Who else is getting hammered on ebay?
 

I sell printed products on ebay.

Over the past year, business has been unbelievably great. The products I sell are needed, and not considered luxury items. My items sell between $6 and $25 each.

Through the summer, I was selling $100 to $150 a day on average.

Only one item I have is seasonal, with a peak in the summer and fall, with a significant drop-off in the winter.

I have been getting my clock cleaned since September when the headlines broke with economic woes.

I know that ebay's ignorant change to Paypal only has hurt my business. I do sell to alot of farmers, old timers, and the like. Lots of people simply refuse to use Paypal, and want to use money orders.

I bet I am only selling 1/3 of what I did just a few months ago.

I am looking forward, and hoping to forge ahead with some new offerings, albeit an expensive investment, especially when income is down.

Anyone else?

Thoughts? Ideas?

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

Clove

You can still take checks and money orders if your buyer asks you if you take them. The way I understand it you aren't allowed to put anything in your listing saying that you take checks or money orders but if they ask you you can say yes. They just have to initiate the dialog.

At least that's my understanding. I stopped selling on there back in July or so of this year and have no plans to start again. We are working on a website and also plan to build a new site for my bookstore the first of the year.

Debora

I'm still taking MOs...
I have noticed I have to send an invoice for it to show up as an option, though. It used t be automatically checked as that was one of my preference settings. But now I just click the radio box each time I invoice...

So far as the original question, yeah I took a big dive in September, too. But I've since come back. October was a phenomenal month.
My international sales are back up again, though, so maybe they're balancing out the domestic. The dollar must be down again...

I stopped selling on there and went to Iffer.com It lets you set up an auction store front for free, you only pay a fee when some sells.

I just opened an auction site; www.eggseller.com

Listing is free.

We stopped selling on eBay years ago when Meg took the helm and starting playing with the controls. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm glad to see there are people still making money through eBay. Seems they like to make it harder and harder on the little guys. Have you tried listing on Craigslist?

I don't sell a lot on eBay, occasionally extra horse equipment or books I no longer want to keep ... and I buy occasionally as well.

I am, however, going to start listing my artwork there, though more for exposure than actually expecting sales.

Actually their latest changes have been wonderful, for sellers like me, anyway.
I sell multiples of individual items (ie, yards of fabric). So I always had a store listing with my quantities, and I'd have a Fixed Price for a single in order to get search exposure (and then link to my store listing if they'd like more). $.35 plus $.25 for pic for each and every different fabric I carry! Every week! Plus store listings and FVFs, of course.

NOW I can list everything in a Fixed Price for $.35 per month. Not only have my fees dropped by a couple hundred bucks per month, but my sales have gone up in that people just buy six yards out of the FP listing where they would have bought a single yard before, and might or might not have linked to my store to buy more.
Also, I always get at least 15% off my fees because I'm a PowerSeller with high DSRs. Last month I was in the 20% category. :)

In cases like mine, Craig's list is pointless. My nearest Craig's list city is 200 miles away and I'd be severely limiting my exposure.
I have customers all over the world. At the moment, only eBay can do that for me.


I've been selling on eBay since '99 and I have to say it was definitely easier to sell stuff back then. But as much as I grumble every time they have a big change, I have yet to regret sticking out.

Thank you for the replies!!!!

I am happy to hear that some are still selling well with ebay. I wish I were one of them.

I do think the stopping of money orders as an accepted payment is having a great effect on the items I sell.

I was on a tractor forum about a month ago, and this topic came up in a thread. Out of about 16 posts, 12 of them were against the M.O. change, and many said they would be done forever with ebay. Only 4 people were in favor of Paypal only, or said that it would not effect their buying habits.

Well, losing MO's as a payment option has cut out the good old boys, alot of old timers, farmers, and those with poor credit, to say the least, IMO. Even my 60 y.o. father, usually progressive, will not use CC payments of any type on the internet.

I was getting, on average, 5 to 10 money orders a week. I cannot help but believe that this change has cost at least $100 a week in lost revenue, considering that many of my buyers fall into the above mentioned categories.

I am going to stick with ebay, at least until something else becomes a viable option. I just wish business would resume back to the days of a few months ago.

Clove

Next time you get a chance to send an invoice, that is, before someone PayPals right off-- Check the MO box.
It's still an option. :shrug:

Can you post in your auctions that you do not accept paypal, thus causing folks to contact you regarding what kind of payment you accept?

I quit selling on ebay in the beginning of the year. The fees increased to much for the work involved selling vintage linens, antiques, and the like. You however have new items. If I were you I would print up a brochure and start mailing it to all of my former customers, starting with the ones who paid by money order. Then open up a website (a real one), and again mail brochures and announce your new website.

What I wouldn't give for some new items that fit in with my former clients tastes and collecting habits. I researched each new customer and what they bid on besides my stuff, so I have a data base of their preferences, sometimes down to the colors they preferred.

I agree though, my first thought was eBay will come to regret not allowing money orders. Especially with the economy like it is now.

When I type in iffer.com, I get a page with a link to ebay. Is this site still active?

Thanks!

Rean, I believe this is the site designer meant.

http://www.ioffer.com

I still can't figure what is ailing my business.

I had an uptick in business, yesterday. I sold $70, but nothing today.

I cannot help believe that the headlines in the newspapers aren't scaring my particular buyers away.

Well, the way I understand it, ebay policy states that you cannot state in your ad that money orders are still accepted, unless you fall into specific categories like cars, equipment, tractors, etc.

That's too bad. I see why so many people are jumping ship. I pray that you find a solution, Clovis, that will help your sales go up.

I am not doing too well on E-bay right now either..Not sure why. I sell mostly used college textbooks and usually do pretty well. Right now ..nothing. grrrrr
The fees are getting to be pretty steep. By the time you pay the listing fee then the final value fee. And then Paypal gets their share it kinda hurts. If you are selling something pretty low cost, you can't make a profit :(

Yes, I agree that the ebay fees are steep, but am thankful for the outlet to sell my products.

I am still hoping another auction site becomes a viable alternative to ebay. (I still don't think this will happen until someone starts advertising like ebay does.)

Clove

I don't list near as much as I used to because the increased listing / selling fees cut into my profit so much. I'm not a professional seller - just list stuff I can't use or garden related items. I no longer post clothes because the profits just aren't high enough to fool with. I've been doing it long enough I usually know what is likely to sell and what's not (although sometimes I'm surprised). It's not as profitable for me as it used to be but I too am thankful for the outlet.

I agree with the high fees, seems like they are 10 or so percent. Which is quite a bite. I have also lowered my prices through the end of the year to see if I can stir up some interest...time will tell. Certainly have more watchers than before. I have a couple of new products I am interested in making but so far have not had much time. Am heading down to the shop after breakfast today to see how well my inventive brain is working ! sis

The economy has been hard on our home decor product line on eBay. On the other hand, our specialty and regional food items have continued to sell well. Since gas prices have dropped in the past 3-4 weeks, we've seen sales for both product groups improve.

We sell from our own websites and use eBay as a marketing tool to attract additional new customers.

Our usual holiday rush for the food items has started. It looks like the season will be as good as past years. We're encouraged by that.

We've gone in the direction of fixed price listings - especially on the home decor line with sales being down.They're only 35 cents and keep items in front of people. You do pay a higher final value fee for items that sell. But when you have a smaller percentage of items selling, you save a good bit over auction insertion fees.

Thanks for the info about the fixed price listings. I have used it but never really understood it till today! sis

It's coming up on the holiday season and there aren't too may buyers at this time of year. Your sales should pick up after the first of the year when assigned reading is issued.

Have you tried listing your books on Half.com? You list for free and get charged only if the book sells. I don't know what the percentage is these days. Before I moved from Florida I was listing college textbooks on Half.com and did ok, except during the holidays.

Typically for me, November and December are my two slowest months of the year.

Last year was not typical and there was no drop in work to do.

This year it looks like it will be typical.

Is it the normal time of year? Or, is it the economy.

This is something you will have to judge looking at your own records I guess.

I have noticed a slowing in purchasing big ticket items like servers.

Maintaining machines has dropped off because I think people are stringing their existing machines along themselves, which in most cases is a big mistake in a network environment, cutting back anyway they can.

Some expenses to me, fuel especially, has finally gone back to a level where I won't have to increase my prices since I have on-site PC and Network support. I was getting close to start charging more per call location just to get me and my guys there.

Lee

:doh:Typo! Sorry that was supposed to be Ioffer.com

Which do you find you get the best prices for books? half.com or amazon?

I keep meaning to check out Amazon and Half.com. I just haven't yet.grr I buy my books at the local thrift store. Murray has MSU, so someone brings books to the store and I can buy them for .50 to 1.00. So sometimes I do well..other times I buy and list and list , still nothing. Hopefully when the new semester gets going and stuff I will hit an upswing :) Hope you guys do too.

Designer, I haven't sold on Amazon but I know people can go to AddAll.com and compare prices. I don't think Amazon lists with AddAll but many other booksellers do. People compare prices at other places besides Half.com and Amazon.

When I was able to list books I gave a very accurate description, shipped with delivery confirmation on all books, and insured books sold for $25 or more. I made sure I put that information in the description. I asked for more money than other sellers and many times my book sold first.

I tacked on enough to cover the delivery confirmation and insurance. People bought from me for the insurance and being able to track the books.

To answer your question, I don't think it's a matter of where the books sell best. I believe it's your descriptions and service that sell the books best.

Clovis--

If you sell farm stuff try farmersbuysell.com or go through RFDTV to the sucessful farming web site they have free adds.

Thank you for this info!!!!!!!!! I will check it out tonight!!!!!

We use Auctiva site to set up our ebay listings because it is cheaper and we can use lots of pictures in the listing for free. It also still shows money order, checks etc. The only problem is, nothing is selling. We sell mostly vintage car parts. 1914 and newer. We are stuck with ebay thou. Ioffer has had 35 of our auctions on for 6 months and not one sale. or inquiry. For ebay motor stuff, there is just nothing out there to compare. Most of our stuff we dont know what it is worth or even what is is, so we depend on the ebay buyers to let us know and bid accordingly. Has worked out great until all their changes.