Ebay sales dried up - something wrong, or bad luck (also - Turbolister problem!)

soolin

campdave wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, and I've removed my ebay username from the original post, sorry if I was breaking any rules.

I've thought about free postage, and have decided against it at the moment, as I thought that would discourage people from purchasing multiple badges as they wouldn't be able to get any form of discount when buying multiple items.

RE: Business - I've only just started selling, and I was seeing how it went before I decided to start up as a business store. Similar sellers who have businesses on ebay have hundreds of items for sale, and sell many, many items. I'm happy to stay small scale, I don't want to be selling hundreds per week as I couldn't keep up with that.

Unfortunately it is not up to you to choose whether you are a business or not. You *are* a busienss and if you haven't already upgraded your account you need to do it immediately. However, business sellers can get discounts on FVFs and my sales are consistently better on my business account than on my private account.

Business V private sellers have nothing to do with volume. My business account probably turns over less sales than yours but i have chosen not to have a shop .

Unfortunately by not being correctly registered you may well put some buyers off, If I had a straight choice I would normally prefer to buy from a correctly registered business seller than from someone running a business and pretendng to be a private seller..

campdave

Soolin - thanks for the info. I was confusing having a business account with having a shop. I've converted my account now.

In terms of tax etc, I'm aware of my responsibility, and have been keeping detailed records of my incomings and outgoings so I will be able to pay tax at the appropriate time (and the moment, I'm still in the red from buying parts and the machine).

soolin

campdave wrote: »

Soolin - thanks for the info. I was confusing having a business account with having a shop. I've converted my account now.

In terms of tax etc, I'm aware of my responsibility, and have been keeping detailed records of my incomings and outgoings so I will be able to pay tax at the appropriate time (and the moment, I'm still in the red from buying parts and the machine).

I would be itnerested foro feedback as to whether changing your status makes a difference on sales. It will be a useful pointer for other people.

Don't forget you need to show your geographic address now on your auctions and also have a proper refund policy.

Also keep an eye on your seller expanded dashboard. Once you start getting enough sales month on month they will invite you to be a power seller and then you are one step away from TRS and discounts. My current discount is set at 20% off my FVFs

campdave

Thanks, I think I've updated all my auctions now to reflected what I need to show, I'd be grateful if you could let me know if you think I've missed anything.

I'll hope to report back good news about an upturn in sales soon!

blue_monkey_2

catch_me_if_you_can wrote: »

lol - I certainly don't expect my man to buy me undies! :rotfl:

But yes, it's true - people are buying for Christmas pressies now.

You know, neither do I, but a lot of ladies do and they wait until after Xmas to buy if they do not get what they want. If you had a favourite perfume would you buy it for yourself in November or hang on in there to see if your man gets it for you.

You know, it's a test, 'how well do they know me' kind of thing. Since my husband got me a roll up USB keyboard for my birthday (yes, really) I now tell him exactly what I want so I am not disappointed. :rotfl:

Same goes for Valentines Day and Mothers day - for a month before those dates a lot of women do not buy their own underwear because they think they might get it as a gift. And then they buy it for themselves after!!

Crowqueen

Hope you do well, OP.

The one thing people forget that even if you are properly declaring your income to HMRC, that's just half of your other obligations to the powers-that-be - registration with eBay is actually a legal requirement, which came in a couple of years ago in one of the pieces of consumer legislation. You need to make sure your returns policy is watertight as well - compliance with the Distance Selling Regulations is also important.

DSRs:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft698.pdf

CPFUT Act 2008
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft1008.pdf

As for sales...I can't explain a sudden drop-off but the economy is rather the worse for wear at the moment. People are buying stuff for hobbies and other useful items/gadgets, but not purely fun items or pure collectables. I'm even struggling to sell a couple of film/comedy DVDs at the moment - just relisted for the Christmas rush but only 4 views in as many days.

Since my husband got me a roll up USB keyboard for my birthday (yes, really)

Those are fun...I'm a bit of a gadget person and I had one for a while until I needed a number pad to play Civilization with. But if my husband (if I had one) got me one of those for Christmas I'd be a little bit miffed to say the list (I think crockery would definitely be broken...over his head). Much like the episode of My Family when Ben bought Susan tires for her birthday but was offered a Cartier watch by one of his mafioso clients at the eleventh hour...

catch_me_if_you_can

blue_monkey wrote: »

You know, neither do I, but a lot of ladies do and they wait until after Xmas to buy if they do not get what they want. If you had a favourite perfume would you buy it for yourself in November or hang on in there to see if your man gets it for you.

You know, it's a test, 'how well do they know me' kind of thing. Since my husband got me a roll up USB keyboard for my birthday (yes, really) I now tell him exactly what I want so I am not disappointed. :rotfl:

I would still get it for myself LOL as I have a humungous stash of toiletries - my OH knows I've either got it already or I could always get a better deal than he has patience for rofl... am pmsl @ the roll up keyboard. My Ex bought me a book 100 uses for a dead cat - to cheer me up the day my cat died. :eek:

Crowqueen

catch_me_if_you_can wrote: »

I would still get it for myself LOL as I have a humungous stash of toiletries - my OH knows I've either got it already or I could always get a better deal than he has patience for rofl... am pmsl @ the roll up keyboard. My Ex bought me a book 100 uses for a dead cat - to cheer me up the day my cat died. :eek:

Sounds like a reason why he's your ex...

catch_me_if_you_can

Crowqueen wrote: »

Sounds like a reason why he's your ex...

one of the reasons, yes...