Sales are down 90 percent!

[barbsplace66]

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing low sales in the last few days, I usually sell items daily but it appears to have come to a complete stop, 

[gifts_of_elegance]

I have been experiencing it for a year now and its gotten worse.  I am rated a Top Seller yet my sales are under $1,700 for the last 30 days out of an inventory of over a 1000 high end items.  I went from Platinum to Gold, down to Silver Power seller and now even that is in danger.  I have gone for 8 days this past month without a single sale.  I called eBay several times and each time the agent speculates on what could be wrong.  Last one said I should have 12 pictures per listing for the search engines to pick my listings.

[pierrelebel]

" Last one said I should have 12 pictures per listing for the search engines to pick my listings."

Clearly demonstrates that eBay's "customer service" stinks. 😞

[ggsale27]

Ever since eBay has been handing out the free listing promos every month, ( to everyone and their dog or cat ) sales have been poor. They have changed the search, and many people do not show up as they should either. Listening to an eBay CSR on why sales are down, is akin to going to a bar and consulting the town drunk for advice.

[barbsplace66]

I agree! each time i have called customer support you get a different answer every time, I have been on the U.S.  discussion boards too and some are experiencing the same problem with very low sales this past week, the other day  I was  searching for a Florida post card using key words only -  city, country and name of building my search results  showed blue tail gate lights  and glass wear, something is wrong here!

[bb_cool_stuff]

Don't worry, a little too early to fret, I was feeling the same last month.

I think it was the only time I had ever posted that I was concerned in regards to my sales.

Started off slow but ended up doing pretty well by month end.

Too many factors are playing into our equations & business models. You will drive yourself bonkers trying to figure out which one since there is probably a hybrid of factors.

Search Completed Listings of your competitors & try, if you can, price accordingly.

The only thing we can control is our own business models. While we were, at one time, able to make changes quarterly, I now find myself doing it monthly.

The Law of the Jungle, Only the Strong Survive clichés now ring true, especially since the New Year.

[rose-dee]

The Law of the Jungle, Only the Strong Survive clichés now ring true, especially since the New Year.

You are probably right, but if true, what this says to me is that ultimately eBay itself may be responsible for lagging sales. 

Wouldn't it be a sad paradox if all the flipping changes they've made in the past few months, many of which are really pretty radical, and some of which are half-baked or poorly considered, have actually had the effect of driving buyers away? 

Personally I think it's been far too much revision, far too fast.  We sellers more or less have to deal with it, we have little choice.  But perhaps people who come to eBay to buy are getting fed up with finding a different site every week, with all the inevitable, annoying glitches, too.  

[gifts_of_elegance]

Yes, "The fittest will survive".  I have always been a firm believer of that and for years I have tried to adapt to every whim of eBay's.  My sales have been steadily declining for years and last April it crashed to the ground.  Even Christmas sales were at all time low and the past few months have been even worse.  

I notice when I search for something, a whole list of non-related items comes up.  For instance I was looking for a bracelet display and got pages of wrist watches.

Sales of .005% of inventory value per month is very poor.  It is not half a percent, it is 5/100th or 1/20th of a percent.

[tobyshitzu]

'I have been on the U.S.  discussion boards too and some are experiencing the same problem with very low sales this past week, the other day"

You could find the same type of comments on the us boards every single week going back years and years.  When q2 is released ebay will no doubt report sales growth slgihtly ahead of eccommerce overall/behind AMZN as they have been doing quarter after quarter.

[bb_cool_stuff]

Like Pierre has mentioned previously, Listing have doubled in the past two years.

A lot of New Competitors & a lot of New items to choose from, however its up to us to make the necessary changes to remain competitive.

One thing that is constant among the regulars is " We Always Seem To Find A Way,, If We Can't Find One, We Will Make One."

Like Clint says " You can't take us out with punch, we just get back up & when we do, you will hear the roar of our engines."

Not one of the regulars will let anyone fail. How often do you find a community like this, not often.

One may not like the advice that is given, but trust me, the advice is usually dead on.

[Anonymous]

As for should have 12 pictures for an item.  I got email saying that I should have 12 pictures for the specific item which is a 8x10 color photo!!  How can I should have 12 pictures with that item?  I can understand for shoes, boots or something but a photo that has very clear picture and I cannot "create" more pictures from that photo!!  The back of photo is blank.  So I decided to put 12 same pictures of this item and eBay is satisfied!!  It shows how the customer service really stink!

[aztecmcuprototyping]

Down 90% is just about right at this point.  Since March I am heading for my worst month since opening over a year ago.  It has nothing to do with searching, or number of pictures, or competition, or time of year.  There is something else wrong.  I have unique products that, up until April, were selling fine.  If you search on PICAXE (no one wanting PICAXE based products would search on anything else, like … ‘potatoes’, or ‘alligator boots’), my products are featured prominently in the first 10 items on the first page.  They are not products that would benefit from more than one or two pictures.  I have listed them on multiple sites and tweaked the keywords within an inch of their lives.  To top it all off, my on-line store is selling in record amounts, so I know people are buying this time of year, and I know they are still buying my products.

There is something very wrong with ebay.  Plain and simple, and making excuses for them is not helping anyone.  The problem is, I have no idea on how to address this.

[pierrelebel]

So far in the last twelve months, you average 28 feedback a month.

This month you have only 14 so far.

Basically a 50% drop. That is no fun at all.

Since your products are more or less unique, and considering 50% of all eBay transactions are now sold on a "free shipping" basis, may I suggest you join the trend and incorporate your shipping and handling costs into your overall margins and offer your products on a "free domestic shipping" basis (no option to buyer for expensive shipping).

A small fee can be added for shipments to the USA and a slightly higher fee for shipments overseas.

That may work for you as it does for millions of sellers on eBay.

[aztecmcuprototyping]

I'll give that a try with 50% of my items.  I'll see if does anything.

I already have one item with free shipping.  Again, It was selling okay until a couple of months ago.

[ammolitehunter]

I have noticed a big drop in sales volume and on checking find that the number of viewers to my shop has dropped big time.

This seems to coincide with recent Ebay changes such as changes in the Offer feature that lets buyers spray offers all over the place with no commitment if you accept one.

I changed my items to "buy now pay now" and no longer invite offers which has rid me of all the nuicance low ball offers I used to get--but I did not expect sales to drop dramatically because I  no longer accept offrers--IF that is what is causing it.

I notice too that the search function does not include my stuff like it used to.Previously If you googled Ammolite pendants for example--my stuff always showed--but no longer.

Also Ebay permits misleading listings in my category which does not help.Common cheap ammonite fossils are lumped in with gem ammolte which is totally misleading to the public.

What to do?

[iankimmerly]

I've been revising and relisting (as Sell Similar) many of the titles that eBay tells me have been unsold for 16 months. As a bookseller, having a title in stock for months or years doesn't bother me much.

However, in reviewing those listings I notice that a LOT of them, perhaps 20% no longer have shipping charges showing for USA.  EEK!

This may be a result of the end of Small Packet USA Surface, but most of my paperbacks can go LetterPost/Light Packet.

So those "new" listings are being checked carefully  to be sure that they are showing in our biggest market.

If your sales have dropped off, take the time when you would have been shipping and check that your listings are showing in the USA.

I'm also finding that about a third of the titles on my shelves are no longer listed at all. And they didn't go on to the shelves until they were listed. They don't even go into that room until they are listed.

[iankimmerly]

Dang. That was not supposed to show up under my husband's name. He doesn't sell books. And his staff has not reported the same problem.

[delux-stuff]

This made no sense to me at all. 

[pierrelebel]

Why do you post to a thread that is more than two year old?

[anguscoinshop]

I found the same in my category, very slow or stopped. There's something to lots of picture, i sold out my allocation of 2015 REMEMBRANCE COIN PACK: $2.00 IN FLANDERS FIELDS & 25 cent POPPY in less than 24 hours. It was at the top of all listings for the entire time. New listing with seven picture.
That was the only item i had success with.