Extremely Slow sales

[rdemaree]

I know these sort of threads pop up every now and then, but I wanted to share my experience and get others opinions. 

This March 2023 so far has been my slowest month in my 3 1/2 years of selling professionally on ebay. Still 11 days left in the month and in the end I dont think it will be worse than my March 2020 but imo (unless something crazy happens) this month is shaping up to be in my top 3 worst selling months since I started selling seriously in summer 2019.

I am making this thread to see if anyone can relate and what people think the main reasons might be.

My theory is it must just be a terrible economy and people spending less on unnecessary items. I sell handmade oil paint and vintage art supplies mostly, so my crowd is kind of a niche audience. Definitely do not sell overly saturated or seasonal items.

Ive noticed a bit of a downturn slowly building since about spring of 2022 but it didnt really mean much until this past holiday season, which was absolute garbage in comparison with previous years. I sold more in summer months 2022 than I did nov/dec 2022 and that trend seems to be continuing into the new year. 

Im normally slow this time of year, but something else is going on. Slower than normal and christmas sales were a big letdown.

I figure it must be the economy, but another thing I noticed is my recommended promoted ad %'s are hovering around 10-13% rather than 7-9 % like they used to about a year or so ago. As I mentioned above- I sell handmade and vintage niche items, so youd think my market wouldnt be oversaturated. I always go with the lowest possible ad rate, to ensure my ads will show up on my own listings and maybe others. I didnt notice much of a difference before when I used the recommended ad rate in 2021 vs 2022 when I dropped the rate. I feel like its mostly just for saturated categories like watches, trading cards and clothes, but maybe im wrong?

Would love to hear everyone elses thoughts and opinions on everything. Thanks!

[liviu-liviu]

Sales are down more than 50% for me and it is an awful experience to pay 25% commission on a sale, I have 10 years of experience and I am afraid that soon I will close this butiq !

[66-catalina]

EBay Inc. said its gross merchandise volume, which is the value of all goods sold on the site, fell 5% to $18.4 billion in the first quarter of 2023, the eighth consecutive period in which that key metric number dropped. Apr 26, 2023

that's 2 straight years of decline.  the party is over, the punch bowl is empty.

[thecountrysunshine]

We have been selling on eBay, Etsy and Amazon for the last 9 years, and we also have store front (41 years).

It has slowed down across the board. In store sales are slow, and not as many people are doing large purchases. I feel it is the economic fear being pushed through the media, possible war, and eBay's lack of marketing. I could be wrong, but we have started to prepare for the slow sales, by limiting any large scale purchases. I'm old school (58) and I've gone through times like this before, especially the Carter years, and found that nose to the grindstone, and ignoring all the chicken littles, we will survive once again!

[jlstanton]

Here's an interesting thing people should look into (especially ebay).

A couple of years ago, they started pushing item specifics, and forced us to do required item specifics.  They keep telling us this will increase our sales, etc.  I went through and added them two years ago.  They did nothing to raise or lower my sales because the info was in the title and description and the way a search engine works, it looks at both of those.  So, I set up my templates so I didn't have to add item specifics (the required ones I said See Description).  Not adding anything, or having most in my templates allowed me to list at the same speed I did before.  This did not affect my sales as the specifics were already in my title and description and was simply redundant info I didn't need to list because, again, a search engine looks at the title and description and if you have the keywords there, you dont' need to do specifics.  This is the way ebay worked for the 22 years I've been on before they started asking us to do more.  Still works that way.

Anyway, a lot of people take the time to do item specifics.  It adds a hell of a lot of time to listing.  Imagine if sellers do all this redundant work and can only list 80% of what they did before in the same amount of time because of redundant item specifics?  Well, you end up with less items going up on ebay.  We end up selling less (because item specifics don't increase sales when the info is already in the title and description).  And when we sell less and you take up all that lost work because eban insist we do all this extra work for no gain, then ebay loses that much money as well, only times by millions of sellers.  Yeah, math works that way.  Ebay has increased the time it takes most people to list at no gain for that extra work.  No wonder ebay is down 5% in listing every year.  Just my two cents.

[mr_lincoln]

@jlstanton   The issue is eBay's manipulation of listings and I noticed the biggest downturn in sales shortly after they launched the PLA (Advanced) promoted listing feature combined with how Views are counted (only the last 30 days).  

Sales have just steadily dropped since that happened last year.  In the last 14 months only ONE month set a new sales dollar record.  So this also means there has been NO growth in the last year ...  I am on Weekly payouts and next Tuesday will be the LOWEST payout that I have had since going in to Managed Payments ... less than $ 160 which is absolutely pathetic.  May also threatens to be the LOWEST May for dollar volume in 7-8 years. 

And oh by the way, it is NOT the economy ... if it was then I would be buried in surplus inventory being able to get it cheap and that is not happening ... the opposite is happening, it's harder to get at a price to resell for and hit my target profit margin.

PLS Campaigns don't even work well like they did prior to 2022.  

[mr_lincoln]

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@thecountrysunshine wrote:

We have been selling on eBay, Etsy and Amazon for the last 9 years, and we also have store front (41 years).

It has slowed down across the board. In store sales are slow, and not as many people are doing large purchases. I feel it is the economic fear being pushed through the media, possible war, and eBay's lack of marketing. I could be wrong, but we have started to prepare for the slow sales, by limiting any large scale purchases. I'm old school (58) and I've gone through times like this before, especially the Carter years, and found that nose to the grindstone, and ignoring all the chicken littles, we will survive once again!

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@thecountrysunshine  I can assure you that it is not the economy and it is eBay and the negative impact all of their major changes have made ... I acquire my inventory elsewhere so if it was the economy I would be rolling in surplus inventory but that is not and has not happened ... in fact it has gone the opposite direction where there is more competition for the categories I sell in outside eBay ... odd, eBay seems to be the ONLY venue I have seen sales continue to drop in ... 

eBay implied promised increases in sales by %s with their various changes and the opposite has happened ... sure, maybe the target group they are after has experienced increased sales by my account is by far NOT one of them.  

This is a true statement: "It's not you it's us"

[2012asharma1278]

As a longtime buyer I know I’ve completely stopped buying (hoping someone who reads this can change what’s happening). As a Canadian there is a disincentive to buying due to taxes and increased costs for shipping and duties - the incremental costs make buying from the site cost prohibitive for consumers. In its current model, buying is a bad idea

[windycityart4u]

eBay has gotten so slow lately. I sometimes even use the maximum percentage that is recommended for promoted listings. May was extremely slow. Starting to move bigger items to auctions or local shops. Used to be that you can make way more money from selling on eBay if one bought from auction houses. No more. When they said they were hiring a Walmart CEO I just laughed. That place is run worse than a Third World Country. No offence to a Third World Country. They even started banning art that they deemed inappropriate because it has nudity. Was going to put items up that were thousands of dollars and had to take it to an auction house because they kept shadow banning the listing. Doesn't eBay care about making $$$? Getting tired of the throttling and slow sale days. Had a return for an items that will cost $100.00 to ship back out of my own pocket from some ridiculous buyer who claimed the item was "not as described." No protection for sellers on this site. Will only list small sized items moving forward from here. #ClownWorld 

[sumsum70]

I'm actually kinda glad my sales have been almost nothing for the past two weeks. Low sales made it easy to travel to Richmond, Baltimore, DC, Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and a place you never heard of - Dunbar, WV, while not being overly burdened with packing and shipping. All to pick up inventory, most of which will not be listed on eBay. Pittsburgh CL generated an unusually high number of sales over the weekend. Not shipping, not paying fees, collecting cash or Venmo - I could get used to not selling much here!

Also, I got a magnificent 30% coupon code that saved me $61 on a used wheel on eBay this morning. 

[michellrhode42]

Sales are so slow with me I am trying to get out. I sell dishes and shipping cost are a killer. Between increase shipping cost, generous bubble wrap, tape. I am breaking even and some cases loosing a dollar or two. Just not worth it. I have even changed some listings to free local pick up but still no offers. Going to garage sale and then donating a lot of items.  Going to get a part time job taking care of elderly instead. Sad that I won't be saving antiques for future though. 

[rcavalcant-0]

My last sale was May 22nd, I'm retired and sell on eBay for extra money. I have even cut some prices on autographed football jerseys to intice sales. Nothing. The economy is lousy due to the lousy president in the White House. That's a fact. I use eBay, Mercari and Marketplace on Facebook and still can't move anything. You said your husband is deployed, don't know what branch of service, but from this vet? Please thank him for his service. I don't believe in luck, so I'll God Bless you and pray things turn around. Stay strong and stay safe. Bob "Pop" C.

[protrenddirect]

It's all about eBay choosing to sell your stuff vs NOT. I was contacted by a rep trying to push advanced promotions on me in December and they claimed they were helping the account through March, guess what? Killer sales for 3 months then they turned off the switch. The platform is going in the wrong direction trying to milk sellers for all they have. There is a reason eBay has been trending down in sales, buyers, and sellers. Truly a shame.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

And oh by the way, it is NOT the economy ... if it was then I would be buried in surplus inventory being able to get it cheap and that is not happening ... the opposite is happening, it's harder to get at a price to resell for and hit my target profit margin.

PLS Campaigns don't even work well like they did prior to 2022.  

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^^^This.

[jasoheat_0]

how about a loss of about 25% of buyers since 2019 ... thats probably a big one 179-134 mil 

[compscrap]

its hard for me to make a comparative experience because I sell parts.  I have slacked off on my ebay business for the past year or so because of other things taking my time.  So if there has been a drop in parts sales I couldn't rally tell.  I am selling less that 2 years ago because of me. So I do not have a constant to compare to. 

    the BEING SAID, there are a few things working against sellers of special goods like yours.  

Inflation is one.  Wages have grown quite a bit but have been absorbed by the incredible inflation we have experienced over the past 2 years.  

     Shipping costs also have hurt special items and large items more than anything else.  One thing I can definitely say is there absurd dimensional weight increases the usps has put in place has ruined the sales of a few items I sell.  

      And I think some special items like yours go through periods of varying popularity which may also be a problem for you. 

   As  far as ad rates. that promo crap ebay initiated is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on online sellers and should be dealt with by congress.  the ad rate goes up as other sellers who fall for it try to keep up.  and the fact that you are not just charged on the sale but also on the shipping and the tax ( yes. its true. check it out if you didn't know that.  I was told this 2 different times by ebay concierge) makes it cost prohibitive to all but the largest sellers ( mostly now from out of the US on ebay) that can absorb the high cost.  When that program first started the ad rate was only charged not the sale price and in my field the ad rate was usually around 5 to 6 percent.  now over 10% is typical.  I have 100% positive feedback with top rated plus stats and many of my items are placed below sellers with worse stats.  even if I search for my exact title mine won't be number 1 in the queue.   But my great metrics USUALLY keeps me in the top 4 or better.  When my listings drop far below that I end them and make a new listing which gets me back near the top. 

      What ever ebay is doing the system is stupid for the seller to deal with but I guarantee it makes ebay more money.

      Thats what the platform was created for.  to make ebay money.  Not you. Never forget that.