yeager
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posted on November 2, 2001 11:14:37 PM new
For about the last week or so, my sales have dropped to a rate about half of what they were in the previous weeks. The item counters are down also. Is this happening in your sale?
I certainly hope that they will pick up with Christmas coming. 
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Jimtaxi
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posted on November 3, 2001 12:33:09 AM new
It's tough going out there alright. I'm glad this is a semi hobby/obession.
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litlux
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posted on November 3, 2001 07:16:22 AM new
You are not alone. Most of us have sharply reduced page views and bids.
The number of listings continues to increase while the number of buyers is stagnant, and those buyers are bidding less enthusiastically since 9/11 and 10/7.
There have been a number of threads along these lines, and the situation does not seem to be improving at all.
Of course, our posts will be followed by someone gloating how much they are selling, how we must be doing something wrong etc.
Nonsense. Sales are down. There is a recession, layoffs are horrifying and people are preparing for a long period of problems.
It is going to be a lackluster Christmas season for everyone.
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MAH645
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posted on November 3, 2001 04:51:05 PM new
Mine were down alot last week, picking up some this week.Hopefully it will pick up this month.
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timetravelers
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posted on November 4, 2001 05:19:46 AM new
worst time for us in 3 years..really bad..good luck everyone hope it picks up soon.(not a hobby here LOL )
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lattefor2
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posted on November 4, 2001 08:39:45 AM new
My sales and counters are way down, Sunday night use to be a good night for me last sunday was not good, and it looks like this evening is going to be a disappointment also.
This week I have added other items, that I am hoping will lend itself to the holiday season.
Reenie
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kdnmac
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posted on November 4, 2001 08:52:38 AM new
In 3 years of selling this is the worst it has ever been. I really feel for you guys that are doing this for a living.
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enchanted
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posted on November 4, 2001 10:06:25 AM new
Yes, sales are down. Fortunately I don't rely on only on Ebay anymore but on other fixed price sales online. Those are lower but I am surviving so far.
This is the slowest holiday selling season I've seen in the last four years.
For me the slump started on September 11th and has continued since then.
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timetravelers
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posted on November 4, 2001 04:02:45 PM new
Well you guys made me feel better whew! thanks for sharing.a relative's boss just started & they have tons of bids tons of $$$...we feel terrible.wht are we doing wrong..lowered prices,we try everything just keep paying more & more fees...then we noticed..THEY ARE SHILLING right & left..GRRRRRRRRRRRRR
This problem is killing the honest sellers..
besides the 9-11 & postal problems..
hey you guys!How could we be in the mail order biz now..what luck...but i see there are still some die hard bidders...
I have tried to diversify..trying a new site's CARNABY Holiday event..completely free try( which is what i can afford LOL)
many people say they sell so much off their websites? i wonder ..i know people used to have links from ebay not allowed anymore..right..that is another thing I take in to consideration in a new site if they allow links..i only try sites that do..
we should have that freedom..
good luck everyone..you all made my day..
Let's keep trying..it should get better!!
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chevytr
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posted on November 4, 2001 04:24:26 PM new
Yes, my sales are down to. The hits and bids just are not there like they used to be.
"There can't be a crisis today. My schedule is already full"
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outoftheblue
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posted on November 4, 2001 04:39:27 PM new
It seems to be picking up again. This Last week was our second best since 9/11. It should pick up slowly if nothing else happens.
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wowwow85
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posted on November 4, 2001 04:39:51 PM new
shill bidding at this time of the year??
what good does it do if the seller wins all his auctions??
just think the time it takes to file for refund of ebay fee?
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timetravelers
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posted on November 4, 2001 05:52:14 PM new
this slow time is the worst for this..they never request thier NPB fees or ebay would see the id is them..or see that all their friends are bidding on their stuff..ebay is supposed to catch this but it is rampant..
see she starts at 1 penny...(a 200.00 item,,no reserve saves 1.00 there) has girlfriends bid & bids on it with extra ids she has..gets the bidding going..& it is working like a charm..even now.Sickening..If it doesn't reach say 100.00 they want they just use one of their other id's bid high & win in themselves..then they can just relist it.
but when people see all those bids..they bid too..i check every item i bid on,,check the feedback.see if they are crooked..so they pay the fvf so ebay wins in fees,,they win as they don't have to sell it cheap.or some poor person bids high & wins it..thinking they got a deal.the bidders that get suckered into paying more lose,,& us honest sellers competing with this lose.This problem has been on the news many times..
seems to me this is federal mail fraud?
good luck everyone..hang in there
ps i tried to report a horrible ring of shillers before.they are still operating..
remember ebay makes money on this..a lot of money..
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kept2much-07
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posted on November 4, 2001 07:41:05 PM new
Sales are depressing right now. I do a lot of middle priced stuff or what used to be middle priced stuff that used to go for $25-$70. I just had auctions close with widgets going for half of what they did this summer. I thought summer was the slow time.
I quit my 9-5 job at the end of August to sell on ebay full time. Before that ebay was a hobby and a nice extra income. Lately I've been thinking maybe I'll have to find a part time job until things look up on ebay.
I have way too much stuff to stop ebayin completely.
There's a huge schilling ring in our town that I am not involved in. I'm pretty lowkey about my ebay sales and keep my ebay id to myself so the other dealers don't know what I'm selling. You would think ebay would get smart to the shillers. But like timetravelers said, ebay makes lots of money on schilling.
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wowwow85
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posted on November 4, 2001 07:57:40 PM new
timetravelers-it is hard to imagine your relative's boss who is new to ebay is using such tactics??
this is a rather sophisticated game.
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edigitalplus
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posted on November 4, 2001 08:00:23 PM new
Sales r the worst they have ever been for us.
47st.Photo
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rgrem
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posted on November 5, 2001 04:26:59 AM new
My sell rate is ok, but I am getting 100 lookers for every bid. Lucky if by the last hour I have 2 people interested. On a couple of things I find it amazing that in all the world, with millions of folks on ebay, I can find only 1 person to bid. Really made me rethink my opening levels and is costing me more in fees. Can't open everything at 9.99 anymore, expecting several bids. LOL
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timetravelers
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posted on November 5, 2001 04:41:13 AM new
I know it takes time to learn all this..she learned the hard way..LOL
she was addicted to buying & ran into this when she was bidding she has tons of feedback all purchases over the last 2 years..just started selling & had to do it the dirty way...she has really studied it..having had it done to her many times..
well i checked out the ebay rules..weak...very weak on shill bidding..
they may slap their hand & give them a warning or temporary suspension..this is unbeleiveable..
read this one...no wonder they all get away with this..: http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/shillBidding.html
by the way she is extremely well off..
edited to add...how can ebay just give a temp suspension..to me this should be reported to the authorities..if ebay knows about it..they have an obligation..this is fraud against the bidders,& fellow sellers,,& federal mail fraud..i just wonder how rampant this is?many of these people make tons of sales & we honest ones are struggling..it takes the bidders out of the pool..thanks for listening..i will still stay honest I can sleep at nite..& live with myself..no wonder it's tough out there..
[ edited by timetravelers on Nov 5, 2001 04:45 AM ]
[ edited by timetravelers on Nov 5, 2001 05:09 AM ]
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wowwow85
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posted on November 5, 2001 05:50:21 AM new
years ago ebay allowed seller to bid once on his/her own items.
sellers will do so when they think final price may be too low.
now it is banned.
so sellers do shill bidding to achieve the same purpose.
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swagman
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posted on November 5, 2001 06:34:07 AM new
Even though I don't agree with shill bidding[I've had fellow sellers unsuccessfully ask me to do it for them{shill bidding I mean}] it is a common enough practise in B&M auction houses - those bidders who are always in the corner of the room who no-one can ever spot. But in the B&M it is usuall yused to get the item upto a price where it can go[ie the reserve] whereas on Ebay it allows selelrs to star tauctions at ridiculously low prices thus attracting, in theory, more prospective bidders and on top of this they save on having to pay reserve fees which I think Ebay should scrap anyway.
Look at it this way, you set a reserve and the item doesn't sell then there's a good chance Ebay will get relisting fees if item fails to sell in the free relist - and they still get FVF. In practise B&m don't charge reserve fees.
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barbkeith
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posted on November 5, 2001 07:03:01 AM new
kept2much, I know exactly how you feel. I also quit my "real" job in August to do this full time and now I may have to get a "real" part time job if things don't pick up. I was warned this could happen (the downward slump) and I didn't listen. Oh well, I'm not the major breadwinner, but my steady paycheck sure bought a lot of extras and put money in the savings. I'm hoping things will pick up soon for everyone. Especially those who support families doing this. I hope that more for them than me. If I was business savvy I would start a local errand service. Anyone know of any good place for advice? Good luck to everyone. Barbara
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computerboy
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posted on November 5, 2001 10:40:32 AM new
Sales are fair...
I hope the holiday buying spree starts soon. Slow sales = boring eBay.
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Avante
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posted on November 5, 2001 11:24:28 AM new
I've put a few items in the featured category section of the items I sell at $19.95 a pop (and those fees add up quick). I did this hoping it would generate page views for my other auctions that aren't featured. While the ones that are getting major views are the featured but it doesn't appear to really be affecting the other auction views. Not sure if I will be doing that again. Way down page views and bids here. Maybe a cold snap will keep people indoors and then they will buy.....lol
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holdenrex
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posted on November 5, 2001 12:34:54 PM new
Strangely enough, my rates of successfully completed auctions are up compared to normal. I've been starting them at minimally acceptable prices and usually get the one bid I want, sometimes more.
On the other hand, I do know that some of the stuff I've been selling has previously sold for significantly higher in the past. Most of my stuff is yard sale/thrift store finds, so while getting $25 on something that I paid a quarter for is nice, I can still live with getting $10 or $15 for the same item. I just posted a book last night (a $1 yard sale find) and it's already up to $41 - so the fish are definitly biting if you have what they want.
I'm doing this as a hobby to supplement my income, but I can understand the worries of those of you who decided to persue this fulltime. I was selling at an antique mall during the recession of the early '90s and saw a lot of full & part-time antique dealers get shaken out of the business - that's why I decided to keep one foot in the corporate world rather than drop everything for ebay (which I had seriously considered at one point). Good luck to everybody out there.
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JRHD72
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posted on November 5, 2001 02:27:46 PM new
I sell part time. This is my first week with items up in the last four. As to KNOWING shill bidders. If you are positive, then I.D. them to the rest of us!
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mulberry912
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posted on November 5, 2001 08:31:10 PM new
WOW, glad to know I am not alone. I thought maybe I was selling the wrong items or they went stale. I have been selling on Ebay for almost 3 years. NEVER been this slow. I decided to add new items in various catagories to help boost sales. No such luck. I was making about $400 - $500 a week in profits. Now I am down to about $200 on average. Seems to be the trend. Thank the Lord for full time jobs..HaHa...HOW I LOVE EBAY ! ! How I hate Bin Ladin for what he has done
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blairwitch
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posted on November 5, 2001 08:38:22 PM new
I think ebay will take off after Christmas. I am going to have a large lot of items on in early december and see what happens, but dont feel bad because its slow everywhere. I was at the mall and the dollar store was doing more business than other stores. This holiday season is a bargain hunters dream.
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lucindamc
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posted on November 6, 2001 07:44:27 AM new
Right before and after September 11, my sales really jumped but I also had a lot of nice stock and good prices, cheap shipping, great feedback,customer service etc. In fact I thought all this scare about terrorists was good for EBAy because people didn't want to go to malls right now. Then the post offices started having problems with anthrax and I wonder if people are afraid to have packages mailed. I also rarely had a non-paying bidder. Now not only am I getting non-paying bidders, a lot of them don't even answer my emails.
Luckly I have a lot of great stock and I can offer low prices. However, with the fees so high, it is very hard to sell something for less than $2.00. I have great items - vintage clothing - but darn it, I am not going to sell a vintage pair of snakeskin shoes with a bag to match for $5.00. I would rather keep it. I've got lots of storage space and I can keep my inventory until sales pick up.
So I am cutting down on the fees - listing more at fixed price in my storefront, choosing only one category instead of two and listing items for 7 days instead of 5.
I also am buying as I am finding some bargains - not a lot, surprisingly but some bargains on EBAY.
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marniz
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posted on November 6, 2001 05:17:25 PM new
my sales are so bad that I'm going to have to cut out eBay for good if things don't pick up...eBay notified me last month that I could lose my powerseller status if business didn't pick up...They suggested I sign on with Auction Assistant and list more...I told them to keep their logo (I took it off my auctions voluntarily), I can't keep paying them insertion fees for stuff that doesn't sell...I took three items that did not sell on eBay to a show two weekends ago and got 3x the money I was asking for them on eBay....Fortunately, so far the problem appears to be only on eBay.
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dvdnstuff
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posted on November 6, 2001 07:00:16 PM new
My sales have been horrific. Hit counts down more than half!
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