How are your views/ sales faring in 2025? Predictions?

[rdemaree]

How are your views and sales doing this year so far?

I am down 24% in sales vs the same period last year and have't sold anything in 14 days now to any country.

I looked at my views for months during this year and October seems to have taken what looks like a flat plateau downwards in views vs prior months. This is bad news for Q4. I wonder if this has anything to do with the EIS program and maybe ebay pushing listings down that dont want to use their EIS $99999 shipping fee program? Is ebay intentionally trying to strongarm Canadian sellers into using the EIS program by hiding our listings and putting the false advertising blue banner on our listings?

Also I have taken a look at my view count for september - october last year vs this year and my viewership for those 2 months have been cut literally in half by the numbers.  I made a switch from .com to .ca back in March but I dont see how that would account for that drastic of a drop in views.

What makes this even more concerning is I have made and listed more products and made my listings more polished this year vs last year and I also have been running month long themed 25% off sales on select products every month of the year and still have seen a dramatic loss of views and sales both this year. There literally is no winning. 

June 2025 was my worst month in my entire time as a full time seller on ebay since fall 2019. I sold like $250 worth of stuff for the entire month. June is usally a mid level month for me, not amazing not terrible and it wasnt only bad it was my worst month in business ever.

Things arent looking good for ecommerce in Canada. I am planning on downsizing the batch sizes of the handmade paint that I sell and also sourcing less antique art supplies in addition to probably needing to find a part time job because I dont think things are going to improve anytime soon and ebay/ canada post arent helping much it seems.

Going forward I am going to anticipate that sales will be 25-40% less than normal and act accordingly. I am going to try and get my product in physical stores in Canada when time allows but finding a side hustle/ part time job looks like it will have to be the main priority for now. I initially figured by the end of this year I would be looking at 15-35% less in sales vs last year and if this slow October and recent trump rhetoric are any indicators it will likely be closer to the 35% rather than 15%. Currently sitting at 24% so it has the opportunity to swing in either direction or I guess could flatline at that but if I had to bet it ends up being 30-35% less in sales by the end of the year vs last year and next year could be 10-15% less than this year even. Hope im wrong.

I feel like if CUSMA goes away sales would drop 50-75% and by that point in time this would basically be a side income and id need to seek full time employment elsewhere but hoping it doesnt get to that point.

I am curious to hear how your views/ sales are doing this year vs last year and what you have done about it and what your predictions are?

[rdemaree]

doesnt matter how big their margins are if sales plummet. They cant make money if we dont make money.

If enough of us are vocal about it, sales dip enough and enough sellers jump ship to other sites they might have to reconsider

[rdemaree]

is there a way to kneecap ebays blue banner campaign by putting your own banner on listings that would appear at the top of your listings? I already have one in my descriptions but lets be real its 2025 and not everyone or even most people truly read descriptions beyond a quick skimming.

[byto253]

Thinking similar thoughts.  I think it would need to be in the photo. 

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@rdemaree wrote:
Do you think it has more to do with trumps rhetoric and policies or eBay and Canada post not stepping up for small business e commerce sellers?

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Since I used to have 80% US sales and now have less than 20%, I'd say it's the tariffs.

When Canada Post is on strike, I'm selling $0, so that certainly hurts too.

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@rdemaree wrote:

are there any tariff warnings or banners on etsy? I am seriously thinking about uploading some of my more popular products on there for a trial run since we are moving into the holiday season.

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I'm not sure, my store is Sapphyre66 if you want to go and see, my location is in Canada.

I'm not really versed with Etsy and have trouble doing simple things lik putting the store on time away.

C.

[mrdutch1001]

I am not aware of any warnings or banners on Etsy, but  I no longer ship to the USA...

[easoss]

2025 has easily been the worst sales year I've ever had on eBay. I quit my store subscription in September after having it for years. I can't justify $60 a month in order to list thousands of items that don't sell anyways. And the future as I see it will actually be worse than what it currently is.

Cusma will be gone in a matter of months. Looks more likely to be replaced with a blanket tariff that will apply to every single item regardless of where it's made entering the US. I also wonder how long eBay will continue with the .ca site. They clearly aren't committed to it as most buyers use .com for searches and Canadian only sellers are hidden from their items being found.

Personally I'm a big proponent of free trade and the ability to buy and sell with as few impediments as possible. I loved listing, selling, packaging, labeling, mailing etc. But now it's more about apps, filling out more paperwork, proper codes, where something is made and more bookkeeping. That for me isn't enjoyable at all. 

[reallynicestamps]

The EIS on the other hand is doubling and tripling fees for the buyer.

I'm not clear on this.

Is the higher eIS fee because it includes import fees (including duty, sales taxes , and tariffs ) or are those import fees charged separately to the buyer?

If it is the latter, then eIS is a Very Bad program for both buyer and seller.

If it is the former, then the buyer will be paying the same for an eIS shipment with import fees included as for a UPS or USPS shipment with import fees added on the doorstep.

[aviatorsparadise]

Well my sales have been zero. I have never been a big volume seller but I sold 34 items in 2024 and in 2025 I have sold 13.... 

I've even reduced all my prices to cost at this point and still nothing is selling. 

Canada is heading for a big recession and no one is ready for it. 

[rdemaree]

buyer pays import fees through EIS I think but neither EIS nor UPS can compete with chitchats/ stallion express for CUSMA items.

UPS has CUSMA availability but their brokerage + general higher shipping cost makes using them for small value items pointless

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

I can only imagine it is a l'orange stupide thing. Americans have had it good with their $800 de minimis and now that they are being presented with a large change fast they are left in the lurch as to what applies where and when. That there is no USPS/Public option compounds this. Pinches and uncertainty in the economy is also not likely to help matters.

We've had 0 sales to the US since August 29th. We nearly had a single $750 sale but the buyer didn't trust that there would be no added fee's on account of eBay's banner when they went to put in an offer, despite our attempts to clear the air of uncertainty.

We've had only 1 Canadian sale, which is low given that we've dropped our prices across the board and switched our inventory to .ca which typically yields greater Canadian purchases.

The current plan is to see our annual subscription out and then re-assess. Honestly, its huge. Even if sales picked back up and we could continue to offer items to the states with a semblance of normalcy and sustainability a change is likely for the best. 

An american gave interest in an item today but with postage and tariff's coming to almost $75 on a $150 item we don't even know if it's worth the trouble. L'orange stupide can shove it (can we say that on here?) its probably better to abstain in protest. Solidarity with the good people of both our separate and distinct countries.

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

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@rdemaree wrote:

is there a way to kneecap ebays blue banner campaign by putting your own banner on listings that would appear at the top of your listings? I already have one in my descriptions but lets be real its 2025 and not everyone or even most people truly read descriptions beyond a quick skimming.

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We place a screengrab of our description as a photograph in with photographs of our items and state we ship CPC, postage includes duty & tariff's.

It's also a way to increase the chances that a buyer will read the description given eBay hides it down under ads for other peoples stuff.

[raanana]

Since end of the August everything is down,sales September  75% down compare to 2024,October 94% down,listing impessions -59%,views -50%.

I do agree,that ebay tries to force us to accept eIS,but with eIS shipping cost it will push buyers away. When checking out postcards  offered by US sellers,I see ,that  many are switched to eIS and shipping costs  for  for postcards between 18$ and 30$ instead of few dollars charged by seller,that not enrolled.They will loose 90+% of international sellers with shipping so high.IMO eIS is another source of income for ebay,but it will drive away many international buyers.

Not sure what is ebay strategy,but only on one small seller as myself they loosing/not making money.

[ricarmic]

Because of all the uncertainty my ebay store was closed may till mid september and only been intermittantly open since then because of the postal strike part II.

Because IMO we will remain in the "age of uncertainty" for some time yet, I think predictions are going to be hard to make.

Because of the 2024 postal strike, I began to try to diversify into non-ebay, non-online ways of selling. Progress on them is slow but building. "Slow" means that they're doing well to be running 10% of traditional eBay sales, however time will tell as eBay sales are now very slow for me, same as for most everyone else. I think there is higher interest in staying local so my non-online is benefiting from that.

eBay wise, generally speaking I'm selling to my long time repeat customers predominantly. I do have a test auction round finishing tonight, view count was high on day 1, hasn't really moved since then, I suspect it will be a weak finish tonight. I've not been experimenting with promotions etc as I'm nervous about another all out PO strike, was surprised by the last one and had several lots impacted by it (some not yet delivered in fact), so I don't really want to repeat that.

So for me, I'll continue on my 3 way going forward path, as I've mentioned before I am not dependant on this for a living, being in "semi retirement" phase of life. I very much most certainly feel for everyone who is, we're in a gut wrenching period for sure.

Only advice I'd have is to keep experimenting, gut wrenching times also somtimes hide opportunities...

[38e_avenue]

Doesn't look good. The traffic seems to be OK, today I sent 20 offers - but no sales. My items are tariffs exempt and the sales are at 35-40% of what would be expected for October.  Fortunately, Ebay is not my only source of income. 

[rdemaree]

I will be listing all of my items on Etsy now to hopefully shore up some of my lost business from ebay.

They dont add any false warnings on listings like ebay does but at the same time im not sure if they offer discounted postage options either. Doesnt matter much because I have chit chats.

I was hoping they would have a system to allow me to do calculated shipping for Canada and international via Canada Post and then do flat rate for USA (every site should be doing this FYI because the USA is the only country that is in need of special shipping measures and alway changing the rules. Every other nation on earth is fine with calculated rates).

Not only do they not allow what I mentioned above but you essentially have to offer either calculated OR flat rate shipping for EVERYTHING! oh well. not a huge deal. They dont have the annoying banner at least.

I wont be actively promoting my Etsy too much tho and wont be offering as many listings (instead ill consolidate items into listings as variations mostly) but my business model will mostly be the same.

I am hoping just by having my unique/ handmade products on there I can at least passively gain 5-15% more in  annual sales.  This should help soften the blow.

No matter what I am going to need to seek out some sort of side income stream if numbers keep coming in the way they are. 

I am American by citizenship btw but am a permanent resident in Canada and moved here as a student and then on a work permit 12 years ago. I will be voting in next years midterms and am encouraging all of my friends to vote blue.

Our best bet is the supreme court gets rid of most of his tariffs, Dems win the midterms and either he can be greatly restrained OR impeached.

Fingers crossed and good luck!

[flipistics]

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@rdemaree wrote:

Our best bet is the supreme court gets rid of most of his tariffs, Dems win the midterms and either he can be greatly restrained OR impeached.

Fingers crossed and good luck!

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Even if they strike it down, Trump will do something else. He'll add a high per package "processing" fee or something like that, and for small businesses that might be even worse. Congress could also decide to just legalize his tariffs, especially if they're faced with having to possibly pay back close to a trillion dollars of money they collected. The good news is that businesses that survive this should be in excellent shape when the US finally comes to their senses.

[rdemaree]

The reason he didn’t go to congress in the first place is he knows they wouldn’t approve it. Mostly because they don’t want egg on their faces when it turns out to be a disaster like it is right now because it could cost them their jobs in the midterms.

I think they’re already gonna get ousted in the midterms tho. Short of alot of rigging a blue wave is coming.

[mrdutch1001]

I have been putting more and more of my items on Etsy over the past 3 months, as eBay has become such a waste of time and effort...me thinks I'd rather pay 20cUSD per item listing for a 4-month listing duration on a site where at least there are views and potential buyers...