4 months of Covid lockdown! How are your sales?

[aldente28]

It's nearing the end of July and I am four months locked down. 122 days and counting. Reverting, actually, to more restrictive phases as the infection spreads.

Government relief checks are long gone. Increased unemployment benefits running out with no new legislation in sight. Cases are spiking, seemingly out of control. Not surprisingly, my sales are slowing.

How about you?

When all this Covid-19 stuff started, my sales spiked along with online sales generally. They also increased along with government relief checks. But now sales have slowed. They are still up from pre-Covid, but they've softened maybe 30% from the peak, which was some time in the first week of July.

What are you guys seeing in your sales? Something similar to mine? Something different? My products are a necessity, but on the high end of what's required. In economics, they would be some combination of a normal good and luxury good - people buy more when disposable income rises but demand falls less when disposable income falls.

I'd like to anticipate what will happen from here. I've seen reports of sales going up, down and all over the place during Covid from different sellers, so I understand there is no universality here. I'm interested in anecdotes. Maybe it would help me figure things out.

What are you experiencing?

[sin-n-dex]

In Canada there is still government cheques, until the end of August. That's 2K a month. We refer to this as welfare because people getting it aren't working, aren't on other social support programs, aren't getting unemployment benefits (the norm when you lose your job up here). It's kind of a last resort payment, and they gave it to anyone who applied. Now they're hiring a task force to track everyone down and make them pay it back three fold as punishment (if they weren't eligible).

Most of my customers have some sort of stable income and have continued to shop, but I'm not selling as much in June and July as I did from January to April.

My buying and sourcing is way up. I did a significant amount of sourcing in January (mostly over Christmas, when everyone was too busy to bid on auctions). It got really bad to try and get deals, but now I'm starting to get lucky again and have bought lots of stamps. I'm selling lots of stamps too (recovered half of my investment now, but the amount invested keeps increasing as I buy more material). My weekends are spent sorting out stamps into lots. I ran out of packaging material last week and have 40 some odd pages or stamps to package.

All this eBay stuff is keeping me busy, especially since I also have a full time job (I'm an essential worker).

C.

[sakic92710]

April, May, June & July have been excellent months for selling online.  NEVER had 4 months like this before.  Sometimes, it isn't the quantity of sales but some people spend more on items.  I used to get a lot of sales in the $5-20 range.  I'm getting more that sell over $100.  This has been a big factor to the success.  MP might ruin that for me soon, though.  I won't be able to sell on the US site.  Just the Canadian site.   Stay safe all.   🙂

[keziak]

Listing more, selling more. My stats are way  up. My stuff is low- to moderate-dollar.  Some expensive stuff sells on Amazon.  I am way behind in listing inventory. I am in books and media.

[aldente28]

@keziak 

Entertainment, free time, inexpensive. Makes sense books would be up.

@sin-n-dex 

collectibles. Makes sense stamps might be down, though how nice Canadians get $2k a month from the government! All we got was a single relief check months ago and increased unemployment benefits.

[myboardid]

Sales normally climb for me since April is usually my slowest month, but they are running ahead of normal sales, as long as I run markdown sales.  This is working even when I "mark it up to mark it down"!  It is hard for me to keep up since I am also working my retail store 7 days a week (no employees).  Scary for me since I am at high risk to potentially die if I get Covid.  I am taking full precautions.  

[mcdougle4248]

Sales have been strong.  Up 38.7% compared to last year.  I sell fun little handcrafted ornaments.  They are inexpensive and I think buyers are just having a little fun without worrying about spending too much.  

[eaux-de-vie]

I had great sales until about 1 week ago, about the same day I caved in to the Manages Sales. I have only had a few sales since then. 

[oldwestgold]

I have had the best sales in the past 3-4 months than at any other time in my 20+ years with eBay. Lot's of interest from repeat and new buyers. I will hit a dry spell for a couple of days then it picks back up. Great opportunities in buying if you have the cash. Overall a silver and gold lining out of a worldwide miserable situation. I would give up my increased sales for some sanity and normalcy in life though. Don't give up trying. Good luck.

[laperlalady]

Was doing great until we registered for MP. 

[mam98031]

It has been some of the best sales I've had in years.  It has slowed down a bit as summer is usually my slow time of the year, yet my sales are still above average, so no complaints.  For me August and the first half of September are my slowest period of the year.  So far 2020 has been great for the first half.  I hope the 2nd have is just as good.

[femmefan1946]

I was having a pretty good year, which I think had something to do with using Promoted Listings since November.

As things shut down, my sales shot up.

According to eBay reports, I was selling 300-400% more than March to June 2019.

I'm on Vancouver Island, and we have had very few cases and gratefully very few deaths.
With an Island population of 870,000, we have had some 136 cases and only five deaths.  We locked down fast and firm and it has paid off.

Some of my favourite independent shops moved to home delivery of purchases. And most of the department stores were already online. I bought online Father's Day presents for DH which didn't work, and when I took them back to The Bay the clerk told me they were doing a lot of work pulling from retail stock to fill online orders.

Fun anecdote:  my local coffee shop stayed open as a "to go only" and continued to take cash. The owner had a bowl of soapy water by his till. If you paid cash, he tossed the bills and coins into the bowl. (Our paper money is actually plastic and waterproof.)

One of his neighbours is  home winemaking shop. I had never really seen anyone in there in the five years I've been here. But during the lockdown days, he was putting bottles in car trunks constantly. And that has continued now we are in Phase 3.

[femmefan1946]

@sakic92710
tyler@ebay  tells us we can still list on dotCOM and in USdollars, but all our payments will be converted to loonies and deposited in our Canadian bank accounts.

I am pouting about that because I actually have an American account in US dollars and would prefer to deposit US payments there.

EBay hasn't come up with an answer on that yet.

[chapeau-noir]

In the medieval era it was a tradition to wash coin in vinegar as it changed hands - during the 14th century it was found that this was one of the few ways to stem the plague, vinegar being a natural disinfectant. 

So that coffee shop owner is onto a good thing! 

[moondogblues]

I am a buyer now...and was depending on eBay sellers for food.  It's been over 140 days for hubs and me, sequestering.  I have to say that the level of gouging here has really turned me off.  I can get canned ham at Walgreens for about 3.50, 1 pound ham, limit 2.  Here, anywhere from 10.00 to a wretched 60.00, I kid you not.

One Hormels Compleats dinner for 10.00 and in some cases another 10 to 15 bucks in shipping.  I am appalled.

So I researched other places to buy food on-line and there are a LOT.  And they mostly are NOT gouging, deliver fast and get the orders right.  I started a thread a couple of days ago about the Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas that a lot of dropshippers use....I have gotten messed up orders on the last FIVE items I have bought here.  This has never happened before.  I still love the variety here, but am wary now.

This could be why sales are slipping...there are other options out there.