eBay

vintageista · ‎03-16-2019

I had 2 very strong sales days at the beginning of March but since the 5th of the month my sales have been extremely below normal for my selling record. eBay's statistics show:

Sales down 31%

Listing Impressions down 65%

Page Views down 71%

This obviously shows that my listing are not being seen, but I have no idea why. I have about the same amount of listings I have had for several years, new listings most everyday & reduced prices on many items. No bad FB, a couple of returns, but no violations, etc. Basically nothing has changed on my end, but for some reason eBay has lowered my visibility.

I tried Markdown Manager for a couple of categories and had almost NO response, I am TRS & 20 year seller, but something has changed drastically. I mostly sell clothing & I KNOW that is a competitive category but my sales have been pretty consistent for a long time, why the sudden drop-off?

Anyone else experiencing this same kind of thing since the beginning of March? I am searching for answers so that I might be able to make adjustments somehow. With the coming of the GTC listings being forced upon us, I know there is going to be even more drop-off & I am starting to panic! I depend on this income & have no other options, I do a little on Betsy and have tried the River but due to what I sell, that really does not work for me. Too old now for a real job and SS just isn't enough!

gramophone-georg · ‎03-17-2019

@laurabeardsley wrote:
Wow, this is all very depressing .Sounds like there is no hope?

Well... I took a break from selling in 2010 in hopes that eBay would come to its senses and get serious about being a marketplace again... and I am still waiting.

I suppose there's always hope that a rattlesnake will turn into a cuddly puppy, too.

Chaos is NOT an "industry standard".

joesoucie22012 · ‎03-17-2019

There is hope, don't give up

Keep trying keep looking for stuff to sell, maybe we'll get lucky and make a sale. Keep listing every day. Keep the faith.....

joesoucie22012 · ‎03-17-2019

And then the puppy will turn into a kitten....

toybrats · ‎03-17-2019

I'm thinking that sales are going to get worse with so many GTC ads. Maybe then, ebay will come to it's senses and revoke this dumb GTC mandate. As a buyer, I have never gone to Google to search for an item so I find ebays reasoning to make all fixed priced ads GTC to be bull---t. I don't see why an item can't have the same ID number if it's relisted when the seller wants to relist it as long as the title is identical. Definitely a money grab on ebay's part.

cad777864 · ‎03-17-2019

@vintageista wrote:
I had 2 very strong sales days at the beginning of March but since the 5th of the month my sales have been extremely below normal for my selling record. eBay's statistics show:

Sales down 31%
Listing Impressions down 65%
Page Views down 71%

This obviously shows that my listing are not being seen, but I have no idea why. I have about the same amount of listings I have had for several years, new listings most everyday & reduced prices on many items. No bad FB, a couple of returns, but no violations, etc. Basically nothing has changed on my end, but for some reason eBay has lowered my visibility.

I tried Markdown Manager for a couple of categories and had almost NO response, I am TRS & 20 year seller, but something has changed drastically. I mostly sell clothing & I KNOW that is a competitive category but my sales have been pretty consistent for a long time, why the sudden drop-off?

Anyone else experiencing this same kind of thing since the beginning of March? I am searching for answers so that I might be able to make adjustments somehow. With the coming of the GTC listings being forced upon us, I know there is going to be even more drop-off & I am starting to panic! I depend on this income & have no other options, I do a little on Betsy and have tried the River but due to what I sell, that really does not work for me. Too old now for a real job and SS just isn't enough!

Read my post, ANSWERS TO WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR SALES, march is a HUGE month of beta testing and site changes. My post is up right now unless it is removed. I explain how changes to the site affect sales.

gramophone-georg · ‎03-17-2019

@joesoucie22012 wrote:
There is hope, don't give up
Keep trying keep looking for stuff to sell, maybe we'll get lucky and make a sale. Keep listing every day. Keep the faith.....

Agree in principle, but with the caveat that one needs to be cognizant of where the hope and work becomes counterproductive due to Einstein's definition of insanity.

eBay osmosis is a powerful thing- I myself fell victim to it when sales started falling off for me a decade ago... "C'mon, old boy- keep listing- this isn't normal- things will go back to what they were... they HAVE to!"

It's sort of like winning big at slots in Vegas. The house isn't worried because they know you'll keep playing in the mistaken hope that "it happened once- it'll happen again!"

Chaos is NOT an "industry standard".

djmovers99 · ‎03-17-2019

@vintageista wrote:
I had 2 very strong sales days at the beginning of March but since the 5th of the month my sales have been extremely below normal for my selling record. eBay's statistics show:

Sales down 31%
Listing Impressions down 65%
Page Views down 71%

This obviously shows that my listing are not being seen, but I have no idea why. I have about the same amount of listings I have had for several years, new listings most everyday & reduced prices on many items. No bad FB, a couple of returns, but no violations, etc. Basically nothing has changed on my end, but for some reason eBay has lowered my visibility.

I tried Markdown Manager for a couple of categories and had almost NO response, I am TRS & 20 year seller, but something has changed drastically. I mostly sell clothing & I KNOW that is a competitive category but my sales have been pretty consistent for a long time, why the sudden drop-off?

Anyone else experiencing this same kind of thing since the beginning of March? I am searching for answers so that I might be able to make adjustments somehow. With the coming of the GTC listings being forced upon us, I know there is going to be even more drop-off & I am starting to panic! I depend on this income & have no other options, I do a little on Betsy and have tried the River but due to what I sell, that really does not work for me. Too old now for a real job and SS just isn't enough!

Same here. A good start to the month and now no sales in the past 11 days. Seems a little bit odd...

abfabvintage · ‎03-17-2019

Georg: OMG I now remember the guardrail. You do go way back! Thanks for your data...and for eComm in general.

I ain't got the brains to make this up (Fantastic Beasts)

cad777864 · ‎03-17-2019

@djmovers99 wrote:
@vintageista wrote:
I had 2 very strong sales days at the beginning of March but since the 5th of the month my sales have been extremely below normal for my selling record. eBay's statistics show:

Sales down 31%
Listing Impressions down 65%
Page Views down 71%

This obviously shows that my listing are not being seen, but I have no idea why. I have about the same amount of listings I have had for several years, new listings most everyday & reduced prices on many items. No bad FB, a couple of returns, but no violations, etc. Basically nothing has changed on my end, but for some reason eBay has lowered my visibility.

I tried Markdown Manager for a couple of categories and had almost NO response, I am TRS & 20 year seller, but something has changed drastically. I mostly sell clothing & I KNOW that is a competitive category but my sales have been pretty consistent for a long time, why the sudden drop-off?

Anyone else experiencing this same kind of thing since the beginning of March? I am searching for answers so that I might be able to make adjustments somehow. With the coming of the GTC listings being forced upon us, I know there is going to be even more drop-off & I am starting to panic! I depend on this income & have no other options, I do a little on Betsy and have tried the River but due to what I sell, that really does not work for me. Too old now for a real job and SS just isn't enough!

Same here. A good start to the month and now no sales in the past 11 days. Seems a little bit odd...

SITE CHANGES AND BETA TESTING = LOST SALES

March april and may are going to be tough, watch your sales and see if you have changes to your account pages, thats your answer to lost sales. We should be selling great right now, it's tax return time. Look back, been like this every March, since they started with the never ending site LOOK changes.

gramophone-georg · ‎03-17-2019

@cad777864 wrote:
@djmovers99 wrote:
@vintageista wrote:
I had 2 very strong sales days at the beginning of March but since the 5th of the month my sales have been extremely below normal for my selling record. eBay's statistics show:

Sales down 31%
Listing Impressions down 65%
Page Views down 71%

This obviously shows that my listing are not being seen, but I have no idea why. I have about the same amount of listings I have had for several years, new listings most everyday & reduced prices on many items. No bad FB, a couple of returns, but no violations, etc. Basically nothing has changed on my end, but for some reason eBay has lowered my visibility.

I tried Markdown Manager for a couple of categories and had almost NO response, I am TRS & 20 year seller, but something has changed drastically. I mostly sell clothing & I KNOW that is a competitive category but my sales have been pretty consistent for a long time, why the sudden drop-off?

Anyone else experiencing this same kind of thing since the beginning of March? I am searching for answers so that I might be able to make adjustments somehow. With the coming of the GTC listings being forced upon us, I know there is going to be even more drop-off & I am starting to panic! I depend on this income & have no other options, I do a little on Betsy and have tried the River but due to what I sell, that really does not work for me. Too old now for a real job and SS just isn't enough!

Same here. A good start to the month and now no sales in the past 11 days. Seems a little bit odd...
SITE CHANGES AND BETA TESTING = LOST SALES
March april and may are going to be tough, watch your sales and see if you have changes to your account pages, thats your answer to lost sales. We should be selling great right now, it's tax return time. Look back, been like this every March, since they started with the never ending site LOOK changes.

As a BUYER, I've been just dropped into unannounced Beta tests where suddenly a category I regularly browse goes from, say, 1000 items to ten- sometimes on the same day!

We talk a lot about seller Beta tests here- often with no real discussion about how these things affect buyers. Sometimes it's taken me a half hour to figure out WTH eBay has done THIS time and get things back to normal. How many buyers will do this, though?

Chaos is NOT an "industry standard".

orangehound · ‎03-17-2019

@laurabeardsley wrote:
Wow, this is all very depressing .Sounds like there is no hope?

The Cassini algorithm mentioned in that article was replaced about a year ago ...

cad777864 · ‎03-17-2019

@gramophone-georg wrote:
@cad777864 wrote:
@djmovers99 wrote:
@vintageista wrote:
I had 2 very strong sales days at the beginning of March but since the 5th of the month my sales have been extremely below normal for my selling record. eBay's statistics show:

Sales down 31%
Listing Impressions down 65%
Page Views down 71%

This obviously shows that my listing are not being seen, but I have no idea why. I have about the same amount of listings I have had for several years, new listings most everyday & reduced prices on many items. No bad FB, a couple of returns, but no violations, etc. Basically nothing has changed on my end, but for some reason eBay has lowered my visibility.

I tried Markdown Manager for a couple of categories and had almost NO response, I am TRS & 20 year seller, but something has changed drastically. I mostly sell clothing & I KNOW that is a competitive category but my sales have been pretty consistent for a long time, why the sudden drop-off?

Anyone else experiencing this same kind of thing since the beginning of March? I am searching for answers so that I might be able to make adjustments somehow. With the coming of the GTC listings being forced upon us, I know there is going to be even more drop-off & I am starting to panic! I depend on this income & have no other options, I do a little on Betsy and have tried the River but due to what I sell, that really does not work for me. Too old now for a real job and SS just isn't enough!

Same here. A good start to the month and now no sales in the past 11 days. Seems a little bit odd...
SITE CHANGES AND BETA TESTING = LOST SALES
March april and may are going to be tough, watch your sales and see if you have changes to your account pages, thats your answer to lost sales. We should be selling great right now, it's tax return time. Look back, been like this every March, since they started with the never ending site LOOK changes.
As a BUYER, I've been just dropped into unannounced Beta tests where suddenly a category I regularly browse goes from, say, 1000 items to ten- sometimes on the same day!

We talk a lot about seller Beta tests here- often with no real discussion about how these things affect buyers. Sometimes it's taken me a half hour to figure out WTH eBay has done THIS time and get things back to normal. How many buyers will do this, though?

The Beta testing affects buyers terrible, i shop as well as sell, i dont want my watch item page changing constantly, the searches constantly, and the technical issue that come with it, we have lost many buyers for these reasons as well. I have never seen a site so in chaos from never ending changes, i can't even wrap my head around that any site developer and computer expert will tell you NOT to do what ebay is doing to it's site, then we hear the ridiculous customer service saying "we asked for these changes", i mean really, how dense can a place really be? Unless, there is a manipulation agenda to all the changes, that is the only other option.

All i know is that by not fixing what is broken, by continually changing, your chasing off buyers, and hurting sellers sales.

THAT IS A FACT.

foryou123*2009 · ‎03-17-2019

Yes haven't sold anything in days and they want us to get a more expensive store or pay for insertion fees when GTC kicks in!! Yah right

gramophone-georg · ‎03-17-2019

@cad777864 wrote:
@gramophone-georg wrote:
@cad777864 wrote:
@djmovers99 wrote:
@vintageista wrote:
I had 2 very strong sales days at the beginning of March but since the 5th of the month my sales have been extremely below normal for my selling record. eBay's statistics show:

Sales down 31%
Listing Impressions down 65%
Page Views down 71%

This obviously shows that my listing are not being seen, but I have no idea why. I have about the same amount of listings I have had for several years, new listings most everyday & reduced prices on many items. No bad FB, a couple of returns, but no violations, etc. Basically nothing has changed on my end, but for some reason eBay has lowered my visibility.

I tried Markdown Manager for a couple of categories and had almost NO response, I am TRS & 20 year seller, but something has changed drastically. I mostly sell clothing & I KNOW that is a competitive category but my sales have been pretty consistent for a long time, why the sudden drop-off?

Anyone else experiencing this same kind of thing since the beginning of March? I am searching for answers so that I might be able to make adjustments somehow. With the coming of the GTC listings being forced upon us, I know there is going to be even more drop-off & I am starting to panic! I depend on this income & have no other options, I do a little on Betsy and have tried the River but due to what I sell, that really does not work for me. Too old now for a real job and SS just isn't enough!

Same here. A good start to the month and now no sales in the past 11 days. Seems a little bit odd...
SITE CHANGES AND BETA TESTING = LOST SALES
March april and may are going to be tough, watch your sales and see if you have changes to your account pages, thats your answer to lost sales. We should be selling great right now, it's tax return time. Look back, been like this every March, since they started with the never ending site LOOK changes.
As a BUYER, I've been just dropped into unannounced Beta tests where suddenly a category I regularly browse goes from, say, 1000 items to ten- sometimes on the same day!

We talk a lot about seller Beta tests here- often with no real discussion about how these things affect buyers. Sometimes it's taken me a half hour to figure out WTH eBay has done THIS time and get things back to normal. How many buyers will do this, though?
The Beta testing affects buyers terrible, i shop as well as sell, i dont want my watch item page changing constantly, the searches constantly, and the technical issue that come with it, we have lost many buyers for these reasons as well. I have never seen a site so in chaos from never ending changes, i can't even wrap my head around that any site developer and computer expert will tell you NOT to do what ebay is doing to it's site, then we hear the ridiculous customer service saying "we asked for these changes", i mean really, how dense can a place really be? Unless, there is a manipulation agenda to all the changes, that is the only other option.
All i know is that by not fixing what is broken, by continually changing, your chasing off buyers, and hurting sellers sales.
THAT IS A FACT.

This. This is it exactly. Like I said... things like Cassini and whatever the most recent abomination is are less SEARCH engines than MANIPULATION tools.

Chaos is NOT an "industry standard".

upthreads_3 · ‎03-21-2019

Hi. Even after One and a half years I still consider myself a "newbie."

My sales were down drastically for February no matter what I did, but I'm sure March hasn't been good because I have not taken advantage of the listing offers. A 3 month depression put me off selling. I just didn't give a fig (personal stuff).

But I have put in Searches for my own products (clothing) and they show up pretty quickly. I don''t have a STORE, but my products show up nicely every time.

My guess? Folks just aren't buying in this 'interval' season when it comes to clothing - unless you have some really extraordinary stuff (but even then it's selling cheap so HOLD OUT!), The Summer months will bring out the buyers.

Don't get paranoid, OK?