Declining sales % every year

[SaiJin]

Originally Posted by yankee

Im on vacation. Just got back to the hotel and had 12 more orders than expected. Very surprising to see this.

So far it did pick up a little , but no where near the volume of last year still.

[jjohnson777]

I start in October and try be done week before Thanksgiving. Yes I miss out on deals but I get it before all delivery services get bad.

[aking]

Very slow right now, really weird. I couldn't keep up with sales this summer, now all of a sudden slow. I've even had listings up for 5 days with no sales which is unusual.

[james13v]

my sales have been going good. Tho I think that has more to do with increasing the amount of listings.

Cyber monday I had ZERO sales tho.

[yankee]

My questions are always the same this time of year. Are you selling gift items? If not, your sales will fall. If you are, are you competitive? If not, your sales will be non existent.

[SaiJin]

Originally Posted by yankee

My questions are always the same this time of year. Are you selling gift items? If not, your sales will fall. If you are, are you competitive? If not, your sales will be non existent.

Yes to gift items and yes compared to retail.
But not so much compared to the other sellers who are almost selling below cost.

[solefoodbk]

Originally Posted by james13v

Cyber monday I had ZERO sales tho.

I don't think people think of eBay as a cyber monday site to go to...

Everything is already usually discounted and unless you are a huge seller with dedicated customers adding a "mark off" for days like cyber monday seem to be pointless.

IMHO

[yankee]

Originally Posted by SaiJin

Yes to gift items and yes compared to retail.
But not so much compared to the other sellers who are almost selling below cost.

You can only consider yourself competitive if you are pricing to compete or beat other sellers on the same platforms.

Example:
Items I have on ebay sells for $34.99
Same item on Amazon is $10.99
MSRP is $54.99 and volume dealer cost is $27.50 from manufacturer.

The idea that we all buy from the same places, pay the same cost or follow the same rules is just not true.

The seller that has them on Amazon is not selling foofoo either and I can compete if I desired to. Just food for thought.

[Hercules]

Sometimes I watch those stock market shows...they all say the same thing that Amazon hardly makes money.
They are down on Amazon as an investment stock..
Amazon wants to be number in world sales so they undercut the planet.
Walmart is trying to catch up online but it's too little too late.

[solefoodbk]

Originally Posted by yankee

The idea that we all buy from the same places, pay the same cost or follow the same rules is just not true.

100% agree.

[dallis]

Once Amazon drives everybody else out of business, THEN you'll see the prices go up!

[SaiJin]

Yea, it seems that no matter how low I priced my items and using a ton of accounts my sales this year plummeted. Not making nearly enough at all.

THe hell...

[joesshooze]

Originally Posted by SaiJin

Yea, it seems that no matter how low I priced my items and using a ton of accounts my sales this year plummeted. Not making nearly enough at all.

THe hell...

Last year and the year before I sold $4K of merchandise Sept., Oct., Nov., and for the next months. This year I didn't sell $2k the last 4 months. Looked liked things might have picked up Thanksgiving weekend after trying to figure out some of what I could understand about the Cassini logarithm but not really.

I think I am pretty much out of business at this point have not had a sale in the last 10 days other than some personal items I sold at ridiculous prices to clean my closet out. LOL
I can barely exist on my pension but the fact is I can but won't be fun.

[vogeltron]

I agree it is getting tougher both on eBay and Amazon. Luckily I don't sell products that directly compete with Chinese sellers. Granted there is some trade-off effect for those economics junkies and I get hit there. In my experience anyone who is trying to source Chinese stuff and resell is going to be put out of business. The Alibiba and all that stuff is the same and they can sell it them-selves and ship e packet or some nonsense and create account after account because they don't have the Tax Id requirements.

[jjohnson777]

Yup first time since started selling online 15 years ago my sales fell this November and December. I talked to others sell similar stuff they noticed same. Luckily I sell virtual goods so I can run sales I started that and stopped the decline. But sales not like usually are. I not worried as I know it get better in new year. No clue what I do if I could not sell for what ever price wanted as if I was middleman I give up too. I do hate selling this cheap but if that's what takes I will.

[james13v]

well, My sales seems to have increased a lot the past couple weeks.