Suggestions to sellers

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:22 am

I was surfing around on eBay and noticed there are a few things cel
dealers, or anyone selling cels, could do to improve their sales.
Here's my list of suggestions, can you guys think of any others?

1) Please use a thumbnail! It only costs about 25 cents to have a gallery
thumbnail appear in search result pages. It makes surfing eBay much easier
for the buyer and increases the seller's chance of a successful sale. I can't
think of the number of times I've passed up on even looking at auctions that
lacked preview thumbnails.

2) A scan. I know a lot of sellers don't have time to scan cels for sale, which
is fine, but please provide at least a high quality digital picture.
There are so many wretched looking pictures on eBay due to poor quality
digital cameras, low lighting, etc. I'm not going to buy something that I can
barely see, especially if issues of line fade or damage are at stake.

3) Sequence numbers. Please make them visible.

4) If it's a fancel, please say so! Be clear about it.

5) Take a second to describe the cel. Be brief, but honest. If there is line
fade, damage or if the sketch is not included, please just say so.

6) Accept paypal. This one is just my own personal complaint. I don't have
time to get a money order and I don't use checks. I rarely -ever- deal
with sellers who do not accept paypal or credit card services of some kind.
Electronic forms of payment are much more convenient.

I guess that's it for now. Anyone else have some suggestions?

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 12:19 pm

Combined shipping is a plus!

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 1:02 pm

How about:

"Don't add an unmatching background to your cel and then pretend you don't know whether it matches or not."

We had a well-known eBay seller years back that used to do that and then pretend she didn't know if the cel came with the background or not.

Nat.R · Post by **Nat.R** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 1:46 pm

I am all agree with you wELCOME cONSUMER.

One more thing, If you watch an item you really want to have, do not forget it

Maiko · Post by **Maiko** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 2:13 pm

Keropi wrote:How about:

"Don't add an unmatching background to your cel and then pretend you don't know whether it matches or not."

We had a well-known eBay seller years back that used to do that and then pretend she didn't know if the cel came with the background or not.

And how about not marking a cel up $100 in value or more than it's really worth just because you have put some non-matching background with it ^_~x Another collector friend and myself find that to be one of our biggest pet peeves, when people find an excuse to increase the minimum bid/buy-out or selling value just because they put some totally obvious unmatching background with it. Un-matching is bad enough, but even worse when it's still not even original, and just a lazer copy.

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:05 pm

I whole heartedly agree about the BGs. It really grates my butt when I see a
seller slapping just any ol' BG onto a cel and jacking up the price. Some are
soooo freakin' obvious! Even if you don't collect cels or know the series, you
should be able to tell when the art styles conflict or if the BG looks completely
and utterly WRONG for the scene!

duotrouble · Post by **duotrouble** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:55 pm

Well, I'll agree with you on all the points except your first one. I don't use thumbnails for 3 reasons.

1. While 25 cents may not sound like much, it does add up especially if you have a lot of auctions. Include with that all your PayPal fees, the listing fees and the final value fees, that's one more fee I can do without. It's only "cheap" if everything sells and sells for a lot. I start my auctions lower than what I originally paid.

2. Some people are still on dialup. It take forever for pages to load that have a lot of images including thumbnail images. I remember what that was like so I try to be thoughtful of those still on dialup. I know my parents are. I keep trying to get them to change.

3. I get more hits on auctions that don't have thumbnails than ones that do. I think it goes with the same theory I have on people's cel galleries. If you don't like the image, you're not going to click the thumbnail. BUT you could be missing something because you can't see it in the thumbnail. You really need to see the entire large image before deciding. Many times I've seen a second cel added to an auction. I've wanted the second cel but not the first. If I hadn't clicked on it, I wouldn't have gotten a great cel.

But it's whatever sellers choose to do in the end.

Space Runaway · Post by **Space Runaway** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 2:13 pm

Personally, I enjoy the auctions that not only have no thumbnails, but no picture of the cel, a completely unhelpful description (RARR! Anime Cell), and a starting price of $100 and upwards. But that's just me.

...Yes, that was supposed to be 'RARE', but after I typed it, it looked a lot funnier as it was.

Gonzai · Post by **Gonzai** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 2:46 pm

When I list my cels, I just put on it whatever background
I am currently using with the cel. I also start the auction
at below what I paid, with a BIN of what I paid. I have lost
a lot of money doing things this way, but that is what I do.

I have also seen auctions start at $199 one week, not sell,
start at $1.99 the next week and sell for $300. I really don't
understand the whole auction thing.

Now, if I started my cels at $1.99, they would probably end
at $5. So, that is why I don't do that. Its hard to tell what
is the best option, however, I am pretty convinced that eBay
is not it.

Gonzai · Post by **Gonzai** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:46 pm

Ok, just listed some cels

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZpudge031791QQhtZ-1

Pick apart my listings for me and tell me how to
change them and make them more appealing - short
of giving the items away.

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:50 pm

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZpudge031791QQhtZ-1

I would think you'd sell all of them.

Especially that Choji and Naruto!!

But times are hard right now with school getting started!

Gonzai · Post by **Gonzai** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:53 pm

Thanks for correcting the link RF - I am such a putz!!

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:35 am

duotrouble wrote:Well, I'll agree with you on all the points except your first one. I don't use thumbnails for 3 reasons.

1. While 25 cents may not sound like much, it does add up especially if you have a lot of auctions. Include with that all your PayPal fees, the listing fees and the final value fees, that's one more fee I can do without. It's only "cheap" if everything sells and sells for a lot. I start my auctions lower than what I originally paid.

2. Some people are still on dialup. It take forever for pages to load that have a lot of images including thumbnail images. I remember what that was like so I try to be thoughtful of those still on dialup. I know my parents are. I keep trying to get them to change.

3. I get more hits on auctions that don't have thumbnails than ones that do. I think it goes with the same theory I have on people's cel galleries. If you don't like the image, you're not going to click the thumbnail. BUT you could be missing something because you can't see it in the thumbnail. You really need to see the entire large image before deciding. Many times I've seen a second cel added to an auction. I've wanted the second cel but not the first. If I hadn't clicked on it, I wouldn't have gotten a great cel.

But it's whatever sellers choose to do in the end.

I can appreciate where you're coming from. As a buyer, it's a lot easier
for me to shop when there are thumbnails. Often, when there is no thumbnail,
I don't even bother checking the auction. I can't imagine what my YJ
shopping experience would be like without thumbnails

If you're a
seller who ships internationally, thumbnails might assist buyers with
limited English skills.

Gonzai's auctions are an example of what I prefer, from a buyer's perspective.

crackpot27 · Post by **crackpot27** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:25 pm

What about us poor college students who can't afford a digital camera :hitting:

? Sorry couldn't help myself...especially after looking at the scans for my auctions...yes they're horrible

I agree about the thumbnails, mostly because I like to breeze by pages, so just for convienence I suppose

.

SME · Post by **SME** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:41 pm

I agree with everything that has been said so far. But as DuoTrouble pointed out, I don't use the thumbnails because generally my auctions for some reason don't go for as much as I paid for. So $.25 is a lot on top of seller fees and listing fees. The latest batch I sold on Ebay, I'm paying $8 in fees, and only three of the five sold. The rest is the selling fee.

My biggest pet peeve about auctions is NO description, or generally just a description that "this is an anime cel, line fading common" and that's it. I want to know the cel number, where it's probably from (if you know the episode number), if the sketch/bg is stuck and what other goodies it comes with. This happens a lot on YJ, with auctions just stating the terms and nothing about the cel itself.