Ebay sales down 40% over the last 6 months....need suggestions of what to do

[m.goodson]

Hi everyone, and Happy Holidays.

I have been a seller on here 15+ years (mostly car parts with fixes price listings) and it enjoyed it over the years. But over the last 6 months my sales have dropped considerably compared to previous years. I finally did join promoted listings, have been paying the extra fees, and have sold a few items. But I am becoming very discouraged as a whole, and feel I may need to reconsider if this is worth my time anymore. As I have a full time job, a family, and this takes time as well.  I did try Customer Support but they didn't seem to have any suggestions to help.

I guess my question is...Is this a problem due to Ebay's new marketing campaign, or are my type items losing interest? Anyone else having this problem?

Any positive advisement  would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Mark

[m.goodson]

Yes, I have no doubt much of my issue comes from me buying these large dealership lots several years ago. I sold the best 25% parts of the parts right off the top. Now I'm left with everything else. Just hard to want to haul 2,000-3,000 NOS parts to the dump (40 bread flats of small items, 100 clutches, 40 master cylinders, 60 water pumps, fuel pumps, brake pads, carburetor kits, and gasket sets to the dump. With most of them never being listed.

It is a constant job to sort, evaluate to sell or purge, and don't look back. Compiling bulk lots to resell seem more trouble than it is worth easier to toss. It is a time consuming process, but part of the irony of buying bulk. As it sometimes yields nice surprises.

But at the end of the day, if parts are passed their useful life or the market is flooded by a super seller/liquidator, they aren't worth the time. As some of my items have sat in the store for years before being sold.

I have resorted to hand picking many of my newer items for resale in lieu of buying in bulk, and not adding to my backlog. 

And yes...I have found items that many don't show up in Ebay search results, but do show in Google searches, and point me to the Ebay ad.

Again, I thank you guys for all the suggestions. I am taking notes, pondering my options, and already making changes to try and keeping up in an evolving market.

Thanks,

Mark

[fbusoni]

@m.goodson 

Thank you for closing the loop and explaining how you came into possession of all these parts.

I hope that you were able to recoup your entire investment when you sold the first 25%.

Now, this is just a random idea on my part, but have you considered getting in touch with some Facebook specialty automotive groups?   I'd bet that there are still a few million Americans who are interested in carburetor kits.  And I'm certain that there are FB groups out there where you can find new homes for your other NOS parts.  At a minimum, you might be able to get folks to haul away the part for you.

FWIW, I bought thousands of brand new LPs many years ago... sold the most desirable ones quickly, and now have about a few thousand or so that I need to dispose of.  I have found several people on FB who are willing to come over and take the LPs off my hands so I do not have to go through the trouble of trashing them.  regards

[m.goodson]

Yes, I have done well with some of my bulk purchases. My first bulk purchase 10+ years ago yielded me recouping my full $1500 investment with selling 3 items, plus making me an additional revenue of 10x that within half a year, and it still continued. Consequently I still have some of those items leftover too, lol.

Due to storage limitations and have always been a skeptical bulk buyer. But some of my best lots were actually from aspiring resellers that gave up when they realized the time it takes to deal with breaking down lots and just gave up. Taking a quick profit to just get rid of it.

I have sold local on FB, and will look further into my options there. I appreciate the suggestion. As Marketplace is becoming ever so popular,  even as a shipping option.

I am also realizing it may be time for change, some serious cleaning, and maybe even a curb alert 🙂

Thanks,

Mark

[totally_rad_movies]

I noticed the same thing on my store during those months. I believe this issue is that eBay is trying to copy the money grab strategies of the biggest online retailer with its promoted listings. If you are not playing ball by advertising your items and letting eBay take a larger percentage of your cut then they will make it harder for you listings to be shown. 

[redlinear]

@m.goodson 
 Once bought 150 mostly junk outboard motors at an estate auction.  I uh....lost my mind and once I started, it was too late to stop.  (and a bunch of other stuff)
Anyway, they got a HUGE tool box and I passed on it.
I ended up with a box full of outboard head gaskets also. New, still in packages, with part numbers on each package.
After the auction was over, I noticed that the tool box had THOUSANDS of similar packages of gaskets and kits in it, new....
When I started listing those head gaskets, it was SO EASY (due the new, and the part numbers).
When they started selling, they sold FAST.  
I kicked myself in the *** for not buying that tool box full of new gaskets...LOL

Anybody need 100 or so junk outboard motors? LOL

[redlinear]

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@totally_rad_movies wrote:

I noticed the same thing on my store during those months. I believe this issue is that eBay is trying to copy the money grab strategies of the biggest online retailer with its promoted listings. If you are not playing ball by advertising your items and letting eBay take a larger percentage of your cut then they will make it harder for you listings to be shown. 

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You are correct.
That's about 1/5th of the problem.

[wood-n-bikes]

It's a sinking ship and eBay has no one to blame but themselves. Classic case of "If it ain't broke don't fix it" 

They have some really retahded people on the payroll that's for sure.

They have been making it worse and worse every year.

I can't even ship international anymore because these idiots are letting people get free shipping and apparently I'm no longer worthy of the shipping hub....

[blacktopautoparts]

I had done the same thing about 2 years ago, had bought 12,000 loose parts from a friend that was shutting down his business. It was a bit of a nightmare getting everything listed even though I had contracted out to a developer to build out a program to make things a bit easier for us. The problem also when buying someone elses inventory is that you also get some of their junk items even if you paid a good price for the whole thing.

[force_of_iron]

Well I can speak to your situation but I buy mainly antique books. They have eliminated my search perameters and now cant seperate newly listed items for the old. I will not look though the same books day after day (16000+ listed at any given time) I havent bought hardly a thing in a couple months

[fbusoni]

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@totally_rad_movies wrote:

I noticed the same thing on my store during those months. I believe this issue is that eBay is trying to copy the money grab strategies of the biggest online retailer with its promoted listings. If you are not playing ball by advertising your items and letting eBay take a larger percentage of your cut then they will make it harder for you listings to be shown. 

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@totally_rad_movies 

Yes, promoted listings (software that you purchase from the cloud) allow eBay to maintain a steady revenue stream without having to raise fees for all eBay sellers.   And eBay has a captive audience, what with the "fear of missing out" (to which I, at age 65, am, thankfully, wholly inoculated) so prevalent these days. 

The part I've bolded in blue above seems to be the conventional wisdom. 

But I assure you that it is NOT a universal truth.

As a few experienced sellers on these forums have made clear with evidence, once a seller starts down the PL rabbit hole, it may -- depending on what they are selling -- be very, very difficult to extricate oneself from a dependency on the software without incurring significant financial loss.   

Even tweaking your listings -- removing some from PLs -- can produce very unsatisfactory results across the board.

However, there are definitely ways of getting ones' listings promoted on eBay without having to "pay" anything extra.   All that is required is top tier customer service -- in my personal experience that has meant same day shipping and paid 60 day returns.  

For me, the results have been quite impressive over a prolonged period of time.

But I should hasten to add that I sell old, boring things that are no longer manufactured and which are no longer of general interest.   

Long story short, there are hundreds of variables at play on this platform, and all of them are hidden from view.  regards

[liawri-75]

Car parts?  Hmmm.....Guesses:

- there's a lot of DIY mechanics. 

-People are holding onto their cars longer and running them into the ground practically. 

-The older models hold up better than the new ones?

-the newer cars don't need as many parts?

You seem to be selling older vintage parts.  That may be why?

[redlinear]

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@liawri-75 wrote:

Car parts?  Hmmm.....Guesses:

- there's a lot of DIY mechanics. 

-People are holding onto their cars longer and running them into the ground practically. 

-The older models hold up better than the new ones?

-the newer cars don't need as many parts?

You seem to be selling older vintage parts.  That may be why?

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Vintage 60's to 80's stuff is awesome.  Albeit difficult to take apart due to rusted bolts.
I'm pretty sure, no matter what the "junker", there's somebody out there trying to restore it.
Usually quite a few somebody's. 
Old is an easier selling game than Recent.  But much more difficult to source and process. 

[autosol15]

Welcome to the auto parts industry.   There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to why things go the way they do that I've been able to find, and I've been in the industry for over 20 years.   My busy months are March and April.   October through January being my slowest....that's the only "trend" I've been able to come up with.   I'm pretty specialized in what I sell...and there are still times when I'll move 3-4/day of one part number for several months straight, and then not a single sale of that part number for 6 months, while others seemingly take it's place as the "hot" one of the day.   

I checked out your listings and you have a pretty wide range of everything...so your sales are all by chance.    The only solution is to create more listings and cross your fingers.  

Direct marketing to website forums / having your own website can certainly help too, but without a return customer base (for fast moving parts you constantly keep in stock), it's all about exposure to the right person at the right time.  

[baantiques]

It's a constant thing to sort through boxes of parts.  I buy large collections, sometimes as big as a semi load.  And usually my purchase is a clean out, so the family if it's an estate or the seller just want it all gone. Sorting and deciding what to list, put in a box lot, or toss is a daily job.  I figure 20% of the stuff is gravy, where I can list for $50 or more and sell quickly, 25% is garbage that goes right in the can, and the rest is in the 10-50 range and may sell quickly or may not.  And I have to decide while it is in my hands what to do with each part, because if I set it somewhere it will sit there until I trip on it.  I bought out a closed Ford dealer a few years back and along with everything came 3 pallets of vintage glass.  We're talking Model T all the way up to the mid 50s.  I ended up junking 2/3 of it because they either had no part numbers or I couldnt find the part numbers in any of my catalogs.  So I had to decide.  I don't like throwing away vintage parts but I can't keep dead inventory.   

I take all that into consideration when I make a bid on a collection.  There is so much of this kind of stuff out there that I have to purposely not search for it when I have enough to sell or I would drown.

[baantiques]

Toss it my way. I love that stuff.

I've worked out a system for dealing with it.  Buy it cheap, sort quick, and don't be afraid to toss parts in the dumpster.