Am i the only seller on EBAY with slowing sales?

[a1rjohn]

The last 3 months have been very slow ,Although i lowered prices and variety.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

Thank you for your analysis, but I'm positive eBay is making stupid mistakes.

[norskmediashop]

yes but Mecari has to be losing shoppers, buyers now have to not only pay shipping and tax, but a processing fee and another fee (I forget what they are calling it)...That's four fees added onto the item price. I know I quit shopping there because of it. I agree though some kind of nose dive happened here on ebay, yet it was all fine and normal about three weeks ago.

[dbfolks166mt]

I have 3 selling accounts with about 3400 total listings.

The 3 accounts are down an average of 56%  in the last 30 days.

     Good additional information. It probably depends a lot on what items you are selling on the other accounts but overall it's pretty much a normal slow down, lots of other things going on in peoples lives this time of year. As long as you have been selling how does this compare with prior years summer slow down, factoring out the COVID years which were an anomaly?

[tobaccocardyahoo]

My sales are also off, but I know part of the reason.

I have reduced the number of new listings I am posting each month. Without a constant stream of new listings, my sales have always dropped.

I am surprised at the resurgence of sales in some of my long tail listings and the reliability of some of my repeat buyers.

Ebay is still the very best site on the internet so sell many types of collectibles.

Categories which have suffered from previous hard times are suffering again. Some items sell to people with limited discretionary funds, and they spend what they can to support their collecting.

[dirk12955]

Down 19% from a year ago.    Sales down 19% and cost of sales keeps increasing,   

I sell a variety of items.   Stamps,  Postcards,  Vinyl LPs,   Books,   other assorted 

collectibles as I come to own them.

[mam98031]

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@kingdiamond91 wrote:

You have no seller fees on mercari  

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It isn't as simple as that.  Buyers are now paying the fees that sellers use to.  Only time will tell if buyers will be as receptive to that as sellers might hope for.  This is a relatively new change.  It will take several months to see if it is a viable change.

[mam98031]

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@kingdiamond91 wrote:

EBay has become a waste of time I  been  spending more time on mercari  you have no seller fees  my items are being seen I don't have to waste money on promotions I get to keep more money in my pocket not paying those ridiculous seller fees

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Only because you aren't paying the selling fees anymore, the buyers are.  The fees are extremely close to that of Ebay's when you add your money processing fees too.  And Ebay's FVFs include money processing.

The per transaction fee on Mercari is slightly higher than Ebay's.  As is the money transfer fee for sellers to get their money out.

[mam98031]

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@norskmediashop wrote:

yes but Mecari has to be losing shoppers, buyers now have to not only pay shipping and tax, but a processing fee and another fee (I forget what they are calling it)...That's four fees added onto the item price. I know I quit shopping there because of it. I agree though some kind of nose dive happened here on ebay, yet it was all fine and normal about three weeks ago.

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@norskmediashop 

I agree with you, but I do get a chuckle out of this as buyers are now visibly paying the fees that sellers use to have to pay.  I can't tell you how many times in my selling career that buyers did not think these fees were not that big of a deal.

[chariot_badges]

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@kingdiamond91 wrote:

You have no seller fees on mercari  

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You also don't have many buyers.

The fees are paid by the buyers.  You see ... SOMEBODY has to pay the piper. 

A company comes along and spends money to design a platform, they spend money to advertise, and maintain ... funny thing - they wanna be paid and be profitable. 

They are in business to make money. 

Buyers are not smart enough to realize this.  Or care.  One or the other.  

Us sellers are smarter than that.  We understand that SOMEBODY has to pay.

So, we take it on, and 'hide' (include) those costs in the product.  

It is the best way to do it.

Buyer goes to Merc and sees a Widget they really like for $10, they put it in their check out and see that with fees it's going to cost them $16, and say "Oh **** no, and cancel."   

Then they go to Ebay, and find it for $17 with "free" shipping and buy it.

As sellers, we have the choice as to which one want to deal with, or both.

My suggestion is, if someone has never done Merc, to get an account and load a couple dozen listings ... and see what happens.  No harm in testing.   I do it a lot. 

While you're waiting (for a long time) go over to Reddit Mercuri Forums and read what their sellers are saying there.

The grass is not always greener.

And, it' s not always ''the man's" fault. 

People do not have as much money to spend on their Widget as they did this time last year.

[lakefor94]

"Without a constant stream of new listings, my sales have always dropped."

@tobaccocardyahoo 

Same same, I have to supplement the slower items that have been listed awhile with new inventory consistently to have consistent sales. A lot of these items need to not be longer tail stuff. Have to list items buyers actually need. Simple as that. 

Working on new listings now and will be thru the summer but a hand/wrist surgery will slow me next week for a couple of weeks. I hate to shutdown but it is what it is....

I can still list left handed but no shipping for a couple or three weeks, so time away mode starts Wednesday. 

Going to get a ton of drafts ready for picture taking in my downtime.

Best of luck to all in sales.

[chapeau-noir]

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@lakefor94 wrote:

"Without a constant stream of new listings, my sales have always dropped."

@tobaccocardyahoo 

Same same, I have to supplement the slower items that have been listed awhile with new inventory consistently to have consistent sales. A lot of these items need to not be longer tail stuff. Have to list items buyers actually need. Simple as that. 

Working on new listings now and will be thru the summer but a hand/wrist surgery will slow me next week for a couple of weeks. I hate to shutdown but it is what it is....

I can still list left handed but no shipping for a couple or three weeks, so time away mode starts Wednesday. 

Going to get a ton of drafts ready for picture taking in my downtime.

Best of luck to all in sales.

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I'll never forget selling while I recovered from rotator cuff surgery - I had a big rip so I was in a sling and bolster for over three months. Photos were wonky, I was packing items by sitting on them - at least I could use my left hand - the DH had to box things for me. Everything took twice as long. I finally just shut down for about a month.

[campanaelia]

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@ckimodog wrote:

@a1rjohn 

No...you are not.  Summer time is slow for many sellers.  Hang in there.

Happy Selling

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The OP is selling motorcycle and watercraft carbs, so I would think this should be their busy season.

[yuzuha]

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@campanaelia wrote:

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The OP is selling motorcycle and watercraft carbs, so I would think this should be their busy season.

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I can't speak to watercraft as I don't know anyone who has one, but the people I know who own motorcycles do all their work/upgrading on them over the winter so that they're all ready to go once the weather gets nice.

[campanaelia]

I've ridden bikes my whole life and had a few boats too and I always winterized them for the winters and only worked on them when the weather was warmer. That may depend on the climate you live in, I was in NY. The shops also always made their money in the spring/summer and were dead in the winter.

[erikstuff]

In February I had my worst month in 25 years on Ebay with a total of 7 sales.  March improved some but April was down again.  This month is awful.  It's the 20th... and I've had four sales.  Luckily I'm not depending on it to live.  It's gotten to the point where if I come across an interesting item I'll probably pass... figuring it'll just sit on a shelf for months... or forever.