Sales crash since the big A opened.

Anyone else ?? I have 2 other accounts that were ticking along but the sales have slowly dropped off over the last couple of weeks getting 20 -30 sales a week. This week however I have not had one sale - even lookers are down. For the first time in about 2 years I did not have to go to the PO today (or yesterday). 

I know there are many threads about this but it seems strange since the big A site launched sales have plumeted. I should be cleaning up this close to chrsitmas but im not hearing sleigh bells ...I am hearing crickets ! 

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

i think it probably largely depends on what you're selling? my sales haven't altered at all - if anything, they've been better which is the norm for me at this time of year. 

 

if you're competing with products which are sold on amazon AU by big retailers, i guess that will be the case. i really hope things pick up for you soon. i've heard that most people are annoyed that the big A hasn't been all it's been cracked up to be. 

 

maybe that will change when your everyday, small-time seller is able to sell on there (whenever that may be). 

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

lyndal1838
Honored Contributor

Have you compared your prices with the A prices where you are selling the same thing?

 

I have a few items on my shopping list that I was putting off buying until the big A opened.

What a disappointment.....NOTHING was cheaper than I have found in other shops or online.

 

As for sellers going to Amazon....you need to do your homework.  From what I have heard they are not as good as people make them out to be.

 

I have not heard or read of anyone who is impressed with them,

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

I dont sell generic items that are available on the big A, but sales are ticking along quite nicely. I dont cater to the Christmas market, so to still be getting good sales at this time of year is a bonus. Today has been slightly above average for sales and dollars return.

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

The whole thing was pretty anti-climactic, I think. No fanfare to speak of (or that I'm aware of  but I have to acknowledge I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, I also have adblock on all my browsers and don't indulge in much of anything where ads can be seen and / or heard). 

 

For the longest time, that site has often been portrayed as a looming threat that will change everything the instant it's live.

 

Whelp... The only reason I knew it was live and Joe Public could now buy there was because a Facebook friend who's also a seller made a post about it. I checked it out... Spent about 2 minutes on the site, checked and confirmed no one is listing the kinds of things I stock, shrugged and went on my merry way. 

 

The site has a stronghold in other countries, for sure, but it doesn't feel like something new or different to me. After all this time, and all this anticipation, all I saw was just another ecommerce site, and I wasn't really all that impressed.

 

I could be in a minority there, I don't really know, but judging from the spruiking articles I've seen that are lazily and sloppily written but are clearly attempting to divert attention from ebay to A, methinks the behemoth might have come to the party a little too late and doesn't quite know how to mingle. o_O 

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

I haven't even thought to look at Amazon yet, let alone buy.

Haven't heard anything amazing about them at all. if anything, it seems they may be dearer.

Yet i have bought from ebay this week. 3 things actually. So I guess it depends on what people are buying & what their browsing habits are.

 

Maybe it is just me but I haven't noticed a lot of advertising by Amazon. I did see a (largely negative) news review but that's it. Maybe they think their fame will be enough.

If a person is selling things that aren't 'gift' sort of items, then they might see a drop in sales at this time of year as money gets diverted to presents.

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

Unfortunately A doesn't have the items I buy lol so I have to suffer and keep buying on eBay

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

I harbor a major grudge against Amazon - I've literally never been able to purchase a single item on there, always given the "not available to your country" nonsense. I figure if they didn't want my business as a buyer then, they can't have it now...

 

So far as sales, my employer wants me to start listing some of our company's products on there, but I don't think it's viable - you can't just set up an account and start selling, and the listing process seems more complex than eBay.

 

I set up a basic account for the company, and got a "We'll get back to you soon" response. Three or four days later, an e-mail asking me to give more details of the company and products. Another "We'll get back to you soon", and nothing since.

 

They're not doing themselves any favours...

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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

Thought I would go see. I was able to sign in with my UK account details but when I went to Kindle books they all said they could not be downloaded to my region. I can still buy them when logged into UK site.  I also didn't see any mention of Amazon Prime which is one of the main reasons I use Amazon as I get free next day delivery and access to films and TV series as you get with Netflix.

____________________________________________________
It says in this book I am reading that by 2065 80% of women will be overweight.

See what a trendsetter I am?
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Re: Sales crash since the big A opened.

First Amazon Australia package arrived in 2 days, despite teething problems
Posted by Jason Cartwright on December 7, 2017


Amazon launched in Australia on Tuesday and both needing networking cables and wanting to try out their newly established systems, I made a purchase and that arrived today.



Given I live in a regional city of Wodonga, I expected a few days for the package to be delivered, as thatโ€™s what the initial confirmation email suggested. Despite the estimate of a 3-day deliver, today the parcel was delivered in just 2.

My first order from Amazon Australia was 6x Cat 6 Ethernet cables from the Amazon Basics range. For those unfamiliar with this branding, its basically Amazonโ€™s house brand, products shipped under their own label, while most goods on their site are from 3rd party providers. Despite the AmazonBasics products being available in Australia, the labelling and the .com.au version clearly hasnโ€™t yet been updated.



As you can see in the packaging, the international nature means the lengths of the cables are printed in both imperial and metric numbers. The primary number is clearly measured in feet, with them being nice round numbers, 5 and 25 feet, with our meter lengths being a little weird as 1.52m and 7.62m. This is a little awkward given Aussies are used to buying in whole numbers like 1, 3, 5, 10 meter lengths. Behind my home theatre setup, this isnโ€™t a problem for me personally, but it is worth noting if youโ€™re buying from Amazon in Australia today.



Now for the delivery detail. After submitting the order through Amazon.com.au, I received an email confirmation shortly after, on Tuesday morning. This morning (Thursday) I received an email from Amazon to inform me the package was arriving today. Much to my delight, a 2-day to the door turn around is the service I had hoped for (again regional area), this gives me confidence in ordering products in the future.

It was in this email that I spotted something that gave rise for concern.

The supposedly highly automated Amazon distrobution system seems to have at least some component of humans entering data. The reason I know that is that my address is registered on Amazon as Killara, VIC 3691. So how does the tracking email arrive with โ€˜Delivering to NSW 3691โ€™, that canโ€™t have come from the same database field I submitted. It may be a result of some step in the process still containing an element of data entry by a human, that got it wrong.



The only other explanation is an API connection between Amazon and Australia Post failed to match my address and failed badly. There is a Killara in NSW, but not with the same postcode. After reading this, I fully expected the package to be sent to the wrong location, but thankfully the distribution points in the system, relied on the postcode, not the state field and my package arrived safely.

At the end of the day, the first experience with Amazon Australia was a good one, so Iโ€™ll be using Amazon in the future to buy goods, but Iโ€™ll still be price matching with other sites, at least until Amazon Prime arrives.
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