Sales were good through Sunday (the 26th). So far this week nothing much. Did some people stay on vacation or get trapped due to weather? Last week I listed less due to being sick, am trying to get back and see if that helps shake some sales loose.
you need to buy the promotional listings & then buy the promo listing so that your promotional does not only show in Nigeria @3am and if you wish to get ahead of the crowd you need to by the bypass promotional deal. Or you may just want to buy the promotional bundle deal. they are working on a promotional time slots as well as the flash promo deal. you never see it but it happens like the popcorn flash at the movies. folks don't know what hit them. extra fees will always apply of course.
AS ALWAYS WE CANNOT GUARANTEE SALES.
NOTE Do you know when where and what time your promotional exposure time starts and stops? would you pay a radio station or TV station promotional and NOT KNOW WHAT AIR TIME YOUR BUYING? I want a list of times what and where.
Thanks for posting and I read part of that article but what I was looking for was what they deemed as Retail sales? If they mean new products like clothing, housewares, small appliances, etc. that would make sense but for my categories the economy has not affected buying ... if it did then I would be able to acquire inventory at ridiculously low prices and that has not and is not happening.
Well a lot of posters on here signal the economy, economy, economy or your items suck.
I am like...ok. That may be part of the equation, but the various statements from other sellers how sales decline in a matter of months don't indicate a direct correlation to the economy.
I agree with them because I too have experienced that within less than a month when 90% of my items got removed or sales flatlined within a week.
People saying: "Well your items are not hot, or people are hoarding money for more important things like rent, food, clothes, essential items."
They sure are, must be all that money spent on Stanley cups, Grubhub orders, latest Iphones, Ps5s, fancy leased out cars.
People are spending money regardless whether they have it or not. There is a reason credit card debt is high and the Klarna, Affirm and other companies offer "Pay later" options are getting popular.
When people start using pay later options to finance a $40 chipotle burrito, that is when I will start saying the economy is to blame.
M1 money supply is drying up. As they are Removing cash??? the Nations consumer credit card plus debt is now over 17 trillion dollars well over any record debt in the pass. Our major Cities have been invaded, And we are not even getting a trojan horse. And every collage and university is under attack.
It may something to do with the economy and eBay sales.
M1 money supply is drying up. As they are Removing cash??? the Nations consumer credit card plus debt is now over 17 trillion dollars well over any record debt in the pass. Our major Cities have been invaded, And we are not even getting a trojan horse. And every collage and university is under attack.
It may something to do with the economy and eBay sales.
Oh my gosh, those ships from Alpha Centauri have arrived??
Yes, I have, and my impressions are down 78.5% since the previous month. I believe the economy is in horrible shape and no one is buying. I was going to contact eBay but that will just aggravate me more.
Yes, I have, and my impressions are down 78.5% since the previous month. I believe the economy is in horrible shape and no one is buying. I was going to contact eBay but that will just aggravate me more.
@patrick7180
The economy reason may apply in some categories but none of the ones that I sell in. If it did then I would have a surplus of excess inventory acquired at a ridiculously low prices and that has not and is not happening.
My sales have been spectacular - everywhere EXCEPT eBay.
Similar to what Mr. Lincoln stated, I can specifically point to eBay's nonsense of May 2022 and April 2023 when sales dropped here and then became a waste of time. I have never used PL, so when I see stuff with 0 views for long periods of time, I'm beginning to wonder if people simply aren't looking for stuff on eBay anymore. eBay search results are awful sometimes, glitches like page not found happen often enough, and when everything actually does work here, I have to put too much effort into finding what I want when 85% of the search results lead back to the same 5 bad sellers.
FBM has generated an incredible amount of sales for me. CL sales are slightly lower than previous years so far in 2024, but I think some of the buyers who would normally be there are on FBM now.
This place has become such a joke, I gave this answer to someone about 15 minutes ago:
I have never used PL, so when I see stuff with 0 views for long periods of time, I'm beginning to wonder if people simply aren't looking for stuff on eBay anymore.
They are, it just depends entirely on WHAT you're listing. I listed a bunch of fairly rare collectible figures the other day and they were racking up views within half an hour. And no, I don't promote anything either.
I would expect a lot of views with rare collectibles as that is what eBay has always been known for. Computer products, especially heavy stuff like servers, I'm getting more buyers on FB and CL than eBay. It wasn't always that way, but certainly is now.
I would expect a lot of views with rare collectibles as that is what eBay has always been known for. Computer products, especially heavy stuff like servers, I'm getting more buyers on FB and CL than eBay. It wasn't always that way, but certainly is now.
I know from previous posts you have been hitting those other markets with success. We don't have the exact same products but very similar.
I had some hired help here yesterday moving heavy items around that of which, many are not listed but I have them all in position at this time to make the same run you are having success with.
That's correct, people simply arent shopping on ebay anymore. My traffic on Mercari is 5X my traffic on ebay, and my inventory on ebay is twice that of my inventory on Mercari. ebay is being crushed by its competitors.
Besides scooping up all of ebay's buyers, Mercari is now taking their sellers as well. Mercari now charges sellers zero listing and transaction fees. The only fees you pay are when you withdraw funds, $2 for any amount of money.
It's probably due to buyers coming here because they chose to not support other site's but then had the order they made here show up from one of the places they came here to get away from..
Yeah I would incinerate the thought after that to.
Yes, slow sales for late March and all of April. Granted, I sell mostly Christmas items, but the drop in all my categories has been substantial. I do not use Promoted Listings.
March was my best month ever. This April is my worst month ever so far. I don't know what is going on, I am just going to keep trucking. (ps @inhawaii people come on here looking for help and answers. Instead they receive a lashing from you on ever single post. Please take the time to help others rather than amuse yourself with your own comments. Many of the sellers you are speaking to are running huge operations and have been on the site for 20 years. It is extremely frustrating when sales trickle to a halt, while they remain strong and growing on other sites.)
March was my best month ever. This April is my worst month ever so far. I don't know what is going on, I am just going to keep trucking. (ps @inhawaii people come on here looking for help and answers. Instead they receive a lashing from you on ever single post. Please take the time to help others rather than amuse yourself with your own comments. Many of the sellers you are speaking to are running huge operations and have been on the site for 20 years. It is extremely frustrating when sales trickle to a halt, while they remain strong and growing on other sites.)
March was a good month for me. April is looking even better so far.
I'm not sure how that will help the OP but Is that the kind of helpful answer you were looking for?
March was my best month ever. This April is my worst month ever so far. I don't know what is going on, I am just going to keep trucking. (ps @inhawaii people come on here looking for help and answers. Instead they receive a lashing from you on ever single post. Please take the time to help others rather than amuse yourself with your own comments. Many of the sellers you are speaking to are running huge operations and have been on the site for 20 years. It is extremely frustrating when sales trickle to a halt, while they remain strong and growing on other sites.)
March was a good month for me. April is looking even better so far.
I'm not sure how that will help the OP but Is that the kind of helpful answer you were looking for?
I'm not Wilson but I will go ahead and say your answer was better than I expected, BUT, it could be construed as showing off or rubbing it in, thus potentially making the OP and others posters here feel bad.
You might consider toning it down a lick or two. jmho
So, a little while ago, I decided to look at eBay's traffic reports, from the time my account was started up until Feb. of this year. I've tried/experimented with PLS since it was rolled out, 90% of the time keeping it at ~2-3%. As of midway through January of this year, I decided to do a test and cranked up the PLS % to the recommended levels (e.g.12, 13%):
I joined e-bay on 3/30/22. First year had 230 orders.
In 2023 I had 140 orders.
This year in Jan. 18 orders, Feb. 11 and in March 10 orders. Last one was March 30th. Nothing since.
Don't know why unless nobody has an interest in what I am selling. On 90% of what I have I will be lucky to recover 10% of what I paid for them brand new.
95% of the follow-up responses to negative and neutral feedback are off-putting.
What a buyer writes in negative feedback isn't the make or break moment. It is what the seller writes in his follow up comments that is critical. Future buyers will review how a seller handles himself when a buyer raises a concern.
Sellers who use feedback to blame, name-call, act defensively, show anger, “warn†others or deflect responsibility can make a poor score much much worse. While a calm factual well-worded reply can utterly disarm a negative rating. Buyers want to be assured that the seller will treat a possible issue with professionalism and courtesy.
This may not explain your drop in sales currently, but it is certainly not supporting them.
You have to call out bad buyers! It absolutely will not hurt you as a seller. If eBay won’t take down inappropriate feedback, you must hold your ground and speak your mind.
Yes... my sales were good until last week. This week has been horrible. My metrics are all in the red. Huge nosedive.
I've given up trying to understand it and just keep listing.... hoping that sales will start happening again. I do not promote my listings, nor will I.
Has anybody experienced a tremendous drop in sales over the last two months?"
My guess and opinion is, since you are already using promoted listings, that its a kind of a timed strategy to get you to increase your promotion rates - that your visibility and sales are reduced over time to elicit a response - kind of a Pavlov's Dog thing where you begin to associate a need for a higher promotion rate as sales begin to slow...
Whether this is by design or inadvertent (since it does seem this site has ALWAYS had a problem with sudden, unexplained reductions in sales) doesn't really matter - the result will be the same - The site has found a goldmine in the malicious ingenuity of this program - though staying on the current path will eventually create a tipping point - a point when it becomes a necessity to use promoted listings to sell here - I'd say they have a ways to go before that happens, but when it does it will be chaos and by that time, buyers will already be in short supply due to the insane price increases PLs are already causing...
What boggles my mind is some sellers think that the PL program is a reprieve from site wide increases - As far as we are concerned, that way of thinking is about as short-sighted as the company's decisions over the last 15 years - These sellers will be begging for site wide increases rather than having to play the guessing game of whether it will take 8% promotion or 28% to sell something here... Some advice... Maybe just take the company's recommendations of somewhere around 14% to 20% promotions as they seem to know exactly where they want you...
Yes and no... What I mean is, we see a sales drop this time of year from January to the middle or the end of May. Always picks up then some and takes off in June and dies off around September, due to everyone getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, we do see a massive rush in November and December, of course. Shoppers have an algorithm. Just have to buckle down and manage your money to these seasons and holidays.
Honestly, I am going to say this once with you, but you need to stop with your snide comments. Not sure that you are trying to pad your post count or what, but your comments do not help anyone. I've been on these boards for years and we keep hearing the same garbage from you over and over. Come on already.
The past 2 months, sales have dropped a lot for many sellers. It's a combo of the economy, what eBay has done with the promoted listings, changes to feedback making it buyer vs. seller again like it was 10 years ago, and the constant changes to the site have hurt sellers. I even posted about promoted listing impressions dropping to move than half for many of us in a matter of a months time. I've been selling on here for over 20+ years and things have been getting worse of late.
Honestly, I am going to say this once with you, but you need to stop with your snide comments. Not sure that you are trying to pad your post count or what, but your comments do not help anyone. I've been on these boards for years and we keep hearing the same garbage from you over and over. Come on already.
The past 2 months, sales have dropped a lot for many sellers. It's a combo of the economy, what eBay has done with the promoted listings, changes to feedback making it buyer vs. seller again like it was 10 years ago, and the constant changes to the site have hurt sellers. I even posted about promoted listing impressions dropping to move than half for many of us in a matter of a months time. I've been selling on here for over 20+ years and things have been getting worse of late.
@blacktopautoparts:
I can't let this go without a rational comment.
@inhawaii is absolutely right. I've been here for 26 years, and I remember the same concerns way back when. And they will always continue.
James was stating a FACT, not making a snide remark. I saw his welcome reply as a needed statement to keep things in perspective, instead of getting our knickers in a twist about a perceived intent to his comment. Sellers here need not be thin-skinned and so easily offended when one states the obvious without malicious intent.
Simply put, sales have historically always ebbed and flowed. We as online sellers need to Accept > Adjust > Adapt to any current economic events and get wise about modifying our business model when conditions dictate. Online selling is neither easy nor on a stable even keel.
My sales have been way down just like most others, and I mainly attribute that to the weeks before every year's tax season, current inflation with gas nearly $6 a gallon in states like CA, grocery and rent costs out the roof, and especially the anger and paralysis of uncertainty in this election year. But I'm not going to get my socks all tied up in knots and blame any messenger of the obvious. I've ridden all of the numerous online sales downturns in the past, and have adjusted my business model accordingly when necessary on all of he online venues where I sell.
Cheers, Duffy
Unavailable member
·2 years ago
Their profile isn't available.
@blacktopautoparts wrote:
Honestly, I am going to say this once with you, but you need to stop with your snide comments. Not sure that you are trying to pad your post count or what, but your comments do not help anyone. I've been on these boards for years and we keep hearing the same garbage from you over and over. Come on already.
The past 2 months, sales have dropped a lot for many sellers. It's a combo of the economy, what eBay has done with the promoted listings, changes to feedback making it buyer vs. seller again like it was 10 years ago, and the constant changes to the site have hurt sellers. I even posted about promoted listing impressions dropping to move than half for many of us in a matter of a months time. I've been selling on here for over 20+ years and things have been getting worse of late.
The comment that set you off is valuable. The clear message is that individual buyers will see ups and downs - that is the nature of eBay and online selling. People should consider an alternate perspective - not just come to these boards for an echo chamber.
Sellers have been coming here every day for the last 10+ years complaining about a sudden drop in sales.
Yes, but some of us have actually watched trends and tested to see why and when sales started to drop. I know when mine started and why it happened. It could be different for different Sellers but for my categories and what I sell I can point specifically to the issues with my items that are hidden-buried-manipulated-etc. Prior to early 2022 growth was still on the rise but that changed in short order and reversed to a slow steady measurable decline. Here are the three things that eBay changed to commence the decline in early 2022.
-Full launch of PLA
-Changed the Views counting system
-Inflated PLS "Suggested ad rates"
-How do programmers adjust search algorithms when they are giving PLA participants preference for placement in the tops spots of returned search? This would have a negative impact on organic or PLS sales.
-How does one interpret items with (0) Views in the last 30 days equaling 30-35% of listings and that percentage steadily growing over a 2 year period? I posted up thread that % was recently at about 61%.
-I proved that with eBay's Suggested rates PLS sales could return to their pre-2022 levels of 2-3 per day on a 30 day PLS campaign ONLY if one uses at or higher ad rates then the Suggested rates ... meaning 12 % or higher. Add that to the 12.35% Store FVFs in my categories we are looking at OVER 24% in fees per sale. NOT sustainable for what I sell, not even close.
The changes made to the venue have forced me to push more inventory elsewhere since 2022 then during any other time of selling prior to that. While I LOVE selling on eBay, the operative word is "selling". My sales were over 10K behind in 2023 and 2024 has started out several thousand dollars behind through March (1st quarter).
And yet GMV and buyers have been declining for years .. try helpful comment not childish replies as you do so often .. 2018 buyer 179 million this year 132 million , GMV down to where is was in 2013 … stop you childish remakes and grow up … your what 16 or an adult
And yet GMV and buyers have been declining for years .. try helpful comment not childish replies as you do so often .. 2018 buyer 179 million this year 132 million , GMV down to where is was in 2013 … stop you childish remakes and grow up … your what 16 or an adult
Shall I check with you before commenting to make sure it meets your approval?
Yes, I was selling 5-10 items a day with almost no goose eggs but lately I’m going several days in a row with no sales or 1 or 2 sales. Views are also down.
I haven’t changed anything about how I sell. I’m thinking more people are going to other sites to buy things. I can’t really come up with a solid reason other than this.
Yes, I was selling 5-10 items a day with almost no goose eggs but lately I’m going several days in a row with no sales or 1 or 2 sales. Views are also down.
I haven’t changed anything about how I sell. I’m thinking more people are going to other sites to buy things. I can’t really come up with a solid reason other than this.
Yes. Not only are there more selling sites (some really busy), but active buyers on eBay are now lower than 2018 levels, plus a lot of people jumped into online selling during the pandemic, and I suspect a good portion of them stayed.
No, not the last two months but YES to the last two years. A slow steady decline in sales.
Whatever you do DON'T use Promoted Listings unless you are willing to pay between 20%-30% in Fees between your FVFs and eBay's "Suggested" Ad rates.
I am in month 7 of waiting for organic sales to return to my BIN listings because I stopped using Promoted Listings Standard in 4th quarter last year. I checked over the weekend and 61.3% of my listings had (0) Views in the last 30 days and 84.9% of my listings have (2), (1) or (0) views. ... the math is simple, if nobody sees your items what are the chances they are going to sell?
No, not the last two months but YES to the last two years. A slow steady decline in sales.
Whatever you do DON'T use Promoted Listings unless you are willing to pay between 20%-30% in Fees between your FVFs and eBay's "Suggested" Ad rates.
I am in month 7 of waiting for organic sales to return to my BIN listings because I stopped using Promoted Listings Standard in 4th quarter last year. I checked over the weekend and 61.3% of my listings had (0) Views in the last 30 days and 84.9% of my listings have (2), (1) or (0) views. ... the math is simple, if nobody sees your items what are the chances they are going to sell?
@mr_lincoln
Are you saying it is less than advantageous to promote anything at 2%?
For whatever it is worth, I have been throwing 2% on about half of the sales I make back to eBay.
Quite a few of my listings are in a 9% FVF category and then I get 10% off FVF for TRS+, so I dont mind the 2% if it actually does garner some sales.
Are you saying that PL's at 2% effect the organic search in some way while running at 2% PL's?
You think not using PL's at all increase organic search results over time?
I also do believe most of my listings can be found with organic search easily enough because they all have part and/or models number spewed all over my title, description, and item specifics.
No, not the last two months but YES to the last two years. A slow steady decline in sales.
Whatever you do DON'T use Promoted Listings unless you are willing to pay between 20%-30% in Fees between your FVFs and eBay's "Suggested" Ad rates.
I am in month 7 of waiting for organic sales to return to my BIN listings because I stopped using Promoted Listings Standard in 4th quarter last year. I checked over the weekend and 61.3% of my listings had (0) Views in the last 30 days and 84.9% of my listings have (2), (1) or (0) views. ... the math is simple, if nobody sees your items what are the chances they are going to sell?
@mr_lincoln
Are you saying it is less than advantageous to promote anything at 2%?
For whatever it is worth, I have been throwing 2% on about half of the sales I make back to eBay.
Quite a few of my listings are in a 9% FVF category and then I get 10% off FVF for TRS+, so I dont mind the 2% if it actually does garner some sales.
Are you saying that PL's at 2% effect the organic search in some way while running at 2% PL's?
You think not using PL's at all increase organic search results over time?
I also do believe most of my listings can be found with organic search easily enough because they all have part and/or models number spewed all over my title, description, and item specifics.
Thoughts?
My experience stems from how I used PLS over several years for my categories and how eBay monitored how I used the campaigns. I am sure my experience is not identical to others with regards to percentages so I will explain as follows:
Prior to 2022:
-I ran one PLS Campaign per quarter for approximately 30 days. (this took advantage of the $ 30 per quarter ad fee credit they offered to launch PLS)
-I put ALL my BIN items on the campaign (often over 250 items)
-I used ad rates between 5%-10% (once at 10%, the others were 5, 6 & 7%). Meaning ONE ad rate for ONE PLS campaign for the 30 days.
-I ignored eBay's Trending rates (later changed to Suggested rates)
-My approach was to move items, drive traffic and sell long tail items
-Averaged 2-3 sales per day over the life of the Campaign ... the Campaigns were fairly consistent with higher sales towards the beginning then tapering a little each week and then a boost in the last week. Typical chart shown here, the peaks were on weekends:
-One trend that emerged was that for about 7-10 days after the Campaigns ended BIN sales would tank before returning to more normal sales levels.
-Ad rates at or above 5% did not seem to make any significant difference.
-The items were my mid to lower range priced items, the higher end things I would sell Auction style
2022 to present:
-Using the same approach as I did prior to 2022 and the changes eBay made (mentioned up thread) here is what happened
-I used 5% & 7% ad rates for my regular quarterly PLS campaigns
-Sales dropped to averaging NO MORE than 1.5 per day and some campaigns were less than that
-The 7-10 day drop on BIN sales after a Campaign would end grew to longer periods of times. Twice I recall that most of may sales were from Auctions with virtually NO BIN sales
-This continued through 2022 and half of 2023. Between my 2Q and 3Q Campaigns (and during the low BIN sales period between Campaigns) I did a 17 day test Campaign jacking my Ad rate up to 12%. Sales shot back up to 2-3 per day average. But the next total FVFs and Ad rate was 12.35% = 12% = 24.35%. (Yes I get the TRS Plus FVF discount too but that's more of a bonus then anything else.)
-My 3Q Campaign I went back to my lower Ad rate and sales dropped back to the 1.5% area.
-I also started to keep track of Views breakdown for (0), (1) & (2) Views. The %s kept climbing as time went on.
-Due to the the emerging longer Seller through rate I had to divert items "elsewhere" to keep them moving more often then during previous years of Selling.
-After the 3Q Campaign I made the decision to abandon PLS so I did not run the 4Q one that was normally about mid-November through Mid-December to cover Black Friday and Cyber Monday around Thanksgiving. It was a short time after that regular 4Q campaign (that didn;t happen that I got the message below ... not once but twice. It starts with "We've miseed you ... "
I got it again in 1Q this year around my normal 1Q Campaign. That is a pretty targeted message and would only be sent to Sellers who used and stopped using PLS.
Now, I "get" the fact that the venue's income is based on fees and I suspect there is nothing off the table with regard to obtaining them. I am sure other venues do similar things if they are fee based. So at present I have converted more of my regular everyday stuff to Auction format. My March 2024 sales were the best I have had since JUNE of last year. I occasionally use the Send offers feature now and here is a breakdown of sales by format near the end of March:
So this has been my experience and through it all I still listed the same way I did prior to 2022.
I remembered bits and pieces when you were doing the PL testing and posting about it. Glad to hear of the solid March sales.
AMZ got me to try their ads back in the 2019 timeframe and I used them for a couple of months with no significant difference in sales. I don't think my items require much promotion to be found there though things have taken a nosedive since 2022.5 when the supply chains got back in order.
Folks just have to be shoppers and look at the other sellers available on the listing rather than pulling the trigger on the Buy Box. I do get a lot of Business Customers there.
I dont pass up any chances to send best offers of 5% or more. If I don't have another 5% or more of margin I can spare, I would be in the wrong sales business. I have to at least rattle their cage with an offer.
You know how folks get to "below standard" and they can/do get a drop in search placement? Wonder if that happens also when the PL's end? You get dubbed down in placement somewhat..... who knows???
With my items and customer base, I might just try a full quarter or half of no PL's just to see if it makes a significant difference. Just run naked.
I have not noticed any difference in 2% PL and 4% PL in sales, impressions or clicks
A significant percentage of my items have decent to great cached Google placement, so strickly organic might work pretty well for me.
psfhobbies
·2 years agoWorst month of May we have ever seen on Ebay its Terrible
keziak
·2 years agoSales were good through Sunday (the 26th). So far this week nothing much. Did some people stay on vacation or get trapped due to weather? Last week I listed less due to being sick, am trying to get back and see if that helps shake some sales loose.
cardxcraft
·2 years ago......test
jbbowers12012
·2 years agoHad a GREAT Feburary - A so-so March & April. But May so-far has been a bit slow. Just the normal ebb & flow online retail I would think.
rapidreplay
·2 years agoyou need to buy the promotional listings & then buy the promo listing so that your promotional does not only show in Nigeria @3am and if you wish to get ahead of the crowd you need to by the bypass promotional deal. Or you may just want to buy the promotional bundle deal. they are working on a promotional time slots as well as the flash promo deal. you never see it but it happens like the popcorn flash at the movies. folks don't know what hit them. extra fees will always apply of course.
AS ALWAYS WE CANNOT GUARANTEE SALES.
NOTE Do you know when where and what time your promotional exposure time starts and stops? would you pay a radio station or TV station promotional and NOT KNOW WHAT AIR TIME YOUR BUYING? I want a list of times what and where.
borea_2131
·2 years agoThis could be one factor to the equation:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/15/economy/us-retail-sales-april
And eBay's Algorithm messing it up as well.
mr_lincoln
·2 years ago@borea_2131
Thanks for posting and I read part of that article but what I was looking for was what they deemed as Retail sales? If they mean new products like clothing, housewares, small appliances, etc. that would make sense but for my categories the economy has not affected buying ... if it did then I would be able to acquire inventory at ridiculously low prices and that has not and is not happening.
borea_2131
·2 years agoWell a lot of posters on here signal the economy, economy, economy or your items suck.
I am like...ok. That may be part of the equation, but the various statements from other sellers how sales decline in a matter of months don't indicate a direct correlation to the economy.
I agree with them because I too have experienced that within less than a month when 90% of my items got removed or sales flatlined within a week.
People saying: "Well your items are not hot, or people are hoarding money for more important things like rent, food, clothes, essential items."
They sure are, must be all that money spent on Stanley cups, Grubhub orders, latest Iphones, Ps5s, fancy leased out cars.
People are spending money regardless whether they have it or not. There is a reason credit card debt is high and the Klarna, Affirm and other companies offer "Pay later" options are getting popular.
When people start using pay later options to finance a $40 chipotle burrito, that is when I will start saying the economy is to blame.
rapidreplay
·2 years agoM1 money supply is drying up. As they are Removing cash??? the Nations consumer credit card plus debt is now over 17 trillion dollars well over any record debt in the pass. Our major Cities have been invaded, And we are not even getting a trojan horse. And every collage and university is under attack.
It may something to do with the economy and eBay sales.
johnson_junk_company
·2 years agoConspiracy much babe?
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoOh my gosh, those ships from Alpha Centauri have arrived??
patrick7180
·2 years agoYes, I have, and my impressions are down 78.5% since the previous month. I believe the economy is in horrible shape and no one is buying. I was going to contact eBay but that will just aggravate me more.
mr_lincoln
·2 years ago@patrick7180
The economy reason may apply in some categories but none of the ones that I sell in. If it did then I would have a surplus of excess inventory acquired at a ridiculously low prices and that has not and is not happening.
patrick7180
·2 years agoSurplus? You do not even have a store on ebay!!!
brabha_9
·2 years agoWell once eBay started laying off more staff and trying to implement AI as a replacement. Expect more screw ups than normal.
annabelles-attic
·2 years agoI can’t even get views.
janet9988
·2 years agohttps://community.ebay.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=slow%20no%20sales%3F&page=2&collapse_discussion=true
sumsum70
·2 years agoMy sales have been spectacular - everywhere EXCEPT eBay.
Similar to what Mr. Lincoln stated, I can specifically point to eBay's nonsense of May 2022 and April 2023 when sales dropped here and then became a waste of time. I have never used PL, so when I see stuff with 0 views for long periods of time, I'm beginning to wonder if people simply aren't looking for stuff on eBay anymore. eBay search results are awful sometimes, glitches like page not found happen often enough, and when everything actually does work here, I have to put too much effort into finding what I want when 85% of the search results lead back to the same 5 bad sellers.
FBM has generated an incredible amount of sales for me. CL sales are slightly lower than previous years so far in 2024, but I think some of the buyers who would normally be there are on FBM now.
This place has become such a joke, I gave this answer to someone about 15 minutes ago:
yuzuha
·2 years agoThey are, it just depends entirely on WHAT you're listing. I listed a bunch of fairly rare collectible figures the other day and they were racking up views within half an hour. And no, I don't promote anything either.
sumsum70
·2 years agoI would expect a lot of views with rare collectibles as that is what eBay has always been known for. Computer products, especially heavy stuff like servers, I'm getting more buyers on FB and CL than eBay. It wasn't always that way, but certainly is now.
lakefor94
·2 years agoI know from previous posts you have been hitting those other markets with success. We don't have the exact same products but very similar.
I had some hired help here yesterday moving heavy items around that of which, many are not listed but I have them all in position at this time to make the same run you are having success with.
Wishing you continued success.
gamersbaystore
·2 years agoThat's correct, people simply arent shopping on ebay anymore. My traffic on Mercari is 5X my traffic on ebay, and my inventory on ebay is twice that of my inventory on Mercari. ebay is being crushed by its competitors.
Besides scooping up all of ebay's buyers, Mercari is now taking their sellers as well. Mercari now charges sellers zero listing and transaction fees. The only fees you pay are when you withdraw funds, $2 for any amount of money.
My fees on ebay = 25% per sale on average
My fees on Mercari = $0
anjofak
·2 years agoIt's probably due to buyers coming here because they chose to not support other site's but then had the order they made here show up from one of the places they came here to get away from..
Yeah I would incinerate the thought after that to.
kraftique
·2 years agoTax season many people owe money to the irs..
trip98
·2 years agoYes, slow sales for late March and all of April. Granted, I sell mostly Christmas items, but the drop in all my categories has been substantial. I do not use Promoted Listings.
wilsonharborsales
·2 years agoMarch was my best month ever. This April is my worst month ever so far. I don't know what is going on, I am just going to keep trucking. (ps @inhawaii people come on here looking for help and answers. Instead they receive a lashing from you on ever single post. Please take the time to help others rather than amuse yourself with your own comments. Many of the sellers you are speaking to are running huge operations and have been on the site for 20 years. It is extremely frustrating when sales trickle to a halt, while they remain strong and growing on other sites.)
inhawaii
·2 years agoMarch was a good month for me. April is looking even better so far.
I'm not sure how that will help the OP but Is that the kind of helpful answer you were looking for?
lakefor94
·2 years agoI'm not Wilson but I will go ahead and say your answer was better than I expected, BUT, it could be construed as showing off or rubbing it in, thus potentially making the OP and others posters here feel bad.
You might consider toning it down a lick or two. jmho
inhawaii
·2 years agoMy sales are up 47.6% for the past 31 days.
Not bragging, showing off, rubbing it in, just the facts.
I've also had slow sales and sales drops before.
sumsum70
·2 years agoIf you had more Wood Boss lunchboxes, your sales would be up even more.
lakefor94
·2 years agoThis answer was more on the heterogeneous side.
Thank you
inhawaii
·2 years agoYou made me look up that word. 😉
lakefor94
·2 years agoNo problem, man. We will keep working with you, lol.
BTW, my hats are still in nice shape, though summer is coming......
gottasellemall69
·2 years agoSo, a little while ago, I decided to look at eBay's traffic reports, from the time my account was started up until Feb. of this year.
I've tried/experimented with PLS since it was rolled out, 90% of the time keeping it at ~2-3%. As of midway through January of this year, I decided to do a test and cranked up the PLS % to the recommended levels (e.g.12, 13%):
mike_jayroe
·2 years agoI joined e-bay on 3/30/22. First year had 230 orders.
In 2023 I had 140 orders.
This year in Jan. 18 orders, Feb. 11 and in March 10 orders. Last one was March 30th. Nothing since.
Don't know why unless nobody has an interest in what I am selling. On 90% of what I have I will be lucky to recover 10% of what I paid for them brand new.
Hoping things pick up soon.
jasoheat_0
·2 years agoyeah its pretty bad right now
seconhandrosie
·2 years agoYes, about a year of terrible sales for me.
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years ago95% of the follow-up responses to negative and neutral feedback are off-putting.
What a buyer writes in negative feedback isn't the make or break moment. It is what the seller writes in his follow up comments that is critical. Future buyers will review how a seller handles himself when a buyer raises a concern.
Sellers who use feedback to blame, name-call, act defensively, show anger, “warn†others or deflect responsibility can make a poor score much much worse. While a calm factual well-worded reply can utterly disarm a negative rating. Buyers want to be assured that the seller will treat a possible issue with professionalism and courtesy.
This may not explain your drop in sales currently, but it is certainly not supporting them.
johnson_junk_company
·2 years agoYou have to call out bad buyers! It absolutely will not hurt you as a seller. If eBay won’t take down inappropriate feedback, you must hold your ground and speak your mind.
jjddmwi
·2 years agoYes... my sales were good until last week. This week has been horrible. My metrics are all in the red. Huge nosedive.
I've given up trying to understand it and just keep listing.... hoping that sales will start happening again. I do not promote my listings, nor will I.
isaiah53-57
·2 years agoMy guess and opinion is, since you are already using promoted listings, that its a kind of a timed strategy to get you to increase your promotion rates - that your visibility and sales are reduced over time to elicit a response - kind of a Pavlov's Dog thing where you begin to associate a need for a higher promotion rate as sales begin to slow...
Whether this is by design or inadvertent (since it does seem this site has ALWAYS had a problem with sudden, unexplained reductions in sales) doesn't really matter - the result will be the same - The site has found a goldmine in the malicious ingenuity of this program - though staying on the current path will eventually create a tipping point - a point when it becomes a necessity to use promoted listings to sell here - I'd say they have a ways to go before that happens, but when it does it will be chaos and by that time, buyers will already be in short supply due to the insane price increases PLs are already causing...
What boggles my mind is some sellers think that the PL program is a reprieve from site wide increases - As far as we are concerned, that way of thinking is about as short-sighted as the company's decisions over the last 15 years - These sellers will be begging for site wide increases rather than having to play the guessing game of whether it will take 8% promotion or 28% to sell something here... Some advice... Maybe just take the company's recommendations of somewhere around 14% to 20% promotions as they seem to know exactly where they want you...
rock-obsessions
·2 years agoYes and no... What I mean is, we see a sales drop this time of year from January to the middle or the end of May. Always picks up then some and takes off in June and dies off around September, due to everyone getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, we do see a massive rush in November and December, of course. Shoppers have an algorithm. Just have to buckle down and manage your money to these seasons and holidays.
inhawaii
·2 years agoSellers have been coming here every day for the last 10+ years complaining about a sudden drop in sales.
blacktopautoparts
·2 years agoHonestly, I am going to say this once with you, but you need to stop with your snide comments. Not sure that you are trying to pad your post count or what, but your comments do not help anyone. I've been on these boards for years and we keep hearing the same garbage from you over and over. Come on already.
The past 2 months, sales have dropped a lot for many sellers. It's a combo of the economy, what eBay has done with the promoted listings, changes to feedback making it buyer vs. seller again like it was 10 years ago, and the constant changes to the site have hurt sellers. I even posted about promoted listing impressions dropping to move than half for many of us in a matter of a months time. I've been selling on here for over 20+ years and things have been getting worse of late.
duffy4444
·2 years ago@blacktopautoparts:
I can't let this go without a rational comment.
@inhawaii is absolutely right. I've been here for 26 years, and I remember the same concerns way back when. And they will always continue.
James was stating a FACT, not making a snide remark. I saw his welcome reply as a needed statement to keep things in perspective, instead of getting our knickers in a twist about a perceived intent to his comment. Sellers here need not be thin-skinned and so easily offended when one states the obvious without malicious intent.
Simply put, sales have historically always ebbed and flowed. We as online sellers need to Accept > Adjust > Adapt to any current economic events and get wise about modifying our business model when conditions dictate. Online selling is neither easy nor on a stable even keel.
My sales have been way down just like most others, and I mainly attribute that to the weeks before every year's tax season, current inflation with gas nearly $6 a gallon in states like CA, grocery and rent costs out the roof, and especially the anger and paralysis of uncertainty in this election year. But I'm not going to get my socks all tied up in knots and blame any messenger of the obvious. I've ridden all of the numerous online sales downturns in the past, and have adjusted my business model accordingly when necessary on all of he online venues where I sell.
Cheers, Duffy
Unavailable member
·2 years agoThe comment that set you off is valuable. The clear message is that individual buyers will see ups and downs - that is the nature of eBay and online selling. People should consider an alternate perspective - not just come to these boards for an echo chamber.
seanhanley1978
·2 years agoThe irony:
mr_lincoln
·2 years agoYes, but some of us have actually watched trends and tested to see why and when sales started to drop. I know when mine started and why it happened. It could be different for different Sellers but for my categories and what I sell I can point specifically to the issues with my items that are hidden-buried-manipulated-etc. Prior to early 2022 growth was still on the rise but that changed in short order and reversed to a slow steady measurable decline. Here are the three things that eBay changed to commence the decline in early 2022.
-Full launch of PLA
-Changed the Views counting system
-Inflated PLS "Suggested ad rates"
-How do programmers adjust search algorithms when they are giving PLA participants preference for placement in the tops spots of returned search? This would have a negative impact on organic or PLS sales.
-How does one interpret items with (0) Views in the last 30 days equaling 30-35% of listings and that percentage steadily growing over a 2 year period? I posted up thread that % was recently at about 61%.
-I proved that with eBay's Suggested rates PLS sales could return to their pre-2022 levels of 2-3 per day on a 30 day PLS campaign ONLY if one uses at or higher ad rates then the Suggested rates ... meaning 12 % or higher. Add that to the 12.35% Store FVFs in my categories we are looking at OVER 24% in fees per sale. NOT sustainable for what I sell, not even close.
The changes made to the venue have forced me to push more inventory elsewhere since 2022 then during any other time of selling prior to that. While I LOVE selling on eBay, the operative word is "selling". My sales were over 10K behind in 2023 and 2024 has started out several thousand dollars behind through March (1st quarter).
lakefor94
·2 years agoI thought for sure it was the last 18 years, but I could be mistaken....
jasoheat_0
·2 years agoAnd yet GMV and buyers have been declining for years .. try helpful comment not childish replies as you do so often .. 2018 buyer 179 million this year 132 million , GMV down to where is was in 2013 … stop you childish remakes and grow up … your what 16 or an adult
inhawaii
·2 years agoShall I check with you before commenting to make sure it meets your approval?
jasoheat_0
·2 years agoanother CHILDISH answer .. EXPECTED
luxgoods
·2 years agoit just never stops always expected. Kind of sad if you think about it
luxgoods
·2 years agoI am glad someone is finally speaking up about this . it gets really annoying after awhile.
thriftgnome
·2 years agoYes, I was selling 5-10 items a day with almost no goose eggs but lately I’m going several days in a row with no sales or 1 or 2 sales. Views are also down.
I haven’t changed anything about how I sell. I’m thinking more people are going to other sites to buy things. I can’t really come up with a solid reason other than this.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoYes. Not only are there more selling sites (some really busy), but active buyers on eBay are now lower than 2018 levels, plus a lot of people jumped into online selling during the pandemic, and I suspect a good portion of them stayed.
So, lots of competition.
mr_lincoln
·2 years ago@hitech-components
No, not the last two months but YES to the last two years. A slow steady decline in sales.
Whatever you do DON'T use Promoted Listings unless you are willing to pay between 20%-30% in Fees between your FVFs and eBay's "Suggested" Ad rates.
I am in month 7 of waiting for organic sales to return to my BIN listings because I stopped using Promoted Listings Standard in 4th quarter last year. I checked over the weekend and 61.3% of my listings had (0) Views in the last 30 days and 84.9% of my listings have (2), (1) or (0) views. ... the math is simple, if nobody sees your items what are the chances they are going to sell?
lakefor94
·2 years ago@mr_lincoln
Are you saying it is less than advantageous to promote anything at 2%?
For whatever it is worth, I have been throwing 2% on about half of the sales I make back to eBay.
Quite a few of my listings are in a 9% FVF category and then I get 10% off FVF for TRS+, so I dont mind the 2% if it actually does garner some sales.
Are you saying that PL's at 2% effect the organic search in some way while running at 2% PL's?
You think not using PL's at all increase organic search results over time?
I also do believe most of my listings can be found with organic search easily enough because they all have part and/or models number spewed all over my title, description, and item specifics.
Thoughts?
mr_lincoln
·2 years agoMy experience stems from how I used PLS over several years for my categories and how eBay monitored how I used the campaigns. I am sure my experience is not identical to others with regards to percentages so I will explain as follows:
Prior to 2022:
-I ran one PLS Campaign per quarter for approximately 30 days. (this took advantage of the $ 30 per quarter ad fee credit they offered to launch PLS)
-I put ALL my BIN items on the campaign (often over 250 items)
-I used ad rates between 5%-10% (once at 10%, the others were 5, 6 & 7%). Meaning ONE ad rate for ONE PLS campaign for the 30 days.
-I ignored eBay's Trending rates (later changed to Suggested rates)
-My approach was to move items, drive traffic and sell long tail items
-Averaged 2-3 sales per day over the life of the Campaign ... the Campaigns were fairly consistent with higher sales towards the beginning then tapering a little each week and then a boost in the last week. Typical chart shown here, the peaks were on weekends:
-One trend that emerged was that for about 7-10 days after the Campaigns ended BIN sales would tank before returning to more normal sales levels.
-Ad rates at or above 5% did not seem to make any significant difference.
-The items were my mid to lower range priced items, the higher end things I would sell Auction style
2022 to present:
-Using the same approach as I did prior to 2022 and the changes eBay made (mentioned up thread) here is what happened
-I used 5% & 7% ad rates for my regular quarterly PLS campaigns
-Sales dropped to averaging NO MORE than 1.5 per day and some campaigns were less than that
-The 7-10 day drop on BIN sales after a Campaign would end grew to longer periods of times. Twice I recall that most of may sales were from Auctions with virtually NO BIN sales
-This continued through 2022 and half of 2023. Between my 2Q and 3Q Campaigns (and during the low BIN sales period between Campaigns) I did a 17 day test Campaign jacking my Ad rate up to 12%. Sales shot back up to 2-3 per day average. But the next total FVFs and Ad rate was 12.35% = 12% = 24.35%. (Yes I get the TRS Plus FVF discount too but that's more of a bonus then anything else.)
-My 3Q Campaign I went back to my lower Ad rate and sales dropped back to the 1.5% area.
-I also started to keep track of Views breakdown for (0), (1) & (2) Views. The %s kept climbing as time went on.
-Due to the the emerging longer Seller through rate I had to divert items "elsewhere" to keep them moving more often then during previous years of Selling.
-After the 3Q Campaign I made the decision to abandon PLS so I did not run the 4Q one that was normally about mid-November through Mid-December to cover Black Friday and Cyber Monday around Thanksgiving. It was a short time after that regular 4Q campaign (that didn;t happen that I got the message below ... not once but twice. It starts with "We've miseed you ... "
I got it again in 1Q this year around my normal 1Q Campaign. That is a pretty targeted message and would only be sent to Sellers who used and stopped using PLS.
Now, I "get" the fact that the venue's income is based on fees and I suspect there is nothing off the table with regard to obtaining them. I am sure other venues do similar things if they are fee based. So at present I have converted more of my regular everyday stuff to Auction format. My March 2024 sales were the best I have had since JUNE of last year. I occasionally use the Send offers feature now and here is a breakdown of sales by format near the end of March:
So this has been my experience and through it all I still listed the same way I did prior to 2022.
lakefor94
·2 years ago@mr_lincoln thanks for the detailed rundown.
I remembered bits and pieces when you were doing the PL testing and posting about it. Glad to hear of the solid March sales.
AMZ got me to try their ads back in the 2019 timeframe and I used them for a couple of months with no significant difference in sales. I don't think my items require much promotion to be found there though things have taken a nosedive since 2022.5 when the supply chains got back in order.
Folks just have to be shoppers and look at the other sellers available on the listing rather than pulling the trigger on the Buy Box. I do get a lot of Business Customers there.
I dont pass up any chances to send best offers of 5% or more. If I don't have another 5% or more of margin I can spare, I would be in the wrong sales business. I have to at least rattle their cage with an offer.
You know how folks get to "below standard" and they can/do get a drop in search placement? Wonder if that happens also when the PL's end? You get dubbed down in placement somewhat..... who knows???
With my items and customer base, I might just try a full quarter or half of no PL's just to see if it makes a significant difference. Just run naked.
I have not noticed any difference in 2% PL and 4% PL in sales, impressions or clicks
A significant percentage of my items have decent to great cached Google placement, so strickly organic might work pretty well for me.
Best to all in sales.
anjofak
·2 years agoIf they sold every listing we have put up withing a week they would still be under par with in flow.
anjofak
·2 years agoLike single digits kinda ratio..
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoYep, sellers have been complaining about low sales last couple years.
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoCouple years? Decades.
jwnova1
·2 years agoSlow and buyers don't want to pay much.