Eek! What's happened to my sales?

You're silly with this EEEEEk stuff.
<big smile>

I won't know if sales are slow or not until a week after Labor Day and then I'll clue you in.

This is the only ID I have up and selling from now and sales slow to a snails pace from May to September.

After Labor Day is when I start selling everything else again.

Let's keep our fingers crossed Rick for the week after Labor Day.

See ya round the salt mines.
<smile>
Donna

I was just about to ask the same question. The first 2 weeks in August were great and now we are selling very few things! I think I will hold off listing until the weekend or after. The last 2 weeks have been a waste of time. Maybe it's a back to school thing.

Aren't most kids back in school now? Or are there still a lot of schools that don't open until after Labor Day? If that's the case I guess there could be a lot of last-minute vacations..

My sales did slow down with summer but have still been fairly steady. But the past two weekends -- yikes! It makes me nervous.

This weekend and week so far have been slow for me. The week before last was a good week for me. I have noticed a bit of slow down too which makes me wonder if I should bother listing anything until after the holiday.

While schools here in NC are back in session, schools up north in NY (were we just moved from)are not. They do not go back until next Wednesday. Same is true for Pennsylvania kids and some of the other northern states.

Marcia

Normally my weekend does little to no sales --- not this past Saturday. I sold a few on ebay and a bunch on ecrater.com

My shipping department said Hey what is this Christmas already, lol

Note, my shipping department is my 15 yr old daughter, lol.

Hmm...

Maybe I should employ my shipping department... If I did that I'd have 4 extra hands helping out...haha...

I can tell you that this year in Michigan they passed a law that none of the schools are allowed to start until AFTER Labor Day.

Nothing I sell has anything to do with back to school...but I still took this week off just because of the upcoming holiday.

Mike

I'm experimenting with sales. Mainly, pricing. I launched 40 items at .99 cents last week. So far, 17 have bids. The bids are much lower than I hoped for, but may still bid up. I have a TON of hits on my counters and a definate increase in watchers (doesn't mean much to me).

I don't know about other categories. However, in apparel, I'm beginning to think lowballing the initial price is the way to go. Even if it means selling some items at the starting bid price. It seems if you're listing popular brands they bid up most of the time and it all averages out in the end. I base this on watching several sellers over the last 6 months or so. The big advantage is, most everything sells the FIRST time listed.

Also, try going to the WANT IT area of eBay. You know, where buyers post what they're looking for on eBay. Then do a search for items you have to offer. Don't bother weeding through a gazillion ads. Search for what you have to offer and then offer it. Free advertising.

I have a few more ideas I'm playing with. Once I try them out, I'll let you know. As sellers we can fall into a rut, get stale. Sometimes, it's good to shake things up a bit.

Make a big deal about having a mega /super sale. Hold it on the same day and every week. Send out newletter emails to your subscribers. Post it in all of your listings. Something like, beininng at *:** AM/PM, every **** is our Mega Mania Sale! All items starting at $***!

I would have to say, one of the biggest hinderences to my growth has been, me. Not being consistent. We're running online stores. We have to keep buyers motivated to purchase from us. We have to stand out from the competition. Gain buyer loyalty and so forth. Okay, I'm rambling. Gotta go.

More later gators.

PS - I'm sure most of you already know all of this. Me, I'm always learning.

quote:

Originally posted by BTPS:
Normally my weekend does little to no sales --- not this past Saturday. I sold a few on ebay and a bunch on ecrater.com

My shipping department said Hey what is this Christmas already, lol

Note, my shipping department is my 15 yr old daughter, lol.

haha... my shipping department is my 15 year old younger brother... haha...

Don't feel bad Rick, we are just plain dead & have been for a while We are seasonal as the fellows that use our tools and busy with vacations and summer honey do's in the summer. After school starts back, they come back when they can justify spending money on their habit. Last summer was out first summer and we were still building so we didn't notice. We thought it was great! Bert says they will be back after the holiday and hopefully we'll sell some homemade items for Christmas. Emails will be going out this week and waiting for them when the holiday ends. I hope prayer helps.

Good luck

Rosemary

PS Good to see you over there.

Good luck to all.

My own personal sales have been mediocre at best, but at least I made my PS $ threshold for the month...not that being a PS means anything these days anyway ::sighhhhh::

I also work for an eBay store (shhh..don't tell..hehe!) but they've been having an incredible month, so who knows? Maybe it has more to do with what one is selling than I realized?

-Fox

Well, I'm hopeful that things will start kicking again after the holiday and routines are back in place...

Magie, I agree with you about the lower starting prices. It's risky and you have to have decent stuff to sell but I've found (at least when sales are steady) that the really good sales are plentiful enough that I don't mind the ones that only go for the starting bid too much.

quote:

Originally posted by Foxfyre33:
My own personal sales have been mediocre at best, but at least I made my PS $ threshold for the month...not that being a PS means anything these days anyway ::sighhhhh::

I also work for an eBay store (shhh..don't tell..hehe!) but they've been having an incredible month, so who knows? Maybe it has more to do with what one is selling than I realized?

-Fox

I'm an assistant to a seller on eBay. VERY Expensive Watches. His business is not hurting in the least bit. He's doing great and there's no set time of year for him.

Me? I know my limitations as a seller. I don't have any rolex's, movado, Tag and more watches to sell. <smile>

Counting down till after Labor Day,
Donna

Memorial weekend to Labor Day weekend On eBay = Slow sales in auto parts. Or maybe I should say Vintage/Classic ~ Options/Accessories/Other Neat Auto Related Doo-Dads.

Oh, you can still sell parts, but sell-through is down - items go less or quite a bit less than they do in Sep>OCTOBER>Nov. & Mid Jan>Feb>MARCH>April>May. Christmas time and the summer = POOR SALES. Either the wife and kids want all of the money for Christmas shopping or in the summer the guys are just out & about, driving their cars or going to shows/swap meets - getting out into the great outdoors etc . . . This summer has been extremelly slow, but pretty much typical . . . watchers are WAY down. On similar items - as an example, in the winter I may have anywhere from 30-60 wathchers average - but in the summer . . . 4 or 5 up to maybe 9 or 12 . . . Yeah watchers don't really mean much...except maybe that there is ACTUALLY someone out there -lol!

Things do seem to be much tighter right now - even on the rarer, more sought after stuff...Although I have seen some stuff sell this summer for prices that knocked my socks off...3 'correct' rods to connect a 4 speed shifter to a transmission - in this case for a MoPar make muscle car. Yeah - they're tough to come across - hard to find...BUT GEEZY LOUIZIE . . . over $400? So goes to show you...Ya never know!

Gas prices...Loom & Doom of War...Election On The Way...Life In General - it all has it's effects. I guess all I can say is
DIVERSIFY .... Buy a bigger house>shop> BIGGER Storage Building and sell a variety of stuff . . . Vintage Military Stuff does gangbusters all the time, the 'Gun Guys'...any of it - all of it sells ... watch your markets then dump your scrap Gold / Silver (This can be a pretty amazing and entertaining category to 'Watch') . . . Certain 50's and 60's kitschy little China/Porcelain things/figurines go well anytime...Any collectible/antique type thing that is RARE will go good anytime - but there again...HOW GOOD... depends on the time of year.

I myself just get the feeling that things may get tougher before they get better . . . but don'tdespairandThanktheLord for the consumer driven bunch of people that we've all become.

It's going to be raining in Florida for the Labor Day Weekend.

Anybody planning on a get away to the beach or tourist destinations might be indoors and shopping on eBay.

You just never know..sales might be good this weekend.

Good Luck,
Donna

Hi I'm new to ebay and auctiva. I've tried to sell 2 items in june/july and didnt sell either...i guess because i dont have any feedback. How long did it take you guys/gals until you 1st sold an auction? My sister sells too, she does alright, but I think she's getting tired of me ask her to list for me. Does any one have any pointers for me starting out?

Sandy

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Bradford:
Well, I'm hopeful that things will start kicking again after the holiday and routines are back in place...

Magie, I agree with you about the lower starting prices. It's risky and you have to have decent stuff to sell but I've found (at least when sales are steady) that the really good sales are plentiful enough that I don't mind the ones that only go for the starting bid too much.

My experiment included 40 auctions lauched at .99 cents each. I have bids on 19 of them with watchers on some of the rest. So far, There is $160.26 in bids. That's only, $8.42 average per item. My shipping covers all fees. At this rate I'll make about $8.00 per item. I guess that's okay for an under $20.00 investment. I hope they bid more tomorrow night before closing.

On the items that were without bids as of this morning, I placed higher amounts on them. I really don't care to give away suits for .99 cents. I'd rather place them in my eBay Store. Someone will but it.

This one blouse (I think is kind ugly) is up to $19.00! Cool.

I think a mix of .99 cents and items under $9.99 for most things is a good way to go. For sure, the low starting price generates the heat for popular brand named items. My inventory is mid-level Macy's type of stuff.

I see some apparel sellers who sell artsy boutique apparel for a nice chunk of change. Some of it goes for hundreds a piece. I can't get a hold of that type of merchandise. Anyway, the brands and low starting prices.

I'll let you know what I end up with tomorrow night.

Oh yeah, September has always been a very good month for me. Sales are coming.

quote:

Originally posted by babyandmecakes:
Hi I'm new to ebay and auctiva. I've tried to sell 2 items in june/july and didnt sell either...i guess because i dont have any feedback.
Sandy

Sandy,

I won't buy from a seller who has low or zero feedback.

June/July are slow months to start off with and if you don't have feedback that will make it worse.

I started with eBay back almost 8 years ago and it was a whole different ball of wax then. It's hard to explain. Everything sold. Lots of items sold without pics.

If I were you, I'd find some nice ebooks, recipes with free shipping and fast feedback. Search eBay for Recipes or eBook. At least build your feedback up to 10 before uploading any more auctions.

Not to push myself on you..but please check out my eBay store as I do sell those types of items from this eBay ID.
Suthrnjewl's Recipes & Remedies

Enjoy!
Donna

My Best,
Donna

quote:

Originally posted by Magie Noire:

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Bradford:
Well, I'm hopeful that things will start kicking again after the holiday and routines are back in place...

Magie, I agree with you about the lower starting prices. It's risky and you have to have decent stuff to sell but I've found (at least when sales are steady) that the really good sales are plentiful enough that I don't mind the ones that only go for the starting bid too much.

I hope they bid more tomorrow night before closing.

On the items that were without bids as of this morning, I placed higher amounts on them. I really don't care to give away suits for .99 cents. I'd rather place them in my eBay Store. Someone will but it.

This one blouse (I think is kind ugly) is up to $19.00! Cool.

Oh yeah, September has always been a very good month for me. Sales are coming.

Magie,

You KNOW the heat of the bidding comes in the last 20 minutes or so..I'll keep my fingers crossed for your totals to climb this evening.

You won't ever know if something works unless you try.

I've got some great suits I'm getting ready to put up under my Clothing ID. (Or I might just put everything under this ID, I'm not sure) I don't know if I would have the gazunga's to start those at .99...I'd be scared they would end up getting them for .99. <smile>

Some of the ugliest pieces of clothing I've seen and picked up for pennies thinking there has to be a market for this...has done well. When I look through some of the closed Vintage items..I think..<blech>. But I'll be sure to make a note to myself that if I run into a similar item while thrifting to pick it up.

September starts the selling frenzy up until end of December. Can't wait. I've got some great items I want to get up and make the buckeroo's on.

Hope all finds you well!
Donna

Have you thought about buying something first and then getting your feedback from the seller? At least you will have a feedback. That way when you list your items, it will show you made transactions.

My friend who started out initially did that.