Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
Is there some sort of site glitch or major algorithm update, a new rollout, or something to explain why my sales completely tanked on 5/2? This is concerning because it does not appear to be caused by the economy which would be more of a gradual decline. This is sudden like the plug was pulled on my store. I’m down 82% this week. It’s like everyone decided to quit the internet on Monday. But up until then, things sold without hesitation…day in and day out. Something feels very '"off" to me.
At first I brushed it off, it’s just a zero-sales day, which turned into three days, which turned into transferring money from savings to checking in order to pay bills. Now this has rolled into week two.
I’m not here to hear about “the economy”, and “the warm weather” and “groceries are expensive” and “family vacations” and other thoughtless excuses apologists and contrarians will use to gaslight sellers who have valid concerns. I’m well aware.
No signs of life, no sales. Am I in a sandbox? This…this is unlike anything I have experienced in 20 years of selling online. If you’ve done this long enough, you develop an intuition for knowing the exact moment things turn south. After a few hours, eBay shifts from a bustling little marketplace into a lonely, liminal space. Sending offer after offer with no response. Offer discounts get bigger and more generous. New listings show 0 views for days. Nothing. No stupid questions from Karen, no lowball offers from Kevin, just silence.
Last Monday I shipped 17 packages from the weekend, some of which were multi-item orders. I had 6 orders last Monday 5/1 until midday when things went dark.
No sales Tuesday. I had a small balance of $74.93 that cleared and was about to be sent as a payout for Wednesday morning—which I was looking forward to because I paid a chunk of bills and money was tight for the week. But no, on the morning of 5/3, eBay deducted $74.95 leaving me with -$0.02 balance for a few days.
Two low-dollar sales late Wednesday 5/3. I went 3 days, until the 6th without a sale. I had two small sales Saturday afternoon; two low-dollar back-to-back sales Sunday night. Nothing yet for today as of 7 pm EST. My first payout since last week was sent for $38...I’ll be sure not to spend it all in one place.
I carried this weekend’s sales, 4 tiny packages, to the mailbox in one hand. I scheduled a pickup for Monday and rejoiced at the small win—I won’t have to waste gas driving to the post office to wait in line, the peasant that I am, to humbly ask the Peg Bundy lookalike ‘please scan each one’ unloading what feels like a never-ending circus clown car of packages from my blue oversized IKEA bag onto the counter, while Peg passive-aggressively scans each one, triggering me with her long, breathy sighs. I force myself to make small talk with a stranger about the lone rooster in the parking lot that’s **bleep**-a-doodling at us through the window. Oddly specific, I know, that was last week, but it’s usually a similar scenario. The rooster is replaced by an itchy m3th head or a close-talking, overly friendly lady wearing Family Guy pajama pants.
No CVS-length scan receipt for today:(
I’ve sent 391 offers this week, from that I’d expect roughly 10 sales. My offers range from 15% to 40%, most around 20-25%. Not one taker. So unusual. And the only sales I did get this week were older listings (1-3 yrs) and mainly from one category. A few offers did not successfully go through, and I lost them into the ether (that is a whole other topic).
The economy doesn’t explain this sharp drop, especially since I’ve been selling full-priced items, consistently to HCOL areas in NY, California, Florida, and overseas throughout this impending collapse of the global economy. Some folks are completely oblivious, others aren’t concerned, and they’re still buying all the frivolous things.
Mid-April I went two days without a sale, I listed a wood Gerda Lynggaard bracelet that took 36 hours to index in my store, then was quickly removed by eBay for ivory. I called and was told to specify the materials in the specifics (which I already did) and that it was okay, it was a mistake and I could relist it (I chose not to, despite it being a $150 listing). I mentioned the low sales and was gaslit by phone support (“everything looks fine”) then while on hold, I got a sale (like magic) and sales resumed for 2 weeks.
I’m running out of things to list, there’s only so much storage space in my house. I refuse to buy more inventory until this clears up. Guess it’s a good time to go through the d3ath pile and oddities that have consumed the chair in my eBay room.
I also wanted to mention that when my store is “shut off” aka, a long period without sales, every new listing that I create requires me to enter my item location before posting. Even drafts lose their stored location info and over and over I have to add my zip code. I’ve noticed this glitch for about 3 years, though it only occurs during blackouts. Anyone else?
Yup, here's 24 pages worth of discussion about it, that is still ongoing.
It's finally turned around a bit for me, but since the 25th, I've had 2 sets of 3 or more 0 sales day. I always have a minimum of 2 sales, no matter what I do. It's definitely not the economy, that doesn't turn on a dime. But as usual, my sales have magically come back, though I did start a nice weekend promo, so we'll see if they dry up again now.
