eBay

musicyouneed · ‎04-08-2018

I had a good Feb, sold 67 CD's, March I sold only 47. This month has been terrible. I was hoping to have some sales this month but have only sold 8. Weekends usually have a few sales, but nothing since Thursday.

I am going away next week for a month so I will be closing down shop on Sunday. It will then take another 2 months to get back up to speed after I get back.

Anyone else notice a slowdown for this month?

hlmacdon · ‎04-08-2018

Yep definitely slow this past 30 days. Have seen ebay offering quite a few site-wide coupons during that time that have had absolutely no translation to sales.

cumos55 · ‎04-08-2018

The ups and downs of eBay.

Most likely in relation to what is being sold..

However, there may be a "hidden" reality... eBay's search engine and the visibility of inventory in a search. The search report can vary from day-to-day..... and some listings may not be shown in each search report. Difficult to track this occurrence.

cumos55 · ‎04-08-2018

Another factor could be how much new inventory has been added. For me new inventory sells well...

or ...... The addition of new listings, new inventory, to eBay wakes up the search engine in relation to the visibility of older inventory.

The old listings principle... listings over 16 to 18 months on eBay ... may also apply.

A seller has to find ways to keep the search engine focussed on that seller's listings.

momcqueen · ‎04-08-2018

I’ve had a great start to April, selling almost as much in the first five days of the month as I did in the whole month of March which was slower than usual.

snoopwiz · ‎04-08-2018

For the most part, it has been what.

cumos55 · ‎04-08-2018

(1) March was a a a a ..... s l o w ..... month for sales. Two charity sales of books in February were not there this year, 2018. Limited amount of new inventory to list, and it was the newer inventory that sold well in March and beyond, after listing the new inventory in previous years

One charity will no longer have a sale in February.... but the sales in April and September will still be there. A second group started having sales in the middle of February about 4 years ago, but they moved to having the sale at the beginning of May.....

The last two weeks in April and the first two weeks in May are going to be very busy, busy, busy.

(2) All of my listings of books now have books with ISBN numbers..... went through all of the listings.... found some with no book found (cold not be found) in inventory???.... found a few with a gallery photo, but with no photo showing in the listing.... Photo was replaced......Everything is adjusted as of Easter weekend and sales are good, very good.

(3) The http > https adjustment.... Completed in the fall of 2017 and sales improved

(4) There was a time when I used to do a revision to all of my listings..... It was a pretend revision... change my postal code..... more a delete and replace of the same postal code.

(5) End and relist the listings... In May 2016 it was the change from US to Canadian dollars on eBay Canada...

There was a lot of end-relist with my Auctiva listings and the https adjustment in September of 2017. The photos in storage on Auctiva were https, but the listings on eBay had to end to change the photos to https. Auctiva was extremely helpful in changing all of the listings on eBay from http to https.

It used to be in the summer of each year that all of my listings were ended and relisted each day over a 30 day period..... No..... OLD.... listings.... nothing older than one year, approximately. eBay most likely notified watchers what had happened.....

Now that all of my listings have ISBN numbers .... Listings can be ended and relisted without eBay saying .... ISBN missing! Starting June 1 listings will end and relist each day..... and if an ISBN is missing ..... the listing will be adjusted.

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Nothing sits not noticed, not observed, for too long.... always looking to see what is happening with my listings relative to the listings of other sellers in my categories.... Always looking for ways to attract/stimulate the search engine on eBay.

Listings are constantly being observed and reworked if necessary.

reallynicestamps · ‎04-08-2018

I've been getting some nice, but pricey, material for this ID and bupkiss for the others.

I have been switching GTC listings, which appeal to my lazy gene, for 30 day ones, then letting those rest. I'll have a fair amount to donate by next month. See if WIN or Beacon thrifts can do better with them.

Sales have been ... what.... I guess. Nothing great but a few fast sellers.

The usual complaints about slow mail from American buyers, two from New York City, which always seems to have slow mail.

My new thrill is looking at Google Maps to see where my customers live. Seems the Google Street View car doesn't get to a lot of US addresses, but Greece and Austria are lovely at this time of year.

cumos55 · ‎04-09-2018

I know a seller who lists a specific category of book on eBay.

His approach is list one set of books for 30 days, and then the second set of books for 30 days, and then back to the first set. Each set of book has about 10,000 listings.

This seller is semi-retired and does what he does to have something to do...

This seller has been on-line for many, many years... extremely successful. He knows what sells, and has been very successful. He can walk up to a table book at a charity sale.... and within minutes find the right inventory to sell.

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Each and every seller on eBay can find a way to make it happen.... Success is in doing it without hesitation.

Slow days... maybe... but then if you know how to deal with the search engine on eBay, and provide the right inventory..... sales will happen on a relatively continuous basis.

There will be bumps in the way... but that will ...not...prevent one from moving on to a new selling level.

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎04-09-2018

My February was great, but March and April have been dead...

femmefan1946 · ‎04-09-2018

@cumos55

I'm waiting anxiously for the Times-Colonist Annual Book Sale on May 5.

Which coincides with Free Comic Book Day, unfortunately.

The SVdP thrift with the best organized book selection (nearly a third of the store and four cases of SFF) closed to make room for their actual outreach services.

And Sally Ann donators are apparently illiterate.

cumos55 · ‎04-09-2018

When the main category of inventory does not sell ... Those complementary categories fill the void with sales.

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Sellers will come to eBay with something reasonably new to sell.... They do well

and then sales drop off..... the people that wanted their inventory, bought what they wanted

With each sale there is one less person interested in their inventory... and eventually sales are very low.

It is one thing to sell in one category... but a seller must develop complementary categories.... and those new categories become important when there are 30 and more than 30 listings.

30 listings appears to be magic number to the search engine.... It also helps with sales in this category.

Never stop looking for new inventory to sell.