Is anyone else experiencing a sudden dip in traffic this week
Summary: The discussion centers around a sudden decrease in sales and traffic experienced by centralsurplusny, who sells industrial parts and supplies. They mention a significant drop in sales, hoping for advice on improving impressions and conversions. Another participant, de_bay, compares platforms, noting that eBay has a problem with overcharging sales tax, unlike Amazon.
Just checking in with other sellers. I've noticed a strange trend in my shop over the last 3 days—impressions and sales have significantly slowed down compared to last week.
My metrics are all healthy, so I'm wondering if there's a technical glitch or if the recent news is impacting buyer behavior. Is it just me or are you guys seeing this too?
31 comments
byrd69er
·3 days agoNothing has changed.
Traffic goes up, down, up, up, up, down,crazy, sideways, backward, zero, less than zero, up again, down again, steady for a bit, firing on all eight, like watching paint dry.
Nothing has changed.
de_bay
·3 days agoEbay has a systematic problem with overcharging on sales Tax, Amazon does not have this problem
centralsurplusny
·3 days agoSo is this a yearly occuance for some? We sell industrial parts / MRO supplies:
Bearings & Power Transmission
PLC/PCB/Automation & Drives
Electromechanical & Controls
General MRO/Industrial Supplies
and sales just took a major hit - 94% down the past 5 days. This happened once before, but not this drastic.
We list parts at low prices, very competitive, usually the lowest on the internet.
Any advice on improving impressions and conversions is welcome.
zalapa-collectibles
·3 months agoSells are down drastically for me. Roughly 75% down from last year. Not sure what ebay is doing. I've done ebay for 20 years and have ALWAYS done well. Now I am questioning if it is worth my time.
nilis13
·3 months agoYes, last 3 weeks.
kibble-net
·3 months agoNo technical glitches.
Just a sluggish economy as people struggle with increasing food and fuel prices.
Depending on your niche, we're all hurting on some level.
zalapa-collectibles
·3 months agoSame here. My sales are down roughly 70% from last year. Metrics all good. Top rated etc. Not sure what ebay is doing. NOTHING is selling.
chapeau-noir
·3 months agoDo a look-back of data over a period of months. Tracking sales data over a period of days is the way to madness.
reallynicestamps
·3 months agoAnd eBay rotates items in Search. They are not too explicit about it, but they don't promise that every listing can be seen in every market, at every moment.
They do give a little bump in Search when something does sell.
So if you sell a purple fratzenhammer to Peoria your purple fratzenhammers will get a tiny bump in Search and all your listings will be slightly more visible in Peoria.
Sales beget sales.
shire123
·3 months agoI'm a small time, one person seller here and don't rely on income from ebay for my basic needs. A small slow down is actually desirable at times.
pickapaper
·3 months ago@lypow-52
You are located in China. I think some buyers might be hesitant to buy from other countries right now. If this is true, it might just now be catching up to you.
lypow-52
OP3 months agoI ship directly from the US.
tarotfindsandmore
·3 months agoAll good here, even with the outage. Had one slow day early in the week, but back in the saddle now from the looks of it.
natoman777
·3 months agoNo actually we have been doing very well since March 10th. Nearly every metric is up other than at the moment click thru rate is down .1% which means just barely
luckythewinner
·3 months agoSellers come to this board every day and report slow sales.
For most of those sellers ...
fullers_uk
·3 months agoTo be expected after the so called "Outage" over the busiest weekend of the month, buyers are nervous after problems with sites, give it 3 months it will bounce back to being less than it was last year.
jundedh2012
·3 months agoKinda? It was super slow but months later it's slowly returning to normal. I don't think they got all the bugs out of their system yet
reelworks
·3 months agoI list for a liquidator, under 8 accounts for 8 branches of the same company, in the USA, and we haven't had a sale or watcher in 45 days, this time of year is always slow but never nothing at all. With over 8k items listed in 100 categories I would think something would sell but the last sale was on March 12. I get the same thing on my personal selling account as well with the last sale being on Mar. 2.
As to the seller posting above being in China, the tariffs don't see to be affecting all items or all sellers, but many have raised their prices for items overseas to the point where they are not worth buying for the often tripled price or the threat of added tariffs being added once it arrives. No one likes surprises and I for one would never pay a tariff if it made the total more than I could buy it elsewhere for.
I used to work for a company that sold a lot of items to Japan, which was where about 80% of all the items we sold went to. When the economies changed, those sales went away. It became too expensive due to the exchange rate being reversed for the worse after about 2008. Prior to that the Yen bought more than the dollar so buyers there were consistent, when that changed there were no more sales. Tariffs then had nothing to do with it though.
Lately there's been a lack of buyers everywhere though
gurlcat
·3 months ago@lypow-52 Do you want to share a screenshot of the dropoff you are seeing? That might be helpful.
lypow-52
OP3 months agoSeems to be bouncing back
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 months ago@lypow-52 Glad to hear they picked up.
shire123
·3 months agoNope. Things continue to chug along at 5-10 sales per day.
reallynicestamps
·3 months agoAlso, the Beloved Leader in the USA has slapped a hefty tariff on goods imported from China.
Which considering your location is probably all of your products.
reallynicestamps
·3 months agoHow does this compare to your sales in early May 2025? 2024? 2023?
There are ebbs and flows in retail.
You can't sell Christmas trees in February. BBQs stop selling after Father's Day.
Keep records.
Not only will they help you understand when sales are likely to be slow, but they are useful when it comes time to pay your income tax.
lypow-52
OP3 months agomy store (Home Decor category, non-seasonal) just experienced a sudden drop in both traffic and order volume—down about 33% . No account health issues or recent changes to my listings. Is this a localized issue or are others experiencing a similar "cliff-drop" in performance ?
shire123
·3 months ago@lypow-52
Every week someone comes along and is wondering why their sales volume has dropped. It's a very, very common occurrence and happens to just about all of us periodically.
There is no need to overthink it. All ebay sales go through cycles of ups and downs. There is nothing nefarious going on.
About the only thing you can do is review your listings and be sure the prices and in line with how similar things are selling now. And maybe look at what you sell. Buyers' tastes change over time.
inhawaii
·3 months agoMore like ... every DAY!
redlinear
·3 months agoI think there's quite a bit of Nefarious going on.
kibble-net
·3 months agoIndeed there is. That's why fuel prices are as high as they are right now.
gurlcat
·3 months ago@kibble-net I should have taken a photo at the gas station just about an hour ago. I hardly drive anywhere (average of about 7 miles per week) and I'm going to be broke for a few days, so when I noticed my tank was definitely ON the 'E' on my way home from the gym, I decided to get just $3.00 in gas. 🤣 -That got me 0.68 gallon and didn't even budge the needle on my gauge.
But I made it home. I think I'll just go for walks the next few days, as that's the only exercise that's truly free.
fullers_uk
·3 months agoListing impressions - 27.7%
Click through rate - static
Listing oave views - 24.2%
Sales Conversion Rate - 1.6% (which they say is 0.4% up) !
Sales last 31 Days - 25.2% Down.