Welp - It's Official - Disappointing Christmas Sales

[juststuffisell]

Not asking for any sympathy, and really don't need it, but thought i would share my Christmas sales numbers. If you feel brave, you can always share yours even just the percentages for the other folks to check out.

Can't tell you how disappointed I am given this is the biggest month for Jewelry sales, to include pre-owned jewelry.

From December 1st to December 24th my Sales for the month are right about $2513.00 - I did have a 7 dollar sale (plus shippng) come in in the wee hours that was not added in.

Last year December 1st to December 24th my sales were $4700.01. I had about 40 more sales during that time period. No way I am going to hit my total month revenue either this year...lol

So my total item sales are down 43% year over year and my MTD sales are down a staggering 46% year over year. I am scared to death I might have to Fire myself given I spent more on new inventory in December than I did in gross sales on eBay so far in December...Oops...lol

Anyway, this was actually the most comparable year because I was selling pretty much the same types of inventory this time last year as this year. I ran promotions/sales to no avail.

While it is only my personal opinion, it does kind of corresspond with how ebay has really made changes that impact visibility, CTR and STR. I mean, you are punished for the old click through and sale through rate which is compounded with lower visibility. Then you are punished with "promoted" listing pushing you even further down the search results and then punished again with promoted listing advertised in your listings that result in lower STR....The holidays always bring out more competition... so you kind of throw it all in the air and say...Meh....especially when you haven't figured out how to overcome that beyond selling everything for next to nothing.

I'm not going to pay eBay more money as a pecentage of gross sales so promoted listings is out - the margins simply don't support it. I suppose I can try and tweak my copy/seo which I have been gradually working. I add new inventory every week. I dunno really how much more effort I am willing to put into this platform with any expectation that it is going to result in better anything.

Since I know there will be some people that say:

"Used stuff doesn't sell during Christmas" - I would like to point out that used stuff does sell during Christmas - every Christmas my sales are reasonably brisk and my 2017 seasonal numbers show that. Heck, I am running behind 2016 numbers when I only had a few dozen jewelry items for sale during that holidays.

"You had the wrong stuff being sold" - You might be right because as a "dealer" in used items, stock changes.... 😉 but the pre-owned jewelry items always move and they simply aren't. Makes me sad. I have had to take down more items off of ebay that sold somewhere else this month and I have moved a lot of inventory the last 3 weeks, it's just not been exclusively on eBay.

Ah well. As I said, no sympathy is needed. Just thought I would look at my numbers last night given how the cha ching has been pretty sparse the last couple of weeks and I consider this the end of my "Christmas Season".  When I saw them and then looked at the year over year, I was like wow, these are bad, i am going to share them.

Time to see how the Year End Closeout Season goes - I expect just as poorly 😞

All of you have a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe & Happy New Year!

Cheers

[tunicaslot]

Hopefully you'll have a much better 1st quarter! My sales are the opposite - I'm down 6.3 compared to the prior 31 days ( Nov was a good month ) but up 51.6% over the last year. I have between 250 and 750 listings at any one time depending if I get a 500 free promo. I didn't get the last one so have pd for many listings to at least keep the higher value items uo during the holiday season.

As far as my proformance metrics - they are horrible but going in a different direction where I see more profit per item purchase has been my saving grace. All the new items I have I can't give away - but the used items - both here and on Etsy are selling. 

I do promoted listings at 1% - if I'm making a $20 - $60 profit - I can afford to give Ebay another 20 - 60 cents.

As I said - hopefully - the first quarter will be better for you with those who got Ebay gift cards or money - shopping for themselves.

[mypostingid15]

Since I know there will be some people that say:

"Used stuff doesn't sell during Christmas" - I would like to point out that used stuff does sell during Christmas - every Christmas my sales are reasonably brisk and my 2017 seasonal numbers show that. Heck, I am running behind 2016 numbers when I only had a few dozen jewelry items for sale during that holidays.

"You had the wrong stuff being sold" - You might be right because as a "dealer" in used items, stock changes....  but the pre-owned jewelry items always move and they simply aren't. Makes me sad. I have had to take down more items off of ebay that sold somewhere else this month and I have moved a lot of inventory the last 3 weeks, it's just not been exclusively on eBay.

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lol, someone will come along soon and tell you millennials don't believe in Christmas and old folks that did are in heaven.

[defeated247]

Sales down for the year about 67% , I am scaling back my store maybe all the way. Ebay is getting more crazy by the minute. Ebay is getting what they want. Running off the small sellers and keeping only the big. I can't wait to see their quarterly report. They will probably say it was a banner quarter, they will lie like everyone else. No matter, good luck to you in the future, I will be doing something else.

[Anonymous]

Well I sell Used Items . Most Jewelry, I am a small seller, Last year In December I had about 35 sales around 350$  ( not bad ) This December I have had 3 sales about 30$ I have 4 times more listings than last year,  My sales dropped to around 6 sales a month  on average, But December just 3... I do not understand what has Happened to Ebay... On a good Note I have Bought quite a few Items this December at great deals all used items for me and my family.... So who knows.

 I do have about 4 packages(in coming) stuck up in North Houston since Dec 19th.....  Good Luck everyone and Happy Holidays!

[zamo-zuan]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

I do promoted listings at 1% - if I'm making a $20 - $60 profit - I can afford to give Ebay another 20 - 60 cents.

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I just want to say, regarding promoted listings, I think this is the best choice. There's almost no reason to do more than 1% promoted listings fee. Don't believe the "trending" rates. There has to be some sort of problem in the "peer" calculation, because when I test the results at 1% and network with some of the sellers with the most sponsored listing visibility... I've never found anyone even 50% as high as the trending rates in our category.

This is besides the fact that if you have too high of a promoted fee, the price will suffer, and so will your search placement! 1% is usually within the margin enough to not make a serious difference.

Promoted listings are DEFINITELY good to do, but stick to 1%! 

[emerald40]

Since you are on this thread, I just wanted to take a minute to wish you a very Merry Christmas and happy and healthy New Year.

[membersinceaug2001]

I sell used low volume cheap stuff (under $20 usually).  This Dec is 43% up from last Dec.  The most number of items sold in a month this year.

I have other accounts, only one sale this month on this account.

I was thinking it was just people buying for themselves, items didn't seem to be giftable type things.

[frodobagginskennedy]

I sell vintage china and glassware.  November was flat YTD and Decemberr is just slightly down.  Which I can say is my fault as I had to put the store on vacation and upped my handling time to 5 days.  I have been absent for 3 weeks due to my Dad beig seriously ill.  

My Hubby has been wonderful in trying to keep up with my shipping.  So I woud say I had a good December being just slightly down.

Merry Choristmas to all

[zamo-zuan]

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@emerald40 wrote:

Since you are on this thread, I just wanted to take a minute to wish you a very Merry Christmas and happy and healthy New Year.

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Thank you very much! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year, to you and everyone here! 🙂

[parkersparrow]

My sales were about the same this December compared to last December.  Up 27% Compared to prior 31 days. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

I have no complaints. My second account has similar numbers. My third account has been dormant since the end of November, so it doesn't count lol

[gew6463]

My sales were down a bit, but to be fair, I didn't have as many listings as in the past. My Doctor changed prescriptions, I had a bad reaction, and chaos ensued. So I only got about 1/2 the amount of listings up that  I normally would have listed (even year-round). But the overall price-point went down on some things considerably. I think perhaps people were tightening the belt when it came to Christmas decorations? And looking for extreme deals (like offers for 1/3 of advertised price, on items *not* set to make-an-offer). I did work out deals on some reasonable offers, since ultimately I wanted sales. And I had some really nice customers this year. 

I used promoted listings only on a select few high volume items and it did seem to make a difference. Those items usually sold quickly, at $20+ higher than competition. For the $5 promotion cost, I felt it was worth it. 

I did notice a strange trend: every 3rd day, views & sales on my store would almost completely stop. Then views and multiple sales would come in clumps. So there was some pattern there. Realistically, I know that my items won't always be at the top views, so as long as I'm having some sales, I can live with that. I definitely have had much better holiday seasons. But I made approx $2,500. For having an average of 85-100 listings, that is not too bad. 

The holiday season usually doesn't end completely until the end of January (at least for what I sell). Many people receive Ebay gift cards for Christmas, so that helps bring in some sales. I've sold approx $200 in the last 24 hours which will cover what is left of my fees. So hopefully more sales will come. I hope that is the case for you as well.

I know it is hard when you hope & depend on the higher volume of sales possible during the holidays. 

[fdgvt_0]

Mine have been on a decline for a long, long time...

I made the decision today to let all the MQ's go, as things run out I won't order more.

As for the OOAK's, I'll be selling off what I have left and will likely keep doing that to reduce inventory so hopefully either next year or by 2020 at the latest I'll be able to either downgrade or get rid of the store completely.

It will be a process but I'm done hoarding up the house for this.

As a closing statement I'll also mention the nonsense that goes on in these forums didn't help matters any.

[dickiedoo14001]

items are not getting the exposure that eBay used to give them in searches.