Sales are picking up!
Seems like I had a good weekend and good day today,
not so many complaints on the eBay board today either!
Are sales improving for you?
50 comments
Seems like I had a good weekend and good day today,
not so many complaints on the eBay board today either!
Are sales improving for you?
turtles-trading-post
·1 year agoI'm up 11% for the last 30 days. Once folks pay off their vacation bills, maybe it will pick up.
psfhobbies
·1 year agonot much had 3 good days used to have 7 good days here
an-57470
·1 year agoYes, sales are picking up a little bit better for my daughter and I so hopefully they continue to get better. We get Trump back in as president. I think things will get better all around
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoAlways good to hear! Our sales are doing great as well! Nice to see a positive thread!
wheredidiputthatremote
·2 years agoI had a 20 spurt day a week ago and I'm back to slower than normal sales
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoI haven't been listing much this week, so sales are going to be down for next week.
I take responsibility for that.
lakefor94
·2 years agoThat makes sense. I too, cannot sit on my hands and expect something to happen. I like to try to make my own luck.
Busted it all week and pulling a lazy today, drinking coffee and watching it rain. Pretty sure I live in a rain forest here in east Texas. Been nice all thru the spring, raining 2, 3 or 4 times every week it seems. Going to a granddaughter's HS graduation later on. Hope the roads are not flooded.
I know all that was way off topic, but what the heck.....
ellenshideout
·2 years agoIt was. But I am sure my new negative will hurt that. Uncalled for one from someone who did NOT read listing.
Was gone for a week and every listing said shipping delayed but mad how long it took.
Really **bleep** off, my first day of summer vacation so need more money to make up for no other income and poof their it is. Last 3 non positives have all had me shaking my fist at them.
Two purely USPS one did not read delay in shipping notice that is shown to them 3 times!
lakefor94
·2 years agoI don't have the stomach for delaying shipping with my business. I always do Time Away and hide the listings. Turn the store back on when I am fixin' to board the plane.
reallynicestamps
·2 years ago@lakefor94 wrote"
I don't have the stomach for delaying shipping with my business. I always do Time Away and hide the listings. Turn the store back on when I am fixin' to board the plane.
I agree.
Why tell the customer who is looking at your listing "nyah nyah you can't buy it!".
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoReally too busy with other things to notice that much and sales have always been up and down over the last 20 years of selling.
mr_lincoln
·2 years ago@dbfolks166mt I get that, but for other Sellers who are trying to grow a business a significant decline in sales is counterproductive to their goals. The other issue is that while they are doing everything right the venue (eBay in this case) is making changes that negatively affect their sales and ultimate growth.
My sales have steadily declined for over 2 years ... I am rethinking the whole eBay experience because what worked several years ago no longer does ... and as mentioned up thread, "It's not you, it's us!"
While eBay is not the only place that I sell it has been my preferred site ...
And it is not the economy, if it were I would have surplus inventory acquired at low prices and that has never happened.
If you read enough here on the Community you might notice an uptick in Sellers mentioning other sites they either sell on or are considering selling on or who have launched their on web sites for selling purposes. The internet sales "industry" (and that is truly what it has become) is continuing to grow and change. Venues are fighting to gain market share. I think there are still venues yet to be created that will give the current ones a run for their money. On our rural road there has been an increase in the number of delivery trucks that go by each day ... we see UPS, FedEx, USPS, Amazon delivery vehicles go by way more than ever before.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years ago@dbfolks166mt I get that, but for other Sellers who are trying to grow a business a significant decline in sales is counterproductive to their goals. The other issue is that while they are doing everything right the venue (eBay in this case) is making changes that negatively affect their sales and ultimate growth.
My sales have steadily declined for over 2 years ... I am rethinking the whole eBay experience because what worked several years ago no longer does ... and as mentioned up thread, "It's not you, it's us!"
While eBay is not the only place that I sell it has been my preferred site ...
And it is not the economy, if it were I would have surplus inventory acquired at low prices and that has never happened.
Agree with what you stated but ups and downs are a simple reality in all types of business and there is no one simple factor that anyone can pinpoint as to the cause. I also agree that you have to constantly innovate to stay in the game and ahead of the competition but again there is no silver bullet. While the economy may have an impact it often depends on what you are selling and is only one small piece of the entire picture.
I diversified across multiple platforms long ago some of that was forced by eBay with their ever expanding list of restricted and prohibited items as well as the VERO program. EBay used to account for about 80% of my sales, by volume, but that figure is now less than 20% for a variety of reasons. Some of it is due to what I sell, but other factors include: demand, fees, shipping, risk, location............... Local forums have been the largest percentage of my sales for the past couple of years but I am also fortunate that I live in a large metropolitan area with a significant buyer base and even those forums have their ups and downs. I have never had sales hold a flat line.
mr_lincoln
·2 years ago@retrogames10000
Meant to add ... Views counts
(0) Views = 39.3% of my listings
(1) View = 20.6% of my listings
(2) Views = 15.8% of my listings
So basically, 75.7% of my listings have 2 or fewer Views in the last 30 days ... "It's not you, it's us!"
nilis13
·2 years agoI'm in the same boat. Personally, since last month sales have been horrible!! Complete slowdown. Don't know what happened now, more glitches? I add new items daily, nothing! No views, etc etc...
mr_lincoln
·2 years ago@nilis13
Hopefully your slow down won't last more than a few months. Mine has been running for over 2 years. I have been selling for 9 years ... growth stopped and reversed starting in early 2022 when they fully launched PLA, changed the way Views are counted and doubled and tripled their "Suggested" ad rates for PLS.
I've posted in more detail about that on other threads ...
While I love Selling on eBay the operative word is "selling". May just ended and finished as the 5th best May out of 9 ... sad but true.
lakefor94
·2 years ago@mr_lincoln
I recently threatened to completely do away with running PL's. That lasted maybe a week or so. Went back to the minimum 2% that gives a noticeable bump.
I don't buy into any of the stats on that meter they show when filling out the PL form. At 2%, the meter shows I will get 1% of possible impressions or whatever. I think that is pure road apples.
Just been promoting everything, (1460 listings) at 2%. Seems to work OK and I don't mind throwing 2% on about half the sales back at eBay since FVF's are hitting at 11% on average. I have a lot of items that come in at 9% FVF and then they throw in the 10% FVF discount.
As always, hope things pick up for all.
nilis13
·2 years agoI decided to call ebay, spoke to a rep. He reviewed my account. He definitely said something is wrong just by looking at impressions and views. He said it's not normal. For what it's worth, he said he was putting in a ticket. I don't expect anything to come out of this. I have had the same freefall here once PL and PLA was introduced. I have seen a seller for 19 years, I just wish for positive changes. Not too much to ask.
nilis13
·2 years agoBeen a seller, my typo above.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@nilis13
First, sorry I missed this, please tag me in the future if it is convenient. Yes, the decline for me as previously mentioned started in early 2022 when they fully launched PLA, changed how Views are counted and magically doubled and tripled PLS rates. I am just over $ 10K behind last year's sales and that was a down year, I am down just over $ 12.5K over 2022 and down just over $ 14.5K over 2021 which was my last growth year. Sadly, I think I understand what they are doing, BIN listings are simply manipulated to somewhere other than high on a search list. My auction sales have been good for the most part but when 75% of my sales come from auctions and 25% from BIN listings something is definitely wrong.
lakefor94
·1 year ago@mr_lincoln wrote:
"BIN listings are simply manipulated to somewhere other than high on a search list."
I reckon you are referring to a best match search. Search with lowest price still lines them up in order.
With best match, I am sure you see a lot of the "eBay fee getters" towards the top. I know I do.
I just finished a 80-90 hour , 2 week exercise in repricing and checking listing attributes/item specifics on 1400+ listings.
I put most of my listings, especially all my older ones at the front of the lowest pricing and sales are up and steady. Most of my items have part and/or model numbers. The eBay search engine can find them as can Google. Item specifics and title are paramount.
Rolling once again with 2% PL's and when I start a campaign, the chances to send offers perks up considerably and of course some more sales.
Buyers can find the items if they know exactly what they are searching for. I know I did more than a 1200 searches and never had a problem finding everything I was looking for.
If sellers don't put time and accurate info into titles and item specifics, they do not deserve to have their listings seen.
For whatever my reply was worth...... you can now return to regular scheduled programming
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@lakefor94 My sincere thanks for the feedback. Prior to early 2022 and the eBay changes I cited previously my listing practices, title and item nomenclature contributed to steady growth over a multi-year period. I also typically have way more item specifics filled in compared to other Sellers, WHICH is supposed to help find things in search. I and other sellers in my categories didn't change what or how we listed to cause the steady decline in sales.
My study of the results on eBay's changes for what I sell (and I stress that of course, results will vary from account to account and category to category) was over a 2 year period. That is significant, it is not the short term drop in sales some sellers report and think the sky is falling.
I also abandoned PLS and have gotten their "We've missed you. Try Promoted Listing standard again" messages numerous times AND just after the time I would run my regular quarterly PLS 30 day campaigns. That is a targeted message based on my selling history pure and simple. I used to recommend trying PLS but no longer.
My decline in sales dollars on JUST item prices since my last growth year (2021) totals about $ 37,000.00. That isn't chump change and that is gross, my profits would be less of course based on my target profit margin.
Now, I "get" the fact that eBay is one of numerous online sales venues that rely on fees for the bulk of their income. I also get it that they can and do manipulate things in their favor ... I just don't like it.
As to listing, ending, selling similar or other regular maintenance sellers say they do my view is that shouldn't be necessary and I would be interested in the amount of time it takes them to do that based on the returns they get with a bump in sales. I never had to do any of that but still experienced slow steady growth over numerous years of selling. As to how Buyers search, I don't assume they all search the same way ...
In any event, I really do appreciate your insights and experience!
yuzuha
·2 years agoI've been very busy for the past couple of weeks. Unloaded a bunch of plush that had been sitting around for quite a while... they were all Final Fantasy XIV plush so all I can figure is that someone linked my listing in their FC chat because all three of them sold within three days. I got a big box of crane game prizes in last week, listed them all, and already I've sold four of them.
I just got another big box so I plan on getting those listed within the next day or two. Hopefully some of those should sell pretty quickly as well.
toomuchstuffagain35
·2 years agoA big drop this month.
Worst month since Sept 2022 which is quite a while.
March was fantastic then April fell a little but not much then a drastic drop off a cliff this month.
Will just keep chugging along. Maybe the summer slump hit early this year.
mr_lincoln
·2 years ago@retrogames10000
REALLY glad you are getting some sales and they seem to be on the uptick for you and your categories!
retro_entertainment_collectibles
·2 years agoBein' pretty slow... I ran into a seller other day who was trying to sell on Mercari. I've very very little there, very little.
inhawaii
·2 years agoFor some strange reason my sales are up and down.
My sales never stay the same all week/month/year.
I had a couple of 0 sales days this month.
Today is a record sales day so far and it's only 9am.
gloryglorygifts
·2 years agoI usually have pretty consistent sales but this month is way down because the store was closed for 2 1/2 weeks while I boxed everything up for a reconstruction of our space and move (which is still ongoing until July) and then the last week I had emergency illness and shut it down again. I'm actually very grateful that things are slower due to the amount of stuff on my plate for the last two months and next two.
I'm thrilled for you that your sales are going well! I like to hear the good news from my fellow ebayers.
herway
·2 years agoMy sales are 30% down from last May.
meme6253
·2 years agoNope, Poor Sales Continue!
mayila
·2 years agoCongrats on your sales, still on rock bottom with 0 sales for couple of months.
Other than several sales over the past two months, yes, you are at zero sales 😉
turtles-trading-post
·2 years agoI had a decent weekend because I made it happen!
+ I held a Memorial Weekend Sale - 20% off 3 or more items. Ran it Friday through Monday. Average sale was 6-10 items.
+ I advertised the sale on all the Facebook groups I belong to for stamp collectors.
+ The sale gave me a lot of lookers so eBay allowed me some 80 "Send Offers", so I sent them out.
+ Each weekend day (Fri-Sat-Sun) late afternoon I launch 100 "Sell Similar" from live items
+ Friday afternoon I launched 50 "Sell Similar" from my ended and aged "Unsold Listings" as auctions.
+ Over the weekend I started over 100 new listings.
Ya gotta shake up your store if you want activity!
dolcetreasures
·2 years agoIn the last 20 days I sent out 205 offers, quite a few below cost. 0 purchases through best offer.
fbusoni
·2 years agoYes, its odd isn't it? I've sent out perhaps 100 offers, and have gotten a single purchase in response. I wonder sometimes if the people who are watching receive an email, and if they do, whether it goes into a spam folder. I think that if people could be alerted with a text message (if they cannot already) the responses might improve.
mybigsale
·2 years agoHmm, eBay includes users who have just viewed your item in the "buyers" available to send offers. I wonder what percentage of offers are going to other sellers who were just checking pricing for their own items.
I sell a few items when I send offers. I ignore a deluge of offers for items I clicked on when listing a new item and checking pricing on comparable items (sorry I have no intention of buying that great deal - so don't feel bad). I personally only watch items that I am interested in purchasing, but I understand many sellers watch items similar to what they are selling.
dolcetreasures
·2 years agoIt seems to me it’s often other sellers and low ballers.
meme6253
·2 years agoThey are suppose to receive an alert for all offers & markdowns, Whether or not they actually are is another story!
mcdougle4248
·2 years ago@retrogames10000
Congratulations! I am glad to hear sales are picking up for you.
I am chugging along and sales are great. May has surprised me, net sales are up 126.8% compared to last year. I am a very small seller of seasonal items and my numbers probably are only impressive to me lol.
"Not so many complaints on the eBay board today"
Just stick around it's early yet.
ckimodog
·2 years ago@retrogames10000
Still waiting for my sales to improve, but congrats on your great weekend! It's summer time and that's basically a slow time for me.
Happy Selling
lakefor94
·2 years agoGlad to hear your sales picked up.
I had my store offline for a week after surgery and turned it back on yesterday.
I had 52 drafts ready to go and started those as well. One of them sold within 15-20 minutes. That was it since yesterday afternoon.
Going on vacation in a couple of weeks, so more downtime then......
lakefor94
·2 years agoGetting sales on the newly listed items that are at least "somewhat" in demand and priced right.
The buyers can find the items, especially if there are not 100-500 sellers with the same items.
Buyers are obviously not having an issue with search. If the title and item specifics are loaded up with searchable entries, buyers can find the items.
Also had 2 separate sales yesterday on a long tail listing from 2018. Multi-quantity listing that gets a sale every year or so it seems. One buyer bought 7 and the other 4. Different parts of the country. Items that are waaaaay past product product life cycle. $70 and $40. One sale was a PL at 2% and the other came in as organic........ Who knows why....
I just leave the stuff out there listed since I have the storage space.
Best of luck in sales to all.
yuzuha
·2 years agoYeah, pretty much all of the figures I've listed in the last week have had views within an hour or so of putting them up, which sort of blows the whole "search doesn't work" claim right out of the water.
And also, four of them have sold already as well.
dolcetreasures
·2 years agoNope despite having the lowest possible prices on most items comparatively, sales have been approaching 0.0.
mybigsale
·2 years agoContinual bad sales with spurts of good sales. Last week was a good week... this week back to nothing. It's eBay. It's the economy. Nobody wants your items. Wait, everyone wants your items. Nope, nobody wants your items.
We are sellers selling in a Sim game controlled and created by eBay and we aren't privy to what eBay does or doesn't do. Is it eBay's choices or glitches that affect us the most?
mike_jayroe
·2 years agoNo. Still no sales. 2 sales last month, one so far this month.
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years agoAwesome! Congrats on your sales!!