eBay search engine is getting worse, sales are in the toilet
Summary: debsterone expressed frustration with declining eBay sales, attributing it to search issues and promotional tactics by other sellers. They noted poor results despite having many listings and experimenting with promotion strategies. Multiple participants provided advice, suggesting improvements in pricing, listing titles, and photo quality. Others proposed reconsidering the practice of ending and relisting items frequently, as it might affect search visibility. There were mixed opinions on whether the platform's search functionality is the cause of these challenges, with some asserting their own sales remained unaffected. There was also mention of exploring alternative marketplaces due to changing dynamics on eBay.
I just wanted to see if folks are experiencing the same issues that I'm having regarding selling on eBay. I have just had the worst month in sales (only 6 sales this month) that I have ever had. I believe it's because when you search for an item, you don't get the most relevant results, you get items that sellers have paid the most for you to see, and you have to be VERY specific when you do a search. For instance, I have several puppets listed, and when I do a store search and enter "puppet", the listing with one puppet comes up, but the one with 2 puppets does not, simply because of not putting an s at the end of the word puppet. And sitewide search results might not have anything to do with what you're looking for. I've had a basic store for 8 years and currently have 1469 listings. I'm selling less now than I did 5 years ago with 500 or so listings. I end and sell similar every day, and list new items regularly. I tried promoting my entire inventory at 3%, and saw very little change in sales., so I've been slowly un-promoting as I end and relist. eBay seems to be constantly moving the bar on what you have to do to get your listings seen. It's nearly impossible to keep up with, and it's discouraging to put all that effort in with very little reward. Is anyone else feeling like eBay is becoming irrelevant?
animal-house-8
·2 weeks agoUS consumer confidence plunged to a near 12-1/2-year low in September, with households expecting a deterioration in business and labor market conditions over the next six months amid the Middle East conflict and rising interest rates.
Now that said add that to a sometimes very strange search engine, could have something to do with it.
lb23cavaliersmvp
·2 weeks agoIf it hasn't been suggested already I'd end all your auctions and convert every listing to a 30 day fixed price one. On day 29 end anything that doesn't sell and re-list using sell similar the next day. You can stagger them so everything doesn't end on the same day. IMO in this economy you need to be patient. Hope this helps.
yuzuha
·2 weeks agoI end and sell similar every day
There's your issue right there. The types of things that you're selling are long tail items that need the right buyer to come along. Often the buyer for that sort of item finds it through a Google search rather than by searching on eBay directly, and by doing a daily end listing and Sell Similar, you're ensuring that Google will never be able to index your listings for search. This is probably losing you a huge number of potential buyers.
debsterone
OP2 weeks agoI'll do an experiment and not end/sell similar for a few weeks and see if it makes any difference. On average I usually sell about 20-30 items per month. This month I've only had 7 sales. :/ I haven't really changed my routine, listing 10-20 new items per week on average, and doing the end/sell similar on 10-15 items per day.
redlinear
·2 weeks ago@debsterone
I list auto parts. Basically, I take a car apart, type up a couple hundred listings off of that car, then submit them.
Seldom do I get even one sale within 10 days. Usually around the 2 week mark, things take off pretty good for about a month.
Then crickets for a few months....Then here we go again with sales for a couple of weeks.
Used to not be that way.
Used to....parts would start selling the night you submitted them and continue for a couple of months and.....not much car left.
bolensparts-360
·2 weeks agoSomething is definitely wrong with what ever software these mega company's are using because if for example I want to order a riding mower belt and type in the exact part number I should not have to scroll through 20-30 non related items to get to the exact part I need, this is not just ebay several other programs do this I have seen as well. Boy I miss the old internet days when it wasn't fancy but it worked.
eburtonlab
·2 weeks agoI end and sell similar every day
You may want to reconsider this practice; ending and relisting using "sell similar" every day guarantees that at least some your items are entirely unsearchable while they are being re-indexed under a new item number, and may make it much harder for users that have found your items and added them to a watch list or to a cart to find the same item again in another listing.
redlinear
·2 weeks ago@debsterone
If you have several puppets listed, eBay is only going to show one or two (where they should be seen) in a search result for "puppet".
The rest can be found, but not easily.
This prevents a seller from "cornering the search result market" and allows others sellers to have more of a fair chance (although that fair chance is due to un-fair search result manipulation).
mypostingid15
·2 weeks agoAnd it will get worse as more sellers join.
mam98031
·2 weeks agoIf they are selling the same stuff as you are, then yes. But hopefully getting new buyers outpaces getting new sellers so we can all grow as well as the site.
bbcardzman
·2 weeks ago · EditedThings are very strange with eBay these days because sales are half or less what they used to be. Now I sell on Facebook (which up until this year I do not really like) and I make twice as much as I ever did on eBay. I hope they do something soon to repair whatever is happening. I honestly think the eBay Live thing is messing with sales.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 weeks agoWe all have expectations for the speed of sale of our inventories.
Some are realistic and some are not. Some are what sales were in the past and are now unrealistic.
When I look at your store, I see many items which I could not predict the time it will take to sell.
When I look at my store, I see many items which I could not predict the time it will take to sell.
I increase the number of listing I have active to a level which generates the sales required to meet my target.
It really does not matter what the cause of slow sales is, what matters to me is how to meet my sales goals.
dhbookds
·2 weeks agoSearching your store for puppets.........I get 3 listings
Searching your store for puppet....I get the same 3 listings....
The listing with 2 puppets shows up in both......
Should there be more shown?
debsterone
OP2 weeks agoInteresting! When I did it, what I initially described happened. Good to know others can see all of them when typing either word in a search.
shire123
·2 weeks agoI sell items that are really in a certain niche and are not overstaturated with competition for the most part.
I have no problem with searches. I do not promote anything but when I search for products similar to mine, mine always turn up often on the first few pages.
As others have said, if you sell in categories were there are tons of items competition will have a negative effect on your sales.
mam98031
·2 weeks agoAs to how many sales any seller gets is not always Ebay's fault when there are slim pickings. Sometimes there are things a seller can do to increase sales and sometimes it is just bad timing for whatever they are trying to sell. Ebay holds no responsibility for that.
You are selling in highly saturated categories. Some of which always seem to have lower sales during the summer months. The threads are full of sellers that complain about this all the time. I am sorry you are not an exception, but I assure you that you are in good company.
A couple of suggestions I would make that may help you is to make better use of your titles. You often don't use the space [80 characters] allowed you for your titles. This is prime real estate that drives sales. Think like a buyer and use keywords they may search by. Fill up the space with good word choices. No clutter and unnecessary words, except to make the title make sense. But use up the space if you can, it is important. Also remember that the search engine here on Ebay will search the title and your ISBs [item specific boxes] when a buyer does a search. So use those ISBs and/or create your own to make all the info possible available in the searches.
Clear and crisp pics. Those are so important. Many of yours are dark and have glare in them. Depending on what type of device and the quality of the device that someone is viewing your listings on, has a great deal as to how that pic will present for them. So darker and pics with glares can be problematic for many buyers.
debsterone
OP2 weeks agoThank you for the helpful advice. I do need to work on better lighting for my photos, and I have been re-taking some of them, and re-wording titles when I look back at older listings and notice they need improvement. I'm aware of seasonal slow-downs, but this month was the worst ever. Over the last 3 years or so my annual net has dropped while at the same time I have increased the number of listings, but 5 or 6 years ago I sold more with fewer listings.
luckythewinner
·2 weeks ago · EditedYou suspect that other sellers promoting their item is affecting searches for your items, but the example you give is a case where you are searching within your own store. Do you really think the issue in your example was caused by other sellers promoting their items?
debsterone
OP2 weeks agoNo, that was an additional example of why searches don't show relevant results. I suspect both the fact that eBay shows irrelevant results due to promotions AND that you have to be very specific.
inhawaii
·2 weeks ago · EditedIt is and will always be all about supply and demand.
There is currently low demand in the items you are selling at the price you are selling them for.
Sellers have been coming here for years blaming the search for slow sales.
It works fine for me both as a buyer and a seller.
As a buyer, I find what I'm looking for and I buy it.
As a seller, people somehow find my items and buy them.
When my sales are slow, demand is low, nobody is interested in what I am selling.
dbmm-media
·2 weeks agoraise your prices
mam98031
·2 weeks agoWhile some will see that as a snarky remark, it is odd but sometime it holds true. I've done it myself many times over the years on certain things. It doesn't always work, but often it does. So don't dismiss it because it doesn't sound logical because it actually does work sometimes.