Regards,
@myfrugalboutique wrote:@boomersbiz46 Because eBay is stupid…that is why. Mr Lincoln said it well…they want you to spend more on PL
@myfrugalboutique Yep ... just checked my Views with items that have 0, 1, 2 in the last 30 days.
0 Views = 34.4%
1 View = 20.3 %
2 Views = 12.7 %
So when over 1/3 of my items have NO Views in the last 30 days and a total of 67.4 % have 2 Views or less it is easy to see why sales have declined ... I check this periodically and while the 1 and 2 View counts may vary the 1/3 of my listings with 0 Views has been pretty constant.
I diverted inventory to other venues last month and again this month because of the drop in sell through rate here ... while I LOVE selling on eBay the operative word is "selling". While I am not a huge Seller I know that keeping things moving in any business is crucial regardless of size.
@rschissler wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
When looking at one individual Seller then it doesn't make sense but looking at it from the standpoint that they want to increase their Fees per Transaction via PLS or PLA they have 1.7 BILLION listings to play with. So in theory they can bury, hide, etc huge blocks of Sellers's listings for a time in hopes that they will cave and jack up their ad rates on PLS or PLA, etc.
That's nonsense, conspiracy theory nonsense. PLS and PLA are a drop in the bucket of revenues, compared to FVF's. It's silly to think eBay would keep buyers from seeing seller listings, and thus cut their main source of revenue.
@rschissler I respect your opinion but don't agree based on my own results as well as info from some other Sellers both on these boards and local friends who sell.
@myfrugalboutique Many many Sellers are reporting the same thing in many many different categories. For some the drop is sudden and for others it is a slow protracted and agonizing experience. The last time I saw this type of trend was back in 2018 - early 2019 when they implemented the GTC mandate and got rid of the 10, 15 and 30 day BIN Listing cycles ( I think those durations are correct or at least close).
I had just spent 12 months growing a 2nd account to the low 5 figures only to watch it get killed off with that venue change ... it took 3 months for the account to trickle down in sales and then 3 more months of 1-3 sales per month before I just moved everything to my main account and was done with it. I did nothing different and the only differences was the significant site change and gone was the promise that the GTC mandate would increase sales.
@soh.maryl wrote:OK, in your case, evidently you are still making sales so the economy is not affecting you. Good news for you.
But I'd venture to suggest that there are some categories where it IS the economy that's slowing sales. Perhaps when I reply to such queries in the future, it would be a good idea for me to mention that maybe it depends on what you're selling?
@soh.maryl Yes, I have been doing better at that myself because I know what I sell is different than what others sell and even in my categories my mix of vintage - antique - collectibles is different than others Sellers in those same cats. The economy definitely affects certain purchases but when I go to buy inventory I don't see that at all ... I might go and bid on a 400 lot train auction and have 150 items on my Watch list that I want to purchase and if I leave with 20 lots that I won I am doing good. Prior to bidding I know what I can buy to resell and hit my profit margin which happens to be 50% after eBay Fees ...
Prior to Covid I could easily double and triple my money from live auctions because the only competition was those who were there. Once things shifted to online bidding things changed, prices went up, margin went down ...
Yes, my stuff sells, it just doesn't sell fast enough like it once did (prior to 2022) and sales finances future inventory acquisition ....
My second store was simple, I sold the same thing on both ... meaning I would get new inventory and list on the 2nd account first for whatever listing cycle I wanted (Auction or BINs). Then when those listings Ended on that account I would create the same listing on the main account. So I basically used known good selling items to grow the 2nd account, it worked ... it was more work to be sure but over time I was able to just list stuff on each account and let them there without doubling the listing process.
I learned that if you let an Ended item sit for 3 days then Relist it they put the NEW listing tag on it which lasts 24 hours. So by going back and forth between accounts there always seemed to be a lot of NEW listings.
