Sales Dropped to ZERO out of no where....

[buriedtreasuregiftshop]

Just wondering if anyone else has had their sales completely shut off before.... It's been 7 days without a single sale... My impressions, traffic, ect...is all down 50-75% out of no where.  I've been slowly building the store up since Sept. In Nov- Dec I had 50-100 items and was getting sales at least a few day a week. In January I was up to 200+ Items listed and had a great January with sales almost every day, I doubled my 30 day average for Jan compared to dec.  Jan 30 all of a sudden everything stopped...Every day my stats were turning red and that % just keeps growing. It just doesn't make sense.  I've ended about half my listings and am editing them to try to help but no idea what's going on. 

[ten_o_nine]

@meme6253 

You just have to recognize it and live with it, sometimes "no sale days" mean more "relaxation days"

doing other things day or enjoying life outside of eBay as intended.

Relying on eBay for income is like relying on Bed Bath & Beyond for steady employment.

[oaklandmaryland]

I believe Ebay sometimes doesn't show  seller's items. The happens to me occasionally for about a week at a time.

[rjblg10]

are you getting any views though? I listed 10 things in the last 3 days and only have 5 views out of all of them. I'm guessing the name of the game is I must pay to promote the garbage I'm selling or else they won't even show it?

[chapeau-noir]

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@buriedtreasuregiftshop wrote:

Thank you and the books are just a liquidation. A few have bids and whatever doesn't sell when they end is going in the trash. Kind of a clean up junk itesms, make room for more sale.

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Please don't just throw them in the trash - people comb thrifts looking for unusual books as you have - plenty don't like shopping for them online because they like the hunt and like to look at condition itself (I'm a book/newspaper collector). 

[isaiah53-57]

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@buriedtreasuregiftshop wrote:

I promote my listings usually at 5% above the recommended. Iv'e been doing 13-17% for the promoted fee

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@buriedtreasuregiftshop  - OMG - Do you realize what you are doing?

Maybe not, as here is an UGLY example:

Lets look at one of those Fishing Flies transactions at $6.99(Item Price) + $5.15 (Shipping) + $0.73(6% Sales Tax) = $12.87 (Total Transaction)

13.25% of 12.87 = $1.71 in FVF's. Add in the .30 transaction fee and you are at $2.01 cents in fees on a $6.99 item!

Now add in a 15% Promoted Listing fee of $1.80 and that brings you to a WHOPPING $3.81 in fees on your $6.99 item! leaving you $3.18 to account for item cost, gas, wear and tear, shipping materials, office supplies, returns, taxes, storage, accounting, etc, etc -

How much did you walk away with after you account for all expenses? Now apply that amount to the most valuable commodity you have - YOUR TIME - The time involved in doing what you are doing: sourcing/ taking photos/ creating listings/ maintaining listings/ answering questions/ returns/ dealing with site problems/ shipping/ accounting/ taxes/ etc etc. How much money did you walk away with in the hour(on avg) it took out of your life to accomplish selling this item??

Look at it this way, the fees you are paying are right at 55% of your selling price before you account for ANY OTHER EXPENSES! Someone is getting rich in this situation and it aint you - Maybe you should just look at these slow/no sales as a blessing / the writing on the wall and figure out what you really want out of the rest of your life... My guess is, if people selling here really took stock and accounted for ALL their time and expenses devoted to online sales, a large portion would be in shock and quickly figure out a new plan...

[yuzuha]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

You probably sold out all your 'best sellers' and are left with the rest.

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Yep. Unless you're constantly replenishing your stock, it will just get more and more picked over and the good stuff will sell down until all you're left with is the extremely slow movers.

[chapeau-noir]

And one has to de-list those slow movers and rejig the listings to give them a fresh look or they'll be no-movers.

[yuzuha]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

And one has to de-list those slow movers and rejig the listings to give them a fresh look or they'll be no-movers.

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Eh, I never bother doing that and yet I routinely sell things that have been sitting around for a year or two. Sometimes things just need to wait for the right buyer to come along.

[chariot_badges]

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@ed8108 wrote:

The future forecast : declining sales

I expect more people will be spending more of their discretionary income on experiences & services & less on acquiring more possessions in future

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Really?

MY future forecast is that people will not HAVE discretionary income, and what income they do have will be spent on food and shelter.

I am a property manager.  In my little world I see rapidly increasing rents, increasing vacancy, increasing late payments.  

From tenants I'm hearing "Getting fewer hours. No bonus this year.  Insurance doubled. I'm sorry and I promise I'll get caught up."  

From owners I'm hearing "Vacancy is up.  Maintenance expenses way up.  Energy costs high.  Can't find insurance and if I can it's up 4x."  

I really suggest ya'll look up from putting in inventory and studying metrics and look at what's going on around you.

It's important to know the environment your business and you are trying to survive and thrive in.

[dbfolks166mt]

If you are not seen, you're not going to sell.  
I just ran a search for "Kawasaki Prairie 400 Bevel Gear"
    Best Match
40 results 
   Sort, Price plus shipping Lowest 1st
33 results
    Seven results disappeared and the very 1st one under "Results Matching Fewer Words" is 
(99 Kawasaki Prairie KVF 400 2X4 Bevel Gear Output Drive Transfer Case OEM)

How is that poor fool going to sell a Kawasaki Prairie 400 Bevel Gear if it's not going to show up, where it belongs, in a search result? 

     I guess it depends on how you search. I ran the same search on Kawasaki Prairie 400 Bevel Gear, exact words, any order and got 27 results. 

[rugerskick]

For a lot of sellers, January and February downshift from December/Christmas.

Also, it would be good to get your listings you took down to modify, back up ASAP.  If you were doing well with more listed as you mentioned, its important for you to get them back in your store.

[chapeau-noir]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

And one has to de-list those slow movers and rejig the listings to give them a fresh look or they'll be no-movers.

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Eh, I never bother doing that and yet I routinely sell things that have been sitting around for a year or two. Sometimes things just need to wait for the right buyer to come along.

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A year or two isn't a big deal - I'm thinking of a little longer than that. But I don't have much storage space - the stuff has to turn over. If it's not sold somewhere in three years, then unless it's 'special', it moves along to donations.

ETA:  I sell seasonally, so I don't have everything running all the time - that would be too many listings.

[selsa84]

I noticed Sunday that when I listed items only about half would show in my saved searches as newly listed which I though was weird. They've ALWAYS shown in saved searches. Had a buyer that told me he has upper peninsula map saved as a search and he said that my recent additions never showed up as newly listed.  

[ranzerocks]

I’m averaging 1 sale a week with multiple accounts! Not worth it anymore! Just sold 2 items on another far smaller platform with a fraction of the items listed! Below is a list of why EBay sales are no more!

1-lost 33% of its google panda 4.0 search rankings second highest of any company! 
2- Since the Covid EBay is flooded with amateur sellers who low ball or overprice items creating too much competition for the average seller causing the algorithm to drop most sellers in search engines basically dividing us into different classes based on what you sell or categories used!

3- EBay is distributing wealth evenly! You make a sale or 2 then nothing for a while, so someone else can make a sale! Prevention of monopolies on the sight!

4- Baby Boomers who ruled EBay buying 20 years ago, are sellers now and don’t collect! Today’s generation aren’t the collectors they were!

5- postal fees too high killing most sales and overseas sales which made up much of our sales years ago!

6-Ebay in 2017 made 91% of its profits from upfront fees and big businesses advertising, hence they don’t need your sales! They want your fees like store subscription and promoted listings! 
7-EBay loses money as does IRS thanks to its advance search option as everyone looks stuff up getting over exaggerated expectations then selling the items elsewhere at overblown prices and in many cases avoiding eBay fees and taxes! Don’t be surprised if this option disappears soon! 
8- sellers buying their own items then canceling the sales and selling the items elsewhere at overblown prices they created with fake bids!

9- I believe the government is also instructing eBay to limit sales to force people back into the work force as they are getting killed tax wise! Far less taxes to take out of paychecks and far less workers to support big businesses and corporations that run this country! If everyone is online selling, they take a big hit!  My Opinion!

[nattress-0808]

February and March 2024 sales  were good but April is simply horrible. I have been editing and ending also, I just don't understand.