w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
I always expect sales to drop off during the summer but I thought this year might be different. We're not having summer in Manitoba this year so I thought maybe people would start browsing eBay 
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The warm weather didn't come until July -- we had two hot weeks and then cool temperatures for the last 3 weeks. We're lucky to get a high of 20 degrees and the long-range forecast is the same. So depressing 
Well, it gives us more time to dig out the jumper cables and shovels for the next 8 months of winter.
I hope the rest of the country is doing better.
@aztecmcuprototyping wrote:I have experienced a steady drop in sales starting from mid April. I am now down 60% from my March sales. I sell mostly unique products that are quite different than anything else that is available, so I don’t think it's competition. Not all my products have sold well, but the ones that have sold well and consistently are just sitting around.
I don’t think it has anything to do with the new search engine and the 'best match' algorithm as I have seen other post on this. Some of my (historically) best selling items have to do with PICAXE microcontrollers. If you do a 'best match' search on ‘PICAXE’ the first 4 items are mine and I have 6 times in the first 10. The first 3 items and especially the 6th one in that search were all good sellers up until mid-April. They sold well last year this time too and all through summer. Now they no longer sell at all.
Something is amiss, and it's not just the summer doldrums.
I completely agree with you! What convinces me this is not just a weather or holiday-related issue is when sellers are saying that items they could almost always count on to sell well and quickly are just sitting still. The watchers are there, but no sell-through.
I too have unique items that used to sell predictably well, yet sales have been sliding downward since Feb./March. What used to be my "hottest" sellers aren't selling at all. The last 3 weeks - absolutely no sales! This is almost unprecedented for my eBay store. I have some theories on this, and would be interested in others' views: see my posts #5, 13 and 27 on this thread and tell me what you think:
http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Listing-Tools/NOOOOOOOO-Sales/m-p/71276#U71276
to 'jt libra' -- If it's any consolation, we're in the same boat here in Nova Scotia where summer is concerned -- July was an absolute wash-out, more rain (and harder downpours) than I can recall in any summer anywhere I've lived in Canada. In one month we got half our year's normal supply! Even Prince Rupert (the rain capital of Canada) is having a better summer...
Are Canadians buying from you?
Actually, this past year, my sales to Canadians have really increased. I would say it's now about 65% Canadian / 35% US. I have no explanation for it. I keep my shipping costs as low as possible and try to use lettermail whenever possible. For items requiring a parcel rate, I try whenever possible to combine items which, at one time, I would have sold separately, e.g. 3 full-size skin care items can be shipped for basically the same price as one. While the asking price is higher, they take about the same time to sell as one full-size item at a high shipping cost.
But still, overall, my sales are down quite a bit compared to the same time last year and I'm beginning to begrudge the time I spend on eBay to make a few extra dollars every month. If it was just an hour or two a day, I wouldn't mind but, many days, it's 5 or 6 hours when you factor in taking pictures, comparing prices, doing research on new products, re-listing, answering questions, packaging and on and on. Today I asked myself when was the last time I sat and read a book.
I'm seriously considering quitting this fall. I have a lot of stock which I'll try to sell in other ways. But the cost in time vs benefit is no longer worthwhile. I've learned a lot, I've "met" a lot of nice people on these boards and through sales and I have no regrets. I just think it's time to push the keyboard aside and "get a life"
@pjcdn2005 wrote:Rose, when you say 'feeds', are you referring to all of the item pictures on the landing page?
Yes, that's it.
However keep in mind there are two "Feeds" - one is a general showcase before sign-in, the other is specific to the individual signing in.
It's the latter I find more interesting and actually more fraught with issues. EBay is compiling data on each buyer's habits and the results will become more and more accurately targeted as time goes on.
This may be good if you're a seller whose items appeal to a wide range of buyers. However if you're not, my concern is that as buyers start getting "sucked into" scrolling through their own Feeds (and I admit there is something about those Feeds that is enticing), they may stop bothering to do searches.
I have another "experiment" in the works to test a theory of mine about these Feeds. Since eBay won't tell us how they function, or how eBay's search parameters operate, the only way to form some concept of the system is to work backwards by deduction. 
