April 2024 Goals and Plans

[rosachs]

First Quarter of 2024 is complete - how did you do?  What worked and what would you do differently?

April has just begun - what are your goals for the month and/or Q2?

Let the conversation begin...

[isaiah53-57]

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@rosachs wrote:

First Quarter of 2024 is complete - how did you do?  What worked and what would you do differently?

April has just begun - what are your goals for the month and/or Q2?

Let the conversation begin...

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Same thing  we did last quarter - Not list ANYTHING here due to fraud/thievery made easy with the "Money Back Guarantee", and the site's quest for 30% to 40% to 50% or more of your items price in fees with their Promoted Listings program.

Keeping MORE money in our pocket and wasting A LOT less time with our current business model - Wont list here again until the company backs off both of these programs - Our opinion is, as time goes on and the usability of the site deteriorates due the the ill effects of both these programs they will need to do an about face - Question is, by then, will it be too late to even want to list here anyway - only time will tell - Hoping for the best as we very much enjoyed using the site 6 yrs to 20 yrs ago...

[debbiet22]

Bob- I have also been having issues with USPS.  Gone years without having shipping hiccups.  All of a sudden , slow shipping (and I use PM when I can).  Shipping to a way out of the way hub, then back after I went to the post office and tried to figure things out.  Luckily the customer has been understanding.  I agree things are a mess.

[rosachs]

Don't get me started on USPS issues... this has been a very tiring and trying month, and I don't see it getting much better at the moment.  It's exhausting... customers want their orders, the boss wants more sales, and eBay want to grind our status into the dirt.  What a time to be an eBay seller!!

I kind of envy the other guys working the other venues - Amazon has their own trucks and amazing UPS rates -- no losses there.  The smaller venues seem to have a better understanding of the buyer/seller/venue dynamic, but I haven't had a lot of time to talk with those guys.

I was looking for a bit more of a challenge... I guess I should have been more specific.  🙂

-Bob.

[acres163]

January and February were descent, a little spike in late March to early April, but May is dead. Where I was clearing at least $100 profit a week (strictly to support my rescue dogs), now I'm lucky to get $10 to $20 and almost zero views. I make offers to all watchers, drop prices when I see the items going for less and even us a 2 to 5% ad promotion on some items. I've never seen it this bad in the 20 years I've been casually selling.

[gurlcat]

May has a history of badness on eBay, so don't be too discouraged.  

[rosachs]

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@acres163 wrote:

I've never seen it this bad in the 20 years I've been casually selling.

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I noticed you seem to primarily used Fixed Price listings.  Listings over 90 days since posted with no sales in the past 30 days are not getting the exposure they used to.  I make it a point at work to cancel these oldies, do a quick review for required updates, then repost as new.  Reposting as a new listing cuts the history of the old listing off, it does not connect to the new listing.  Otherwise the new listing would have the same stagnant history as the old.

It seems to work - our sales, while overall less than we'd like, seem to have found a stable point, and are even growing slightly.  Some of that growth is coming from old listing that have not yet been 'renewed' in this way -- I guess folks are finding them in our Store after looking at a Searched listing.

-Bob.