Could this be the reason for slow sales?

[myestate-treasures4u]

I don't think I've ever seen so many sellers complaining about slow sales as I have in the last couple months. Anybody who has been selling for even a few years can see it.  Why is it happening? Well, there may be a legitimate reason for it.

Perhaps if you're a larger seller, you may have noticed an unusual number of nightly slow/shut downs by eBay, where sales completely turn off until the next morning. Several Youtubers have mentioned it. I personally have noticed the same pattern in two of my larger stores where nightly sales have fallen by the wayside. 

Could this be part of eBay's "improved" Promoted Listings "tool"? After all, we have watched this "tool" morph into what I like to call a gladiator arena, where sellers now have to fight each other to stay alive. In fact, it would be naïve to think that eBay isn't aware of the fact that when sales are "unusually slow" for an extended period of time, sellers will try to bid up their visibility against their competitors with PLS or now with PLA. I'm not saying that they are doing this on purpose in order to get more sellers on board with PL. However, what I will say is that eBay has made a great effort to NOT be transparent about all the glitches, shut downs and slow sales. No emails, no explanations, no effort, no concern. That is what concerns me as a 24-yr seller. Yet, what we do receive from eBay is an extensive marketing campaign aimed at sellers in an effort to convince them that these are beneficial "tools" or "assets" for sellers.  Are sellers really that stupid? 

Remember when individual sellers were the lifeblood of eBay? It's what made eBay so unique.  Sadly, eBay is now just another marketplace that happens to have the same name as they did 28-yrs ago. 

[femmefan1946]

@1tuna 

40% of the items on ebay are never ever going to sell

the sell thru rate for ebay is 60%.

That high?

I thought the numbers were reversed - the sell through rate was about 40% historically.

@craft-stash 

One MAJOR reason is NO TV Advertising!!!

I actually don't  remember the last time I watched a TV show that had advertising, outside of the news.

And Jeopardy because I am over 75.

TV is not where the younger viewer is.
I see eBay ads on my FaceBook page, but even that page skews to an older demographic.

[chapeau-noir]

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@new_spin_boutique wrote:

There are sellers who sell necessities who are noticing the same. The OP is not talking about a down tick, he's talking about a pattern which is switching off the lights in your store from day to day. You don't spend decades on a platform which has had predictable behavior for the entire time and not notice when the predicable behavior completely changes to another predictable and inexplicable behavior. 

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Here's the thing - my sales pattern hasn't really changed in all of these years.  What I sell HAS changed, and how much I have listed has changed - those two factors are the only things that have influenced my sales velocity.

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

ebay is also under pressure to increase GMV growth (which accounts for a far greater percentage of ebay's revenue than does the ads business). So, by your logic, they should be doing the exact reverse of suppressing sales.

I think most sellers (those who pay attention to this stuff) would readily acknowledge that ebay wants to increase PL adoption. ebay had admitted that PLS represents the largest share of the PL business, and , while ebay hasn't used the term, I think it is safe to say that ebay has struggled to gain adoption for PLE (auctions) and PLA (pay per click), and I've seen ebay pushing PLA pretty hard, even though it is of limited (or no) value to most single quantity resellers. And soon, we can expect ebay will be pushing its Pay Per Click Display option (currently in beta) as well.

So yes, ebay is pushing to increase adoption of the ads. No question of that. 

But is ebay suppressing my sales because I haven't fully embraced PL? No, I don't think so. I do think if more of my competition is using PL, and I am not, then they are likely increasing their visibility...which naturally can impact my sales. So, ebay isn't actively suppressing my sales, there's no throttling going on....but lower sales might be caused by my competition advertising more effectively than I am. Just as would happen if my competition started selling the same stuff I have, but at a much lower price.

I don't think ebay is throttling, I think some of us are seeing the results of increased competition, which includes increased ad use by our competitors.

Having said that, I will add that I think there are a number of reasons for some of the low sales many sellers have been seeing.

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I have been seeing an eBay ad in my Google feed every day promoting PL. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@fashunu4eeuh I'm not sure what a Google feed is, but I got a message from ebay today touting the dynamic ad format for PLS...and I see members of the ads team will be presenting at some local eBay seller Meetups. So, like I say, no question eBay is promoting promoted listings.            But throttling sellers to push them into using it? Nope, I'm not convinced. 

[kaytees-kloset]

Every time I’m in my local grocery store, someone walks out with a full cart without paying. No consequences. Store employees are instructed to just let them leave. As a result, grocery prices will remain elevated.

Furthermore, organized retail theft has exploded and many of these “hot” items are marketed on various online platforms at lower prices.

All of which equates to fewer sales for honest eBay sellers.

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@fashunu4eeuh I'm not sure what a Google feed is, but I got a message from ebay today touting the dynamic ad format for PLS...and I see members of the ads team will be presenting at some local eBay seller Meetups. So, like I say, no question eBay is promoting promoted listings.            But throttling sellers to push them into using it? Nope, I'm not convinced. 

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Hi, apologies—was not sure how to name the location where i am seeing eBay’s ad. It is among suggested stories and advertisements when i go to the Google app on my phone.

Agree that the theory that eBay throttles sales to encourage sellers to utilize PL makes no sense.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Ah, OK, understood.

As to low sales?  Some of the reason is the basic ups and downs of a retail business, and the other part of the reason usually comes down to the seller's own business. I think most sellers would be better off spending less time trying to find some generalized explanation and spending more time looking closely at the specifics of their own business.

[allthings-collectible]

You are exactly right. The OP wasn't discussing long-term trends at all. He's been on here much longer than most of us, so it's much easier to notice anomalies when they occur.  Frankly, I'm getting tired of the condescending and dismissive comments who love to generalize with "oh, its always been that way", or "there must be something wrong with your products" or "it's the economy". Such comments almost appear to be staged. 

[yuzuha]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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Here's the thing - my sales pattern hasn't really changed in all of these years.  What I sell HAS changed, and how much I have listed has changed - those two factors are the only things that have influenced my sales velocity.

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Same here. My sales fluctuate a bit depending on what I have listed and the time of year, but they have always been quite steady overall.

[sakic92710]

Slow sales?  But I have ONE in June & the month hasn't ended yet!  lol  I have not seen a good month since summer of 2021.

[femmefan1946]

Yes I started selling my huge collection of SF/F paperbacks, but I am slowly switching over to sewing patterns, even though I don't myself sew anymore.

But there is a definite market for Plus size patterns and no dearth of them in the thrifts I haunt.

We often see sellers complaining that sales have fallen "but I haven't done anything that is different than I have for years!".

Umm. Yeah. That might be the problem.

[chapeau-noir]

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@kaytees-kloset wrote:

Every time I’m in my local grocery store, someone walks out with a full cart without paying. No consequences. Store employees are instructed to just let them leave. As a result, grocery prices will remain elevated.

Furthermore, organized retail theft has exploded and many of these “hot” items are marketed on various online platforms at lower prices.

All of which equates to fewer sales for honest eBay sellers.

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Stores have always had shrinkage - that's not causing the (fortunately decreasing) inflation - profit piracy by large corporations DO have a direct effect on grocery prices by probably (at least estimates I've read in the trade press) 30-40%.

The sales of shoplifted items online definitely is a problem, but AFAIK, no one is shoplifting the kind of things people here who complain about sales are selling - collectibles and sports cards, it seems.

Electronics is another story, though, yeah.

[bryo_3145]

1929-1939 It's interesting how history does repeat itself. Dollar stores seem to do well in this economy.  I'm so glad sales are going well from some.  Thank God for Taylor Swift she just dumped 4.5 billion dollars into this economy. Just to think that's just one person. 

[bryo_3145]

Thank God we still have our social security benefits. God Bless America. 

[shar_27]

I reckon this is the main reason why sales on eBay are slow, excluding the crazy economy that's messing with all platforms.
I'm having the exact same issues when I try to edit my listings.

eBay's constant updates and patches make this platform super unstable. It's like they're always fixing one thing, but breaking something else.

Saying that eBay intentionally caused this would be a bit of an exaggeration. It's more like they lack proper coordination in managing patches, which has resulted in this instability.
eBay staffs might think they're just doing their assigned tasks, but without proper overall management, they can only tackle individual problems without addressing the root cause.

The reliance on quick fixes is really hurting this platform. It's like putting a band-aid on a wound that needs stitches.

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