SALES DOWN ALMOST NON EXISTENT - anyone else noticing this?

[vivagifts]

Hi there I have had a fancy dress shop on ebay for some years, and have done surprisingly well. Until last month... Some people are telling me it is the time of year, but January/February last year were really busy!  I do not understand.  In October I started to sell some craft items too and although they sell considerably well, the profit is almost nothing (about $1 per sale!)  I added them for fun and also to give customers more choice but have since noticed a HUGE drop in sales for costumes.

It may be just a coincidence but I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing this or does the fact that I do not specialise only in one niche market put people off?

I really cannot drop my prices any lower, on a lot of items I offer postage (including REGISTERED international post which is about $30!) and some items I am selling at cost - but they still do not sell, yet other costume businesses on ebay seem to be doing well?

If anyone wants to see my store and comment PLEASE do so.  I also have a private website which I have no idea how to market.. without giving google adwords mine and my husband's monthly salary for a few clicks... HELP   I would hate to close shop! 

[vivagifts]

thank you everyone, I could not agree more.  this has been some great down to earth advice.  I will need to do some hard research and restructure the business a little... so you think adding the craft items did not cause any damage?

[the-kazbar]

not at all. I sell hundreds of different items and I find that the more variety I have, the more I sell, not less 🙂

[motherbear2003]

When I first started selling  I only made and sold dolls clothes, then I added baby bibs, then I added and the list goes on - as the variety of items offered for sale increased, so did the sales:-)  Working on my next project at the moment, as sales are in a bit of slump:-)

[aussieclassics]

Sales are defintely down,   50%  on  last weeks.    I had a great year last year,  January wasn't too bad,   but  this month is really nowhere near normal.

[vivagifts]

some people say that when ebay is doing maintenance or changes to the site, the search results are all over the place and each time there is "change" i notice a reduced number in sales.. does anyone know if they are in fact making more changes?...... like increasing seller fees?? 😐

[phorum_junkie*]

My store sales are definitely down on last year but  I am selling on my other free to list ids at higher than expected prices so overall I don't think the total for the six months will be too much below in total.

[purple.cow]

I think there are limits as to how much junk product any marketplace can bear at any one time and it's that fact alone that curtails buying trends.

To overccome the problems with getting the buying public through the store door when dealing in better quality products at higher price ranges most retailers employ what is know as 'Loss leader' tactics.

This is when the retailer offers one or two items at genuine 'At cost or below cost price' in their better quality products to the customer for a given time frame, a sale of sorts, in the hope that once the customer enters the store they will find other goods they simply can't do without buying while they're there.

It ends up with the retailer making a good overall profit while increasing market share.

This kind of tactic will fail if the 'loss leader' price can be found to be cheaper elsewhere.

[stonehaven10mel]

Hi, The economy is disastrously slow in the retail sector in general. I was listing a few items on ebay and not getting any sales. I also have a landscape supplies business and we are scratching for business. People seem to be only spending money on the essentials...mortgage, food, fuel etc. Ask the Reserve Bank though, they will tell you there is nothing wrong. X-(

[davewil1964]

for any of you interested please also read this post:

http://community.ebay.com.au/topic/Powersellers/Sooooooooo-Quiet/500162052?start=24&ts=1361925433832#msg605039602

Error: you don't have permission to view the requested forum or category.

Understandable, given I (and doubtless many others on this board) am not a powerseller.

[stickonbutterflies]

Hi there

Just looking at this forum this morning as my sales have also plummeted.. I have gone down by more than half the last 2 weeks and it was going SO great!  I just looked at the powersellers forum above too and it seems they are blaming it on ebay changing things or the new cassini ?   anyway hope it changes soon or Im gonna have to borrow some money to live!