!!! WHERE DID ALL THE BUYERS GO !!!

[jersey..authentix]

HA  HA . Gotcha . I bet you thought " what a dummy "  Where did all the buyers go.

2015 Ebay's christmas is done. So how did everyone do?

I did less than last year. I felt this year the  buyers started later than normal. For me, it usually starts 1st week of November. This year it was more like that last week of November.. It was some what strange though. Items that have proven to be good sellers at this time just sat. Items that I wasn't expecting, sold.

Overall it was the best 3 -4 weeks I had all year, but that's not saying much. The year it self was quite sluggish. With a couple of complete disappearance of buyers. I hope 2016 will be a better year but I really doubt it. I see nothing that will tell me that more buyers will come to Ebay. I am probably going move  more of my attention to Amazon. See if Amazon will provide more sales. We will see.

Well anyways, everyone have a good one.

[zee-chan]

I did better this year overall since I started selling other things. If it's only about the things I was selling before then I certainly had less sales.

[momcqueen]

Last year and the year previous, I started my own personal shopping on Christmas Eve at 6 pm. I was too busy before that with this to even think of it. This year, I was done mid-December.

My rush certainly felt like it started later than last year. I'm not certain I'm totally done yet, there are still places within my region that I can get stuff into overnight, and I do still honour Local Pickups until 11:59 pm tomorrow night. I'm not sure where I sit comparatively yet. I list in CAD and the Sales data is all calculated in USD which is worth less this year than last so it's not a fair analysis. 

I am, however, worried about Canada Post not meeting its commitments for delivery standards. I have 11 open tickets with them right now and another dozen or so parcels in transit that are SUPPOSED to be at their destinations in time for Christmas. Toy sellers have NO ROOM for error with Christmas. Santa allows no excuses. 

I won't rest easy until I see everything in transit is delivered where it was supposed to go.

And then I will drop dead of exhaustion, I think. Or maybe start wrapping.

[ricarmic]

It does not look like December is out of character with my generally declining sales volumes:

September 44% lower than 2014 (however in 2015 I shut down for August, did not do that in 2014)

October 18% higher sales than 2014

November 23% lower than 2014

December my guess is that it will be 20-30% lower than 2014

My current belief is that my declining sales are coming from two fronts:

-more general international competition (for example I used to buy Japan stamps in bulk, get them shipped here and they sold well on eBay. In those days buyers here shied away from overseas sellers. Today the buyers don't mind overseas sellers so much anymore and I'm competing directly with sellers in Japan now)

-on the same front I'm also competing with international "living wages" differences. Keeping with my Japan example, folks in Malaysia can make a living wage selling $1 packs of very specific Japanese stamps which compete quite vigorously with what I sell, (stamps are more specific, not cheaper) and to make a living wage here, I need to be selling $15 sized packets.

As Cumos likes to say one as to evolve as the selling market changes. I am continuing to evolve as I have in the past, on eBay and elsewhere, and so far I remain solvent which is a good thing! 

[Anonymous]

Probably go to me as I sold 1 or 2 items every day since November!  LOL!!

[gifts_of_elegance]

I did much better last December and I was CLOSED DEC.6 TO DEC.27!

The buyers are gone!

[reallynicestamps]

December was as bad as I expected. It's never a good month for me, and it wasn't a good month in our now retired and closed B&M.

But the buyers seem to be back if my sales since Boxing Day are any indication.

Also as expected.

Getcha George V Newfoundland covers here!!

[ricarmic]

My field is the same as reallynice, (stamps) and my results very similar.

All but dead up till Xmas day, much slower than last year, however the folks began spending their Xmas cash perhaps starting Christmas day afternoon and it has been good the last couple days.

Still a lot more smaller transactions the $14.99 and under stuff is carrying the day.... 

[treasure.hunter.d]

With 1 day to go December is right on track to being my absolute worst month ever since starting to sell full time on Ebay.

It would take volumes to write how many mistakes Ebay has made that have destroyed this place so I won't even bother.

Suffice it to say that another month or 2 like December and I am done. No amount of hard work or ingenuity has been able to save my business here. Doesn't matter what i list, unless I am willing to give it away it won't sell and even then it's a struggle. Gorgeous stuff is sitting on the shelves unnoticed and lower end stuff is going nowhere. So many nice things are buried behind thousands of garbage Chinese listings with fraudulent keywords seeded in the titles. No traffic is coming in from Google still and that is pretty much the root of it I beleive as even with all of Ebay's rampant stupidity, if Google was sending traffic we would be making sales.

What a mess.

thD

[westernstargifts]

December of 2011 was my best month ever on eBay.

Dec. 2012 -dropped 33 % from 2011

Dec. 2013- dropped 44% from 2011

Dec. 2014- dropped 73% from 2011

Dec. 2015- dropped 77% from 2011 (as of Dec. 30).

Hardly any sales since Christmas.

[sheepgal54]

Same for me. I wasn't going to sell in december due the shipping issues but had to stay open because my sales ramped up.  Now all I am getting is Canadian buyers. Not a singel sale in the US or elsewhere

[mr.elmwood]

Been like a Boxing Day blow-out for me. 45 sales in the last nine days.

[gifts_of_elegance]

Congratulations Mr. Elmwood!  I am happy to hear someone is doing well.

[cumos55]

The last two weeks have been very ... very....good...  up to today January 3

40 sales....

one cancellation for a $70 US Book by request by a newby with zero FB..... faint of heart on a first buy on eBay

and 15 sales to a repeat  buyer, who buys many books when he does buy from me.

A great end to a wild 2015...

in spite of....

Exchange rate realities..... and everything else 

All my adjustments over 2015 have made it a good year, the same as 2014...Canadian dollar-wise in sales.

[jt-libra]

I had a really good December -- 45 sales in my media account.  Six of those sales totalled $350 US.  So I can safely say that this is my best month to date.

My health and beauty account -- not so much.  I2 sales. 

But, historically, December is a really good month for me so I don't close down.

So, knock on wood, sales will continue.

I wish all of you a very successful 2016.