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?

[moondogblues]

Wanted to add that we are saving a TON of money by not going out to eat all the time.  Since all our gigs were cancelled and we used to play and then go eat somewhere we are saving so much that we have been buying salmon and shrimp from Alaska!  Yum!!!  Caviar and champagne, kid you not, a bottle of champagne on-line is about what an appetizer would be in town.  That's why people can cut loose with the dollars, perhaps.  We are.

[moondogblues]

I would also like to add that we worked our butts off for 40 years each, and are now getting the benefits in some decent sized SS checks.  Hope they last till we croak.  LOL....

[uncseniorsportsfan]

Overall I also had the best April-May in my 20+ years on eBay - out of my four accounts only sports collectibles were down.   June was an average month - July is also an average month so far for my other three accounts.   However, thanks to the Washington Redskins announcing they will finally change their name, sports collectibles picked up this month as I have been dragging out Redskins stuff to list.  

Since I don't sell much of anything that can be deemed essential, I was surprised that the pandemic has resulted in good sales.   Hopefully, it continues. 

[disneyshopper]

I am a low volume seller in a niche market.  The items I sell are "wants" and not "needs".  I get my inventory from a major theme park, which closed down the middle of March due to the pandemic.  They had announced they were reopening on July 17, but that got postponed.

Right now, I am simply rotating my present stock since I am unable to access new inventory.  All of my best sellers are slowly depleting.  I am using the "out of stock" option, so I can easily list those items once the theme park reopens.  With the increase in Covid-19 cases recently, it seems very doubtful theme parks will reopen soon.

[sin-n-dex]

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@aldente28 wrote:

@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.

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The collectibles varies a bit... I had auctions of coins (the 99 cent variety) ending today and some did amazingly well, better than they do when things are actually normal. (I sold a collection I paid $3 for, for $40).

As for the 2K from the government, it's called the CERB. They're giving it to anyone who ran out of unemployment, or has to stay home with their kids and isn't earning money, or is out of work because their business had to shut down, etc etc etc. Then they started giving money to students because there are no summer jobs and students need the money for school in the fall. Then they sent out a lump sum payments to seniors.

The downside, is that the economy is not likely to return to normal any time soon, and the 74 Billion dollars our government has spent (on a population of 33 million) is going to run out, and it will be hard times ahead. Since I'm essential (and unfortunately I have work due to personal tragedy), I will still be working when the government money is gone.

However it still irks my hide that I earn only a few hundred dollars more a month for working full time (and having no free time to do anything I could otherwise be doing right now, as I am working from 7am to 5pm every day but weekends), than someone is making sitting at home and able to do the things they want to do (or in some cases, things they have to do, like care for children with no daycares and schools being open right now). My only solace is that the job I have will give me stability when times get tough (and eBay probably won't be able to supplement my income if no one can afford to spend on collectibles.)

C.

[loreslinens]

my jewelry sales tanked.

[mcdougle4248]

@sin-n-dex 

Congrats on the $40.00 sale!

[yuzuha]

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@loreslinens wrote:

my jewelry sales tanked.

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That matches what I've been seeing at my B&M retail job.  Our jewelry is not selling at all, aside from the inexpensive stuff that people would wear everyday.

[vintagecraze50]

Sales are very up due to this pandemic. Seems to be across the board for all websites. The internet has truly been a lifesaver for all.

[bigdeals.etc]

Very sporadic and not much consistency compared to pre-covid months and years. It's weird.

[maddocks]

Same... that' my my own business model too.  Mostly $10-20 items

Sales way up earlier this spring/summer, but leveling downs closer to 'normal' now

/has way too much inventory not listed yet 😕

[violetsource]

I am am very happy with my sales. But this is my first true year selling. 

[sakic92710]

Sales have been up & some are spending in larger sums BUT, there is some frustration due to the slow down of USPS.  It's not all cream & cheese.  lol  Stay safe all.     🙂

[debbe4ever]

Sudden falling off a cliff slowdown the last few days. I think people have either run out of money or have suddenly realized this is going to go on a lot longer than they thought and they better hang on to whatever they still have.