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?

[majdonh]

I've been on eBay since 1997 and I know that cancelling listing will not improve sales, that is just basic logic, but I'm not going to keep paying to list items that aren't selling. Also, one of the tactics mentioned online for gaining sales is cancelling listings, then relisting. That does not seem to make a difference though.

[domin-tomas]

Cancelling and relist doesn't work, I do it every month. It might have worked before.

[majdonh]

Yes, but I specifically stated that my sales have dropped in the last couple of months, so the 90 day sales is not a good metric. I have considered other platforms (Amazon, WalMart, etc.) but they require you to have your own website in order to sell there, and as a 1 person operation, I did not think I would be able to manage the logistics of having multiple platforms, so I stuck to eBay. I was satisfied with that until the last 2 months.

[majdonh]

Thanks! My prices are usually the best for that item or similar item. My custom kits are usually the best out there as i do not put "fluff" in them. If you look at first aid/trauma kits, the all mention the item count as a sales tactic. But when you look at a typical 200 item kit they will have 50 cotton swabs, or 100 small, cheap bandages and other similar cheap and marginally useful items solely so they can say their kit has 200 or 300 items. How many cotton swabs do you need in a first aid kit? I put 10 in mine and I have a large selection of different types and styles of adhesive bandages. When i came up with the idea for this store, I researched what was out there already and saw the deficiencies in the current kits, so I made mine better and more useful for the same or lower cost. I do understand marketing and selling and I live up to my store motto of : Quality. Value. Service.

[majdonh]

That is about where I am at now too.

[majdonh]

Great suggestions! Thank you!!

[mybigsale]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

I understand what you are saying. While I don't agree with all of eBays policies and changes, I do follow all of eBays policies and changes.  I make the best of what eBay has to provide. I am a Top-Rated Seller.  I don't agree with the addition of Sponsored Ads. I do use Sponsored Ads trying to achieve the sales level eBay provided before this "feature" was added.

When eBay increases their fee by 5% just because they feel like it, I will probably pay for it as long as I can still make a profit.

Sellers pay eBay to provide us with a Marketplace.  As long as sellers are paying eBay for this service, I feel sellers should be able to discuss eBays actions that are against the best interest of sellers (and possibly against the best interest of eBay's long-term success). I believe it is critical criticism and not just complaining. I am hoping someday eBay will get a CEO that changes the eBay paradigm that considers the wants and needs of sellers.

From the User Board and eBay counts - eBay is losing many sellers and buyers - which is partially explained by eBay's negative changes.

[gemarakop_trading]

Try selling on other platforms 

[theteamsetguy]

It might of worked before because when you cancel and relist and item it shows up as newly listed which really isn't the case when. Sellers by canceling and relisting an item are just trying to fool people in thinking it is a newly listed item. 

The ebay search engine use to give more weight for newly listed items. This would make sense for buyers who are looking for new items they haven't seen before. Many collectibles buyers including myself are turned off by seeing the same many times over priced items relisted as new month after month.

[laststopgeneralstore]

Why not switch categories? Not only are you selling in a niche but you are also selling "custom" ones when most people could probably care less and they'll go to Walmart and pick up a $20 first aid kit. I mean I don't know why your complaining about sales, you have 40 listed and sold 86 in the past 90 days, you sold your entire store twice over and then some. To put that into perspective, I would have to sell around 3500 items in 90 days to do that.

Have you researched anywhere else online or in stores to see if people can find these survival kits cheaper? Your listing habit is extremely inconsistent so don't expect consistent traffic and sales if you're not going to be consistent in your listing. Before August 5th the last time it looks like you listed something was October of 2021. Assuming your just starting up again, your not even a month in and you've sold twice the amount that you have listed.

Be patient, list consistently & start listing more items. It clearly looks like you know what your doing in this niche. I don't understand why you would have to close shop when your sales are just fine for the amount you have listed and for the niche that your in.

[seymourssi]

Best way to boost sales in my 20 years on eBay is to list a few 7-day $.99 cent auctions.  In my busy season, I list auctions 4-5 times per week to close at 10 PM EST.  List only items that are popular and low cost, as niche items may only get 1 bid.  And boost you shipping costs on these items, as people will still bid on a cheap item if the shipping runs high.  You may lose $ on the item itself.  But you will sell more Fixed Price due to the exposure as people have eyes on YOUR items.

Also, I HAVE to use Promoted Listings (Standard), or sales tank.  Just on a few more popular items, add up to the recommended %.  It's Pay to Play on eBay, and that's not going away any time soon.

With these 2 strategies, you will do a lot for your sales.  Forget all the other gimmicks ... these 2 work...

[bauble-babes]

@majdonh  "Also, one of the tactics mentioned online for gaining sales is cancelling listings, then relisting."

I just ended a pile of listings that had been on awhile, but instead of Relisting, I used the Sell Similar feature which I read (years ago) works better as far as search results go and gives the item a new id (which relist doesn't). It's worked brilliantly in the past. Currently, it seems to have brought new life to items not getting many views/watchers and has generated some sales.

This August was the absolute worst in all my years of selling, though. July is historically my slowest month, but in August sales have always picked up significantly. Not so this year...scary.

Lots of perfect storm factors at play right now and many sellers struggling to stay afloat.

[majdonh]

Thanks for your reply. I misstated when I said cancel and relist, it is actually sell similar that I have done, but no change - yet.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@mybigsale "... I feel sellers should be able to discuss eBays actions that are against the best interest of sellers... I believe it is critical criticism and not just complaining."

I have no problem with people complaining about, or criticising, ebay, or the economy, I just think it's important to remember that we have no control over either one, so if we want to improve our sales, we should focus on our business.

Nothing wrong with giving ebay feedback, making suggestions, criticizing etc. I do it. But don't confuse that with taking productive action to improve sales. 

[mybigsale]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Nothing wrong with giving ebay feedback, making suggestions, criticizing etc. I do it. But don't confuse that with taking productive action to improve sales. 

Not confused at all. Understanding eBays addition of Sponsored Ads has lowered the placement natural organic ads were getting before eBay had Sponsored Ads gives sellers the knowledge they need to improve sales.

I now pay eBay much more in Sponsored Ad fees so I can try and achieve what I was already doing before the appearance of sponsored ads.  I am sure many sellers located in China and other sellers are happy they can now pay to increase their search result placement instead of having to rely on relevant organic listings.