An anomaly?
Summary: sakic92710 shared their concerns about a significant slowdown in online sales over the summer, experiencing a sharp decline on all platforms. stlbbrpm attributed this slowdown to increased living costs impacting discretionary spending. Other participants, such as 1786davycrockett and toomuchstuffagain35, noted similar challenges, emphasizing the impact of rising shipping costs and economic uncertainties on sales. pickapaper discussed currency conversion issues on listings that might be affecting sales. Despite these challenges, some participants like 12345jamesstamps reported improved sales due to offering free shipping. The discussion also highlighted broader economic challenges and personal anecdotes about sales strategies.
So, was this 'summer slow down', for some, an anomaly or just a showcase for how online sales with be for the remainder of 2026 & beyond? My summer, on any platform, was abhorrently dismal. In July, I went 3 weeks without a sale. In August, I barely made it past $100 & that was because I got $40 on the 30th. Still waiting for something to happen in Sept. During the Labor Day weekend, I'm going to refresh my listings & ads in hopes that summer can end well & bring on a financially healthy new season. With all of the items I possess, I should be not in the position of barely getting by! :) Best of luck to all!
foster9
·Sep 8, 2026 at 1:54 PMJust as sales may begin to increase only for the USPS rates to increase in October as well. Gee, can't get a break.
inhawaii
·1 month agoMy sales are also slow.
Apparently nobody wants to buy what I am selling. 😉
sakic92710
OP1 month agoI had a much needed eBay surprise this evening. I decided to post 2 Fenwick Woodsteam lapel pins I had sitting on Marketplace. They sold extremely fast! :) Nice way to kick of the holiday weekend. What else do I have that can draw this kind of immediate interest??
piecesgonemad
·1 month agoVery slow for me, 3 items this week. Mind blowing eBay has done this to long loyal sellers. Love has really hurt auction and their refusal to assist in the algo I’ve moved to 3 additional platforms.
mam98031
·1 month agoThere are at least 3 or 4 other threads on this same subject. You may want to check them out for info.
chapeau-noir
·1 month agoSlump for me because I'm so low in inventory so I haven't had much listed. Earlier in the summer I sold about 1/3 of my stock elsewhere (which I hadn't been able to sell here) but everything has stalled on every site I've sold. My suspicion is that I just don't have enough available any longer.
sreu3058
·1 month agoToday’s takeaway:
“I even list items which bore me silly”
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoI think that this is a time where every issue a seller must deal with comes back to what you are selling.
I had a short slump for part of the summer, and better than usual sales for the period which was not a slump.
I am not seeing the postage increase impact my sales, though some buyers are snapping up items where the shipping looks low.
Items are selling which have been listed a LONG time. Either there are new buyers coming to Ebay or there are fewer sellers offering the items I sell.
I have seen signs of what I attribute to be seller desperation in some of the categories I list in. Today the 47% of the listings are promoted in a category which usually has promotion in the low 20% range.
I am one of those sellers who always has more to list, and when business seems bad, and it troubles me, I list more. Sometimes I even list items which bore me silly, in the hopes that they appeal to buyers who differ from my regulars.
12345jamesstamps
·1 month agoAn item that cost $10. with $5. for shipping.
An item that cost $14.99 with free shipping.
The second item goes at the top of a list when a potential buyer is scrolling for the cheapest price of the item because the total cost is one penny cheaper than the first item...
And potential buyers love the word 'free'.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoIt is an amazing thing, when Ebay suggests a price for my listings most of the items I list have comps with 0% offering free shipping.
Seems like the usual, its what you sell, manifesting itself..
When I give free anything, it is usually tangible, related to the item, and something I am unable to sell on its own. Shipping costs me money, I do not want to appear to give it away. My free stuff never increases the cost of shipping an order.
12345jamesstamps
·1 month agoBut I notice you are selling items that might need just a forever stamp to ship. A lot of your items for sale are paper items which can be shipped very cheaply.
Something expensive, I paid for tracking out of my own pocket...thus, maybe getting a repeat buyer.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoIf the buyer does not value my "little bits of paper" enough to pay for a tracked shipping method, he/she does not deserve to own them.
Someone, even more pretentious than myself might say that my merchandise is curated and intended for a discerning buyer.
I find that I have more trouble selling some items when I underprice them. buyers assume I am a scammer, as opposed to that I am just
an idiot.
Ebay propagates underpriced items because some sellers are idiots.
I have often sold items privately to other sellers up the food chain, who can sell items I cannot sell at a lower price than they quickly turn them for.
I have also made a lot of money selling other reseller's dead inventory for more than they were asking. People rarely talk about the fact that this is more common than some would imagine.
I have never had a business which sold on price, I have always sold on VALUE. VALUE is in the eye of the beholder, and there are plenty of cockeyed people.
12345jamesstamps
·1 month agoAugust was my best month so far this year...
Don't know why.
Maybe my free shipping has something to do with it...but it was a great month.
Almost felt like doing time away because I was so busy.
Didn't do anything out of the ordinary from other months.
The scary tariff thing might be keeping some international potential buyers away...but not from me since it's free international shipping on most items.
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 month agoI'm well used to the so called Summer Slump effect but I actually didn't have a BAD Summer all things considered.
But sales just fell off a cliff last week and I'm not sure they're going to recover.
I really think a lot of it is sticker shock (on both sides of the fence) from the constant USPS rate increases, especially the rural zipcode thing with no way to add a surcharge.
1786davycrockett
·1 month agoThe multiple price increases in USPS Ground Advantage have decimated my sales since July 2026, and August was worse -- I'm seriously considering shutting my eBay store in April 2027 (at the end of my subscription period) if USPS makes more increases.
lawnmowerpartsstore2
·1 month agoYes we have another USPS increase for the Holidays starting Oct 4th :(
fabrics24
·1 month ago · EditedAugust was the worst month for us by far; $34 total sales. Part of this is our fault bc we ran out of our usual boxes and had to change the dimensions on one of our bigger orders, which cost us quite a bit in shipping. After that, we just didn't get many orders.
Slumps absolutely happen, but I'm trying to brainstorm if this is something I can do anything about or not (surely there's something I can do; I'm just trying to figure out what).
Such is the life.
sakic92710
OP1 month agoHope everything can get back on track for you.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoI have felt that back to school started early this year. Could that have affected your sales?
fabrics24
·Sep 8, 2026 at 12:56 PMIt did start very early in my area! It's very possible that affected sales; some people might've gotten fabric for crafting with their kids over the summer, but with the kids back in school obviously that could come to a close. I don't have any conclusive evidence about that, but the season changing almost certainly has something to do with it.
Many of my sales came from people making/repairing their own awnings and sun shades for the summer, but now that it's cooler, there's less need for that.
I'll figure out what to do about it; there's plenty to do around the shop in autumn and winter, so it makes sense to have a strategy for the eBay store too.
pickapaper
·1 month agoWhen I looked at your listings, it shows me the prices in Canadian dollars, without showing USD. If I saw something I was interested in, I would have to Google the amount to see how much that translates to. A lot of buyers are not going to go to that trouble. (Actually, I thought eBay showed the equivalent of "foreign" dollars in USD, but apparently not on all listings.)
That coupled with the high cost of Canadian shipping could be hurting your sales. One item I looked at was $9.99C with $16.80C shipping. Shipping is not your fault, but I'm sure it has an effect on sales.
sakic92710
OP1 month agoGood morning. I don't know why either regarding the USD not being indicated. I have 2 listings at $9.95 but my shipping is $4.00. Since COVID settled, I've seen a great disadvantage to being a Canadian seller. It has grown since THAT thing was put in the W.H, too.
pickapaper
·1 month agoI pulled up your listings from your post above so it was showing me eBay.ca, not U.S. But when I went to another screen and pulled up your listings, it shows those two press photos as $7.21USD with $13.63USD international shipping, not $4.00. I tried to get a screen shot but couldn't get it to work.
ten_o_nine
·1 month agoThat's because you're looking at eBay.ca, if you look at the item on eBay.com. it will show in US dollar.
stlbbrpm
·1 month agoI believe the slowdown will continue. Costs are going up across the board for everything leaving less money to spend on whatever hobby someone might have.
shado-x
·1 month ago · EditedWait 'til we see Car Insurance renewal rates, last year they skyrocketed, this year it is Space-X to the Moon. Market collapse coming. Buyer's discretionary cash and maxed out debt is keeping them away or just low-balling (unaware of the super high postage costs embedded within --- this is all a man-made reuse). eBay has to find a way to neutralize the competitive sites so that to bring the flow into eBay exclusively to create a premium froth to buy eBay products.
frugalmarketplace
·1 month agoShocking, but our car insurance and homeowners went down! I noticed the downward spiral last October 2025 when the government shut down, and people were not getting paid. Their was some improvement , but the year ended up as one of my lowest. This year the last 5 months has been bad..but very good on two other platforms. I was shocked to have 4 orders on eBay today.
It’s not a good time for our country.