Long 20hr stretches of no sales

[wilsonharborsales]

Has anyone else experienced this?  Lately I am doing long 18hr-24hr stretches of no sales, no offers, nothing … dead.  Then, all my sales will come at once in a 30 minute window.  Often I will see 5 sales in a 30 minute window, and then I am dead again for another 20hr stretch.  Is anyone else experiencing this?  

18,500 items for sale, 12% PLS, 99.7% FB, free returns, TRS+.  

[ebooksdiva]

I sometimes experience several days to a week without a sale, it's been like that for the 20 years I've been selling. Nothing new.  

[kedit-66]

Hard to compare to the amount of my listings but I have the same thing. Makes It is easy packing though because I already know what 3 to 5 sales will need to be packed in before the post office closes. And the post office must be a fortune teller because they know 90% of the time what part of the US they are already going to based on other sellers packages on the counter. Pretty routine for the past 5-6 months.

[wilsonharborsales]

It is very new for me.  Sales are generally spread out throughout the day or concentrated during the evening hours.  I see that you sell MP3s, which is very niche.  This may be why in your case?

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Shopping patterns recently have been quite bizarre.

It has happened before when the headlines on the news and the contents of some people's pockets are depressing. Add to that the dog days of August effect/

[meekamaye]

I use the down time to review my listing, clean up my store and actually clean my house. I don't stress over a few days with no sales. 

[redlinear]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

Shopping patterns recently have been quite bizarre.

It has happened before when the headlines on the news and the contents of some people's pockets are depressing. Add to that the dog days of August effect/

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Bizarre is correct!
I listed some 2500 wheels on June 28th.
And some 3500 wheels on June 28th.
   Sold a 3500 wheel at 9:36 this morning.
   Sold two 2500 wheels at 9:45 this morning.

Yesterday evening it was items from June 19th

[chapeau-noir]

When I'm actively selling, there's a jam-up in the doorway of my store between about 6 and 8 a.m. Pacific time. Then that's it. It's been like this for years.

[12345jamesstamps]

Here's what I think is happening to me. 

I charge for International Shipping but Domestic Shipping is free.

I will have one or two days of no domestic sales at all but only one or two International sales on those two days.

And then it's back to 5 days of Domestic sales as well in a hour window each day  and no International Sales.

Some type of algorithms I suppose...

And it's usually my old listings selling and not recent listings...go figure.

I only promote 2% of new listings now.

[hartungcards]

" Sales are generally spread out throughout the day or concentrated during the evening hours."

Except when they're not.

[1funkydude]

What appears from a singular viewpoint to be a trend is usually nothing more than normal fluctuations. It’s hard to view one’s own sales as part of billions of sales when it impacts “me” on such a personal level. Through a narrow scope, there will always be things that appear to be patterns, that in reality are not. We waste a lot of time in small business trying to find a reason or a driver (or even a perpetrator) for these things. Such a small sampling over such a brief period of time is likely just part of the mathematical variances that are inevitable with billions of business transactions daily. 

[inhawaii]

When is ebay going to get their act together and spread out my sales evenly throughout the day?

[wilsonharborsales]

Businesses are dependent on data.  Trends are extremely important.  Not sure why you feel otherwise.

[inhawaii]

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@wilsonharborsales wrote:

I understand that you are here patrolling the boards to interrupt every discussion with your ‘sarcasm’

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You are incorrect.

I participate in less than 1% of all discussions.

[wilsonharborsales]

 Have a good day!