirt description and then have images of which t-shirt im selling at the top near the buy now button seems to be whatever one else is doing.
I currently have a template with images in the description aswell and it would be a real pain and take forever to change 4-8 images there and upload images near the buy now button aswell.
1000 listings would take a year to do :S
Thanks for the advice. You said "Example: I have 1000 listings and today is 9 February."
Just wondering how you post these to ebay ? Do you use turbo lister or some other software ?
I have used Linnworks before to manage sales from multiple places but i have never had to list alot of items which i will have to do very soon.
Wondering what the best way to do it is, generic t-shirt description and then have images of which t-shirt im selling at the top near the buy now button seems to be whatever one else is doing.
I currently have a template with images in the description aswell and it would be a real pain and take forever to change 4-8 images there and upload images near the buy now button aswell.
1000 listings would take a year to do :S
eBay puts an absolute inventory dollar amount limit and a total "item" limit that counts the quantity if each variation against the limit. This is separate from the item limit set by the tier of your store (you can always list over your tier limit, but will have to pay for those listings over and above the monthly fee for your store's tier).
To start with, this $/Qty limit is low, and they only raise it if you show a track record of shipping on time and successfully completed transactions. They don't want flakey people overpromising on what they can actually deliver. This is explained in their policies.
In practical terms, it means you need to keep the QTY offered in each variation low or you will not be able to list many designs. This means keeping a close eye on remaining inventory as sales come in, so you can keep the QTY above zero for every variation. Over time, they raise your limits and it ceases to be a concern--unless your track record is poor.
To start with, this $/Qty limit is low, and they only raise it if you show a track record of shipping on time and successfully completed transactions. They don't want flakey people overpromising on what they can actually deliver. This is explained in their policies.
In practical terms, it means you need to keep the QTY offered in each variation low or you will not be able to list many designs. This means keeping a close eye on remaining inventory as sales come in, so you can keep the QTY above zero for every variation. Over time, they raise your limits and it ceases to be a concern--unless your track record is poor.
Fantastic advice, thank you!
Thank you for this info. Could you please message me your store so I can check it out. I just learned the hard way that I used up all my listings with only a few shirts.Good morning,
With an Ebay store, each product is counted as one item. Shirt size, color does not matter. As an example, I have shirts size medium to 5XL (7 items) in 3 colors for a total of 21. In a store, it counts as 1 item only. In the Free store it would count as 21 items.
I hope this makes sense.
Fred
Melbourne FL
Thanks for the insight! Very generous of you.
What kind of paper do you use? Printing since the 80s thats awesome!! I've been selling on eBay for 5 years or so no t-shirts just other random stuff thanks for the advice
Good stuff! Thanks for sharing
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
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