I am sorry that you are having problems selling so far on Delcampe.

I have her only a little over 4 months and have made a very targeted move from ebay to here.

At first I had zero US view sales, but now that is all changing as US sales are now happening.

Suggestions for sales that are working for me:

I)
Use the parameters page "note from the seller" to list your terms of sale in English, German, French & Spanish (Feel free to adapt my terms for your own usage. just copy, cut & paste and then edit the term sfor your usage. This is automatically added to all you listings at Delcampe and unlike Ebay allows you to go to one place to make changes, announcements on all your listings all at once.

II)
Your scanning process sounds a bit confused. If you are using the software that came with your scanner, Switch to a third party software like LVIEW Pro (You can try it for free from lview, use google to find it online). The soft ware that comes with a scanner defaults scans to high res modes that are really, really slow.... LVIEW allows scanning directly into the ".jpg" internet format in one pass, thus reducing steps and time. My people working for me use it to scan 44 items per hour.

Make sure that you have a USB connected scanner not an older slower model.

III)

Make a template that you just copy, cut and paste into your auction listing. Then all you have to do is edit the item specifics. It really saves time.

IV)

Just keep trying and add to your listings. You have to reach a certain number of sales posted to get "x" number of sales. Over time sales will increase and thusly you'll do better.

V)

Join the GOLD club at delcampe, It gives you instant credibility.

VI)

Make is easier for buyers to pay you. Accept erous as well as dollars via cash, check or money order. You can directly deposit Euros into USA bank accounts with ease these days. I bank at BANK of AMERICA and they convert the Euiros sales to dollars and put that amount into my account without issue. I do that once a month.


Thoughts)

EBAY Verses DELCAMPE

I am a large seller on both sites now. I host an ebay store of 33,000+ items and now have a Delcampe store of 16,000+ items It is my business so I have to make sure everything I do is cost effective.

Delcampe, hands down is much more effective than Ebay. My ratio of listings to sales is 33/1 on Ebay and 19/1 on Delcampe. Add to that that my costs are much less on Delcampe and you have a no Brainer as to where to sell at.

I won't even get into the coming fee per listing increase at the end of the month on Ebay. That only makes the Delcampe market a better place to sell at.

I sell on both sites and advertise Delcampe to all my ebay buyers.

So far we have sold 1200+ items on Delcampe in our short stay there. I am still learning and adjusting my sales tactics.

I do sell more items/mos on Ebay, but that too is slowly changing. I see the best way to sell now as a combination of both sites with continued concentration given to building up the Delcampe inventory and keeping the Ebay store at it's present size for now.

Also be aware that I and several other top USA sellers are just now placing Delcampe ads in USA collectible magazines on a monthly basis. I have four ads in POSTCARD COLLECTOR magazine this issue myself. Ads in PCM and Antiques Journel will Follow in FEb. More ads by other dealers will appear in BARR's Postcard news and other publications as well.

So, don't give up. Change your tactics. If you have questions just email me and I'll try and help you as best as I Can.

SCVIEW

Alan65, 248 pcs and 40 w/ bids! That's great, I've had a total of 50 on here so far and sold 3. (I'm down to 35 b/c I cut out the US ones as they weren't even being seen) so that's a very different ratio.:( For every

I'm finding it increasingly frustrating. For every card I've sold you have bids on 14. Delcampe was right, if you have up more cards your sales increase exponentially not directly proportionally. Either that or you just sell better than I do!;)

But it has taken me so many hours to put up just those 50 cards(I don't even want to think about how many--far more hours than cards lets just say) trying to leap over the language barrier and incorporate every known language into the title and description.(which has required dictionaries, online translator services, the works). Perhaps if I had just concentrated on the picture, written a brief description in English with whatever words of the most relevant language that I knew(e.g. just add ''carte postale'' to each title) I would have been able to put up more cards and had more success. The point? I think if you concentrate too hard on the language you are waisting your time. Just learn the key words for postcard from whatever country the postcard is from, spell the place the way it is spelled on the card and put the rest in English and you're safe.

But hindsight doesn't increase previous sales. And I'm afraid personally I'm going to have to turn in the keys here. It takes me at least 5 minutes to scan, save and download the picture, would take another 5 minutes to get down the title even if I did so as briefly as described and another 5 minutes to add a brief description of condition etc. That's 15 minutes per card, which is 4 cards an hour. So even working at this 8 hours a day I don't really think it is profitable considering what I paid for the cards and what they're going for.

Just wish I had known that about not worrying too much about the language barrier months ago. Maybe I'd have 248 cards with 40 bids by now. Unless they were 10 dollar cards it still wouldn't be a living.

So I'm going to keep the cards up I have now for another week then call it quits. If anyone wants to buy anything, let them do it now. They'll be in a lump auction on e-Bay after that and you won't be able to get them individually.

Have any idea how I could spread the word around? A lot of them have a ton of watchers and I wish I could tell them I was leaving. Any ideas would be appreciated.

LMDC

Hi LMDC,
hello guys,

That's a sorry piece of news!
Well, I can understand your point of view, but I think you are seeing a darker situation than it is. Compared to Alan, who is REALLY successful, you made 4/50 which is 1/12.5, while he had 40/248 = 1/6.2 ( ): the difference is not 1 to 14 like you said, but 1 to 2!
Now of course (we talked about it before) you should have put a lot more items, I understand it takes a lot of time (I WON'T sell!!! ), but with maybe a change of procedure, you should be able to hurry it up a bit.
I have 2 or 3 favorite sellers who put about 2000 new items per month, many of them interesting and most cheap, and let me tell you they do sell, and some bids go high too, because a lot of buyers check on them regularly.
I guess they must do that full time though...
I don't know how many cards you have for sale besides, but if you have a reliable supply, I think you should go on.
And even if you don't want to list any more items, what's the problem with leaving those already here? As it goes you don't even have to come and see if you don't feel like it, and maybe someday you will change your mind...
And if you really keep your mind about leaving, I suggest you advertise for a (large number)% discount... It encourages buyers to come visit your store without waiting, and also those who have a looooong list of favorites in wait (8 pages for me!)...
Hey, no, I'm NOT trying to get low prices from you!!!
I'll post a message anyway on the French forum (not mentioning discount )

Hold on good!
Manu

Aw, wow. You guys are reallly sweet. You are awfully tempting. To tell you the truth, part of me doesn't just want to throw out my great great aunt's postcards from all over the world in a giant sale and get less than what they are worth. They are all English and Italian cards, not French or Netherlandes. But I wonder how they'd do.

Alan just announced to us on our postcard group on e-Bay that he was quitting selling there and selling here instead. I thought, man, if he's having so much success he's quitting e-Bay and he came in here later than I did, maybe I shouldn't be so fast to turn this down. l The real deterrent from leaving here is that I paid for a gold plus membership and don't know how I could ever recoup that.

Thank you so much for the hints SCviews. I do have my terms listed in 4 or 5 different languages at the bottom of each listing(I forget how to say that), do sell in euros, accept foreign checks(I checked with my bank and it is all clear), cash as well as PP and moneybookers. But I DON'T have a fast scanner or use a template.

That was a great suggestion to get faster scanner software. I am using the thing that came with my scanner and it is SLOWER THAN MOLLASSES IN JUANUARY! I didn't realize they automatically scanned in high res. Couldn't one just adjust the resolution then instead of buying new scanwear, I'm not sure I want to make an investment now in scanning softwear if I'm not really going to use it.

As for templates. I'm not quite sure I understand how to get or use one. I usually just hit the ''sell a similar item'' button and everything from the previous one is saved for me. I just have to delete the old stuff and fill in the new. How would you do a template on Dellcampe. I understand there is one available with the Gold membership which I have. But how do you access it, set it, and use it.

Alright. I just decided last night to wait for September to finish my selling on e-Bay as I can get a better price then. Maybe I should use that time to add more and more to Dellcampe.

Hold off on that memo to the French board Manug, if you haven't already written it. I think I might do some price adjusting and keep things up there.

We'll see.

Thanks guys.

LMDC

hey SC,
you need a job at the pentagon. we'd be out of iraq and afghanistan in a week.
a bientot,
cajunsr.
nam ' 69.

By the way, where is that crab eater...? His hospitals are online...
yes, thanks, I know, I know...

hi y'all,
well, i have been here fighting this again. a big ol' xenocrab. but i don't eat this variety. it is poisonous. even my pet gator, smiley doo, won't eat them. he just steps on them and crushes their shell. i would hope all my french cousins would join the battle against this behavior disguised as 'good manners' (isn't this what the wolf did when he put on the sheep's wool?)

amities et a bientot,
cajunsr.
root


Link (http)

Just have a seat at the table and enjoy some smaller crabs. Ignore the big one and it will walk back into it's muddy waters soon...

gutag cousin alf,
yeah, i think he's steamed enough and has crawled back to his hole. . but he will reappear some other time to pick on the dead flesh of carcasses of old jokes. and make a nuisance of himself. but cajun and his pet gator will be there to again protect the french grandmothers/grandmeres who dare speak english on the french forum. i loved my gradmere very much and would do so in a heartbeat. i remember the many mornings she would make cafe' au lait and toasted french bread when we were in baton rouge. and doodles, her chat, would beg for some lait too. ah, those were the days of childhood. and i smell the morning cafe' brewing now as my frau prepares it. take care mon ami and have a great weekend.
dunker,
cajunsr.

my squareheaded german grandpa wm. 'bill' zimmerle, from whom i am named after:

p.s. - that was my dad's mom, grandmere lavigne, not grandpa zimmerle's wife i was referrin' to. grandpa bill's wife was irish and couldn't cook for nothin', poor thing. but i loved her just the same.

a bientot,
cajunsr.

Hi as a new seller I want to know do most English people writing in English find they have little success?

Or when you write a listing do members from amother country who are clicked on say FR see your listing in french

Please let me know as I see many French listings on this site I cannot read although pictures speak louder than words!

Do most English speaking people here write in other languages also? Also what kind of success are UK people having is it just a waste of time listing loads of stuff?

I am thinking maybe this site is only really suitable for those on the continent but please let me know how you are all doing?

Thanks Postcardshop