How are sales of late?
I'm nearing 500 listings in my store and am buying and adding more every couple days, with the majority being Canada, and many mint (Queens excepted). However, I haven't had a single sale in over 3 weeks. How are others faring? I'm not bitching, or thinking about quitting ( I just bought some very nice stamps this morning), just wanted to see how others are doing. Thanks.
John O'Neil
John O'Neil
Comments
My wife tells me to take a deep breath and focus on the overall trend. That sounds like sound advice. 9k+ listings currently... adding more to replace those sold while keeping it just under 10k... .. Keeping if fresh. Always seems to be a good way to go although I really don't understand the algorithm.
In terms of real investment here, 21k+ positive feedbacks(some machine generated). Lots of work and fees paid. Let's hope that HIP is viable, because if it is not, I need to worry about sunk investment and fantastical ideas of moving the whole effort elsewhere. Great rhetoric. Scary reality.
Bob
Thanks for your thoughts. I'm with you on the same worry side. I can't imagine how you keep a 9k+ site going. I think it's very time consuming at approx 500. Do you specialize in anything?
John
I went to a show last weekend, it was slow.
I do specialize. That is how I decided to go when I started up my enterprise. Obviously others have their own way. My hope, at the end of the month, is to have around the same number of listings of where I started. Keep it fresh so to speak and understand that certain material turns over fast and other stuff takes time. It would be great if people would tell you exactly what they want but sometimes you just have to throw darts at the dartboard and hope you are right.
Previously, I have spent time on Ebay and even developed my on website. I abandoned both of those for what I perceive, at least, good reasons. In terms of Ebay, it was just the constant shifting sands in terms of "enhancements" which were nothing more than increasingly ridiculous rules of engagement. In terms of my own site it was less expensive in some ways, but rather impossible to attract traffic and a real problem of making sure that the software worked. Lots of hassle... lots of tumbleweeds.
I view HIP as a modern version of a stamp show. The fees are the price that I pay for my table. And as a booth occupier, I have to pay the "vig"(sorry I am a fan of Mafia movies). What I really care about is the ability to do business in what I perceive to be the a reasonable way with acceptable fees.
It really is that simple IMHO.
Bob
Glad your not thinking about quitting. While sales for some might be down, my sales dollars for June this year vs last year were up $10 while the number of orders processed was down 22 to 136. I have not had an opportunity to list any new material for the several months, so I believe the number of sales would have been up or at least closer to last year had I done so. I'm seeing more new buyers and am selling stamps listed years ago at my original asking price, so I believe the HipStamps marketing program must be working. While I'm not happy with the increased store fees, I don't think that will bring about the demise of HipStamp and I'm here to stay. Keep adding new material and your sales will improve. Good luck.
Sales wise Last month I did not bad considering my small scale atm this month nothing but I plan to fix that before end of the month with some Juicy New Listings with the best of the best information to boot please if I ever list something that is incorrect can you message me so I can make the appropriate changes thanks but I will be doing the best to my knowledge Keep on Stamping yall funnest Hobby I Found Kinda worse then addiction to me I blame my Gram but in a good way who I inherited her year born Stamp set 1953 total of 12 with the information about the stamps next to each got them framed above my bed as a dream catcher works like gold and to me those stamps are priceless!
Since then I been a true Stamp Addict going from 12 Stamps to well over 1,000,000+ literally got a little of this a lot of that kinda deal going can't wait to list more stuff for yall to gander at! God Bless and Remember Have Fun while you Stamp!
Oh, and did I also mention that Andrea has placed thousands of stamps on sale! one of the greatest sale discounts to date on HipStamp!
We are not very pleased, and Andrea has come up with a DRASTIC plan of action, once our Annual Dues Expire!
We are NOT looking forward to that day! Neither should YOU!
I have been saying this since they made the changes and it has not been fixed.
I am sure it is probably slower for people that have slower connections and I am also sure that it is turning people off.
Have you tried cleaning out your browser cache? (Sometimes I have found that that can be problem if you haven't cleaned it out in while.)
I clean it out every night before I shut down and yes I am sure the cache gets loaded by the end of the day.
This should not be happening and it does not happen with any other site just HipStamp and like I said if other people are having this problem I am sure they will not stick around since they probably do not know how to clean their caches.
The site should be neat and clean and the garbage up on the right of the header is the culprit.
When I come on the site in the morning a page will usually load in 5 to 10 seconds and then it slows down as the day drags on.
This is a programing problem and not a very good one.
As for myself, I'm still buying and I ran a tally earlier today. Since the first of July, I have spent $450 at this site. I really need to cut back, however.
Unfortunately many buyers will not know how to do the blocking.
A sad state of affairs.