eBay

threebears63 · ‎05-12-2015

Hi All,

I am wondering what is happening with listing visibility, in general but particularly international visibility. When I had a store on ebay (.ca) which was open for several years I found that my sales were consistently split like this: 60% to the U.S., 30% or a bit more to international destinations, mainly the UK and Australia, and that Canada only accounted for up to 10% of my sales.

I took a bit of time off to catch up on life in general and got back to selling at the start of last October. It's been almost eight months and I have noticed a serious shift in (and loss of) sales to international destinations. Of the 196 transactions (that alone is bad enough, it used to be around 100 per month, granted that I am not listing at quite the volume that I had in the past) this is the breakdown: 96 sales to the U.S., 9 to the UK, 2 to Europe and 89 to Canada.

All of my listings have always included a flat rate shipping cost for international destinations, so, what has happened? Canada now accounts for 45% of my sales, glad to see Canadians shopping from Canadians, but as many sellers will understand from a business perspective if you offer free domestic shipping but not free international shipping, this makes a very real difference to the bottom line.

When ebay started charging a FVF fee on the cost of shipping as well as on the item sale, they pushed offering free domestic shipping and stated that if it was offered you would not pay the FVF on the shipping portion of any sales, and it made perfect sense to offer free shipping on 10% of sales to avoid paying an additional FVF on the shipping portion of 90% of your sales. I am no longer sure this makes financial sense with sales destinations shifting the way they are.

Is it just me or is anyone else noticing a shift or decline in international sales?

I think that part of the uptick in Canadian sales may be that so many Canadians, myself included, are just completely put off with U.S. sellers because too many of them are using that infernal GSP for small, lightweight, inexpensive items that so inflates the cost that it becomes unobtainable, so they are looking closer to home for more affordable options. The mere idea of the GSP is so blatantly at cross purposes with what ebay had been constantly proclaiming buyers wanted and that was FREE shipping, you can't have it both ways. Unfortunately I personally have found myself doing much more shopping elsewhere, which is just sad because this used to always be my "go to" site.

At any rate, an uptick in Canadian sales doesn't explain a down turn in international sales.

Any theories?

Cheers!

Heather

fatdane · ‎05-12-2015

At the moment the US$ is flying high, and many other currencies have declined in relation to the US$, so many international bidders spend their money locally rather than order something priced in US . At some point the US$ will drop and international orders will start coming in again.

reallynicestamps · ‎05-12-2015

A couple of things to consider.

If you are currently buying in Canada, your procurement costs may have gone down with the Canadian dollar.

You may be able to boost US sales by making S&H to the US $0.00. The tricky bit is that patterns tend to be over 100gr, which is $5.15CDN (about $4.00USD). Of course, Free Shipping really means the cost of shipping in included in the asking price.
If you have the cost of shipping in your asking price, your flat rate International shipping fee can also drop. So 100-200gram international shipping goes from $8.25USD to $4.25USD which is comfortably below the asking price for the item.

I've very rarely sold a dress pattern to overseas and I do sell them on another ID. But in my other categories have seen no dropoff in international sales, and even an uptick in some categories, mostly foreign stamps.

photosalp · ‎05-12-2015

Hi Heather.

I dunno nuddin' for sure, but my suspicion is we don't get visibility on all sites at all times. Over a period of time my sales are 70% US, 20% International, and only 10% Canadian. But, I have periods, especially weekends, when I see a big increase in International or Canadian sales, and a decrease in US. It's happened too often for me to believe it's just a random fluke. And I've seen sellers on .com who only sell to the US say they see days when all of their sales are to one geographic part of the US, then another part the next day.

I had the same idea as you and tried the free domestic shipping idea. It didn't work out too well for me because I have a lot of inexpensive stamps in my inventory. Got a bunch of $0.99 sales to Canada with free shipping. That's not a good business model. And it was really aggravating when people (and there were a few) would order a one or two dollar stamp two or three times a week with free shipping. Free domestic shipping across the board would work for me if we could put a minimum purchase amount on our sales. The good thing that came out of it is I did pick up a good number of new Canadian customers.

Currently I offer free domestic shipping on orders of $15 or more, and list items at that threshold on .ca. (I list on both .ca and .com to take advantage of 5000 free listings, but of course that leads to shopping cart problems.) Then I offer free shipping worldwide on orders of $25 or more. Not perfect, but best I can think of for my situation at the time.

Al

rose-dee · ‎05-12-2015

I think all your comments and observations are absolutely on target -- things have changed here in the past year or so (and I've been here all that time, so it isn't just a recent phenomenon). I used to have a regular 10%-15% sales level to the U.K. and the rest of Europe, now I'm lucky to get 1 European sale in 2 or 3 months. It simply seems to have dried up.

There are so many aspects to struggle with now on eBay, that it's hard to know where to start in finding an explanation for such shifts. However, I think eBay's site search mechanisms may be partly to blame, and perhaps other issues, like the economic woes in Europe, high import taxes and outrageously high Canada Post shipping costs, have all combined to create depressed sales.

I suspect it also depends what type of items a seller is offering. Perhaps Europeans, like Canadians, are turning more to domestic online sites because the GSP has made buying from US sellers on .com just too expensive, who really knows?

If it's any consolation, I don't think you're alone in this. To be honest, I'm finding it's difficult to sell to Europe anymore because of shipping costs, unless the item is very light (under 250gms) or very expensive. I use flat rate shipping, and I've 'subsidized' my European buyers' shipping costs in the past (up until this year) to encourage sales, but I simply can't afford to do that anymore. Now my feeling is that if a European buyer is really interested in an item, they'll be willing to pay the actual shipping; if not, well, the loss of 1 sale every few months makes it a low priority.

rose-dee · ‎05-12-2015

Whoops, I see we're both selling sewing patterns (I should have looked at your items first).

There is another problem with these (in addition to the outrageous shipping cost of sending a mere 150gm parcel to Europe) that may explain some of the drop in international sales. There has been an enormous increase in the number of out-of-print and/or vintage sewing patterns for sale on eBay over the past few months, I would almost call it a flood. Everybody seems to have realized sewing patterns are easy to sell, easy and inexpensive to ship, and -- for a while at least -- in demand.

However, that "flood" has of course meant a change in the market for these items in the past 6 or 8 months. Although I was easily able to turn over most of my stock every 3 or 4 months prior to mid-2014, it's now taking several months to sell fewer patterns, and many sit for quite a long time. I'm finding that anything but Vogue or a truly rare 1950's vintage pattern is a hard sell now.

This wasn't the case a year or so ago. I see a lot of U.S. sellers now selling off whole lots of dozens of patterns at a time for a pittance. Part of the reason may be that a lot of women who were avid home dressmakers in the 1950's and 60's are now passing away and their pattern "stashes" are coming onto the market. Many younger women never learned how to sew, so the market on that end is narrowing. The one area that I find hasn't been much affected by this tsunami is antique sewing patterns. My own antique line is still doing well enough to make up for the shortfall elsewhere. I would say though that with patterns like Butterick, McCalls, Simplicity, etc., you have to be much more patient these days to get a sale.

The one thing that does work in our favour is that a Canadian buyer can get a pattern sent by lettermail for around $3.00 or $4.00 from a Canadian seller, whereas buying the same pattern from a U.S. seller often now means GSP, making for a ridiculous $12 or $15 U.S. shipping charge on a $10 sewing pattern -- certainly not as attractive as buying from a Canadian. I too have seen a more Canadian sales recently than historically was the case, so this may be the explanation for your recent upturn in Canadian sales.

mr.elmwood · ‎05-12-2015

Looney has dropped close to 30% against the US dollar in the last three or so years. Last I heard, the Eruo was at an all time low against the US dollar.

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pocomocomputing · ‎05-12-2015

@rose-dee wrote:
Whoops, I see we're both selling sewing patterns (I should have looked at your items first).

There is another problem with these (in addition to the outrageous shipping cost of sending a mere 150gm parcel to Europe) that may explain some of the drop in international sales.

Typo? You probably mean 200 gram Light Packet International which is a recent change for CP rates in Jan. The limit went from 150 to 200 grams as you probably already know.

I find that the 200 gram limit offers opportunities to sell slightly heavier items for Light Packet USA and International. Which you also mentioned in other topics about the 200 gram limit for the first Light Packet break.

recped · ‎05-12-2015

I've been doing import/export for almost 40 years, I've seen this up & down many times in the past.

Historically on eBay I've been 60% overseas, 35% USA and 5% Canada. My overseas business started to dry up initially when Greece, Spain and Italy went in the tank (Greece and Spain being very popular for me). When the US Dollar started to rise dramatically about 2 years ago the rest of my overseas business started to vanish.

I'm now doing 10% Canada, 70% USA and a pittance everywhere else. I believe that it's almost entirely due to fx changes with a bit of the 2009 recession effect. The unemployment rates in Europe for my customers are dire, when a third or more of your customers are unemployed and prices rise 25 - 30% at the same time it's a combination that makes it impossible to maintain historical sales patterns.

The UK is about the only place sales have held up at all, the Pound has not suffered as much as the Euro relative to the US Dollar which may be the reason for that.

FYI - I have never used eBay's ISV, I think it's a waste of money and the firmness of my UK sales (the only place ISV works at all) sort of proves that.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

rose-dee · ‎05-12-2015

@pocomocomputing wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
Whoops, I see we're both selling sewing patterns (I should have looked at your items first).

There is another problem with these (in addition to the outrageous shipping cost of sending a mere 150gm parcel to Europe) that may explain some of the drop in international sales.
Typo? You probably mean 200 gram Light Packet International which is a recent change for CP rates in Jan. The limit went from 150 to 200 grams as you probably already know.

I find that the 200 gram limit offers opportunities to sell slightly heavier items for Light Packet USA and International. Which you also mentioned in other topics about the 200 gram limit for the first Light Packet break.

Yes, you're right -- talking off the top of my head again, without my CP charts in front of me.

I was thinking that most commercial sewing patterns weigh under 150gms, and although CP's 2015 weight class changes have meant a temporary respite, overall during the past 2 or 3 years it's become more and more expensive to justify shipping a $10 to $15 item overseas.

I do think there are many other, probably more critical, factors at play with regard to European sales, as 'recped' points out.

threebears63 · ‎05-14-2015

Hi All,

Definitely some good points brought up, especially regarding economic woes in Europe etc. and the strength of the U.S. dollar. I have my items priced in U.S. funds and changed my price structure earlier this year to offset the currency exchange.

Rose-dee I have also noticed a very large increase in sewing pattern listings. It would be nice to think that it could be balanced by the increase in online shoppers over the last few years, but I guess things are not always relative. I am wondering if part of the problem is that the recent increase in online shoppers is mostly due to young tech savvy tweens and twenty somethings who do everything online, which sadly means they are not at home learning to sew.

Of course since I started selling, fees have dramatically increased and postage has more than tripled in price, however not all items increase in value, especially something like sewing patterns. So, it gets harder and harder to try and fit the expenses into the price of an item and keep it at a level that is still reasonable for buyers. I would imagine it's not that big of a deal for sellers with high priced and in demand items, but it is definitely a problem for lower priced items. I must admit though, that I like selling in categories that are low fraud like patterns and craft supplies I am never concerned about an INR case that will cost me hundreds or thousands of dollars, and I have found that crafters are a good customer base, generally really nice to deal with and quite friendly.

Femme, you always have good advice for pricing. Over the years I have tried several price models including free shipping to the U.S. and found no difference in the sales volume, unfortunately.

I suppose one thing I can never understand is when I see other sellers with the same items for sale that I have, charging two or three times the price as well as higher shipping and they are making way more sales, how are they doing that? Is ebay just giving them better visibility for some unfathomable reason? I have always done everything ebay suggests and have yet to crack the key to getting good visibility. You can look at any random search page and you will see the same few sellers over and over again, even if they have lower feedback, lousy pictures, and higher prices.

I guess if I have learned nothing else over the last few years I have at least learned that nothing about ebay makes much sense.

Cheers!

Heather

mr.elmwood · ‎05-14-2015

@threebears63 wrote:
Hi All,

Definitely some good points brought up, especially regarding economic woes in Europe etc. and the strength of the U.S. dollar. I have my items priced in U.S. funds and changed my price structure earlier this year to offset the currency exchange.

Rose-dee I have also noticed a very large increase in sewing pattern listings. It would be nice to think that it could be balanced by the increase in online shoppers over the last few years, but I guess things are not always relative. I am wondering if part of the problem is that the recent increase in online shoppers is mostly due to young tech savvy tweens and twenty somethings who do everything online, which sadly means they are not at home learning to sew.

Of course since I started selling, fees have dramatically increased and postage has more than tripled in price, however not all items increase in value, especially something like sewing patterns. So, it gets harder and harder to try and fit the expenses into the price of an item and keep it at a level that is still reasonable for buyers. I would imagine it's not that big of a deal for sellers with high priced and in demand items, but it is definitely a problem for lower priced items. I must admit though, that I like selling in categories that are low fraud like patterns and craft supplies I am never concerned about an INR case that will cost me hundreds or thousands of dollars, and I have found that crafters are a good customer base, generally really nice to deal with and quite friendly.

Femme, you always have good advice for pricing. Over the years I have tried several price models including free shipping to the U.S. and found no difference in the sales volume, unfortunately.

I suppose one thing I can never understand is when I see other sellers with the same items for sale that I have, charging two or three times the price as well as higher shipping and they are making way more sales, how are they doing that? Is ebay just giving them better visibility for some unfathomable reason? I have always done everything ebay suggests and have yet to crack the key to getting good visibility. You can look at any random search page and you will see the same few sellers over and over again, even if they have lower feedback, lousy pictures, and higher prices.

I guess if I have learned nothing else over the last few years I have at least learned that nothing about ebay makes much sense.

Cheers!
Heather

Same here and then I tried it again starting Jan 2015. Sales took off. Friend of mine, in the same business, was complaining about lack of sales. He made the move to "free" and his sales went up dramatically.

Years gone by it made no difference. I even started trying it a year before eBay made it a big deal, nothing. Now? All of a sudden? It is a big deal.

All manner of retailers have jumped on the "free" bandwagon for their online stores.

An additional factor is the increasing use of mobile devices for viewing, deciding, buying. "Free" puts the final price in the same window as the description, and picture.

A year ago, no "free" for me. Now? The only time I do not use it is with multiples when the customer would buy additional pieces.

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rosscd57 · ‎05-14-2015

For what it's worth here's a buyers perspective. Well a buyer who thinks before he purchases.

I was looking for a Keurig coffee machine for my cabin - they only make one type that you can drain the water out of - the rest will all freeze and break.

Last year it was only sold in the US.

This year it came to Canada but I could not find one in Alberta. They were only available from a few places in Ontario, Keurig.ca or Amazon.ca . for $180 with free shipping - Amazon.ca was $199 with free shipping.

The price of the coffee maker should be around the $129 mark.

I started searching more and finally found a Keuig Dealer in Edmonton who agreed to bring some in. When he called I picked it up the next time I was in Edmonton for $119 and he told me he had sold the others already because of the drain feature and was going to get some more in.

So why on earth would I pay for anything with free shipping unless I just could not buy it elsewhere? No wonder Canadian households now hold more debt than the Americans did before the last recession.

__________________________________________________________

Old enough to know better. Young enough to do it again. Crazy enough to try

sheepgal54 · ‎05-17-2015

I noticed that too especially as US is international for canada. My sales are hugely down. One thing I noticed when researching if I should re open a store. In the fees section it says that there is a 5 cent fee for international visibility. I am now wondering if making your shipping 'worldwide' even works anymore if you want to be seen everywhere?

pocomocomputing · ‎05-17-2015

@sheepgal54 wrote:
I noticed that too especially as US is international for Canada. My sales are hugely down. One thing I noticed when researching if I should re open a store. In the fees section it says that there is a 5 cent fee for international visibility. I am now wondering if making your shipping 'worldwide' even works anymore if you want to be seen everywhere?

Store fee for International site visibility is 10 to 50 cents, not 5 cents. And it only lets you be shown in regular search on ebay.co.uk. Not worth the money. Just show a shipping option with a cost to each country and your item can be seen on other sites and picked up in search but shows in the international sellers section.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/storefees.html#optional

rose-dee · ‎05-18-2015

@threebears63 wrote:

Rose-dee I have also noticed a very large increase in sewing pattern listings. It would be nice to think that it could be balanced by the increase in online shoppers over the last few years, but I guess things are not always relative. I am wondering if part of the problem is that the recent increase in online shoppers is mostly due to young tech savvy tweens and twenty somethings who do everything online, which sadly means they are not at home learning to sew.

Yes, I think the big flood of sewing patterns on the market has not in any way been matched by a flood of new sewing enthusiasts.

In my day, most mothers taught their daughters to sew (or they learned in school). Now many mothers aren't around as much during the formative years because they're working full-time, young women are offered many other options in schools and "home ec" isn't compulsory anymore. A lot of them choose things like carpentry or welding which can at least provide a good secondary (or even primary) income at some point in their lives. Besides, when you can buy an entire outfit manufactured in China of cheap polyester for under $50, who needs to know how to sew? When clothing was expensive, it made a lot of sense.

I think the sellers of sewing patterns who offer them at higher prices are hoping to attract people who think they're getting something "rare" and valuable. That may occasionally be the case, but more likely once those buyers look around at other sellers' pricing they won't come back. I personally prefer to cultivate repeat customers by offering reasonable prices.

I agree with 'Mr. Elmwood' that free shipping is something to keep experimenting with. I think it's easier for those of us selling small, lightweight items. I've never found it made a great deal of difference, but I also can't afford to offer free shipping on every item I sell. And I always have to remember I'm in Canada, so have a handicap right off the bat where American buyers are concerned (who make up the majority of my customers).

As for your comment: -- "I guess if I have learned nothing else over the last few years I have at least learned that nothing about ebay makes much sense." -- how true, how true!