How well are you doing on eBay?

Camaro2SS · #1 07-01-2017

Hello ladies and gentleman,

This isn't a whining thread but I would like to get some suggestions from the experienced sellers among you.

It's been about a year and a half that my sales have slowed down to a point where I am now selling around 5 items day. Up until 2016 my average was around 70 - 100 units a day and ROI was around 90%.

Have your sales also died or are you able to generate more sales & profit than ever before?

AK81 · #2 07-01-2017

Times change, unfortunately for you more and more people will be using eBay to generate an income which means the items you sell will gradually become saturated. Have you done any research into the item you're selling, how many other people are selling it/them?

#3 07-03-2017

Alot depends on what category you sell in, time of the year etc

In general I have noticed a drop in sales, less views etc than in previous years.

oompaloompa · #4 07-03-2017

This has happened to me over and over, sales dip and you switch to new niche and it keeps going. Unless you are a manufacturer or have something innovative, there will always be competition, and someone that looks bigger, brighter, trustworthy etc will get all/most of your sales.....

on amazon it is even worse, as the visibility is controlled by amazon

fortunately it is not my only income, so I now see it as extra bonus if going is good......

Play · #5 07-03-2017

I agree with oompaloompa - From the sounds of it your stuck in one product, one niche. You'll need to spread your wings, research, and add more products to your line up.

It does sound you got a little complacent with this one product which at 100 sales/day isn't too bad.

glacier922 · #6 07-03-2017

^^^

@Play

You just described me...getting too complacent, need to make more accounts and spread my wings to other categories, just the nature of business.

dallis · #7 07-03-2017

Things you can do to improve sales when stagnant: revise old listings, create new ones, sell new products or variations of old products, review your competition's listings and see if they're selling more than you and if so why, lower your price, RAISE your price ( why this sometimes works can't begin to say but it often does! ), new and better pictures, new descriptions... change it up.

Cancel old listings with a low sell-through rate, they're dragging down your percentage and affecting your search rating.

You get out of this what you put into it.

Camaro2SS · #8 07-03-2017

First of all thank you everyone who decided to contribute and voice their professional opinion. By no means I am a beginner. I have an account with over 25,000 feedbacks and have been selling on eBay for many years now. Unfortunately like others have said, times have changed. I have always sold in a very saturated category but until relatively recently I was doing well. When my sales begun to slowdown I saw the writing on the wall. No more listing a product on a new account and getting 10-20 sales a day and almost 100% ROI. These days are gone now. I was always under the impression that ebay was losing traffic, it did not. In fact they have more traffic now than they had in 2012 but most of the buyers are now shopping on Amazon. What I did finally realize that ebay became so saturated with so many identical products, so many drop shippers and so many sellers that it was almost impossible to make a living. The average profit per item has gone down significantly. I was profiting $600 a day and I was selling regular generic products, today I am lucky to make $50 and it doesn't matter if I sell on new account or old. Products just don't get the kind of views they used to just few years ago.

GhostOfAmazon · #9 07-03-2017

lol.

I love the apocolypse posts.

No, it's not "impossible" to make a living on eBay.

In fact, many would argue that it's easier than ever before.

The days of selling generic made in china crap to make easy money is over, yes. More and more people are buying from China and selling for less profit. You're also competing with the manufacturers IN China.

But plenty of people are making more money with eBay than ever before. You just need to update your products.

Stop complaining that you no longer can sell cheap widgets you buy for 2$ and sell for $10. That life is over. Get creative and stop being complacent and lazy with your sourcing.

Sorry for the tough love but you need it.

Camaro2SS · #10 07-03-2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

lol.

I love the apocolypse posts.

No, it's not "impossible" to make a living on eBay.

In fact, many would argue that it's easier than ever before.

The days of selling generic made in china crap to make easy money is over, yes. More and more people are buying from China and selling for less profit. You're also competing with the manufacturers IN China.

But plenty of people are making more money with eBay than ever before. You just need to update your products.

Stop complaining that you no longer can sell cheap widgets you buy for 2$ and sell for $10. That life is over. Get creative and stop being complacent and lazy with your sourcing.

Sorry for the tough love but you need it.

That's not "tough love". You are being plain and simple rude. You offeed no advice other than putting me down. How dare you to assume that I was selling widgets? How dare you to assume that like everyone else who takes their business seriously I haven't spent countless sleepless nights, sourcing, editing, optimizing etc ... Other than "getting creative" does you have a real workable advice or do I have to pay for your upcoming course ?

Camaro2SS · #11 07-03-2017

I personally have seen one of my main competitors who's products were privet labeled having over 2700 feedbacks a month dimishjng down to 1300 feedbacks a month over the last 2 years. They have increased their product lines and their titles , description and images are impeccable and their feedback score is always always over 99%. It's never impossible to make money on eBay because many sellers still do. But it is a game changer. I am doing well, 100k a month on Amazon.

dallis · #12 07-04-2017

Ghost is in the 'tough love' school of eCommerce

I'm practical. Go where the money is.

If you're doing 100K on AZ and EB is saturated and isn't working for you, put your time and energy into AZ for now, let your EB accounts run on idle for a while and wait for better times.

I do note that once a category becomes over-saturated with low-no profit sellers, there's an inevitable die-off as these guys go broke and fail and get kicked off.

A year or so later they're gone and you can come back.

sluster2016 · #13 07-04-2017

I only sell clothes, or some hard goods, i havent had a summer slow down, i still make about 200 a day, listing part time.
I only offer free shipping.

Have you tried running a sale in your store? were taking first vacation at end of month, so i raised all prices, then did 30% sale.. lol i have sold 26 items today..

sales usually work great

GhostOfAmazon · #14 07-05-2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camaro2SS

I personally have seen one of my main competitors who's products were privet labeled having over 2700 feedbacks a month dimishjng down to 1300 feedbacks a month over the last 2 years. They have increased their product lines and their titles , description and images are impeccable and their feedback score is always always over 99%. It's never impossible to make money on eBay because many sellers still do. But it is a game changer. I am doing well, 100k a month on Amazon.

100k a month on Amazon and you're complaining about eBay sales......

Let's just assume that you're "only" making 5% of gross as profit....

That's 5k a month in your pocket from one site.

That's 60k a year.

Since you don't live in NYC, I don't think you're hurting...

Honestly, this is kind of silly....it's well known and documented in this forum and in various news outlets that many eBay customers prefer Amazons superior service and customer care over eBays WIDELY varied sellers.....for obvious reasons.

Amazon is and will continue to be the more profitable website for the majority of products, IF you can manage to stay afloat there, given there propensity to insta-ban you if you mess up.

If you want my advice, it's this: Focus on what works. Why keep calling the girl to go on a date with you if you're getting pecks on the cheek when you have another girl who's basically busting down your door and giving you whatever you want? You keep worrying about the site that's not making you much profit when you're getting plenty from somewhere else. Where's the problem?

I get it, you ALWAYS want to do better than before, but the reality is, you are. I don't think you were doing 100k in sales on Amazon 2 years ago (if you were, congratulations). So look at the bigger picture.