posted on August 15, 2004 07:22:40 PM
I know this is a slow summer season but this is ridiculous. I have almost 100 Ebay auctions currently running and bids on only 2 auctions. My sell through rate has never been this sad.
I don't remember last summer being anywhere near this slow.
posted on August 15, 2004 07:54:28 PM
Anybody have the \"No Bidder\" Blues?
Yes and no. I would like to have more business coming in.The single biggest disappointment is all the NPB I have had this summer. I am back up to a grand past due again. sigh......
posted on August 16, 2004 06:35:23 AM
I really do not have the "no bidder blues" I find this August to be a little different than any other. I had a very good July and August is a dissapoitment. Here in Florida the kids already went back to school and up North they go back after Labor day. This is hurricane season and when there is one brewing this does affect sales. I think next year I may plan to take the month of August off. I have been getting quite a bit of necessary organizing done and durring this slow time I am also managing to get together a lot of stuff and I will be joining my son and family for a very large block garage sale their neighborhood has every Labor Day weekend. What I do not sell will be donated to a local thrift. For me using this down time I hope will be productive.
reenie
I don't get even....I get even better Jimmy Hoffa
posted on August 16, 2004 08:52:47 AM
So far, I have had a exceptionally good August and July was double what it was last year. I'm hoping that it last through Christmas.
But, then everything else in my life has gone to pot. Maybe God is giving me a break on the sales to keep me going.
Debbie
Be kind. Everyone is fighting their own secret battles.
...Author Unknown
posted on August 16, 2004 12:21:16 PM
Can anyone explain why the things that I sell don't get bids but the things that I bid on ALWAYS get bid on (and I get outbid?)
posted on August 16, 2004 01:43:32 PM
This is our worst summer. We had a retail store for 15 years plus did the internet and ebay and this is the worst summer we have ever seen. We have been showing declines for the last four months.
Yeah and today is even worse. Normally Mondays are great, well not today.
In my catagory, a lot of the regulars are not listing. So either they have their own storefronts, or just took off the summer.
I honestly dont know if this will pick up. I know a lot of dealers with collectibles (not my catagory) and they said the same. And now they are not listing either. Says they get more for their stuff in the store.
posted on August 17, 2004 02:03:57 PM
Meow... it has been VERY slow this summer. I have to list twice as many auctions to just do what I usually do in the winter months. Having done antique shows for 20+ years now I have to say that election years always give people the blues and nerves. Until we all know who is in charge for the next 4 years (and I have my choice selected) I suspect the slow bidding will go on. I have a few sellers that I watch all the time... they seem to never know when bad slow times have hit. Lots of auctions and lots of bids. What is the secret???? I happy with 1 bid No reserve take it away thank GOD I can make my house payment! Anyway your not alone the boat seems to be full!
posted on August 17, 2004 09:10:02 PMCan anyone explain why the things that I sell don't get bids but the things that I bid on ALWAYS get bid on (and I get outbid?)
This seems to be a no brainer. You should be looking into what you are bidding upon. Find the supplier for that item and sell it yourself.
lattefor2 brings up a good point. The hurricane. You can expect sales to drop with all the damage that happened in Florida. Florida is a major purchasing area and most of those people are either looking for a home, cleaning up their homes or helping others in need. You can also expect many from around the country to either go an help or send items of need. This will take more people away from their computers than normal during an already slow season.
posted on August 17, 2004 09:35:21 PM
Stone makes a good point. As I was following the hurricane on the NWS site, I noticed that most of those towns that were in the path of Charley had a familiar ring to them. Then it dawned on me, I've sold items to someone in most of those places. I've had a lot of customers from Florida, and I'm sure many of you have also. Right now, Ebay is the furthest thing from the minds of a few million people down there.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on August 18, 2004 06:01:28 AM I have a few sellers that I watch all the time... they seem to never know when bad slow times have hit. Lots of auctions and lots of bids. What is the secret???
I don't know the secret. One thing I noticed about my business is that if I THINK it won't be busy and don't list, I don't sell. Then I say to myself, SEE I KNEW IT WOULDNT BE WORTH MY TIME AND MONEY TO LIST!! and pat myself on the back.
This summer I decided what the heck! I listed when I was around (graduation, summer vacation and house guests are taking a chunk of my time) and had listings running all the time in my store...and found it wasn't so slow after all. I think buyers learn which sellers have a constant presence in the marketplace and check their listings first.
An eBay store allows you to have a constant market presence at a low cost. Stores have changed a lot in the last few months - listing fees were lowered and items can appear in a regular search if there are not enough other results. My store sales last month were enough all by themselves to keep my PowerSeller status - they are better during the higher traffic season. Run a few auctions with links to your store to drive business to your store. Don't give up on the store once you have made a commitment - I would keep it open for a year before making a decision about its efficacy. Stock the store! It will cost you about $120/year for the store subscription and about 3 cents/listing/month (my 3,500 listings run $105/month)..heck you can use it as a gallery if you want and save the money you spend on the Vendio gallery!
Monday night while I was watching the Olympics, I kept hearing the click of new emails arriving in my mailbox - someone was on a store shopping spree! 40 purchases for $270 - and he paid right away! I won't pretend that every day is that great but it sure was fun!
Lots of rambling to get to my final point (sorry not enough caffeine in the bloodstream yet and I have houseguests coming to stay in my ebay room YIKES this aternoon!): A constant market presence does produce sales; a cheap way to maintain the presence is by owning an eBay store.
**********************************
Sig files are too much trouble! http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards
posted on August 18, 2004 06:10:46 AM
I hardly ever use Ebay. The past 2 months I had 4 items listed; one sold very well; 2 didn't and the 3rd was a NPB. The NPB is the reason I don't like listing on Ebay. But hey, there's nothing Ebay can do but refund our listing money; right?
They can't ask the buyer to put a "good faith" deposit down by credit card, can they? Wish they would.
Strangly, I've been shipping like crazy with AMZ Marketplace and a few Half.com sales coming through, which makes me wish Ebay would keep Half.com. Those two places are my money maker.
http://lwright.biz/index.html
posted on August 18, 2004 10:27:33 AM
Not too bad this year. I have learned to use a special pricing strategy that works well. I use the two auction principle.
I run the first time around at prices I would like to get at the buy it now, and the starting bid is higher.
The free second time around, I reduce the items initial price and the by it now.
The first round you get the people who really want the item and willing to pay top dollar, the second time, you sell it at summer prices.
If it does not sell, it goes on the January hot sales shelves.
posted on August 18, 2004 01:30:22 PM
Bidding seems to be about average for me. No better or worse than any other time of the year. I keep hearing people talk about Christmas rush, but I haven't seen one of those in years.
One thing I've noticed is more sellers are putting their stuff in store listings instead of auctions. That can be a good thing if you run auctions. Your listings will show before the competing ones in the stores. I recently accidently listed the same items in auctions that were in my store and have sold several auctions, even though the store listings have been there for months. That tells me that people aren't searching as much as they should in the stores.
[ edited by jake on Aug 18, 2004 01:31 PM ]
posted on August 18, 2004 01:39:08 PM
I was reading the ebay newsgroup the other day (alt.marketing.online.ebay) and someone pointed out some interesting info about the numbers of users that ebay reports each year. By comparing the numbers it appears that 80% of active users are no longer active from one year to the next. It seems that more buyers are leaving than the number of new buyers that are coming on, hence lower bidding activity.
posted on August 18, 2004 06:25:32 PM
My sales are excellent this week,but then again I needed extra money and have posted three times what I usually do. Amazing what needing a few bucks will do for ya.
posted on August 18, 2004 06:35:56 PM
This is just an opinion, but I've been searching alot and it looks like its picking up a bit. It seems like way better bidding activity going on in a variety of items than a few weeks ago.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Each one sees what he carries in his heart - Goethe
I have noticed ebay burn out both by buyers and sellers. In the last year, I have bought quite a few model kit collections after about 4 years of really dry market of aquiring kits.
1. People have found out that selling on ebay is well WORK! Setting up an account is even more of a problem.
2. Eaby fees are not cheap. The make a lot of money the first month or two UNTIL the credit card bill for listings comes in!! Then they call me and ask me "do you want the rest of the collection"
3. same as 3 above after all the 10% of the big ticket items are sold.
4. Live brick and mortal auctions have noticed that things are starting to return to normal conditions of the 90's
5. I would NOT buy ebay stock anymore. I think they have just about run the maximum out!
posted on August 19, 2004 09:03:08 AM
I changed what I sell and July was my best month ever on ebay (5 years) - Last summer I was listing 150 to 200 a month (including relist) and selling about 40 or so.
This year I'm listing 50 to 75 and selling 20 or so but making more money!!!
The stuff I use to sell for good money - I can't give away now. I sell antiques and collectibles.
posted on August 19, 2004 12:14:32 PM
I am finding that bidder activity is getting hot as my sales techniques get less predictable.
Not going to discuss specifics, but let's just say a seven-day auction doesn't HAVE to last seven days. And the one(s) who until the last 30 seconds to bid get a real surprise.
Guess what? It seems they start bidding earlier...which has a domino effect on your other auctions.
Perception is everything. If one seller has 100 auctions and all have bids, while another seller has 100 auctions but only 20 have bids, who do you perceive to be the more successful seller?
posted on August 19, 2004 04:04:50 PM
I don't list during the summer, but still follow certain sellers. One in particular I follow does consistently well, year round. He sells good antique items, reasonable starting bids, no reserve. Flawless descriptions. Except for an annual vacation he always has auctions running, and even though my last purchase from him was over a year ago, I check his auctions every day. I imagine many others do the same. So one technique for these tough times may be to build a following. I plan to get my stuff together when I start again in the fall, and follow this method. He may have taken a hit on some stuff, but bidding on other stuff has gone through the roof, and I don't think I have ever seen anything of his go for no bids or even single bids. And his shipping costs aren't bad, either.
posted on August 19, 2004 08:48:33 PM
Yup, three days MAX, they only start slammin' in the last few moments so why drag it out for a whole boring for YOU week,,,thre days is as close to a real auction atmophere as yer gonna get.. and that one day thing is a JOKE. Unless ebay were to make ALL auctions a one day event THEN that would make sense. OR, 24 hours, buyers L@@k,,,,then for 24 hours fierce bidding ensues......Excitement!!!!!!! A Whole boring 7 days? and even the 10 dayers,,,,We all need and want SALES, speed this thing up,,,,,,,real buyers are looking daily.......a week? dol drums,,,,ho hums,, maybe? mayber not, I'll mark the watching list and see what happens to this sellers auction (S).......No,,,,,,we want slam bam, thank you ma'm.......
Whatever makes yer boat float.....
Real world auctions last 5- max 10 minutes and it's done! Sold! next item on the block.......
E bay...............
never mind......Nothing will EVER change e bay. they make money whether WE do or NOT. therefore ,they care less......
posted on August 20, 2004 10:31:46 AM
Jack, you're right.
I hadn't realized how far I had wandered from the real-world auction concept until recently. I took a look at my AboutMe page, and I'd made my eBay auctions sound like a store. Yikes! It should be a bid-NOW-or-lose-it-forever slammin' hammerfest.
Auctions are exciting and not for the faint-hearted. And yet too many of us are coddling the shy, the hesitant.
posted on August 21, 2004 10:55:48 AM
We use the summer for “dumping” slow moving items and price at discount prices. We don’t post that much on eBay at any point in time, as we have 4 established web sites.
We were out of town last week at a convention, and I didn’t have anything posted on eBay, but did have a few sales from our eBay store when I returned.
Last week our most popular web site seems to have done exceedingly well. BUT, I still see a “slowness” till about mid-September till all the kids and their school expenses are past.
I have to agree that 7 days auctions are often way TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long, and since as others have said, bids only start to come in, in the last day or so, then 3 days auctions, across the right 3 days can be very sufficient, and keep product turning much faster.
I have tried, but not found 24 hour auctions very successful - BUT, during the holiday season, the 24 hour auction may be very successful.
My Boss Is A Jewish Carpenter!
[ edited by jwpc on Aug 21, 2004 11:11 AM ]
posted on August 21, 2004 12:53:17 PM
Lately, it seems everyone waits until the final day to bid. At least you can see if people are watching your auctions.
