ok4leather
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posted on October 9, 2002 12:45:27 PM new
Noticed traffic and bids are way down in normally busy catagories. My sellthru is way down. Something seems to have happened around 15 to 18 Septemember. There have been many search problems and Catagory changes since then. Anyone care to comment?
Ok4
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gina50
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posted on October 9, 2002 01:24:34 PM new
I don't know but my sales have been down too ~ was going gang busters like old days of ebay and 3/4's of the way thru Sept .. noticed it getting much slower !!!
NOT gina50 on ebay
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ok4leather
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posted on October 9, 2002 01:52:18 PM new
Gina, I think they did something to cause it - Not sure what but something sure caused things to go south fast.
Ok4
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micmic66
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posted on October 9, 2002 01:59:56 PM new
I must admit, sales are stagnent. Even good stuff, or stuff that should go "bold" overnight isn't getting it done. I think I am going to hold on to all my good stuff till the first week of December. This is nasty!!
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capotasto
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posted on October 9, 2002 02:08:29 PM new
"Gina, I think they did something to cause it ..."
They? Who "they"?
You think ebay is deliberately doing something to reduce their income?
No, I think people have just decided that there are more important things to do than bid on ebay. The fad has come and gone.
Now, unless you offer items to the diehard collector categories (and there still are some that do well), you will only get one or two bids.
Vinnie
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amber
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posted on October 9, 2002 02:10:07 PM new
My sales are down too on items that usually sell well. Last week out of 15 auctions closing in 2 days, only 1 sold!
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inot
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posted on October 9, 2002 02:14:15 PM new
yep! Even though I, the eternal optimist, hate to admit it.... I have seen a drastic and very obvious, SUDDEN drop in hits. Not just my page, but also when I do a browse, I notice LOTS of stuff sitting with no bids and little time left. All summer was good/great....through
most of September ( some of my best sales).
I've had a wonderful year with almost everything I list selling, higher ending bids than I imagined, only 2 NPB, and 95% of my customers have left feedback.
The last 2 weeks have been WAY off. If I had the money ( and room to store things) I guess now would be the ideal time to buy. Most of my stuff (All Antique and Vintage items) sits with no bids at all after 4 days..AAAAAAAHHHH!!! WEIRD!!!!....
WHAT'S HAPPENING!!!!
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buyhigh
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posted on October 9, 2002 02:19:36 PM new
Noticed the same thing the past 2 weeks. Used to sell almost everything I listed ( which wasn't all that much ) and have struck out on the last 7 items with no bids. Would probably get bids if I started at $1.00 with no reserve since the only ones out there bidding would seem to be bottom feeders. But then the stock market is in the toilet (so to speak)and I am certain that people are holding on to her discretionary cash just in case and purchasing only essentials. I am sure we are in a deep recession regardless of the pep talks Washington gives.
buyhigh
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on October 9, 2002 02:22:37 PM new
My sellthrough, which had been running at 92% to 96%, is up to 98% now.
I have to admit I don't understand this urge to get others to commiserate in these frequent "ebay sales down" threads.
If low bidding can be demonstrated to be a trend, that means you're not doing anything wrong in your selling? Is that why you folks start these threads?
Successful eBay selling is WORK. It is frequently long, hard, tiring, grindingly annoying work. If you're not willing to put much into it, you're not going to get much out.
Simple as that.
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ok4leather
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posted on October 9, 2002 02:37:46 PM new
Vinnie - They meaning ebay. I sell medium value items usually 30 to 70 dollar range. Listing is 1.00 no reserve My items have sold consistantly for the past 2 years untill a couple weeks ago 24 hours before the auctions were to close 1 to 4 bids - the highest was near 10.00 the lowest at 1.00 - I checked the catagory and noticed low bidding activity thru the entire catagory. I checked the announcement board at ebay and noticed they posted a large notice about having Re-Vamped catagories notably in crafts and clothing and many others - it was a big list with extensive changes noted. I decided to cancel all bids on the high dollar items and pull them (which I did) I submitted all the pulled auction numbers to ebay saying that the changes in catagories hurt my traffic and I was forced to pull the items to save my hide. They refunded 17 auctions listing fees. I know something has happened and I think its not the economy because in a bad economy demand items still bid out high.
Read the new TAG notes issue from this morning about the search problems and especially about scripts embedded in search to direct traffic to preferred client sellers. I dont know much about it but TAG posted the story.
Ok4
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pelorus
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posted on October 9, 2002 02:57:58 PM new
fluffythepompouscat: You seem to be even more full of yourself than usual today. Sure, if someone is having less success on ebay it MUST be because they just aren't working hard enough (sniff). Too bad we all can't be as smart and industrious, even downright brilliant, as you.
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inot
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posted on October 9, 2002 03:01:52 PM new
Hey! to Everyone who is having a slow time of it lately,
hang in there, it'll turn around!!!
"Successful eBay selling is WORK. It is frequently long, hard, tiring, grindingly annoying work. If you're not willing to put much into it, you're not going to get much out." WOW! GOD has spoken "folks". Well, I'm not sure if it's GOD.... or my Dad.
Dear Fuffy:
Please save your preachin' for your kids.
This is the kind of thread where, OK, if you'd like to commiserate with the rest of us "folks" please do do, if not.....move along.
You really don't have to leave your opinion on every darn thread that comes down the board. I'm glad your sales are good, I hope they remain that way. But just remember Karma has a funny way of getting you just at your cockiest. Your narrow mindedness is most definately "ANNOYING". How you can assume these "folks" don't also work hard from this innocent little thread? No one works longer, harder, tiring-er, grindingly-er, or annoying-er hours than I do. I've been a successful seller for 4 years. With over 2000 feedbacks,
1998 of them POSITIVE and only 5 NPBs in my ebay career, I would certainly say successful. Maybe you should adopt or foster some teenagers, so you can get this obsessive compulsive lecturing out of your system.
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nightman444
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posted on October 9, 2002 03:11:12 PM new
Like I always like to say if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. There are up and downs in every business. in retail sales things are down. So I started listing in the Wholesale Lots catagory and boom sales went back up You just have to give people what they want. and right now everyone is searching for a way to make money. Many people have lost jobs.and are looking for a way to put food on the table.
My mining equipment and jewelry wholesale lots are doing good.
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on October 9, 2002 03:26:02 PM new
To the whiners:
There's an Ignore button. Use it.
If you choose to read what I say and then claim I shouldn't be allowed to say it, you're a damned hypocrite.
The message boards are, above all, for LEARNING. Close your pie hole, open your ears and you just might learn something that will make money for you.
Or you can continue to shout with your hands firmly clamped over your ears.
Your choice.
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inot
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posted on October 9, 2002 03:28:26 PM new
Did you say PIE Dad? mmmmmmmmm...yum..pie!
make mine a!la!mode!
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buyhigh
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posted on October 9, 2002 03:31:47 PM new
Most of replies so far seem to bear out my observations about the economy which means a lot of former bidders are either out of work or worried about the future and not bidding. Add the sad state of their 401k's (if they have one) which should have some effect on their spending habits. Since I am not in business and am only doing e-Bay to rid myself of years of accumulation, I have no real stake in all of this. I just hate paying fees to e-Bay when I realize nothing in return.
buyhigh
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kiara
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posted on October 9, 2002 03:33:37 PM new
fluffy has mentioned that she sells jewelry and starts many items at one cent.
She also charges a flat shipping rate and makes up for lower bids by doing that as she doesn't combine purchases either.
I'm not saying that anything is wrong with the way she does things but her methods can't be compared to other sellers who pay higher prices for their goods and can't afford to sell with these same techniques.
There are ups and downs in every business, also in my RL retail store. Things run in cycles.
Many of us work very hard and some products are much easier to acquire, pack and sell than others.
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on October 9, 2002 03:39:23 PM new
nightman444: Good thoughts. Think anyone will pay attention? Doesn't matter, I guess. You and I will still be making money.
I'd have to agree on the wholesale angle. My big sellers are my job lots of jewelry, gathering a bunch of like items into one lot. The bidding goes nuts on those, usually beyond the BIN price. Some of the bidders I know to be boutique and consignment shop owners. Others may be looking to set up their own Web sites.
Someone said earlier it might be a good time to buy. Scratch that: it's a GREAT time to buy. Real entrepreneurs develop the flexibility to buy or sell. To get stuck in one (eBay) rut is gonna getcha sooner or later.
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gina50
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posted on October 9, 2002 04:00:45 PM new
YES IT IS A BUYERS MARKET for sure !!
Get GREAT deals .. so if you have the $$$$ to go buy and sit on your finds until this war is over with !!
Kinda reminds me of the stories about the Great Depression ... the people who had the money to buy ....bought and made out in the long run!
Happy days will be here again and we'll get over singing the blues 
NOT gina50 on ebay
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aintrichyet
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posted on October 9, 2002 04:23:15 PM new
We had a slow eBay summer, a super duper September, and now October is being sluggish ... on the other hand, our antique mall booths are doin' AOK ...
Marcia
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ok4leather
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posted on October 9, 2002 04:26:31 PM new
Granted the economy has been a factor but that has been long term and not just the last three weeks - Id think that such a sudden drop in activity to have been the result of a problem with the search function or mabe a bug in the way the new catagories are set up.
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tomwiii
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posted on October 9, 2002 04:48:02 PM new
Scruffy-THE-blunder-Pussy: You ole sweet-talking, silver-tongued softy...NO more MR NICE KITTY, eh??!!
Help send RALPHIE to school! Please click:
http://www.sparedollar.com?ref=260
I LOVE ENDICIA!!!!
http://www.endicia.com/default.cfm?referredby=a112
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pandorasbox
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posted on October 9, 2002 06:26:34 PM new
Below you'll find an interesting analysis of that white-hot category "wholesale jewelry" (category#1484).
This is for the last 30 days.
Number of auctions in category: 1781
Number of auctions resulting in a sale: 676 (37.96%)
Number of regular auctions: 1697
Regular auctions with sale: 643 (37.89%)
Number of Dutch auctions: 84
Dutch auctions with sale: 33 (39.29%)
Items sold per Dutch auction: 4.67
Number of reserve auctions: 76
Reserve auctions with sale: 12 (15.79%)
Number of no-reserve auctions: 1705
No-reserve auctions with sale: 664 (38.94%)
Average number of bids per auction: 2.8
Average high bid: 16.27
Average sale price: 15.17
Total value of all high bids: 13699.08
Total actual sales in category: 12087.28
Number of sellers in category: 145
Auctions in category per seller: 12.3
Average seller feedback rating: 1900.5
Average total sales per seller: 83.36
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kiara
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posted on October 9, 2002 07:18:43 PM new
Thanks for the stats.
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ok4leather
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posted on October 9, 2002 08:20:52 PM new
Wasnt there a story on 60 mins or 2020 about some retail chain selling coats made of kitty Furr ..... Stay away from the mall Fluffy. lol
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horsey88
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posted on October 9, 2002 08:57:09 PM new
Claiming that you are selling 98% at present in any Ebay category reminds me of the guys in high school who were always saying they were getting lucky with everyone from the headmistress on down. When in fact they were always the ones getting diddly,except in their dreams.
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saddamhussien
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posted on October 9, 2002 09:54:24 PM new
Things have been very slow the last week or two. It seems like the bids come pouring in one week and then dry up the next. Bidding, "thank you" emails, questions, and feedbacks all seem to happen at the same time and then the next week, hardly anything. It's like ebay becomes a ghost town. I guess you've got to get while the gettin' is good!
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bootclan
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posted on October 9, 2002 11:08:30 PM new
98% Sellthrough Rate-- Sounds good but it depends on your net profit from your 98% sales. Many people make nickle and dime profits from there high sellthrough rates but look at there net profits from there so called "great sellthrough rates" and they are not making "jack" in profits.
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JWPC
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posted on October 10, 2002 12:37:55 AM new
Yes, it has slowed down dramatically....but it will change, it always does....
We had this same slow period last year, but this year, outside of the last 3 weeks we have gone great guns....There always seems like a lul period after school, after labor day, before halloween.....I am sure the war talk isn't helping, or the soft stockmarket, but I believe, like always it will turn around, at least for those with decent items at decent prices.
We are moving items, but only low in pieces for the most.
PTL for a niche we have in one item not allowed on eBay which too has slowed down, but not to the degree eBay has.....beyond our normal eBay stuff .....we deal in weapons, and they seem popular even when everything else is almost dead.
[ edited by JWPC on Oct 10, 2002 12:46 AM ]
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zoomin
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posted on October 10, 2002 08:01:25 AM new
So many had slow sales after 9-11.
Mine soared.
So many complained it was a weak XMas in 2001.
I kicked butt.
So many cried at a sleepy summer.
As I ran to the bank.
NOW
I am with you 
Not happy about it, though!
Three years of crazy fun, zooming and having a Blast!
Time to learn more tricks, I guess!
FWIW, my ID that starts everything at $3 is still Rocking (that's the ID that I use to empty my closet) but not all items are going GangBusters as before.
Fortunately, they are profitable for me!
I might try the Buy It Now route again on my 'regular' ID.
For the first time in ages, I have less than 50 items listed.
Gotta Think.
or shop 
all tips are appreciated
(including the cash kind)
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