Sales are up. Anybody else?

[jellybirddesigns]

According to my stats, my sales are up 28% from this time last year.

Anybody else having a good year?

Lessons learned from the last 2 years of having this shop:

1) Sell what people want.

2) Give them outstanding and prompt customer service, even if it means you lose a few dollars here and there

3) Don't be afraid to price above average and stand by the quality of your product (esp. handmade)

4) Don't be scared to say no to a buyer who wants you to knock off massive amounts because they want more than 2 items. A small reduction is reasonable, but I point out that I buy my fabric at retail price, not wholsale, I'm not a charity and I don't work for free.

5) Diversify. I now have 3 online shops and the additional revenue streams are good and growing.

On the downside:

1) I have to stop working 7 days a week. 

LOL

[kopenhagen5]

No, mine are lowest ever. But I am only a hobby seller so no stress here.

And good for you. 

[davewil1964]

Yes. About the same amount. Returns are only about 10% better, though. Enough to pay eBay's GST.

[outback_blends]

Nope sales are way down over all 3 accounts. Worst its been for a long time. The only thing that is up is the amount of Item not recieved claims.

Its even worse now on this account since I open an ebay store. Within 3 days sales fell to almost nothing. I put it down to listings needing to propergate back through the ranks after opening the store but that was a month or so ago and still really slow sales.

Oh well could be worse - had no sales at all for 5 months over at quicksales hehehehe. 

[clarry100]

The downward trend we have been experiencing over the past 18-months or so is continuing.

At the current slide rate it will no longer be viable to continue trading on here beyond the end of this year we think.

Etsy is going along a little bit better.

Our own website is down too.

We have another venture on the go now that should replace ebay once we are forced to close it all down.

[chameleon54]

My sales are up and down, but the general trend is down. In my case it is partly because I have been putting my time into another non internet based business. ( sheep grazing ). You only get out of ebay what you put in. Little effort means little return. Major efforts, ( like cushioncovers ) often results in  good returns. When we do pull our finger out and list quality items on ebay, they still sell quite well, so I think there are still buyers out in ebayland.

Luckily our sheep grazing business is working well with very high prices for lambs and wool and seasonal conditions are going well despite long range forecasts of drought. The warm dry winter and the use of regular fox hunters has seen exceptional lambing percentages so fingers crossed, we can hold it all together until late spring when wool and lambs will be sold.

Anyway, Bye for now....... just off for a 500 km. round trip to our remote property to check on the sheep.     

[transport-posters]

Three sales here in a couple of days, that is definitely up!

Possible 14-item sale in the pipeline too.

[jellybirddesigns]

I think that part of the reason it has worked for me is because I started off as a hobby, but as I made sales, I realised it was becoming something viable, so I started to treat it more as a business. After 2 years, I have diversified into other items which are not readily available in shops and this has helped me substantially.

I cannot tell you how many times I re-photographed my items (which is OK when you have 40 listings, not so OK when you have 400!), tweaked the decriptions so that they were not too wordy, but conveyed the info that I needed to convey, and so on. Working on my shop is a constant endeavour - every day I look over my listings to make sure they are as as attractive and appealing as possible. I don't take anything for granted.

As was said earlier, what you put in to Ebay, you get out. It remains the most amazing marketplace on which to sell, but you really have to have items that people want to buy - you cannot sell by what YOU love, it's all about the buyer at the end of the day.

[yeoldecoinco]

eBay sales have been quite steady for me overall this year.

Some periods are slow, then there is a sudden burst of activity and intent, much like having a retail store in a collectable field.

Overall, for eBay, I notice a steady downward trend since about 2013, but not a severe one, so far.

However, it is all about the work, you have to keep at it, otherwise the competition will do it for you, simple as that.

I have listed 400 new items over the past week or so, as tax refund time is coming up, so will try and catch a few fish...

[knewdoors]

lights got turned on a few sales then lights got turned off and nothing.. same old ebay chicanery..oh and the new Netflix tax..wonder what the next slug will be?? breathing???