Holiday season is here. Where are the sales?

[vintagemelrose2009]

Hello -  Based on first half of November, I don't think we are even going to do what we did last year sales wise.  How are you guys faring?   We had a slight old normal sales days for four days in middle of October and then a bit last weekend but otherwise same as August -- barely surviving.  Not to complain too much but I can't seem to explain why those two normal sales pattern can't be every day.  Like today, 

so far we had zero sales.  Of course it is week day but aren't everyone shopping for holidays already?

The seller I work for invested over $2000 in new items for holidays so I am hoping he have better second half of November and a decent December.  It is hard to see all the hard work and effort to go un rewarded.  Love to hear how you guys are doing.   Thanks.

[just-n-time-2]

I feel the same way. The sales have been so bad that I'm afraid to invest too much in my inventory and end up with way to much inventory after the holiday.  I am new to holiday time with EBAY but November so far has been horrible. What is the best way to sell our inventory during the holidays?

[inthepastcollectibles]

Sales were weak (for me) from the 4th of October to about November 4th, but since November 4th things have picked up for me.  Things are still not perfect and I am not getting ahead or doing better, but I am seeing daily sales per day and I am atleast staying about par on month to month averages.  That being said, views on items have definitely been down and I count my stars that I have been selling despite low view counts.  I am an ecletic seller of different things, so when some things don't seem to be selling, other types of items fill in gaps (for example shoes....hit a low point with no sales, but in last couple of days have sold 4 pairs of shoes; when shoes weren't selling I sold trading cards, Christmas ornaments and other things).  I hope this helps, as I do know your frustration and I do feel eBay may being doing things behind the scenes affecting our sales, which puts it out of our control no matter how hard we work or how much we restock.  Happy holidays and wish for you that sales pickup 🙂

[lookng2015]

I think it depends what you're selling. I've had a total of 85 sales this month so far (across all IDs), but of course 2 of them sell NIB kid's stuff.

[hioctane62]

Things seem really slow at a time when sales should be picking up. I'm working on getting more listings up, but it's hard to get motivated when things are so slow. 

I feel like buyers are ignoring ebay en masse this year (progressively for the past few years). Ebay's new ads are even good, the one that says "Brand new, nearly new, and totally you". I've been seeing ebay ads all over the place, but the buyers aren't coming.

I think buyers have too many problems here, and more from ebay than from sellers. Search doesn't show them what they're looking for, the cart doesn't work, etc, etc. Ebay has made their reputation what it is, and it's probably too late to recover.

[vintagemelrose2009]

I think you are right about search ---- I went to look for pillows -- we always buy on e-bay since we are sellers here --- and i have maybe 25 pillows listed --- definitely not specific of what I looked for and the 26th item on it was pajamas and other sleep related items ---- i thought 'what the hey?'   I was not looking for pajamas.  Definitely problem with search results.   I think all this programming adjustments for guaranteed delivery and new return processes --- all that filtering created problems with regular search where a buyer comes in and just look for specific item -- like me looking for down pillows.

I ended up going to the store and buying because e-bay did not show anything I wanted. 

Copy to e-bay moderator, please bring this search issue to your tech folks.  Ask them why did I see pajamas when I asked for down pillows.  thanks.

[keziak]

The River. Ebay, not so much.

[richards*rock*collection]

yes, last year was like that. i normaly get 400 to 500 in sales a month until nov and dec, then, magicaly, it starts to pick up, i know how you feel, as soon as you start to rely on sales, this happens, and you cant pay fees or bills. but on the other hand, im taking the time to revamp my listings and improve them, also, frankly, it is a good time to shop on ebay for bulk resale items, buy low, sell higher later, if you think you can make a buck on something, buy it. regards

[vintagemelrose2009]

thanks.  i noticed that some other sellers are buying things we reduced prices on ---- of course they want it for even less --- that means we give it away or take a loss to reduce inventory --- makes no sense to be in business for that.  same here.  we normally sell about 250 to 300 during normal times and then nov - jan we would sell about 500.  that won't happen to us this year the way things are looking.  even our spring and summer months took a hit where we are no longer normal --- our normal --- less volume for sure and lower prices with free shipping.  

let's see what happens after all the buyers are done with black friday --- maybe they will come online and look for things on e-bay.   hope you have a great holiday season.  cheers.

[sodelight]

I haven't seen a Holiday sales bump here in over 13 years! I never expect it anymore.

[vintagemelrose2009]

What do you mean River ? Amazon?  I was always upset with amazon store for taking the name of a wonderful river ---- I don't like big outfits that eat up little guys --- costco, walmart, amazon --- I can do without them.  there was a reason they broke up telephone companies years ago --- not time to do that to some tech companies and these retailers who just have too much power.  it is not good for society

in the long run.  it is not always about faster delivery and cheaper price.   hopefully the race for those two things would go away soon. happy holiday season to you.

[lemarcheaupuces]

---

@vintagemelrose2009 wrote:

Hello -  Based on first half of November, I don't think we are even going to do what we did last year sales wise.  How are you guys faring?   We had a slight old normal sales days for four days in middle of October and then a bit last weekend but otherwise same as August -- barely surviving.  Not to complain too much but I can't seem to explain why those two normal sales pattern can't be every day.  Like today, 

so far we had zero sales.  Of course it is week day but aren't everyone shopping for holidays already?

The seller I work for invested over $2000 in new items for holidays so I am hoping he have better second half of November and a decent December.  It is hard to see all the hard work and effort to go un rewarded.  Love to hear how you guys are doing.   Thanks.

---

i understand it is about profit.

i invest $ every day to fuel all my selling venues.

but some would say you are doing pretty good.

seems you sold well over 400 items in the last 3 months.

you also sell clothing.

many would tell you it is a saturated category.

i have noticed no slow down in sales.

i barely sold 18 items on this user name but it is because i have not listed

many new items.

14 of them are from my stale inventory.

the new items did as good as i thought they would do.

so i can't complain.

even had a few bidding battles (not wars) going on.

[vintagemelrose2009]

thanks for your input.  we appreciate it.  as recent as two Christmas ago, we had $8000 december.  the owner sells a lots of jackets and ski wear so have high dollar items from nov - feb or even march  but we did not do as well last year.  both volume and dollar sales were down --- also, any more we always do free shipping along with lots of sales.  that might explain our lower sales amounts.  rest of the year, we normally just sell t-shirts and one of a kind item -- hard to find clothing --- so we make a little bit of money during non holiday time.  anyway, for the older gentleman's sake and his hard work all year around, I hope he has a good holiday season and wish the same to everyone here.  cheers.

[lemarcheaupuces]

---

@vintagemelrose2009 wrote:

thanks for your input.  we appreciate it.  as recent as two Christmas ago, we had $8000 december.  the owner sells a lots of jackets and ski wear so have high dollar items from nov - feb or even march  but we did not do as well last year.  both volume and dollar sales were down --- also, any more we always do free shipping along with lots of sales.  that might explain our lower sales amounts.  rest of the year, we normally just sell t-shirts and one of a kind item -- hard to find clothing --- so we make a little bit of money during non holiday time.  anyway, for the older gentleman's sake and his hard work all year around, I hope he has a good holiday season and wish the same to everyone here.  cheers.

---

well i don't sell clothing so can't help you there.

i can only speak for my categories.

last good December i had was in 2013 about 3K.

a good month for me here is now 1k (on this user name).

but has nothing to do with sales or ebay.

the market is ever changing and failed to adapt.

what i sold 3 years ago, doesn't sell today.

with all my selling venues i am ok.

still make a living at this.

it is just getting harder.

as for clothing it has to be tough.

your boss might have to re-invent himself.

i think you still do pretty good because you list better quality items?

see unless i am really looking for something specific, i don't buy used clothing online.

i love to shop.

all retailers have sales.

i don't care so much about brands.

but often enough i will find a pique RL polo shirt with tags in a thrift.

1 of the last one i bought was a lacoste long sleeve pique shirt with tags for 6.99.

i buy jeans at walmart for under $10.

bought polo shirts at target for $7 each.

you can beat that.

and no issue about size or quality (as some might say).

your boss might have to spread out into other categories.

in mine it might be easier.

i pretty much know if i have a rarer and more desirable item prior to listing it.

if so, i am always guaranteed it will sell.

the hard part these days is to find such items.

what i sell is not based on "need".

not like people "needing" clothing...

good luck and plenty sales to you and your boss...

[themagicmountain]

The Googley monopoly is rewarding their fellow monopolists at Amazon with search results

The retail monopoly problem is hurting everyone, including Ebay

We know now that googley and Amzon literally bought themselves politicians over the years to protect their monopolizing. Lots of private visits to them

Small and even medium business is getting wiped out by the monopolizing