eBay

newjerseypicker08836 · ‎08-24-2017

I went from running 400-500 listings to now this month about 30. The computer algorithms that the eBay "TEAM" (Cough, Cough) cant even generate a single sale now that I have decreased my listing totals. I brought 3 carloads of ebay inventory to the church down the street. They were really happy to have it.

Is anyone else having this huge type of sales drop? Along with that customers are asking me information about the item that I already took time to type into the description which tells me that the click description button is now quietly being implimend.

baantiques · ‎10-26-2017

@mistwomandancing wrote:
baantiques wrote:..........Update..........
Sales are up 55% over the period Sept 25-Oct 25. Impressions uo 43%, page views up 45%, conversion rate up 2.1% to 3.7%.

I have hit the infamous Ebay glass ceiling as far as as monthly sales go. Sales have leveled out, which was completely expected. At least now I have some extra cash to put back into the business and enough to live on.

Maybe.... but maybe not. It could be a couple of other factors that come into play. At some point, the number of buyers shopping a given category reach their current limit, so at that point sellers have only the option of growing sales by taking them away from their competition, and that's a harder and slower way to continue growing.

And, we're reaching the last week in October now, so tons of buyers are putting their money into purchases for the upcoming holidays and spending less on their hobbies, their own personal needs, parts needed to continue working on their dreams in your case, etc. So while the sales pick up for many as we head into the strong holiday shopping season, for some sellers that isn't so, and sales taper down for them instead.

Perhaps you are experiencing a bit of these possibilities at this time. But, regardless, I am so very pleased to read of your business growth and excellent returns on the effort and strategy you've developed and put into action!

Thanks for the attaboy 🙂

I've never really seen a seasonal drop in my sales since I started selling parts. Sales have been far more affected by the effort I put in to listing. So, while I don't necessarily like the fact I can't get my sales above a certain point, I DO appreciate the fact they are more or less consistent, at least.

baantiques · ‎10-29-2017

Another update. Sales are slowing way down again. I sold a whopping $5 yesterday. Still up over the previous 30 days, but my expenses are up due to increased shipping expenses, so my real profits are down.

I'm still listing auctions every day but it's difficult to keep up this pace. Why does it always feel like Ebay is actively working against you?

I've got 21 auctions ending in 5 hours. Only 5 have bids and most are the minimum. I haven't sold anything fixed price in several days.

Stay tuned.

baantiques · ‎10-31-2017

Another update. Sales continue to drop. The last half of October was down over 26% over the first half. I'm still going to have a pretty decent month. Not great, but not poor. The only problem is, with all the auctions and the resulting lower selling prices, my expenses have gone up from 25% to over 33% of my gross sales, so my profits are lower. Plus this month I put about $750 back into the business in the form of new inventory.

The other problem is the people attracted to 99 cent auctions are mostly bottom feeders, so I've got THAT to deal with. I've already had one return request on a 99 cent item. Really?

cad777864 · ‎10-31-2017

There's a several posters here that i have seen over the years and there regulars. They post the same thing over and over. How wonderful there sales are and that the item your selling is no longer viable. I am convinced there either employees or buyers who never sold a item in there life, or just agitators lying up a storm. Ignore them.

thatsallfolks · ‎10-31-2017

@cad777864 wrote:
There's a several posters here that i have seen over the years and there regulars. They post the same thing over and over. How wonderful there sales are and that the item your selling is no longer viable. I am convinced there either employees or buyers who never sold a item in there life, or just agitators lying up a storm. Ignore them.

Right, only listen to people who agree with you, because it’s obviously not your fault, and no changes to your business plan will make even the slightest difference.

wandering.shopper · ‎10-31-2017

when I search for an item I never see an item description button?!

thatsallfolks · ‎10-31-2017

@wandering.shopper wrote:
when I search for an item I never see an item description button?!

That only appears if a seller hasn’t removed all links from the description section.

baantiques · ‎11-14-2017

@baantiques wrote:
Another update. Sales continue to drop. The last half of October was down over 26% over the first half. I'm still going to have a pretty decent month. Not great, but not poor. The only problem is, with all the auctions and the resulting lower selling prices, my expenses have gone up from 25% to over 33% of my gross sales, so my profits are lower. Plus this month I put about $750 back into the business in the form of new inventory.

The other problem is the people attracted to 99 cent auctions are mostly bottom feeders, so I've got THAT to deal with. I've already had one return request on a 99 cent item. Really?

OK, I had a stellar week the first week of November. I sold a lot of high dollar items. But about 5 days ago sales dropped like a stone again (down over 60% from the first week) - it's reminding me of the first week of August and subsequent few weeks after, which were disasterous. I had a good day yesterday, but this up and down **bleep** is getting stressful. I've got a swap meet this weekend and I was hoping to come home with a nice pile of cash to tuck away somewhere but I'm afraid I may have to use it to pay bills. Grrrrrr.

Auctions keep the sales percentage up, and keep my sales up, but I'm running out of stale listings to sell and I can't keep up a pace of 30 new listings a day. I get tired and I start making mistakes, which is bad bad bad for business. I've started going through my big parts stash and looking only for gold, and listing at a discounted price to sell it quickly. That will work until I run out of really nice stuff to sell.

It's getting progressively harder to keep my sale sup and my head above water. I need to get a side gig off my side-gig-turned-day-job. There has even been talk of someone in the household taking a paid job somewhere, something I swore we would never have to do again. Argh.

papyruspapillo · ‎11-14-2017

Part, possibly most, of the difficulty that buyers have in locating items on ebay is that there are now so many subcategories and sub-subcategories. In collectibles, the table is endless and not organized in a logical fashion; user-unfriendly, I would call it. (And the word "collectible" precedes the category in most cases, which is useless and a bother, considering that we KNOW that we are in the "collectibles" category.) And when I choose a subcategory -- say, Christmas Modern -- it will default to Christmas in general; then, after the first listing is viewed and the back-button hit, it will default to "all categories", unloading thousands of listings in no particular order and requiring me to choose "Christmas Moden" again. I finished placing my necessary Christmas decoration orders yesterday, and thank goodness that's over. Ebay is no longer fun for either buyer or seller. When it's hard work just to buy, potential buyers just turn away.