The crowd thinks that the BIGGER your “sale” is when selling on eBay – the more “sales” you make. But what the crowd doesn’t know is…..  they’re wrong!

Here’s PROOF!

Continuing on with our year long case study – we tested having “various percentages off” during a “sale” equally, across two of our eBay test businesses.

Here’s the inside scoop of how it went down……

I took two of our eBay businesses and tested them side by side for 12 months.

Both businesses….

• Are in the exact same market
• Sell the exact same product
• Have the exact same manufacture
• Are well established 4 year old businesses
• Have similar feedback scores and DSR ratings
• Have nearly the same amount of *annual traffic (1,823,425 to 1,824,914) *based on a 4 year average
• Have nearly the same amount of *annual sales volume (1263 units to 1287 units) *based on a 4 year average
• Have nearly the same amount of *annual gross sales ($658,023 to $670,527) *based on a 4 year average

I took both A and B businesses each day and put their items on sale using the exact same amount of “percentage off” to double verify our testing results.

The “sale” would only last 24 hours and then I would change the “percentage off” each day on both businesses to a different amount.

I tested 7 different “percentage off variations”. One for each day of the week and then I repeated the same process again for the next 52 weeks to make sure that all factors would be considered while selling on eBay.

Here are the results:

 

As you can see, the amount of sales increased across both businesses until we reached the 17% mark and then it started sky diving from there – especially at the 29% and 33% off mark.

So why did the sales drop off when the discounts went higher?

It’s simple – shoppers have become numb to bigger discounts.

And the reason why is because so many people offer unrealistic discounts to try and “lure” shoppers in to buy there stuff.

They think that if they offer a “big FAKE discount” (50-75% off)  then buyers will just beat the doors down to buy their products so they can save money.

But what they don’t realize is that today’s shoppers are smarter than ever before. And they’re sick and tired of being lied to with hyped up, over-inflated discounts that aren’t realistic.

 

CONCLUSION:

If you’re selling a Sharp TV that consumers can buy all day long at a regular price for $1000.00 – don’t offer it for sale at 997.00 and say that it’s 75% off. Consumers see right past that crap and leave.

And the reason why is because they know you’re “lying” to them which just KILLED their trust in you (not to mention the fact that you just insulted their intelligence)!

If you’re going to truly put your items on sale like we do – then make sure that your sale is congruent with the realistic “value” of your offer.

When I tested past the 17% off mark – I knew that I wasn’t being realistic with my market but I wanted to push the envelop so I could prove a point to the crowd.

The bottom line here is that the smaller the “sale” – the BIGGER your “sales” will be in any market (unless you’re in the wrong market).

And remember, when you’re selling on eBay, don’t follow the crowd – the crowd doesn’t know!

I hope this helps

Have a super great week selling on eBay!

Blessings,

Duane Hope