Managed payments and low sales coincidence

[downsizing2018]

Okay, I have never been one to complain about sales, you either have them or don't, you do the best you can take good pictures, give great customr service, and better merchandise. HOWEVER, my sales lately have been in the dump, in fact ever since Managed Payments became live for me.  Now maybe it is a coincidence and maybe the world has better things to do than to shop on Ebay since Covid is pretty much under control and people are going out again.............But really, I figured maybe there is reason, is there a setting that changed,  visibilty in other courties changed......is managage payment some home making my listing looking less than appealing?  I know I  am grasping at straws, but - seriously, sales are horrid.  Any input?

[ypdc_dennis]

My sales on other venues are just as bad as on ebay, so I can't blame MP for the current low tide.

I took a brief look at some of your listings. Some seem to be seasonal (as in wintertime). Some may do better if the 2021 Olympics actually happens or for the 2022 Olympic winter games. My experience for Olympic stuff is a uptick in buying in the weeks just before the games (but otherwise mostly dead).

For older listings (provided you have free listings to use):

Bulk end the older stuff, then do a bulk relist. This is rumoured to refresh the search engine results.

-..-

[femmefan1946]

Sometimes it's short term thinking.

Since 2020 was a blip with the 'pandemic surge' look at your June 2019 and June 2018 sales for useful comparisons.

I have found that there is a recurring pattern to sales.

For me, unlike most sellers, I could practically close shop in November and December, since my things are not "giftable" and I don't get a Christmas rush.

But come Boxing Day thinks pick up and stay strong through March, slow down through spring and summer then bounce back for Sept and Oct.

What is your pattern?

BTW- the "Sales- last 31 days" on your Seller Hub page are pretty useless, because they are only the last 31 days.

Yesterday I was up 285+ percent over last month, today I am down 10%. There was apparently a big sale in there last month. Not a useful metric.

[luv4orphans]

Horrid here too. I sold one item in the last 3 weeks. Before that averaging 3-5 a month. Ebay is not what is used to be. Maybe its what I sell I am not sure. You can get brand new from China with barely any shipping costs. Or Wish or Amazon.

Can't lower the prices much more than I have already or might as well close up shop. After fees on the item itself plus the shipping plus the added taxes, etc.  Fees on top of fees on top of taxes. Not sure why I even bother wasting my time anymore.  Haven't listed anything new lately. No time and in no great rush, nothing is moving. Just took off a bunch of stuff off that was sitting there dormant for months.

I have a bunch of vintage stuff to list and tons of sterling silver jewelry but again can't compete.  This place sucks for me anyways. Not what it used to be. And you get buyers always asking to lower the prices which are low enough as it is. Shipping without tracking is not an option on some of these items because of the bulk and for some I could but then its us on the line hanging out to dry if something happens.  So will be making an exit from here in the near future. Move on to a couple of other sites and see how that goes.  Been doing better on marketplace than here and no fees to pay so can lower the price some.

Its too bad it was fun selling on here but now its just time consuming for nothing. The MP and ebay in and out of our bank accounts on a regular basis is another turn off.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

I do not see how managed payments could hurt your sales. It doesn't change anything for the buyer. They can pay with the same payment processors (Paypal, Credit Card, etc) at checkout. 

For me, sales have slowed down a bit, but I have also aggressively run sales and accepted/sent offers. So basically, lowered my prices. That has helped counter some of the slump.

It's summer, lockdowns are lifting, people are going to be buying less inside on the computer. People in various parts of the US are also able to go on vacations and go to concerts or sporting events. Canada might be that way soon as well. That is going to take away some of the disposable income that propped up online sales. 

[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.

[byto253]

LOL.  I went on vaca for a week and hid all my listings.   I have not been listing new items lately just trickling stuf out on the existing older stuff, but this week has been pretty good including some items I really was not even expecting to get sold as listed or on their own.   Sometimes there is not rhyme or reason.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

One thing to consider is that the Canadian dollar is rising in relation to the US dollar. This is bad for Canadian sellers because it makes it more expensive for US buyers. It also becomes less expensive for Canadian buyers to buy from US sellers, which raises the level of competition for Canadian sellers. 

Amazon delayed Prime Day in Canada. I believe it was claimed to be for safety reasons. Given the anecdotal experience of most online sellers here, I wonder if there is more of a strategic reason for delaying it. Do they know something based on their analytics?

I think that July and August could end up being very bad for sales in Canada. If it is a wider trend, nobody can do anything about it. As a seller, the only choice is to sell things for lower prices to boost volume, or wait it out. Unless the pandemic is never ending, online sales will never be like they were this past year. The best advice in this thread was @femmefan1946  who said to compare your sales to the years prior to the pandemic.

[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?

Anybody knows is there are similar issues discussed on ebay.COM community boards?  Or is it just Canadian Ebay situation.

[marnotom!]

Check the eBay.com community boards:

http://community.ebay.com/

I typed in a search for "slow sales" and the first thing that popped up was a result from last month.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Discussion search default is best match. Most important you update your results to Most Recent. Reason why many discussions for new problems get attached to zombie threads. (on dot ca)

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Discussion search default is best match. Most important you update your results to Most Recent. Reason why many discussions for new problems get attached to zombie threads. (on dot ca)

Yeah, sorry, I didn't make my point very clear.  I usually re-sort my search results by date after getting the best match search results, but I thought it was interesting that the first result was something relatively recent instead of something dating back to 2012 or so.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@marnotom! 

Just thought on that point small clarification was in order. I've seen that on some ca discussion (Q&A/Announcements) pages on right hand side. Similar results from 2014 and earlier.  I'm not sure if they add that zombie tag on dot com.  If they do, I've never noticed it. Reading stuff from 2014 and before can be highly entertaining. 

-Lotz

[hold.your.own.media]

Since I was put on MP & switched to being a store 2 weeks ago, my sales have dropped 40-50%.

[dobo5250]

Ii love to read the forums about everyone else's  problems about sales or shipping or mp plan, makes my problems seem so small -- its also nice to see that in these slow i am i mean very slow sales days  that lots of medium and small sellers are having just as much of a problem as i do --- with no one really having an answer to really help only mild hints at what should be done to increase sales --  i like most people here have a quarter of the sales or less in sales than we had in feb/march/april of this year - with the same inventory --and all  would-i image -have tried all the regular stuff-- free shipping /very low prices with   hardly any profit  promoted listings with more viewers but same low sales/ better pictures/ better descriptions / more more listings of new products  and generally more hours spent trying  to change the current state  of affairs than the money brought in by those changes so instead of making 5 dollars an hour for work you are now done to three or even worse dollars per hour spent on your listings 

i would like to hear maybe as an anidote to my little rant from someone  here where everything is just peachy keen and going gang busters so us little sellers can still have hope --- please don't suggest going to you tube and watching those liars who make it look easy -- just so they will make money clicking on their sites  cause thats how they are making money -- not really selling on ebay but selling the dream of ebay---  cause they always seem to have sales with the same products we sell  at the same prices --

just one person here ----as a real seller ---maybe someone who has 1000 to 2000 listings whos is doing daily sales and actually not having to have money withdrawn from their bank account to cover these mysterious fees that with mp now seem to have increased -- even though many say they have not --- my account is short every other week for some reason --what goes in the account - is just alittle higher than what goes out--  i need a boost soon ---i have has as everyone esle has had sure except the select few very down ward sales -- please some  give one me hope -- 

doker bohm 

[ricarmic]

My store is in wind-down because I'm taking my usual annual ebay holiday for the rest of August starting on the 10th, however stuff is still selling relatively well, I am sure that if I was running "full tilt" my sales would be relatively close to normal for this time of year.

When I'm in "sales doldrums", what I do is:

-check folks selling similar stuff to me, is their stuff selling (if it is, what are they doing differently from me)

-check out how other folks are selling stuff, can I make mine more "attractive"

-experiment with the likes of:

   -promoted listings (my current favourite)

   -sales

   -free shipping, I've "always" done this, even for bankers box sized lots

  -"coupons" I think this might only be on .COM etc

  -grouping items in different ways than competitors or that would appeal to buyers

-continue listing as much as I can find/list as though things are normal still

-etc

I've experimented my way into some very successful strategies over the years during times like this.....

[recped]

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@itolduandso wrote:

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

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

Anybody knows is there are similar issues discussed on ebay.COM community boards?  Or is it just Canadian Ebay situation.

---

Every single day on the US boards there are posts about slow sales, this has been an almost daily event for as long as I've been on the boards (15+ years). It is always speculated that one thing or another than eBay has done (It's GTC, It's MP, it's Search, it's eBay about to go under etc. etc. etc.)

I can say that I had the worst July in many many years (perhaps ever). I can think of lots of reasons why and not a single one of them has anything to do with eBay doing or not doing something.