Drop in Sales

[majdonh]

I am a long time eBay seller and my store has been very successful until the past few months. I am a top rated seller, 100% feedback, meet all the required metrics and have receive a lot of great emails from customers about how much they like my custom first aid and survival kits. My sales are down 75% in the last month. I have researched methods for improving sales, watched YouTube videos about that and have contacted eBay and the representative said he reset my store for whatever good that does. I have ended and relisted items - still no sales. I ended most of my listings to cut expenses and am thinking hard about closing my business and donating all my stock to charity for the tax write off. I have lots of ideas about new EDC, survival kits and medical/first aid kits, but I don't think it is worth the time to build these new kits and the several hours of work (researching content, photo setup, photo editing, costing out the kit, etc.) that it takes to get new kits listed. Is it really just the bad economy? What else I should be doing to restore my sales?

[futuremarine2011]

youve done evrything you can do. its not you, its ebay and all the changes. some cheerleaders will get on here and say something different but  it is ebay. 

[richard1rst]

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@futuremarine2011 wrote:

youve done evrything you can do. its not you, its ebay and all the changes. some cheerleaders will get on here and say something different but  it is ebay. 

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So it is all eBay's fault? It has nothing to do with the economy collapsing and prices screaming upward so much that so many people find their discretionary spending funds disappeared and supply shortages and on and on and on.

Anyone who disagrees with you is a "Cheerleader" (for whom?)

If ignorance truly is bliss why are there so many unhappy people on these boards?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Just a couple quick thoughts----looks like you sell a niche within a niche...is it possible ebay changed the category structure/item specifics for your type of items? And you need to update that? (I have no idea, just a possibility).

The other thing is, I would think with selling in such a tight niche, you could generate sales (here or elsewhere) by doing some targeted social media marketing. If you haven't been doing that, it might be a good time to look into it. Just one example might be to use YouTube ---go through one of your kits and explain how to use the stuff in the kit, etc. 

Anyway, I've got an early day tomorrow, so just passing those points along...

[m60driver]

The drop in sales is likely the perfect storm of an unstable economy and unstable social order combined with an incompetent management team at Ebay.  Then there is the ever present relentless competition in retail and you are selling in competitive categories with some larger players.  Anyhow, I too have seen a slowdown over the past few months and last month was the first month that caused me to have doubts as to whether the effort is worth the decreasing reward.

[katzrul15]

@majdonh 

Have been where you are and my "best" advice is that you need to list some (new) every day - consistently.  I also had to raise my Promoted Listings (standard) percentage quite a bit to get a rhythm back on my sales.  Still no where near where I was 60-90 days ago, but at least now - steady for the most part.

There are a lot of issues with e-Bay right now for certain, but there are also Buyers with only so much disposable income also.

What do the 30, 60 and 90 day "solds" look like for your category?  What is your price point compared to others selling similar items?  Is someone totally under-cutting you right now?  

Hang in there - maybe branch out some on other venues and retain your presence here as well.  

Good luck to you!

[futuremarine2011]

well you know what they say about opinions. time will tell the tale. 

[katzrul15]

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@futuremarine2011 wrote:

well you know what they say about opinions. time will tell the tale. 

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“Different eyes see the same thing different. This is called an opinion. Respect it.”

[chapeau-noir]

Searching in Google I find pages of various types of first aid kits, including custom.  I think you just have a lot of competition.  People are spending money and it's not just on Survival Kibble for the supposed current apocalypse. 

Sales are going to go up and down in such a close niche.  You may need to get the word out about your own custom kits - eBay isn't going to help you with this, but Insta and youtube might, with consistent exposure, but you also need to be consistent here. Also, don't give up over a single little month of slow sales - particularly August. And if 'several hours' of R&D cause you to drop what may be a really great idea, you may need to reexamine your goals. @katzrul15  has some good tips.

Don't give up!

[mybigsale]

@majdonh 

Some truth in what @futuremarine2011 says. I just did an eBay search for "trauma kit".  Top 5 search results were sponsored Ads. Number 1 result (Sponsored AD) was from China.

Click on any listing and look at bottom portion of page. Relevant listing being listed? NO. Only more sponsored ads.

Similar sponsored items:

Sponsored items customers also bought:

100% Chance displaying Sponsored Ads in place (or before) relevant organic ads is having a negative effect on sales for "good" sellers relying on eBay displaying their organic listings.  Sponsored Ads is an eBay fee increase. You don't have to pay it, but you will suffer a drop in sales as compared to before its addition by eBay (if you had good relevant listings).  eBay changing search to show high paid sponsored ads in preference to the most relevant organic listings may also affect buyer behavior negatively.

The question is not is it eBay causing the reduction in sales (for eBay sellers with good relevant organic listings). The question is how much is due to eBay and how much is due to the economy.

[dbfolks166mt]

     You have 86 sales in the last 90 days some sellers would consider that a pretty good clip. Others mentioned the economy issues but competition is also becoming an increasing factor in ecommerce. EBay no longer holds the quasi monopoly they had several years ago. I diversified across multiple platforms and while my eBay sales are down somewhat I am doing fine on a number of other platforms. You may want to look at a broader spectrum of options for listing your items. 

[aeparts1]

" I ended most of my listings"

Ending your listings isn't going to help your sales.

Sales is a Yo Yo or a roller coaster. One day you're up, the next you're down. That's the nature of sales.

I'm up 9% over the past 30 days. August 2022 was up 3 times over August 2021.

[domin-tomas]

Ebay is broken, or maybe you just have to pay to play. I refuse to "pay to play" and my sales are dismal at best.

[domin-tomas]

This has been a long time coming. It has been getting worst for years. The economy just exposed it more.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@mybigsale "The question is not is it eBay causing the reduction in sales (for eBay sellers with good relevant organic listings). The question is how much is due to eBay and how much is due to the economy."

I look at it this way: the question is: How much control do I have over what ebay does? what the economy does? what I do?

While I can't control how buyers respond to what I do, I can control what I choose to do (or what I choose not to do). Since I have no real control over what ebay and the economy do, I try to focus on what I have control over.