Many of you will have discovered Thread and Trimmings having purchased from us over on eBay. Indeed, most of our sales derive from ebay and we are grateful for those sales and the new customers we receive from our presence on that market place. Thank you.
However, recently, eBay cancelled all our listings following a mix up over VAT registration. Our account at the HMRC was registered in my own name but the account at ebay was registered in my trading name, Thread and Trimmings.
Due to the mismatch in data fields, hundreds, if not thousands of long term eBay sellers had all of the their listings cancelled. The listings had to be relisted and all the sales history, watchers, buyers and links were lost. Consequently, sales crashed and many haven't recovered their previous sales achievements.
Thread and Trimmings were included in this and sales have fallen by over 200%. Of course, one has to look on the bright side and see the good in everything and this recent event is no different. So, what's good about it? Well, I've certainly got more time on my hands and a new objective to develop my business away from one main source of sales. It therefore makes sense to match this freed up time with the goal of developing new market places and more importantly, grow my sales on my own store to be the dominant source of income for Thread and Trimmings to survive and thrive.
Of course, this new challenge begins now, right at the start of a new recession and historically, it has been a time where people tend to repair and re-use. It also represents a time where people become hard pressed for cash and look around to make some extra income until the good times come again. Some of these people will start new business and some will succeed and emerge from the recession as number one in their fields perhaps employing hundreds of people.
I am also going to look for ways to make extra income, to grow my sales through other market places, especially social media which I expect will include paid for marketing ads. If i am going to pay for sales, I'm going to invest in my own business and not that of the big corporates. My Advice? - Never Put All Your Eggs Into one Basket. So, wish me luck and follow me as I navigate the rocky road ahead.....