What happened? Why is no one buying now? What has ebay done to cause this?

[bluedaisyclippings]

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??? 

[bb_cool_stuff]

I agree with you bdc.

Over the years January is as busy as November & December, but not this January.

At the beginning of the week I was down 40% from this period last year.

Today I am down 70% from the same period. Ouchie !

Friendly competitors waaaaay down also. One down 90%.

There could be a myriad of factors as to why this is happening.

I imagine the Auction promo has something to do with it, plus my category is saturated.

I was invited to the Auction Promo, but thus far it has yielded microscopic results.

Still two weeks to go, but unfortunately February is usually my slowest month.

Is this the sign of the times in my category ? Could be.

[bluedaisyclippings]

Yesterday when I looked there were 72,000 completed listings in my category with only 950 sold. Usually the sold amount is closer to about 15 to 20 percent. So usually the sold number here should be more like 10,000 to 15,000. This is a gigantic variance. I have not made a sale in 14 days. That never ever ever happens unless I let my listings peter out. That never happened when I had 200 or 300 listings and it really never happens now that I have more than 1000. Never.

Today when I looked there were 76,000 completed and more than 7000 sold. That is heading toward normal. Something got messed up and it is not a normal market fluctuation. This is something else.

I hope whatever it is, is fixed soon. 

[brandeentertainment]

For me if it was not for the promos I would have had the worse month I have EVER had and by far like not even having 1 day in the month so far with $100 in buy now sales.... With the Promos I have managed to keep sales up to par but profits are down ...

I would like to say I am extremely impressed that you have a store with the products you have ... I in a million years never would have thought you could sell magazine clippings I am impressed like selling Ice to eskimos ...

Good stuff ....

[pierrelebel]

"Now of 72000 listings 950 sold"

There could be a logical explanation for this.

Possibly, one or several large sellers ended their fixed price listings to relist at auction, using the current "free auction listing" promotion.  This would result in the percentage of unsold listings to jump for one day. The overall numbers of listings would not change much since the unsold fixed price listings are relisted at auction.  The same thing may happen again when the auction listings end.

It is always best to look at the big picture over time, not on a day by day basis.

[bluedaisyclippings]

You're right, of course. The big picture. But, I still have not made even one sale in two weeks. I might never make another sale. I'm looking for other sites to sell on now. I was never tempted before because ebay is so big but zero sales makes even small competitors look hopeful. I don't even want to shop on ebay anymore with all of the crazy shipping. It feels like ebay is self destructing.

[bluedaisyclippings]

Thanks for the clipping category compliments. I stumbled across clippings in a search one day. We used to get crazy bidding wars. Not for years now though. I watch a few sellers to see how well it can be done and recently went from a few hundred listings to about 1000. I have other things to sell too and was about to try that when this happened to ebay and now I'm afraid to waste my time and money. I sell by lettermail so I was planning to get my feet weight in calculated shipping.

I'm comforted to hear other Canadians are still selling in any volume. Anything beats zero.

[i*m-still-here]

blue:  Please don't take this the wrong way, but kudos to you for being able to sell any of your ads at all.  I think you've done exceptionally well with them.

When I first read your post my thought was:  Where on earth other than on eBay can you sell something like that?

A few years ago I had a couple hundred ads all mounted and under plastic in very nice condition and all about 100 years old.

These were really nice but I sold perhaps one or two of them.

I think I made about 5 cents an hour from the work I put into listing them.

In the end I just gave them away, and so you see I'm amazed that you sold any at all.

Where would you go?

[bluedaisyclippings]

I should add that I said magazine clippings as a category I searched but I also look for variations including magazine ads and switching up words. I'm not sure exactly which search that was so I shouldn't have been so specific. These numbers are for 90 days, not one. I was not so concerned about the search word specifics because periodically I do these searches, using different words and the results are always pretty consistent. I have never, ever, using any search criteria, come up with 950 vs 70,000.  I was also surprised that most of the sold ads were from the same few sellers. I watch other sellers when I see them sell a bunch so I noticed wow these two are doing great! I hadn't read these boards yet. I haven't had time to go back and search because of work but I didn't want to leave that out there without explaining a bit.

[i*m-still-here]

---

@bluedaisyclippings wrote:

I should add that I said magazine clippings as a category I searched but I also look for variations including magazine ads and switching up words. I'm not sure exactly which search that was so I shouldn't have been so specific. .......................

---

If you believe that your items are not selling because they don't come up in the search, just try listing one that is desirable for 99 cents with free shipping.

Bet it sells in a few minutes.

[bb_cool_stuff]

It is always best to look at the big picture over time, not on a day to day basis.

Unfortunately, in my category, the Picasso is now starting to look like a Black Velvet Elvis picture.

I'm not a doom & gloom person, but I think I will just let this promo run its course & then do some tweaking.

[bb_cool_stuff]

Where would you go ? 

There were a couple of Winnipeg women selling ads mounted, under plastic & drew big crowds to their tables.

They were everywhere, probably still are, Antique, Nostalgia, Collectable, Car Shows, you could count on them being there.

I imagine it was a lot of work at the beginning, but they seem to be reaping the rewards as there does not seem to be any competitors.

Not sure if it would work in your market though.

[i*m-still-here]

This is completely off topic.............. But it does tell a little about those Sports Shirts: Something I know nothing about and have no appreciation for.

Last night I watched Four Rooms.  I'm getting addicted to that show.

There was a Gretzky jersey on and the seller would have taken $250,000 for it.

There was also a breathtaking over-the-top Lucille Ball gown on that sold for about $8,000.

A boring unremarkable sports shirt (albeit clearly well made) once owned by a Sports super-star  vs. an exquisite gown with immaculate detailing created by a top designer and once owned by a legend.

IMO the gown should have been valued at 100 times the amount the shirt went for.

Speaks volumes about collectors of Sports memorabilia.  Far from dead!

[bb_cool_stuff]

Hard for me to comment as I have never seen the show, maybe I should check it out.

Gretzky Game Worn, wow. Oilers jersey ?

I have heard of a Huge Gretzky Collector in Northern Alberta, not sure if this jersey is in his collection.

Sports memorabilia definitely has its place, but like you & others have mentioned in the past, it has to be a unique item.

Same with every category I imagine.

[vmm32vxd]

"IMO the gown should have been valued at 100 times the amount the shirt went for."

It comes down to this...there are a lot more deep pocketed hockey memorabilia collectors than Lucy collectors.

[i*m-still-here]

I know. 

The reason I sell on eBay is simply to make money and I'll sell people what they want.

However, personally, a piece has to have some inherent beauty or appeal to have value.

One person's trash is another person'a treasure and I get that, but I often feel that I'm selling a lot of the former.

Collectors and collecting fascinate me and I've known some doozies.

[soul5555511]

I'm a new seller when do people usually buy stuff? I don't think in January people buy stuff because they already used all their money on Christmas, New Years.

[pierrelebel]

People buy "stuff" on eBay every day.  Tens of millions of dollars worth daily.  They purchased millions yesterday, they purchased millions today and will purchase millions tomorrow.

The problems are simple and many posters have given you hints as to what to do.

First question: you have zero feedback and zero eBay experience.  Why should anyone buy from you?  Why not purchase "stuff" on eBay to build your eBay experience and feedback rating?

Second question: what exactly are you selling?  Do you have exclusive or territorial rights to sell these products?  Are you a distributor or did you purchase a franchise? http://www.carmensteffens.com/us/be-a-franchisee/   When selling brands names, stating the product is "authentic" in a listing does not make it so.  You need to clearly explain why you are selling the real thing, not a fake.

Third question: mistakes in your listings have been pointed out.  When will you correct them?

Fourth question: why are you not accepting returns?  You have no established reputation.  Why would anyone buy from you when you are not backing your product?

Fifth question: are you a business? are you GST/HST registered?  Are you charging tax on to your Canadian buyers?  Your listings are silent on the subject.

Sixth question: are the goods physically in your place of business in Calgary or will they be shipped to buyers from another location (dropshipping)?

Mail order business is not easy. Starting in any business is not easy.  Are you familiar with eBay's policy concerning 21 day payment hold for all new sellers? (you must ship when paid but PayPal will wait three weeks to remit the money to your account)

Please read: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/pay/payment_hold.html

[pierrelebel]

One last question: are you aware of the territorial exclusivity guaranteed by Carmen Steffens?

From their website:

"Guaranteed Exclusivity

The Ethics Policy of Carmen Steffens commercialization values the exclusivity, so that the company does not allow the massive sale of its collections in the same city. To guarantee unique products, Carmen Steffens launches 11 collections per year, with an enormous variety of styles, materials and finishes.

Carmen Steffens sells its products exclusively at the franchising and licensed stores. This determination ensures the proper care to the customer and strengthens the relationship between brand and customer, getting the industry closer to final consumer with exclusivity."

This raises another question: do you have the territorial rights to sell on eBay for shipment to Canada and USA?

[bluedaisyclippings]

I have no idea where else to go. I don't want to go anywhere. I don't enjoy technical change. I get a headache just thinking about learning a new site or troubleshooting this one. I'm so glad we have the forums so I can see what everyone else has to say.I still haven't made a sale. I can only assume that the shopping cart or some other new change is killing me on ebay. I honestly don't know what to do. If it was just the usual ebay fee increase it would suck but I would be able to calculate my chances. Thank goodness I was never counting on this as income. But I wanted to try to make that happen by branching out and now I can't sell even one item. It's weird. Ebay says we will have a shopping cart in 2014 but that could be 11 months from now. And when it comes will it work (allow sales)...even for me, in my category, etc. I know that some people are still selling some stuff, so it must be that my category is just hard hit by the new situation.

Right now I'm going to list as much as I can and have blind faith that ebay doesn't want me to go out of business any more than I do and so everything will eventually work out 🙂