The reason I ask this is because my sales have dropped off to almost nothing for the last week.  I don't understand it.  I am a Top Rated Plus Seller, and have around 40+ active listings at all times.  I used to do around $50-$70 a day on an average day, and over $100 on good days.

 

Lately I have had two days where I didn't sell a single thing.  This hasn't happened to me in several months!  Has anyone else been experiencing similar trends?  I am not necessarily worried yet, but this is very odd.  I can't figure out what is causing this.

 

Any thoughts???

Unfortunately, I think that the market is becoming oversaturated with sellers and it is becoming harder to move product.  Drop your prices on one or two items, which should be selling, below what most of the competition is charging and see if your sales pick up.  If they do, it likely means that your sales are suffering because of normal competition.

The reason I ask this is because my sales have dropped off to almost nothing for the last week.  I don't understand it.  I am a Top Rated Plus Seller, and have around 40+ active listings at all times.  I used to do around $50-$70 a day on an average day, and over $100 on good days.

 

Lately I have had two days where I didn't sell a single thing.  This hasn't happened to me in several months!  Has anyone else been experiencing similar trends?  I am not necessarily worried yet, but this is very odd.  I can't figure out what is causing this.

 

Any thoughts???

 

I haven't noticed anything unusual - Have you looked at your traffic count?

 

There was an absolute traffic increase after the movie came out (which has quieted down a bit).

I was also thinking it likely has something to do with the ever-growing saturation of Lego sellers.  But I have always kept my prices very competitive, and have always done well.  It's almost like my sales hit a brick wall.

 

The only thing I have done differently is that I now use "Good 'Til Cancelled" on all my listings in order to save on relisting fees.  I used to do 3-5 days if I thought I had a hot product that would move quickly.  But as I understand it, the default search results are now sorted by Best Match.  With my Top Rated status and low prices, I thought I would still be fine.  So other than that, I have done absolutely nothing different...

I had a pretty good week last week, and that was with fewer items for sale than I usually have.  Likely just an anomoly for one week.  Keep your eye on it though, and like Pacific said maybe lower a price or two here or there.

 

Also...many buyers sort with "ending soonest" or "newly listed" so you might be in that dead zone of like 18-25 days listed, where you aren't really on those peoples radars.

It's also got a lot to do with the time of year. Every single year, my sales drop down in Jan, Feb, Mar and start to pick up again in summer. There are still a lot of people recovering from the holidays.

Oversaturation of the market is also playing a huge role!!

I was also thinking it likely has something to do with the ever-growing saturation of Lego sellers.  But I have always kept my prices very competitive, and have always done well.  It's almost like my sales hit a brick wall.

 

The only thing I have done differently is that I now use "Good 'Til Cancelled" on all my listings in order to save on relisting fees.  I used to do 3-5 days if I thought I had a hot product that would move quickly.  But as I understand it, the default search results are now sorted by Best Match.  With my Top Rated status and low prices, I thought I would still be fine.  So other than that, I have done absolutely nothing different...

i sell legos comics, rare OOP CDs and have noticed that stuff with "Good 'Til Cancelled" never gets any looks or follows so I never list anything under that.  I would change that and see what happens.

I have noticed a decrease in sales. substantial enough that I notice. I did some investigation and its simply more sellers with same item offering it for prices that are too low for me to go to.

Also...many buyers sort with "ending soonest" or "newly listed" so you might be in that dead zone of like 18-25 days listed, where you aren't really on those peoples radars.

I thought a lot about this.  I was thinking "ending soonest" might not really matter unless it is a bidding situation, and all my listings are buy it now.  But I just can't imagine what else would be doing it.  My traffic does seem to be a little low too...  I wonder if people just aren't seeing my listings because of the time remaining.

Yes, yes I have.

You got to win the best match results if you want to sell lego against all the competitors.

To elaborate on my previous comment I sold many gun ships around 110. I'd sell them fast.

Now, their are many sellers thst have them. Listed around 100.00. Sucks but it is what it is.

My sales have been steady and I've sold several items in the past month that I've had listed since last Summer.  I even sold my Sith Infiltrators and Pod Racer sets that I've had listed for the same price since September.  My Star Wars collectibles are selling too.

How you sort depends on what you are looking for. If looking for something specific 'lowest price + shipping' is your friend. If you are just looking for 'a good deal', people probably chose a broad search topic (like 'lego') and either look for auctions that end soon or BIN items that are just listed. In the last two cases you would be out - but your buyer pool is probably the former - looking for something specific. I would simply try and list everything as before for a week and see how that goes. Or even better, do this for half of your (identical) items and see which sell and which don't. For the same price.

My sales have been soft as well, but I also have a fair amount of low volume items up that I'm just trying to unload - dumping my losers basically. My higher demand items (like wolverine chopper) are still moving quickly.

Seeing it too, page views are also low to....what is weird is that my Jan and Feb sales were pretty good...then march just dropped...

I am going to go back to my 3-5 day listings and see if that speeds things up.  I always jokingly say to people, "If it ain't broke, don't break it."  I feel like by going to the Good 'Til Cancelled format, I messed with my winning formula and broke it.

 

Thanks everyone!  I would still like to hear how everyone's sales are doing though.  I am always looking for trends to analyze. 

Yes.  Got watchers on just about everything, but no one biting.  I'm fine with that though.  Bricklink is keeping me busy enough.

I am going to go back to my 3-5 day listings and see if that speeds things up.  I always jokingly say to people, "If it ain't broke, don't break it."  I feel like by going to the Good 'Til Cancelled format, I messed with my winning formula and broke it.

 

Thanks everyone!  I would still like to hear how everyone's sales are doing though.  I am always looking for trends to analyze. 

New listings will get more eyes - You didn't mention if you had looked at your traffic report. If it is due to buyers not seeing your listings (due to your change  from 3-5 to GTC), looking at that report would tell you.

Watchers csn be so misleading. Some people watch items just to gauge what to price theirs or just to see when a retailer will stop selling item. Funhouse and some halo megabloks sets have been on my such list forever. I plan on buying none. I recently sold an item in an auction thst had 27 watchers. I was so stoked and thought their woukd be a crazy bidding war. Their were zero bids within last two days of auction.

Watchers csn be so misleading. Some people watch items just to gauge what to price theirs or just to see when a retailer will stop selling item. Funhouse and some halo megabloks sets have been on my such list forever. I plan on buying none. I recently sold an item in an auction thst had 27 watchers. I was so stoked and thought their woukd be a crazy bidding war. Their were zero bids within last two days of auction.

Nothing worse than having an auction with a massive amount of watchers and then the item ends up selling well below market price.

New listings will get more eyes - You didn't mention if you had looked at your traffic report. If it is due to buyers not seeing your listings (due to your change  from 3-5 to GTC), looking at that report would tell you.

Sorry, I did look at the reports.  I may not have analyzed it correctly and entirely, but it did show a definite decrease in traffic and viewings.

 

I know this will make me sound very ignorant, but I have never used those reports before this.  I was always happy with my output, so I didn't have the need.  I will spend more time with them in order to get the most out of them.  But as I mentioned, even a quick initial glance at them was pretty revealing.

There's maybe a little bit of selection bias too. I went like a week without selling anything, then sold 7 things in like 24 hours. Really random. 

Sorry, I did look at the reports.  I may not have analyzed it correctly and entirely, but it did show a definite decrease in traffic and viewings.

 

I know this will make me sound very ignorant, but I have never used those reports before this.  I was always happy with my output, so I didn't have the need.  I will spend more time with them in order to get the most out of them.  But as I mentioned, even a quick initial glance at them was pretty revealing.

Yes, it is a fun report to analyze. Comparisons to previous month, year, drilling into details for any given day. You will be able to see the cause/effect of your actions.

Im pretty sure its the time of the year.... Everyone will start spending again soon come summer time!

My sales are actually up, both year over year, and month to month.