Dramatic Drop in Sales/Very Slow October 2018

[delawareoutdoordecor]

Hi everyone, I have been having a regrettable October, with sales from 10/1 to 10/6 as abnormally slow, then a small spike in sales 10/7-10/9, then a sheer dive to 1 sale over the past 42 hours. I started a sale in all 4 of my eBay stores on 10/11 at 8:30am EST, with one purchase on 10/11 at 5:36pm EST. Yes I have 4 eBay stores, near 3000 total listings, close to 125,000 total available inventory items....and I’ve had a total of 4 sales in 3 days (including the 1 purchase in the past 42 hours). I’ve contacted eBay twice (once today and once yesterday) because this has not happened to my stores before. I generally have 6-12 sales a day as an average (all 4 stores combined), and I have followed slow times and higher selling times as usual ebbs and flows. Every promotion/sale I’ve started (10% off usually with combined shipping) has purchases being made with some consistency everyday. It’s now 2:30pm EST on 10/12, and again no purchases across all 4 stores. 

I feel like I seeing a deficit on eBay’s part here. They’ve assured me that my listings are visiable, I’m using the correct key words, I’m running promotions....and yet there is no explanation for the stunning drop in sales. 

Is anyone else seeing something similar? I’m very concerned....

[grandpasdealz]

Same here, Sell like mad for an hour or so and then back down again for 5 or 6 days. It's like we're on a wheel that ebays wizard is controlling. It's **bleep**

[175dude]

I can't understand it either, I have been selling since 1998 and have never seen it this slow! Something is going on, as news reports claim online sales are highest it ever has been. I have prices lower than any retail outlet and still am not getting the sales. With 130 item in BIN I am getting only about 6-8 sales per week.

[crlogan1]

I just ran across this forum and I too am having the same problem. Since October my sales are down at least 1/3 to 1/2. Last year Christmas time my husband and I  were packing things like crazy. Mail carrier would have to make 2 trips with a cart to his truck. This year, like nothing. A sale here and there. I was doing pretty well during summer which surprised me. Then October hit and it was lights out.  I've consistently been selling weekly on eBay since 1998 and I've seen the highs and lows. This is without a doubt the worst it's ever been. I got curious and went on etsy forums and a lot of people are saying the same thing..same time frame.  Doesn't look like there is any rhyme or reason for this. Economy is good. I did great during the recession.  I'm so disgusted at this point...this is my living. Fewer views, hardly any watchers on auctions and if I do get some...they don't bid.  I'm about ready to throw in the towel!! 

[spookyef]

The connection is that both EBay and Etsy are using the same search algorithms specifically designed to kill our sales...

[1sisterwoman]

Two words: "Amazon" and "Walmart"

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/12/21/amazons-latest-behind-the-scenes-move-to-compete-w.aspx

Of the two Mr. Jeff Bezos in his quest for world domination is coming after eBay hard, and IMHO it is beginning to show.

Over past several weeks while doing some holiday shopping (and taking advantage of good offers from a few credit/charge cards) compared items on Amazon to eBay. About 8 out of 10 times prices on Amazon were cheaper *and* offered free shipping. Even better on many things if one is willing to pony up and do *Prime* or whatever you can get same or next day delivery.

Online retail isn't that much different than physical. If someone is already in a "store" shopping, they are likely to look around and see if there is anything else. This even if they had planned to go somewhere else/their usual place to get a specific item.

On another note searching for anything on eBay lately has become a chore. No wonder views are down. I for one am fed up with eBay taking me to where it thinks I want to go rather than where I wanted. You look up at the "categories" box and you have no idea if you're still in a subset of a particular category, or back to "All Categories".

[equid0x]

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@skishack2016 wrote:

Yeah, plus with the sponsored sales, the total fees go sometimes upwards of 20 %, PLUS the paypal fees at the end.

The only big benefit comparing to Amazon is that you don't have to wait 45 days to get your money.

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Hmmm.... maybe that is a restriction for new sellers? I get deposits weekly on that site.... 

[bloomsburygroup]

Story in this week’s Wall Street Journal about Ebays problems. Their big shareholders are demanding that the company get its act together. I sell items (most pre-owned) on eBay and Amazon. No comparison: consistent daily sales in Amazon. Not only few sales in eBay but very, very little traffic. In the last I had very good luck with eBay but in the past year both traffic and sales have cratered

[enthusiast_56]

Hello guys, ever since the start of October I too have noticed a big decline. I sell pre owned watches and I have been doing a lot off searching nearly day to day, to see where I’m coming up (by using another device that can’t track my account or IP address).

I can see eBay have gone back to their old ways of displaying mainly auction items. It seems like they now prefer private sellers rather than bsusiness, doesn’t anyone else agree??

it doesn’t add up to me as they make more money out of A business rather than a private seller?

[enthusiast_56]

FYI I’m using another eBay account for this forum...

[greenscampie]

I too have had a dramatic drop in sales since October and have more listings than ever.  Often I have searched my listings are they are not showing up.  Recently I have listed new items and then don't show up anywhere, not even in my active listings.  I have had to list some things three times to finally get them to show up.  I have revised my listings so many times trying every which way to get them to show up.  I did contact eBay but have been unable to resolve the problem.  Down about 40% overall since October.  I'm sorry to see so many of us are going through this.  I have been a seller for 10 years.

[ohlalawigs]

It's weird, same here. I don't have as big of a store as I used to but nobody even barely looks at my items anymore & these are items that typically sell well.

Since Poshmark & all the LOWBALLING over there with cheap cut throat pricing Ebay needs to come up with an idea quick!

One, first is the shipping costs! That's the only thing I like about poshmark, I really hope Ebay does this soon because their losing sellers everyday & they need to also do more advertising or something because this is ridiculous.

[ohlalawigs]

It's called poshmark & it's because the sellers dont have to pay up the *** for shipping. Same with buyers..

[dnashopper]

Duplicate comment by me - why can't I delete one? That's really weird. 

[dnashopper]

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@bloomsburygroup wrote:

Story in this week’s Wall Street Journal about Ebays problems. Their big shareholders are demanding that the company get its act together. I sell items (most pre-owned) on eBay and Amazon. No comparison: consistent daily sales in Amazon. Not only few sales in eBay but very, very little traffic. In the last I had very good luck with eBay but in the past year both traffic and sales have cratered

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My page views dropped from 5000/day to 100/day, if lucky. I had upgraded my store to the $75 level in anticipation of adding tons of new items, but after the page views dropped, so did the sales. My business here was healthy for 16 years and is now struggling. I switched back to a basic store subscription and it seems to have helped a little, but it could just be the time of year. My sales are still about 1/3 of last year. Amazon sales are about the same as last year and now outpace my eBay channel because sales here are so dismal. There are other things that may be going on with my account, however, so I don't want anyone to think my situation is an indicator for theirs. Thank you for pointing out this information. It's solid evidence there is a problem and not someone telling us "no one wants your stuff", because that's just not true.   

[repentantsoul]

I was a new seller in January and I got that new seller boost. I worked very hard and got up over 200 listings all the while selling. I was finding it difficult to keep up my listings. Business was cracking. My daughter started at the same time and the same thing was going on with her. Then, all of a sudden, for both of us, the sales just stopped. I made over $2000.00 and then it went to nothing. Now, though I have continued posting products, my sales are one, maybe two items a week. So, I did what everybody else is doing: I posted on Mercari. I sell something there and take it off Ebay when it sells. I've gone to Poshmark too. Ebay is just driving their own store owners away to other venues. They are making their competition stronger.