eBay

coveredbridge1957 · ‎07-10-2013

I had an awesome month in sales in June!

Then came July & I haven't had a sale since.....not one!!

This is very unusual for us not to have any sales at all. Most of our sales are on the weekend & there just hasn't been anything.

It seems like ebay has shut the door on my sales. Is this possible? Have they been known to do that before?

Last month I was a power seller & a top rated seller & this month I'm dog meat....at least that's how it feels.

No promotion & no sales....I guess I should go to the garden & eat some worms.

Has anyone else had this problem before?

I phoned ebay & they said that they were going to send it to the tech dept. I haven't heard anything form them.

Thanks!

surplusdealdude · ‎07-11-2013

It happens.

Use the time to go back to the basics, make sure that something in your listings isn't causing problems.

Are your item specifics all spelled out? Free shipping? Where are you in Search, better or worse than before? Got a new competitor who's beating your prices? - that sort of thing.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan

saxmanjamie · ‎07-11-2013

You are right!!!

I have gone from 300 to 400 transactions a month down to 150. This is a busy time for my industry.

What can we do together.

Maybe if 20 or 30 of us contact the same news media. It will get the eBay people off of their seats.

I waited for a tech after a time sucking customer service rep. Waited for 45 minutes and then hung up.

Something must be done.

Where are these sales going?

Is somebody paying for prefered results?

I have many questions.

Jamie

@taz6511 wrote:
I had an awesome month in sales in June!

Then came July & I haven't had a sale since.....not one!!
This is very unusual for us not to have any sales at all. Most of our sales are on the weekend & there just hasn't been anything.

It seems like ebay has shut the door on my sales. Is this possible? Have they been known to do that before?

Last month I was a power seller & a top rated seller & this month I'm dog meat....at least that's how it feels.

No promotion & no sales....I guess I should go to the garden & eat some worms.

Has anyone else had this problem before?

I phoned ebay & they said that they were going to send it to the tech dept. I haven't heard anything form them.

Thanks!

bb_cool_stuff · ‎07-11-2013

Where are these sales going ?

Check your competitors completed listings & compare sales figures & shipping prices. That should help point you in the right direction.

If possible make the necessary price adjustments. If not possible add some other items with a higher profit margin.

At one time sellers could do this quarterly, now we seem to have to it monthly.

Very competitive the last three years with increased competition signing on daily.

pierrelebel · ‎07-11-2013

"Has anyone else had this problem before?"

Yes, every week you find thousands of eBay sellers with a similar story. Later on, sales usually come back and the 'slump' for that seller is over.

"Last month I was a power seller & a top rated seller"

You are still a Top Rated Seller.

"It seems like ebay has shut the door on my sales."

It is not eBay. Buyers simply decided to buy something else from someone else.

Do not worry too much about it. If your products are attractive, have a market, are priced properly with terms suitable to most buyers.... sales will return.

I do not know much about patterns but how do your prices (including shipping) compare tio place like Fabricland who regularly have sales "Buy one get two free", etc... ?

barbsplace66 · ‎07-11-2013

Your not alone, sales have taken a nose drive for many sellers,

femmefan1946 · ‎07-12-2013

How were your sales for similar products last July? In July 2011? In July 2010?

There are ups and downs in every market. You would find the market for snowmobile suits a little slow this month, for example. What sells in June, may not move in July.

I have over the past dozen years, found that my sales start to droop in June, die off in July and August, pick up again in late September, die off around Christmas , and then boom from January to April.

Another thought, if you have a smartphone or tablet, sign in to eBay as a Guest. Now look up your listings. Sit down before you do this, because you may be shocked at how uninviting they look. (Not a hit at your listings, this is a general thing.) As more and more of the market moves to buying from smartphones, the sellers who have adapted their listings will find more buyers than those who stick to the tried and tru.

coveredbridge1957 · ‎07-12-2013

Thanks everybody for your replays. I have been lowering my prices & and started changing my lighter stuff to free shipping. I should jump for joy I sold 1 pattern today. Maybe it's a seed and will grow LOL. As for pricing I try and stay in the middle if I can. And I don't even have a cell phone. The only electronics I have is this nasty computer. Thanks again for all your replays I guess I just needed a few ears.... PS .I only started in Jan. 2012 and my sales have been on a steady slow increase

barbsplace66 · ‎07-12-2013

I do not have a tablet or smartphone so I will have to add that to my santa list, any other suggestions to get visability? I use key words in my titles, my descriptions are simple and prices are reasonable compared to my competitors so would using capital letters in my title be an issue with search engines etc, any suggestions would help,

nan*55 · ‎07-13-2013

Nice postcards you have barbs. I would put the word postcard in your listing title 🙂

reallynicestamps · ‎07-15-2013

And I don't even have a cell phone. The only electronics I have is this nasty computer.

There is or was a link that would allow sellers to see what our listings look like on a mobile device on our own PCs. Anyone got that link? I know it was a shocker.

oldbazaar · ‎07-15-2013

If you think July was bad on eBay, you should try Etsy, LOL. The #1 topic of conversation there is "WHERE HAVE ALL THE CUSTOMERS GONE?". I deduce therefore:

1) It's not just you.

2) It's not just eBay

Therefore what you can do about it is hard to ascertain. My sales were down, but only by about 20%, so I'm counting my blessings. It's picking back up now. In the meantime I had a sale.