Has the current Corona Virus outbreak worldwide affected your sales?

[citrine146]

I was planning to go back selling on Ebay on a larger scale but this time the Corona Virus which has affected most countries worldwide happened.  It could get worse, no one knows.

With airlines and all being affected ie flights slashed to a lot of destinations,  I was concerned that perhaps it could affect sales too.

Any experIences worth mentioning so far ?  Any comments would be highly appreciated.

[sawithe-47]

Any given year there is always at least one crisis of some sort. No point in sweating things you can't control.

[femmefan1946]

My sales are down about 50% across the board on all my selling accounts, but I think it is because I took down some 600 listings of books.

I had to move the bookcases because I was replacing the carpet under the bookcases with hardwood.

Now replacing the books but there is still a lag.

There have been no reports of Covid19 infections here  on Vancouver Island and only 21 in the entire province, although we have a  lot of New Canadians who travel between Canada and China regularly. (About 27% of Vancouver's population is ethnically Chinese and many have family in the old country.)

On the other hand, Victoria BC, is a destination for many cruise ships, and that worries me a little.  They will start arriving in April.

[coolections]

I can tell you for a fact that there will be plenty coming saying it is Coronavirus' fault for lack of sales. Anytime anything happens people blame that for the reason. It could never be because of trying to sell something low in demand, in an oversaturated category or priced higher than buyers are will to pay.

[sawithe-47]

I wonder if Y2K will help improve your sales any? I hear all the electronic stuff is going to stop working. We will need books again 😉

[lindyslucky]

Wondering if people have seen this? 

Released yesterday. 

CDC (center for Disease Control) website. "New Guidance says older adults should stay at home as much as possible due to corona virus." 

If everyone over 60 & everyone who has serious health issues  are advised to stay at home.

Then... there is going to be a lot of great stuff listed on eBay. (People staying home) 

Could be a great time to buy.

It could increase sales (people staying home).

Buyers might not buy as much from China (increase sales?) 

Would only work in the short term.

Who knows what will happen? 

Or how it will affect sales.

(I couldn't get link to post for some odd reason. Maybe someone else can)

[bar-29368]

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html

[luckythewinner]

Re: Has the current Corona Virus outbreak worldwide affected your sales?

If a buyer tells you that he purchased an item because of X, it's pretty easy to draw a correlation between X and the sale. 

But if a buyer does not purchase an item because of X, it's pretty hard to draw a correlation between X and the lack of a sale. 

IMHO there are not very many sellers on eBay whose sales would be directly affected by the virus, and even fewer who have the size or means to determine whether it was having an indirect effect. Unless you are selling masks, hand sanitizer or vacation packages to Wuhan Province, how would you know? 

[andrew547]

I think it depends on what you sell and where.

For now, my sales are far more sensitive to what I list and when rather than to Coronavirus fears. However, I do worry about a global recession. If markets tank, massive entertainment and travel-related business is cancelled, and (most importantly) consumers stop spending to the point where markets, employment, and consumer confidence are further affected, then yes, I suspect many sellers could be hurt.

[chapeau-noir]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

Re: Has the current Corona Virus outbreak worldwide affected your sales?

If a buyer tells you that he purchased an item because of X, it's pretty easy to draw a correlation between X and the sale. 

But if a buyer does not purchase an item because of X, it's pretty hard to draw a correlation between X and the lack of a sale. 

IMHO there are not very many sellers on eBay whose sales would be directly affected by the virus, and even fewer who have the size or means to determine whether it was having an indirect effect. Unless you are selling masks, hand sanitizer or vacation packages to Wuhan Province, how would you know? 

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All universities and community colleges across the state have been closed, and many private schools in the Seattle area are now closed.  Companies are having their workers telecommute when they can.

I've had a sudden uptick in sales on computer peripherals to this locale.

I suspect the two are related.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Between fears from the stock market taking a huge hit and people hunkering down because they are working from home or don't want to go out in public it will be interesting to try to guess. People at home may shop more over the internet. It's going to be an impossible thing to measure unless we fall into a major recession.

[chapeau-noir]

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@citrine146 wrote:

I was planning to go back selling on Ebay on a larger scale but this time the Corona Virus which has affected most countries worldwide happened.  It could get worse, no one knows.

With airlines and all being affected ie flights slashed to a lot of destinations,  I was concerned that perhaps it could affect sales too.

Any experIences worth mentioning so far ?  Any comments would be highly appreciated.

---

Go ahead and keep listing - don't let things like this stop you.  I don't think Bahrain is a 'high risk' i.e., like China, locality and as I recall, you've always had great offerings.  I suspect like my computer sales which had an unusual local spike, online sales may rise because people won't feel like going out to get their stuff, or might be home shopping or whatever.  But, these things are hard to predict.  My philosophy has always been that if you don't sell what everyone else has (i.e., stuff from Walmart and Amazon), and have quality and stay consistent, you'll have sales. 

[richard1rst]

"Has the current Corona Virus outbreak worldwide affected your sales?"

How would I know?

There are some people in this world who, deer in the headlights, are perpetually frozen by everything.

I was a store today and the woman in front of me stuck her hand inside her jacket pocket and then use that hand to open the door. Obviously afraid to get "germs" on her hand. Instead they are now on the inside of her jacket rubbing against her clothes. So, yeah, there are definetly Chicken Littles scrambling into their safe rooms.

A major trade show in Chicago was just cancelled because of the virus. The Chicago Housewares Show at McCormick Place which was expected to draw 60,000 people.  It was estimated that the show would generate $77 million in spending just in Chicago (hotels, restaurants, entertainment, etc) to say nothing of how many orders for merchandise will now not be written.

But as for me, I happen to like Bartholomew's line from the Barber of Seville:

I hasten to laugh at everything for fear of being obliged to weep.

[mansons2005]

"The Chicago Housewares Show at McCormick Place which was expected to draw 60,000 people. "

Over half of the exhibitors were from Asia - and I don't know if you are familiar with large metro-areas such as Chicago but with one of the world's busiest airports (2 of the tenants in my building work at O'Hare), and a huge tourist influx year round, things such as the flu can run rampant through the population under normal circumstances. And I am willing to presume that we are not currently dealing with "normal' circumstances.

[chapeau-noir]

Yes.  And a look-back at another lethal pandemic, the 1918 Spanish Flu, showed that Philadelphia, which did not cancel a huge outdoor parade during the epidemic two days later succumbed almost city-wide to the Spanish flu.  Other cities had canceled events - with a far lower infection and mortality rate.

Don't do what Philadelphia did - cancel the dayum event.