# Anyone else seeing sharp declines in ebay sales?



## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Wow...ebay sales have dropped off sharply for me. I have been selling about $100 a day, and then, about a week ago, sales have been less than $10 a day...and sometimes no sales at all.

Anyone else seeing sharp declines in sales?


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Yes I have noticed a sharp drop but mine have been down to less than half since early summer? Must be the economy catching up or perhaps it is all of the changes on ebay recently? How bout the rest of you ebay sellers.....what have you noticed? sis


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Not only that, my son loves to shop on ebay. Today he came and told me there was 'nothing' on there. That is a huge change for him. Money in his pocket and he could not find anything to buy on ebay.


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## Nomad (Dec 19, 2002)

I sold a camcorder on there yesterday for about 60% of what it should have brought. And I had to agree to forego the shipping charges to get them to buy. But I'm desperate, so.... The last time I put a bunch of things on not one item sold and I relisted once with no luck. I haven't tried Craig's List yet but I will in the next day or so. I will sell some of my woodworking tools. Nothing special (mostly Harbor Freight) and they won't bring much, but I am in no condition to move them and I need whatever money they will bring.

Nomad


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

I always have a slower time in the early summer and right around when schools starts. 
So yeah, I've had a slow down, but no more so than any other year... :shrug:


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Interesting.

I am getting a bit worried...sales are that bad. They shouldn't be so slow. I am wondering if the economy is really getting to the market that I sell in.

Anyone else?


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

I have had an uptick in sales today, but who knows how long it will last?


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## miboje (Sep 22, 2009)

Hi-
I'm new here, but registered to respond to this.

My sales have been down since May. Yesterday was a little odd because I had several sales for no apparent reason. 
I have been selling there for over 3 years, and this is the longest I have seen it be so slow. Normally, a slow down period lasts for a couple of weeks at most. I have learned to just ride it out and utilize that time elsewhere. This is not a normal time, and I wonder if it will improve.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Thank you for signing up just to help me!!!! Welcome to HT!!!!

Today's sales have actually been pretty decent, knock on wood. They are still not great, but I did sell an item that I bought for speculation. It has been on ebay for 5 days, and priced right, so I am excited to sell one of them today!!!!!! Isn't it funny how
a $7 sale can change your attitude?

Again, thanks, and welcome!!!


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## miboje (Sep 22, 2009)

Clovis - You're welcome.

I had one sale yesterday. Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically slow no matter what, though. I really hope we are seeing a continuous rise. It gets scary sometimes. I hate digging into my savings to pay living expenses, but at least I have that.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

My sales are usually pretty consistant, except for Saturdays. It can be really slow until Saturday night.

Those spec items I mentioned before are selling. When two more sell, I will be at the break even point. Thank goodness for that, because the other stuff has been slow to sell.

Again, thank you!!!!


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## miboje (Sep 22, 2009)

Clovis - You are welcome, and congrats on approaching the break-even point! That is surely providing some sense of relief albeit, it's not enough. I know. 

My sales used to be $3000 a month, then I watched them drop to $1800, then $1400, and now I hover between $1000 and $1250. That's not a place where I can make it too long. 

I love eBay for providing a decent passive income, but it's not enough anymore. I am looking into other things. I have a Specialized Degree in Business Administration, Management and Marketing. I don't really want to have a regular job because I want to control my time. That is so valuable to me. More valuable than the money I may make with my qualifications. I'm a shepherd, not a sheep. I am very far from fitting into any corporate culture, as well. 

Are you doing / cosidering anything else?


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

miboje said:


> Are you doing / cosidering anything else?


I owned a printing business for 16 years, and have left it for several reasons. One is health, and the other is that what I was doing was like beating your head against the wall, over and over.

I have been blessed that my wife has a decent job, and we are frugal with money. Ebay is a perfect fit for me. I can stay at home with DD, and my ebay earnings have paid our property taxes, insurance for our fun stuff like eating out.

These slow downs in my ebay business sure do smart pretty bad, and we just got hit with insurance and property taxes last week.

I've toyed with getting back into the printing business, at least on a part time basis, and only accepting cream of the crop customers. We'll see.

What about you? Got anything in the works?


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## miboje (Sep 22, 2009)

Clovis - Yes, I would like to move into energy independence and off-grid living. I am looking at tools that we as individuals can use to gain freedom from the grid/fossil fuels. I don't yet know in what way I can incorporate that into a business. I have a meeting with a contractor today to discuss some of my ideas. 

I am also looking into things that our community can do, such as our own hybrid wind/solar power plant. Possibly a wood gasification apparatus. We have lots of wood here, and every time a logging company comes in to clear cut, they leave behind so many tree tops. It seems like a waste.

Either one may end up being a long road. Or not! I've got to start somewhere, though. 

Maybe doing printing part time would be a solution for you, and yes, picking your cream of the crop customers will ease your stress. Sounds like you have been thinking on this.


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## ahahahni1 (Sep 4, 2006)

I haven't sold in years and have thought about going back into it and selling my boxes of kids clothes. How is childrens' clothing selling right now?


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## sunflower-n-ks (Aug 7, 2006)

ahahahni1 said:


> I haven't sold in years and have thought about going back into it and selling my boxes of kids clothes. How is childrens' clothing selling right now?


I haven't kept up with that proposed law involving testing anything that would be used by children. You might want to check into what is going on with it before you invest in anything.


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

clovis said:


> I owned a printing business for 16 years, and have left it for several reasons. One is health, and the other is that what I was doing was like beating your head against the wall, over and over.
> 
> I have been blessed that my wife has a decent job, and we are frugal with money. Ebay is a perfect fit for me. I can stay at home with DD, and my ebay earnings have paid our property taxes, insurance for our fun stuff like eating out.
> 
> ...


Clovis maybe you could combine your printing with ebay. When I first started ebaying I bought business cards on ebay. I liked them so much that I also ordered calling cards with bible quotes for my brother. Then I ordered business/ advertising cards from the same person. Follow up is important though. He never did follow up and I lost the name of his store, so I wound up learning to make my own. My cards had a yearly calender on the back so my customers could have something with my store info but yet was useful too. As another added source of income you could post a text add in your local want ads for business cards and maybe pick up a few more sales.


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

What I'm not selling are my bigger ticket, higher profit items. Nickel and dime stuff still sells.

I started selling agressively on eBay in 2005. Sales to date (through Sept.) have been $39.9 in 2005, $37.6 in 2006, $30.2 in 2007, $35.8 in 2008 and $30.7 in 2009. Averaging it out, looks like a $40.9 in 2009 vs $49.7 in 2008. Thus, down some 20%.

On selling children's clothing you are competing with virtually every yard sale around. Sort of stuff buyers want to pick up and examine before purchasing. "Oh, wouldn't this look cute on Suzie."

eBay's auction expenses are high, but then open a store and you don't get the same exposure. Fortunately on many of my items I'm the only source on eBay. Thus, a keyword search turns up my the store listing(s).

Overseas sales may not be much of volume, but they help. Now working an order from Australia.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Ken Scharabok said:


> On selling children's clothing you are competing with virtually every yard sale around. Sort of stuff buyers want to pick up and examine before purchasing. "Oh, wouldn't this look cute on Suzie."


Not necessarily. 
As a buyer, I've always preferred to get my kids' clothes off eBay, rather than yard sales. At a yard sale I have to carefully sort through every stack of clothes to not only find stuff I like, but to find out the _size_!
eBay listings are pre-sorted so 3/4 of the work is already done. 

I won't, however, buy single piece items. Only lots. It doesn't make financial sense, otherwise.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

I agree, Erin.

I've been looking for an outfit for DD that was sold by Oshkosh, but is no longer available. I will eventually win one on ebay!

We live close to an outlet mall, and often find killer deals on clothes for DD. This negates much of our interest in buy clothes for DD on ebay. I would guess that the majority of America doesn't have an outlet mall close by.


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## MacMomma (Nov 11, 2009)

> I haven't sold in years and have thought about going back into it and selling my boxes of kids clothes. How is childrens' clothing selling right now?


I've had pretty decent luck selling kids clothes on eBay. Back to school time was huge for me. It's dropped off a lot now, but toy sales are up!


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