Slow October for booksellers

[midwestlibrary]

October 2020 was an unusually good month for me as a bookseller. I was not selling on eBay during 2019 to be able to compare to my own sales statists but other sellers last fall were reporting they were doing more business than the year before. This year, however, my sales took a steep dive on Oct. 4th. All year my sales have been predictable, hitting XX # of sales a day, yielding $XXX in net sales. September was my best month ever. I have not changed a thing, I still list daily, reprice, send offers, leave feedback, and am very active on eBay's website. Inventory is always increasing and my sourcing methods haven't changed. So- is this just a super slow month in general? Is this month for this year even slower than say Oct 2019 or 2018? My sales are no longer predictable and its frustrating. Thanks for any input!

[evry1nositswindy]

I sell a lot of books as well.  Last year during the first quarantine, I sold LOTS of books.  Not as much now.  Sales have slowed down for me as well.  I am down from last month and from last year.

[bugler1998]

As booksellers we have always benefitted by shipping by media mail.  The usps recently increased the rate for 1 pound books.  More importantly the increase of postage for each additional pound has gone up a lot.  I just sent a 5 pound 4 ounce book for more than $5.00, plus I have to pay ebay fees on my charge for postage.

I am not complaining as that book sold for over $100, but the $10 book is pricing itself out of the market.  A $10 book that weighs 5 pounds costs as much asa $100 book to ship.

My minimum sales price is headed up to $15 now, and that means I am passing up buying opportunities that do not promise a decent margin.

[taylor_memorial]

Some of us have been around here for a while--some of us haven't. 

There are three factors which are operating to depress sales.

1) As Bugler said: USPS price increases. Priority mail pricing just increased. Media mail and such went up in August. Either we raise our prices or we lose money. If we raise prices it temporarily gives the daily repricers an advantage, and then it doesn't. 

Now pricing is sensitive at all times, but 

2) Inflation depresses sales. It does so in a number of ways: the discretionary budget shrinks as necessities eat up more (or all) of the available funds. Library circulation increases, book sales decrease. Noticably.  It's trickle down economics: two years ago we had full employment--in all sectors. Economists who said a 4% unemployment level was dangerously low were shown an unemployment level in the the low 3% with a huge surplus in jobs. 

Last year, a year ago, there was consumer confidence in the economy and in the President's team's ability to recover from a temporary slowdown forced upon us by the leaked virus in China.  But today?

3) We have a different President, one who predicts more and more inflation (which means less and less discretionary income with which to buy what we sell) and NO END IN SIGHT for the supply chain shortages which union contracts and artificial quarantines have imposed on the public, exascerbating inflation.

Whether you personally like the current Administration and despise the previous administration, the evidence of the success and failure of the two approaches sit side by side for everyone to compare.

Over the short term, I expect sales to continue to drop.  Economists expect economic growth at a pace of less than half that of the annual inflation rate, which means the economy is actually shrinking in real terms.

Yes, it's different this year from last year. 
Elections, as they say, have consequences. That's not a political opinion. It's a fact.

[strangehill5]

This response is highly inappropriate for this site and not helpful to the original question.

[soh.maryl]

How is it highly inappropriate? We don't have to agree with the poster's politics but we do know that postal rates have risen.  If you wish, you can ignore the rest of the reply.

And, yes, it is helpful in that it points out various things which may or may not be the reason behind depressed sales.  

[u_cant_take_it_with_u]

Wow ..When book people start having sales woes, it's likely EVERYONE is. ☺️

[1786davycrockett]

My book sales during the previous presidential administration were in the toilet, and did not rebound until March 2020 -- but I am not attributing the increase in sales to who may have been sitting (or NOT sitting) in the White House at that time.   However, I definitely WILL attribute the increase in book sales on my eBay site partially to COVID (since many people were unable to shop at B&M stores, and chose to make their purchases on-line instead).

In addition, eBay raised the free item levels on Premium eBay stores from 1000 to 10,000 in that same period of time in 2020, thus permitting me to list 10 times MORE items each month, than I had previously, which helped my sales accordingly:  if potential buyers can VIEW more items, they may PURCHASE more items.  That's simple economics.

I attribute NONE of this to whomever was sitting in the White House at any particular time.

[bugler1998]

Davey:  I think you are right.  While I could list 10000 items, as a practical matter I have never had more than 800 listings.  Ebay takes time.

close to half my listings are high school and college yearbooks.  They are slow sellers, I just sold a book that I first listed 6 years ago.  At full price

with a limited number of listings available I would not exceed my “free” listings in any month.  Once I sell a yearbook it is a high margin sale.

the negative part of more available listings is other folks are in competition, so the race to the bottom is sped up.

[taylor_memorial]

Yes, strangehill5, facts are strangely inappropriate. 

But I'm not sure what the question was--the original post was an observation.

So was mine. 

And with 25 years selling books on line I've seen recessions come and go, inflationary cycles come and go and have a little bit of experience of the affect of prices on sales volume; the affect of consumer confidence on sales volume; and so on. 

[taylor_memorial]

thank you soh.maryl

My politics are what they are. So are the historical facts of the current inflationary spike and drop in consumer confidence. If one relies on income from sales of stuff which nobody needs to survive--and nobody needs books in the same way they need food--then these pressures on our sales are worthy of consideration. 

Should they affect your vote? 
Only you can answer that. l

I learned a long time ago to move towards niches that have a demand regardless the current politico-economic situation. Sure, they suffer in down cycles but they suffer less.

[taylor_memorial]

Why did eBay decide to increase the number of listings a subscriber rents a month unless they did not expect sales volume to plummet when viewed in terms of sales per listing? 

My sales have picked up, as well, because I can list more and thus sell more, but the sell-through rate has dropped and that is the affect of socio-economic pressures that are affected by the political climate. 

When people pay $3 for a gallon of gas instead of $1.50 they can't buy a paperback for $1.50 because they have to spend that money to get to work. 

Now it's true that reducing supply and increasing demand has no affect on pricing, because that's what the current political situation says and the publishers of the books we sell agree. (I mean, if it weren't true, then increasing the number of buying opportunities for books on eBay would result in a significant decrease in sales (and sell through rate) to individual sellers who can't list 500 books (or more) a day. )

But even so, that discretionary money is going in the gas tank, not on the bookshelf.

[gosnus1]

I've been selling books on eBay part time for only about five years.  I have a small selection (under 200) listed.  My sales have been pretty consistent with an upward spike during COVID.  However, about two months ago they dropped like a rock.  The last two months I have been down 90% from previous years.  That's a big drop considering I've done nothing different.  I appreciate taylor_memorial's remarks and hope this drop is temporary.

[keraz-0]

I usually don't list a book for less than 8 bucks. Not enough profit in it for me for the effort. I  don't understand how someone can list a book for 4$ with free shipping and make any money.