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| | | Author: | Sauerlandsteine  | | Posted: | Mar 6, 2022 14:34 | | Subject: | No visits in store | | Viewed: | 290 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| Hello,
I opened a store roughly two weeks ago and until now close to nobody visited
it yet.
It has now some 50ish views but 90% of these are from myself (another topic how
useless it is to count visits of the store owner).
I know it's a small store and I only intend to sell some sets from childhood.
When I thought about the selling prices I consulted the "last sales" and I have
sets that were sought after at least several times a month.
I checked some sales today and some exceed my prices by far. I wonder if my store
came up in the search results.
If I had the visits and nobody buys, then I might have a problem with my terms
or prices.
But what can I do to generate visits in the first place?
I am honest that I expected a little bit more from opening a store at the world's
largest LEGO marketplace.
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| | | | | Author: | wildchicken13 | | Posted: | Mar 6, 2022 14:38 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 84 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Mehrunes writes:
| | Hello,
I opened a store roughly two weeks ago and until now close to nobody visited
it yet.
It has now some 50ish views but 90% of these are from myself (another topic how
useless it is to count visits of the store owner).
I know it's a small store and I only intend to sell some sets from childhood.
When I thought about the selling prices I consulted the "last sales" and I have
sets that were sought after at least several times a month.
I checked some sales today and some exceed my prices by far. I wonder if my store
came up in the search results.
If I had the visits and nobody buys, then I might have a problem with my terms
or prices.
But what can I do to generate visits in the first place?
I am honest that I expected a little bit more from opening a store at the world's
largest LEGO marketplace.
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Ship to USA, maybe? It can take some time for people to "discover" your store.
Also adding inventory helps (not just sets but also parts, etc.)
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| | | | | Author: | 1001bricks | | Posted: | Mar 6, 2022 14:47 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 88 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| | | I am honest that I expected a little bit more from opening a store at the world's
largest LEGO marketplace.
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Yes, and it's the reason why!
You've 29 lots in you shop, when zillions are for sale here.
Solutions:
* be different,
* be patient,
* be specialized and/or competitive.
All this depends what you wish.
To sell those lots only, then it's "easy": decrease prices, offer rebates
or shipping, whatever...
To sell more, then you'll have to at least progressively invest - and A LOT
of time.
When I mean A LOT, I mean in fact: A LOT.
Hoping it helps?
Wishing you the best.
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| | | | | Author: | eileenkeeney | | Posted: | Mar 6, 2022 15:14 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 98 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I suspect that folks do not just land in stores for the sake of checking out
that store, unless it is in response to some forum posting mentioning the store.
You do not have a lot in your store. Therefore your store is not likely to show
up when I search for items I want to buy.
Suppose someone is wanting to buy something you do have in your store? Likely
they will go to the catalog, find the item, and then search for stores selling
that item. Likely they will sort starting with lowest price. Will your store
show up near the top, near the top for your country (if the buyer is in your
country, just being one of the lowest priced in your country is of value)?
Once I start choosing the store to buy from I look for a store that is calculating
the shipping and allowing me to check out without having to wait for an invoice.
I am willing to pay more for this, but not significantly more. However, if
shipping is not calculated, and terms are not clear, I try to avoid the store
unless it is a store that I often buy from so I have a good clue what I will
be charged. If it is a new store I have a lower risk limit.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Sauerlandsteine | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 09:58 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| Hello Eileen,
yes, for the few things I have, I'm in the top 5 regarding prices in Germany.
As Germany is a big market, I'll suspect I'll be on the first page in
the EU also.
I see sets going for 70 Euro when I have it on sale for 50. So I really wonder
what is wrong. But I still have no experience because I do not have a single
sale. I don't know how buying in my shop would go for the buyer. I thought
about creating a 2nd account just to be able to buy from me as a test. As new
seller, I can only offer Paypal Onsite, so I guess one does not have to wait
for my invoice.
I thought opening a Bricklink store could be a possible point of sale even when
you are not willing to sell thousand and ten thousands of single parts.
Right now, I generate more interest in "Facebook Marketplace" or "ebay Kleinanzeigen",
which I thought would be beaten by Bricklink.
In Selling, eileenkeeney writes:
| | I suspect that folks do not just land in stores for the sake of checking out
that store, unless it is in response to some forum posting mentioning the store.
You do not have a lot in your store. Therefore your store is not likely to show
up when I search for items I want to buy.
Suppose someone is wanting to buy something you do have in your store? Likely
they will go to the catalog, find the item, and then search for stores selling
that item. Likely they will sort starting with lowest price. Will your store
show up near the top, near the top for your country (if the buyer is in your
country, just being one of the lowest priced in your country is of value)?
Once I start choosing the store to buy from I look for a store that is calculating
the shipping and allowing me to check out without having to wait for an invoice.
I am willing to pay more for this, but not significantly more. However, if
shipping is not calculated, and terms are not clear, I try to avoid the store
unless it is a store that I often buy from so I have a good clue what I will
be charged. If it is a new store I have a lower risk limit.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | eileenkeeney | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 15:52 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Mehrunes writes:
| | Hello Eileen,
yes, for the few things I have, I'm in the top 5 regarding prices in Germany.
As Germany is a big market, I'll suspect I'll be on the first page in
the EU also.
I see sets going for 70 Euro when I have it on sale for 50. So I really wonder
what is wrong. But I still have no experience because I do not have a single
sale. I don't know how buying in my shop would go for the buyer. I thought
about creating a 2nd account just to be able to buy from me as a test. As new
seller, I can only offer Paypal Onsite, so I guess one does not have to wait
for my invoice.
I thought opening a Bricklink store could be a possible point of sale even when
you are not willing to sell thousand and ten thousands of single parts.
Right now, I generate more interest in "Facebook Marketplace" or "ebay Kleinanzeigen",
which I thought would be beaten by Bricklink.
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I am sure you can find someone to test your store, just communicate with them
that you will allow them to cancel the order. I can not test your store because
you don't sell to me. But there are lots of people, from Germany, on this
forum. They can test to see where you show up in the listing, and how easy it
is to check out.
I have run into stores where I could not check out. In one case it was due to
the size of the item and the shipping methods that were available to me. In
these cases I rarely contact the seller, I just move to another store. I probably
should, as a courtesy, inform the sellers.
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| | | | | Author: | calebfishn | | Posted: | Mar 6, 2022 16:50 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 89 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| The way people will find their way to your store is through wanted lists. With
very few items, the chances that you have what someone wants is smaller, unless
you have something that is very rare and desirable. That means people won't
often find your store.
I believe that most often, selection beats price with Bricklink buyers.
Opening a store can be slow going at first. If you can do anything to increase
your inventory to sale, then you should do it. For comparison, I started as
a small store, but I had 3600 items and you have 29.
Be patient. Learn as much as you can. Good luck with your store.
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| | | | | | | Author: | crimson30 | | Posted: | Mar 6, 2022 17:22 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 87 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| | | I believe that most often, selection beats price with Bricklink buyers.
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This.
Of course different buyers have different priorities. For example, I generally
rank condition above price (no good shaving a few dollars off an order if I just
throw the parts away). But I'm not rich either, so I also would much rather
buy from 2-3 stores at a time than 20-30. The amount spent on shipping from
too many vendors can quickly marginalize discounted prices.
But all of this completely moot because Sauerlandsteine has zero items in my
wanted lists, so aside from giving it a look for the purposes of this discussion,
there's no way I would have otherwise seen the store. The top 10 stores in
terms of matching unique lots each has 100 or more lots from my lists.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Sauerlandsteine | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 10:05 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| That's probably because I don't sell parts. I want to get rid of my old
sets, no more, no less.
I want to stay a private seller and not doing business, so having thousands of
parts in my inventory will not happen. The only way would to part out the sets.
But then I'm going down the "part" route. I will sell maybe 100 parts, all
sets will then be incomplete, and due to small inventory I will sit on the rest.
As said, in the price guide I see people buying whole sets, even the ones I have.
I beat the average price but this information seems not to reach potential buyers.
I've seen people buy the sets in March for nearly 50% more money than what
I have listed since February.
In Selling, crimson30 writes:
| | | | I believe that most often, selection beats price with Bricklink buyers.
|
This.
Of course different buyers have different priorities. For example, I generally
rank condition above price (no good shaving a few dollars off an order if I just
throw the parts away). But I'm not rich either, so I also would much rather
buy from 2-3 stores at a time than 20-30. The amount spent on shipping from
too many vendors can quickly marginalize discounted prices.
But all of this completely moot because Sauerlandsteine has zero items in my
wanted lists, so aside from giving it a look for the purposes of this discussion,
there's no way I would have otherwise seen the store. The top 10 stores in
terms of matching unique lots each has 100 or more lots from my lists.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Dino | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 10:23 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 62 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Mehrunes writes:
| | That's probably because I don't sell parts. I want to get rid of my old
sets, no more, no less.
I want to stay a private seller and not doing business, so having thousands of
parts in my inventory will not happen. The only way would to part out the sets.
But then I'm going down the "part" route. I will sell maybe 100 parts, all
sets will then be incomplete, and due to small inventory I will sit on the rest.
As said, in the price guide I see people buying whole sets, even the ones I have.
I beat the average price but this information seems not to reach potential buyers.
I've seen people buy the sets in March for nearly 50% more money than what
I have listed since February.
In Selling, crimson30 writes:
| | | | I believe that most often, selection beats price with Bricklink buyers.
|
This.
Of course different buyers have different priorities. For example, I generally
rank condition above price (no good shaving a few dollars off an order if I just
throw the parts away). But I'm not rich either, so I also would much rather
buy from 2-3 stores at a time than 20-30. The amount spent on shipping from
too many vendors can quickly marginalize discounted prices.
But all of this completely moot because Sauerlandsteine has zero items in my
wanted lists, so aside from giving it a look for the purposes of this discussion,
there's no way I would have otherwise seen the store. The top 10 stores in
terms of matching unique lots each has 100 or more lots from my lists.
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Du weist aber nicht, wo und in welchem Zustand diese Sets verkauft wurden. Der
internationale Versand ist mittlerweile sehr teuer geworden. Für einen Käufer,
z.B. aus UK, kann es günstiger sein, ein Set im eigenen Land zu kaufen, obwohl
der Preis um 50% höher ist als der Preis für den du das Set verkaufst.
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| | | | | Author: | NelisSolis | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 10:54 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 80 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Mehrunes writes:
| | Hello,
I opened a store roughly two weeks ago and until now close to nobody visited
it yet.
It has now some 50ish views but 90% of these are from myself (another topic how
useless it is to count visits of the store owner).
I know it's a small store and I only intend to sell some sets from childhood.
When I thought about the selling prices I consulted the "last sales" and I have
sets that were sought after at least several times a month.
I checked some sales today and some exceed my prices by far. I wonder if my store
came up in the search results.
If I had the visits and nobody buys, then I might have a problem with my terms
or prices.
But what can I do to generate visits in the first place?
I am honest that I expected a little bit more from opening a store at the world's
largest LEGO marketplace.
|
Hi,
don't focus too much on the higher selling prices. You don't know if
it was a single item order or that it was added to other items without raising
the shipping costs. Since your shipping (at least to NL) seems fixed at €17,99
even for 1 minifigure, it is for me profitable to pay up to that €17,99 more
on the same minifigure if I can add it to an existing order with a seller.
For example the used "Killer Croc" minifigure you have for €14, would cost me
about €32 including shipping. If another seller (where I already want to place
an order) has the same minifigure listed for €30, it still would be cheaper to
buy the expensive one instead of ordering the single minifigure from you.
Probably not what you want to hear, but it is the (hard) truth.
You might want to check your shipping settings; on DHL.de I saw that the smallest
shipping size (Päckchen XS bis 2 kg) only costs €4.89.
Niels
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| | | | | | | Author: | Sauerlandsteine | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 13:39 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I'm aware that with high costs for international shipping, probably only
German buyers will buy.
As with me, I only buy at German shops, too.
I'm a bit afraid with untracked shipping options because with payment option
PayPal Goods, it is too easy to be scammed. Buyers can easily claim they never
got the parcel and I have to refund. That's the first step to having a business
which I don't want. At private marketplaces, it is safer for sellers to get
their money through PayPal friends. So I only offer tracked shipping. When I
have some transactions under my belt, I hope I can offer different payment and
shipping options. But right now, I'm restricted on what Bricklink let's
me do.
In Selling, NelisSolis writes:
| | In Selling, Mehrunes writes:
| | Hello,
I opened a store roughly two weeks ago and until now close to nobody visited
it yet.
It has now some 50ish views but 90% of these are from myself (another topic how
useless it is to count visits of the store owner).
I know it's a small store and I only intend to sell some sets from childhood.
When I thought about the selling prices I consulted the "last sales" and I have
sets that were sought after at least several times a month.
I checked some sales today and some exceed my prices by far. I wonder if my store
came up in the search results.
If I had the visits and nobody buys, then I might have a problem with my terms
or prices.
But what can I do to generate visits in the first place?
I am honest that I expected a little bit more from opening a store at the world's
largest LEGO marketplace.
|
Hi,
don't focus too much on the higher selling prices. You don't know if
it was a single item order or that it was added to other items without raising
the shipping costs. Since your shipping (at least to NL) seems fixed at €17,99
even for 1 minifigure, it is for me profitable to pay up to that €17,99 more
on the same minifigure if I can add it to an existing order with a seller.
For example the used "Killer Croc" minifigure you have for €14, would cost me
about €32 including shipping. If another seller (where I already want to place
an order) has the same minifigure listed for €30, it still would be cheaper to
buy the expensive one instead of ordering the single minifigure from you.
Probably not what you want to hear, but it is the (hard) truth.
You might want to check your shipping settings; on DHL.de I saw that the smallest
shipping size (Päckchen XS bis 2 kg) only costs €4.89.
Niels
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | 1001bricks | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 13:56 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| | | I'm a bit afraid with untracked shipping options because with payment option
PayPal Goods, it is too easy to be scammed.
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Mmmmh I've heard this a few times.
But right now, after 16 years and 61000+ shipments (75/90% paid with PP) I can
affirm you we didn't have any noticable problem of any kind.
Note also, and in general, when a buyer says he didn't receive it's because
he didn't receive. We could verify this a lot of times, not always (no time
to waste), but in majority.
Of course that may depend your Country and where you're selling to. Those
are just facts from here.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | calebfishn | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 15:18 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| The idea of getting scammed through Paypal is highly over-exaggerated.
And with some common sense precautions, the risk can be reduced further. If you
are selling a high value set, then ensure you ship with confirmation and insurance.
All my shipments have gone through Paypal. Never been scammed.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Sauerlandsteine | | Posted: | Mar 8, 2022 04:44 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| Thanks for sharing your experience.
I'm not into the finer functions of shipment options yet.
I have to figure out how to have different shipment (or processing options) for
different items. I would be glad to ship small sets or few parts with a cheaper
option.
In Selling, calebfishn writes:
| | The idea of getting scammed through Paypal is highly over-exaggerated.
And with some common sense precautions, the risk can be reduced further. If you
are selling a high value set, then ensure you ship with confirmation and insurance.
All my shipments have gone through Paypal. Never been scammed.
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| | | | | Author: | Llewyn | | Posted: | Mar 7, 2022 15:27 | | Subject: | Re: No visits in store | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| The main thing you will need is patience, and some luck in getting your first
sale. I also opened a small hobby store last year, mostly selling sets I've
never got round to building and a few used bits and pieces I no longer want,
so my experience is perhaps closer (at least in time) to yours, compared to some
of the excellent but very experienced sellers who've also offered advice.
At the moment you have zero selling feedback, and in your case relatively little
buying feedback too. Someone spotting your item in a search just above another
being sold by a store with 5k orders is naturally going to feel more comfortable
buying from them - I can't criticise that, I've done the same as a buyer.
Until you get lucky and find someone who really wants what you have and doesn't
want to pay a penny more, you probably won't get anyone even coming to look
at your terms. The less you have on sale, the longer that will take.
The other side of this is that once you have even a couple of successful orders
that problem seems to vanish. It took me 4 or 5 months to get my first sale,
but since then I've had way more orders than I expected for my tiny inventory
and low selling feedback. Stick with it and it will get a lot easier.
Sellers telling you that selection trumps prices are of course right - they know
what they're talking about - but even in a small store selling sets that
can be true. I only planned to sell sealed sets from my own backlog, but I got
my first sale from some used Star Wars figures that had just been sitting in
a box since I broke down the sets they came from for parts. You probably have
similar things lying around that might help you get a start.
For your instant checkout shipping costs you don't even need to create a
test account. Just log out (or use a different browser), visit your store, add
an item and go to the cart. It will show you the cheapest calculated option from
your shipping methods. You need a test account, or a friend, if you want to see
the choice of methods but getting to the cart is enough to know whether you're
charging €18 to ship a minifig 
Good luck!
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Germany, Nordrhein-Westfalen
USA, Illinois
France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Canada, Ontario
Luxembourg
Netherlands, Zuid-Holland
United Kingdom, England