Is Coronavirus affecting anyone besides me, lowering your sales

[toalterorabolish]

Hi guys just curios my sales are very low right now. Does anyone have the same problem?

[frock_my_world]

I sell clothing and most of it is pre-owned. My sales were ticking along quite well until last Friday and everything came to an abrupt stop. I think I have sold two or three items since Friday and nothing in the last two or three days. 
thinking folks might be feeling paranoid about purchasing anything Used to wear. Which is somewhat laughable to me as if you buy a new blouse at a store you have no idea how many people tried it on or handled it while stocking and what their health status is....

Hoping my sakes pick up, and SOON!  

[dk0]

While it's tough to discern if I have really seen any impact yet (since there are always ups and downs in sales volume), if this drags on much longer, I have little doubt I will be impacted.

I sell airline-related collectibles, and a large percentage of my customers are airline employees.  Needless to say, the airline industry (and travel industry in general) is getting hammered by the slowdown as people stop travelling.

Most airline folks have been through the downturns before, and I am sure that they are preparing for possibilities ranging from reduction of hours to outright layoffs.  So, yeah, my sales are set to take a major hit.  (I wish my anchor store subscription was ending now instead of May …)

[hawkwind5454]

Well, something is interfering with my sales. It doesn't take much to make eBay buyers skittish; Whether they're terrified of receiving and item that just may be infected with a virus, to Colvid 19 having a negative effect on the stock market, when it comes to interfering with sales volume, (to use Gilda Radner's tagline), "It's always something".

[sin-n-dex]

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@ifyouloveit wrote:
I'm not seeing a slow down in sales (I sell on other venues, one is doing very well). However, some of my regulars that 'chat' with me are very worried as some of the businesses they work in are going to shut their doors and send them home for 2 weeks or more.

I just chatted with one last night who said starting this Friday, they are home until further notice. They are negotiating pay while off, she's worried she won't be able to pay her mortgage if this continues. They already are a ghost town where she works, (Bartending for a big hotel), and hours already are slashed. Tips are non existent because they don't have any customers now.

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This is a real fear. Where I live (in Ontario Canada) a whole lot of people at my work were sent home today. They sent out a survey to ask us questions about our personal life (travel and habits)... If you've been on a cruise recently, go home. If you have had guests over recently, go home. If you're going to have guests over soon, don't come in for 2 weeks after that. If you have a cold, go home.

This is not totally detrimental to our company because almost everyone has a laptop and server access to do their job from home. Some of the litigators have said they would like to be able to stay home for a few weeks and get caught up without the constant interruption of phone calls and coworkers stopping by.

I'm not sure what would happen to me if I had to stay home since I don't have a laptop and cannot do my job away from the office. My duties require a physical presence in the building, so it would hurt our team a lot if I had to stay home. (I broke my arm last year, and took 4 days off until it was better enough that I could drive to work, and I sat at my desk all day answering questions from coworkers because I couldn't do anything, that's how valuable I am to the team).

I'm doing my best to keep to myself and stay away from anyone who's sick, because the hint of illness is enough for work to send us home (with good reason I might add).

C.

[mam98031]

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@hawkwind5454 wrote:

Well, something is interfering with my sales. It doesn't take much to make eBay buyers skittish; Whether they're terrified of receiving and item that just may be infected with a virus, to Colvid 19 having a negative effect on the stock market, when it comes to interfering with sales volume, (to use Gilda Radner's tagline), "It's always something".

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There are always sellers coming to the thread that are having slow sales.  It is a common occurrence and certainly isn't new to our current health crisis.

[ifyouloveit]

@sin-n-dex.

It's going to get worse before it gets better, it's starting to look like a lot of business's and places are going to shut down. I'm not sure how some people and companies can even do that, like you said, you are needed in the office.

My friend was sent home early every day this week from a normally crazy busy hotel. Last night she said no one was in there, they had nothing to do. Hotel finally just closed early and sent them home.

I was out today and everywhere I went that was not a grocery store was empty. I was one of 2 people in our local American Legion thrift, it's always packed in there. Less people on the roads around here too, we are a tourist town so I guess they aren't touring.

Not much we can do about it, it is what it is going to be. Fingers crossed!

[sin-n-dex]

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@ifyouloveit wrote:
@sin-n-dex.

It's going to get worse before it gets better, it's starting to look like a lot of business's and places are going to shut down. I'm not sure how some people and companies can even do that, like you said, you are needed in the office.

My friend was sent home early every day this week from a normally crazy busy hotel. Last night she said no one was in there, they had nothing to do. Hotel finally just closed early and sent them home.

I was out today and everywhere I went that was not a grocery store was empty. I was one of 2 people in our local American Legion thrift, it's always packed in there. Less people on the roads around here too, we are a tourist town so I guess they aren't touring.

Not much we can do about it, it is what it is going to be. Fingers crossed!

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When they announced on the news in Canada that Canadians should stock up on supplies (that was a week or two ago, but I can't remember, just that it happened on Monday), that night the Costco store was nuts. I talked to a friend who lives in Markham (near Toronto but in the opposite direction of where I live from there) and he was saying about them running out of toilet paper. After hearing about the panic shopping, I commited $600 CAD to stock up on supplies. I put some stuff in the basement, and then stocked up on anything that would make a two week stay at home comfortable, plus my regularly weekly grocery shopping of fresh stuff (I cook a lot of my meals).

The litigators can work from home (at my office) because all they need is server access (to see documents) and email access. They use internet to conduct investigations. Most litigators work far more than our 9 hour work day and go home with laptops to continue working at home because of the court deadlines and time limits to respond to legal documents.

I cannot work at home because all that mail, documents, thumb keys and CDs that get put on the server have to physically come to the office and be scanned and uploaded. So I have to be sitting at my desk to receive this box of mail, and myself and my 8 teammates prep, scan and validate documents all day. We have electronic incoming documents too, but that actually might be possible to do from home. But work has not approved anyone on my team to have a laptop, so that's not an option right now. We're not permitted to use personal computers and devices for work reasons due to all the security and privacy legislation here.

C.

[steelernation2007]

All is well sounds like something a well known politician said recently.

[cynthealee2]

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@pburn wrote:
At the beginning of the year, January 2, 2020, the Dow closed at almost 29,000. Today, it closed at 25,000. For me, on paper anyway, that translates into a loss of $80,000. While you sell some really cute items, I'm just going to concentrate on buying groceries for awhile . . .

Recent statistics indicate 61% of eBay buyers are over 35. If those potential buyers aren't paying attention to their retirement accounts and reassessing their spending habits--at least for the near-term--they certainly should be.

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It's not a loss until you sell... Look at it another way... Stock Market is having a blue light special... I'd be buying all I could if I had any money anywhere.

[chapeau-noir]

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@cynthealee2 wrote:

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@pburn wrote:
At the beginning of the year, January 2, 2020, the Dow closed at almost 29,000. Today, it closed at 25,000. For me, on paper anyway, that translates into a loss of $80,000. While you sell some really cute items, I'm just going to concentrate on buying groceries for awhile . . .

Recent statistics indicate 61% of eBay buyers are over 35. If those potential buyers aren't paying attention to their retirement accounts and reassessing their spending habits--at least for the near-term--they certainly should be.

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It's not a loss until you sell... Look at it another way... Stock Market is having a blue light special... I'd be buying all I could if I had any money anywhere.

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It's definitely buy time and not sell time.  Or at least hold the line and not buy or sell - depends on where one is in life, etc.  The situation is way too volatile right now to be making any big changes otherwise, and 2020 was supposed to be volatile, anyway.  We could be looking at a very different picture even in a matter of months, but at least more information at that point.

[hawkwind5454]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@hawkwind5454 wrote:

Well, something is interfering with my sales. It doesn't take much to make eBay buyers skittish; Whether they're terrified of receiving and item that just may be infected with a virus, to Colvid 19 having a negative effect on the stock market, when it comes to interfering with sales volume, (to use Gilda Radner's tagline), "It's always something".

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There are always sellers coming to the thread that are having slow sales.  It is a common occurrence and certainly isn't new to our current health crisis.

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Ergo...It's ALWAYS *something*.

[hawkwind5454]

....And now, post Pres. Trump's address.... I'm afraid they're will be little causal doubt.

[pburn]

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@cynthealee2 wrote:

It's not a loss until you sell... Look at it another way... Stock Market is having a blue light special... I'd be buying all I could if I had any money anywhere.

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@cynthealee2 

Oh, boy. Let me see if I can explain this to you another way, so you can understand how this might work for some retirees:

I have my retirement account invested in the stock market. I earn X dollars/x% in income from that account. That income supplements my social security payments and provides additional monthly income. 

Well--and see if you can follow along with this--if the market is down, so is the income earned from my investment account and, therefore, my income--money I live on every month--is reduced commensurately.

It has nothing--I repeat--ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with buying or selling securities. 

[cynthealee2]

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@pburn wrote:

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@cynthealee2 wrote:

It's not a loss until you sell... Look at it another way... Stock Market is having a blue light special... I'd be buying all I could if I had any money anywhere.

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@cynthealee2 

Oh, boy. Let me see if I can explain this to you another way, so you can understand how this might work for some retirees:

I have my retirement account invested in the stock market. I earn X dollars/x% in income from that account. That income supplements my social security payments and provides additional monthly income. 

Well--and see if you can follow along with this--if the market is down, so is the income earned from my investment account and, therefore, my income--money I live on every month--is reduced commensurately.

It has nothing--I repeat--ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with buying or selling securities. 

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Blond I may be stupid I am not.  If you are forced by law OR necessity to pull out right now yeah it sucks hurts.  If it's by law cause you are at those ages and have to pull it out, then do as my in-laws are doing and turn around and buy while it's on blue light special in different accounts (that aren't retirement accounts) and let it sit and recover.  If necessity then do the least amount possible to buffer the amount of damage.

Same way my in-laws did it in 2008.

I on the other hand have begged my kids to buff up their accounts while the stock market is on sale.

[momogoodies1]

My sales are down by 70 percent, people have stopped buying Corona beer for heaven sake, its a panic. People are afraid of running out of toilet paper, sanitizer, stocking up on things using their disposable income. Buyers are being driven away by fear at least in my store.