Ebay sales!!!!

[pnagames]

good morning all

we are a small seller on ebay.

for some reason the last few days (from wednesday) our sales have gonne from 4-5 per day to 0

we thought it was down to our paypal account being limited (awaiting to verify bank account again) but we were assured by paypal that is not the case and we also tested it and the sale went through fine (we got two sales as well)

anybody else experienced any drops?

we believe that it is down to people awaiting to get paid but we are still not 100% convinced

any help with this will be greatly appreciated

[chris ashdown]

End of month after Christmas, most people might have overspent

[acompton]

For me, last week was the first significant downturn in online sales since Christmas. I agree with Chris' analysis

Alan

[RuralWeb]

The internet is generally dead - Im seeing no significant sales at the moment in most shops.

[Dave Fisher]

Very little activity on the internet and our phones and faxes are very quiet.

It's almost like everybody is still off for xmas and new year.

Our suppliers are finding the time to call us to see what they can do to help us increase our sales. This means they are also quiet !

Still it gives us time to work on the things we never seem to find time to do but lets hope sales pick up next month because I am getting fed up eating bread and dripping every day

[chris ashdown]

Sounds better than Goat

[Dave Fisher]

Maybe we could do a swap chris? Then at least we would get a bit of variety in our diets

Be interested to hear how other people are finding things at the moment

[MASTERforge]

Yep my business is dead too.

I sell high value single purchase items typically around £1,000. I was still getting a lot of work a couple of weeks after xmas but now there is nothing. I am getting the odd email after increasing google adwords.

I was wondering whether it was a downturn after xmas or something had gone wrong in my google indexing or something. Its a bit more reassuring to hear that others are feeling the squeeze too. At least now I know its not my bad business sense.

I am undecided whether to let it ride out or increase my advertising significantly for this dead period. I may be peeing in the wind if I do that.

What are other businesses up to? Are they riding it out or increasing their marketing to try and stir up some sales?

[Darren B]

I have noticed a definate drop off in the last 7 to 10 days on a number of fronts, enquires are still reasonable but getting people to part with there cash is a battle.

I know it's quiet as i have had a couple of my competitors ring me asking silly questions, they think i do not know who it is (well i dont know exactly but can tell they are competitors), always number withheld tell you they know nothing then ask questions that only a pro or someone in the trade would know.

The best ones are the people who try and catch you out.

Cheers
Darren

[Mark H]

Maybe the latest rate rise has just been enough to put a damper on people's discretionary purchases?

[kathynewman]

Ebay sales have gone right down in last week - website not too bad but certainly quieter than I would like - but then it's always quieter than I would like

Agree with others - credit card bills post christmas and possibly interest rate rise haven't helped. Fingers crossed it will pick up for all of us in a few weeks time.

Kathy

[blindingconcern]

We have been trading for 12 years now and every January & Febuary make the lower cheaks tighten. If I knew why people reduced spending I might be on my way untold riches, so mean while grin and beardown !!!!

[Paul Bulpit]

Sorry to upset this thread but we downloaded 60 orders this morning, after the week-end, since Friday's close.

We are a trade wholesaler that started selling on the web at a higher margin.

Our website (launched March '05) has produced a 28% increase in total business turnover, ('06 figures over '05) wish we'd done it before!

Problem is, running content on one pc and order processing on another, the two main order processors just can't get to the terminal at the right time. I (the boss) see either one bod sitting waiting for the terminal (while the other is on the 'phone using the screen & chatting to a customer) or, an empty office with nothing being processed at all.

So, at peak times (Mondays), we are limited by how fast a person can type (and the connection with the credit card terminal, while they wait for authorisation) - and waiting for the printer to churn out the invoice - and waiting for the dopey City Link website to change screens (too many pages - good service, not quick enough).

I would be interested in new thread starters on the subject of (1) City Link web-based booking (2) how community members cope when they (& actinic) reaches the limit - what's the next step?

It seems to me that I am reaching a point where TIME puts a restraint on Actinic software - would multi-user cure that?

[Dave Fisher]

Sorry to upset this thread but we downloaded 60 orders this morning, after the week-end, since Friday's close.

We are a trade wholesaler that started selling on the web at a higher margin.

Our website (launched March '05) has produced a 28% increase in total business turnover, ('06 figures over '05) wish we'd done it before!

Thanks Paul, just going out to hang myself now!

[chris ashdown]

Paul

Sounds like you need Multi User, We changed a few months ago and never looked back

As for City-Link you can get the label printing software from them and also buy the Transparant Communications software that allows you just to type in the last few numbers of the order ref and then it gets all the adress data automatically and fills in the city-link clan software

Transparant also do a small program that looks at the actinic database and send out a email to everyone telling them to expect a delivery the next day for both Royal Mail and City-Link

http://www.transparentcommunications...%2facatalog%2f

Hope this helps