April Sales

Just wondering how everyones sales are going for April. March was not pretty for us, ( sales ended the month 40 % below average )  but April has seen a lot more consistant sales and a large increase in general customer enquiries. Still slightly fragile but looking much better. I spoke to a surveyer on the weekend and he has been flat out since the Federal election, having to work an extra day each week on commercial subdivisions and housing starts. Just went to order a garage and the salesman said the same thing. A huge turnaround in enquiry from very poor a couple of months ago to flat out. Are things starting to pick back up a bit and can politics have that much effect on peoples confidence and the overall picture. ???

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April Sales

Hi Chameleon...

 

I will copy my post from the other thread in here as it may well interest some others.

 

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Since about the beginning of March our sales have dropped down by about 70%.

We haven't changed anything on our listings. So its not something we have done wrong.

We comply with all the TRS requirements and all our listings get the TRS badge and fast shipping badge.

Just this week there has been a glimmer of hope tho, probably back up to around 55% down now.

 

We have a "test search phrase" we always use just to see where our listings are in the results. They are way down in the Best Match rankings at the moment and whenever this happens our sales are down and vice-versa too.

 

When times are good we ship out about 25-30 packages per day across our two stores. This past 6-weeks or so we have been lucky to get 5/6 per day. So we are hoping whatever has happened it comes good soon.

 

I have seen other sellers on other threads here saying similar things about sales too, so perhaps it is a lack of shoppers at the moment.

 

Our components (flowers, bands etc) come in from China and our major distributor over there has also said that his sales are way down too and he is talking acrosss the globe not just Australia. So it may be some kind of global nervousness in buyers for some reason.

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Having said all the above we are just now seeing a very positive day today. But we will see if it sustains over the coming days/weeks.

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April Sales

Fingers crossed that "sunny days are here again" for you Clarry

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April Sales

My sales have actually been consistently growing since October last year, funnily enough. I have theories, but it's speculation more than anything else so I can't explain it. So, I guess I'm saying I wish I knew what my secret was. Smiley Embarassed Smiley Surprised All I really do is reinvest as much as I can as often as I can, and look for things I want for myself and either can't find on eBay, or I'd be able to offer for less or on par with OS sellers. 

 

I just know that for two years I averaged around 80 sales a month (sometimes as low as 40-odd), which was cool for me as a hobby store trying to make some extra cash. But last year I decided to redirect my focus, finally ended all of my clothing listings, changed my store name and started sourcing craft supplies in bulk wholesale so that I could get them cheaper, and list the excess, plus expanded my range in fashion jewellery. In the lead up to Christmas, I finally exceeded the 100 sale target I first set myself when I started the store, then 200. I was expecting a slump right after Christmas, but it never came.

 

March was 294 sales, which is above the previous average of Jan/Feb, and so far for April, 141, so higher still by an average of 3 per day. Smiley Embarassed

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April Sales

Hi DG...

 

Our pre-Xmas sales went wildly beyond our expectations in Nov-Dec. We were mailing out 35-40 packages each day across our two stores. Since then it has been on the decline as I said above.

 

Happy to hear that at least one seller is experiencing good times. Good for you! Hope it keeps up for you.

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April Sales

There probably wouldn't be enough time in the day for the (very necessary) "freaking out" part of my current system if I had to mail out 40-odd packages a day. Smiley Surprised

 

I really hope things get back to normal for everyone, as I know there are a lot of sellers who have experienced a sudden, inexplicable decline in sales at some point, (and TBH I think it would be silly of me to think I'll be able to excape that perpetually, as there is so much on eBay that is beyond control or even measurement, in order to try and gauge the cause and counteract it).

 

 

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April Sales

Both myself and my partner operate these two stores jointly.

Oh... and we also have a 3-yo to contend with too. LOL Keeps us busy.

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April Sales


@clarry100 wrote:

Both myself and my partner operate these two stores jointly.

Oh... and we also have a 3-yo to contend with too. LOL Keeps us busy.


Ah, I see, you get to delegate the freaking out responsibilities over 3 people. 😄  I should get myself a 3 year old to take on some of the responsibility, as well. 

 

No, wait, bad idea, I should never hire anyone who will be better at something than me. Smiley LOL

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April Sales

LOL.
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April Sales

I was sitting on about $ 2000 on my sixty day rolling results for quite some time.

As of today it reads 254 dollars.

Quite a dramatic slump.

 

I spend a fairly rigid amount of sales on reinvesting in new stock but the last two months it has not even met enough for minimum reorders.

With the impending reduction of margins I am close to not bothering anymore.

 

And a spate of low DSR's which were vindictive mean I missed out on freebies so I am now stuck on 40 listings a month till the low DSR'sdisappear in ten months time.

 

I finally had a sale on Quicksales this week so hopefully I can replace income there as it is a lot more profitable there.

However I need to sell more than one item every four months.

 

 

good luck to everyone.  

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