posted on October 5, 2005 04:08:02 PM new
Hi. Anyone here besides me have a pretty good 3 weeks in September on ebay, and then zzzzzzzzz for the last week in Sept up til now? My auctions have been dead forever, so when I say I was doing surprisingly well, I'm referring to my ebay store. I was getting slammed with business for most of last month, then there was a sale or two per day thereafter.
posted on October 6, 2005 06:22:39 AM new
Things seemed to slow down for me as soon as the 2nd hurricane came in to the picture. I am hoping they pick up again now that the weather is getting cooler.
I am also hoping when the time changes for daylight savings, that people will be indoors more and spending more time on the computer.
I have had a couple good sales, but things have been fairly slow for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on October 6, 2005 06:43:40 AM newNow, take it from an OLD pro, pray for extra, extra cold weather, light rain, light ice (not heavy ice or the power lines come down) or light snow; anything which discourages folks from going outside or to the mall.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
posted on October 6, 2005 07:27:50 AM new
Ah, I see I'm not the only one. Yeah, maybe it was that second hurricane. I'd thought about that, or possibly the gas prices, etc. I sell the same items in both places through ebay auctions and an ebay store; collectibles from the past 12-15 years. In my instance, auction items sell for a pittance, but ebay store items with "submit best offer" seem to do better for me.
Glad to read your responses, and I hope it gets better too!
posted on October 6, 2005 12:18:21 PM new
Oh, I hear ya, sthoemke! And everyone else that's replied so far, thanks for commiserating with me/us. Making a living off ebay is like a roller coaster ride; exciting but scary, and borderline crazy! If I took a step back and really looked at how I make my living and how fragile that path is, I'd probably have a nervous breakdown. Wait, I can't. No insurance!
I rambled a little bit here, and I realize I don't post here often, but all of us have ebay in common and probably most of us feel insecure at times with making money via ebay. And I'm sure we'd have one heck of a conversation if we were all ever in the same room. Ah, the deadbeat stories alone would be worth the plane ride!
posted on October 6, 2005 05:48:45 PM new
There seems to be two things that I have noticed.
First is the new search listings page. It shows way too much info causing potential buyers to bypass many good quality items for the junk. There was a very clear drop in sales when that was adopted by ebay.
Second. Our website is selling like mad. Same items, higher prices than what I use on ebay, but still selling. I also believe that the spammers, or better known as scammers, have stolen enough personal info that the buyers are turning away from ebay to much safer venues.
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Alive in 2005
posted on October 7, 2005 08:19:03 AM new
Checking my Ebay Sales Report stats...search engine traffic is way down. Usually 25% or more traffic from Google, Yahoo, etc. It's now down to 2%. That plus counts are almost 2 million higher than this time last year = lower sales.
posted on October 7, 2005 08:45:10 AM new
I wonder if the start of the new prime-time tv season has anything to do with slow down in sales? We have "Desperate Housewives" on Sun night, football on Monday nite, .... I don't the rest of the schedule but that dancing show, American idol, Survivior and anything else that is a current reality show hit (is the Bachelor still on?) draw HUGE audiences AWAY from ebay.
Does anyone know what shows are "hits" and which night they are on and what time slot? Would really help to know when scheduling auctions!
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posted on October 7, 2005 08:57:05 AM new
I am really starting to think that E-Bay is dying off like the Flea Markets have. There are still a lot of sellers trying to make anything they can because they need money. There are few buyers and the thrill is gone.
**********************************
Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on October 7, 2005 09:46:53 AM new
Maybe it depends on what you're selling. eBay has changed over the years as we've all seen. Back in the good old days, the sell-through rate was high on just about anything - antique china, toys, etc. My perception is that now people go to eBay to find a bargain on new items that are still in stores but hoping for a bargain on eBay, or something that was recently in stores but they just missed.
I've personally got a lot of bargains on computers and electronics lately. Dirt cheap really. Lots of auto parts now for just about anything, prices are either rock bottom if the market is flooded or the prices go sky high for the rare, hard to find parts. I just sold some 1970s car wheels and other accessories for ridiculously high prices and the sell through rate was practically 100%.
posted on October 7, 2005 10:38:30 AM new
Neglus, great point. I also think TV is drawing away web surfers from ebay. The football season (Sundays/Mondays), baseball playoffs, WWE wrestling (Mondays/Fridays), Deparate Housewives, Lost, and also a few other new primetime and latenight shows (Nip/Tuck).
posted on October 7, 2005 11:05:51 AM new
Nice observation about tv shows distracting people from ebay and the internet. So if tv shows are all it takes to cut our ebay sales down that drastically, there must still be just a small fraction of USA's populace that buys via ebay, being that not all people watch tv. But yes, I'd bet tv's a big part of it.
It's been so dead the past week or so that I'm doing 1 or 2 ebay deals per day now, when by mid-Sept I had over 50. And for me, if not for the international sales, I'd be doomed while the bills keep piling up. Currently, I'm still selling the same type of items, but getting vastly different results. Auctions have been so poor for me now that I only use auctions now as bait for my ebay store (by using subtitles in my auction).
Hope it turns around again, as it did for me before out of nowhere. If not for subtitles and "submit best offers" I'd be totally out of sales. Yikes.
I wish that I'd been around for the early days of ebay, before all the competition and when the better buyer/seller ratio still made it all worth it.
I'll still do ebay, still do my website too, but I will be thinking of other alternatives to making money.
Thanks for reading all this. I should now call myself the Rambler
posted on October 7, 2005 11:12:41 AM new
Guess I'd better keep my day job then! (literally).
For me eBay is just a part time thing, sometimes I do it for a few months at a time, or a few weeks at a time, or just when I have a few things to sell. By the sounds of it, depending what you sell it's a case of feast or famine...
posted on October 7, 2005 11:17:18 AM new
Powerwebmedia, I couldn't have said it better: Feast or famine. You nailed it, and it gets pretty scary at times. With all kinds of everyday costs going up, taxes, gas costs, ebay & Paypal taking about 20 percent, it can definitely get rough!
posted on October 7, 2005 11:34:04 AM new
I have never counted on eBay as my only source of income, but I do use it to pay bills sometimes. Or, if there are no pressing bills to pay, I treat myself to a luxury item or take a weekend holiday. I think of my eBay earnings more as extra spending money since I only do it part time.
the search engine traffic could be way down because google changed an algorithm in the last 5 weeks or so that's caused eBay stores and auction listings to go down the toilet in google search results. i heard yesterday through the grapevine that eBay's still trying to figure out exactly what the change entailed, so as to counteract it. my google search results tanked, along with everyone else's, but my sales are up. go figure. http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store http://www.vintagepostcards.org
posted on October 8, 2005 09:20:54 AM new
If my E-Bay sales don't pick up my fat cat is going on a diet.
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Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on October 8, 2005 11:12:43 AM new
I mine don't pick up I am going to have to go on a diet.
Not only do sales stink, but I just made a bad sale - missed damage on the item and have to do a $200 refund. OUCH! I had already spent the money too. : (
Plus, the buyer is an obnoxious twit who has called my home 5 times since I didn't respond to his email within 24 hours (I was actually out of town picking up some auction items).
Sometimes I hate this business....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on October 8, 2005 01:07:40 PM new
Hi everybody. Ok, who's hiding all the buyers? They're sure not here with me. It's like they were whisked away by Martians or something. What a huge difference a few weeks make. Ugh! But, I'm still swinging, and am trying out different ideas on how to bolster sales. I'd love to know exactly what happened. It can't be just a USA thing, because the international purchasers faded off too.
Caroline, I definitely understand about sometimes hating dealing with the occasional obnoxious ebayers. My biggest problem lately are the bidders with poor feedback records, even though I specify in my listings that deadbeats need not bid. Lately, it's either I deal with them, or nothing.
posted on October 8, 2005 01:20:04 PM new
There's an interesting article in today's NYTimes business section about "mini-recessions." The theory is that with quick-response to business changes (e.g., FedEx sending extra planes to a location when it's busy, businesses using temp workers, etc.), we get more frequent little dips in economic activity but fewer bigger recessions. More month to month volatility, but fewer big dips and surges.
posted on October 8, 2005 05:50:10 PM new
I think E-Bay is happy with where they are sitting at,but their Sellers are busy making other plans for next year that won't include E-Bay. My E-Bay bill is way down from what I used to spend. If I don't think an item is a sure sale, I don't run an auction for it.
**********************************
Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on October 13, 2005 12:34:47 AM new
I've quit buying from Ebay and so have others. They have the same reason that I had. Nobody wants to post a negative on a seller because they just get a retalitory negative. The last two buys from Ebay from totally different sellers were both deserving of a negative feedback but I didn't give one because I don't need one. I now search Froogle and do research before I buy online. Ebay is too full of frauders. Also Ebay is not interested in a seller that calls you a crook and accuses you of taking parts off his non-working product. Yet this seller has a 98.8% feedback average. They don't care. The same crook that sold us a very damaged flute 4 years ago is still pulling all his stunts. I got a retalitory negative on this guy 4 years ago and it ended my sales ability. I suggested to Ebay that they list the total sales on a seller and if it was far different than their feedback then a buyer could maybe determine if it is a safe buy or not but they don't even care to respond. So bye Ebay. I'm not buying from you anymore.
posted on October 13, 2005 02:44:51 AM new
anamcaramoon - first of all your not buying from ebay, you are buying from the seller so why not pick one that has 99% or higher FB & buy from them - there are plenty of us out there. There are many good honest sellers on ebay that stand behind what they sell - why don't you & your friends stick with these sellers.
I'm sorry that you have had some bad purchases with ebay but there must have been some good ones too??
The research you put into on line purchases could go just as well for ebay - for a good seller who is selling what you want?
posted on October 13, 2005 03:35:48 AM new
And bad experiences on ebay (or 1st hand or news media stories of bad experiences) are probably some of the reasons ebay sales are "dead" for some sellers.
posted on October 13, 2005 04:05:56 AM newNobody wants to post a negative on a seller because they just get a retalitory negative.
The same thing applies to sellers. There are as many, if not more, terrible buyers. The deadbeat bidders leave retaliatory feedback for sellers. My one and only negative came from a deadbeat who was mad that I filed an NPBA on her. I've been both selling and buying on eBay for over five years and have never had a bad experience with a seller.
It's important to look at the negatives if they bother you. It's easy to tell when they're retaliatory. I've purchased things from seller's whose feedback is 97% and sometimes lower. Most of their feedback came as a result of disgruntled deadbeats.
posted on October 13, 2005 05:21:02 AM new
Not all sellers on eBay are frauds anamcaramoon.
You can save yourself the grief of buying from a poor seller by looking at their feedback and their rating.
I know I am not a fraud. I have almost 1400 positives with 5 retalitory negatives and a 99.6% rating. I stand behind what I sell, I ship usually the next day, I keep in contact with my buyers.
Leaving eBay and not ever buying from any sellers there because of a few bad ones doesnt' make any sense.
And yes, sales are slow this week. I was going all out the first 2 weeks of the month. I was thinking...the Powerseller thing MIGHT start to happen again...
and then in the last 2 days I've had a whopping 3 sales. IT's really frustrating.
posted on October 13, 2005 05:33:15 AM new
This winter, people are going to have to choose between heating their home and buying gasoline for their car or spending money frivolously. I think retailers may lose out this Christmas. We may fare a bit better here because buying on line saves gasoline. However, last year I did a lot of my shopping through Amazon. They were cheaper for the items I wanted than any seller on eBay. Right now I think it's all a crap shoot.
Caroline 
