posted on December 19, 2000 06:15:12 AM
Hi all - is it just me or does there seem to be a malaise in the land of auction sales? Seems like all I read anymore is about idiotic bidders, sales down to no bids or cutthroat competition, mismanagement and fraud by payment companies, long lines at the Post Office, impending recession of epic proportions...
Ironically, I just got my business license and tax forms, and I feel like the last thing I want to do is actually list and sell anything!
But if I just step back a bit and take a look at my situation, I wonder: what is the problem?? I haven't done the numbers but I probably just had one of my best months ever. I don't get hundreds of bids per item, but most of my stuff sells the first time out. I'm not listing right now on ebay, but I sold 3 things overnight on half.com and Amazon. I have so many sales I stagger under the weight of the parcels to get them to the post office.
And yet my outlay is very low.
If you look at my ebay page, most of you would probably say "bah, a nickel and dime seller". Also, I had a ton of no-bids this month, but that was due to listing a bunch of marginal stuff on Free Listing Day.
I'm looking forward to getting past the holidays, getting adjusted to the new postal rates, and just getting back into gear. I think I'll do better than last year because it took me months to get any idea of what I was doing. Yet for a very-part-time moonlighting job, I am delighted with the results!
Just wanted to inject a little note of optimism from the peanut gallery.
posted on December 19, 2000 06:53:51 AM
Some folks are doing fine, some have experienced a turn down. It is harder to do eBay full time than it was a year or two ago. Good for you . I am glad things are going well for you. I have to rediscover how to bring it back up for myself again. And I will.
posted on December 19, 2000 07:09:05 AM
I am in the midst of the "holiday blues" so I am taking some time off until after Christmas.
My sales were great in August, slow in Sept. Dead in Oct. and then I just switched to Yahoo and had a great showing over there until last week. That is when I decided to take time off until after Christmas.
My category swelled from 70 when I started to about 1200 any given day now. It is definitely harder to sell, but I do get bids. I just don't get the bids that I would like to have--no more 35 bids on an item due to the sheer volume.
It also takes more time to figure out what the others aren't selling at the moment so that I can list that product without 50 other items in competition.
And I am floundering with how to list now that the multi-bidding is not there. Do I list higher and just hope for one bid? Do I list low with reserve to get attention and views? I used to be able to list low and count on fierce bidding to get my price. This is just not happening now, so I am building a new selling strategy.
Of course, gray days, snow and ice and horrible wind chills are not helping.
I don't do this for a living, and when I started I decided that if this ever became "work" and not "fun" I would quit. I don't think I have reached that point, but I just need a break from paying Ebay fees on my credit card when sales are slow and I am not getting the intense bidding wars that create those adreneline rushes and happy dancing.
Happy Holidays. Rest and come back with new spirits!
*************
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posted on December 19, 2000 09:49:16 AM
I'm not listing until after Christmas, but I'm looking at my niche category and feeling depressed. We generally go from a low of 300 items to a high of 600-700 items on any given day, and lately it's been at the high mark with hardly any sales. Even the big time seller in this category appears to be suffering (and although they are my competition, I do sympathize with them since I know they just expanded and invested in a new location....big outlay...looks like they are probably not having a very merry christmas). I do think that things will pick up somewhat after Christmas, but at the moment some big expenses are looming and I will probably need to start temping again in January....but you know what, life goes on, and I still believe that the Internet will be where I'm working in 5 years regardless of whether it's on Ebay or elsewhere. Everything's gonna be all right but probably in a different way than we think.
