My sales have almost stopped selling.

[strength40]

Hi there,

I'm not sure if it's just me or are other sellers experiencing the same. I've been selling a small amount of items for years(mostly stamps) and have never experienced such lack of sales or selling for just the starting price only.

It's been going on for about 4 weeks now, so don't know if other people are having the same problems.

Kindest regards,

Debra. 

[clacoste1369]

Yes, it is amazing how many 'Australian' sellers goods are coming in from China - weeks after you expected them from SYD/MEL.  I'd complain to ebay but after years of this - I have always been of the opinion that Chinese scammers are a protected species to keep up the revenue stream....Ebay does not seem to have a desired confirmation process to verify Australian sellers....and suppliers....And chuck off those who are abusing their website.  Funny that......

[clacoste1369]

Re slowing sales....Yes, I have seen a bit....Not a big seller....few hundred dollars on a good month.  But, even I have noticed a decline over the last six months.....Less watchers, even less buyers.  I have dropped my prices a bit....just to perk up some interest...but not much has come of it.....I am in no particular hurry to sell, so everytime ebay gets the urge to change my listing to the lame and discreet 'Best Offer' - they may or may not tell me about..... I immediately change them back to reality.  Far as I am concerned, if they want to improve their market standing and reputation....they can ditch China totally.  Leave it to Ali Baba to rip off buyers and sellers.  Then scrutinize worldwide sellers to confirm that shipments and items are leaving from the country advertised.....and buyers are not habitual  con artists so often from the same country.....Failure to do so would not bode well for the ebay future......

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

The first person that can crack the eBay sale listing algorithm and mak eit publicly available so sellers can re-jig their listings will make an absolute fortune selling the details

[jellybirddesigns]

I must be going against the grain as my sales for this month have been great. In fact I'm up almost 30% compared to this time last year. Some months prior have been a bit ordinary, and I had my shop on vacation mode a few times this year due to moving house and a holiday, but in general I haven't seen any specific downturn for myself.

Even my other store on a different platform is doing well this month.

My stuff is handmade, so whilst there will always be buyers who buy cheap Chinese-made junk, there seems to be a growing number of people who are seeking handmade and supporting genuine local sellers.

[chameleon54]

You must be doing something right jellybird. From memory you changed your id awhile ago didnt you ? You seem to have achieved steady growth in your business over time and have taken a hobby and turned into a nice little earner. Its encouraging to see it can still be done.

[jellybirddesigns]

Hi Chameleon, yes I changed my ID earlier this year - I'm impressed you remembered!

I'm in my 4th year with this little business and whilst I'm not going to retire any time soon, it does help pay the bills, and send us on a holiday every now and again. It has definitely been a good thing to have started up.

[springyzone]

It could of course be that your listings are not 'as visible' on ebay as some of the others. Anything that is about 4 or 5 pages or more in with a search might not get as many people looking at it in the first place.

I'm not a regular seller but have seen others here who are complaining that sales are down too.

But... I was also reading an article just the other day that listed some things that are no longer fetching the prices they used to and stamps was one of those categories. According to the article, a lot of stamp collectors were older and many younger members of their family aren't interested, so as some of the older collectors have died, a lot of stamp albums have found their way to op shops or are even getting chucked out).

I could relate to the article as my father was an avid stamp & coin collector & my sister & I have been left with masses of stuff we have had to store, with none of our adult children interested.

Obviously, this is just a general scenario. There would still be avid collectors around, but maybe not as many as there used to be some decades ago. And I imagine top stamps still collect top prices (and if people are throwing albums away now, what is left is going to be even more valuable eventually).

So part of your problem might be you're selling a product that has a more limited market than it used to have.

[clubesquire]

What Springy said is so true I think. The same definitely applies to us, along with the Nanny State push and legislation that does the thinking for us. But, the latter aside our type of inventory was on the slide anyway for just those reasons Springy mentions.

I’m not a pipe smoker, or any type of smoker for that matter, and I don’t really look upon Pipes for their intended purpose. It’s more the imagination, skill, and superb craftsmanship that is invested in their creation that boils my water. They are an art form unto themselves and sadly we’ve seen the demise of so many gifted Artisans over the past 20-30 years or so, even in countries that don’t have regulatory provisions for smokers. So, it’s all on the wane. Very quickly here in Oz.

We need to watch for these changes and then those of us who can need to diversify, or perhaps find a platform that deals More significantly in the type of item we’re selling.

Good luck with it OP.

Melina.

[strength40]

Thanks very much for your input everyone. They are slowly starting to pick up a little now maybe because christmas is just around the corner, hopefully anyway. I'm only a hobby collector/seller also and pay bills plus buy other things including more stamps - also Christmas presents!

Thansk again,

Debra. 

[yeoldecoinco]

Very true and accurate post.

Stamp collecting is nowhere near as popular as it was 25 years ago before the Internet.

Whilst some stamps are still valuable and sought after, the Internet has flattened the market for stamps, and many of them you have to just about give them away to get rid of them.

Also, look at the competition. There are many stamp dealers on the Internet who have TENS of THOUSANDS of stamps available.

If it is scarce or a specialist area (such as stamp duties, kangaroo stamps or KGV heads) there is still a market, but a lot of stamps are very common and have little value these days.

My mate who has a shop and is a compulsive buyer, has the equivalent of rooms full of stamps, that are just about impossible to sell.