Sales Down in Australia - Increased International Sales? Server issues?

[tstore]

Interesting to have heard from other sellers that there have been next to no sales from 28th-1st March. Over last two days just 2 items have sold which is unheard off for us

In addition, we have had more than usual international sales to Europe. I think there is an issue with the eBay servers or have something to do with the Seller Dashboard being upgraded.

Basically eBay taps have been turned off. Interested in other seller's experiences over this weekend?

[wildbook33]

Its quite odd..... I have a number of accounts selling different items and sales have dropped dramatically over the last 2 months, after having consistent sales for the past year. I am only a small seller, but it seems very strange that after the consistent levels it has dropped 50% and more......With the increases in fees (taking a percentage of the postage) the other auction sites are looking good, although ebay seems to get the traffic... Hope the problem is fixed or what is the point... as it is a very time consuming hobby for little return.....

[wildbook33]

My sales are down over all accounts and have been going down for the past 2 months by 50% and more.......

Very strange after having consistent sales over a year....

[clarry100]

We are still way down on sales, probably worse now than when this thread was first posted back in early March.

We have 2x stores.

One is down about 90% on what it had been up until Feb this year.

The other is down about 60% over the same period.

Where we used to mail out 25-30 packages per day across the 2 stores, we now rarely get over 10. Maybe this is the new "normal" now.

Going by views/watchers on our new listings it looks like traffic volume on ebay is way down.

So we are unsure where all the shoppers we had previously have all gone? And why have they gone?

So we are soon to launch our new independent web site and see what happens there. Getting hard to put butter on our bread here now.

[chameleon54]

........YOU'VE GOT BREAD ????????? 

[oldgear8]

It appears the many collectors and vintage car part buyers are now buying tickets for airline travel. The value of collectables is falling as is the value of most old cars. It appears to me that we are at the end of an era. Much of the items I collected were from weekend markets, garage sales and buying on eBay. Most old properties in and around Melbourne have been sold and cleared out for renovation and or demolition hence the lack of stock.

[countessalmirena]

Luxury! We used to dream of having bread! The best we could manage was to nibble on a piece of corrugated cardboard.

@oldgear8, it may be the end of an era, but there's still a thriving market in the US for collectables which might quite a bit longer to find a buyer in Australia. I suspect that it's more a changing dynamic in who is collecting items. It's fascinating to think that it's over 120 years now since cars were first manufactured in Australia, and just over a hundred years since the Ford Model T spring onto the Australian market.

As more and more cars fall into the "antique" classification, we may well see a revival of interest in an increasing number of cars that formed a vital part of Australia's history.

[davewil1964]

Clarry has probably eaten his bread over the last five years, or else it too stale for any amount of butter to help.

[countessalmirena]

Aaaaah! I have fallen foul of the Dreadful Curse of the Zombie Bread and Butter Post!

[chameleon54]

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@oldgear8 wrote:

It appears the many collectors and vintage car part buyers are now buying tickets for airline travel. The value of collectables is falling as is the value of most old cars. It appears to me that we are at the end of an era. Much of the items I collected were from weekend markets, garage sales and buying on eBay. Most old properties in and around Melbourne have been sold and cleared out for renovation and or demolition hence the lack of stock.

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Looking at your sold items you seem to have got good money for some things, ( signs ) but your auto books are probably priced too cheaply. Would it be better to list them BIN at a better price. As for car parts I would have thought things like the carbies would still sell relatively easily. Is it worth reconsidering the auction stategy ? It still works very well for the really good stuff, but the specialised items rarely get much auction competition these days.

The early Mazda rotaries, Datsuns 180 B's and Toyota Corollas are hot property with the resto crowd now. While the shiny bits are always sought after, it can often be the very boring, mundane stuff such as windscreen wiper arms and electrical switches that really suprise on the upside. And if you have NOS in the original packaging, Whoo Hooo !!!........ The big Australian tanks of the 70,s are the other big market, plus anything Holden. You have a grease tin for sale. Anything garaginalia is really getting riduclously expensive, so if you have some of that in the shed, now might be a good time to move it on. Another really hot market at the moment is 1970,s & 80,s Japanese motor cycles, particularly scramble & motor X . Anything motor cycle is selling much better than car stuff.

With the rare obsolete stuff it is often best to open it up to international buyers. If its ultra rare, so will be Australian buyers, but somewhere on the planet, some-one is willing to pay $600 plus $100 postage for that 1925 Minerva Carby. Price it through the roof and just sit back patiently and wait.

I sell similar stuff to you and are still finding the old car parts are selling well and the bike bits are red hot.. The biggest problem is to get my hoard listed & sold before buyers move onto newer stuff like 1980,s Holden Commodores..

[palmanne]

Australia is in a Recession, regardless of what is being said by Pollies, or polls. Polls ars inaccurate( not asking right questions, across ALL socio economic Groups. ALL People are Struggling to pay outrageous Electricity, Gas, Food & Fuel prices. Everybody FORGETS the shear SIZE of Australia (fit Europe into Victoria) The biggest buying Group (Baby Boomers) (Worldwide) has Stopped Spending; due to Stopped Working (on Pensions) Don't have any disposable (limited) money to spend. That's why Afterpay & Zip Pay are becoming Preferred & affordable to Ageing baby Boomers. Ebay will regret NOT makibg them available.