Slow Sales

[katlover1952]

Wondering if anyone else is noticing their sales disappear. I had a really good Sep but only 15 sales in Oct & 2 of those didn’t pay. Now have not had any sales since Oct 25th. I am using promoted listings so not sure what the problem is. Was wondering if it could be to do with the postal situation but have noticed that some others on the Boards do not feel it is affecting them.

Speaking of promoted listings I have been using them for awhile on both .com & .ca. They were of course available on .com longer than on .ca. Does everyone use the trending rates or higher? I have usually been going a bit higher. One thing I notice is that the trending rates are much higher in the US than in Canada. Just curious what others are doing.

[reallynicestamps]

Are you comparing your October 2018 sales with October 2017 sales?

There is a rhythym in retail.

My online sales are off but that includes my private postage buyers, many of them eBay sellers who may be cautious about buying during the labour disputes, especially those in Ontario which seems to be getting most of the rotating strikes.

[katlover1952]

Actually on the sellers hub it says it is down 94% from the same period a year ago. I know that it has not seemed this slow since the period for a couple of months after I closed my store during the last postal strike. Took awhile to ge5 my sals back to where they had been before I closed which was one reason I decided not to close this time.

[musicyouneed]

My sales have been good (touch wood)

.com sales

.ca sales

[momcqueen]

I sell only on ebay Canada and I have long since given up trying to figure out why I have slumps and swings. 

[ricarmic]

I can't cut and paste, because I forget how to, and I began selling on both .CA and .COM this year, so both sets of statistics are wrong because of that anyway.

Assuming my "pre-coffee" math is correct I'm 19% below last year for the last 31 days.

I attribute this to putting my store on cruise mode since the postal stuff started, which was a mistake.

My sales in the last 7 days have been pitiful.

I put my store back on full speed ahead on Monday, it will be next week before all the re-awoken stuff starts to have an effect.

[msmaggie060]

I put my store on vacation for 2 weeks end of June, sales came back almost immediately. Put my store while away on vacation end of Sept. for 2 weeks and took until this week for sales to pick up again. 

I’ve given up trying to figure out the way eBay works. I list and just hope I am doing things the way they want me to.

I don’t use promoted listings.

[ricarmic]

Regarding promoted listings, I've been using them for a long time (on .COM).

They have fits and spurts of not/working for me. I've sold more stuff in the last while than in the last few months before.

I totally ignore the trending rates. I figure out what I can afford for the item and that's what I go with. Some of the trending rates make me shake my head (as in too high).

As a note, if everyone put themselves ahead just a wee bit of the trending rate, that is going to make the trending rate go upward costing more to get the same exposure. As with all the promoted type things, these things are the best when they are first introduced, as they get assumed by the masses their effect and relative value seems to diminish. I suspect this is why we see the new things show up, be great for a while, fade and then another "different" one shows up....its been happening throughout the 19 years I've been here.....

[momcqueen]

When promoted listings first came to eBay Canada, I was the first in my category to use them so there were no trending rates. My second promotion then used my first picked rate as the trending rate. (Like I was competing with myself for eyeballs.) Now, I just pick a number that I’m happy with in terms of advertising cost on that item and go with it even if it’s lower than what’s trending.

[ricarmic]

Selling on eBay is like swimming in a river.

Some days it rains (spring and fall implementations for example) and you have to swim a little faster/harder to stay in the same place.

Some days it's dry (postal strife) and the water is low, you have to search out a place where you can still survive.

Some days you've been so busy talking with the other fish that you didn't notice you drifted downstream and have to swim hard to get back! (probably me right now)

Some days you just discover you're downstream, who knows why, and have to swim harder to get back!!

Some days you just discover that you're upstream and you can relax a little. (there need to be more of these days!!!!)

[katlover1952]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Guess it is just me in a slump at the moment.

As for the promoted listings if you look at the trending rates in the states some of them are ridiculously high. I had thought that perhaps the higher rates got better exposure. But I totally agree that as more & more people use them the program will become worthless & all we as sellers will end up,doing is paying eBay higher FVF. To be honest I have never sold any of the items I have promoted in a campaign but wondered if they drew more business to my store as other things sold. 

[what-sales-direct]

Hi there, try sponsored ads just putting 1% to all your items could boost your sales with almost no cost to you.

Also if you live close to a service that brings packages over the border for shipping you could lower your tracked shipping by 50% minimum. Or use discount stamps with Canada post. you can save 30% wish could help you reduce your shipping cost, maybe getting you new clients. Or increase your profit margin.

[ricarmic]

As a note, I have noticed a side benefit of using promoted listings.

They do bring more views for the promoted items.

A higher view rate creates more "pull" in the search engine, meaning more people will also see the item not because of the promoted listings.

One of my prime items sells about half of the items without the promotion fee and the non promoted sold items rate is higher than it was before the promotions started.

This is all the long version of saying that promoting listings will also increase views and potentially purchases of non-promoted billed items in your store.

PS the 1% idea is interesting, I'll maybe try that as an experiment!!!!

[katlover1952]

I actually live in the rural area very close to the ND border. I did inquire about taking items over to ship but they indicated that I would need a broker which just puts the price out of site. Unfortunately there is no service such as there is in cities that offer to do this for you. Thanks for the idea though.

[katlover1952]

When you say increase by just 1%, are you meaning go 1% above the trending rate? Usually I have been going .1 up to .3% higher. Maybe this is not enough. Will try on a few select items to see what happens. Thanks for the tip.

[ricarmic]

I think they mean just pick the actual rate of 1% and don't pay any attention to the recommended rate.

It gets you in the game.

If you have lots of categories you sell in, it is likely you'll be top pick at 1% as you might be the only one, or one of only a few......

[femmefan1946]

but they indicated that I would need a broker

You can do your own brokerage

It's a pain in the neck and takes ages, but you don't need to hire it out.

Keep in mind that the BC minimum wage is 18 cents a minute. Time is money.

[pjcdn2005]

You don't need a broker but you do need to do some legwork ahead of time.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Important-update-for-those-who-import-shipments-into-the...

[hlmacdon]

---

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

You don't need a broker but you do need to do some legwork ahead of time.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Important-update-for-those-who-import-shipments-into-the...

---

If a single shipment is under $800 USD it is a section 321 entry below de minimis and doesn't require a broker. If the total value of the shipments is below $2500 USD  it is an informal entry and doesn't require a broker. If the total value of shipments is over $2500 USD it is a formal entry and a customs bond is required via a bonded carrier/broker. For a casual exporter you have to weigh the costs, these days you are looking at $500 USD/ year between a transponder and SCAC code required for emanifest filing. If you aren't going regularly with enough packages per trip the cost/benefit value may not be there.

Having US shipping costs and tracking doesn't cure everything on ebay. Those outside of North America will still consider your shipping prices too much. You'll still experience massive blips in sales as the algorithms favor people who are paying significantly for exposure, have perfect service metrics, ship the same day, offer free shipping and free returns, and offer an expedited shipping option. Even then your product pages will be plastered with competing products. If you aren't willing to jump through every new hoop/price cutting measure ebay introduces don't expect much of any consistency regardless of who you use for logistics. Note that this of course should be assessed in view of competitors within your category and what their practices are.