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How do you prepare for the busy Christmas period?
 

Usually around the beginning of October I start listing a lot more and selling a lot more but I always end up not buying enough stock and having to wait weeks to get the new stock. This year I'm planning on just spending a lot within the next few weeks on products I hope sell good and hopefully won't run out or at least will have enough stock that I don't end up running out fast and having to stop selling for a week or two while I wait for new stock arriving. I always just worry about buying a larger amount of stock and then not being able to sell it.

Just wondering how other people usually tackle the busy months coming up to Christmas? And do you just buy a bunch of stock to begin with so you dont have the stress of continuously restocking or do you just make sure to place smaller orders every couple of weeks?

Re: How do you prepare for the busy Christmas period?
 

Look at your sales patterns. How much did you sell of this said product last year?, How much have you sold of it recently?

Use that information to guesstimate how much you will need during the busy period.

If your left with a little extra stock, you can still shift it post-busy period. More importantly, you would have been in a position to fulfil all sales without running out of stock.

Calculations are important here. Get them wrong, and you could be left with enough stock to last till the next Christmas.

Re: How do you prepare for the busy Christmas period?
 

I've never ran an eBay biz during Christmas, but what are the "dangers" of having too little stock? For example, if I know I'm not gonna have enough stock to fulfil my orders, can't I just keep selling hard, reorder inventory, and ship the parcels when they arrive (albeit a little late?).

This is what I do during the regular year, and it works fine. Sure I get some late shipments here and there, but rarely does it cause any issues. Is overseas shipping time hugely magnified during holidays?

Re: How do you prepare for the busy Christmas period?
 

Likelihood of delayed shipments during this time is significantly increased. I stock up in October to cover me up to the end of January following year. By then everything would have calmed down.

Then there's the chance of delay when you send it out... All in all, your plan seems like a shambles.

This is the time of year you need to plan more than ever. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Re: How do you prepare for the busy Christmas period?
 

I tend to love the holidays. This is the goldmine for online retailers if you are smart about it. I dont know how shipping times to the UK and customs is, but you have to plan at least 2-3 weeks ahead here in the U.S. And that number is with air freight services. The marker I like to use is very late October you should be game planning and ordering.

As for how much inventory to order, it is highly variable. I tend to use the days in inventory method. Does your item sit 15, 30, 45, 60 days? The holidays will at least bring an upswing of 20 percent. At the most safest point, just order 120 percent if you can afford that much investment into inventory. I tend to bring my leverage points to a very high level before holiday periods. That way, I can capitalize on the season.

Re: How do you prepare for the busy Christmas period?
 

Sounds like great advice... this is my first Christmas season though. I guess I'll just start doubling up in October and keep multiplying inventory as the season draws near

When does the sales uptick typically start, November?

Re: How do you prepare for the busy Christmas period?
 

I'm quite lucky in that my suppliers deliver next day, but I'll still stock up in case of delays as deliveries do screw up most in the last quarter of the year. Most of my preparation is switching postage services over to tracked services if they are not already, and telling friends I'll see them next year when the chaos is over :d