posted on May 23, 2003 07:28:40 PM new
I have been keeping track of the hits on my auctions mostly low end collectibles, postcards, vintage costume jewelry etc and the last month or so the hit counts are WAY down as are sell through and final prices. Is it just me or is business really slow in some categories on ebay? Anyone come up with a solution?
posted on May 23, 2003 07:51:52 PM new
Mine are down, too. Especially vintage jewelry. I'm beginning to wonder if I should sell on the Australia site. Check it out, hardly any vintage jewelry for sale there.
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
posted on May 23, 2003 08:56:07 PM new
I sell vintage, antique and high end designer items. My hits are slightly below average, sell through is the same (95%), but final prices are definately lower...I attribute all of this to the poor economy and the glut of sellers with similar merchandise. Solutions? I am sooo glad I have kept my space in the Antiques mall, where they are buying anything that isn't nailed down.
posted on May 23, 2003 11:43:20 PM new
I sell postcards too and I havent kept track of the hits but the sales are down and prices too ..looks like a buyer's market to me! Let's hope people get tired of the warm weather soon and get back in front of their pc's !!!
posted on May 24, 2003 02:15:46 AM new
My hits are good but no bids. I am sure it is the sniping that will go on at the end of the auction. One of my items has over 100 hits and it has 4 bids. I think I can do better at the flea market. Oh well, with the new tax cut maybe things will change.
posted on May 24, 2003 05:25:26 AM new
Some causes why hits are down.
The glut of sellers with the same items for sale even collectibles.
The economy is still in the dumpster with many people out of work or in jobs that pay less money. The tax cut will mostly benefit the rich who can already afford to buy anything they want.
Millions of people have lost money to dishonest eBay sellers. They are gone forever as customers and they take 20 or 30 friends & family with them.
Because of auction fees & higher postage rates eBay sellers have lost alot of the competitive edge they used to have over box stores.
In the beginning eBay was a new way to buy stuff,the novelty is wearing off. That can be seen in the increase in non paying bidders, bids being with drawn. Many people use eBay as a form of entertainment with no real intent on buying anything. and of course running the bids up high then dropping out is a kind of revenge for those who have been ripped off.
Lastly, I sure there are many more reasons. People are just hanging on the their money. A strange view, considering unpaid CC debt runs into the billions!
posted on May 24, 2003 08:06:12 AM new
My sales are non existent, but so is my listing habit. Been spending too much time the last few weeks installing and tweaking OSCommerce so I can close my Vendio store.
Seth
http://tfshop.tfstudios.com
posted on May 24, 2003 08:47:19 AM new
My sales and hits are way down too.
I noticed the difference starting about 1 & 1/2 weeks ago. Dropped off big time
I do rent space in an antique mall and sales there have increased !
posted on May 24, 2003 11:04:31 AM new
Hello
Been in this since 1998. This is the cycle of ebay sales, however it gets worse each year.
I respectfully suggest you use this slow time to rewrite your "ME" to something useful. Rework your stock and by all means buy stock cheap when you can and things of that nature. The only way we are going to survive here is to get better each season.
Good sales my friends.
posted on May 24, 2003 04:13:37 PM new
My hits are down. Sales are slow but better than at the flea market,its way down there. Will probably do the 127 yardsale all 8 days and not go to the Flea or list on E-Bay. The 127 yardsale is Aug. 2-10 this year.
posted on May 24, 2003 06:20:53 PM new
I am like dacreson. I treat this business as being seasonal, sort of like having a shop in a resort town. When the heavy snows fall and the tourists disappear, close the shop and head south for the winter. With my eBay sales during the late spring and summer months, my regular customers are away from their computers, travelling, gardening and enjoying more active pursuits. I've learned over the years to accept the decline of sales during these months. I decrease my listings of my regular inventory. I focus on inventory acquistion of the rare and desireable for during the winter months when I gain the maximum profit. I sell stuff from my basement. I attend to house maintenance, such as roof repair, cleaning the gutters, power washing the porch, etc. I take the time to put my AD husband and Westie dog in the car, and take off on 3-5 day road trips, exploring my region, stopping to antique, visiting the botanical gardens, stopping in at the museums, and so on.
Life is too short to spend it all in front of a computer. Structure your eBay business to anticipate the annual summer slump. Make the bulk of your income during the winter months, and step away from the computer during the summer months to do other things. Stop and smell the roses while you can.
posted on May 27, 2003 06:29:46 AM new
My hits are good, but no bids--not even last-minute. And no, my prices are not too high, but I sell "luxury" type items, and that market seems bad right now due to the poor economy.
posted on May 27, 2003 07:25:55 AM new
I have noticed for the past month or so that the last minute sniper bids are not happening as often, if at all. That's a shame, because that was always the best part of running an auction...seeing all of the last minute action. Now, I check back after an auction ends and it's usually a let down. I have 30 or so of my favorite sellers bookmarked, and when I checked for their new listings today, more than half of them don't
have anything listed this week. That's very strange as I always thought of them as full time sellers with 25+ listings at all times. OH NO! maybe some of them are getting REAL JOBS!! or they are taking the summer off like hotcupo says...but it's a little early for that , isn't it??
[ edited by inot on May 27, 2003 07:28 AM ]
posted on May 27, 2003 10:13:52 AM new
I'm thinking of hiring one of the kids from the language schools to help me start listing on Ebay Japan. My hits are not to bad but there are some items I know will sell higher there.
posted on May 27, 2003 10:18:44 AM new
I'm thinking of hiring one of the kids from the language schools to help me start listing on Ebay Japan. My hits are not to bad but there are some items I know will sell higher there.
posted on May 27, 2003 01:15:24 PM new
My hits are way down as well. The wife only hits me 5 times a day instead of the usual 10. I guess I have been good lately.
posted on May 28, 2003 02:36:46 PM new
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I do think I will reallocate my time, less on ebay listings and more on other activities. I do have a non-ebay webshop and I can spend more time loading inventory items into the store, touching up the homepage, improving search engine position etc. In the physical realm I can work on organizing inventory, culling out items to bring to the local public auction, etc. Perhaps I will look into renting a booth at an antique mall. So if ebay picks up at some point in the future I will be prepared and if not that will be okay too. I just cant see spending a lot of time writing listings and paying listing fees with the current level of ebay sell-through. Atleast in my webstore there are no per item fees or final value fees, so if the items does not sell right away it is not a big problem.
posted on May 28, 2003 05:39:26 PM new
eBay tinkering with the system may also have something to do with losing their recent patent case. They may be getting ready to get rid of the Buy it Now feature if the court enjoins them from further use of the BIN patent.
posted on May 29, 2003 08:52:35 AM new
I don't pay much heed to my hits because it just takes the ONE postcard buyer in the whole world who wants my card to get a bid..what i do notice is what others have said...items are going for starting price and no nice snipes at the end of the auctions sighhhhhhh !
I am thinking about saving my really great stuff for the fall but will keep listing (at reduced volume) through the summer. I also notice that weekends are DEAD!!!!
I'm going to use my "home from college and can't find a job" daughter to put things in my ebay store....just wish Vendio would support the stores so this task wouldn't be so darn complicated!
posted on May 29, 2003 09:09:14 AM new
We only use “Fixed Price”, so I really pay little attention to hits, it only takes one person wanting the item to sell it.
BUT, it has always slowed down on eBay this time of year, and I’ve been on eBay since 1996. It tends to get slower during the summer and through the time the kids return to school, then back up and busy. BUT last year, during the summer we ran major sales on many of our items, turned inventory fast, and then replaced it all for the fall/xmas/winter season. It kept activity up, sales moving, and moved out some less desirable inventory. I think we will run major sales again this summer to move out less popular items, or over stock items.
We try to use the summer to tweak the auctions themselves, to upgrade and tweak our web sites, and reorganize for the fall/winter season. We also use the time to test new product, for possible fall purchases. EVERY retail business has sale cycles, eBay is no different.
IN these many years on eBay the ONLY major, out of season slump I've seen in years was that which occurred right after 9/11. eBay is a business, just treat it that way, and don't panic with every up and down of the market.
..looks like a buyer's market to me! Let's hope people get tired of the warm weather soon and get back in front of their pc's !!!
