topic Re: June has been a shocker for sales in Selling

June has been a shocker for sales

jellybirddesigns — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 02:36:14 GMT

Just looked over my last 12 months of selling and see that June has been my absolute worst - down by 80% compared to my peak month of September 2015.

I started selling full time at the start of the last financial year, so now that we're coming to the end of it, I do wonder if that accounts for the low volume of sales although I haven't been through a financial year cycle before as a full time seller, so I don't really have a benchmark to compare.

With my husband also having been unemployed for the last 12 months as well, I really, really, really hope that things pick up again in July. 😞

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

clarry100 — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 05:20:57 GMT

Yes this has been our worst June (and year) on record.

Like you, we are down about 80% on our peak month of November last year.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

*tippy*toes* — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 05:50:11 GMT

I had a big May and big June (not gloating). July will be dead as I'm not relisting when my items end as I'll be away from home a fair bit over the next month or 2. It will be too difficult getting stuff sent out, even though my handling time is 5 days. I could increase it to 10 days, but I'd rather just play it safe and have a hiatus.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't think I get throttled as I run auctions, but I know for a lot of sellers, auctions aren't an option. My stuff sells better at auction, there are plenty of categories where it would be a waste of time and not work at all, yours included.

Have you thought about selling different items to supplement your income? I have no idea what because it's hard finding stuff these days where you can make enough of a profit to sustain it. While I'm doing pretty well at the moment, I couldn't survive if this was my only income. I make enough to cover all the bills, car regos, insurance, land rates, that type of thing, plus there is some left over.

I do feel for those that depend on this income and I hope against all hopes that things pick up for you all soon. Fingers crossed for a better financial year next year!

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 06:05:09 GMT

June blew

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

jellybirddesigns — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 06:35:44 GMT

Thanks Tippy - I have thought about selling other items, but I didn't want to "dilute" this store, especially since I have a very

specific user ID.

I do have a secondary account which I haven't used for a few years and I suppose I could use that, but since I'm trying to save every dollar, I am reluctant to list items on that other account which may or may not sell and therefore incur ongoing listing fees.

I think that if my hubby can find work soon, then I'll be more confident about paying for a second store into which I can throw all my other items.

Kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

imastawka — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 06:59:16 GMT

Your other ID doesn't have to be used for a store.

You get 40 free listings every month as a non-store - no listing fees at all

And non-stores seem to get a lot of promotional free listings

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

heihachi_73 — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 07:51:04 GMT

If they are invited to use said promotional free listings. *glares at the last twenty or so promos*

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

imastawka — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 08:01:49 GMT

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

imastawka — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 23:48:10 GMT

@heihachi_73 wrote:
If they are invited to use said promotional free listings. *glares at the last twenty or so promos*

Sooooo, are you still glaring?

Seems you got the invite for the latest one before anyone else

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

stylesilver — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 03:20:42 GMT

My worst on record too!! Definitely the election always stops sales for me. Both here & retail B&M stores too. People dont like uncertainty & it makes them keep their hands in their pockets. I'm going to try selling in a 2nd category, still working out which! Will post here about whether it helps. There must be another category you can find that doesnt dilute yr store!

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

stylesilver — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 03:36:16 GMT

What about throws, coasters, placemats or picture frames to cor-dinate. All pack flat & can be added to your cushion covers package when sending.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

jellybirddesigns — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 04:21:52 GMT

Thanks StyleSilver

At the moment I've been selling my offcuts and remnants when I have a bulk lot left over, but I should look into converting some of them into new items - I quite like the coaster and picture frame ideas as they are relatively small and can easily be posted with the covers.

Thanks for the inspiration - sometimes it gets a bit hard to see the wood through the trees 🙂

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

*tippy*toes* — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 12:44:40 GMT

Are you selling the offcuts and remnants as is? If so, you could try selling them as squares to attract the patchworkers, or even hexagon. I think you can get a hexagon template quite cheap from Spotlight so you get the shape right. I know a few patchworkers and they said the most tedious part is cutting up all the fabric. They'd much prefer to be able to buy precut bits so they can just get onto the creating.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

bullitprooftools2016 — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 04:14:40 GMT

Yes, June has been an aweful month. Probably something to do with people not wanting to spend their money because of the election. Maybe people will spend more when they get their tax refund. There is a lot of negativity in the world right now with the crazy maggots from Sandland killing, raping and running amoke and the global leaders who do nothing to stop it. But we just have to put a smile on our face and press on regardless!

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

yeoldecoinco — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 05:11:33 GMT

Yes, same for me.

Again, not gloating, just stating.

After a poor start to June, it has been great the last couple of weeks.

Why? Because I pulled out the digit and listed 200 or so new items in early to mid June.

Rather than sitting around thinking how quiet it was, I got to work.

For me, eBay has always been the same for 15 years.

The more you list (provided it is priced right and is something people want to buy) the more you sell.

The $50 a month store has 1000 free listings for the next month or two, so, if you have got a $50 store, may as well try to list as much as possible.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

chameleon54 — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 06:44:35 GMT

Regular as clock work here. I,m that regular, I,m thinking of applying to feature in All Bran or prune juice adds.

My store sales might be consistant, but they are at still less than half of two years ago.

The only way I have found to sell any more is to list auctions on my private account. This does not suffer from the same regularity, and I can sell as much as I want on this account. The only problem with this is I am pushing that account to make extra sales and will have to declare the income on my tax, as it is getting out of hand. Sales on this private account are still going reasonably well and dont seem affected by the election. The next couple of days look promising if page views, early bids and watchers on auctions are any indication.

I sell rare automotive parts, tools and collectables on this account. I have several sheds full of this stuff, that I squirled away decades ago, so they are genuine personal items and not strictly taxable, but I dont think the tax man will agree. There are still buyers for these on ebay and OS buyers are becoming more of a feature in sales.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

jellybirddesigns — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:28:33 GMT

Yeoldecoinco -

glad you are having a good couple of weeks.

I agree in some respects that the more you list the more you sell - unfortunately that does not always hold true.

I have upgraded my store to 500 listing and have increased my items from about 150 to 280 in the last few months, but my sales have actually dropped off by 60-80% since the end of last year.

I continue to list around 5 new items per week, but I'm not seeing an increase in sales to correspond with the additional items.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

yeoldecoinco — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 08:36:14 GMT

Have you thought of having a website?

Today I have sold $77 on eBay (pathetic day so far) and about $900 from my website, which has turned a poor day into a good day.

The website really helps when eBay sales are dead.

And, it is a very old website that really needs an update, and I don't spend much money advertising it.

As others have said, perhaps branch out and find some related items to sell?

Selling, being a saleperson running your own business is a real roller coaster of emotions.

Sales vindicate your existence and some days emotionally, you are way up, some days way down.

It is completely different from being a wage slave, you are responsible for it all and for making it work.

It does make you tougher, I swore a long time ago that FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION and try hard to make sure I live up to that.

When it is tough, that is when the tough get going. You have to pick yourself up in the down times and sow the seeds for future success.

I am sure you can. You have a nice basic product.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

jellybirddesigns — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:23:28 GMT

Yeoldecoinco -

I used to have a website - it looked great, had integrated payments etc - but did not get ONE sale in the 12 months I had it, so I've just let it expire. Spent a heap load in advertising trying to drive traffic to the site, to no avail.

I will definitely be looking to branch out a bit and will start working on some new ideas.

Just having a bit of a downer week, but I'm sure things will improve.

Re: June has been a shocker for sales

southaustraliacardshop — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 08:28:33 GMT

@cushioncovers wrote:

I used to have a website - it looked great, had integrated payments etc - but did not get ONE sale in the 12 months I had it, so I've just let it expire. Spent a heap load in advertising trying to drive traffic to the site, to no avail.

I will definitely be looking to branch out a bit and will start working on some new ideas.

Just having a bit of a downer week, but I'm sure things will improve.

I would just like to say having a website outside eBay is a great opertuniy. I am in the process of setting one up. Most Providers allow you Web Space for free to a certain amount. You cannot Advertise your Website within eBay listings but in your ME (About Me) you can Tell sellers about your Website with links.

Thanks For Reading