kristie
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posted on July 16, 2001 03:18:04 PM
Hi! Is anyone else experiencing extremely slow sales? I sell books and for the first time I have 15 auctions closing this evening and only 5 have bids. I would assume the time of year has alot to do with it. Any input or stories to share?
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aliceroad
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posted on July 16, 2001 03:43:01 PM
I do not usualy sell much in the summer. Put three things on a couple of weeks ago and sold 2. My books on half.com were doing well until this past week end. Nothing sold today at all.
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Triggerfish
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posted on July 16, 2001 04:06:54 PM
Yeah, I had a very slow week. Got more bids last night (and not that many, at that!) than I had all week! It seems like each week is a whole new deal. Here's hoping for a better week ahead. 
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ecom
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posted on July 16, 2001 04:39:58 PM
Slow week, too.
People aren't feeling particularly good about the economy.
I figure its a flight to the cheap stuff. My less than $10 items are doing OK, but the $20 and up things aren't getting bids, even with lots of looks.
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dman3
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posted on July 16, 2001 05:09:19 PM
Hmmmm..
The last 14 days I have had the best sales I have seen in a few months.
Seem Free listing day got my listings kick way back up and bidding hasnt stopped.
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
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jeanyu
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posted on July 16, 2001 05:24:26 PM
Hi Kristie--misery loves company. The past week has been very slow for me and this is my job folks! Will just keep plugging along-cause I have found some really neat things this past weekend. Lately, no longer starting my items at $9.99, but at the price I can live with if the auction only gets one bid. So Far--so good.
Still detest reserves, so this is my way of getting a fair price for what I have up for bid. My motto is still-let it fly for what it is worth!
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lacey97
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posted on July 16, 2001 05:51:19 PM
Sales really slow for me too, actually the slowest they have ever been, since I started with Ebay 2 years ago!
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nefish
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posted on July 16, 2001 05:52:53 PM
Lately, no longer starting my items at $9.99, but at the price I can live with if the auction only gets one bid. So Far--so good.
That is the approach I have had to take, too. Opening bid is the price I'm willing to sell it for.
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litlux
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posted on July 16, 2001 06:02:57 PM
Yup, this is the s.l.o.w time. Last year I stopped selling completely but I had a lot of stuff to list on half.com so I did well there.
This year, I am running ebay constantly, and getting some bids, though not nearly as many auctions as from Nov-March. Like many others, I did well with the Free Listing Day, but there seems to be a post July 4th slowdown.
Now I understand next week the tax checks will start to be mailed, so that may help pick things up a little.
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wbmodrrsupaolcom
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posted on July 16, 2001 09:51:44 PM
Compared to the last two summers sales are way up for me, I'm not sure why, I wasn't expecting it....
James
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smartcom
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posted on July 16, 2001 10:00:54 PM
Yah, me too
slow sales
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tim99
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posted on July 16, 2001 10:29:23 PM
Summers are always slow in retail. Plus the weather has been very nice which isn't great for online retail. Plus the economy hasn't been that great either.
I sell mostly vintage items that target an older group of folks with disposable income; the downturn in the economy does not effect them so much. I have a good customer base of repeat buyers who I send a notice to when I have an item for auction in their category of interest and I am getting a lot of 'darn I missed it because I hadn't checked my email since Tuesday' sort of messages. Just not doing the ebay thing right now.
Retailers and E-tailers whine a lot every summer. With the diversity of the ebay marketplace, certainly this all plays well for someone and they're doing better than ever, for any number of reasons so your mileage will vary. But I would expect that gross revenue generated by Ebay is lower as a rule.
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mballai
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posted on July 16, 2001 10:31:11 PM
Actually sales are ok. Some books just don't light fires among certain bidders. I moved more books on half this weekend than eBay. I'm now shuttling books between the two sites. If there weren't so many lowballers out there, you might do better.
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keziak
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posted on July 17, 2001 04:47:45 AM
I also sell books, and I feel that business right now is as good as ever. Every time I do a FLD I am convinced anew that the road to success [at least for my sort of books] is list, list, list. I listed 100 books this last FLD and simply lost count of how many hundreds of dollars that earned me, and the amount I "spent" on listing was probably about $50.
As long as my sell-through percentage stays pretty high, and I make a profit on each book I sell, listing a lot is the way to go. Maybe that's just my personality, though, because I don't have the patience to list tons on Amazon and just sit around waiting for a bite.
keziak
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holdenrex
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posted on July 17, 2001 05:43:21 AM
I'm not complaining. My auctions have been ending with a 60% to 75% completion rate - not exactly November/December levels, but then again my focus for the Summer is "cleaning house" moreso than raking in the Big Bucks. Prices on the items sold have been somewhat better than expected, with a few unexpected bidding wars. Even better, my NPB rate is only about 3%, while last Summer it was running about three times that percentage.
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mar30
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posted on July 17, 2001 05:55:48 AM
I've had a GREAT couple of weeks!
I had 38 kids/toy-related auctions listed, some of which I have now relisted, and the majority have sold/gotten bids. Money-wise I think I've made more the past 2 weeks than I did at Christmas time when I had close to 70 auctions running! I'm not complaining!
note to self...gotta go look for some more Fisher Price stuff....
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peiklk
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posted on July 17, 2001 07:10:21 AM
I actually just had my FIRST auction close without a sale the other day. I was bummed. My 100% sell-through record is shattered
Of course, that's only after about 50 auctions or so...but hey.
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packer
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posted on July 17, 2001 07:45:22 AM
I'm still doing my $1.00 NO RESERVE thingy and I couldn't be happier.
I stop listing for a couple of weeks to get things organized for a hard hitting xmas season. I couldn't take it, I HAD TO LIST SOMETHING.
But at the time I ended my last auctions I had done EXTREMELY well.
Out of 12 items listed now I have 24 bids and I just put them on late Sunday night.
They didn't get indexed till after midnight.
I've been wondering, is it really a smart thing to save everything for xmas sales?
If we are all doing that won't the market again get flooded like it did on FLD?
I sell vintage & collectables. Sell through for me is 99.9%
packer
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peiklk
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posted on July 17, 2001 07:54:55 AM
If we're not all selling the same types of things, then the CHRISTmas season should be ok, since there will be more buyers.
If we're flooding the market with the same things, then it won't be good.
I'm tempted to go ahead and list a bunch -- scares me to sell without getting as much as I could -- or not selling something now that might sell later. But with AW's free listing, I might just get a ton posted this Thursday.
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holdenrex
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posted on July 17, 2001 08:14:23 AM
The only stuff I'm saving for the Christmas season are actual Christmas items and some of the better stuff which would make nice gifts. Sell-through rate is incredibly high at Christmas, so it's usually not a matter of what to put up for auction, it's a matter of how much material can you process before having a nervous breakdown. The lines at the Post Office (with lots of clueless people trying to send packages) gets to be particularly trying on the holiday spirit.
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tootsiepop
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posted on July 17, 2001 01:35:21 PM
This past week was one of the best I've had since January, and this week is shaping up to be even better. With ebay you never know though, next weeks auctions could really tank.
Personally I'm not holding anything back for Christmas, I'm putting up whatever I have as I get to it. I find I do a lot better with Xmas items this time of year than during the Holidays, so am listing lots of those.
I am holding back on clothes until next month though - for back to school shoppers.
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yumacoot
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posted on July 17, 2001 01:47:14 PM
I wish I could find something worth listing!! Books are picked over, toys are picked over (or too pricey) I think everyone in town must be selling on EBAY! What I have listed on Ebay since May has done well enough....last year was better though.
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sadie999
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posted on July 17, 2001 01:54:31 PM
Last two Sundays, I've been happy. The two prior to that were so bad, I was actually searching all my listings to make sure they had indexed!
My sell through is less than I'd like, but the things that get bid on do better than I think they're going to. Go figure.
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