topic Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......? in Selling

Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

jellybirddesigns — Fri, 05 May 2017 08:23:43 GMT

Not normally one to complain about lack of sales, but this month is starting off as a bit of a shocker.

Stats tell me I'm down about 30% on last month and almost 50% down from this time last year.

Uuuugh!

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

go-tazz — Fri, 05 May 2017 08:40:37 GMT

@cushioncovers wrote:
Not normally one to complain about lack of sales, but this month is starting off as a bit of a shocker.

Stats tell me I'm down about 30% on last month and almost 50% down from this time last year.

Uuuugh!

They may be starting to regret putting the stats in place on Seller Hub as my ones were way down compared

to last year,(I'm now at 661.3% up on my other account),

Must not have sold anything in the same period last year,

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

yeoldecoinco — Fri, 05 May 2017 11:27:32 GMT

I was looking at my sales figures, as the end of the financial year is coming up.

This current financial year, I am at LEAST 20% down on the worst year I have ever had going back to 2001.

Such is life. One year out of the 16 had to be the worst one and this is it.

I seem to have tried fairly hard, always listing new items at reasonable (given the high cost of selling) prices, 1200 items listed on eBay, another couple of thousand listed on my website.

Just not happening, many days lately of only a few or even no sales, both on eBay and the website.

The website I understand, it needs updating and some advertising money spent on it.

As for eBay, a steady slow decline since about 2012, despite my best efforts.

Not just me, all the coin dealer and retailer mates I speak to are all in the same boat.

eBay, I can understand as well, many more people selling on it now than even a few years ago, less money to go around.

Just seems to be the way it is at present, money is tight for a lot of people, the cost of living is going up much faster than people's wages..

Electricity up 7% Private Health cover up 6%, Council rates up 5-6%, food is more expensive since Cyclone Debbie and SA floods, on and on it goes. Something has got to give.

2% wage rise if you are lucky is not going to cut it, no wonder people have less to spend on discretionary items...

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

collect247 — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:37:26 GMT

It's not like the good old days when you sold a coin for what it was worth and now it's like a yoyo with all the auctions.

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

Anonymous — Fri, 05 May 2017 13:17:08 GMT

Agree, would it have anything to do with the 600 listings store holders now have...? Flooded the market place perhaps? Then again I can also agree with yeoldecoinco !!

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

transport-posters — Mon, 08 May 2017 01:59:40 GMT

I wonder the same thing... what happened to them! Are they all too busy buying air compressors, wine, welding equipment, the latest tech gear and BBQs? Maybe they just buy what eBay wants them to buy with their deals and promos.

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

newoldoddstuff — Mon, 08 May 2017 09:25:36 GMT

I think Facebook has hurt Ebay in teh last couple of years. the amount of local Buy Swap and Sell FB pages, Trades FB pages etc seems endless. It is ay to easy now for people to create a FB page, buy. swap and sell items using paypal's "friend and family" payment transfer and seller has no fees. Buyer runs the risk of being scammed, which seems to be happening more and more on FB not to mention time waters. That said I think it has hurt many sellers on Ebay. Just a though...Cheers

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

silence_electronics — Tue, 09 May 2017 22:54:15 GMT

It's very slow for me too. Not like the good old days when it was actually affordable to list.

All of my fixed price listings don't get seen AT ALL (maybe 5 views in a week) despite being the cheapest.

Auctions only work on high value used/secondhand/repaired stuff, not the stuff I can actually get consistently from suppliers....

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

liw48 — Sat, 13 May 2017 12:28:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Agree, would it have anything to do with the 600 listings store holders now have...? Flooded the market place perhaps? Then again I can also agree with yeoldecoinco !!

Same complaints in the US.

Too many sellers out there selling the same thing. The only true value seems to be in the luxury market, and people are trying to haggle the prices down in that market.

Maybe collectibles and vintage hold their value.

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

typhoon4u — Sat, 13 May 2017 13:40:07 GMT

I think the discounts, rebates and promo's put out by ebay have actually hurt sales as buyers are now holding off and waiting for them...

A double edged sword, that one!

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

springyzone — Sat, 13 May 2017 23:56:15 GMT

@liw48 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Agree, would it have anything to do with the 600 listings store holders now have...? Flooded the market place perhaps? Then again I can also agree with yeoldecoinco !!
Same complaints in the US.
Too many sellers out there selling the same thing. The only true value seems to be in the luxury market, and people are trying to haggle the prices down in that market.
Maybe collectibles and vintage hold their value.

I'd say you're right about a lot of sellers selling the same thing and a lot of stuff seems to come from China.

I think there are markets here that haven't been tapped into all that much.

Off the top of my head, I can think of a couple. Spices is one. Specialty loose teas is another. I know you can get them in supermarkets but often those aren't specifically labelled ingredients or organic. There is definitely a market for Australian sellers there.

The problem (for sellers) is a lot of these items need to be sent as cheaply as possible, which with spices is usually in an envelope of some sort. I've never struck any problems with delivery, it is usually very quick, but I suppose the sellers leave themselves open to the occasional scammer who might claim it wasn't received.

The trick is, I suppose, to have items that aren't in every corner store. That makes ebay a more attractive place to buy, especially if we're only talking a few dollars.

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

jellybirddesigns — Sun, 14 May 2017 00:44:40 GMT

So in the week since I started this thread my sales have picked up - now I'm up 5% on last month although still about 20% down from this time last year. However, we are only half way through the month, so fingers crossed.

I have branched out into other online platforms which have been working well for me. I now run 2 shops on the "E" handmade website and I'm thinking of opening a third one just for digital downloads as that is the one major advantage that site has over Ebay.

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

lyndal1838 — Sun, 14 May 2017 06:23:19 GMT

@typhoon4u wrote:
I think the discounts, rebates and promo's put out by ebay have actually hurt sales as buyers are now holding off and waiting for them...
A double edged sword, that one!

Good for the buyer but not for the seller.

These days I rarely buy anything without some sort of a discount code or offer.

If it is not a direct discount from ebay I can use a Groupon discount, also issued by ebay or paypal.

I currently have 2 x $100 coupons which cost me $85 each and are current till the end of May.

I will wait till the last minute and if nothing else crops up I will buy some DVDs that are on my Watch List.

Re: Helloooooo.....any buyers......?

springyzone — Mon, 15 May 2017 00:22:20 GMT

@lyndal1838 wrote:
@typhoon4u wrote:
I think the discounts, rebates and promo's put out by ebay have actually hurt sales as buyers are now holding off and waiting for them...
A double edged sword, that one!
Good for the buyer but not for the seller.

These days I rarely buy anything without some sort of a discount code or offer.
If it is not a direct discount from ebay I can use a Groupon discount, also issued by ebay or paypal.
I currently have 2 x $100 coupons which cost me $85 each and are current till the end of May.
I will wait till the last minute and if nothing else crops up I will buy some DVDs that are on my Watch List.

I virtually never get offered ebay discounts, or if I do, they seem to be restricted to certain retail shops, not across all items.

But as for selling. Has anyone ever seen those selling channels on TV? I don't normally watch but when the ads come on, I have recently started to flick over to them to have a look. Oh boy, talk about pwers of persuasion! I haven't seen a thing I didn't fancy yet!

I haven't actually lashed out and bought from them though. I've found that there are websites for the items they advertise and sometimes they are cheaper that way.

It has got me thinking though. It could be useful for some sellers if they could have little demo videos of their products. I don't know if ebay currently allows this, I haven't actually seen it on any ads I have looked at here though.