neglus
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posted on December 10, 2002 12:29:01 PM new
This is my first Christmas/Holiday Season selling on EBay (I sell Postcards) and I didn't know what to expect for sales volume. I had a wonderful October and November and didn't expect very much activity during Thanksgiving - the Sunday after Thanksgiving was my best day ever...and NOW things have come to a screeching halt.. does anyone else have observations about this? I found out the hard way that I might as well have taken the summer off ..eBay is a buyer's paradise then!I'm tempted to take the next 10 days off and start listing again after Christmas when people will be surfing eBay with their new pc's (or will they be out of money?)..any insight about when/if things will pick up again..or maybe it's just me...unfortunately, while postcards would make excellent Christmas gifts, most people buy for their own collections...I feel like I am spinning my wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeels..
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lindajean
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posted on December 10, 2002 12:40:10 PM new
Ebay is a funny business.
One week I will have great sales, and then nothing (literally). I'll back off a few weeks and suddenly other sales in my category are taking off again so I jump in.
I do OK for a week or so and then nothing.
Maybe lots of us are looking at categories to see when to list and by doing so, once bidding picks up, we saturate them and slow it all down again?
I don't know the answer, but it is sporadic. I just keep a bunch ready to go when the timing gets right.
Also, just as a side note, I have 3 main areas of listing so often when one is slow one of the others is hot.
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on December 10, 2002 12:42:32 PM new
It's just you.
We always have great sales. Sometimes we make a lot of money, sometimes we don't, but we do sell, sell, sell.
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neglus
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posted on December 10, 2002 12:51:32 PM new
I try to run somewhere between 200 - 300 active auctions..posting about 30-50 new items daily...Sundays and Thursdays seem to be my best volume days..i am thinking of switching to posting on those two days only..i'm interested in hearing what others do..it's breaking my heart to see items that usually get competitively bid close at the starting auction price - almost better not to sell at all! (I still have a profit but the POTENTIAL isn't realized during times like these!)
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trai
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:01:15 PM new
neglus
Its that time of year. As we get closer to xmas people are busy with other things in their lives.
Its the nature of the beast. Ebay does cycle up and down just like everything else.
This also goes on with BM stores no matter how large or small.
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toolhound
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:28:26 PM new
This is my 5th Christmas on eBay and I have not sold in December for the last 2 years and I am not selling this year either. I sell used and Collectible items (mostly tools) and have found December to be the worst month for me. I see there are still over 9 million items for sale on eBay right now and I think that is far more than any other December.
I use to buy in December because I had extra time to look for items but now I get tired of wading through all the junk to find something worth buying.
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lindajean
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:39:03 PM new
I just checked and last year the highest number of listings showed up right before Christmas and was just under 8,500,000 (and that was the day after the FLD).
In 2000 it was just under 6,500,000 in December, so it looks like they are consistently adding about 2 million items a year.
[ edited by lindajean on Dec 10, 2002 01:39 PM ]
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lindajean
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:43:14 PM new
Neglus:
You should have been here in 1998. What a thrill Ebay was back then. I would even get up in the middle of the night to check my listings...new bids every minute or two and almost always a 95+% sell through!
And, most items would get bids just hours after listing. I used to sell postcards (still have about 5,000 packed away), but now the listing fees eat up all my profits so it is something I just play around with.
I am thinking of listing them on an Ebay store though. Anyone think it would be worth my trouble? That is assuming I still list new ones daily to keep people viewing my listings so they will find them.
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neglus
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:46:20 PM new
Thanks Tool...glad to hear from seasoned eBayers about the cycles..think I should just ship my sold items, relist the ones i want to move and enjoy the season!
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kyms
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:50:09 PM new
My sales are way up. I can't ship fast enough. I hope it keeps up this well for a while, things were really slow for me in November.
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neglus
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:52:56 PM new
linda - wish i were there then..but even as things are now i usually do ok..always those biggies like $100+ postcards that keep the thrill there..this is the first time since last summer that i have felt like i am wasting my time..since this is my first year at it i hope to plan next year according to cycles and save my serious cards and energy for the peak times (if i can just figure out when those are!!)..thoughts about listing twice weekly vs daily?
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neglus
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posted on December 10, 2002 01:55:17 PM new
kyms - do you sell collectibles? i wonder if sales on items that people buy for themselves are down at times when people are buying for others?
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MAH645
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posted on December 10, 2002 03:54:03 PM new
This is the first Christmas I have not sold on E-Bay,and this year I'm glad I'm not.Right now I've got two customers complaining they never got their items which I will replace.I don't believe in insurance its a waste,been there done that. The more the Post Office goes up,the more they lose.Yea you do the paperwork,it aint worth it to me.I'm glad I have a public job. Yea E-Bay you were a great thing...yesterday not today.Making great money elsewhere.
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hotcupoftea
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posted on December 10, 2002 05:48:40 PM new
neglus, my sales have been beyond my expectations through November and December. In fact the entire year has been good for me, and I am crossing my fingers that the CPA calulated my estimated quartlery taxes correctly, so that I won't have to pay a big whopping amount this April.
I do want to say something about postcards. I don't collect postcards. However, the savvy postcard sellers are quite adept with their titles and descriptions, so that postcard auctions pop up when buyers are doing searches for other things. This weekend I decided I wanted to buy myself a Christmas gift, and I did a search using the keyword Westie, thought I would get myself a cute Westie figurine or whatever appealed to me. Well a fair amount of early 1900 postcards showing Westies showed up in my search. I looked at them, and thought, oh they are so cute. The prices were all under $10.00, so nice pricing. But the thoughts that went through my head is that I would get the postcard, then have to find a frame or frames to fit the postcard(s). I decided I didn't want to go to that extra effort, so I did not bid on any of the cute Westie postcards. Whereas, if any of the sellers said in the auctions, I have frames that are sized to fit the postcard in this auction in my eBay store, so click on the store link to look at the inventory of suitable frames, I would have done so, and probably purchased a few postcards and frames.
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ahc3
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posted on December 10, 2002 05:55:44 PM new
December is a bad month for people who sell things that are not gifts. As I mainly sell in those categories, I tend not to list much in December. Plus, it is when I get to take a long vacation, and spend some of the money I made on ebay over the previous months.
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gina50
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posted on December 10, 2002 07:14:15 PM new
Keep this in mind ~ that ice storm they had down south !! I just had a winner email me to say he's been without power for 6 days, needless to say no internet service and just got it back today.
Also ~ in New Jersey & Philadelphia area they are callling for us to get an ice storm Wednesday morning and we could be without power 
All in all my sales have been great where I offer Buy Me Now !
NOT gina50 on ebay
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pointy
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posted on December 10, 2002 07:25:27 PM new
I think that December is a bad time for postcards. Decemeber is a good time for gifts, and people don't buy postcards for gifts. December is good later in the month, for extravagant items that people will buy with their bonus money. Plasma TV's for example probably do great Dec.20- Dec.31. I advise you neglus to not list postcards until after Jan.1. Same goes for most collectibles. Enjoy the time off, freshen up your business model, and happy holidays.
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quickdraw29
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posted on December 10, 2002 08:01:29 PM new
Sales are ok for me but final prices are generally down. It slowed down right when in the past it has picked up, right after Thanksgiving. It's been that kind of rollercoaster year.
Many people do buy gifts for themselves. Last year during December I did well with things that weren't for gifts, especially after the second week, this year they don't seem to be buying for themselves.
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vvalhalla
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posted on December 10, 2002 08:22:30 PM new
I think it's because of that damn AFA oh wait a minute, that was last year.
dd
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neglus
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posted on December 10, 2002 08:34:48 PM new
Thanks all for the great insight. I have decided to coast through til the end of the month - I need a break anyway! I appreciate your help..
[ edited by neglus on Dec 10, 2002 08:39 PM ]
[ edited by neglus on Dec 11, 2002 11:23 AM ]
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Reamond
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posted on December 10, 2002 08:49:34 PM new
The overall economy is not very good, so sales are not too good on eBay or anywhere else for that matter.
While online slaes are up again this year, it does not represent real growth because sales are down at B&Ms.
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fetish128
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posted on December 10, 2002 10:22:14 PM new
It all hinges on what you sell,,,,,,if they need it,,,they will beat down your door no matter what the time or the season.
Whhhhhhiiiiiiip It,,,,,,Whip it GOOD!
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stormypetr
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posted on December 11, 2002 08:25:41 AM new
I had some items to sell and I saw many posts saying that the weekend after Thanksgiving was not a good ending time so I started them on that Sunday. Low and behold, the prices were a good bit lower on the auctions that ended the following Sunday. I probably lost about $10 each in potential bids on the items I was selling. I still made a good profit on them (hot Christmas toy) but I would like to have a "do over"!
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neglus
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posted on December 11, 2002 11:48:11 AM new
Me too stormy! I had great days on Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving, so I loaded up for the next Sunday and Monday ..LO AND BEHOLD! Sales were flat and items that did sell sold with just one bid! A buyers delight!..Yesterday I made the decision to take it easy until after Christmas..and LO AND BEHOLD! Sales picked up again with some competitive bidding going on... I GIVE UP!!!!
 My head's spinning!
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lindajean
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posted on December 11, 2002 02:11:15 PM new
I don't think we'll ever figure out the where's and why's of bidding, but if you do, please share it with us!
Glad to see sales picking up though!
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on December 11, 2002 03:41:52 PM new
Yeah, lindajean, it's kind of funny really how so many people just can't seem to accept that there is no pattern to bidding.
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sun818
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posted on December 11, 2002 04:31:33 PM new
eBay sales have slowed down, but profits are still good. No more blind buys for me, I perform the research beforehand. I've been burned too many times trying to resell and getting less than what I expected. eBay is not the venue for all items... you have other options that will yield a better return on investment if you research your selling area.
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stonecold613
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posted on December 11, 2002 09:57:08 PM new
My sales have been at a record pace since late September. I think we finally came out of the Sept 11th funk. Both Ebay and Yahoo are selling like mad. So much so that this is the first postings I have done here in many, many days.
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