slow sales september 2019

[fashionandform]

Our sales are very slow, the summer was slow ( actually slower) as usual but now? I wonder if they have put us on a poop list since we have not opted into managed payments. 

On the plus side, we are getting tons done around the house, stuff we've put off for years.

Would rather have the sales though. Anyone else?

[boots8]

Same here, was wondering the same thing, and in last 2 months got no offers for extra free listings (first time in years.

Also getting messages from buyers who say they are not able to complete payment when items are in their carts and others that say that I dont ship to their address (all are US addresses, I am in US and ship to US )

[public-direct]

As a full time seller for close to 20 years I can confirm it is REALLY bad. My products are not seasonal either.

I was set to break new records end of 2018 and then something happened from January on where

sales keep declining no matter how much new product I add. Now the new record I keep breaking is with lowest amount of sales with September being the worse so far.

The number of items per day I sell is down 50%.

Gross revenue is down 30%. However, between inflation with shipping and product cost, my net income is down closer to 60%. 

I don't think I've ever seen it this bad and I have more inventory than ever, so my stress levels have been off the chart. I feel like we're in a recession right now but people everywhere else are saying it's great.

PS, I'm not using ebay's managed payments.

[oem-xcellence]

Axiombody, I've been doing this full time for 7 years. I'm working on getting out before next summer. There are no signs that this site is going to recover at all. I'd recommend getting out ASAP I may not even make it to the end of the year if things keep up like they are.

[nwimpex]

GTC and managed payments are nothing but another gimmick money grab by eBay. The company is selling off assets and desperate to stay relevant. Trying to be like the competition won't work. If they got back to their original business model (small store owners, people who have cleaned out the attic & garage, etc.), they would do well. Unfortunately they have a bunch of MBA fools making decisions to squeeze every last drop out of a penny instead of people who actually look at what works.

[thewindedleaves-1]

Have you signed up for managed payments already? I sell Strange old stuff (great market) too but I haventn't signed up for Managed Payments & my sales are at a halt. Glad to hear your sales are rockin', keep it up!

[thewindedleaves-1]

Thank you! I need to do this...

[mlou1967]

Just went to the Etsy forums and they are saying the same thing about slow sales. So it is not just Ebay, seems like everyone is slow.

[oem-xcellence]

I'm not talking about it being just slow in September and many people in this thread aren't talking about just seasonal ups and downs.  I've been through that many times and so have many of these other sellers.  I'm talking about the permanent erosion of business that's been happening by 25% to 50%  per year for the last several years.  I have three times the inventory and well over double the dollar value I've ever hand in this business.  There is more selection on a few stores I run and I don't even have much competition for most of the items that I have listed.  People simply aren't on or using the site as much and that's ashamed because we all know this is a better more stable platform than it's ever been but it's lacking one thing...growth.  Not all categories are experiencing this but  I remember reading an article in 2016 that Ebay Motors (Including  Parts) site lost nearly 40% of it's market share  and from my experience in a few more years only very large sellers will be left because even through the prices are better if less people are using the site sales are going to keep diminishing.

Nearly all of the people I know that used to have car parts business on Ebay have shut down.  It's to the point that no matter how much you list or what kind of discounts you give, the tougher months are becoming much, much, tougher.  When I visit these forums I'm relived to see that many others are experiencing the same things I have and that it's not my imagination or something I'm doing wrong.  I've learned my lesson from this business though.  I'll never get merchandise that I cant' market on multiple platforms and my own website. Also a platform whose main objective is just to just take away rewards and just add on more fees and penalties is not one that has long term viability when there are other ones growing at break neck rates.  For all those who've been doing this full time I urge you to look at things realistically, a business that isn't growing is showing the first signs of dying.  Since Ebay is a big conglomerate they can mess with the numbers in any number of ways but I have far too much experience in this business to know that things aren't adding up and it's gotten much worse overall.  Up until the last three years I never got on these forums to speak out but they've been putting up such inane policies in the last few years that I knew would have a negative effect on business overall and it did.  They even reversed most of the sales restraints but they're sticking with the new GTC even through there's an outcry against it.  I started relisting my items manually on one of my sites and my volume nearly tripled after I was about to take it down because my sales were barely covering my costs per month.  

For a lot of business models and categories the site works for them, consider yourself fortunate but if the company doesn't start working with it's sellers more it's doomed to a growth rate of less than 10% which it has been at for a long time but it has the potential to be so much more.  The CEO of the company just resigned yesterday, that's a good sign it's needs someone who is focused on innovation and has a hunger for growth that's something that's been lacking for a very long time in this business.  Best wishes to all of you if you can no longer profit from this business take the lessons you've learned and apply it to your next venture, both the good and the bad.

[worldwidespecialtypartsvbx]

I am doing promoted sales at 5% on all of my listings and I can only sell cheap($50 or less products). I have not sold a higher ticket item since September 3rd, these are auto parts that cost $200+. Prior to September I was selling 30-40 per month, now nothing.

[escarchac]

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@fashionandform wrote:

Our sales are very slow, the summer was slow ( actually slower) as usual but now? I wonder if they have put us on a poop list since we have not opted into managed payments. 

On the plus side, we are getting tons done around the house, stuff we've put off for years.

Would rather have the sales though. Anyone else?

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No, I am in the Managed Payment program, and my sales dropped like a lead balloon.  Last month I experimented with the whole promoted listings **bleep**, and my sales did increase slightly, but not all were promoted listings.  I cancelled most of my promoted listings this month, and my sales dropped below what they were before I tried promoted listings, and now, several of my listings aren't even showing up, even when I type in 3/4 of the titlw word for word.  I believe this is just ebay playing their "stick it to the seller" game.  I had this happen a few times before where my listings weren't showing up, contacted CS and talked to them about it.  Once, they tried to sell me on their promoted listings, but after each phone call,mysteriously my listings started to appear.

I would bet that ebay has either buried your listings, or they are not showing up.

[escarchac]

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@mickeymcrat2012 wrote:

I was wondering the same thing ...have they put me on some kind of  poop list or are sales really that bad ?..they are not relisting some of my best selling items and wont let me edit or list any more ....mike

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IT is just the games Ebay plays.  Have you tried to look up your listings and see if they are even showing up?  I have tried on several of mine, and unless type in the full title, they aren't showing up.  Some searches show listings that only have one or two words similar to what I typed, but mine still won't show up in those searches.  I have tried to change the titles, but still nothing.

[vickyaa]

Same exact thing here. Very Slow very scary..

[vntgguy]

We've had a couple people request to cancel transactions because eBay suggested they buy a "similar" item for a cheaper price with another seller.  Not good

[katrinathatsme]

I have went round and round with ebay and paypal on the phone to their sorry customer service for 3 days now.We have not sold one item in 9 days and for the last 5 years we have been  on ebay we have averaged $50 plus in sales a day in September but ebay says there is nothing wrong with account.I have had buyers to contact us saying paypal isn't going through and are trying to buy items but can't.This is our lively hood for our family and we don't get enough local business to stay open. We actually tried to purchase one of our store items yesterday and it showed that paypal was not available to purchase so I'm sure that's the problem but neither company will do any thing to fix it.There has got to be some kind of legal recourse for this kind of junk.If any one knows what can be done please help.These company's clearly don't care any more about the small sellers who built their companies in the first place.The new managed payments is a joke.I want things to stay with paypal until atleast they can get the managed payments where it should be.From my understanding you can't even load your history into book keeping software and the global shipping is not available either.Again there has got to be some legal recourse some where.CAN ANY ONE HELP WITH THAT FOR US SMALL GUYS/SELLERS !!!!!!!!

[murrockie]

I signed up for managed sales and have had no problems. It seems that you have to pay to get your item promoted. 80% of what I do sell is promoted and they get yet another cut of the pie. As for as number of sales. I used to sell thirty to forty books a day last year at the same time. Now it is two or three a day. My wife's account is the same.