Forum

Aug - Back To School - Sheeeesh
 

Never seen such a sales halt before, last week rock and roll, back to school week... SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH. Slow sales, then lots of non-payments..... crank up the unpaid case engine!!! I've got more cases open right now then i've ever had ahahah nuts. Guess everyone spent their $$$$$$ hope the back 1/2 of the month picks up.

This is zZZzzzzZZZZzzz boringggggggggggg.

Hey!!!! I'll pay when I get the cash!!!!! lol.

Yes, this is a notoriously slow time of the year to sell. Back to school preparation, vacations, etc.

Although sales may be slow now, you can gear up for future sales. You can use this slow sales period as an opportunity to grow/nurture your new stealth accounts.

That way, once the Holiday season approaches you will have more stealth accounts to spread your sales around.

just got a customer from an email pretty much saying just that hahaah :p
They did give me an exact day which is TOMM so i'll hold off on the firing squad.

You can opt into the Unpaid Item Assistant program and it can automatically open cases for you when buyer has not paid in X number of days.

I have mine setup to the 4th day of non-payment. After 4 days of non-payment, buyer has 7 days to then complete payment or a unpaid strike goes on their record.

Yea I don't like the auto thing, im full auction 100% so sometimes I have customers that buy things on diff days then a zip up all the orders and invoice them. If i just let the auto case thing roll it might be opening up cases on my customers that are just waiting for other auctions to end. Not worth ruffling feathers IMO.

So i just stick to manually, not much work, and i keep track of my items in la la case land and have them handy and pulled ready for relist when the case closes.

Yea I got 3 and a possible 4th one. At least he replied saying he's having bank issues :-\ .The sale ended on the 13th at 1pm but he bought two things the same day after 1pm and yesterday. I'm not going to say anything just yet, I'm going to see if he is crazy enough to purchase anything else other than my item from today to Saturday night after that reply lol. If so, oh boy. .........

This whole global recovery nonsense is garbage. All my customers are telling me they are broker than ever, working part time jobs just barely getting by.

Which is crazy because some of my best years came in 08,09,10 when it "supposedly" was really bad.

Just four days to pay? That's really low. I have mines set at 16days because that seems pretty legitimate. I used to have 4 but a lady left a negative complaining about how she didn't have enough time to pay.

I like this time of year, its not slow for me as i have a couple of seasonal items which tide me over but this month is all about preparing for the busy period. Now is the time to research, invest, enquire etc etc and get ready to be in a prime time position for the busiest quarter!

how? you can't leve a neg on a closed unpaid item.

16 days is too long - I average 1 week (7 days) - after that, it's strike time

Unless buyer gives reasonable explanation - I have worked with good buyers in the past - good communication

I use August and December which are both slow months for to get new ideas rolling around in my head. Advertising sorted out and a great big tidy out/Clean up going.

Guaranteed slow months for many so why not use the tome wisely.

Russell

yea the default setting is fine.. can't open for 3 days, then you gota wait 4 to close the case. If they haven't said a peep by then they prob aren't buying your product.. I do have the rare cases but they are few and far between. I even send up follow up messages to them to see what the hold up is. 7 days of dead silence and im dropping the axe and relisting.

Yep, this is my 1st full year of heavy selling so I never noticed these slow months, i started med size selling at the end of this month last year. Before it was just light steady sales so everything just stayed the same all year pretty much.

My situation same as the OP. My customers say global what?

well week 3 into the suckfest called AUG! I though april was bad, but this is a new record. Still working...still listing, but now im paying fees and *ouch* a little bit each time I click LIST.

GO AWAY AUG!!!!!!!!

I week left then off you go to the races!!!

HA, hardely off to the races... just clicking relist and getting lots of emails saying *your item did not sell* :surrender:

I seldom get NPB but last week I believe I ended up with 4 or 5 total. Not normal on 20 accounts of selling for me.

LOL As soon as I hit the NPB they must have ran to paypal and got them paid.

Filing it must scare them to death as payments rolled in pretty darn quick after I got to those accounts and filed it.

Lucky you, im running 15% +- NPB each week.

I guess lots of buyers know the game.. they can bid, not pay, and no slap.

I get much more NPB on Auctions than I do BIN. I would say my BIN NPB are like 3-4%. My NPB on Auctions are like 15-20%.

Your competitors might be smoking you

Unwelcome company there?

I keep auctions for the holidays ( most of the time).....

Prefer to avoid drama to get money.

BIN are so nice, so very nice.

:thumb:

poked around at that too, they are down as well.... will be hard to smoke me cause my prices and service will be damn hard to beat.

but it did cross my mind... i looked... i can't find anything, unless people are just flocking to the noobie crap for crap seller.

I did notice some comp dropping down to 0.99 cent land and letting it roll, but to my calculations they are sucking it hard..... if they want to eat sand go for it... money not moving vs money going into a hole... we'll see who can do that the longest. psh :rip:

Likely just people trying to enjoy some vacation time away from computers before school/work gets started/harder - can be expected in August

YEP, sales in a totally unrelated catagory are down as well. So its gota be across the board.

Just a blip in the year I suppose, which is to be expected with any kinda sales... don't panic... just expect it. :mod: ups and downs...

As Sandy D has stated across the board, prepare for holiday season sales :yar:

I am prepping right now. I just revered a small storage unit, 15x15. I am starting to fill it up this week. I plan to be fully stocked this year.

Too bad you are far yotano, I'd sublet a little room :p

I hear you. This is the time of the year where it begins to get overwhelming. I am hoping I can turn inventory fast enough that I don't have to get a storage unit this year. But when you end up with so much inventory you are stacking boxes in your bathroom and can't close the door. You know you have a problem.

I am going to start ramping up this week. I usually order once or twice a month but I am going to start once a week tomorrow.

Awesome for you!

Means you found a product to sell to replace your computer stuff.

It wont be long and you will need a larger space.

LOL

I started with a 10x15 years ago. Then moved to a 30x50, then build a 60x200 pole building on our property with restroom, office etc.

Sold the property and bought a pool house in an HOA and no buildings.

Went back to 2 large storage units. Then went to 4 units.

Now own a 10,000 sq ft building with a drive through set of doors.

Keep a couple of the storage units right beside the office to meet craiglist people during office hours of the storage unit. Furniture etc goes into these units to sell on CL.

You are on your way.

Awesome for you.

:hail: What the $׀& did I just read? Being a sponge in this forum is worth it. That jewel you just drop Sandy & yotano is encouraging.

I sure hope so. Hard work and dedication pays off.

I wont complain about working my 14-16 hours a day because the money and the things I do with my money is well worth it.

Getting to do what you want, when you want and being able to buy anything you want and provide the kids with anything they need and still make my own hours is well worth the hours put in.

Many only want to work an hour or so after work a day and then complain when they are not growing their business and making tons of money.

You get out what you put in and I do not feel sorry for those who sit in front of a tv all night and whine about not having anything.

I hope to encourage people to give the effort, put in the hours needed and it will pay off.

I just set my yearly sales record this past week breaking a record I did not think would be touched again. All because of the effort and hours put in.

What is so great is being able to take any day off you want to go to the beach, Disney, Universal, fly to the Smokey Mtns for a weekend trip or do whatever you want.

Yotano is changing gears with a new product so I am hoping he comes back and tells us he has done well.

I agree 100% only problem with me now is my job, and at times that is 12 to 16 hours and the rest on stealth and stealth on the weekends which is a huge help. Sigh, luckily I have experience in patients.

Well put SandyD. It is nice to be able to take a break at two or three and go to the GYM or do something you want to do for a little while anytime during a given day. However, on the flip side sometimes like you allude to you got to put in crazy hours. Put tons of your own cash on the line having no idea if you are going to make a profit or not. I don't know about you but I don't get to take a week off for Vacation. I am lucky if I can get away with taking off a long weekend once a year because of my responsibility to my customers.

But I have to be honest, I love it. Working a 9-5 would probably kill me. I would rather work 12 hour days for myself than do the every day grind. I live for the next deal, the next sale. Actually have some say over my own success in life. Even with all the ups and downs I wouldn't trade it for anything. For me this is living.

You need lessons in stacking.

Attic

Basement.

Garage.

Under the dining table

:heh:

the only good thing that has happend this month so far is i got my TRS status back. :p