1st month of 2004 slower 4 you?

[brownboxit]

Hi

I was wondering what the some other PS'rs have seen so far in 2004?

My own holiday sales were strong, but after the 5th of january its been much much slower, almost 30-35% slower.
despite the ebay hype about roaring sales I was wondering what other sellers have seen in the 1st month?

[amberwoodottawa]

We anticipated a slowdown and used the time in early January to generate ourselves and our systems. Despite keeping our listings to a minimum, we had a better than anticipated number of sales during the first 3 weeks.

We started placing more than our usual number of listings last week and sales are starting off with a bang!

We sold 3 out of 4 auctions that ended today and had another Buy It Now and several big sales for non-eBay listed items that came in directly to us by way of email inquiries.

I am enthused about where 2004 is going and hope that inventory levels will meet demand (of course I'm not selling the hot items that eBay suggested people were lining up for).

Malcolm

[whoscloset]

The first two weeks of the month were jumping, but things have definitely slowed down since then. I plan to add some new products next month to boost business.

Monique

[treasure-pot]

I stayed busy right through to the weekend ending the 25th but it has been crawling along since. I'm also adding a number of new items (based on my market research and not eBay's) to try and liven things up.

Bill

[zarzuella]

January was my best month ever on eBay - and I was anticipating a slowdown due to my new (horrendously expensive) shipping charges.

Go figure!

Ann

[phoebescollectables]

95% of my sales are collectables so I don't find much difference from one month to another. The biggest problem is obtaining inventory.

Michael

[muminlaw]

Michael, I find the same thing. Actually December is probably my slowest month because collectables are usually something collectors buy for themselves, and in December they're more worried about gifts than adding to their own collections. January was great!

Glenda

[moltencore]

Michael/Glenda, ditto! December is usually our slowest (up there with August when people are spending on the back to school thing. January is always a good month as collectors are back to buying for themselves. and yes, even the higher shipping charges have not affected sales. we ship mostly small packets to USa and International and I started listing both the SURFACE mail and AIRMAIL rates in our auctions and many people are chossing the cheaper SURFACE. Hint --- apparently most end up going AIRMAIL anyway (a repeat buyer of our s in Poland received over 80% of his SURFACE packages within a week to ten days)
Gail

[muminlaw]

Thanks for the reminder re surface mail Gail! I know it's often just as fast to the US - I wasn't sure about Europe. Guess I'd better go change my EOA email notices again ...

Glenda