Sales Is it perhaps JUST ME, or are sales down.. I am strictly vintage & antique smalls

[clemsantiques]

I would like to know what I am doing wrong... Sales are down to sometimes 1 every other week. 

Inflation ???   I use to be 4 to 5 a week,   Kindly reply.  Thanks

[selsa84]

Sorry to hear that sales are down. Some blame the economy, some eBay and others blame the lack of interest in one's items , but could be a bit of all three. Try ending the items and relisting with new pics and titles. I hate to say try using promoted listings , especially if your in a over saturated category. Running sales may help you. I personally don't put much blame on the economy as my sales have been fairly good till the last week. Search is a lot different than what it was years ago and promoted listings hasnt helped. It's a pay to play for a lot of sellers these days. Hope things pick up for you. 

[chapeau-noir]

Collectibles are probably even more supersaturated than clothing (which is mostly what I sell). Sales are good for me on my other site and picking up here - I suspect it's just the time of year, but people have been posting this complaint almost daily for the 15 or so years I've been here, so being proactive is good.

My advice is to rejig some of your listings, take fresh photos and brighten them up a bit, just refresh all around and stay active on the site.

[a_c_green]

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@clemsantiques wrote:

I would like to know what I am doing wrong... Sales are down to sometimes 1 every other week. 

Inflation ???   I use to be 4 to 5 a week,   Kindly reply.  Thanks

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I browsed a random assortment of your listings and can't find much room for improvement; I think they do a good job of conveying the item for sale, and it's just a matter of time to find your buyer. The thing is, collectibles can be a rather volatile market, depending on how much discretionary income the average buyer has in any given week, so I think you may just need to wait it out for sales to pick up again.

Having said that, I strongly suggest that you keep yourself busy with making more listings for all kinds of things, to keep stirring the pot and attracting new buyers who will then look around at what else you have for sale.

I have seen posts from others here who point out that one reason for declining sales can be that your popular or appealing stuff will go first, and then the less-interesting stuff will sit there. When uploading a whole bunch of assorted stuff, you can expect some things to sell fast while others will linger.

Keep yourself active with listing a few new things each day, and maybe people coming to look at those will find some older items of interest as well. For example, I had a few recent sales of items that I've had listed for a year or more. It was just a matter of time, and I don't know if my buyers found those items in a direct search or because they were browsing my other listings, but hey, a sale is a sale.

[chapeau-noir]

The photos can use some improvement - in fact, I think that's the one biggest thing that can help listings pop and draw the eyes. Many are dark or look cluttered. Photos IMHO are one of the toughest things to do well, yet one of the most important.

Use the time to experiment around - you don't have to have a white background, but a couple of pieces of poster board would really enhance your items and try brushing up a few listings.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@clemsantiques 

Clem,  you have such lovely things and good knowledge behind them. I looked at your listings thinking I could spot out something to bring up but " naw you done good"!

     Hang tight, the weather could be playing a role here why folks are laying low. Out west we are burning up, it was 119* today and even I don't feel like shopping, my brain is on 🔥 fire!!!!

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Although most of the items in your listing have merit, I do not see many which I would expect to sell quickly.

Some of them would have sold more quickly 10, 15, or 20 years ago.

With the number of items you have listed, steady, predictable sales levels are unlikely to be possible.

These fact would be true if this was good economic times or bad economic times.

My listings and their sales behave much like they did in past hard times. But there are always sellers who wish to debate whether we are in a bad economy.

This past week has been the week when the largest number of Americans take their vacation each year. Many of us are affected.

I would expect that your current listings are selected on the basis of what you have been able to acquire to sell, and they vary with time. I could not discern real depth in any area of evidence of a specialty. You have enough followers that if you had several specialties you might have better sales, but some specialties, like railroad collectibles are dead at this point in time. It is one which always dies in hard times unless you have rare and highly collectible railroad items, which sell slowly in both good and bad times.

[pls-consignments]

I'm in the same category so I won't share all my secrets 😉. But I would start with better photos. Solid backgrounds with more light should help. You might want to redo your titles as well. Avoid coma's and quotation marks, which you use frequently. Also try to keep your font consistent. NOT the EASIEST to READ. Hope that helps. 

[turtles-trading-post]

The only comment I can make about your listings is that the title of the book should be the listing title.  For instance I'm looking at your "Picture Dictionary for Children" 1945 title isn't in the listing title or even in your description text.  Expect people to search by title.    

Also your descriptive text... first line should be about the item,  I  repeat the item title on the first line.   Then skip a line before the description of your company. 

Overall the collectors market drops during the summer months as people are doing vacations and outdoor things.  And it's not just "stuff".  My wife and I go to a restaurant we like every Wednesday.  Most of the year it's a long wait for a table.  During summer, if it's nice outside,  we can just walk in and sit down!

Also the thing I found that drives sales in collectibles is the number of followers you have.  I found the top sellers in my categories, often selling duplicates of my listings and for more than I have it listed for,  have thousands of followers.  Those are folks getting eBay emails etc  promoting their goods.   I've got mine up around 250 and I notice a good percentage  30-40% of my sales are to repeat customers.   Good Luck!

[goldxxxsilver]

Great overall Comments...

1 Day at a time here on Ebay.. 

Happy to say this is only a Hobby for Me!!! 

Of Course until Tax Time....😄

[windycityart4u]

I think we are all in the same boat unfortunately with the ups and downs. Hang in there. Refresh all the listings multiple times a day, list multiple items a day, make sure your packages are being scanned by the postal service. I also end around 50 items a day and “sell similar.” Send out offers when you have potential buyers. Once in a while buy a couple of items from eBay to keep your store active. I notice I get more sales when someone leaves me positive feedback. These are all my methods/ secrets. Hope they help you. 

[krazzykats]

Perhaps the items you have listed are the left overs after all the good stuff has been bought?  Long tail stuff...

[theteamsetguy]

@turtles-trading-post ,

Also the thing I found that drives sales in collectibles is the number of followers you have.  I found the top sellers in my categories, often selling duplicates of my listings and for more than I have it listed for,  have thousands of followers.  Those are folks getting eBay emails etc  promoting their goods.   I've got mine up around 250 and I notice a good percentage  30-40% of my sales are to repeat customers. 

This is so true. I have over 2,100 followers and my repeat customers fluctuates from 30 to 40 percent of my sales.

[adamcartwright]

You have some nice items listed, but I think there's some room for improvement in the photo department.

Your photos strike me as adequate for the buyer who comes to eBay looking for that particular item, but possibly inadequate for the casual browser who's waiting for something to catch his eye.

Summer is supposed to be slow, in any event.

[johnrj1226]

It is summer time - people take vacations.   Most recently more people traveled on the road or in air for the week of the July 4 than ever before.  Second reason I suspect in many Southern states -school will be starting the first week of August.Temperatures have  been unusually high throughout the US - those electric  bills will be HIGHER as usual this time of year and automobiles are over heating and more tires blowout due to hotter driving surfaces (just threw that last one in there but it is a fact).  Plus those EV don't get  that advertised millage per battery charge due to the air conditioner running.  Talked to a guy charging up his  nuevo Telsa (less than a year old) - he  told me he is only getting  109 miles per charge now when it is in the high 90s here in GA.  Plus it takes a little over an hour to recharge when the battery is low. (yep he's sitting in the sun in his black vehicle or at McD's a quarter of mile away  chillin' out.  Oh UGA starts first day off classes on August 14 - college ain't too cheap.

Me thinks items like vintage & antique things can wait.