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! 

[banknotes]

I stopped buying much on ebay (and i haven't been selling here for over a decade), because they ignored my opinion that I do not like to see OTHER ITEMS before I see the item I am interested in or I am about to purchase or I have purchased. Instead, they would display other stuff on the very top of the page before you ever see the item that you need (same stupid and I would say retarded approach as displaying ads in Youtube videos as if anyone cares to quit the video to click on some stupid ad) and it is hard to even find what I was looking for anymore. There are other problems on ebay and on other sites such as yahoo and google and etc. and all of them pointing to one thing - stupidity, carelessness and greed. Thus, consumer revolt = no sales. Same here, very few sales lately and I moved away from selling to growing my own food. But it's no only that. The economy is really bad right now. So people have cut on spending and are only buying necessities, because there are many panic dispersers. This is why you see increasingly empty shelves in stores, because no demand, no supply. So if you want to have your sales back, you have to act by spending at places which do have brain power and ignore those who are just in for the longest buck. Ebay? Who cares. There will be others. Hopefully with different owners.

[harley_babes_hoard]

Why do people not understand ebay are running a business, they are here to make money like all of us. Of course they want to make as much as they can ..........so do you. If you don't like the fees and conditions sell elsewhere.

Better still change your business structure to adapt.

It's no different than having a bricks and mortar retail store. If the landlord put up the rent and you couldn't survive the increase you would move to a different location with cheaper rent, adapt your business or sell it.

[davewil1964]

Why do people keep on dragging up old threads?

The reasons for sales slumps when this OLD thread was started are unlikely to be current now!

[billexploited]

We are in a recession people... every one is holding on their wallets

[haolove13]

Can you lend me some money too while you are at it?

Ebay will be suffering as well as my total account with them this month is $3.96. I can remember times when it was $396.00 at the midpoint of a month.

[davewil1964]

I doubt they still have any THIRTEEN months later, if what they said in their ONLY ever post on the boards is true.

Please, people. Look at the dates. If the issues are the same as this time last year, when this thread was created, then it's probably cyclical. If not, then there is no point dragging it up, OR answering people who, it is a fair bet, have never been back to the boards.

[carly2579]

yeah dave it is annpying when newbies  bump old forum posts/threads imo

[medalsbadgespatches]

Maybe the old threads/posts should be deleted if they are not allowed to be "bumped" by newbies

[davewil1964]

I totally agree. Unfortunately eBay don't.

My point stands, though. If this thread has anything to do with this year, then the answer that the issue is cyclical. Otherwise there are several other threads extant complaining about this year's lack of sales.

[haolove13]

And Dave, what about the people complaining about old threads? Have a read of the thread and some people were saying this will not happen. Well it has and now things are getting worse. Ebay is moving onwards in it's bid for world domination.

Those sellers trying to hang on to viability and / or halt the relentless upward spiral in prices have a right to be heard.

When I first joined ebay I controlled my listing costs to about 15% by watching unsold items and not relisting items that did not sell.

It was an effective way to buildmy business.

Now with increases and changes I start at almost 20% in costs. And that easily blows out to 30% if you have a bad month for items not received (false claims) , increased final value fees, paypal being forced down our throats, increased postage charges, non paying bidders wasting listings, Low DSR scores falsely given to limit my ability to list and all these are relevant parts of this old thread.

Ebay claim they are always wanting to evolve the platform to enhance the experience.

Maybe they should change their momentum to encourage a better experience for sellers.

Maybe they should look at history to see the trends that are occuring.

Non paying bidders was not a problem ten or even five years ago.

The situation has changed significantly now.

Maybe they need to evolve the platform to eliminate the problem.

Ten years ago lowDSR did not exist.

If a seller was slow to post it was covered in feedback for all to see.

If a buyer was slow to pay (there was no non paying back then) it was covered in feedback.

The percentage of unhappy customers was fairly low.

Now we have a huge epidemic of non payers, we have alot of sellers being restricted because of elements out of their control.

These are issues that were being complained about twelve months ago. It is getting worse now and still Ebay will not evolve this aspect of their platform.

buyers are leaving lots of low DSR for postage time. Australia post standards are slipping, despite hugeincreases in charges. And now thesellers are being restricted because of anonymous perceptions by buyers about delivery time. Sellers can not control delivery times but buyers can restrict sellers by leaving false low DSR scores. They do not even have to provide evidence.

Part of the DSR may become transparent soon but in the meantime the problem continues.

The rest of the issues in this thread are still relevant.

A significant part of democracy is the right of people to have an opinion. People have a right to make changes, but those affected by the decision also have a right to object.

In here is mention of the Ebay CEO having his remuneration halved. Many sellers here have also had their remuneration halved.

To stop this trend it may be worth looking at history and going back to history.

Sometimes the best way to advance is to retreat.

Instead of making it compulsory to use a very expensive payment platform to maximise profits would it be better to offer a realistic rate to compete with other methods.

My paypal rate is 3.4% plus thirty cents per item.

I use a credit card facility for 1.8 %

I am setting up a payment gateway for 1 %

Surely you can see why I hate paypal?

That is not a free market it is third line forcing.

It is called a safe payment method but I have more fraudulent transactions with the method that costs the most.

So maybe we should resurrect old threads to learn from history.