eBay

fashion-files74 · ‎11-25-2003

Are sales slow for anyone else today? I'm thinking that mine are effected by the U.S. Thanksgiving that's on Thursday.

Since I'm on the subject of holidays. Will you continue to list auctions week ending Friday December 26th and Friday January 2nd?

Thanks for your tidbits. 🙂

Good luck to all with your ebay biz!

jaymor8 · ‎11-25-2003

Bids are definitely on the downside this week f-f. Of course, I am all mixed up. I thought that this past weekend was Thanksgiving and I was in awe of how well my auctions went. No wonder...it was no special occassion.

So, as of today, my auctions are much slower than this time last week. I think it could be real downer for the rest of the week.

Jackie...

itrecovery · ‎11-25-2003

Yes, this is quite slow this week.

Anatoly

amberwoodottawa · ‎11-25-2003

The last 4 weeks have been fantastic for me and this week is no exception however the majority of my buyers are Canadians spurred on by colder weather and promise of snow (maybe in another week in Ottawa before we get it).

The funny thing is my shipping of instruments with CP has dropped and people are driving here to pick up instruments or I am delivering some locally.

If I can get some new listings going this week for some new instruments I should have a great December as well if things keep going the way ther seem to be heading.

Not enough to retire on but more than enough to keep me interested in doing this for a few more months if not longer.

Malcolm

treasure-pot · ‎11-25-2003

Sales have jumped substantially. This past weekend was my biggest ever and the week thus far has been great.

It all depends on what you are selling. On one of my other selling ID's the sales are virtually non-existant right now. Certain categories sell better at different times of the year. Hang in there... your time will come.

Cheers!

Bill

Bill

firedept10 · ‎11-25-2003

Real swell here but most of mine is leaving the continent. Don't matter to me though. I still spend the money here. Wishing everyonr luck.

Don

muminlaw · ‎11-25-2003

Well ff74, ours were a tad higher last week, but this week is starting off like a disaster -- possibly as much because they're all relists this week as because of the US Thanksgiving.

As far as holidays, I find that a lot of people use at least part of the free time to check for things they might not normally have time to look for so our counters often show more hits on holiday weeks. Unfortunately that doesn't always translate to more bids.

We'll probably take a week or 2 off for the holidays, mainly because I need a break!

Glenda

Glenda

ospreylinks · ‎11-26-2003

Actually the last 48 hours have been great for us.... hope this is the start of the Christmas buying spree that last year seemed to last for oh I don't know... 8 minutes.

Jeff

shooger · ‎11-26-2003

I sell stuff to teenaged boys, mostly. If they have a day off school, they tend to buy stuff on eBay. I haven't noticed any trends lately, so I don't think I've been affected by holidays or whatever. The only thing I can say is that I've had more Canadian buyers lately then I used to get, which is nice.

mahsauction · ‎11-26-2003

I think its picking up. 8/11 of my auctions will sell today and I have a bidding war on one of them.

ospreylinks · ‎11-26-2003

I obviously spoke too soon in msg. #7..... Not bad traffic, then today boom..... not-a-thing going on...

Did someone turn off the computers or what?

Jeff

mahsauction · ‎11-26-2003

Maybe we jinxed our auctions by saying its been great.

fashion-files74 · ‎11-26-2003

Had a few sales end today but nothing like it would be if there was not a holiday coming.... I think tomorrow is going to be a rough day for our U.S. based customer sales....

zarzuella · ‎11-27-2003

This week sales have just died ... My store is dead, my auctions aren't getting counter hits (never mind bids!) I was having a terrific November - what happened?
Ann

amberwoodottawa · ‎11-27-2003

I have not sold a single item to an American this entire week but my Canadian sales have more than doubled. Same with emails. 95% are from Canadians.

I am also getting Canadians who would sooner pay a little more for my items than from a US eBay seller with a similar item. I understand this is due to the exhorbitant shipping rates being charged by alot of US vendors and the brokerage charges levied by the courier companies.

Some US vendors are charging a $10 in addition to other packing charges to fill out Canadian customs documents.

(I hope I dont get censored or chewed out for suggesting I said something negative about some American vendors).

Malcolm

fashion-files74 · ‎11-27-2003

Malcolm: Many sellers do charge VERY high shipping rates. If I'm interested in an item, I always check first about the shipping amount. In my early ebay days, I had a seller charge me $16(U.S.) for a small little trinket. I was not impressed with that and make it a policy of mine to not overcharge on shipping... it just turns off buyers.

ospreylinks · ‎11-27-2003

The $.10 listing special I think was helpful for a short time. I probably similar to most, relisted all of my available items at the cheap listing fee, then for the next day they appeared early in lists generating viewer hits and sales..... Now they are buried in the multitude of other items listed and probably won't generate much excitement until they are close to expire....

Which brings me to another point people may want to comment on....what do most people us, longer (10 days) or shorter (3 days) listings....

I have been using 10 day listings for my buy it now exclusively listed stuff, trying to keep it on the boards for an exta three days for only $.10, but given that I have found that most listings generate sales in the first or last 24 hours, then seem to get lost on the listing pages, maybe this isn't such a good strategy?

Comments

Jeff

amberwoodottawa · ‎11-27-2003

Jeff,
Again it all depends on what one is selling and when. I have always stuck with 7 day listings.

I listed 2 violins this morning and they both sold as BIN within 1/2 hour of being listed. Yet I have 4 identical violins with 1 day left on 2 of them and 4 days left on the other 2. All 4 of these are being bid on right now, having reached my reserves and the BIN gone. They may sell for more or less than my BIN.

It is possible in my case that people see tha bidding on the first 4 and see identical instrument available with a good BIN and that is what is getting me the immediate sales. In that case, I couldnt accomplish this unless I had the others listed for 7-days and getting some good action on them.

I have alot of marketing experience in the fast food industry as a former VP of a small chain and assure you that no matter what you do, customers are fickle and difficult to predict.

Malcolm

gloriaguides · ‎11-28-2003

I hardly had any bids yesterday. However, no auctions ending until tomorrow night, by which time I'm expecting some people to be tired of the malls, family, etc and get back to ebay! They should have gotten some ideas about what to buy people for Christmas at Thanksgiving and be in a hurry to "find" whatever it is. Good luck all! Gloria