Ebay Sales Down

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

The reason I don't like to use the criteria is because it's too difficult to exclude items. I'm only running sales on older inventory, so I'm not worried about the new stuff getting in there.

What if you gamed the system by creating a specific store category for that older inventory?

I believe you're allowed ~30 store categories, so if you're not currently using the entire allotment, could you create a store category for that inventory and then use the rule criteria to create a sale just for the store category?

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by thenightman

I bought a lot of around 1300 basketball cards, a lot of them are Contenders and Contenders Draft, $1.00 cards at best.

I would like to get them gone, and if I can do that by running sales (like a buy 3, get one free, or a buy X and get X% off). Can I just run a sale on particular cards?

Right now the limit is 500 cards...but see below.

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

What if you gamed the system by creating a specific store category for that older inventory?

I believe you're allowed ~30 store categories, so if you're not currently using the entire allotment, could you create a store category for that inventory and then use the rule criteria to create a sale just for the store category?

Great idea! I am going to give this a try.

[thenightman]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

Right now the limit is 500 cards...but see below.



Great idea! I am going to give this a try.

I'll try that idea. Maybe a $1.49 or less category.

[nam812]

Yesterday, for the 2nd time in the last 9 days, I had a day with no sales. For the last 10 weeks I have maintained a 1,000 to 1,100 card inventory and sold an average of 9 cards a day, so with that approx. 1% sell through rate I feel that my prices are in line with reality. I can chalk up once to an anomaly, but twice in 9 days has me scratching my head.

Someone earlier in the thread asked if I had any cases open, and i got busy and never answered, but yes I did back then and I appealed and won. Also this week I had someone open a case which I appealed and again won. It can't be a coincidence that both of these cases happened around the same time I get days with no sales.

[smanzari]

Originally Posted by nam812

Someone earlier in the thread asked if I had any cases open, and i got busy and never answered, but yes I did back then and I appealed and won. Also this week I had someone open a case which I appealed and again won. It can't be a coincidence that both of these cases happened around the same time I get days with no sales.

I feel like cases do the opposite for me, seems like I always get a few offer notifications whenever I receive that dreaded INR notification

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by nam812

Yesterday, for the 2nd time in the last 9 days, I had a day with no sales. For the last 10 weeks I have maintained a 1,000 to 1,100 card inventory and sold an average of 9 cards a day, so with that approx. 1% sell through rate I feel that my prices are in line with reality. I can chalk up once to an anomaly, but twice in 9 days has me scratching my head.

Someone earlier in the thread asked if I had any cases open, and i got busy and never answered, but yes I did back then and I appealed and won. Also this week I had someone open a case which I appealed and again won. It can't be a coincidence that both of these cases happened around the same time I get days with no sales.

I also had a really slow weekend with 0 sales on 8/24 AND 8/27. Like you, I typically have multiple sales every day and they usually spike Thursday-Sunday.

I did have 2 ESE INR cases that were opened 8/14 & 8/22 that I refunded immediately and submitted PIPs. I checked my ESE INR cases that were opened in June & July and I didn't see a drop in sales around the time those cases were opened. Could be an end of summer/back to school weekend lull?

[shrevecity]

If you are having to appeal cases then that means initially you are losing them. Lost cases count double against sellers as fat as defects. Once appealed and removed the defects no longer count. While counting they can drop your search rankings. Be careful with them too many unresolved and eBay will ban you from selling.

Open cases have no affect on a seller. Only time they go to defects is when eBay forces the action.

[Raleigh504]

Sales were slower this weekend and had a few people reach out and either 1) complain about the shipping price when it is set by eBay for flat rate packages and 2) ask about bulk deals and then nothing after.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by shrevecity

If you are having to appeal cases then that means initially you are losing them. Lost cases count double against sellers as fat as defects. Once appealed and removed the defects no longer count. While counting they can drop your search rankings. Be careful with them too many unresolved and eBay will ban you from selling.

Open cases have no affect on a seller. Only time they go to defects is when eBay forces the action.

Each time I appealed I added the tracking number and the cases were immediately reversed. It was the same buyer who bought 2 cards from me minutes apart (2 separate transactions) and I sent them in the same envelope. The weird thing is that they opened the cases approximately a week apart. Funny thing is they reached out to me about the cards not showing up (right before opening the first cases) and I assured them multiple times they would be made whole.

They messaged me about 21 days after delivery date had passed and I told them that once 30 days from delivery date had passed i would immediately refund them myself, but maybe they thought I was trying to string them along because the very next day they opened the first case.

I'm assuming that since they opened a case, and the tracking I provided still shows as in transit and not delivered, eBay automatically refunded them even though I won both appeals.

Honestly I'm not very clear on when the right time to refund is, so if I handled all that wrong please let me know.

[beauspencer]

I did 389 sales Friday thru Sunday, which is slightly above average for my store.

[jamcas997]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

I also had a really slow weekend with 0 sales on 8/24 AND 8/27. Like you, I typically have multiple sales every day and they usually spike Thursday-Sunday.

I did have 2 ESE INR cases that were opened 8/14 & 8/22 that I refunded immediately and submitted PIPs. I checked my ESE INR cases that were opened in June & July and I didn't see a drop in sales around the time those cases were opened. Could be an end of summer/back to school weekend lull?

Last Week was slow 61 items sold and Tuesday will be my lowest payout since March 7th and 3 lowest on the year but above $200. I have reached 3150 listings now with another 20 going up today. I just keep pushing getting more and more listed. Been listing more football with the season starting up , but came into a ton of baseball this last week from a major show buy.

[gregr2]

Originally Posted by nam812

They messaged me about 21 days after delivery date had passed and I told them that once 30 days from delivery date had passed i would immediately refund them myself, but maybe they thought I was trying to string them along because the very next day they opened the first case.

I'm assuming that since they opened a case, and the tracking I provided still shows as in transit and not delivered, eBay automatically refunded them even though I won both appeals.

Honestly I'm not very clear on when the right time to refund is, so if I handled all that wrong please let me know.

In this case, I would have immediately refunded and then filed a PIP insurance claim.

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by nam812

Each time I appealed I added the tracking number and the cases were immediately reversed. It was the same buyer who bought 2 cards from me minutes apart (2 separate transactions) and I sent them in the same envelope. The weird thing is that they opened the cases approximately a week apart. Funny thing is they reached out to me about the cards not showing up (right before opening the first cases) and I assured them multiple times they would be made whole.

They messaged me about 21 days after delivery date had passed and I told them that once 30 days from delivery date had passed i would immediately refund them myself, but maybe they thought I was trying to string them along because the very next day they opened the first case.

I'm assuming that since they opened a case, and the tracking I provided still shows as in transit and not delivered, eBay automatically refunded them even though I won both appeals.

Honestly I'm not very clear on when the right time to refund is, so if I handled all that wrong please let me know.

If a buyer opens a case for ESE for INR, you're better off refunding immediately. Don't bother uploading tracking (because chances are you won't get a delivery scan within time prior to escalation to eBay) and escalation to eBay seems to often happen automatically anyway, even when the buyer agrees to give additional time for delivery. I've learned this from experience, so I don't even bother waiting for the case to play out any longer.

It seems like you're now even able to submit PIP claims right away for ESE INRs, and they just hold off processing the claim until 15 days post-expected delivery has bypassed, so you don't need to set a reminder for yourself to open a PIP claim any longer.

[nam812]

OK, so it looks like the proper strategy is as soon as the buyer opens the case (of which a screenshot is needed anyway for the PIP claim) refund and then go through the PIP procedure after refunding.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and helpful answers.

[shrevecity]

Originally Posted by nam812

OK, so it looks like the proper strategy is as soon as the buyer opens the case (of which a screenshot is needed anyway for the PIP claim) refund and then go through the PIP procedure after refunding.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and helpful answers.

Only reason to let one go to the end would be if the buyer is a complete arse and it shows delivered on ese items.

For non eye items it makes more sense to let eBay play out especially if tracking shows its in transit. However a low volume seller needs to be aware that doing so does have risks

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by nam812

Yesterday, for the 2nd time in the last 9 days, I had a day with no sales. For the last 10 weeks I have maintained a 1,000 to 1,100 card inventory and sold an average of 9 cards a day, so with that approx. 1% sell through rate I feel that my prices are in line with reality. I can chalk up once to an anomaly, but twice in 9 days has me scratching my head.

Someone earlier in the thread asked if I had any cases open, and i got busy and never answered, but yes I did back then and I appealed and won. Also this week I had someone open a case which I appealed and again won. It can't be a coincidence that both of these cases happened around the same time I get days with no sales.

My sales have cratered, especially on the weekends. I am baseball only though, so that's a big part of it.

[thenightman]

I've had quite a few days this month with zero sales. I don't sell a lot and my inventory averages around 1.5k to 2.5k. My prices aren't always set to sell as I don't mind waiting, but having a lot of days with zero sales isn't the norm, so this month has been weird. I'm still hitting my monthly average, though.

[shrevecity]

Originally Posted by thenightman

I've had quite a few days this month with zero sales. I don't sell a lot and my inventory averages around 1.5k to 2.5k. My prices aren't always set to sell as I don't mind waiting, but having a lot of days with zero sales isn't the norm, so this month has been weird. I'm still hitting my monthly average, though.

Kinda same here fewer transactions but higher averages. I am sure another of it is end of summer,economic uncertainty lots of fear of everything out there right now.

Also noticing an uptick in shipping issues and times. This will trickle into sales as well

[jamcas997]

Originally Posted by shrevecity

Kinda same here fewer transactions but higher averages. I am sure another of it is end of summer,economic uncertainty lots of fear of everything out there right now.

Also noticing an uptick in shipping issues and times. This will trickle into sales as well

So ave price per sale is up over last 30 days? Also shipping issues being ESE, GA or Priority issues?


My total items compared to July is -44 items sold , -16% net sales and the bright spot of +46% Avg. sales price per item.

I would have to look but I know I am over 2 years of being blanked for a sale with at least one sale a day over that stretch.

[shrevecity]

Originally Posted by jamcas997

So ave price per sale is up over last 30 days? Also shipping issues being ESE, GA or Priority issues?


My total items compared to July is -44 items sold , -16% net sales and the bright spot of +46% Avg. sales price per item.

I would have to look but I know I am over 2 years of being blanked for a sale with at least one sale a day over that stretch.

Shipping issues are GA and priority. But average sales prices are up.

[Swipe79]

Had a few slow days in the last week but also some really nice ones. Seems to go up and down - probably the time of year more than anything.

[shrevecity]

Originally Posted by Swipe79

Had a few slow days in the last week but also some really nice ones. Seems to go up and down - probably the time of year more than anything.

Another thing nobody has mentioned is the heat wave that has hit a large swatch of country its causing utility bills to skyrocket decreasing the amount of funds many have in addition to inflation that is still gripping us.

[beauspencer]

August ranked 12th of 12 months in 2022 for net sales on eBay in my store. No vacations or anything that would disrupt my sales funnel.

August 2023 already ranks 2nd in monthly sales this year. Main reason is the influx of new inventory sourced at the National (I did not attend the 2022 National).

[jamcas997]

Originally Posted by beauspencer

August ranked 12th of 12 months in 2022 for net sales on eBay in my store. No vacations or anything that would disrupt my sales funnel.

August 2023 already ranks 2nd in monthly sales this year. Main reason is the influx of new inventory sourced at the National (I did not attend the 2022 National).

So comparing your 90 days to mine .

You had just under 7500 items sold and 20% were over $2.50.
With mine I had under 660 sales and 28% were under $2.50.

There are so many different ways to measure success and yes keep listing as many items at various prices is one you can do. With yours this is a full time thing an most of us know that and some of us it is part time to full time.

I think the just keep listing and getting those inventory numbers up.

[BTBCards79]

As we head into the latter part of Q3 and into the holiday season, have the veterans here experienced a meaningful increase in sales during Q4? If so, is everything selling well during this time, or are sales just more pronounced in the in-season sports such as football, basketball and hockey? If you sell memorabilia or other collectibles, how are sales in these categories during the holiday shopping season? Part of my questions come from curiosity, but also, my time is limited and I want to maximize my listings now in preparation for the holiday shopping season. I have a lot of cards that I need to list, but also memorabilia, toys, video games, etc. and want to prioritize the best that I can.