Ebay Sales completely stopped in last 2 months October 2022

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Hello, I have been on ebay for 20 years selling off and on. I opened my ebay stores in 2013 and have been having great sales until the last 2 1/2 years. Sales have been declining slowly and steady for the last year and a half. 2021 and 2022 have been horrible nothing but a downward spiral..

I have done updating, relisting, sell similar, new listings, new pics, updated coded listings, added promo, having sales 10%-15% off. new titles Nothing is giving. 

I know my listings are not being found on the search results. I'm pretty much ghosted even though i can see them myself. No page impressions.. Not to mention china sellers are always at the top of the search results because of multiple never ending new accounts from the  same seller and low prices.

This is it I'm calling it quits as the business has dwindled to $100 dollar weeks. 

I sell industrial filtering media so the demand will be there. I keep reading how online shopping  is down all around ebay, posh, mercari etc. This is an ebay issue.  Looks like they are weeding out sellers quickly.

ebay sent me a message to try the new beta marketing campaign $500 off **bleep**! to get listings at the top of search results. 

Anybody having a similar experience, I would like to hear from you. 

[tabletop-hobbies]

My impressions are well down over the last 6 weeks, hard work over the summer seemed to be paying off then it just falls off starting around October.  I'm getting fed up with ebay at this point after 2 years am looking to cross platform but at the moment it's pretty useful for me as I sell second hand miniatures.  I do know that others have succesfully transitioned away from ebay though.

It seems the managers are slowly killing off their own company through their practices.

[dannosdeals]

I thought it was just me! Have always had a steady stream but the last few months starting about September have been BRUTAL! I have rewritten listings, discounted, offered free shipping and paid the promotional fee! Still nothing! I'm not sure but it seems like eBay has just dried up.

[elektrified]

Yes, agreed. I've been selling on eBay full-time since 1998, have a couple of accounts. These last 3 months have been the worst ever; especially November. My sales are down 70-85%. The last sale November 20, 2022 and not a single sale or inquiry since then. Total sales for the month = US $677.75 (down 85%). Even during the Global Financial Crisis in 2007-2010 or during substantial global stock market corrections I sold much more than that. For me, the decline began in late June of this year and it's been getting worse as each month passes. I also am experiencing only 0-20 page views per month on average. I also asked a couple of friends in other countries to search for some of my items and they were unable to find the items unless they entered the exact listing title word for word.

I just got off the phone with eBay and they also insisted the problem is related to the economy, post-Covid issues, fuel and food prices, and any other number of things. They did say that they have been receiving very high call volumes from sellers complaining about low sales or no sales at all, but that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the website. They suggested I send a message listing the items my friends were unable to find during eBay searches and that the technical team would look into it. They said there have been many inquiries about the same issues but almost always the technical team can find the items and close the cases.

I'm worried about the future! Good luck to all.

[lonelygirlktf]

Here I thought I was the only one. My sales came to a screeching halt the last 30 days. Seems to me there's a few factors here. The economy, Ebay competing with Amazon on cheap Chinese goods and other platforms like Whatnot, Instagram, Facebook, Nextdoor. 

It's good to know I'm not alone but man it hurts.

[gpjpoky]

One thing that just floors me is the number of eBay pop-ups from competitors who do not belong to eBay.    Daily these popups show up in my item listings. Other people tell me they also see these popups. Basically, eBay is telling our buyers “Hey! Here is a better place (outside eBay) to buy this item!”

Yes, I know eBay gets paid to put these popups in, but they also lose their fee when a buyer changes their mind and decides to buy outside of eBay.  Plus, after a while, I have been told that some of these buyers no longer even check in on eBay, as they are now (thanks to eBay) comfortable shopping somewhere else. 

Etsy does not do this.  I have not personally seen a popup from a non-Etsy seller on Etsy in over 5 years.

EBay is reaping what they are sowing.

[mr.heavy]

My searches changed from worldwide to USA as the default.  Could not search a previous European sellers items until I changed to worldwide, even in the seller's other tems section.  Crazy.

[highwaytobuy2010]

Been selling on Ebay for 24 years, over $14 million in cumulative sales and we have over 10,000 listings of lawn and garden , hardware, plumbing , home center type stuff. Our sales are down 60% from pre-pandemic levels . We touched $1 million plus in 2019 and we might hit $400k this year. We've tried it all also. Nothing works. Our margins are such that paying ANOTHER 10-15% pretty much puts at breakeven, so what's the point? Do this for a hobby? 

I feel , like many here , that putting any extra effort into this site is counterproductive. Their algorithms have clearly changed and the demeanor of "customer service" personnel has also changed dramatically. No friendly faces here, we feel like we're the "enemy" . This after paying more than $150k a year in fees in recent years. Their new push is to toss off hundreds of listings as " restricted" ( like mouse traps for Pete's sake!) I've never seen a major corporation shoot themselves in every single foot (and other body Appendage) as Ebay has in the last 3 years.  Their fee income has to be falling off the map. 

Not ready to totally throw in the towel yet , but I gotta tell ya, feeling VERY unappreciated these days. Our heavy focus will be on our own site and WM unless or until someone at this formerly great company has an epiphany . 

What kind of moronic management team does this to a working site? 

[fiftee5chevee]

Same here...I have 4 accounts...1000 listings....completely stopped...its "Light Out" again...off the eBay servers...oh well....I have seen this, off and on, for the past 20 years...

[dwtrading2015]

I started a similar thread

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/September-2022-sales-crashed/m-p/7281247#M614491

and the same problems are voiced.  I have identified a catastrophic failure in the search algorithm and also worked out cumulative and unavoidable ghosting results in a cumulative mathematical tend to towards zero through impression plateaus.  The impressions are not market responsive but distributed on some sort of equitable sharing out of potential sales to keep as many shops as possible paying the fixed fee.  There is clear listing bias towards shop subscription category rather than just the provision of tools, again working against market forces.  Overall, the platform has moved to ever increasing micro management of the market place (to increase eBay revenue) and as with any micro managed market the market is collapsing.  To reverse the decline will require major roll backs of changes, especially the search algorithm. eBay is famous for failing to take a blind bit of notice of any feedback so this is not going to happen.  The decline is reaching a 'cascade' tipping point where it will stop being just a gradual decline but become an exponential crash.  I have my exit strategy and fingers crossed will be out of eBay by new year.  The failure and eradication of eBay will no doubt become the stuff of business school text books in the future.  Myspace, ToysRus, eBay...

Oh, what could have been?

[alle-7266]

eBay is disgusting. Price gouging money hungry, morally deficit pieces of trash run it. That's the problem. Always and forever. Bad people who would sell their own grandparents into slavery if the price was right. These evil pieces of human excrement rule the world now! Aren't human beings just so wonderful?!

[kare-muha]

The government decided to tax Internet sales hurt cusumers businesses. More people are starting to go back to retail and get their product in hand than to pay online taxes and wait until the item is received. 

[paraquip]

If I look over my 23 year run I'd say I've had similar sales....see and feel exactly what you are describing.

I do sense ebay has shifted it's model into a more boutique style business in selling sneakers, luxury items, collectibles and car parts for enthusiasts.   That alone drives over 30% of their revenue.   They make no bones about it.

It's never fun looking for other places to sell instead of ebay, especially if you are set up on that system for years.    Over the Christmas break I'll be looking very hard at what to do in beginning to replace ebay.

With regards to sales......they have collapsed over 60%....I see all of your metrics.

I will say when my sales hit the 56% down point (July 2022-December, 2022)....sales stabilized for a while at the new lower level and then proceeded to collapase even further.

I do believe this second wave of sales collapse might be economic starting in about Oct 2022.

For the first time over the weekend I had 2 20+ sales days......but the purchase prices averaged under $20....the larger ticket items are moving much slower.

Hope this helps

HK

[blinglightshid]

Last year was one of my best holiday seasons. This year might end up being my worst holiday season. Not just on Ebay, but every platform.

[baantiques]

I've been listing stuff like crazy, running sales, sending offers, etc etc etc. Trying to be creative and try new stuff.  Sales are up 100% over my extremely lousy October sales.  It's been a good 30 days so far and keeps getting better.   Our Etsy store is starting to pay off, too.  So far 20% of sales.  I've actually been able to put some away for the next purchase.  Crossing my fingers.

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