topic Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES?? in Selling

NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

stylesilver — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:37:32 GMT

SHOULD be prime Christmas sale time right now BUT im down 60 % on sales from same period last year..... How are you all going now that we should be in the middle of Christmas mayhem??

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

collect247 — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 01:17:41 GMT

So sorry stylesilver that your sales are way down and others that are experiencing the same,my sales are going steady and as long as I'm making a profit beit a dollar or more I'm ok with it.

The good thing about my sales is that I've forgotten what my collectibles cost me way back when I acquired them so if I sell anything then that's a bonus lol.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 01:21:04 GMT

Well.................. I've got a bid lol

That is an improvement on most weeks

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

melinachristina — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 07:39:54 GMT

We’ve done a lot better on another platform - maintained margins too which is even nicer 😊

One day, perhaps, someone at eBay will switch the lights on and SEE!!

Melina.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

davewil1964 — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 10:49:12 GMT

Fine thanks. Volume is marginally down, but margins are up.

I suppose I have the things people are looking for.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

stylesilver — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:35:29 GMT

Ha Haa Ha ... I had what people were wanting too, until 5 weeks ago ... when my good sales just stopped. Right before my usual best sales period of the year by far ( for the past say 10 yrs, December has always been up about 300% on other months & Im usually flat out).. cant understand such a drop off EXCEPT to blame the start of Promoted listings (everyone else is laming it)... Anywhoo about to test out Promoted sales tonite... puuting some things into the promotion... Will be back Everyone!!! to see if it lifts things.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

stylesilver — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:46:06 GMT

Happy for you Crow! And thanks for the sympathetic ear feeling the need for it. at the moment..On the other hand, thinking it would be funny if it wasnt soo maddening. A drop off in sales BEFORE Christmas ... who have thunk it? Glad to hear others are doing well (gives you hope that this lull might not be permanent.) Any way Im off to the grindstone... listing new items & trying out the promotion listing thingy.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

stylesilver — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:49:38 GMT

Oh no ... has it been that bad for you too? just recently? There is something strange happening to some of our accounts for sure. Hope you get a big improvement soon... so strange

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

stylesilver — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:54:24 GMT

Thats good for you (been following yr story about whats happening & big thumbs up)... but I aint going anywhere else... Ive made my bed here... Im gonna lie in it !!! (Which is about right too, cos no real need to get out of it atm Haa Haaaa.)

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

melinachristina — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 03:07:17 GMT

I was just having a quiet wee think, which always hurts .... lol, but there would literally be thousands of others, just like us, who list on one or more other platforms because things aren’t kosher here. Just in December so far we’ve turned $2,400 elsewhere. Hehe!! Look , you’ll find us. And, it’s far from over yet. We’ve turned next to nothing here, but that is not reason in itself that we have a couple of other venues. It just seems quie t here at the moment. It’s not always that way for us.

So, that’s money they’ll never earn commission on. Then, add. In the many thousands of others.

Consider too, we were about to open a store here (still might, but depends), but now we’ve gone Luke warm, because of some really ‘silly policy’ and rules that unfairly really put us out on a limb. I’m not sure at our age we want to deal with the inevitability of the stress that will ensue, for certain. You can’t be lucky all the time!

So eBay misses out there too, and how many thousands of others have gone luke warm and then cold on the idea and not proceeded?

Honestly, we’d like to lock down here, just at the one venue, and I can only assume many thousands again, of others , would like to do the same. But, there’s something stopping us all, isn’t there! How ironic that it’s eBay itself!!

They’ve introduced all manner of rediculous, objectionable and ‘road blocking’ policy and rules to protect their (sic) mighty dollar and opportunistic buyers at the dire expense of good sellers but still, after all this time, don’t understand that they’ve well and truly overcooked the golden goose. Parts of it escaped when the temperature rose from ‘silly’ to ‘super silly’ and flew off with scorched nether bits to repair and roost elsewhere completely, before the temperature rise to ‘dumb and dumber.’ Add these to the thousands and the thousands and the thousands. Now we’re talking millions aren’t we? Or, am I dreamin again? Boneydoon does look attractive though 😊.

Oh eBay!! All those dollars. You’ve saved one and lost one thousand, you silly silly thing!!

If eBay happens to ask any of you (like DUH!!) just tell them we’re doing nicely thanks, elsewhere. 😊👍

Melina.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

chameleon54 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 09:42:31 GMT

Not reffering to you OP but some people dont want hear anything positive said about ebay, so when it comes to sales, my only comment is " no comment ''

On the other hand..............I did have this one ripper this week............. OOOPS, there I go again, being positive

SORRY...............I promise I wont make that mistake again..........

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

purplemon18 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 11:21:05 GMT

Our sales are up but I wouldn't say it feels like xmas, more like we're having a good month. Monday the 3rd was a massive day for us, but it was just that one day.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

stylesilver — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:18:12 GMT

Yes... I'm not one of those😉.... I'm usually quite positive about sales here.... & grateful that we can come here to sell things without too much rigmarole.....but never had a Xmas like this ... Where I'm about 50% down on this Oct & I'm now about 75% down on this time last year... I was thinking my account was having a glitch like yrs was a few months ago... Where you contacted EBay & they saw there was a problem.. I thought that could be happening to me now. But no!... They couldn't find a problem. But I know this is not normal... You don't go from normal sales to less than half (if you sell jewellery) just before Christmas 😂...So I'm believing it's something to do with the promoted listings... My nickname for you Chameleon is Even Stephen!!!....with yr sales clipping along at their usual pace...Meanwhile most of us are riding a see saw!

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

davewil1964 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:27:48 GMT

@stylesilver wrote:
Yes... I'm not one of those😉.... I'm usually quite positive about sales here.... & grateful that we can come here to sell things without too much rigmarole.....but never had a Xmas like this ... Where I'm about 50% down on this Oct & I'm now about 75% down on this time last year... I was thinking my account was having a glitch like yrs was a few months ago... Where you contacted EBay & they saw there was a problem.. I thought that could be happening to me now. But no!... They couldn't find a problem. But I know this is not normal... You don't go from normal sales to less than half (if you sell jewellery) just before Christmas 😂...So I'm believing it's something to do with the promoted listings... My nickname for you Chameleon is Even Stephen!!!....with yr sales clipping along at their usual pace...Meanwhile most of us are riding a see saw!

Really?

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/PowerSellers/The-Lights-are-on-yeah-shining-very-bright/m-p/2206711#M76764

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/has-anybody-else-having-a-sales-crash-in-oz-ebay-since-the-new/m-p/2206735#M178790

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

stylesilver — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:27:37 GMT

So you too hey? Wonder what it is? Going around the shops it seems to be a bit quiet too, actually...come to think of it...

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

chameleon54 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 22:15:49 GMT

@stylesilver wrote:
Yes... I'm not one of those😉.... I'm usually quite positive about sales here.... & grateful that we can come here to sell things without too much rigmarole.....but never had a Xmas like this ... Where I'm about 50% down on this Oct & I'm now about 75% down on this time last year... I was thinking my account was having a glitch like yrs was a few months ago... Where you contacted EBay & they saw there was a problem.. I thought that could be happening to me now. But no!... They couldn't find a problem. But I know this is not normal... You don't go from normal sales to less than half (if you sell jewellery) just before Christmas 😂...So I'm believing it's something to do with the promoted listings... My nickname for you Chameleon is Even Stephen!!!....with yr sales clipping along at their usual pace...Meanwhile most of us are riding a see saw!

Thats about it. I dont usually get a Christmas rush as my items are not really presi material, but I do pick up a few extra sales from blokes who are on holidays tinkering in their sheds. This usually makes up for the business customers who close down for a few weeks at this time of year. Sales are generally firm and responding quickly to new listings.

I am fairly sure that ebay has changed its algorythms recently to provide greater visibility to new, fresh listings and those with recent sales history at the expense of older listings. This is reinforced by the rethoric in announcements coming from the company. I,m not sure where that leaves my business model long term as I often sell unusual items that have a limited market and regularly just sit there for a year or two before they sell.

I may need to move to faster selling collectables as this market is still very strong.

It is quite noticable that international sales are stronger than the Australian market at the moment and this is definately having an impact on sales. If I was just relying on the Australian market I would almost certianly be seeing a slow down. One stratedy that has worked recently is to open more listings up to international clients, even if postage costs are very high as there are buyers out there somewhere that are willing to pay the extra costs if the items are rare.

I recently sold a $90 item to the U.S.A that cost nearly $150 extra in postage. Description and photos ( noting faults ) have to be spot on if using this stratedgy as buyers become very picky if they are shelling out large postage costs on top of the item price. I have had a few sales like this recently ( international postage costs much higher than item price ) and so far, so good, but it is definately not for the faint hearted.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

brerrabbit585 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 22:34:52 GMT

Those overseas buyers probably pay through the nose in customs fees as well. There's still plenty of people around who don't mind what they pay if they really want something.

December is usually my slowest month but this last week was probably my best December week ever - not better than my average week but a lot better than I usually get this time of year. I did do a few brand new listings (first for quite a while).

I find it interesting that my best month occurs at different times of the year on different selling sites. On one site (now defunct) July was always way ahead of my other months but it's the opposite on ebay.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

collect247 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 22:55:03 GMT

That's why I only sell the highest quality items because people are always buying them because they want them and the items only increase in value down the track.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

brerrabbit585 — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 23:09:14 GMT

Quality always pays. The people who buy high quality items either have plenty of money to afford it, or they know it'll cost them less in the long run, so there'll always be a market for it.

I've ended up with the odd bit of stock that's poorer quality but I put a lower price on it and state it's poorer quality and get rid of it as fast as I can. I see other sellers with the exact same item for full price but I want repeat buyers and refuse to do to others as I've had done to me.

Re: NOW HOWS EVERYONE DOING IN CHRISTMAS SALES??

knewdoors — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 08:56:29 GMT

easily the WORST ever Xmas period for us..try 2 sales for this month and its' nearly half way through December..tried to do everything..nothing works.. we honestly feel something is wrong..reading other folks posts helps to come to that conclusion.....December logically was THE busiest period..not anymore..whatever happened to the simple practise of just listing stuff..we feel we aren't getting a fair go re: search engine results.. it's promotional items or no promotional items..Ebay plus or red ebay..all the bells & whistles have done nothing for us....tried talking to the ebay reps..that's useless..we are just paying ebay fees and making next to nothing..a very very unpleasant experience.. It's a shame EBay used to be such great fun & it was rewarding..not anymore..