An Abrupt and Complete Stop in Sales: Why? What's Going On?

[getitright1234]

An Abrupt and Complete Stop in Sales: Why? What's Going On?

The baby needs formula!

The light bill needs to be paid!

The mortgage needs to be paid!

The cupboards are getting bear!

..........................................................I do not have time for these abrupt and complete stop in sales.   Sheesh!

PS:  I am not referring to this acct. 

[gamersbaystore]

I've tried everything imaginable, including 15% off sales, listing every day, lowering prices, makes no difference.

I've got around 150 watchers right now, watching over 100+ items, but practically no sales. I'm lucky if I average 1 sale a day now, and have periods of days on end with nothing.

That many watchers and zero buyers = bad economy, and that's only part of the problem.

As I mentioned in other threads regarding the complaints of slow sales, there's very little traffic on ebay right now. Just take a look at your traffic data, the traffic is almost non-existent. ebay cut their marketing budgets early in the year, which didn't help either. 

I now have over 100+ promoted listings, otherwise my traffic is practically zero. Its as if ebay is intentionally trying to force us to pay them for traffic now. They bragged to investors about how profitable promoted listings were. What they didn't tell investors was how they resorted to extortion to achieve that success.

ebay is pretty much saying, either pay us for traffic, or no one will see your listings.

Meanwhile, ebay is trying to blame Amazon for their humongous loss of sellers, when the fact is no one else is to blame except for ebay's executives.

At this point, ebay doesn't want sellers to have more traffic, that would cost more for advertising, and they would earn less from promoted listings. Its extortion. They're essentially charging you twice for something you already paid for! I already pay a store subscription, why should I have to pay them more for traffic? Total robbery!

[double2trouble]

I also am assuming they are hiding listings to force sellers into promoted listings, but I kinda lean toward conspiray more often than not. I had some hard to find Brembo rotors I had up here for a couple months, NOS, killer price, nothing. I put them up on a different site whose name I won"t mention, for 50 bucks more than I was asking here, still a good price, and they sold the first day.  Coincidence? Maybe, but I have noticed the selection for many things here has gotten real slim. I'm thinking it's a good site for mega sellers, but not for small guys who really don't bring much traffic. I took everything down to take a break for a while, and am concentrating on my repair/restoration/custom parts gig.  I really used to enjoy selling here, and I still would like to use one site like the old days. My stuff I sell though is really geared towards a small segment of mostly Baby Boomers, along with the things I repair and make parts for, and dinosaurs like me will die out with passing of the Boomers. 

[classic_2cv]

I was wondering if it was just my sales but looks like its everyone....I have 1700 listings and sure i had not updated the old 16month plus ones which kind of creep up and then drop off the end of the tread mill....we sell classic car parts and kinda niche stuff and we are on Ebay International Seller Program so list in 10 countries....We were flying with increasing sales year on year up till Dec 18....and since the 50% down....i have now updated all our listings and none are more than 5 mths old( you must delete and then do 'sell similar' not just relist....only found this out after 4 calls to help line....i have proved that by getting listings up to the top again helps as all of a sudden something will sell straight away thats been around a while.....some maybe being manipulated by Ebay who knows ....its becoming a very stressful place to sell....sleepless nights, constant worry about loosing your status even though doing your best.....a couple of friends with similar businesses for parts on Ebay are equally 50/60% down...this is all not good....i am expecting an explosion in sales with very fresh listings to equal last year at least but not holding my breath....all i can say is that it has been since Dec/Jan19 that it has turned ......has anyone had the same experience.....

[classic_2cv]

Certainly something is happening.....we have a 1700 listing shop and list in 10 worldwide and we have had increased sales over last few years, until Dec 18.....and sales have dropped 50%....we sell a very niche classic car parts and have sales in over 49 countries so there is no reason for our sales to drop, Brexit cannot be blamed....so this is some sort of ransom as you say....thats the only explanation i can see...they are squeezing people so they promote listings so they can earn more. Its not a nice place to sell on anymore.....always worried about something...

I found out that older listings drop off the end of the table after a few months so we have 'cancelled ' listings and then ' sell similar' which seems to get them up to the top again....well thats what i thought but if they have a different agenda then maybe not.....i was expecting an explosion of sales to at least equal  last years sales and am still waiting....its a classic case of 'dont have all your eggs in one basket' seems Ebay help you build your business so that then they have full power over you.....

[johnrj1226]

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@beautifulbeauty2012 wrote:

eBay is intentionally hiding listings from potential buyers "for better shopping experience". It is now included in User Agreement.

Looks like the platform is coming to its death - no sales for me either, and it is not just a typical summer slowdown - I had never seen anything like what`s going on on eBay recently. New algorithm and force of GTC (which is also correlated to no or slow sales) are the reasons for no sales on eBay.

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Just be  specific & less vague and copy & paste the section in the UA you are  claiming that is  causing this claimed slow down.

[gamersbaystore]

Yeah, its very disheartening to say the least. I came back to sell again the beginning of this year as work options were very limited. There's no jobs here where I live in St Louis, they don't exist. If you do find work, its part time only, like 10 or 15 hours a week at best, no benefits, and the pay is junk. Unless you can live on $100 a week, you wont survive on the jobs available, because thats all you will get.

Our minimum wage is a laughable $8.60 an hour, and many employers find ways to skirt around those wages; such as the job I had last year that paid me $3.93 an hour 😞

I was quite hopeful of ebay as being a viable alternative, as its helped to keep me afloat financially in the past. But its obvious at this point that the glory days of ebay are long over. They implemented too many money grubbing policies that destroy any chance of making a sale. Its just pure greed.

ebay cuts all their advertising, raises fees, then tries to find more ways to siphon more money out of their bankrupt sellers.

[tkinnebrew]

Surely couldn't have anything to do with your oppressors' philosophies.  Do you guys vote? 

[tkinnebrew]

ALSO, everyone forgets sales tax has killed the internet.  For a moment anyhow.

[kathieskorner]

I thought that since July was the worst month I've had on eBay in 20 years - that things couldn't get any worse.   I was wrong - no sales on any of my four accounts since July 26.   August is usually a strong month for my sports and books accounts, but no sales the first weekend is not a good sign.   It's been four months, and I've allowed 500 GTC listings to roll over rather than canceling early and relisting.  Still have not sold a single one that rolled over.  

Even worse - I just can't get motivated to create new listings nor revise old ones.  

[gamersbaystore]

I do vote, when there's someone worth voting for.

[laurabeardsley]

All of these problems the sellers are having has to be hurting Ebays bottom line as well and this is what I cannot understand. How a company this big can allow a few money grabbing individuals to make such horrible choices which will bring this company down in a matter of time. Trying to add fees to the sellers to show a profit will not work long term. I am convinced that either Ebay needs a complete overhauling and new people to run the business or they are headed for disaster.

[gamersbaystore]

Yep! ebay executives are not only destroying this entire platform, they're selling snake oil to their investors as well. The investors too appear to be alarmed by ebay's ever falling GMV, which recently tumbled another 4%.

ebay's sales volumes are falling off a cliff, and somehow they're magically producing more profits? I would agree they're inflating fees to show a profit that does not exist. Charging sellers more fees when they have zero sales isn't going to work in anyones favor.

If ebay was really doing as well as Wenig says it is, then why did he cut hundreds of customer service jobs, and why did they cut their marketing budgets?

[luckythewinner]

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@turquoisetulips wrote:

I think so too ,, death bed time,, probably  . What's happening to everyone's  sales  doesn't make any sense .

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It's not happening to everyone's sales.

[sharingtheland]

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@johnrj1226 wrote:

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@beautifulbeauty2012 wrote:

eBay is intentionally hiding listings from potential buyers "for better shopping experience". It is now included in User Agreement.

Looks like the platform is coming to its death - no sales for me either, and it is not just a typical summer slowdown - I had never seen anything like what`s going on on eBay recently. New algorithm and force of GTC (which is also correlated to no or slow sales) are the reasons for no sales on eBay.

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Just be  specific & less vague and copy & paste the section in the UA you are  claiming that is  causing this claimed slow down.

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Straight from the UA and it's been c&p'd here a zillion times:

• To drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer,

[flo_mingo]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
And? That verbiage has been in there for YEARS now.

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I am new to the community board. Just came in May when My sales crashed. Occasionally I see comments like yours that it is common to have some complainers about slow sales.  I have been here since 2003. I expect a summer slow down. This year is different for me. I sell on 3 ebay accounts. 

1. Clothes - No sales 6 weeks - Same items selling on another app site 

2. Custom made and vintage jewelry -1 sale in 4 weeks - same items selling on artsy site

3. Tropical Treasures- 1 sale a week- looking for a site to move this inventory to. 

I used to love eBay in morning. - I get up early, get a cup of coffee and start packing my sold items for  shipping, review my ended items; edit,  revise, and relist. It was a lovely routine. 15 + years, a common occurance to have daily sales.  I am new to the community, because I never had time or reason to check in. Now I do. So you may have been seeing these complaints for years, but for me I had no reason to complain until now. My experience  something is very wrong with this site. I need to eliminate inventory and move on.