Sales were great.............now they have totally disappeared!

[getitright1234]

Sales were great.............now they have totally disappeared!  Is anyone else having this problem?

[this*old*attic]

Oh, I’m sure there are glitches now and then. Welcome to selling on an internet platform.

But it’s no different than having the streets torn up in front of your brick and mortar, or your strip mall location becomes a ghost town despite the big yellow “OPEN DURING RENOVATIONS “ sign, or riots or picketing blocks acces to your store front, or your supplier goes belly up or....

Who promised you a rose garden.

Ebay, no matter its issues is STILL better than anywhere else for most of us - the river has too many restrictions and won’t even take most of us, other sites are way more expensive to use, and I’ve lost track of the number of supposedly “Savior” sites that went belly up for lack of traffic.

I’ll stay put.

[thrifty_yinzer]

It seems to be pay to play now just like every other site. I have noticed the more I Promote my listings the more I sell. Sucks though because I have to bump the price a little to make up for it. I typically do between $100-$150 a day in sales and the last 2 days I did $25 each day. Today I was at $270 by lunch but haven't had another sale since. It was so consistent before but now you just never know.

[this*old*attic]

It is true that markets change.

A generation that loves one thing or is nostalgic for something else passes away, and the next generation is nostalgic about something else.

Trends come and go.

People’s shopping tastes change, both in terms of WHAT they want to purchase and WHERE they want to purchase it.

And EBay has gone from being the only game in town to merely one (if still the original) in a sea of many available choices.

Not to mention the auction format has lost much of its gloss, and buyers’ have figured out that not much is truly rare.

All of these, plus concepts already discussed, are more likely than the idea that EBay would plot against or cheat its own customers (us).

[this*old*attic]

EBay has always been pay to play - I’m only back about 6 months after a five year hiatus, but I bet these promoted listings I hear about are just a revamp of something that used to be called a Featured Listing.”

But also - what inconsistency? You say you usually sell $100-150/day?

I’m not even going to get into the incorrect statistics of taking 3 days out of 365 and trying to discern a pattern....

The point is, you ARE consistent!

($25 + $25 + $270) divided by 3 = $106.18.

That IS within your normal range.

[cationdi]

January and August are usually my worse months. Been doing this for years. But with post office increases won't be selling on here anymore. Can't even figure out how much to charge since in June they are also changing package weight dimension pricing. Whoever thought this up should be fired.

[this*old*attic]

OMG you are not KIDDING about the price of postage. I CAN’T BELIEVE how much it went up in the last 5 years! 

Its only a few bucks difference within the country, but it’s pretty much KILLED my international business - which used to be 1/3 of my total!!!!

I miss my international buyers!

[drusalina]

Sales are DEAD!  only one sale yesterday in 9 days.  An item I had for sale since March of 2018 finally sold.  No Listing Sales since December.  eBay has forgotten where their bread and butter comes from.  eBay messed up search since April of 2018, has killed sales.  Down 75% since last year.  January 2018 was one of my best months.  This so Frustrating!   I can't use promoted listings that only give me a few dollars profit!  Higher Shipping Costs on Jan 27th 2018, and I will make even less.  How much torture does eBay want to put us through!

[sakic92710]

December was very disappointing.  2019 started out pretty well.  I passed my total $ for Dec. by about $120 in Jan, by the middle of the month.  Now, over the last 3 days - $0.  Really looking for 1 big sale for an item that has 75 views in 5 days.  Going to list new but, it's like a lottery.  Need that 1 person to see your listing.  If they don't see it, item becomes a dust collector.  Good luck to all.   🙂

[this*old*attic]

I see many people complaining about poor sales, but I just don’t see it.

I came back about April/May after not selling for 5 years.

I’ve been selling a consistent $400-$500/month with only 30-40 listings up at any given time. Not bad for as little as 2 up to a MAX of 10 hours/month, TOPS, of work.  

I am not any brilliant wunderkind marvel, but I do think I have a good eye and put together a nice listing.

Most important, I spent countless HOURS reading on the boards and scouring/comparing completed listings to learn/start in the first place. When I came back just recently, I did a mini-version of that same thing all over again because it automatically made sense to me that there were more or new things  to learn on the boards (i.e. the advantages of using Sell Similar through a successfully sold item when listing) and that the market had changed in 5 years.

I ran and still run my business the exact same way in core areas:

1. My time is VALUABLE, and I won’t list an item if I can’t make a certain profit.

2. My time is VALUABLE, and I won’t waste it Scooby sleuthing my customers.

3. My peace of mind is VALUABLE, so I accept that there is some level of loss inherent in business and put very simple practices in place to mitigate potential damage in advance.

4. My peace of mind is VALUABLE, so I tend to give customers the benefit of the doubt and don’t let the annoying ones rent space in my head for free.

I often wonder what would happen if I stopped pussy footing around and got 400 items up, instead of 40.

I do have the advantage of a very good day job (I teach elementary Special Ed), so I recognize that it’s (relatively) easy for me not stress (although I do have my moments).

I honestly believe success is available for all of us.

And, while it is hard for me to criticize other sellers specifically or call them out, I see a lot of practices and choices that I would not follow myself.

At some point, it HAS to make more sense to self reflect and examine one’s own business than it does to keep complaining that it’s all Ebay’s fault.

If for no other reason, do it because you CAN control yourself but you’ll NEVER control EBay.

Just my two cents, your mileage may differ, etc.

[qualityreplacementsfast!]

Who has time for that?? Well maybe we do when you have no sales!!!!!!!!!! Been selling for 20 years & first time this long without a sale. Bad

[qualityreplacementsfast!]

I agree.. Something big is going on. I have done well for 20 years & suddenly no one wants my stuff???

[qualityreplacementsfast!]

I totally agree. My January's have always been almost good as December.. Selling for 20 years. I am scared...are the shoppers really gone???????????

[qualityreplacementsfast!]

Same here..... Something is up...??

[allstar-comics]

Not likely, values for important comics have tripled in the last 5 years and I sell in 50+ categories not just comics.  Also sales don't get cut in half in a month when you are as diversified as I am.  My eggs are in many many baskets from cheapie items to $1000 items Whatever the case may be it seems to be out of our control.  I have been listing new items almost daily.  Am editing old listings and tweaking titles daily.  Have tried all sort of tricks to refresh my listings but nothing is spurring sales.  Hard to believe when you have this many items that nobody around the world is pulling the trigger to buy something for 10-12 hours at a time yet I have sales gaps which   never happened before.  Used to be a 3 or 4 hour gap was very very rare.  Used to be each morning I had numerous sales from the night before.  All that has dramatically changed in the past year and seems to be trending in a downward pattern.  If you are a full time business and not a hobby seller this is extremely disturbing.

[rejuvenatekalamazoo]

In seller hub you can view your performance stats.. That can give you some insight into why your sales are down.. For expample, my sales are down by 20% compared to last year at this time. According to the stats, my active listings are down 10%, listing impressions are down 31%, page views are down 41%! A decline in active listings of 10% shouldn't create a decrease in impressions of 31%, should it?