no sales

[vintagepl]

Has Ebay tanked??, Havent seen it this bad in 15 yrs. 

[orangehound]

No ... eBay's most recent quarterly report reported that sales were up 4-5% over last year, and they've been up every quarter this year.

Obviously, an individual seller might be below or above this number.  It just depends on whether or not your items are actually in demand by buyers, how much competition you have, and your prices.

(Many people selling old stuff have been reporting similar sluggish sales, by the way .. your account actually looks to have pretty decent sales compared with others).

[3d_discounts]

That's what I came here to find out today, also.  My sales are bottomed out all week too.  Elections, economic jitters, Christmas build-up, all could be reasons.  My sales are WAY lower than last year at this time. 

[dirk12955]

I'm an 18 year seller and it is pretty bad for the last several months.

I had 2 very good days in October but I had a bunch of days with no sales at all. The month ended up being good overall but down 15% from October 2017

The only thing I can say, and this is my thoughts as applies to me only. I've had bad periods before, I've seen this before, the days of no sales. And eventually, So far, over 18 years I've seen it come back every time.

My October was up 22% over September

Your mileage may vary.

[dhw900]

Yes, I just got done reading the quarterly report also. Actually, I was wondering if you believed ebay has hidden seller limits (that sellers cannot break through no matter what they do) - I would like your thoughts on that .

[hyperrush]

Got watchers , no sales at all.

[debvor]

I have seen article that describe Ebay's 3rd quarter report as "stagnant". If sales are up at all it's because of the giant Chinese sellers and is it just sales that are up or is the income from sales up also because you can sell a boat load of cheap little widgets and not make any money. Companies also fudge the numbers to make stock holders feel better. The vast majority of medium to small seller of both new and used items have slumping sales. That is a fact. Look at Ebay's stock price and then look at the biggest competitor's stock price and that says volumes. In his statement to analysts the CEO was very condescending about existing buyers. You can't run a business that way. Ebay is damaged and needs someone with a brain to fix it. 

[orangehound]

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@debvor wrote:

I have seen article that describe Ebay's 3rd quarter report as "stagnant".

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@debvor

4-5% growth is stagnant ... internet retail is growing 20-30% a year, and eBay can barely break eaven.

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@debvor wrote:

The vast majority of medium to small seller of both new and used items have slumping sales. That is a fact.

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I would love to see the reference of where you get this fact ... as far as I know, there is no way to know this unless you have access to some stat guy inside eBay.

[orangehound]

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@dhw900 wrote:
Yes, I just got done reading the quarterly report also. Actually, I was wondering if you believed ebay has hidden seller limits (that sellers cannot break through no matter what they do) - I would like your thoughts on that .

---

@dhw900

eBay does manipulate the visibility of items, but I don't think they cap a seller. 

First, it is clear that eBay manipulates the item visibility of certain sellers over others.  I've spent enough time observing my own item visibility to be able to know this ... and I've seen it in play with other sellers.  But, I don't have a problem with it, because I think of it as eBay's way to help spread sales around to a lot of sellers, so that one store doesn't get all the sales.

Second, though eBay may artificially manipulate a seller's opportunity to sell, I have not seen any evidence that suggests to me that eBay caps a seller - shutting them off - after they reach a certain sales level.  I used to think this was possible, but after a little more experience, I don't think it to be the case.

[relaxintowealth]

There also have been alot of ebay tech problems this month.

[debvor]

You must work for Ebay. The 4% growth is not from sales. Ebay has other income streams. They own other businesses. The Ebay selling platform is dismal unless you are a mega sellers. I suppose your sales are through roof right? And frankly I don't believe their numbers. My wife took a course in college entitled "How to lie with statistics" It's done all time. Of course Ebay is going to make the books look as good as they can. If you can go through the posts on these discussion boards and say that things are great I have to wonder how. Just read the posts of all the people that are struggling and then factor that out over the entire Ebay population and you come up with millions of sellers struggling. But like I said I'm sure your sales are great and they are way up over last year. 

[usmediamass]

@orangehound,
You have to say this same thing to a whole lot of sellers.
There seems to be a pattern of a whole lot of individual sellers saying the same thing.
When do a whole lot of individuals sellers become a group of sellers.........

[orangehound]

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@usmediamass wrote:
@orangehound,
You have to say this same thing to a whole lot of sellers.
There seems to be a pattern of a whole lot of individual sellers saying the same thing.
When do a whole lot of individuals sellers become a group of sellers.........

---

@usmediamass

There is a bias held by a lot of people that says "My bad sales mean that eBay is in trouble, or eBay is failing, or it is eBay's fault."   These people form a group that self-affirm their bias ... then they believe it.

That is faulty logic, and it is reasoning that serves only to deflect from the real problem and avoid taking action to correct the real problem.

What is the real problem?  It is (a) one's items are not, or no longer, in demand, (b) one 's items are facing increased competition, or (c) one's prices are too high.  Now, of course, it is possible that one's items are not being shown to potential customers by eBay - I get that - but such a situation is totally within the control of a seller if they understand the basics of how the eBay search algorithm works (primarily, if an item has been sitting in a GTC listing with poor click-through rates and low conversion rates, then end it and relist so that the "reputation" of the item has a clean slate).

Let me give you an example.  Last week, I looked at 8 items in my inventory that had been sitting idle with no sales for over a year ... people looked at the item and some had watchers.  Now, is it eBay's fault that these didn't sell?  I didn't take that perspective.  I owned it, and I took action.

• On each of the 8 items, I did some quick market research to see if the items were selling at all, and if so what they were selling for.
• 2 of the 8 items were not selling anywhere so I removed them and dumped them in the Goodwill box
• The other 6 had pricing problems, and they had sat so long on the eBay shelves that they had fallen off the first page of search.
• I ended all 6 listings, and created "sell similar" listings some title changes ... I priced the items competitively (below anything on eBay or Amazon).

What was the result?  One week later, 4 of the 6 items have sold.

So, is it eBay's fault ... or is it (a), (b), or (c)?

[englishivory]

Well if Oct & Nov sales do not pick up, it's time to pack it in I think. Not worth the trouble any more? The 60 day refund is rediculous, Buyers want to return their free shipping items and we should pay to bring it back to us. Some things just do not seem fair. It's all about the "buyer" regardless of the circumstances.

[usmediamass]

@orangehound,
This is very helpful....
What is the real problem? It is (a) one's items are not, or no longer, in demand, (b) one 's items are facing increased competition, or (c) one's prices are too high. Now, of course, it is possible that one's items are not being shown to potential customers by eBay - I get that - but such a situation is totally within the control of a seller if they understand the basics of how the eBay search algorithm works (primarily, if an item has been sitting in a GTC listing with poor click-through rates and low conversion rates, then end it and relist so that the "reputation" of the item has a clean slate).



Let me give you an example. Last week, I looked at 8 items in my inventory that had been sitting idle with no sales for over a year ... people looked at the item and some had watchers. Now, is it eBay's fault that these didn't sell? I didn't take that perspective. I owned it, and I took action.

On each of the 8 items, I did some quick market research to see if the items were selling at all, and if so what they were selling for.
2 of the 8 items were not selling anywhere so I removed them and dumped them in the Goodwill box
The other 6 had pricing problems, and they had sat so long on the eBay shelves that they had fallen off the first page of search.
I ended all 6 listings, and created "sell similar" listings some title changes ... I priced the items competitively (below anything on eBay or Amazon).
What was the result? One week later, 4 of the 6 items have sold.



So, is it eBay's fault ... or is it (a), (b), or (c)?