Why No Orders? Advice Wanted

Thor

I reopened my BO store nearly three days ago with almost 200,000 items in over 700 lots. Everything was priced very competitively to be THE lowest or among the lowest for similar bulk in North America. Thus far, I have received a grand total of ONE order. On BL during that same time I received 11 orders.

Am I missing something here? Is there something about my BO store that is turning buyers away? Are my shipping options and rates not reasonable? All are at or very close to my cost (and some are a little below my actual cost). Other than reducing prices further and increasing variety, what can I do here on BO to get more sales?

I have heard that several sellers here are doing very good. Even better than BL. But since joining BO one year ago, I have not seen that myself. Sales here were less than 10% what they were on BL. I'd like to see that reversed. I am tired of that other place and the things that go on there. BO has much potential. I just haven't seen it yet myself.

Thanks in advance!

Thor

Stragus

My sales are indeed slightly higher on BrickOwl, both in count of orders and total value (despite starting at zero feedback).

Checking your store, I encounter few items from my wish lists, and the quantities are a bit low for me to place an order (I would say it feels like a 30k parts store). If most of these 180k parts are indeed concentrated in a few low priced lots, then you are very probably getting orders from resellers rather than end consumers. I would guess the buyer population of BrickOwl includes fewer resellers.

My suggestion would be to stock up with more variety, to match the needs of end consumers. Everything else looked fine to me.

alltrightbricks

I think we are looking at a very different buyer here on BO compared to BL. Variety is very key here. Most of your big MOC builders are well aware of BL, and unless they are in a big rush will probably place their orders there. Here on BO we are looking at set builders/completers mostly I think. Yesterday I pulled a 115 lot order for $48 (before shipping). This is common over here. I have been working hard to really increase variety, and it has paid off in the orders.
I sell minifig accessories and technic much better here than on BL.
Last month my fees paid to both sites were similar. This month BO is blowing BL out of the water. That could change before the end of the month, but it looks to me like this might be the first month where my $ on BO pass BL.
I had 7 orders yesterday (one of them 6 lots for $0.39--haha)

Just some tid bits of info,
Katie

DadsAfol

Stragus is right - the general population of buyers is different on BO than BL. BO, because it's setting up affiliate programs, and exposing Google search, generally pulls in the non-AFOLs looking for replacement or extra parts, or beginner AFOLs who haven't really discovered BL. IMO BL's wanted list is easier to use on large lists - 50+ parts needed - than BO. The primary difference (Laurence if you are reading) is that BL offers a one-click fill cart button while BO requires you to go through every item one by one. Also, support for offline programs like BrickStock to manage projects is a hindrance to pulling that expert crowd over. Serious AFOL builders figure this out, and stick to BL.

My BO order volume is growing relative to BL, but I still get more on BL.

Hoddie

Pretty much been said above but part variety seems to be key.