eBay

paraquip · ‎07-26-2022

Today I will have my worst sales day EVER since selling on the platform for 23 years. As of 6 PM tonight I have had a $9.17 sales day. Which was 98.8% less than the same period last month.

This again has me questioning what exactly is going on with the Ebay selling platform. Sales down now well over 70%, listings and impression down in excess of 60%

No changes to to my product mix, advertising and I still have the lowest pricing in the category.

Is anybody else seeing this?

HK

kathieskorner · ‎07-28-2022

Those like inhawaii who sell primarily multiple quantity new merchandise and have a store are usually less impacted by most of eBay's search manipulation than those of us selling vintage and collectible items which have fallen out of favor with recent eBay management teams. If sellers like you or inhawaii reported a huge drop in sales - eBay is more likely to respond and attempt to fix the glitch or algorithm problem affecting your sales - for out-of-favor small non-niche sellers like me who don't pay to play - they could care less.

The number of hoops vintage and collectibles sellers have had to jump through in the past 2-3 years resulting from category and "required/recommended" item specific changes alone has been ridiculous and in my opinion has resulted in increasing less visibility - not more. And I have probably spent as much time revising listings to accommodate those changes than creating new listings. Now they are forcing another new time consuming listing format on us.

vultaros201 · ‎07-28-2022

Listing Impressions down 35% and Listing Views down 20% while adding a couple of hundred of items over the past 30 days. Sales are have been very slow.

mr_lincoln · ‎07-28-2022

@kathieskorner wrote:
Those like inhawaii who sell primarily multiple quantity new merchandise and have a store are usually less impacted by most of eBay's search manipulation than those of us selling vintage and collectible items which have fallen out of favor with recent eBay management teams. If sellers like you or inhawaii reported a huge drop in sales - eBay is more likely to respond and attempt to fix the glitch or algorithm problem affecting your sales - for out-of-favor small non-niche sellers like me who don't pay to play - they could care less.

The number of hoops vintage and collectibles sellers have had to jump through in the past 2-3 years resulting from category and "required/recommended" item specific changes alone has been ridiculous and in my opinion has resulted in increasing less visibility - not more. And I have probably spent as much time revising listings to accommodate those changes than creating new listings. Now they are forcing another new time consuming listing format on us.

@kathieskorner That sounds about like what I've been seeing and experiencing ... pretty accurate.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

paraquip · ‎07-28-2022

Total 7/28 I have had zero sales....... this has never happened to me before. Sales down now almost 90% over my average

HK

kaiomi · ‎07-28-2022

My sales tanked in mid-May and suddenly returned Sunday 7/24 and have continued through today. Impressions (up ~ twenty thousand per day all the sudden), views, and sales all returned to a normal-ish level.

Yes, eBay is tweaking things. My guess is that it's category specific.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-28-2022

@kathieskorner wrote:
Those like inhawaii who sell primarily multiple quantity new merchandise and have a store are usually less impacted by most of eBay's search manipulation than those of us selling vintage and collectible items which have fallen out of favor with recent eBay management teams. If sellers like you or inhawaii reported a huge drop in sales - eBay is more likely to respond and attempt to fix the glitch or algorithm problem affecting your sales - for out-of-favor small non-niche sellers like me who don't pay to play - they could care less.

The number of hoops vintage and collectibles sellers have had to jump through in the past 2-3 years resulting from category and "required/recommended" item specific changes alone has been ridiculous and in my opinion has resulted in increasing less visibility - not more. And I have probably spent as much time revising listings to accommodate those changes than creating new listings. Now they are forcing another new time consuming listing format on us.

I don't know that I agree with that first part, as we sell multiple quantity new merchandise and can immediately see the changes. Besides the fact that you can see drastic fluctuations in his own screenshots of his store, despite the mocking of others, lol.

Actually, there's often times we can tell of major changes or algorithm changes in less than a day, since we usually have a decently sized bulk of orders, and that allows us a better sample set that lets us notice trends/etc.

That said, I wish eBay would be more likely to respond or fix glitches! I have a list of glitches I've been reported for years and they're still there.

I just want to let you know that as a smaller sellers like yourself, you're not alone! I know it's easy to think eBay is working for the larger sellers, but we're suffering too. It's not fun to have to "pay to play", we're paying more than ever for a fraction of sales.

> "in my opinion has resulted in increasing less visibility - not more"

Exactly! That's the problem with eBay's system these last few years. They're demanding more and more work, more and more investment in to ad's and so on... And what is it for? It's not a better experience. It's not for more sales. They're basically creating a problem - taking away visibility - and you either lose it or you have to pay to get it back.

We've had to spend a lot of time updating our listings too. It's an absolute nightmare for eBay to make changes and have to update 7000,8000 listings.

Whether eBay's ship is on track or not, if they're allowing their ship to sink or swim... No matter if we're larger or smaller sellers, we're in this boat together.

None of us like these changes... No matter how much eBay tries to claim they're "adding all these new advertising features because of the stellar feedback from top sellers begging for more"... That's marketing and not the reality.

kathieskorner · ‎07-28-2022

You are far more tech savvy than I - I have to rely on my bean counting skills to determine when something has changed or is not working. Information provided by eBay's seller hub has to be taken with a grain of salt.

I have been told that my sales issues are simply because I sell things nobody wants any more. And yet I have received three emails just this month from buyers thanking me for selling items they could not find elsewhere - a child's beloved favorite plush toy to replace one that was falling apart, a collectible vintage sports hat that had been lost overboard, and an old candlestick that gave someone a matching pair - all first time eBay buyers who managed not only to find my items but to overlook my dismal pictures and no returns policy. It is these type of buyers that built eBay, and now are of no more importance to eBay than the sellers that provide what they are looking for. And it is these emails that keep me slogging along despite all the eBay continual roadblocks.

flyingmvp · ‎07-28-2022

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@inhawaii wrote:
Yes.
Zero sales so far today.
It's all ebay's fault.

Even if you don't believe eBay has problems, why would you mock people that are having problems? Seems pretty heartless.

This is besides the fact that it's been very well documented that eBay's tweaks, glitches, and algorithm changes have caused drastic drops. EBay even admit it.

I mean we can look at my own thread where in 2020, many of us saw huge drops and eBay confirmed it was a "test".

EBay admitted to this. A test, on live eBay data, that affects the livelihoods of sellers.

So why mock people and pretend eBay is blameless and that they haven't ADMIT to doing things like the OP explains? Is it really that much of a priority to defend eBay that we should dismiss their own behavior and what they have admitted to?

All regardless of the fact that throttling/limiting was admitted by eBay reps in the past...

It would sure be nice to have back the "MUTE" function which is currently grayed out,

just to eliminate some community members who don't offer anything other then the snarky "sell what people want to buy" remark or just Mock sellers who are reporting issues or asking for advice.

domin-tomas · ‎07-28-2022

EXACTLY!!!!! Well spoken.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-28-2022

@kathieskorner wrote:
You are far more tech savvy than I - I have to rely on my bean counting skills to determine when something has changed or is not working. Information provided by eBay's seller hub has to be taken with a grain of salt.

I have been told that my sales issues are simply because I sell things nobody wants any more. And yet I have received three emails just this month from buyers thanking me for selling items they could not find elsewhere - a child's beloved favorite plush toy to replace one that was falling apart, a collectible vintage sports hat that had been lost overboard, and an old candlestick that gave someone a matching pair - all first time eBay buyers who managed not only to find my items but to overlook my dismal pictures and no returns policy. It is these type of buyers that built eBay, and now are of no more importance to eBay than the sellers that provide what they are looking for. And it is these emails that keep me slogging along despite all the eBay continual roadblocks.

Please don't listen to those people who claim you're "selling things nobody wants". Those same people have been telling us that we're just mad because we "can't compete anymore" for years. They've been around here a long time and they've seen the truth, they've seen evidence of problems, they've seen eBay admit to these things, and despite all that they choose to dismiss it, just to give people a hard time.

Of course, sometimes an issue might be items needing demand, or pricing might be an issue, but as a seller we know to look in to those things. That doesn't mean we're not smart enough to know if there's other issues at hand. Even those that aren't tech savvy might not be able determine exactly what is wrong, but they could feel that something is wrong.

Those nay-sayers will be quick to dismiss the fact that there's an AI between you and the person doing the search. And if, for example, "no returns" is a problem, it's less likely because of a BUYERS choice, and more to do with the AI excluding you from search or determining that you belong lower in the rankings.

This is besides the fact that attempting to search for your own items has drastically different results over time. And the fact that ads have become more and more prevalent over the years.

Fact is, a year ago 51% of sales were promoted, this year 63% are promoted. There's been a shift where 1/2 items to nearly 2/3 items are being sold for promotions, and organic are seeing MORE of a drop than promoted are. EBay's search has been redesigned to favor promotions more than last year, and this is a factual.

That has to be dismissed to be able to claim that it's as simple of a situation as "just sell items people want". The AI's, and the algorithms that run them, are in charge. And nowadays, it seems the algorithms are built around ads more than anything else. I've yet to find any other common denominator in these last few months.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-28-2022

@flyingmvp wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
@inhawaii wrote:
Yes.
Zero sales so far today.
It's all ebay's fault.

Even if you don't believe eBay has problems, why would you mock people that are having problems? Seems pretty heartless.

This is besides the fact that it's been very well documented that eBay's tweaks, glitches, and algorithm changes have caused drastic drops. EBay even admit it.

I mean we can look at my own thread where in 2020, many of us saw huge drops and eBay confirmed it was a "test".

EBay admitted to this. A test, on live eBay data, that affects the livelihoods of sellers.

So why mock people and pretend eBay is blameless and that they haven't ADMIT to doing things like the OP explains? Is it really that much of a priority to defend eBay that we should dismiss their own behavior and what they have admitted to?

All regardless of the fact that throttling/limiting was admitted by eBay reps in the past...
It would sure be nice to have back the "MUTE" function which is currently grayed out,
just to eliminate some community members who don't offer anything other then the snarky "sell what people want to buy" remark or just Mock sellers who are reporting issues or asking for advice.

I still wouldn't mute them, for the fact that I don't mind as much if they're speaking about me directly, but it's the worst to see new members of the community who don't know better deal with it.

When I first became active in the community, it was due to eBay claiming we were the "only one" encountering the issues we faced, and I came here in hopes to find just one other person. And I discovered I wasn't alone, and there's MANY people in the same boat.

So I wouldn't want anyone else to fall for those tricks and become convinced that they're alone.

hollywoodhealthfoods · ‎07-28-2022

My sales are steady every month, almost to a percent or two. If sales are way down for the month.. Presto ! I wake up with more sales almost to the dollar of last month. Its been going on like this for 5 years. Every ounce in a while sale drop to there new level and remain there for a time. Over 5 years my sales have settled at about 25 - 30 % of what they where. That is statistically very , very unlikely. That said , it's their platform and they know and have a right to throttle or increase the visibility of any and all listings at will and they do. Remember they are the farmer, we are the chickens. The farmer takes good care of all her chickens until she has other plans for them.

What are you gonna do ?

kathieskorner · ‎07-28-2022

Not to worry, zamo-zuan, I've been recycling stuff as well as selling my mother and aunts' crafts at flea markets since the 1970s, and have been on the eBay boards since 1999 - six months before I listed my first items. (Back in those days eBay rewarded sellers who helped new sellers or those posting problems on the boards with free listings.)

There are still buyers for just about anything one wants to sell - it is just a question of connecting to them, and eBay's search manipulation has made that increasingly difficult over the past 12-18 months. Unfortunately, I am too old for flea markets - a garage sale once or twice a year is the best I can still manage. I used to sell on multiple sites online, but had to scale back after my husband passed away. I really don't pay any attention to those who consider themselves eBay selling experts and feel free to criticize others as most have little inventory or buyer base in common with mine.

This little old lady in tennis shoes prefers to sell less than pay eBay more for making selling both more difficult and costly.

threads4ever · ‎07-29-2022

Down for three days

threads4ever · ‎07-29-2022

As you can see by my graph that my sales are flat lining for the past 3 days and it's like something has been turned off ... I wish Ebay would stop tweaking things.