No sales?

[love_of_cars]

No one has started a "my sales are dead" post for a few days so I thought I'd keep the tradition going.

Anyone else suffering from a run of "lights out" at the moment?  My website shop is also similarly dead.  Maybe it's the time of year or maybe it's just me.  How are you going?

[love_of_cars]

Thanks for the discussion!  My #1 market is North America, most of my artwork goes there.  Since I posted this message I actually sold 2 prints over night.  I was quite surprised.

The revealing feedback replies on that seller's account are amusing!

[chameleon54]

My ebay sales are down around 25% on long term average with international sales particularly quiet. Who knows, but maybe the Corona virus has scared the domestic consumers internationally.

Its certainly not worrying my farming business with lamb prices rising 10% in the last couple of weeks due to recent widespread rains and wool prices trending up as Chinese woolen mills shut down, causing a shortage of processed wool on the international markets.

I suspect the virus is playing havoc on consumer sentiment in the Northern hemesphire and causing all sorts of disruptions to international trade, both good and bad, depending on which side of the fence you are sitting on.. 

[*tippy*toes*]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

My ebay sales are down around 25% on long term average with international sales particularly quiet. Who knows, but maybe the Corona virus has scared the domestic consumers internationally.

Its certainly not worrying my farming business with lamb prices rising 10% in the last couple of weeks due to recent widespread rains and wool prices trending up as Chinese woolen mills shut down, causing a shortage of processed wool on the international markets.

I suspect the virus is playing havoc on consumer sentiment in the Northern hemesphire and causing all sorts of disruptions to international trade, both good and bad, depending on which side of the fence you are sitting on.. 

---

Yes, wool prices are certainly up. I recently got just over $300 for 2 Merino fleeces (one being 14 micron, the other being around 17 micron, of which he is actually a crossbred, but despite being half Suffolk, has the wool of a Merino). Sadly, the F2 crossbreds didn't fair so well. I got $7.85 for the ewe and $12 for the wether. Their wool is carpet quality at best. I don't care. They are pets, so I don't care if they don't produce good wool. They were bred for the freezer, not their wool. No, they aren't going in the freezer!

Normally I have a very busy time in Feb, but even I'm stalled this month. Had 2 sales. I'm not worried. People have a lot going on. I don't rely on eBay for an income, so I'm not losing sleep. I feel for those whereby this is their only income. They would really be feeling it. I'm grateful that I have a regular job to pay the bills.

[south.coffee]

This weekend and sales are back to normal.  Wherever it rains in Australia, sales pick up from those locations as buyers head indoors.

The 'beer' virus is starting to effect sales and suppliers in different ways.  Chinese sellers are definately being effected as many workers are not going to work.  This will impact the bigger Chinese sellers.  Couriers are not picking up goods either and outbound mail is slowing as there are less postal workers on the ground.

We placed orders with our Chinese suppliers 3 weeks ago in preparation for return to work after the Lunar NY holiday.  Usually they ship in days.  Half have shipped and half are awaiting picking, packing or pick up.

I was reading the feedback on a big Chinese seller earlier and it will be interesting to see if their neutral or negative numbers will blow out with delivery delays.  They are currently sitting at 105 negative and 48 neutral for the month.

https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/libing36920133

[bjlcr]

My sales have been almost non exsistant  but for some reason one of my  sites suddenly came to life last weekend and I sold 9 items in a matter of  3 days.

But its gone dead again.

So I guess there is truth  in the lights on.. lights off theory

[south.coffee]

We too get spontaneous groups of sales and sometime the same item.  Some of our items get picked up and recommended in external forums and when someone discovers a product and posts the URL, multiple sales come through.

I looked at my eBay traffic and found some bursts from outside eBay corresponded to sales.

https://www.ebay.com.au/sh/prf/traffic

[south.coffee]

When was the last time you sold to a new eBayer ?  I recently helped a new member complete their first purchase and I was the lucky seller.  We both got through it eventually and sale completed.  It occurred to me today that hasn't happened in a very long time ?

I just went through my last 90 days of sales history to discover only three buyers had less then 10 feedback including the above buyer.  The vast majority of my buyers had feedback in the hundreds.

We have all heard that eBay is dying and not atracting new buyers and I've started to think that maybe the new current generation of buyers are not looking at eBay for their online buying.  Maybe 'social media' selling is truly starting to take it's fair share of the cake...

[chameleon54]

---

@south.coffee wrote:

When was the last time you sold to a new eBayer ?  I recently helped a new member complete their first purchase and I was the lucky seller.  We both got through it eventually and sale completed.  It occurred to me today that hasn't happened in a very long time ?

I just went through my last 90 days of sales history to discover only three buyers had less then 10 feedback including the above buyer.  The vast majority of my buyers had feedback in the hundreds.

We have all heard that eBay is dying and not atracting new buyers and I've started to think that maybe the new current generation of buyers are not looking at eBay for their online buying.  Maybe 'social media' selling is truly starting to take it's fair share of the cake...

---

Thats an interesting observation. I thought I would have a look on one account. Did the numbers and 11% of my buyers in the last 90 days have a feedback score of 10 or less including several new, zero feedback buyers. I suspect it depends on what you are selling. Most of my stuff is unique or rare collectables ( not always expensive though ) , so if a buyer wants it, often my ebay store is the only place they can get it.

Most of my buyers are probably not that young though, so I may be more immune to the problem you raise than a seller targetting the younger or generic market.

[chameleon54]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

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@chameleon54 wrote:

My ebay sales are down around 25% on long term average with international sales particularly quiet. Who knows, but maybe the Corona virus has scared the domestic consumers internationally.

Its certainly not worrying my farming business with lamb prices rising 10% in the last couple of weeks due to recent widespread rains and wool prices trending up as Chinese woolen mills shut down, causing a shortage of processed wool on the international markets.

I suspect the virus is playing havoc on consumer sentiment in the Northern hemesphire and causing all sorts of disruptions to international trade, both good and bad, depending on which side of the fence you are sitting on.. 

---

Yes, wool prices are certainly up. I recently got just over $300 for 2 Merino fleeces (one being 14 micron, the other being around 17 micron, of which he is actually a crossbred, but despite being half Suffolk, has the wool of a Merino). Sadly, the F2 crossbreds didn't fair so well. I got $7.85 for the ewe and $12 for the wether. Their wool is carpet quality at best. I don't care. They are pets, so I don't care if they don't produce good wool. They were bred for the freezer, not their wool. No, they aren't going in the freezer!

Normally I have a very busy time in Feb, but even I'm stalled this month. Had 2 sales. I'm not worried. People have a lot going on. I don't rely on eBay for an income, so I'm not losing sleep. I feel for those whereby this is their only income. They would really be feeling it. I'm grateful that I have a regular job to pay the bills.

WOW $300 for two fleeces is amazing money. I work on an average of $75 per fleece on my commercial Merino sheep. Much higher micron though. Even at that money it is a pretty exciting time to be a grazier. I am keeping all of my Merino lambs and trying to increase numbers of wool cutting sheep. ( ready for a flock dispersal when I retire )