Lick the wounds of defeat and move on?

[nuclearomen]

This weekend has seen no sales, talked to other sellers same thing, seems to be consistent when no sales happen to so many different sellers in completely different categories/items/seller bases. Whatever... not pointing reasons. Just like to see how others deal with times of no sales and the frustration it can cause? I myself, have learned being on this site it gets wakcy wooky sometimes, and you'll go insane trying to figure out reasons... instead of focusing and worry on it, I just don't pay a ton of attention to it anymore and just keep doing what I do, then suddenly orders come in again and/or I'll get a bunch at once for a short time span. Again, whatever, be it site, algo's, economy, holiday...just keep doing my thing and not worry about technical explanations. 

[bwv6697]

Like you, I pay no attention to selling activity.  If it happens, it happens.  If it doesn't, its merely because those people who are looking for my merchandise have not yet found it.

Of course, I am not dependent on eBay for my retirement income and would never in a million years render myself so vulnerable.

Barring expulsion from eBay, anything that one attributes to a specific lack of sales activity -- "algorithms," the economy, promoted listings, little green men, the weather, eBay management -- is, in my opinion, simply drawing on the vagaries of their own imagination.

[cardxcraft]

What I do is keep acquiring new inventory and constantly listing.  I don't let frustration creep in, I only look for new methods to present my items.

Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows.  But, we do know it will stop at you at some point.   

[bwv6697]

PS: I'm old enough to remember life before computers.  When "entitlement" was not a crippling national obsession.  When we had to mail letters and dial a rotary phone and make international calls after midnight when the rates were cheaper.   When only the rich actually believed that they could make money in their sleep.  Before the toxic waste dump of "social media" polluted our lives.  

Nothing about human beings or life more generally has really changed.  It's just that technology has made it appear as though it has.

[mike_jayroe]

My sales are not that hot right now.

Trying to change a lot over from fixed priced/buy it now with buyer paying shipping to free shipping and best offer. So many items (UMI yearbooks) have multiple listings. I have added bulk discounts on these hoping to get a buyer interested. 

Depending on what happens close to the end of the year I might try one other crazy thing which I will keep secret for now.

If that doesn't work I will give up and let who ever handles my estate after I croak deal with it.

😋

[ed8108]

When doing what you have been doing no longer provides an acceptable outcome, undertaking change can prove to be a wise course of action.

[nuclearomen]

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@cardxcraft wrote:

What I do is keep acquiring new inventory and constantly listing.  I don't let frustration creep in, I only look for new methods to present my items.

Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows.  But, we do know it will stop at you at some point.   

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@cardxcraft same, I am always acquiring inventory, if not on a daily basis, at minimal, 3 times a week...though I do not place it all on this site I do list frequently, every day or every few days.  

[dolcetreasures]

The only thing that seems to work, albeit basically eats what little profit I have left, is promoting. Unless I want to sit on merch, I gotta pay pay pay to get cash flow from eBay sales. For whatever series of reasons, eBay is no longer viable for the things I sell. This is probably the case for many. 

[nuclearomen]

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@dolcetreasures wrote:

The only thing that seems to work, albeit basically eats what little profit I have left, is promoting. Unless I want to sit on merch, I gotta pay pay pay to get cash flow from eBay sales. For whatever series of reasons, eBay is no longer viable for the things I sell. This is probably the case for many. 

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Promoting doesn't have to take all your profit and doesn't require you to elect the overly inflated suggested rates to make a sale doing it. My industry is different, but I can see you sell clothing and I know that can be be a real tough category to compete in when it's done by so many on any site you go. You have experience and a lot of feedback behind you, which is a plus. I know this site can get you down, but don't let it end you.

[mr_lincoln]

@nuclearomen   For me it's looking at the growth potential for eBay and it is simply not there with all of the changes they made since early last year ... which happens to coincide with when sales started to get wonky (and that's being polite).  

Here are the facts for what I have been selling.  In the last 16 months only 2 months have set new monthly records.  I determine this by comparing a month this year with that same month in the last 7-8 years.  So this month, July, is being compared with all previous Julys for a 7-8 year period.

If I look an annual sales the last true "growth" year was 2021 ... highest sales volume compared to all previous years ... and prior to that each year was better than the one before it.  For this year I have actually had more inventory for sale (on average) then previous years but that's not improving things.

Sell through rate is horrible and does not positively sustain the acquisition of future inventory.  One winds up having to float money until sales catch up and surpass cost.  In the last year I have had to divert more inventory to other venues to assist the cashflow.  There is a good chance I will do some of that again this week, sorry to say.

[dolcetreasures]

If I required eBay for subsistence, I would be living in the streets somewhere in Santa Monica near the pier. I made some decent profits in the past, but time to move on. As you said, there’s simply too many clothing sellers. And this in fact that case, there are far far more clothing and shoes to be found here than there are people willing and able to buy them up. 

Unfortunately without promotion, the clothing just doesn’t sell fast enough. Unless you have very specific pieces that many people are looking for, you’re limited to the whims of those who stumble across your listings. And this becomes increasingly more and more difficult as the options to buy clothing has grown almost exponentially. 

[az93]

I figure its all my fault because i refuse to promote. That coupled with loss of enthusiasm resulting in few new listings. It is depressing.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Slow sales means I don't need to pack and ship. While I would prefer better sales, I can use time to source, to put away inventory, to photo, research and list, and to learn more about other things I could source to expand what I sell. I can also spend time reviewing existing listings, running my own tests, etc. And yes, it gives me time to look into multi channel selling. 

[chapeau-noir]

It's slow right now - I usually have steady sales, but it always slows down mid-July through August. I used even to shut down my store through the summer months. Now, I just tick along and it picks up again in the fall, though I'm slowly downsizing.

[mr_lincoln]

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@dolcetreasures wrote:

If I required eBay for subsistence, I would be living in the streets somewhere in Santa Monica near the pier. I made some decent profits in the past, but time to move on. As you said, there’s simply too many clothing sellers. And this in fact that case, there are far far more clothing and shoes to be found here than there are people willing and able to buy them up. 

Unfortunately without promotion, the clothing just doesn’t sell fast enough. Unless you have very specific pieces that many people are looking for, you’re limited to the whims of those who stumble across your listings. And this becomes increasingly more and more difficult as the options to buy clothing has grown almost exponentially. 

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@dolcetreasures   Heading towards retirement years I viewed eBay as a nice additional cash stream and while it still has that potential it is not growing like it once was.  What used to turn over within a month and hit profit is now taking a month and a half out to 2 1/2 months.  

It is NOT the economy either as some might want us to think.  If that were true then I would be wallowing in surplus inventory acquired at a great price and I would not be engaged in this pleasant conversation.  The opposite is true, inventory at a good price is harder to come by then it used to be ...