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Sales down,business is dying

It is official for me : business is agonizing here. After all these years I can't make enough to pay my bills,and it's been a good while.I talked to Ebay several times about what could be the problem,but obviously you never get the answer that solves your problem.

We sold before 80-100 packages a day,now it is only about 30 (we make a very small amount of money on a pack).....or even less.I usually check other,top rated,high-volume sellers,but nobody sells and that is not a coincidence,SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG !

 

I believe Chinese sellers are killing us,plus the high-volume wholesalers,and I don't believe anymore this trend will be reversed ever again.If we are lucky we still make something,so I can't say I leave Ebay ,but this is not gonna be my main income source anymore.

I'm sorry if I sound too depressive (I am), I would love to hear your opinion!

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Sales down,business is dying

Do a search for what you sell......notice where they're from and the pics? A lot the same as yours, yes?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xstretchy+tank+top+dre...

 

You're not the first reseller to have the same issue when their supplier suddenly starts competing in the retail sector.




Crusader Cat is watching


Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy


"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

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Message 7 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

First - your feedback is not bad. You had  743 positives and 7 less than positive feedback. But for a 30 day period you had 743 feedback which indicates a good month in relation to what other sellers show. Only 30-50% of buyers leave feedback these days so your 743 transactions most likely equates to around 1500 transactions.

 

The Chinese Sellers are not ruining e$Bay per se. E$Bay is self destructing by not policing it's own policies and allowing Chinese Sellers to have duplicate listing, listing which are bait and switch ( Claim to ship out of USA but actually ships from China, not holding Chinese Sellers to the same standards as US Sellers. There mwas a post where a new foeign seller actually bootlegged e$Bay's TRS Badge and placed in in their photos. Other sellers reported this to e$Bay with no action - the photos have been up for over 30 days with no action from e$Bay.

 

Add in the search shortcomings with e$Bay showing buyers what e$Bay thinks they want, the wading through the hundreds of duplicate listings from Chinese sellers who may have 6-10 seperate ID and sell the same item on every ID. Buyers get disgusted and they leave never to return.

 

Then the problem with returns to Chinese Sellers for SNAD. USA sellers are forced to pay for return shipping. Chinese Sellers are not. And if a buyer does return they will never recoup their money since return shipping to China can be 5-!0X the cost of shipping to the USA.

 

Even e$Bay admits sales are down - check your seller hub. Ours show e$Bay claims the market is down >10%. i HAVE A GUT FEELING WHEN OTHER VENUES REPORT THEIR  2ND QUARTER SALES, e$bay will be the only selling venue with less than double digit increases in sales. Thhat is unless they use creative financial reporting to dummy up their results.

 

In short, both sellers and buyers have lost trust in e$Bay. They railroaded many good sellers out the door with the past defective defect polocies. Many of those sellers sold unique  2nd hand item, collectables or niche market type items. Many categories now have only slight variety in selection. It use to be if you needed something you could find it on e$Bay. Not now - I searched for a certain type engine for 8 months. Never found one on e$Bay but founf 2-3 on CL - brand new for 1/3 the price on e$Bay.

 

No good . no good on e$bay any more!


@maxxilano wrote:

It is official for me : business is agonizing here. After all these years I can't make enough to pay my bills,and it's been a good while.I talked to Ebay several times about what could be the problem,but obviously you never get the answer that solves your problem.

We sold before 80-100 packages a day,now it is only about 30 (we make a very small amount of money on a pack).....or even less.I usually check other,top rated,high-volume sellers,but nobody sells and that is not a coincidence,SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG !

 

I believe Chinese sellers are killing us,plus the high-volume wholesalers,and I don't believe anymore this trend will be reversed ever again.If we are lucky we still make something,so I can't say I leave Ebay ,but this is not gonna be my main income source anymore.

I'm sorry if I sound too depressive (I am), I would love to hear your opinion!



 

 

 

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Message 9 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

Look for a different product that commands a higher sale amount.  

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Message 10 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

@maxxilano

 

Despite that others seem to be focusing on what they consider as poor FB being your problem, you'll have to take that with a grain of salt because typically those wanting to blame the sellers' problem on FB is based on a cursory glance. The fact is that any knowledgeable seller here knows that 50% or less of buyers ever leave FB in the first place. Given that and based on the FB shown for you, your numbers suggest a much higher percentage of satisfied buyers than is typically seen for those competitive Chinese sellers.

 

In fact, over the last 12 months, your FB has improved percentage wise among those buyers actually leaving FB and as you say, you're currently at 99.5%.

 

maxxilano.JPG

 

As for those buyers leaving negatives, which it appears some replies only took those into account. Again, a cursory glance is hardly having done due diligence on one's part to criticize another seller.

 

Examples:
Seller Negative: "Really small 😞 and is not a one size fits all. Thin material
The listing clearly states S,M,L One size fits all ... Spandex ... Fits 90-175 lbs/5'2"-6'. Of course this couldn't possibly have been a 5'5" 215# woman that would buy something on eBay regardless of what a sellers' description clearly states. Yeah, okay.

 

Seller Negative: "COULDN'T SEE THAT THEY SAID ALL GRAY!!!"
While personally I think you could redo that listing to be slightly less confusing, the listing clearly requires that buyers select size, number or pairs of sock and the color desired. This buyer clearly admits that they made a mistake but they & eBay feel you deserve the negative for the buyers' lack of personal accountability. In the last 30 days alone of the 11 buyers who purchased & left FB for that particular item, 10 of them left clear positives. But of course that doesn't mean anything, right? Yeah, okay.

 

I could go on but you get the idea and the large majority of those buyers left negative FB without ever contacting you as the seller about an issue. Of course that never happens on eBay, right? Yeah, okay. If they had they might have found what other buyers who had problems found which is that you were providing after the sale support.

 

Seller Positive: "I had a slight problem but seller worked with me. A+++"
Seller Positive: "Should have read more carefully. Seller did effectively address my issue, though"

 

A little more than a cursory glance clearly shows that your buyers are 99.5% happy with having chosen to do business with you. This is eBay and to only have .5% of your buyers leaving less than positive FB, especially in your niche of products and with your relaively high volume of sales, is commendable in my opinion. And your DSR scoring ...

 

 

Item as describedStarStarStarStarStar4.9/5.06210
CommunicationStarStarStarStarStar5.0/5.06482
Shipping timeStarStarStarStarStar5.0/5.06671
Shipping and handling chargesStarStarStarStarStar5.0/5.06550

 

As for addressing the purpose of your post in the first place, slow diminished sales. I think you already have the answer to that when you say "I believe Chinese sellers are killing us,plus the high-volume wholesalers". Given your niche of products I completely agree with that and honestly, as far as eBay sales are concerned. I doubt seriously that you'll be able to turn that tide short of revamping what you sell. I know that's not what any seller wants to hear but I believe it's true. In your niche eBay has enabled this in large part along with USPS.

 

The fact is eCommerce competition is fighting for each ones own survival today. If you're not at the top of the food chain in procurement cost, have low cost of operations like the Chinese sellers and all the perks given to them by eBay & USPS alone, then you're likely not going to be competitive at the retail level. At least not on this venue. eBay itself is scrambling everyday to find it's own niche again and my personal opinion of that is, too little too late for them to ever again be "all that".

The longer I'm on eBay, the more convinced I am that idiocy in the world is growing at an alarming rate. No where is it more visible than the view from eBay itself.

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Message 16 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

Your feedback would certainly turn me off from purchasing from you.

Message 2 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

I'm not sure what are you talking about....my feedback rate is 99.5% which is an excellent rate in this selling category,if you check others.Top rated sellers have much worse than me.This is certainly not the problem,but thank you.

Message 3 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

Just my first impression looking at your listings (and your FB responses), you may be a USA seller but you sure LOOK like an offshore seller.

If the Chinese sellers are killing you there's your reason. Stop looking like one but with higher prices.



Crusader Cat is watching


Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy


"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

Message 4 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

Not the problem.

 

Negatives over and over saying they do not fit and are cheap.

 

As far as competitors you are the one who asked, and you are the one I am replying to.

 

The proble, is that it is obviously not what you wanted to hear.

Message 5 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

What makes me look like an offshore seller?My prices?They were higher before,we had to lower them to sell something at all.If I go back to my old prices my items won't even show up in the first 3 pages.Do not think I would not love more money to make....

Message 6 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

Do a search for what you sell......notice where they're from and the pics? A lot the same as yours, yes?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xstretchy+tank+top+dre...

 

You're not the first reseller to have the same issue when their supplier suddenly starts competing in the retail sector.




Crusader Cat is watching


Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy


"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

Message 7 of 49
latest reply

Sales down,business is dying

With what you sell, I can certainly see where you are in incredible competition with Chinese sellers.  They have taken over the market with regards to your items.

 

In glancing over your feedback (although that is not what you asked about) you do have a lot of negs and neutrals, but also have a lot more positives.

 

You may wish to remedy the grammatical errors in your terms.  This makes you look like a Chinese seller, and may be affecting your sales.  If I read your TOS alone, without looking at anything else, I would think you were a Chinese seller, even though item location says CA.  

 

For example, "due to the high volume of sellings"

and a couple more I won't burden you with..........also in your shipping terms you state "shipping is not free within the United States".  What does that mean?  The listing I am looking at says Free Shipping.  (?)

Message 8 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

First - your feedback is not bad. You had  743 positives and 7 less than positive feedback. But for a 30 day period you had 743 feedback which indicates a good month in relation to what other sellers show. Only 30-50% of buyers leave feedback these days so your 743 transactions most likely equates to around 1500 transactions.

 

The Chinese Sellers are not ruining e$Bay per se. E$Bay is self destructing by not policing it's own policies and allowing Chinese Sellers to have duplicate listing, listing which are bait and switch ( Claim to ship out of USA but actually ships from China, not holding Chinese Sellers to the same standards as US Sellers. There mwas a post where a new foeign seller actually bootlegged e$Bay's TRS Badge and placed in in their photos. Other sellers reported this to e$Bay with no action - the photos have been up for over 30 days with no action from e$Bay.

 

Add in the search shortcomings with e$Bay showing buyers what e$Bay thinks they want, the wading through the hundreds of duplicate listings from Chinese sellers who may have 6-10 seperate ID and sell the same item on every ID. Buyers get disgusted and they leave never to return.

 

Then the problem with returns to Chinese Sellers for SNAD. USA sellers are forced to pay for return shipping. Chinese Sellers are not. And if a buyer does return they will never recoup their money since return shipping to China can be 5-!0X the cost of shipping to the USA.

 

Even e$Bay admits sales are down - check your seller hub. Ours show e$Bay claims the market is down >10%. i HAVE A GUT FEELING WHEN OTHER VENUES REPORT THEIR  2ND QUARTER SALES, e$bay will be the only selling venue with less than double digit increases in sales. Thhat is unless they use creative financial reporting to dummy up their results.

 

In short, both sellers and buyers have lost trust in e$Bay. They railroaded many good sellers out the door with the past defective defect polocies. Many of those sellers sold unique  2nd hand item, collectables or niche market type items. Many categories now have only slight variety in selection. It use to be if you needed something you could find it on e$Bay. Not now - I searched for a certain type engine for 8 months. Never found one on e$Bay but founf 2-3 on CL - brand new for 1/3 the price on e$Bay.

 

No good . no good on e$bay any more!


@maxxilano wrote:

It is official for me : business is agonizing here. After all these years I can't make enough to pay my bills,and it's been a good while.I talked to Ebay several times about what could be the problem,but obviously you never get the answer that solves your problem.

We sold before 80-100 packages a day,now it is only about 30 (we make a very small amount of money on a pack).....or even less.I usually check other,top rated,high-volume sellers,but nobody sells and that is not a coincidence,SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG !

 

I believe Chinese sellers are killing us,plus the high-volume wholesalers,and I don't believe anymore this trend will be reversed ever again.If we are lucky we still make something,so I can't say I leave Ebay ,but this is not gonna be my main income source anymore.

I'm sorry if I sound too depressive (I am), I would love to hear your opinion!



 

 

 

Message 9 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

Look for a different product that commands a higher sale amount.  

Message 10 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

First - your feedback is not bad. You had  743 positives and 7 less than positive feedback. But for a 30 day period you had 743 feedback which indicates a good month in relation to what other sellers show. Only 30-50% of buyers leave feedback these days so your 743 transactions most likely equates to around 1500 transactions.

______________________________________________________

 

When a buyer goes to a listing and then looks at feedback, do you hink he computes all of that in his head.

 

He sees a lot of problems with the merchandise and hits the back button.  Plain and simple.

Message 11 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

The OP's feedback is not bad percentage wise, based on her volume. Some of the feeback comments are bad.

Message 12 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

The OP's feedback is not bad percentage wise, based on her volume. Some of the feeback comments are bad.

___________________________________________________

 

That feedback might still allow him to sell on ebay, but it is semantics to a buyer.

 

If I saw all those negatives and neutrals basically saying the same thing over and over, I know I would not buy from him.

 

Smart buyers are a little more discerning.  They do not keep buying and hoping for another outcome.

 

They shop elsewhere.

 

 

Message 13 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

I love the fact that people buy something for $4 and then call it cheap. Ummmm Yeah. Durrr.

Message 14 of 49
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Sales down,business is dying

Markets change.

Message 15 of 49
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