I don't know what other pages you've offered or the product line, but... it seems to be you're shotgunning. be a rifle, not a shotgun. precision, sir, over 'spray and pray'.
Unlike many here, I can offer no success from personal ventures above or beyond ordinary. What I can do, however, is make a few suggestion you may find of use, or may not. These suggestions are buried in a tale, like all good one's are.
So someone I know very well found themselves at the right place at the right time and landed a community (read: forum) of sizable membership and activity that focused on a particular subject that was incredibly broad, but allowed for groups to gather in concentrated numbers, making identifying targets much easier. Problem: these guys are freeloaders (and most of them I've befriended over the years, so, I can say that in honesty as well as intending humor). They want to use the resources of the community, but they don't purchase anything that goes to supporting that community- i.e. keeping the lights on...
So one day this friend sought affiliates- and entered commission junction to entice members to buy from them... But this friend could really care less if they did or not. That wasn't this friend's intent. this friend ran a few Amazon affiliates, aimed to the sub-divided target's- to no avail, but that wasn't his intent either. There is a wealth of information being collected by these adverts placed on the page by affiliates- there is a similar function between browsers (people not applications) and buyers habit's. They just need to be identified.
Commission Junction was being used like an inexperienced golf club salesmen. Ad's were placed on the page and changed by this friend on a schedule- trapping data every time. Different adverts from differing industry/market's were being offered, trapping the data. This is a simple exercise in defining what cross-merchandisers do- they find contributing or assisting markets, and cross-merchandise them, expanding their usefulness to the buyer. I wager this is how Amazon started, making 'one stop shop' a reality online... for bricks and mortar, it's been done forever but made infamous by the likes of Walmart, for one. The game then becomes "how to get them inside" instead of "will i have something they want to buy".
best advice concerning business I've ever learned: "Sell to the classes, live with the masses; Sell to the masses, live with the classes"... This advice had to be amended, however, with the advent of ecommerce. Now, instead of shotgunning a product, essentially "spraying and praying", it is better to be a marksman instead.
If you wanted to open a cigar shop in a small town, you better hope that the majority of the town are cigar smokers and starved for their vices- meaning they would seek you out everyday for their wares... that is unrealistic, though, because mom-n-pop up the street primarily selling cold medicine isolated that market as it should be in a town that small, and they sell cigars from the back counter of the fishing section. Now if you were to spend the same amount of investment you would in that small town, but instead in a big city- NOW you may have enough market to support your habit. If the city is big enough (such is the web), you could not only sell 'cigars' as an example, but you could focus solely on Maduro Hand wrapped Robusto size of Dominican origin and Nicaraguan filler- and somebody out there right this second is typing something akin to that in googs. Point is: you can focus after you've identified what is worth pursuing.
now directly to the point:
You're trying to give away items for the cost of S&H. that smells to me, and will take a fair amount of convincing otherwise, that what you're selling is trash. I've got enough trash, and don't need anymore. You've already done it- now you have to outrun it.... you should make a remark on that "shipping only" offer that the items are "clearance, gotta go, yo" items. excuse their lack of value... what you've done is lower the value of everything on your site- if for instance i was looking at $20 ring, i now know to come back in a month to see if it's free...
your market isn't focused- shotgun man... pick up a rifle.
let's be frank, here. you're peddling items that don't have a lot of value and asking someone to onsey and twosey purchase them after all the trouble of typing in digits and personally identifying information.... that's a bit of a fools game. who else does that, sir? where or what venue do you find the fastest moving market of these items? it ain't in 'destination locations', which is what you're trying to do.... it's gotta be in a location of extreme convenience and something the 'already captured buyer' also has interest in... you either NEED to be an anchor tenant (the fabled 'destination location- aka "yo pops, I'm headed to ____, you want anything?" store instead of "holy crap! that's cool, I need one!" store) or you need to be something somebody is willing to force in front of the buyer to boost their margins (check out aisle, anyone?)....
in your chosen market, Sir, you have little chance... unless you shift aim and go deep into an area that will actually seek your product.
here is my suggestion for your market and that product: Aim in bulk. Aim to supply people at flea markets. Advertise to rookie's who do 'garage sales' once or twice a year for a case of rings instead on the individual... Drop by the local convenience store and ask to speak with the manager and offer the manager a cut for a display. Do something akin to get those items in front of impulse buyers who literally have cash in hand (to purchase what they went to that store to buy, but- your item is only a few bucks more so why not?)... identify and target places that use that type of stuff- like drama clubs as props or other merchants looking to use them as 'giveaway with purchases'.
if you're stuck with that product line, leverage it for all it's worth. when you find a place that has interests- and it exists, it's just a matter of finding it- determine what else they also want, and make that your next item/line/product/store... identify the target/buyer, and don't spray them... folks know when they're being sprayed... it's better to identify the buyer and then target discover what else you can sell them. you're going ot seemingly waste a lot of time breaking into whatever market you discover, but once you're in there? It's no longer a game of chance, it's a game of wits.
has fun dude... keep me informed of your travels? thanks.
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