Community chat

[roseychook]

Hi, 1st time here. 

Can anyone tell me if they are seeing no sales or less sales in last 6 months

[clarry100]

For this tax year our sales are 50% lower than the previous tax year.

And that year was about 30% down on the previous year.

The steady decline for us has been happening over about a 2-year period and if it continues at the present rate it will no longer be economically viable to continue selling on here. We could be closing down about the end of the year.

I would advise against procurring too much stock until you are quite certain where its going to take you.

Things do not look very good for lots of sellers.

Having said that there are a few who do report good sales. I think it depends on your niche market.

Good luck.

[rocket2retro]

Like others I've had a significant decrease in sales which started 2 years ago. At present my sales are at an all time low.

I also can't see myself selling on here for much longer. It's no longer worth the time & effort for the return.

[yeoldecoinco]

"You only get out of ebay, what you put in.

If you want good sales you need to be answering questions promptly, mailing daily, listing new fresh stock on a regular basis to keep loing term buyers interested and revise / refresh older listings.

I,m not doing any of these things at the moment and my sales are falling away."

Perfectly summed up.

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

I don't think anyone would argue the issues raised.

BUT, it would be nice and very helpful if EBay were to have a page (or 10) summarising all of the points and issues that a seller needs to bear in mind.

[roseychook]

I am 100% seller & have always been, with only very good feedback being left.

Have lowered prices changed things around. Still it seems no one is looking or buying.

The products I have can't be purchased in Store's anymore, only a few on ebay still have stock.

Its just frustrating as I don't have questions from buyers so the are no responses needed.

There is no more that I can do, 1 sale in 6 months is beyond ridiculous.

Will just have to hang in here & see what happens.

[roseychook]

How do ebay hold sale proceeds, I accept payment via PayPal it show there immediately.
Not sure what you mean

[lyndal1838]

New sellers are restricted in the number of listings they can put up AND paypal holds their funds for 21 days or until the tracking shows as delivered or the buyer leaves positive feedback.

[chameleon54]

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@roseychook wrote:

I am 100% seller & have always been, with only very good feedback being left.

Have lowered prices changed things around. Still it seems no one is looking or buying.

The products I have can't be purchased in Store's anymore, only a few on ebay still have stock.

Its just frustrating as I don't have questions from buyers so the are no responses needed.

There is no more that I can do, 1 sale in 6 months is beyond ridiculous.

Will just have to hang in here & see what happens.

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When B & M stores and most ebay sellers no longer stock certian lines it is often because the items are no longer popular or fashionable. I know that my main stock lines are already past their prime as technology is making them obsolete and cheap chinese reproductions are devalueing the genuine article that I stock.

Could your fantasy item sales also be suffering from a change in buyer trends ?

I have noticed different lines of stock that I sell on my non store account are still selling very well, while my stores are gradually slowing down. This is a clear indication that demand for my main store stock is gradually declining, but there are still buyers out there for " the right" items. Basically we need to sell things that people actually want to buy.

[heihachi_73]

I used to sell around 20 items per month, these days it's between 5 and 10 on average, despite eBay introducing 30-day listings for non-stores. I sold 21 items in the last 60 days (e.g. 2 months), of which all of 12 people actually bothered giving feedback.

@ davewil: What increased free listings? They're still only 40 a month for non-stores except that they now last for 30 days instead of 10. Sitting there for longer doesn't magically increase sales when the same things would have been relisted anyway. In fact, the free listings have actually decreased, as I haven't had free listing promotions ever since they stopped giving away the 100 listings every couple of months - not once have I ever been eligible for the 150 listing bonus, otherwise known as Promotion 2664.

I cannot justify paying the price of a basic store account when sometimes I barely even make the cost of a store account in a month; sometimes I might only sell six items for the whole month with the ones I sold going between $2 and $4!

[sloanranger62]

The same here I was doing really well just with free listings and decided to reopen my shop and sales have plummented.