capolady
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posted on March 6, 2002 07:00:16 AM new
Has anyone else had a tremendous drop in sales? I am accustomed to slow periods where I won't sell a lot for maybe a few days but the last two weeks have been horrible. My sales have dropped so dramatically I can't believe it. I've had no problems with bidders that haven't been solved to their satisfaction-no negs in over a year but as far as my sales go it's like eBay has folded up their tent and wandered away. Is anyone else experiencing this? I have not experienced this severe a drop since I've been selling (3 years). Let me know if it's just me.
Thanks!!!
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okcat5-07
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posted on March 6, 2002 07:18:34 AM new
An interesting and distressing development...I've been describing it as though someone flipped a light switch off. It happened suddenly around the late-middle of february, with no recovery. I checked the auctions of a few other book sellers and it is the same with them. I've generally held the notion that my business correlated with the stock market, slightly out of sync, but the market has been recovering as of late. Let's hope ebay sales haven't become a leading indicator. Any ideas, anyone?
[ edited by okcat5 on Mar 6, 2002 07:21 AM ]
[ edited by okcat5 on Mar 6, 2002 10:14 AM ]
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mballai
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posted on March 6, 2002 07:43:53 AM new
Book sales are near dead on Half for me. I don't seem to be having any trouble moving things on eBay. It largely depends on what you are selling. I've been shopping on both Half and eBay, so I don't know if it is just the glut of auctions/merchandise.
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KatyD
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posted on March 6, 2002 09:04:12 AM new
This is the worst I've ever seen it. And I've been on ebay since 1996. Hits are WAAAY down. Bids non-existent. My category is antiques and collectibles. Most are no reserve and quite a few "steals" with low hits and no bids. It's terrible!
KatyD
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gina50
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posted on March 6, 2002 09:57:33 AM new
YEP ~ my ebay sales are way way down too 
I sell mostly vintage & gently used clothing with collectibles in between and has been one big roller coaster ride for me since 9/11 .... you know .... one week I sell a lot and next week .... slowwwwww !!
I seem to do better with BUY ME NOW option since ebay started that new feature at top of each page.When I am shopping on ebay I tend to look at BUY ME NOW items and picture feature first myself.
I tend to buy a lot of books and usually go right to half.com for those since it is very easy to do and have had no bad transactions.
I just think there is too much stuff and too many sellers. Also, as a buyer when I am looking at say .. vintage tablecloths... many sellers don't even tell you what colors there are which is real important. I usually just pass them by.
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mballai
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posted on March 6, 2002 11:00:25 AM new
It's not unusual to have prolonged drop offs in sales. It used to be that eBay was hot more than not, so some of us may have been spoiled by brisk bidding and higher amounts as well as steadier volume. We are now experiencing what the rest of the markets do as they mature and change.
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MAH645
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posted on March 6, 2002 04:22:06 PM new
I'm not even selling on E-Bay right now,because I'm tired of paying fees and little results.This has become a hobby for me I wouldn't dream of trying to make money on E-Bay as there are too many hungry Powersellers that would sell their own mother for a penny to maintain their status on E-bay.I can't be bothered with games,I'm going to earn a living. But keep reading,there will be somebody that will tell you they are getting rich on E-Bay, and they have never done better.
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daleeric
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posted on March 6, 2002 09:05:26 PM new
The same thing happened to me. One item that has always gotten a big response in the past has only two bids right now under $250. Experts say the economy is good. Could it be spring weather around the country? Or tax season on the horizon? People that have to pay wait for the last minute.
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bugler1998
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posted on March 6, 2002 09:07:40 PM new
My personal selling habits lead to alternating weeks of good and bad. I get ambitious and pull out a stack of good stuff, prepare 50-60 auctions, and wait for the bids to come in.
By the time the next weekend comes around, I don't have many new ones ready, but I am ready to relist the dogs or items I ovepriced. Of course, those do not do nearly as well as a fresh new item. This usually spurs me on to list some more auctions that I can make money on for the next week.
I have posted previously about the idea that a seller cannot keep selling the same "rare" stuff and expect the bids to continue to come in over time. even with the millions of bidders ebay claims, there is only so much of an audience to buy the rarities at the high prices we wish for.
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morgantown
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posted on March 6, 2002 09:22:21 PM new
Sales have been OK for us. We run genuine auctions with no reserves and low starting bids, are you? I have no fear of paying $50 for an antique or collectible item and listing it on ebay for under $10. Been doing it that way since 1997, and have not needed to adjust policy yet. "Yet" may come one day, but it has not presently. The "thrill" of "real" auctions still count for something. To be honest I have lost money on some items, but vastly made up for it with others. I also gain higher ending prices from the repeat customers that like to bid, bid, bid, and bid. 
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holdenrex
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posted on March 6, 2002 09:53:45 PM new
I launched a bunch of auctions over the past two days, mostly books, and so far nearly half of them have bids. I start them at bids that I would be happy with as a final price, so it wasn't a matter of low-balling them.
Morgantown, I like your auction philosophy. I do a mixture of start prices. If previous demand indicates the bidders will push the price up to an acceptable level, I'm more than happy to start the bidding at next to nothing and let the free market determine the price. But I've found that some items, and books are a good example, frequently only attract one serious buyer over the course of the auction, which is why I start my book auctions at my "lowest acceptable bid" price. But certain collectibles do have a sort of "slingshot" effect where a really low end starting bid results in a final price going well above the norm. More power to ya.
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clancey99
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posted on March 7, 2002 06:08:02 AM new
I don't think it is the Economy- I have been to auctions recently where the bidding was off the wall- even the auctioneer could not explain it-I have found that if an item sells on EBAY it is usually a one bid item and sells at my opening price-over the last 3 years EBAY has gone downhill and I think it will touch bottom soon-The problem is the powers that be at EBAY don't care- they have all made millions and have lost touch with the sellers who started them on the road to riches-I am going back to consigning with auction houses and doing antiques and collectible shows-unfortuantly once a Company stops caring about the needs of the people that made them they begin to slide- I have been in Customer Service for 20 years and have seem that happen many, many times to the point that it is a given-Everything EBAY has done to"improve" has been something that just adds another fee to the seller-If there are no sellers then there are no buyersI don't think those people in their gold lined Ivory towers have considered that-
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katmommy
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posted on March 7, 2002 06:46:57 AM new
I get bids but not as much as I used to. I, as a buyer, tend to shop The months preceeding Christmas the most and thats when I also sold the most. People are indoors alot more then and therefore online alot more. I think its Spring Fever in the air that are keeping buyers from logging on.
MEOW
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peiklk
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posted on March 7, 2002 07:51:12 AM new
for the record, an auction with a reserve IS ALSO a genuine auction. Many auction houses allow reserves.
If Buy It Now wouldn't disappear on the first bid, I wouldn't use a reserve and just let the auction take it's course.
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twinsoft
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posted on March 7, 2002 08:18:42 AM new
I sell mostly auction management software and ebooks like "How To Sell Your Mother For A Penny On eBay." A while back I made eBay part-time. I still make more money on eBay, but I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. If you're selling the same thing year after year, try adding some new stock.
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pelorus
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posted on March 7, 2002 08:34:55 AM new
My book sales have actually gotten better in the past 2 weeks. Generally, though, half.com has depressed ordinary book sales on ebay terribly. With every book I have to decide which of the 2 places to put it. I also have to really look for unusual items that won't have much competition on ebay. We all have to put on our thinking caps and be smarter. Those cat books just don't get much response anymore.
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morgantown
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posted on March 7, 2002 09:38:01 AM new
A reserve auction may be a genuine auction; however, it's not fun bidding against the seller. I don't understand why some of you sellers refuse to put your $100 to $500 book value, Depression Era glass, items on ebay for $5 no reserve? I'll bid on the stuff! hehehehe
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morgantown
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posted on March 7, 2002 09:50:59 AM new
Morgantown's jocular nature ^^^^
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REAMOND
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posted on March 7, 2002 02:25:31 PM new
Well it looks like we have nearly 1.5 million more auctions listed than normally.
There is only so many buyers with a limited amount of money to spend so someones sales have to be falling.
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Roadsmith
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posted on March 7, 2002 02:46:53 PM new
One thing that may be happening is that buyers are gradually turning into sellers. I can say from experience that when I began selling, after buying for a year, my buying dropped off drastically. Didn't want to spend my hard-earned money (but didn't mind spending hubby's!) and I was too busy with launching auctions to cruise ebay.
Today I was talking with a local collectibles shop owner. He said the major auctioneer in the area, who conducts weekly sales, told him he's never seen business so poor--that bidders are more reluctant to bid, and final prices are lower than ever before.
This is spooky. I just cruised my favorite category, wall pockets. None of the 8 or 9 that are ending within a few minuts have even one bid.
We may be the canaries in the mine!
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bluroks
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posted on March 7, 2002 02:57:01 PM new
Same with us. We noticed the last two weeks of February. Starting this month, its been terrible. We sell collectibles and we were doing very well until middle to late last month. We are also on other aution sites too and sales have been WAY down. Hope it picks up soon! Actually went out and got a full time job today!
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holdenrex
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posted on March 7, 2002 03:55:25 PM new
Interesting. Ebay raises its FVF and starts charging for BIN, and the listings increase by 1.5 million? So much for the mass exodus to Yahoo.
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dman3
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posted on March 7, 2002 04:21:00 PM new
One thing I have noticed lately is a lot more international sellers with huge numbers of listings in more and more catagories.
I think the Incress in listing is because of the boom in selling earily last month my sales have been slow but I am noticeing many of the items that are getting bids are getting multiple bids even though I still offer BIN rather then bidding the buy price I am getting 4 to 10 people bidding on a item.
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
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mballai
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posted on March 7, 2002 04:30:58 PM new
More auctions are not surprising as one necessarily will list more in order to either play the odds on getting more bids or making more smaller sales to make up for fewer larger ones. Like it or not, this is a volume business where the sales amount gets more credit than it should.
Not long ago I was talking to a seller I had purchased an item from. The item was well over $100. She figured that after her expenses, she made about $5.00 on an item, something I make easily on a much lower dollar sale amount. It would not surprise me if there are some Power Sellers who boast impressive numbers, but are not making any real money.
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ijusthaveit
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posted on March 7, 2002 04:59:45 PM new
Its not how much you sell ,but what you sell!!!you can sell one car a month and be a power seller,"If you have the items they will come!"Quality,Hot Items,Scarce Items all beat Quantity.
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dejapooh
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posted on March 7, 2002 11:09:21 PM new
I sell Olympic stuff, and right after the games you can expect a surge, but this time I am getting prices between 2 and 10 times what I expect. WOOO HOOO
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outoftheblue
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posted on March 7, 2002 11:19:13 PM new
I can't complain. The last few weeks have been my best ever. I'm selling fewer items for more money wich means I don't have to take as many packages to the post office.
If you aren't selling and your page views are down, you are probably missing a key ingredient RESEARCH. The market is changing so change with it. If that is not an option, you might as well find something else to do with your time.
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labelle
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posted on March 8, 2002 03:24:00 AM new
I am a very small seller at this point and still diversify venues.I normally sell books on eBay- but have found that the Alibris company does too, since maybe end of November. Their feedback is over 6,000 in a few short months with over 40,000 listings.. As far as books that may be a big competition for low end- mid price items.My sales in general have been just OK.
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spuddy98
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posted on March 8, 2002 05:20:00 AM new
Ebay has been very very good to me. Seems that no matter what I have someone eats it up. I am not a retailer and that is often where the problem. I have never felt that one can retail well on ebay. How do you expect to beat wal Mart?? Shipping on most things is at least $5 so why try?? I just do used items that I have nothing into. I actually had a camera outfit that I bought in september on ebay for $450 w/ shipping and I have sold it piece by piece now for about $800. I had some special car manuals that I bought at auction for about $10 for the lot, I almost threw them in the trash, and now I have Cleared over $300. No lies. Ebay is unbelievable. The proff of the success is when I have to pay up at the end of the month. But where else would I sell for so much so quickly??? They deserve every dime they get!!
Prepare for the worst but hope for the best!! Spuddy98
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daleeric
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posted on March 8, 2002 11:45:47 AM new
Outoftheblue, what do you mean by "research"? Is it getting comp sales on your items and seeing how seller are doing who sell similar items?
I don't have anything bad to say about E-Bay. I don't even mind paying the featured fee if the item sells. After paying rent in the antique mall for several months, the featured fee isn't all that bad!
I think spring fever has hit. There are warmer than normal temps on the east coast and people are enjoying the outdoors. I am personally an indoor girl
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