no views and slower sales this past month

[albanysales8259]

i've noticed that in the last 35 days my sales are down about 42%. I understand that the economy is still getting worse and prices are still slightly rising but in the last 35 days my sales and views are down huge! I sell auto parts and i would average 5-8 sales a day. currently i average maybe 1 a dayor best case 2 a day. i have been using all the advanced promotions that ebay offers and i have changed my return policy to free returns and all the other top rated seller + thresholds to get the top rated seller + badge.  feedback is at 98.9% + and i have been listing new items 30/35 days . so basically each day i list a new item.  i have noticed my views of my newer items have between 1-3 views in 10 + days . nothing has changed on the way i list items im usually the lowest priced with a markdown manager with free priority shipping. I called ebay and they said nothing is wrong with my account and they did a referesh on my account.... so basically has anyone else seen a dramatic slowdown in sales and views? if so what the heck is going on? i have items that many are selling same item higher priced with shipping costs and they sell where as my items are in some sort of limbo!  this is getting me very worried  

thanks

[fashunu4eeuh]

There can be multiple reasons for sales sliding, and sometimes it comes as a consequence to ill-advised seller choices. In this case,  other concerns could be affecting sales, such as a major discrepancy seen in listings.

In those i reviewed, 30-day Free Return is offered— but then a disclaimer has been added in the description field altering those terms. That is not allowed and is considered by eBay as an effort to mislead the buyer.

Offering Free Returns gets a seller better placement in Cassini’s Search results, so to then state they will not be honored is a violation of both professional ethics and eBay policy. All sections of a listing need to be consistent in the information presented. This is for the protection of the seller’s interests.

“Terms and Conditions—Sellers can include only relevant terms and conditions. Violations would include conflicting information in a listing, failure to uphold stated terms, or a disclaimer of seller responsibility to deliver the item as described in the listing.”

https://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sellerstandards.html

In addition to this, the responses to customer issues in feedback have set fire to the OPs credibility. Specifically, “naming and shaming” a buyer is not allowed and can break faith between buyers and sellers in the wider community. It serves no useful purpose for the seller, beyond perhaps a fleeting measure of vengeful satisfaction.

The follow-up response is some of the most valuable real estate on eBay. It is where the seller can either turn things around and enhance his reputation, or conversely, shoots himself in the foot and proves the buyer right to leave a negative review.

It is where the seller speaks to future buyers, but it’s possible to squander that opportunity by leaving angry, defensive, blaming responses for the current buyer (or warnings for other sellers) that are a completely ineffective use of the space. Those follow-ups only guarantee that buyers vetting that seller will run from any dealings with the author.

Not saying that sellers need to roll over and play dead when a buyer leaves unfair feedback. In those cases, a measured thoughtful comment (free of name-calling and anger) is all that is usually needed to set the record straight. Buyers can be very savvy consumers and can easily read between the lines of unhappy feedback left. But anyone consulting the seller responses here may only see the OP as someone hard to work with and willing to trash buyers rather than problem solve. 

A change is needed.

[bill.purvis2012]

What I notice is that you sell both high $$$ items and some lower $ ones. That can affect the way your sales $$ show up over time.  However, if the number of sold items is down, it may be something else. It's a bit of a rat race figuring out just what Ebay is up to from day to day. 

[baantiques]

I sell auto parts too albeit a different market.  I've found that the key to increasing my sales seems to be VOLUME.  Have a lot of parts in your store, price them accordingly so you can move them quickly, list new items every day, and remove old items that have not sold.

I buy parts by the truckload and trailer load, and try to get through them quickly and shove it out the door on the other side of the process.  I realize that not everything is going to be sellable and a lot of the items that ARE sellable are still not going to sell, and that sometimes means letting go and filling my garbage can.  For instance, I just dumped about 40 pieces of vintage car window glass (1930s-1950s) in the recycling bin because they had no part numbers and figuring out what they fit was going to be a horribly time consuming process that would still result in a pile of parts I could not identify.  That kind of time might be worth spending if they sold like hotcakes but when was the last time you met someone who was looking for a rear window for a 1933 Franklin?

[whatmorefabric]

Sales are falling back to pre pandemic levels on all on line sites.

During Covid lock downs,  people stayed on line and bought stuff.

The Trump administration gave a child tax credit increase to 2000. 00 per child and Biden gave one of 3000.00 per child to working class tax payers.   They have gone.

Trump gave about a 90.00 a month tax decrease to working class people.    It has disappeared.    

Inflation is down and incomes are   now rising faster than inflation.

Young people are doing stuff,  going out,  traveling,   pent up demand.

 Tastes are changing.     The farmhouse,  simple,  shiplap styles that make every home look like it came off of an HGTV reality show are starting to fade,  along with white kitchens and the color gray.

There was also a glut of new sellers on all platforms.

This will shake out.

As far as car parts.     Consumers are just starting to go back to holding onto older cars.    The number of cars being scrapped is going down as are new car sales.  

[coolections]

@albanysales8259   False. There is no way Ebay can force a buyer to purchase your stuff.

[albanysales8259]

the sales have dropped off but what is more of an issue is the views and traffic metrics they are both down. some items have no views at all. been doing this for years and i know many of the tricks  i feel this is a internal ebay issue because the traffic is down 40% and some items have 0 views . not to mention sales are not coming in. i know  the prices and sell through rates of my items and this has me concerned

[albanysales8259]

its the views and traffic metrics that are concerning. ebay cant make a sale but not having any views on items means something is wrong  been doing this for years and ebays internal algo is screwed up big time

[albanysales8259]

i know this and everything you said is true but thats not my question . its the fact the views watchers and traffic metrics are all down only in the last 30 days - its a ebay issue that is hitting my account

[albanysales8259]

that has nothing to do with not getting views. feedback is basically doa. its all about service metrics and yes i will trash a pos buyer who tries to scam me. as for you site you sell nothing right?

[albanysales8259]

still sell more than you lol

[albanysales8259]

still sell more than you

[albanysales8259]

that reply want not meant for you it was to another huckleberry that responsed to my question like an a-hole sorry

[steelm-2129]

im experiencing the same thing in auto parts.  i got my limits slashed 80 percent because i didnt know better and ended some listings i had multiples of and put lost or damaged and screwed my defect rate.  I call and explain it was my mistake and said no.  Now im loosing tons of revinue.  and so are they?  Idiots

[buzzapparel]

Over promoting doesn’t work either. It can be detrimental if it causes you to have too many views without a sale. 

[mr_lincoln]

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@albanysales8259 wrote:

its the views and traffic metrics that are concerning. ebay cant make a sale but not having any views on items means something is wrong  been doing this for years and ebays internal algo is screwed up big time

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@albanysales8259   Yes, that seems to be a reoccurring theme ... Views down 79% and 33.6% of my items have NO Views.  If I check for 1 and 2 Views then 56% of my items have 2 or fewer Views in the last 30 days.

So it's simple math at that point, if over half my items are not even being returned in searches or are so buried then they aren't being seen, aren't being Viewed and obviously aren't being sold.  

This has been going on since the beginning of 2022 ... it's not a short term phenomenon, it's a long term trend.  

October is halfway done and sales are 75% BEHIND 2020, 2021 and 2022.  October last year happened to set an all time high for Octobers BUT, that was only 1 of 2 months out of the last 18 that did that ... this slow steady decline with no growth to speak of is tied to when PLA was fully launched and the new Views counting was implemented early last year.