Are Sales Down For Anyone Else????

[twdell]

i was just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this. my sales were awesome last month. probably a little better than when i was a good standing ebayer. now over the past 2 weeks my sales are cut in half.

when did the new DSR item search take affect? i'm just wondering if my items are stuck int he back for some searches. i checked it out, and my items look to be higher up on the search field.

[Lisa B]

eBay Buyers are just plain cheap and want to buy everything for less than .99 cents, If I list anything over $9.99, they won't even bother.

[ebayaintstupid]

and people are getting undercut all over the place.

EBAY is suspending sellers just to make money on the fees and their move towards forcing Paypal is because EBAY sales suck.

This was fun a year ago. It is harder and a ton less fun now.

Shoot, I buy something with a decent margin and by the time I get it, it is being dumped wholesale.

The people are just working for EBAY. Everyone I know isn't selling well.

You would think in a recession more people would turn here for bargains, but they are insane. They want it for free and shipped yesterday with free shipping!

I have an item listed for $150. $50 less than you can buy it anywhere. I get people offering me $10. $15. Do they think that is funny? It is stupid.

Anyway, yup, sales suck. Ebay sucks. Paypal sucks. etc. etc.

[divine422]

I totally agree actually...the same item i sold before sold for about $165 a few weeks ago is up to 90 now. I dont let buyers send me their "best offers" either. It drives my blood pressure up (and im only 23)

[411guru]

People still want to buy stuff, its in their nature. However, with gas at $4.00 and mortgage going up, I doubt people have anything left afterwards. I also own a real store. Sales sucked so far this month. But yes, if you have a good product you can still make money, it is a high end product or niche.

[ebayaintstupid]

"If you create a better mousetrap, customers will beat a path to your door".

[GreenBean]

Speaking of the mousetrap, has anyone thought of having a petition to Google to have
an auction site? After reading the UK efforts, has anyone considered this for Google?

[ebayaintstupid]

are myths being created and built up by the press and speculators.

Gas is up. But not in massive proportions. It was over $3.00 last year too. It just depends on how the press portays it.

And some food items are up, but some are flat or down.

Way I see it, is the speculation is crazy. People are playing commodities in a way now that hasn't ever been done.

Normally, as you enter a recession, commodities collapse. Demand dries up. And they come tumbling down.

But in this downturn, commodities are rising as our dollar drops. But it isn't just the dollar, because Europe is complaining about it, and their currency is stronger.

So what is it? It is the tulip craze. Where people bid on a commodity until it busts through the roof. Then, suddenly, they realize, there are tons of that commodity, and it isn't worth so much after all. Bubbles burst. But they can grow much larger than anyone thought before they do.

There is 20 years worth of oil in shale that can be harvested profitably if oil sold for less than 1/2 of today's oil cost per barrel. That is in the US alone. There is more than that in the Oil sands of Canada. And those resources are exploding.

So what happens when those start pumping full bore and there is enough oil coming from the oil shales or Canada alone to feed the US for decades?

Oil collapses. And what will foreign producers do when it does? Lower prices because we don't need their junk anymore.

It happens with commodities on a regular basis, but it is so hard to predict the beginning or end. Right now, the stats do not favor oil. There are too many resources for it around the world that would last tens of not more years. I heard the Oil Shales in Canada if fully tapped would service the worlds needs for up to 100 years!!

But that is only above $50 a barrel. Below that it isn't profitable.

It is all hype and bologna. Has always been.

[ebayaintstupid]

again and again. In 2006, there was a petition...

Band of eBay Sellers Petition Google to Open Auction Site

But google is smart. EBAY is a huge customer. Don't take away the customer until you are certain you can make more than they are giving you.

Google shot the canonball over the mast last year by having Google Checkout show up at an EBAY trade show. That caused a tiff where EBAY pulled their ads for a bit.

Can't see where it goes, but my guess is that Google does do it eventually. They have Google Base, which is already a better central engine than EBAY's. They have better advertising and search, which they could give their own platform, and how could EBAY sue over a monopoly? And they have a strong presence and great name.

But they are being methodical. Get GCO working first. Get Google Base fully tested. Get people to adopt things gradually. And in addition, see if you can find a back door first that EBAY missed....go for it.

They will do it slowly. They are in no rush, while people drown in the EBAY quagmire.

[ebayaintstupid]

out there.

And oddly enough, many of them have computers. LOL.

I have friends and relatives that barely grasp email, let alone e-commerce.

[GreenBean]

As surprising as it may be, there is probably a % of customers who do not shop on line.
Customers who are suspicious of shopping by that method. We know that a buyer can be
'strange'. Likely this is why the brick & mortar places continue. Another factor may well be
buyers who 'want it now' and therefore shop personally rather than wait for the shipped
purchases.

[ebayaintstupid]

and I have found that a dead end. No responses even for incredible deals.

Hmmm.

Just incredibly stupid offers from nutsos.

[GreenBean]

Yep. craigslist is like a local second hand shop. Never much to buy with poor quality.

[ebayaintstupid]

I try to sell the same stuff sometimes I sell on EBAY. All first quality.

Sometimes people do come, but they want to touch the item first. I understand that. Big items are tough to buy from an anonymous seller that won't show you it is real first.

Yet the platform isn't working as well as I thought it would. And it is very restricted. Like a guy from Alabama can't buy from a guy in South Dakota and just pick the item on on the way home from work.

Still, there is something, I can't place it exactly, that is missing off EBAY. Very hard to place.

[GreenBean]

Hmm, from time to time it's US, specially when we are naru'd.

[twdell]

i had a buyer this week that owns his own mom and pop video store. i remember when i was kid and those were all the rage. now they are pretty much a thing of the past unless they have a huge porn room. blockbuster pretty much put them out of business. how much longer can blockbuster stay in business now that there is all of the online rental places?

[411guru]

online rental? laughs.... I download my movies for free. Since I've discovered torrents, I haven't been to blockbuster once. Like 3 years ago. Just need a big hard drive.

[aspkin]

That gets to me too. Why waste your money at Best Buy or Circuit City when you can get great prices at newegg.com.

I get tons of free gift cards from my credit cards though, so I still go to Circuit City.

Originally Posted by Modee

This gets me thinking about how brick and mortar establishments are still making it. One of the last remaining, for example, in the electronics/computer arena is Best Buy. Check it out - you can pick up 2Gb of memory for your laptop there for, oh, say $199. at Best Buy, and then purchase the exact same item, exact same brand name, exact same packaging! online for about $40. And not just on EBAY - from reputable online merchants! Just makes me wonder. Who's buying all that stuff at Best Buy and Circuit City?

[aspkin]

I worked at Blockbuster for 3 years... they're not out of it yet, they're trying the online movie business, I'm not sure how well that's going for them, but they're still in the game...

Originally Posted by twdell

i had a buyer this week that owns his own mom and pop video store. i remember when i was kid and those were all the rage. now they are pretty much a thing of the past unless they have a huge porn room. blockbuster pretty much put them out of business. how much longer can blockbuster stay in business now that there is all of the online rental places?

[411guru]

Those guys folded? I didn't know. I heard Circuit City is about to file bankruptcy. I always went to Circuit City for big ticket electronics cuz they have a 100% refund policy whereas best buy take 20% restock fee. Reasons I still buy in electronic stores are:

get it faster
don't have to worry about theft, lost during shipping
if defective, don't have to worry about sending it back
can touch and try it out

Now if it is small stuff like usb sticks, I buy online.

[Jonas]

Fry's Electronics has no restocking fee so everyone abuses it and most items you buy are returns, at least that's what websites say.

Circuit City last I heard paid all their store reps on commission only which is bad.

[tvaughan08]

Yeah ...sales are down for me, I thought it was me...I guess not