DECEMBER SALES

[honestabe411]

How's everyone SALES going this Holiday season?

I am down 30% less than last year. On average I sell 10-15 items a day. A low day is usually around 7, and high can be around 22 items. 

Yesterday, 4 items, and today only 1 so far. Seems like a horrible holiday season for small US sellers this season. I've heard the same from a few sellers, but I am sure there are some with great SALES this season!

I genuinely hope SALES are great for everyone! But again, how are your sales this year compared to last?

My last 31 days has dwindled down slowly and slowly this December. Probably he worst month this year. 

2 years ago I had 600 listings and made about double what I do now with 1,400 listings... hmmm

Maybe I'm in another blackout or something, but it does cause some anxiety as always when SALES are down. But I REALLY expected December to  be booming! Maybe everyone is saving for presents?

[rock-rollcafe]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Will I need to know the secret handshake? I get so excited I almost mess myself when helping uncover some double knot 7 secret spy stuff....

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Not a secret handshake. You would have to get your secret decoder ring and put the correct numbers in order. Hint: 11,12,13,21,22,23.

[timemachine777]

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@runaround1111 wrote:

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@timemachine777 wrote:

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Those numbers are the monthly sales totals in order, from Jun to Nov. It would have continued if I didn't call eBay in Dec to report it.

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@timemachine777 OK, lets try figuring this out. You say after 23 sells no one can buy your stuff ? If a buyer chose to do BIN after you got 23 sells does Ebay give them a notice saying they can no longer buy your stuff and have to wait until the following month ?

Or are you saying after 23 sells buyers can no longer see your stuff ? We can test your theory. After you get to 23 sells instead of calling Ebay, post to the boards. We can check to see if your stuff is visible.

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It not rocket science and it's really simple. We all have a total of sales for the month, and it also gets recorded by eBay on our seller dashboard monthly breakdown. All I said was that this was my totals for those months last year. I never said how or why. my monthly sales were as followed: Jun 21 sales, July 11 sales, Aug 22 sales, Sept 12 sales, Oct 23 sales, Nov 13 sales. Every other month, sales were up by one. The pattern was 21, 11, 22, 12, 23, 13.

I don't know why you can't comprehend what I stated in my original post. Hopefully this one is easier to read.

[allstar-comics]

My store is small 1500 s ft retail comic/toy store  We have those antique malls here and I have to disagree with you  Several have gone under and the only people who make money are the owners who operate it  You are not going to get the same type of traffic a online venue like ebay can generate with a indoor antique mall  Most of the people in those places are selling out and dumping what is ebayable into the doezens of local auctions that have sprng up  Those are full of all the **bleep** nobody can sell .  Glassware, beanie babies, 1990's toys, bulk comic books, endlessmediocre furniture and all the rejects (damaged/incomplete/poor condition collectibles

[bubbleman2010]

Does this mean we should stop looking for the double knot 7 secret spy code?

[timemachine777]

It depends on the area you live in. The antique malls do very well in my area. I have a lot of mall leases because sales are strong for me and my rent is a small fraction of my overall expense. There are places all over the country that are suffering due to no jobs, so all the businesses are doing poorly in those areas. I'm in Maine which is vacation land. I rent along the coast and get lots of tourist and wealthy local traffic. I'm also on the main routes for 4 season activities, like 4 wheeling, Skiing, Hunting & Fishing, etc. So I get the same mix of tourists and locals. We also get a lot of Canadian shoppers. 

[timemachine777]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Does this mean we should stop looking for the double knot 7 secret spy code?

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That's up to you and your buddy Jethro. 

[bubbleman2010]

timemachine you just get so snappy when someone questions your logic. I could offer you some advice on how to increase your ebay sales if thats what you're wanting to do,but for some odd reason you want to pass the buck to ebay for no to slow sales rather than just look into the mirror...

[bubbleman2010]

and being the nice guy I am I wouldn't even charge you the $100.00 a hour I get when going out on a housecall to do a appraisal on a collection of whatever..

[timemachine777]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

timemachine you just get so snappy when someone questions your logic. I could offer you some advice on how to increase your ebay sales if thats what you're wanting to do,but for some odd reason you want to pass the buck to ebay for no to slow sales rather than just look into the mirror...

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My earlier post had nothing to do with sales being low or high. All it was in regards to was a sales number pattern.  That's it. Process the info any way you like. Nothing snappy about it.

[rock-rollcafe]

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@timemachine777 wrote:

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All I said was that this was my totals for those months last year. I never said how or why. 

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That is not all you said. You said your totals are strange and Ebay does something to cause those totals to be strange. You said when you get strange numbers like that you call Ebay then you can have sells again. If you call Ebay and your sells magically start back up then there is an obvious assumption on your part that either Ebay will not allow buyers to buy more from you, or that Ebay hides your listings until you call and complain. Which is it ? Ebay hides your listings, or Ebay does not allow buyer to buy your items when they see them ?

[bubbleman2010]

I've pushed over a million dollars through ebay over 46,000 transaction and whenever I call them they treat me like a red headed stepchild something just isn't right with this picture...

[bennynv]

Last year we were down 31% and that hurt. This year we are down 55% from last year. The fees for anchoer store is outragous and paypal gives eveyrone their money back for no reason. Returns are already triple last years for this month and double for the year. The fraud and China knockoff sales are killing us as well. We are closing our store on here or maybe just selling discontinued and closeout items on here at a cheap rate. The fees are high enough, postage goes up every year and the "seller coverage" is the worst of any site. We sell pet supplies. 

[fern*wood]

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@timemachine777 wrote:

It depends on what you collect and look at that will give you some insight as to market trends, and a host of other answers. I'm a pattern person. I can naturally spot patterns in a lot of things. Patterns can be natural or unnatural (created). Patterns tell us a lot about the cause and effect of real life events, and that's why data is so valuable. eBay is a data hog and collects massive amounts of it. They look for patterns. 

To account for the variables, you use controls. when I see patterns that are uniformed in a way that appear created, it raises red flags for me. For example last summer on this account my monthly sales were as followed: Jun 21, July 11, Aug 22, Sept 12, Oct 23, Nov 13. Every other month, sales were up by one. The pattern 21, 11, 22, 12, 23, 13. is not a natural monthly selling pattern because it's way too uniformed in a split pattern. 

Nobody can in all honesty say that there is nothing wrong with having a selling pattern like that. If a pattern appeared like that on the stock market, the market would crash because investors would claim that the market is rigged. Investors collect market data constantly to determine when to buy and sell. Some have a better read on the patterns than others. Example: Warren Buffet...The Oracle of Omaha.

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You chastised me for not reading your post, and I took your word for it that I missed where those sales numbers were from last year, but I still don't see it in there. I know you said it later on but I responded before that.  

Again, that wasn't the most important part of my post, but it was the only point you responded to.  I asked what did you report to ebay when you called about the pattern?  How does your new theory of sales right before your fees are due make sense after seeing your own sales numbers from last year?  

[ymeagainlord]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Does this mean we should stop looking for the double knot 7 secret spy code?

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Yes, go back to work (baby needs shoes)

= )

[amfbestdeals]

My sales are down by about 30%, returns this month have been HORRIBLE!!!! Not sure what happen but it is definately something to start thinking about if sales dont start to pick up.