Extreme fall ibn sales since Oct 20th

[blackcatbooksuk]

Has anyone else had this? Since the traffic stats fault my sales have all but stopped. 1 since the 20th. That has never happened to me since I first started on Ebay a long time ago.

Has anyone else see a huge drop in that time?

[theelench]

Just my thought, drop in sales and less activity on the SC board might be connected by a more general lack of activity on ebay.

Perhaps not, it could be no more than a coincidence and the usually active business sellers have had a sudden upturn and are busy sending off parcels. 

[bravergrace]

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@coxandbudgebooks wrote:

Obv, the economy isn't helping and peeps have far less play money at present, but I watched a traditional auction in Dorset today and they were getting very good prices for books. Am feeling buyers are side-stepping ebay and going to more book-dedicated sites etc. 

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I keep an eye on the auction houses in Dorset, particularly when they're selling books, and I reckon that the prices for individual books (or sets) have been quite high over the last year.  This might mean that more collectors are buying direct from the auction houses rather than from booksellers or third-party sites like eBay.  

But the prices for job lots of books still seem low.  I think the valuers spend less time assessing the books - they pick out a few obviously valuable ones, and barely glance at the rest.

There seem to be more book buyers physically at the auction houses, though, compared with a few years ago, when some houses wouldn't touch books because they regarded them as unsellable, and you could buy 20 boxes of books for a fiver. 

Mainly traders - and from chatting to them, mainly traders who are selling on eBay as private sellers, to avoid the three expenses of fees, taxes and returns.  They either don't regard themselves as traders, citing as if it were legal advice: "eBay says you can add 300 listings a month before you're a business", or they genuinely regard their trade as a hobby because they enjoy it.

[coxandbudgebooks]

I think what you say is true. Prices at auction (when catalogued well) do well, and it's nationwide. A friend who works in a busy auction house which does house clearance and probate as well as catalogued sales, told me they have approximately 20 seconds to catalogue each lot (hence the description running to just "Books", maybe with "old" or "vintage" thrown in if they have time, and one quick fuzzy snap). But now most auctions are online, it's easy for buyers to side-step the middle man (even if they are shocked at the delivery cost / buyer's commission).

My biggest frustration is when you see something sell at auction and it appears for sale by a private seller a few days later on ebay. How many "attic finds" can one lucky so-and-so have...

[bravergrace]

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@sheba-knows-best wrote:

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@theelench wrote:

Possibly, but what about all the other threads on P.1

Not a single new thread.

Only about a dozen 'active' members all morning and into the afternoon.

Some might be fed up with one thread but it looks like others are fed up with ebay.

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One reason busy sellers don't bother with these boards very often is that when they do, the nit-picking is relentless. I opened a thread, just yesterday, genuinely curious as to a change ebay had implemented - and yes, you yourself @theelench, within a dozen comments, had taken a pot shot. Pity the poor seller (usually busy) who responds and gets sucked in and wastes their day in an endless tit and tat of negativity with those with no sales and bored.

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 I think you're maybe being over-sensitive here.  I don't think it was meant personally.

You must surely be aware that most business sellers have strong views about other businesses selling on private accounts.  Maybe it hadn't occurred to you that they might also resent other businesses buying on private accounts.

I'm not taking a pot-shot here - I admit that if I notice a bargain when I'm browsing, I sometimes buy it immediately, without thinking about which account I'm logged into.  I'll buy parts for my car and cooker on my business IDs, and sometimes stock or stationery on my private ID.  I don't do it deliberately, but I just don't notice.

But if other, more scrupulous, sellers tell me I'm wrong to do this, well, I'd agree with them.  I shouldn't do it, and if I were more careful, I wouldn't do it.  Their criticism would be justified.

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

Some book sellers on ebay  get books delivered by the lorry load via charities

its near impossible to compete with

their scale and pricing

[sheba-knows-best]

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@bravergrace wrote:

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@sheba-knows-best wrote:

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@theelench wrote:

Possibly, but what about all the other threads on P.1

Not a single new thread.

Only about a dozen 'active' members all morning and into the afternoon.

Some might be fed up with one thread but it looks like others are fed up with ebay.

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One reason busy sellers don't bother with these boards very often is that when they do, the nit-picking is relentless. I opened a thread, just yesterday, genuinely curious as to a change ebay had implemented - and yes, you yourself @theelench, within a dozen comments, had taken a pot shot. Pity the poor seller (usually busy) who responds and gets sucked in and wastes their day in an endless tit and tat of negativity with those with no sales and bored.

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 I think you're maybe being over-sensitive here.  I don't think it was meant personally.

You must surely be aware that most business sellers have strong views about other businesses selling on private accounts.  Maybe it hadn't occurred to you that they might also resent other businesses buying on private accounts.

I'm not taking a pot-shot here - I admit that if I notice a bargain when I'm browsing, I sometimes buy it immediately, without thinking about which account I'm logged into.  I'll buy parts for my car and cooker on my business IDs, and sometimes stock or stationery on my private ID.  I don't do it deliberately, but I just don't notice.

But if other, more scrupulous, sellers tell me I'm wrong to do this, well, I'd agree with them.  I shouldn't do it, and if I were more careful, I wouldn't do it.  Their criticism would be justified.

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Fair enough. And sorry @theelench for taking offence when none was meant. Like @bravergrace I don't buy on a private account to deliberately take advantage of sellers. All of the business accounts I buy from (and have done for years) are very aware that I am a business - it has come out in message exchanges many times. I buy on a private account simply because I have never sold on it, so never been asked by ebay to change it.

TBH at the moment, I have no desire to change it as I don't really think that buying to sell on a private account is either morally or legally wrong. But if I suddenly thought it was, I would change it. I mean it makes no difference to the price I pay.

[theelench]

I replied to you on the original thread, but thanks for the apology.

Rest assured that I don't take pot shots without replying to the person I'm aiming at, neither do I generally take pot shots at individual posters.  I prefer to respond to the views held, not go for the poster.

[custom-giftsuk]

It's all super simple to be honest.

Check the research tool and do a search on the section you sell in.

I have attached an image of sales for the last 2 years for "personalised birthday".

It's falling quite rapidly, week on week, month on month, year on year.

Its the same for pretty much every sector I look at. 

Prices are climbing, because postage and fees are increasing whilst sales are dropping, so from ebay's point of view, everything is ok, because the overall money is the same/slightly higher/lower but it underlies sales dropping.

You can do a more personal search if you take a record each day to see how you are doing against the overall metric for your "field" to see if its you or a general drop in sales site wide for your field. 

[typo_lee]

This is what I have been doing and every sector is plummeting so this simply means people ARE NOT searching or buying on ebay like they used to. Its plain and simple. Plus ebays userbase is declining rapidly as well. Like you say the profit is okay for ebay as they are making money from promoted listings/fees etc.

[custom-giftsuk]

The problem with that hypothesis is 1 - ebay are stupid and not looking at the underlying figures, 2 - ebay dont care (which may be the case) about sellers, knowing that if things continue to shrink no amount of fee increases will actually save ebay as it'll become a tipping point where no amount of fee increases will save them as sellers close up shop. 

ebay must have some people looking at this and pointing out the elephant in the room. Whether people at the top are listening or not, and are just looking to make as much cash now so they can jump before the ship sinks, that is another question.

However, this isnt just ebay, its *every* sector of the economy and *every* ecommerce and physical shop. People dont have the cash and are now locked into "christmas mode" but are choosing to shop over 3-4 months instead of the 1-2 months as usual. 

[typo_lee]

Your right as our amazon shop is dead as well. There is also no doubt about it people are waiting on the budget announcements as well. For example, lets take the pay per mile announcement they are seemingly going to put onto EV drivers. This will kill off the EV uptake. Car manufacturers have invested billions in EV tech. I was about to order a new Skoda Enyaq but having heard this pay per mile announcement and looked at the government website forecast for company car tax for EVs which is going through the roof there is no incentive. So Ive bought a secondhand petrol engined car instead. This one budget announcement alone will cause job losses. Jaguar is already on its knees from the cyber attack they had and they are only going to make EVs from now on. (if they survive that long). I know we shouldn't get political on here but this government is totally inept and seems to want to cause as much self harm to their own party as they can. Its all very odd and next year is going to be very tough indeed whilst the country becomes even more divided than ever.

[custom-giftsuk]

There is a *great many stories* of what is and what isnt going to be in the budget. I can assure you that only maybe, 20% of what I've heard is going to be there but I cant say which 20% because its either all "test the waters to see how the public take it before making a decision" or just scaremongering by opposition to muddy the waters.

I've heard bad stories about the upcoming budget since before the last one, and stories about the "next budget" before this one is out and its freezing people's capacity or appetite for any purchases at all hence no one buys anything, people lose their jobs, causing people not to buy anything .... and so on. Self imposed doom spiral which benefits no one, apart from people who want to cause such for their own benefit.