First quarter 2024 was rough - USPS seemed to have lost it's mind/grip on reality about mid-February and even now is still having issues. USPS Ground Advantage is settling in, and eBay International Shipping is stabilizing.
Second quarter 2024 (Apr/May/Jun) had continuing USPS issues, which rolled over to eBay Standard Letter issues, which concerned customers who saw no tracking (standard USPS) and hadn't gotten their purchase yet (standard USPS & eBay Standard Letter both), leading to more time spent calming customers and keeping track of packages than normal.
So how did your second quarter go? Sales up/down? Trending up/down? Customer purchasing patterns continuing or changing?
Share what you are comfortable sharing.
-Bob.
My personal sales have been stable for most of the quarter - a bit better in Q2 than Q1, but nothing to write home about. But I'm not really pushing my personal sales - I really need to focus on adding new stock each month, perhaps as much as 2/5ths of my monthly, non-Store, Free listings. Not getting rich, but not going broke either.
At work, we're experiencing continues slippage, likely from a number of sources. Our Status has dropped from Top Rated to Above Standard, thanks to USPS losing packages, not scanning everything they pick up, not picking up every day, not wanting to take all our orders when they do stop for pickup, and super-delayed deliveries.
And those delayed deliveries weren't always weeks late... sometimes they were just late enough that eBay tagged them as a late delivery. The missed pickup scans earned us a few late shipping tags as well. Now combine late pickup with lack of tracking and late delivery... it was a mess, and our numbers show it.
Interestingly, our Amazon shipments suffered no similar issues when USPS shipping was used. I've got a ton of ideas why this might be, But then I look at the Returns and Refunds numbers between the two sites, as percentages of orders processed. eBay has a much lower rate of Return or Refund, which means I might not be selling as much on eBay as Amazon, but what I do sell on eBay is more likely to stay sold - not generate a refund or a return.
We have a couple of company-wide considerations that haven't been fully decided yet, but I see a good potential for positive results if we take the time to set things up right, both online and in our warehouses. We're selling on multiple platforms, so the issue of what inventory belongs to who and what's been listed and what hasn't is not getting any better. In fact, it's gotten worse in the short term. 😞 One of the potential plans should help with that and increase our 'economies of scale' by moving online processing to a dedicated space not connected to the retail B&M store.
I'm getting a handle on the eBay inventory, what I have and what I don't, and doing better at renewing listings every 60-90 days. Those ended-then-relisted-as-new products continue to sell better than expected, telling me that we have sellable inventory but they've just been listed too long and are not getting decent Search placement. Reposting helps that.
The goals are to list more, reduce customer issue interaction, continue testing International sales/shipping, and attempt to locate a reliable, online, multi-venue listing/selling/inventory service. I'd prefer to stay on SixBit, but the boss thinks it's faster to do things on the web than on a local database. What he's not seeing is that on eBay I have to create my own pictures and descriptions, and do my pricing research. I keep telling him this and he continue to think I can increase listing speed by using fewer pictures, less description, and quit answering questions. I'm pretty sure that's not going to end well.....
-Bob.
Three words to remember: Multiple Revenue Streams.
At work, we have multiple online venues active, are working on setting up a pretty basic online store, and both retail and wholesale sales. I don't personally, but I haven't been self-employed with the '08 Recession. But it does make sense... the more places you receive income from, the less affected you are to drops in any of them.
-Bob.
@mcdougle4248 wrote:I am using this slow time to go through my listings, pull out the slow movers, and put those items into low-priced lots. I have been struggling to get motivated to make more items in anticipation of 4th quarter buying.
Third quarter is the springboard for 4th quarter sales - I'm getting better at collecting and re-posting inventory 4-6 weeks before holidays, and it's just starting to take off. Missed Independence Day... we've got a ton of stuff, but I was working on other things and missed the window.
My personal listings are less holiday- or quarterly-sensitive -- the problem I have with my personal stuff it just sheer exhaustion from "doing eBay" all day long. 20yrs ago, this was not a problem...but sooner or later it just stops being interesting and becomes more of a chore. That's when I have to try and trick myself and find a new angle to make it interesting again.
I'm running out of angles. 🙂
-Bob.
Boss is in town until next Friday, so things are buzzing around the store and warehouse. He's expanded a bit more on his plans to move online sales to one of the warehouses - the big space doesn't get too cold or too hot, but he's going to add an AC system anyway for the stock space, and a separate setup for the employee workspaces - data entry & shipping.
The move is going to be simple -- cancel all online listings on all venues, then go thru the invetory rack by rack and decide what goes to which venue, reposting and restocking in the new space. That way all sales will be simply from the new space, not split between new & old, and we'll have solid counts (no more out-of-stock or why-is-this-still-sitting-here situations).
That should also mean new racks and new aisles -- the aisles are important because we have a tall platform/ladder thing that we can roll up and down the aisles (if they stay clear) and access the upper locations more easily. I'm not a big fan of the low shelves, "shelf zero", as my back doesn't care for the bending and my knees refuse to allow me to crouch. My personal rackage (from emptying the house) has all the heavy, not sure why I kept this stuff on those bottom shelves -- helps stabilize the whole rack. Then you get lighter each level up you go.
And I'll get to redo the shipping space. Now, I'm not a neat-freak by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like to keep the shipping space orderly and relatively clear of "piles". My co-worker, who used to ship from our other retail store (now closed), will leave anything anywhere for just about any reason. So I'm going to suggest a dual space - he can keep his the way he likes, and I'll keep mine my way. This also eliminates the current conflict in who gets to ship when.
And decent space for shipping supplies!! I try to keep at least 2 wks of supplies on hand at all times - our supplier hasn't failed us yet, and restocks arrive in 3-4 days generally. But when there are promotions, or if we need to bump the expenses before the end of the tax year, I want some place where I can keep things organized and accessable.
Yeah... lots of plans. I'm sure the boss has a few also. I'm pretty good at laying out space... just not so good at keeping my personal space tidy. Didn't like cleaning my room as a kid, still don't as a near-retiree. 🙂
-Bob.
