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Sales suddenly stopped
Summary: metalsmith-ritarobben-antiques*silver discusses their declining sales on eBay after reducing promotion percentages and avoiding boosting their listings. They note that their items, known for being "table ready silver," do not appear in relevant searches, while unrelated items do. Despite following eBay's suggestions, such as updating titles and adding keywords, their sales have not improved without boosting. metalsmith-ritarobben-antiques*silver seeks advice from others experiencing similar issues.
I have been selling on eBay for years. This is the first year I concentrated on keeping new fresh items and the most ever listings. I have a large
eclectic collection and known for table ready silver. In searches for similar items, such as sterling candelabra, mine don't show up. There will be totally different items and yet mine don't show at all. Recently after seeing ebay taking a 27% after fees and such I reduced my percent on the promotion amount. eBay said that don't matter, and yet all sales have stopped. For a short time after the call to eBay my sales picked up. I followed all recommended suggestions like changing the title, putting in key words etc. Everything except BOOSTING, what I call "pay to play". When it first came out, I was fine with it and understood it would mean you pay to be pushed up in the line. Now it seems you are pushed out and replaced by items that have nothing to do with say- "sterling silver candlesticks Tall, weighted".. I see glass vase with silver bases even silver-plated items. Then constant stamping of my items by eBay with BOOST< BOOST. Is anyone seeing this same thing and what if anything do you do?
Regards,
Frustrated
metalsmith-ritarobben-antiques*silver
OP3 weeks agoThis seems like bad business on eBays part, and a little false advertising. I see about 5 to 10 sales a week before lowering the promoted listings. I have put some of my lower items on with suggested promotion, then added a note about what else I have. I have a full-time job so it has taken extra effort and working 3 hours beyond my work day. To see sales come to a halt is very disturbing. Thank you greatly. It confirms what I am seeing is real.
mr_lincoln
Mentor3 weeks agoHi @metalsmith-ritarobben-antiques*silver
Using eBay Promoted listings can be a vicious cycle but your 27% total fees supports what I experienced several years ago before I abandoned PLS (Promoted Listings Standard). I stopped using that in late 2023. It has taken some time but my sales slowly rebounded but still not to the level I had built my account up to. In early 2022 eBay launched PLA (Promoted listings advanced), changed how Views were counted and magically doubled and tripled the "Suggested" ad rates on PLS. From that point my sales declined unless I used their suggested rates which would have meant a total Fee charge of around 25% on every sale. That is unsustainable for what I sell.
You have sold 24 items in the last 90 days but nothing since September 7th, that's about 10 days. How much do you normally sell in a 90 period?
What I have seen over time (and we are talking a number of years) is that since abandoning PLS my BIN item sales have continued to be suppressed. While I prefer selling auction style I have a good number of items that are better suited as BIN listings. Last month I sold 83 items, only 10 were BIN listings. The month before that I sold 61 items and only 15 were BIN, and the previous month 58 sold items and only 5 BIN ...
You may want to consider Ending your promotions and go back to relying on organic sales. That is what I have done. However, if you do that be prepared to receive some targeted messages like the ones I got after abandoning PLS.