Sales

[northbear]

Anyone else notice sales fallen off the cliff for May and June ? or is it just me ? 

[marnotom!]

Even though (or maybe because) you're not using Managed Payments yet, you might want to weigh in on this thread:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Managed-payments-and-low-sales-coincidence/m-p/461797

[jt-libra]

I am very concerned that I have not had one single sale in 3 weeks.  I have two selling accounts and this has never happened in 15 years of selling.  Both accounts were selling reasonably well, or as well as usual, up until the end of May when everything stopped.  With respect to my cosmetics sales, they had slowed over the last few months but that was understandable given that a lot of people were working from home or not going out much.  But because people were home, I was selling a lot of DVD's, more than usual.

I had enrolled in Managed Payments a couple of months ago .... I set up a new bank account for this purpose and my payments were being deposited properly and as I had expected.  It just seems odd that everything just stopped cold.

[ricarmic]

My own sales are mostly down significantly.

From what I've observed, or read here, in my own (stamp world) case my current belief is that there are two factors affecting me:

-my US late deliveries rate has risen from 1% to just under 2% in the last month as a result of US dings

-the US is ahead of us in terms of reopening, folks are getting out and hobbies like mine tend to diminish when outside stuff starts to happen

My US sales have until the last couple days been very low almost ZERO. 

However my Canadian and more oddly international sales have stayed pretty level or in the case of international increased!

This it what makes me think the rising late shipping dings are affecting me because the global shipping rate has been quite stable and ironically good given all the freaky places I've been shipping to.

I also have an "inside scoop" about how the other local online sellers are doing. I live in a wee village and there are about 7 of us online folks using the local PO. I don't of course get anything resembling detailed information but the overall volume of parcels going out of my PO is way down across all of us. No two of us sell the same stuff so it does look as though in general things are slower if one puts any merit in that general observation.

[northbear]

No , E bay forced me into managed payments . I am signed up.

[marnotom!]

You may be signed up for Managed Payments, but from what I see of your listings, you’re still working under the PayPal-based system.

[darak10]

On a forensic note I noticed the same cliff appearing around May 29 - 30 as well.  Consistent until then and since, well, not far off your experience.    

Chatted with Lotz at length about this, we think it may be related to tinkering going on re: item specifics that started being revised in our categories (listing titles were changed which caused the info already there to go poof, thereby requiring it to be re-entered, sometimes up to 3 times) and as another seller referenced on here the lockdown lift and apparent end of pandemic era, people are getting off the computer.   It may just be the end of the sales era initiated by millions of folks stuck at home who are no longer so.  Anyone's guess when it will pick up again, we are stuck having to ride it out.  

[jt-libra]

I guess we have no choice but to ride it out ... but I would be encouraged to see at least one sale.  That would confirm to me that at least my listings are still out there and visible.  I've had periods of sporadic sales but never day in and day out for three weeks with not even a 9.95 DVD sold.  Well ... fingers crossed!

[snoopwiz]

The one definite of the ebb and flow of retail is...... nothing is definite.  I average 2 sales a day and have for a year or so, since I went part time from full time. It has really never varied from 60ish sales a month. There may be one day, no sales.  At most, 2 in a row. That was the past year and a bit until ....

June 11th, nothing. June 12th nothing.  June 13th nothing. June 14th nothing. June 15th nothing. June 16th nothing. 4300 or so listing and no sales? For 6 days!   Then on June 17th,.  7 sales.  Ebb & Flow.  

[beavosorus]

The same thing, I have been very concerned.  I am barely making a sale a day, before it was 5-10 a day, this has been going on since the beginning of June.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

I see that you're selling Pokemon cards. 

Is it possible that the bubble caused by Logan (or was it Jake?) Paul ran it's course? 

How were your sales 1-2 years ago? Were you doing 10 sales a day before the pandemic and before the trading card/sports card bubble that just happened? What percentage of those sales were to the US? How were your sales in the last quarter of 2019?

I follow hockey cards closely, and they also saw a peak in interest which is now going back down. 

If I had to guess, your sales went down because people (particularly in the US) are going outside and able to spend their money on recreational activities or traveling. While I do not follow Pokemon like I do sports cards, it wouldn't surprise me if interest has peaked in Pokemon. I'm not saying it will go back down to where it was a year ago, but the peak for anything other than the highest end cards could be done with.

Not to mention, the Canadian dollar is climbing, which hurts Canadian sellers because it makes their items more expensive to US buyers, and makes US items cheaper to Canadian buyers.

It very much sounds like everybody is facing lower sales. Which means, it isn't one seller doing something wrong. In that kind of environment, all anyone can really do with their current inventory is lower prices, run sales, send out/accept offers.

[reallynicestamps]

While I do not follow Pokemon like I do sports cards, it wouldn't surprise me if interest has peaked in Pokemon.

Yeah.  Cabbage PatchDolls, Beanie Babies, sportscards, Pez dispensers, Funko Pops, and now Pokemon?

But also look at your past sales on a monthly basis over the past few years. It's reasonable to drop 2020 because there was a strong pandemic surge in online buying.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@reallynicestamps 

I'm not sure if it's an apples to apples or apples to grapes comparison? For sellers that sell mostly in one category I can understand ebbs and flows with sales. I and many other sellers that sell in multiple categories are seeing similar pattern drops in sales. My dollar value varies month to month but I consistently do 30 transactions per months. (There were some peak months early on during the pandemic). I've had 30 + per month for years. A slow month is 27.

Over the past 3 months my new normal is 10 transactions per month. The only changes I have made are the "upgrade" to MP and reducing to a basic store from intermediate.  Spending time fixing 150 plus listings because of "required specifics" didn't make a lick of difference in my traffic. Conspiracy no....But something is going on that sellers are unaware of. Amazon Prime? Sellers not having funds in PayPal to spend as they choose?

-Lotz

[itolduandso]

All of you who report lower sales have accounts with ebay.CA?

Are you listings primarily listed on ebay.CA or on ebay.COM?

[reallynicestamps]

I have two accounts with a mostly male clientele and two with a mostly female clientele.

Three list mostly on dotCOM except when I need to use parcel rates.

I've been using Time Away a lot lately due to fussing with Managed Payments so I can't really speak about sales, but I don't think I've really had a dropoff in spite of the TA closings.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@itolduandso 

My listings are 99% on dot ca. I have maybe 10 listings on com and have yet to have a sale. Did mostly as a test.

-Lotz

[jt-libra]

I list on both, although I cut back a little on .com listings during the pandemic due to shipping delays.

[beavosorus]

I have been doing this for years, I even looked at comparibles for years past, this time of the year, and my sells are definately down on Ebay.  I also sell on my own website and my sells have never been higher.

I have noticed a downturn in US sells, which did make up a considerable percent.  Maybe its the exchange?

I am trying to chalk it up to people not being stuck at home anymore, and enjoying the freedom outside the house.

[itolduandso]

Sure, the trend this year is unlike any other, so perhaps while January - Februrary sales were good (typically slower), I also think people just redirect interest and money and delay purchases. Rent and Interest going up so that doesn't help retail at all. For years I was able to predict slowdown in economy by dips in sales on ebay. I would say ebay sales are an early indicator well ahead the official figures.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-15/u-s-retail-sales-decline-after-two-solid-months-o...

[ericsells75]

I'm down 45% over tle last month and 65% from last year. Not good when my wife complained about inventory taking up room when it was selling, so in addition to lost income i am subjected to additional whining about excess inventory.