wartelle
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posted on October 31, 2001 11:14:16 AM new
My best friend used to do really good, listing 150 items and selling at least a third. Now he might sell 3 items with as many listings. I'm still hanging in, but notice a huge drop. I don't think it is just 911, but the whole on line auction experience has lost its novelty. Marsh
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jake
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posted on October 31, 2001 12:24:14 PM new
I've been a seller on ebay for 4 1/2 years, and it has been a downward spiral since they went public back in 1999. A year ago, I would sell about 50% of what I listed. Now it is down to 10-15%. Doesn't seem to matter what the item is, I list all different types of items. There just aren't enough buyers to go around for the millions of items that are listed.
Sales at the other sites isn't any better either. The whole internet seems to be dead.
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gina50
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posted on October 31, 2001 12:30:07 PM new
My ebay sales are way down this past week ~ starting to get worried here 
I have been selling gently used clothing and vintage clothing on ebay for 2+ years and actually had a great September this year but lately... not too good !!
Wondering if this is because of buyers being afraid to receive mail with all that is going on !
But taking advantage... I have gotten many bargains this past week on ebay .... I still love to get mail !!! 
gina near Philly Pa
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wowwow85
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posted on October 31, 2001 12:30:40 PM new
many of the active ebay bidders work for industry which just happen to be downsizing,what would you do,bid for collectibles or save the money for rainy day
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llama_lady
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posted on October 31, 2001 12:56:37 PM new
Usually at this time of the year my sales are booming. I sell collectibles, which are a "I want", not a "I need". I had 70 auctions listed a couple of weeks ago and 5 closed with winning bids. Luckily I work FT so I can afford to slow down a little, which I have. It doesn't make sense to me to list 70 items and not make enough to cover all my costs on these items, so I am taking a break. I have even quit going to my favorite auction house every week, and now go every other week or so. I have enough inventory for a long while, so except for the socializing, I am not missing anything.
I'll be building up some mister lister files and will be launching in a week or so. But geesch we are in November. Perhaps all the holiday gift buyers are just not buying this year or waiting until the very last minute. This is not a good idea especially with the post office being slower (justifibly so (this time)) than usual.
I am keeping a positive attitude, because it expends less energy than a negative one and I need all the energy I can get.
Remember the rubber tree plant. 
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luvmy2bears
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posted on October 31, 2001 01:54:33 PM new
My sales are definately down from last year. But things are still selling. Not as high as I'd like, but still better than I'd make at consignment.
I'm LOVIN' the deals I'm getting as a buyer though!
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wartelle
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posted on October 31, 2001 01:57:25 PM new
I guess the point I'm making is that my friend, and a whole bunch of other folks are thinking about slacking off for a while...you know the old herd mentality. This could be a major dip coming for ebay listings.
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dman3
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posted on October 31, 2001 02:09:31 PM new
My Ebay sales have doubled and I had to incress my starting bids 20% to cover all the extra costs.
In the last three month I have had a 75% yo 80% sell thru rate,I am finding I have to list Item twice far less and only a few need to be listed later for a third or fourth time.
How ever my over all return is about the same or a bit lower this year because I listed less high priced items..
Edited to add that sales only slowed down from last Xmas for a few weeks most of the summer sales stayed steady the difference being the average Item I sold was $5 to $8 this year last year I had more items selling from $10 to $30 ..
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
[ edited by dman3 on Oct 31, 2001 02:11 PM ]
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MAH645
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posted on October 31, 2001 05:57:57 PM new
In most of the catagories I list in, sales are way down from last year.I'm still selling but this week alot of my auctions are closing with no bids.E-Bay better hope the new sellers hang in there, and hand over the fees.Maybe there will be enough sellers who sell great to keep the internet going.
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mitch3
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posted on October 31, 2001 06:17:22 PM new
Please don't take this the wrong way but,,, Is there anyone out there who is selling better items....All we seem to hear from on this and other boards are people selling low end items in the 5 and 10 dollar range....I sell antiques mostly in the 150.00 to 1500.00 range....It's hard to make a judgement when you only hear from the 5 and 10 dollar seller.... 5 and 10 dollar sales are fine but it's not what I do....Comments????
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amy
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posted on October 31, 2001 06:38:13 PM new
I sell antiques and collectibles (or previously owned items as I like to say) in the $10 to $300 range (sometimes more ). My sales this past summer were the best summer sales I've had since I started on ebay in 1998. My sell through rate is at 50-65% steadily...or 75% depending on how I calculate it.
September sales were not bad but did take a little hit because of the 9/11 disaster. October bounced back to normal.
I also sell books and my sales held steady all year long with September taking a little hit. I sell books in the $5-several hundred dollar range. Normally I have a 50-65% sell through on the books also (again...75% if I calculate it in a different way). October's sell through dropped to 40% but I expected it to as I was throwing up a lot of lower priced, iffy books.
I don't think ebay is down from a year ago...but some items are. To keep one's sales up means being brutal and dropping those items that are no longer moving like they used to and finding fresh merchandise that WILL move.
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wowwow85
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posted on October 31, 2001 06:38:45 PM new
i sell items ranging from 5 dollars to a few hundred dollars.
it could be a postcard or a fine porcelain figurine.
sales is very slow for me,today i sold none.
many people are staying away from ebay,hence the low view count,they could be typing their resume?
some could have turned to selling ,just think,anyone can sell on ebay.i would also say ebay bidders are the first to be all tapped out as they have bot so much for so long.
also many are dealers themselves and they know better not to hoard inventory in today enveronment.
unless ebay can bring in more first time bidders,it will not get any better until thanksgiving.
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ok4leather
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posted on October 31, 2001 07:55:54 PM new
A Dear Friend once told me " Keep your hands buisy and the Money will come" In good times its easy for anyone to make money- when times get tough making money takes more work. Ive found this especially true on ebay - You cant sit back and let the easy money roll in anymore you have to get down into the muck and goo and wrestle for every nickel*** Now thats a pretty thought Best of luck !
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siskabobg
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posted on October 31, 2001 08:20:10 PM new
My Opinion ? Just like the stock bubble - the party's over. My guess is that we are in a trough for probably 2 to 3 years. Everything goes through cycles, auction concepts are not immune. Do you really think Ebay will meet its pro forma projections? I don't.
I've sold in the $60 to $300 range. It's a sports memorabilia item. It's tanked. But like an earlier post I'll keep my hands busy and find another "need" and "fill it".
Good Luck.
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REAMOND
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posted on October 31, 2001 09:54:54 PM new
My sales nose dived from around the end of Sept.
ebay's weekend listings peak seem to be holding steady at 6.4 million, but that may start sinking if sales don't pick up. Sellers tend not to list when sales aren't taking place.
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bearmom
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posted on November 1, 2001 04:54:28 AM new
I pretty much quit selling on Ebay about a year ago, and went to Yahoo. But for a long time, I continued to shop on Ebay.
I started buying on Ebay years ago, and was always pleased with the service from sellers. But this fall, I have run into several sellers who did not disclose damage to items, or charged high handling fees. It's really made me leery of Ebay! I'm not saying that scam artists have taken over, just that my experience has not been good-not just once, but several times. This is the kind of thing that hurts an auction site. When I can go 4 years without a problem, then have 3 within 2 months, I start to only buy from sellers I know and trust. Money is too tight to risk on a seller you don't know.
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doubleo
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posted on November 1, 2001 07:12:06 AM new
I just had a week where my higher priced items sold much better than my lower priced items. Had an auction close at $1025.00, about $100.00 higher than I expected. Several items sold that did not sell when originally put up for auction about a year ago. I have found a drop off in sales of the the lower priced items.
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computerboy
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posted on November 1, 2001 07:49:52 AM new
We sell high end, brand-name sunglasses and our auctions are offered at starting bids of $29.95-$60.00. Our average transaction is about $43.00.
We've seen a downturn in business since the September 11th attack and feel that the downturns that are currently being experienced are market wide and are by no means isolated to auction activity.
I believe we'll begin seeing a modest increast in activity just before the Thanksgiving holiday and it will extend through the end of January. The holiday season will most likley not be as good as year's past, but will still be welcomed by all of us sellers.
Wishing you all the best of upcoming holiday sales! Hang in there!
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tomyou
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posted on November 1, 2001 08:41:04 AM new
My sales seem to be right in line if not better than a year ago. run around 1000 auctions a month with about 92% sales rate. Prices seem to be on the increase over the last two weeks so I have high hopes for the x-mas season. lots of luck to all of you other sellers out there !
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dixiebee
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posted on November 1, 2001 11:45:11 AM new
I sell an eclectic lot of items. Sometimes I have $5 items and sometimes I have $100 items. There is usually a good mix of both, so I feel the following figures are fairly accurate. It is hard when you are not comparing apples to apples. These figures are for the month of October 2000 vs. October 2001.
My 2001 gross sales are up 27%.
My 2001 net sales are up 23%.
My 2001 expenses are up 55% thanks to AuctionWatch, PayPal and eBay.
My 2001 per item ending price is 36% less.
I sold 71 items in 10/01 as compared to 41 items in 10/00. I am working almost twice as hard to make 36% less. Bummer.
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litlux
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posted on November 1, 2001 02:48:31 PM new
Ebay is actually up in the number of listings since September 1, from 4.5 million to something like 6 million, so they are not hurting for sellers. Most of the increase is likely due to larger corporations getting into the act.
My sales were actually good all summer long, and took a nosedive after 9/11, has a slight recovery around 10/1 and tumbled again on 10/7. The sales roller coaster makes it very expensive to list with any confidence.
There are so many negatives to overcome this Fall. The drop in consumer confidence, the weakening economy, the indecisive war, the anthrax paranoia and ebay's latest series of changes are making things very dicey.
I noticed my BIN's were down significantly since I began my eBay store, perhaps because they see the items always listed there and so I have begun the process of closing my store, or at least only having auction items there. Ebay has forgotten about them and if they don't care, I don't either.
I do have a great list of thousands of happy customers should I ever decide to start my own website, however. Whether the ebay future includes me is uncertain to say the least.
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computerboy
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posted on November 1, 2001 02:56:14 PM new
litlux:
Insightful post.
Suffice it to say if folks like you aren't on the eBay wesbsite in the future, not many will be.
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swoose
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posted on November 1, 2001 03:01:31 PM new
Books are still selling - as long as they are uncommon ones. I specialize in children's books and when I get unusual or scarce items, they do very well.
Susan (swoose on eBay)
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lennonhall
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posted on November 1, 2001 07:35:04 PM new
I also sell antiques ... usually in the $50 to $750 range -- but often outside that range. Sales were brisk up until 9/11. We kept saying "what recession?" We have 800+ fbs and sell quality pieces at decent prices ... have attractive auctions ... always disclose shipping price ... never pad handling and rarely have a reserve. To us those are the "secrets" of successful eBay auctions. So, until 9/11, things were terrific -- 99% sell through ... double digit bids on everything and making profits. We had worked ourselves up to the silver level of power seller status.
But 9/11 was like having a boom lowered. We still have a pretty good sell through -- about 90%. However, what would have gotten 10-12 bids before 9/11, now gets 1 bid(and our opening bid is often our cost). We also have more deadbeats. We had a guy the other day buy a $700 table and just arbitrarily write that he didn't want to go through with the deal and we should "please relist" and he was "sorry for the inconvenience". Sheesh. That's a new one. A polite deadbeat.
All of this has caused us to list fewer items which, of course, causes bids per item to drop ... a viscious cycle.
So, in answer to your question, things are bad. Down significantly (maybe by 40%) from last year and probably won't get better for a while.
I also do not think Auction for America is helping us. Now EBay has got all kinds of celebrity auctions drawing attention away from the regular items.
All in all, it's time to start looking for another venue. I don't think eBay is over -- but "it ain't gonna make us rich" But, then again, very little will right now!
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