Research into why my ebay store sales are declining.

[ammolitehunter]

A while back I posted on big sales declines at my store and invited commentary.

From that--helpful posters offered good critique and I made some major changes based on their input and my own research.This involved a complete site and listing overhaul--a careful study of how Cassini was choosing its listing preferences and the result is this.

From having almost no listings in "best search" I have gone to top lister in the "fine jewelry" section of my Ammolite Jewelry world and the traffic to my store has doubled.

I do all the things that Ebay wants--ship in 1 day.Refund either 14 or 30 days.Free shipping.Classy images and so on.I have top feedback and good seller ranking.

So here I sit with double the visitors to my site than a month ago--in fact much more than a year ago when my sales were humming.

The end result of all of this is I have increased my visitors substantially to my shop with these adjustments-- BUT at what should be the busiest sales time of year--sales are still dismal.

So.

I have doubled the traffic to my store so Ebay is doing its job--it IS bringing me lots of visitors--but those visitors are NOT buyers.

So the big problem lies outside Ebay's sphere of influence and I can only speculate what the problem is.

So I checked with people in my exact line selling OUTSIDE Ebay and they report that their sales have declined dramatically also.

So after all this I have come to this conclusion.

The problem does not lie with Ebay because if you follow their "best practices"--they DO bring buyers to your store.

The problem is a change of attitude among the buying public--and that attitude is FEAR.

I strongly believe that buyers are anticipating the mother of all financial crises looming on the horizon and so they are not buying.

The only buyers are the wealthy as evidenced that my few sales are big ones of the most expensive items I carry--so I have doubled my inventory of such items and hope for better results.

My only comment on Ebay is that they now give preference to large listers of trash items pretending to be quality in the "fine Jewelry" section.It suggests that Cassini cant tell trash from quality which is a disservice for seekers of quality.

I invite your comments.

[i*m-still-here]

Please don't take it so personally.

I know much more about jewelry than most, and even I got the name wrong.

The point is that the average buyer does not see these pieces with the same eyes that you do.

BTW:  All of use are here to milk eBay for sales.   Why else hang out here?  For fun?  🙂

[cumos55]

We are here to understand what Cassini does with our listings.

Cassini is Cassini  as it functions on eBay... The approach  to a category might be different....based on item specifics

However ... Listing in the right category  and Filling in item specifics is a start  ...

That is where Cassini starts for each category of item on eBay...

That is what was learned for non-fiction books.....

[i*m-still-here]

That's where I see it differently than you do.

The importance of a Cassini-type search  for items such as books, CDs, postcards etc. is much different than the importance for OOAK  unique high end items.

For these items all that matters is what you put in the title, and even then not so much.

If it's the right item, buyers will find it no matter what you do or don't do to manipulate Cassini.

[i*m-still-here]

Again:  I'm going to give you a little tip, and if there's anything that will help your sales this is it.  

Once the masses have caught on it ill be still be OK but the effect will be minimized…….. but for the OPer maybe it will always work.

For now only a few are doing it, and if you want to control the search here you go.

Have you noticed the new "Collections" feature that eBay has created to compete with Pinterest?  (OMG…. give it up already.)

Create a Collection NOW with only your items.

It will show up on every search for your item on the scroll bar at the side.

In time all sellers will do it, but for now only a few are milking that feature.

If that doesn't boost your sales then manipulating the Cassini search won't either.

IMO it won't do much, but on the other hand it will do everything that's possible for you to do.

[ammolitehunter]

I dont see that feature on my pages up here in Canada.

Am I missing something--or have they dropped it already?

[i*m-still-here]

I don't know if it's on .ca, but it's been on .com for a week or two and a few sellers are starting to use it.

For a seller like who is so specialized it will have a lot of punch right now IF not being seen a search is your main problem.

Since only a few are doing it right now it's a free ticket to have your items appear on every search on the side scrolly thing.