Weekends

[sakic92710]

Why does it seem eBay locks the door for 2-3 days weekends now??  Last weekend Fri-Sun = 0 sales.  This weekend = 1 sale on Fri.  Nothing on Sat/Sun.  Really getting to be a horrible trend!  5-6 straight weekends have been this awful.  Any reason for it?  At least the flea market treated me well.  eBay is making my decision really easy about limited my business here.  Although, how much more limited can it be?!   lol   Have a good night.     🙂

[lostweekendshop]

I'm pretty content with sales in that I've gotten to a point where I can cover all of my personal bills, cover business expenses, and continue to invest in the business (i.e. new inventory), but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like I was still leaving money on the table. I still consider myself a small seller in that I'm a one-person operation who doesn't list nearly as much as I'd like to. That's on me, though, and it's something I've been correcting in recent months and plan to fully execute in 2020.

That said, I'm a big believer in the concept that most of the time, you make your money when you buy your inventory. I think my sales are where they are because I do the legwork of research and educating myself when it comes to buying inventory. Very few purchases are a roll of the dice in that if I'm buying something to resell, I have evidence, personal or through completed sold search results, that the item is actually in-demand. As sellers, we can let our biases seep in when it comes to buying inventory. We think we know better than what the market actually says something will or should sell for. I make my share of buying mistakes, but ultimately, I know that's on me and not something eBay has control over.

Regarding promoted listings, I do them on a lot of my items that are in saturated categories. I do a uniform 1-percent and no more. I really don't know the impact they actually have on sales, and I can understand why some people would take issue with the concept. Still, my margins are good enough that I can pretty easily afford a paltry one percent on a sale. 

[fern*wood]

Yes, you just need one buyer, but keep in mind, there is a whole lot more competition for that one buyer now than ever before.  We used to be the only game in town, but those were the old days.

I wish you luck.  Financial problems can be debilitating.

[gmscds]

I will share something. I just confirmed what I already knew because I went to two different computers, both while logged off and on, and searched for a few of my items. Nothing came up. Certainly, there is a visibility/throttling issue here.

This is sabotage from the same company that is "inviting" you to stay by giving you free listings, discounted fees, and extra bucks that are useless. This is the last straw and I will start making a full transition in the next few days.

Later.

[zamo-zuan]

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@sakic92710 wrote:

Why does it seem eBay locks the door for 2-3 days weekends now??  Last weekend Fri-Sun = 0 sales.  This weekend = 1 sale on Fri.  Nothing on Sat/Sun.  Really getting to be a horrible trend!  5-6 straight weekends have been this awful.  Any reason for it?  At least the flea market treated me well.  eBay is making my decision really easy about limited my business here.  Although, how much more limited can it be?!   lol   Have a good night.     🙂

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I've noticed the same thing for awhile now.

As I've reported before on here, it seems each month there's an expected level that eBay seems to try to keep you at.

For a random example, let's say your monthly average is $10,000 over the last 30 days. If you go beyond this level, suddenly your sales drop to almost nothing. If you go below this level, suddenly your sales are incredible again.

This characteristic has been common for awhile now and has been noticed in many high volume stores (including our own). We can literally predict how the next day is going to go based on how far we are from our average, compared with the sales of day 30 days ago that is no longer going to be on the chart tomorrow.

It seems every month or so, this "average value" is updated, and that's where you'll basically be "locked" until the next update.

Since this has been happening, I've noted that weekends have been HORRIBLE.

Every single Monday following the weekend has been big on sales since this pattern started happening. Until we reach our average. Then it drops every day once we're at our average. This is abnormal for our industry, as generally Thursday-Friday are the busiest days in our market. Absolutely not a Monday. 

My theory: Since weekends slow down across the board, effectively everyone is below their "average value". Since sellers aren't reaching their "average", there's no surplus as there is on a normal day when sellers go above their average. The system is constantly playing "catch up". In software development, typically if algorithms don't have enough resources to distribute, everyone fails equally. This seems to be what we're seeing on eBay lately. 

[monstertoybox]

Makes sense! This weekend was awful for us also. And I even had a sale ending on Sunday, which usually sparks some kind of sales, but not this Sunday. I sold $20 Sat, $20 on Sunday and $20 today. This is so annoying! It's almost black Friday, what is happening? Last year my sales at this time were amazing. I'm down 73% from last year. 

[angelono]

Wow. My worst days are Thursday and Friday. Best is the weekend.  I am definitely old school. Collectible pottery and glass.  Way down from 20 years ago, but ok for extra income.  I do all bin, auctions for me weren’t worth it.  Seems like completely opposite pattern from most, but this pattern has been consistent for me for 6 months.  It is very interesting to hear what patterns other sellers see.

[pvcliff]

I had a good weekend -- 8 sales between Friday and Sunday, one more just before we walked to the post office. Also had a question on will an oversize item fit in a smaller box. Haven't had that many items at one time since last holiday season (and then it was probably 5-6 items). If I had to guess, I think it is because I put the tree up at the end of last week to see if I had anything else in the way of ornaments I could live without as I downsize, and I did create over two dozen new listings. Two of the new items have already sold.

[moondogblues]

"There was recently an article about the amount of people that would like used items - be they vintage clothing or collectibles. Many younger folks would rather a well made vintage flannel that will last than a new with tags. Also many are into retro when decorating and would love some midcentury lamps or wall décor.

Ebay could really score if they stopped trying to compete with the New in box guys and go back to their roots. "

There is a nascent but I believe soon to be HUGE movement toward recycle/reuse/repurpose such as happened in the Sixties. Plastic will be blase and clothing, especially well made in natural fabrics will be hot. There are already commercials for Thred Up, which I believe is all used though I haven't checked it out.

That, plus the tiny home movement will affect sales also. IMHO

[moondogblues]

Hi there angelono...you have lovely stuff, but the shipping seems way high on some things and not enough on others. The listing for the Etudes needs to be way more than 4 bucks something, they cannot be sent Media Mail. I took a BATH sending 5 or 6 to Alaska...it came to 30 dollars. The buyer paid ten. Ouch.

The sheet music can go Media so you are ok there. Like I said very nice items. I was tempted...

[coolections]

@gmscds wrote:

I just confirmed what I already knew because I went to two different computers, both while logged off and on, and searched for a few of my items. Nothing came up. Certainly, there is a visibility/throttling issue here.

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@gmscds 

Give us the name of the item you cannot find so we can see for ourselves that Ebay is in fact hiding your items.

[gmscds]

It's not necessary since I need proof for myself, not to convince anyone else. Throttling, or broken search engine, the fact is this:

No sales = No earnings

No earnings = No buys here

No buys here = No profit from me

[coolections]

@gmscds 

Since you will not give us an item you cannot find we are suppose to believe Ebay is hiding your items ? You would think if true you would be HAPPY to show facts about such a statement. Ding so would make your statement a fact instead of just a rumor.

[gmscds]

You are entitled to believe whatever it is you choose to believe. That would be all from my part.

[monstertoybox]

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@coolections wrote:

@gmscds 

Since you will not give us an item you cannot find we are suppose to believe Ebay is hiding your items ? You would think if true you would be HAPPY to show facts about such a statement. Ding so would make your statement a fact instead of just a rumor.

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Didn’t you just admit (here) that our items are hidden behind some “show all” button. Your statement "Even though you cannot see your listings, they are still there." Means to me (and many other sellers) - your stuff is there, you just can’t see it, which is the definition of being hidden. Trying to claim just because potential buyers can dig down and find our items, that means (to you) that they aren’t hidden?

I believe Zamo in another thread was showing you that there has been proof, but it seems to not matter what is shown. So I'm not sure why that question is constantly asked.

During this time of the year the sales manipulation is blatantly obvious. It is not a rumor, you said that yourself. Unless we just have different definitions of being hidden.

[coolections]

@monstertoybox 

Nope, nice try though. Ebay TELLS YOU RIGHT THERE ON THE PAGE TO CLICK "SEE ALL" if you want to look at 3,500,000 Disney items. Most buyers DO NOT want to see 3,500,000 Disney items therefore they "CHOOSE" to not click the "see all" button but that is their choice. Your items are not hidden.