Huge Reduction In Sales

[tammystackle]

My sales are down 76 % compared to last year and my market is up 10 %. Last year I was averaging 2 sales a day. Now I'm lucky if I get 2 sales a week. Last year I had no store, a lot less active listings, no promoted listings and no markdown listings. What I'm I doing wrong? Should I cancel my store subscription? List less items? Stop promoting listing and markdown items?

[lnldiamond2]

Since Dec 2016 when I HAD to put the store on vacation to be with a terminal family member - Ebay's policies have steadily ended my sales.
From 1400 items selling well year round to 250 items today lucky to sell an item a week 84% below last year.
All of the policy changes that favor all of the situations above make us invisibe now.
Ebay wants big box, chinese and luxury sellers.
I agree with all the insight in this thread and can only add that we are seeing the end of the once great one on one eBay.
Nothing with help those of us who have been thru all the hoops to compete with the above.
Good luck figuring out where to go from here

[lnldiamond2]

Since Dec 2016 when I HAD to put the store on vacation to be with a terminal family member - Ebay's policies have steadily ended my sales.
From 1400 items selling well year round to 250 items today lucky to sell an item a week 84% below last year.
All of the policy changes that favor all of the situations above make us invisibe now.
Ebay wants big box, chinese and luxury sellers.
I agree with all the insight in this thread and can only add that we are seeing the end of the once great one on one eBay.
Nothing with help those of us who have been thru all the hoops to compete with the above.
Good luck figuring out where to go from here

[herway]

I do not sell clothing or knick knacks or cheap things from China.

I DO hand pick all my VINTAGE items with consideration to what I see has sold HERE ON EBAY in recent SOLD listings. All my items have a good chance of selling. I do a lot of research and KNOW that to be true.

I do not agree that interest in vintage and antiques has gone down, I do agree that the value of many of said items has gone down. Vintage and antiques are still very much in demand. I do flea markets, people still want to buy these items and are interested.

Obviously I do not do things on ebay the same way I did 2 years ago as you can see from my original post.

Being a ebay cheerleader is not going to improve your chances of selling more, just sayin.

[dreamcatcherdiecast]

Not bad...but lets say if the buyer wants to return an item...they would jump all over that " not as described " bandwagon...in one hand you don't know if your description is good or on the other hand it's not enough said about the item...just tossin it out there with descriptions....

[rixstuff]

Maybe because we have had a long miserable winter and folks cant think about summer yet?

[gary2861]

this reduction in sales for many sellers is real. i think its a newer market condition that isn't changed much by altering your listings. once prices get as low as they generally are, buyers don't want them consistently. its a reverse psychology thing that people will deny. they say they want a deal, but they don't understand that people unconsciously hesitate to buy very low cost items. when prices get low buyers do unpredictable things that become random.  this leads to random declining sales. on the other hand if you raise prices to increase the perceived value received, buyers now will not buy them here. i am baffled why buyers will turn away from the best site which i think is ebay, but i believe the crazy answer is people want the experience of paying for a membership. i don't do memberships, but most people i know don't do logical things to save money. cell phones have changed the way people think, which is a complex discussion. one of my relatives loves to say ....don't buy the cheapest one. 

[jewelstoys]

Agree 100% with you - sales are down with FAR too many sellers to blame it on anything but ebay manipulating what can be seen in search. I actually LOVE ebay, but you can't pretend there isn't something going on they don't want to state

[wealthstore2016]

May sales decline more than 50% compare 30-days periods since April20, 2018. And sales trend continue declining. I have never seen this bad situation. I plan to unsubscribe Anchor store soon because of no profit.
ebay US site, Can you explain and announce the clear policy.

[viviancecil]

Ebay is our worst enemy.  They pull in overseas accounts that offer poorer quality and free shipping (how they do that I do not know).  When I sell to Canada (the only one I accept) something 4 oz is still like $9-10.  They have items listed for 2.99 with free shipping.  Go figure!!

I have been selling on eBay for over 15 years.  I used to love, love eBay.  When I started selling, the store was reasonable and listing were 3 cents each.  I use to make about $1000 a month.  Now if I make $1000 in 6 months I am doing good.  They have to many partners.

[homecareessentialsstore]

Wow, EXACTLY the same us. We are an eBay UK store.

Sales decline of 50% since that exact same date April 20th 2018.

I suppose I can take some comfort in it not being personal!

eBay UK can offer no explantion or support either. Sending me an underperforming listings report!!

Just going to sit tight, see what happens and put no further effort into eBay until they sort themselves out.

[oldedale]

Same here. Sales down 55% from last year same time. Traffic / impressions down same percentage. Concistant sales for 5 years. Last May 2017, we sold $3000+, this year less than $1000. Traffic down 50-70%, sales down 55%. Top rated plus power seller, 12 years experience selling on eBay. There was NO CHANGE IN MY SELLER STATUS, just a huge drop in traffic. This occured on 2/20/18, we avg'd 10,000+ impressions prior to 2/20, less than 5000 after 2/20, impressions currently less than 1885 impressions. Same number of listings in feb as now, just a HUGE drop in traffic and of course sales. Our seller hub data has not updated since 5/4/18.

[laurabeardsley]

I just do not understand why ebay does not address any of the sellers concerns. It seems a good business model wants its sellers and buyers to be happy and do business with them.There has been no recognition on ebays part that views and sales are way down for a lot of sellers.I myself have not had a listings promotion in 1 1/2 years.I have called and they tell me it is random but after 1 1/2 years that makes no sense.This month has been a little better for me but still not even close to what it used to be. If they addressed some of these issues with the sellers that would show some concern on their part.After all when the sellers sell more ebay makes more money too.I worked really hard to get to top seller plus but will lose it this June because I refuse to offer free returns. All the incentives keep being taken away.

[nawlinsron2]

ebay addresses stockholders, not sellers.
The results of a flip would be amazing, IMHO.
They should start with NO stock options.
The ol' CEO said a monkey could drive this train...why they pay $17M is a mystery.

[thegreatcardshop]

you have to be willing and able to beat everyones price consistantly. Adding buy it now or best offer on everything helps. Sometimes your item is only worth what someone is willing to pay. The only way to see what the real market value of the item is, is by using best offer.