No sales!!!

[sandyspicks14]

This is 2 days now of NO sales, Prior slow sales. I'm starving out here. This has never happened to me before. Am I invisible?

[nowthatsjustducky]

I have 10 items thus far going out today, my best weekend thus far since the move from Washington to Oregon.

That represents 3 of my selling accounts here (including this one this time around) and my Etsy store.  Item totals before fees and other costs for the weekend are $180.71.

This time, Etsy only accounts for $19.95 of that with one of the 10 sales (the Fisher Price Happy Apple).  It may seem odd, but any site can have a little slump at any time; and I have had 16 sales over there this month grossing $379.25 (net $364.72).

I definitely have no standing to be complaining, and I hope these posts can serve as encouragement to not give up.

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@sandyspicks14 wrote:

This is 2 days now of NO sales, Prior slow sales. I'm starving out here. This has never happened to me before. Am I invisible?

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@sandyspicks14

While I know that 300 or 400 hundred sales can seem like a lot to many people. If your usual average is higher and you hit two days of no sales, it's going to cause concern. No one needs to be limited in how much or how often they sell. I believe your point is that this is an unnatural slowdown and many of us have been experiencing it. Why right now?  I have no clue, but I do hate the lulls,like everyone else. 

[lookng2015]

I just packed & labelled 14 parcels from Late Sat through Sunday and this morning and still have 2 to go....(and why do I always leave the most awkward ones to last?)

[onlinetogo]

your comment makes me super invisible

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@lookng2015 wrote:
I just packed & labelled 14 parcels from Late Sat through Sunday and this morning and still have 2 to go....(and why do I always leave the most awkward ones to last?)

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I always save the most awkward ones for last just in case I run out of time, like what happened 2 Mondays ago when I managed to get to the PO just as they were closing.  Had I not done it that way, that would have meant about 8 or 9 packages would have been delayed a day instead of 1.

Just got the last 2 finished up and ready to receive their labels, with a little under 2 hours to spare.

[partsaholic]

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@chicboutique31 wrote:

Something is wrong!!  i have made no changes to my selling techniques, broadened the items what i sell and even lowered my prices and it is still dead quiet.

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Perhaps you should make some changes to stay competitive...but the real problem is the rollout of product pages, which happened at the beginning of November and has been a disaster to put it lightly

@mn-bargain-man wrote:

It should no surprise on where the sales are going!

Check out your local postal carrier before they leave on their route and observe what is in the back of their vehicle.  It is full of PRIME shipping boxes and you would be lucky to find one EBAY shipping container.

That makes sense to illustrate the gradual decline (which exists).  But many sellers have been experiencing 25-60% drops in the past two months.  This kind of market just doesn't change overnight that dramatically unless the people at the controls flip a switch.

[rixstuff]

I feel ya - second hand clothes arent really high on too many folks' holiday wish list.  Sure people are buying but they are usually buying new for gifts.

[chicboutique31]

consistently for 3 years of selling, I bring a full bin of packages to the post office every day and for the last 2 months, I'm walking in with a few I can carry in my hands. It is hurting me tremendously. at this time last year I was up 50%, right now I am down 50%. I have tested different promotions and none boosted my sales. People sat slow season is summer and I was doing extremely well. Now I just keep declining and declining. It is upsetting me because I rely on my business to pay my bills. I will have to change occupations if this doesn't get any better

[superdave*]

Sales are way down for most sellers, reason: TOO MANY SELLERS and not enough buyers, plus eBay POS search engine...There are of course other factors, but those are the main two...When I started on here in 2001 it didn't matter what you listed, the views were through the roof, now I can go days or weeks without "the first" view of a newly listed item...It's pathetic, if I had the same exact eBay store I have now 10 years ago, I would not have a chance of keeping up with shipping and packing...As the years have passed and I kept adding more and more items, I was wondering at what point would I have too  many sales to do by myself, well now I have over FIVE THOUSAND ITEMS listed and still have no trouble keeping up with sales, questions, packing and shipping and I have another job too...eBay is a shell of it's former self...I have another smaller store too, haven't made a single sale in almost 2 weeks and it has 250 items...

[odditiesandantiquities1]

I had a heck of a run for a week but my dashboard now is showing I've been in the weeds for the past four days.  Then again, the time for shipping jewelry presents has passed.  Looks like I'll have to wait for the post Christmas money.

[mistwomandancing]

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chinohighcowboys1963 wrote:

You have sold over 300 items in the past three months!

Why are you complaining?!

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The thing is, you can't always judge how *successful* a seller is just by the number of sales you see...  Where Seller A might think 300 sales over a 3-month period is a LOT,  for this seller that number may be far lower than they are used to!  And where Seller B might think 300 sales would be pretty darned good $$$,  for this seller that number may be far fewer sales than needed to make the amount of money needed to live on.  Many here need more than just Hobby Money coming in each month.

The other thing we have no way of knowing is how much PROFIT is left for sellers from their sales.  We have no way of knowing how much a seller paid for their merchandise to begin with, and very often that nice sale price we see is not nearly enough above what they paid for the item to have produced much profit after expenses!  It often isn't as good as it looks when we're just looking in from the outside.

When sellers show sales but are claiming poor results here, I usually take that to mean the results they're getting aren't producing the PROFIT they need to be making.  Shipping out merchandise and keeping busy at it doesn't necessarily equate to running a profitable business.

[coolections]

If you are starving because of two days without a sale I would suggest diversify your listings into different groups of items or even possibly get a part time job and not rely on Ebay for your sole income. Hate to see those go hungry.

[mistwomandancing]

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coolections wrote:

If you are starving because of two days without a sale I would suggest diversify your listings into different groups of items or even possibly get a part time job and not rely on Ebay for your sole income. Hate to see those go hungry.

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And I would add that if this  ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ is the problem here, it would indicate OP is cutting it too close to the bone overall to rely on eBay sales only, as there are definitely ups and downs in sales, not just seasonally, but over longer periods as well.  What sells wonderfully for awhile may slow way down after awhile as well.  The niche you were succeeding in previously may now have ten-times more sellers working it, so you can be losing sales to your competition.  Always hard to know, but always something you have to keep tabs on.  Seems like we continually have to be repositioning ourselves when we sell for our income.

[nowthatsjustducky]

Only one item to ship today so far; but that was a little $50 Walkman Radio that just sold within the past hour.  I think the Sales Fairy slept in this morning.