eBay

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-18-2014

Seriously. I've been selling since 2004 and I understand natural lows and highs in sales. I check my category, magazine clippings, often, and the sell rate is usually somewhere around 20 percent. Now of 72000 llistings 950 sold, in that category. I haven't made a sale in two weeks. This never happens. You can look at the pages of sold items and see a dramatic drop around the begining of January. I know it was Christmas. I've been doing this since 2004. Sales actually kinda go up after Christmas usually. I assumed it was people spending their Chrstmas money. Something is wrong. Is it that shopping cart? Aaargh.

Has anyone else noticed this???

bluedaisyclippings · ‎01-27-2014

I hope it warms up for you! It has been very foggy here today. It's not raining though so that's good.

I have emerged from my black hole!

After 21 days with no sales! On day 20 I had some scheduled listing fail due to photos being too small. I have been aware of the 500 pixel minimum since they first announced it. As soon as I heard it was coming I started making the photos in new listings bigger and slowly retiring the old ones. When the rule came into effect I expected failed listings but didn't get any. I continued to phase out the small photo listings but wasn't too worried about it since ebay didn't seem to mind too much. Well two days ago, they failed. I told my daughter that night that that was a good sign for my black hole. Sure enough, the next day and the day after, five sales! One to Denmark and a buyer in the US who bought three and I was able to send one invoice for all three, just like I normally would have. So shopping cart wise, I'm fine. Multiple sales, also fine.

I think that something kicked in and my photos were keeping me in a black hole. I was googling that and came across an ebay note that warned incorrect photos could effect search placement and sales ability. I dunno. Between ebay, Inkfrog and Canada Post, someone is always uprgrading something.

All is well in my world again! (even if my ebay app only kachinged one time for my five sales, haha. Every time I hear that sound it makes me smile.)

rose-dee · ‎01-27-2014

Well, congratulations, and I'm glad you've emerged from the "black hole" back into the light!

Believe me, it will happen again, usually followed by a "clump" of sales. Why is really anybody's guess, but as I said earlier, the first time it occurred to me I thought I was done for -- for good. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, it broke and I had a big upswing in sales.

It used to be that a seller could list and sell at a regular pace, with 2 or 3 slumps (or at most, predictably slow periods) during the year. Now I've realized that these occasional rather frightening "dead zones", followed by a lot of activity, seem to be the new face of selling on eBay. I just wait them out, and hope for better on the other side.

It's interesting to theorize on what it is that eBay has done to cause these odd patterns, but probably not very productive in the long run. Everybody worries about Cassini, but I think what they shouldbe worried about is complying with every possible eBay policy to the best of their ability. Your experience of the photo issues may be an example of how just one sort of infraction can affect placement and/or search ability -- there are, as I'm sure you know, many more.

Compliance with, or exceeding policy is the one thing we do know from eBay's own pronouncements that will keep things running for any seller, so that's always the best route.

Best of luck, and keep up the good work!

P.S. Be glad you're in Vancouver - the rest of us are either already in a deep freeze, or about to be plunged into one. New weather-word I heard today: "Flash-freeze" expected overnight. Oh joy.