Has anyone experienced a severe sales slump in the last two months?

[gingincorporated]

My store and another long time Ebay seller are experiencing large sales drops in the last two months. I contacted Ebay but they say all is fine. I did get them to admit there is a system wide problem with sellers being able to view how many people have viewed theyre items. They offered no solutions or a fix time. I also noticed that over 75% of my listed items were unviewable for about 3 days because of some other system error that would not let buyers see my photos. This happened to the other seller as well. Anyone else have these issues?

[brunosfinejewelry]

So sad that Ebay Reps are so Complacent when you call them. No emotion in their voice, condesending at best. I really don't think the high ups in Ebay even tell the Ebay reps what is going on. So technical dashes under views appeared on my site for 4 months. I called every month to ask when it would be resolved. The Rep only said it was being worked on & sorry for the inconvenience & sales were not affected - YES THEY HAVE BEEN. My sales & many other people I know have had the same problem.

The dashes were fixed last week. Still no sales. i now recieve blurbs from Ebay telling me to lower the prices of certain items. Good for them. I am not going to reduce my price to below what i paid. Frustrated, Ugh!

[cwcsports]

I recently had a 10 day period with only one sale. And on that item the buyer filed a return which ebay automatically approved, they said they "just didn't like it" because the items were too small. The title said "miniature", the description provided all dimensions possible, and there were 7 pictures from every angle possible. I called ebay about it today which was a waste of time. I feel like an idiot for letting my store subscription renew.

[yuncreations]

no! actually last month I sold more than ever!!

[craftyholly]

I feel like we pay store fees and then they didn't do their part of the bargain. 

I'd like at least a free month of store fees. 

[keziak]

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@cwcsports wrote:
I recently had a 10 day period with only one sale. And on that item the buyer filed a return which ebay automatically approved, they said they "just didn't like it" because the items were too small. The title said "miniature", the description provided all dimensions possible, and there were 7 pictures from every angle possible. I called ebay about it today which was a waste of time. I feel like an idiot for letting my store subscription renew.

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I also question renewing in May. It does not seem to me that I'm getting enough sales to justify the fees. The competition in my category (books) seems to get worse all the time.  It's hard to get the sales, and so random.  I am doing better lately due to pushing auctions of book and AV lots. 

Before you comment that books are dead, my sales on Amazon are strong. It just seems like Ebay is no longer a good venue for selling single books. Either that or I price too high and most people won't try  Best Offer.

[gingincorporated]

You are outta your tree. I have sold 3 items in one week. You must work for Ebay.

[mountainmommie]

Even sellers who are doing well should appreciate being made aware of sellers who aren't. If you're making a lot of sales but a large percentage of competition is experiencing issues, it is likely you are losing additional profit as well.

[cbacal]

I have absolutely seen a significant drop the last 2 months. I do this full time & stay up to date with EBay changes, and I've read a lot of the responses to this thread (as well as others)...

One way to determine if there's a significant issue is to look at the similarities & differences of the complaints..

In this case, the complaints are mostly in alignment stating VERY similar experiences, which is evidence that this is NOT just some people griping, or some people not following up with changes or new requirements, but rather a serious issue with EBay.

To those who've not experienced a drop in sales, good for you..thats awesome...

To answer the OP's original question? ABSOLUTELY- a HUGE drop in sales

And yes, I have made all the changes EBay wants:

- 1 day handling

- free shipping

- 30 day returns

- FREE returns

- etc etc etc

I have 100% feedback over 3,000 & zero issues etc..

This also isn't the first thread like this.. and they all have a LOT of similarities...

So AGAIN - To answer the OP's original question? ABSOLUTELY- a HUGE drop in sales..

[richards*rock*collection]

ebay is just a selling platform, your items are being seen on google right along with godaddy, etsy, amazon, bonanza, and all the other hundreds of selling platforms. If your not being seen or you don't have sales, you really can't blame it on ebay. The fault is the title, and the key words in your description and condition. If you have one of a kind items, you probably should insert that into your listing if you can..... other than that, if your price is not in line with like items and your shipping cost is also high, don't expect a bunch of sales, you won't have them. If I get one sale a week I am lucky.

[clevervisionartlabs]

Same here! Don't do promoted listings anymore if you do...my sales are now only coming from that **bleep** which steals all the profit and returning buyers...Sales have dropped off from last 2 months yet ebay says I have $1400 in promoted listing fees. Soon, I won't be selling on ebay only my website, just no worth it anymore...Way to go ebay, you sunk your best business model soon you'll have defunct stores like toys r us and sears only...good job!

[richards*rock*collection]

That can't be, it means you owe listing fees only if you actually sell the items your promoting, there is zero charge to promote those listings, you pay a percentage rate that you selected when you put that item on the promotions, no one twisted your arm. Your making it sound like ebay is the bad guy when all they are doing is trying to help you sell your item. I mean really, it is like some of the people here think of ebay as a realtor that can't sell their house, when, in fact, they have priced it way above market value, give me a break, and welcome to the real cyber market place. Good luck selling.

[gardeltango]

Surprisingly I've had good sales this month considering that summer is usually the slow time of year for me.  

[craftyholly]

Has anyone who has a store,  and sales disappeared,  gotten any credit on store fees or free listings from ebay?   I tried to call a few days ago and couldnt get through.  

I  don't get it.  If ebay had  a technical problem surely it wouldn't take more than a couple days to fix it?  And if their sales are going down,   why would they limit listings from small sellers?  Are they trying to discourage or get rid of small sellers?

[ifyouloveit]

I have stopped listing. What is the point? I haven't even used up the freebies on my other account.

[ifyouloveit]

"I almost want to make an entire thread dedicated to tips and tricks on how I keep my sales up, but I feel as though that would be met with nothing but cynical and snarky remarks, which often happens whenever I try to offer genuine and helpful advice."

I would love to hear your tricks and advice, I am one of the sellers who has been tanked. No snark here, I'll have your back!