Ebay sales slow for this time of year

[tectonicplates]

I list everything as Buy It Now. I know nothing really sells in August but I had expected things to pick up a bit by now. I usually manage to sell about two or three items per month at this time of year, but nothing so far. Is it the weather?

Has anyone else found this?

I’m a private seller with about 20 listings up. I’d say things were slow.

Well at least it's not just me.

As someone who usually turns to eBay to buy stuff I really don't as much as I used to. It seems more like an alternative Amazon with less genuine second hand things, trawling through is not so much fun, at least for the things I've looked for over the last year or so anyway. Also postage being more expensive means it's often quicker cheaper and easier to use gumtree. It may just be me, but if this is a general trend then perhaps less people trawl eBay now...?

Yeah probably. I have tried Facebook selling groups a few times but only managed to sell one item ever - nobody ever really seems interested in my stuff. Several of my Ebay listings have several watchers each but they don't really translate into sales - I think people watch stuff just because it looks cool but they don't really want it.

I'm guilty of this myself, btw. I'm currently watching an item that I was originally thinking of buying, but changed my mind about, but still watching on the offchance that I change my mind, even though I probably won't.

I buy less from Ebay than I used to. It was great when it started but I've had a number of items in the past year or two that were not as described, arrived late or not at all and I'm finding it's a less reliable way of buying things than on Amazon. I can pay £7.99 per month or whatever it is for quicker 'free' deliveries, competitive prices and get a TV streaming service for that too.

Oh, and Amazon's returns policy is much better, being free, and less hassle too.

Do people sell second hand clothes on Amazon though?

I'm not sure but then it's not something I look to buy. One of the problems I've had with Ebay is people listing things as new and when they've arrived they've clearly been well worn or used.

Oh this really pisses me off. As a seller I'm always very upfront and honest that the clothes are worn (unless they're actually not). In fact I sometimes make things sound in a bit worse condition than they are, just because I've heard so many stories of buyers returning things just because they have a tiny speck of dust on. Maybe this makes my clothes look less appealing, but I do it to protect myself.

I also wonder if some sellers really are thick enough to think buyers won't notice if the items are worn. I worked for a mail order company quite a while back and was amazed at some of the returns we got - people saying they hadn't worn or washed the items when they clearly had. I still wonder if they were just chancing it, or if they genuinely thought we wouldn't notice.

In fact I did once return an item to an Ebay seller (a business seller, so they did actually accept returns anyway) because it smelled awful - they had clearly tried to cover up a BO/worn smell with perfume or something. They actually told me they had no idea what I was on about as they couldn't smell anything. I got my DH to verify the smell so it definitely wasn't just me.

I've got a couple more watchers today. Whether that translates into any actual sales is anyone's guess.