Ebay slow down for Holiday season

[cablebuyer]

any one exprieince slow down, I have worst sales in 10 years, please let me know what you thing is going on, I think ebay stop promoting, helping only sales pay more for promtions...................

[ruethesame7]

You always say the same thing. BORING

[fbusoni]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@fbusoni 

But at this point, the cost to achieve real velocity has increased to the point where it has gone from being a bargain,  to being a drag on the site for sellers, buyers and, yes, ebay. But , sadly, as long as it continues to bring in revenue, ebay will be dependent on it.

@my-cottage-closet 

Thanks for your informed reply, greatly appreciated.

I too remember when PLs on eBay were a one off, and when selling on Amazon was actually an enjoyable and profitable experience. I even remember putting javascript in my eBay listings to give buyers a cool drop-down link to my record store website.

Most who sell here have no such memories; they are hemorrhaging lots of money on PLs because they think that doing so is the norm / don't know any better, and are coming here daily looking for a solution.

These sellers, understandably, seem to not appreciate the answers ("no one wants to buy your stuff,' "sell in different categories," "move to another platform," "spend even more on PLs") which typically are provided.

TR-plus listings are not a guarantee that one will make sales.   But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that moving one's listings to TR-plus puts a seller in a different category from others.

When I made the shift to TR-plus some years ago, there was no instant effect on sales.  The velocity to which you refer took about a year to manifest.   

And from what I have observed, that velocity is not only self-sustaining; it actually increases over time.  (Thinking here of a snowball rolling down a snow-covered hill, albeit slowly.)

To my mind, moving to TR-plus is a cost-free alternative worth trying if you can manage the requirements. 

Patience, in very short supply these days of living in an age of instant gratification, will be required.

And there is no guarantee that such a move will work, obviously.   But there is no guarantee that PLs will work either, and those cost money.

And again, a factor that I believe is seriously under-appreciated: checking all the silly boxes eBay "recommends" regarding setting up your storefront.   I am convinced that doing that is an added bonus (and I am as cynical as the next seller here).  regards

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I think we have a similar viewpoint, although I'm less convinced about the value of TRS Plus. While I'm not as adamant about not using ads as you are, I think it is best to prioritize optimizing the store and listings (and I would include all the aspects of "seller performance" as part of that optimization.)

Of course, we are all different, with different circumstances, different goals, etc. 

[bosscheetah]

I have sold on eBay since 2006 and my own web site for about 15 years.  Sold on Amazon for many years, but got tired of Amazon's treatment of sellers and stopped for about 5 years.  I started up on Amazon this year about 2 weeks ago.  I was a Brand Manager for 10 years before my business so have a marekting background.  I sell a licensed product so same item from seller to seller.  Here is the main problem in a nutshell....  ROAS

Some of you may know what this term is, but its insane that eBay now wants to make this term part of their seller experience.  ROAS is "return on ad spend".  The whole point of selling on a platform like eBay is that you pay final value fees in order to never have to think about things like ROAS.  eBay is supposed to bring in the traffic, but they are not anymore.  Even worse they want sellers to pay for more visibilty because their organic search results are horrible.  But then eBay lowered final value fees right?  Of course not, do they ever?  

I added 50% of my products to Amazon and am selling more units at a higher price than eBay!  This is the worse I have seen eBay since I strated in 2006.  The have lost their identity and have no traffic.  Why would someone buy on eBay nowadays?  Is their goal simply to be a niche marketplace for hard to find items?

[bosscheetah]

I think eBay went into panic mode and ran the holiday sale.  Literally giving money away to pad their Q4 revenue numbers.  eBay in terrible place right now squeezing sellers for way too much in fees and asking them to advertise on their own.  eBay' s place on the totem pole has always been unique items and great prices on everything else.   They need to stick to that and hopefully this holiday season will teach them a lesson.  Stop the promoted listing nonsense, lower the fees and fix the search algorithm.  My eBay prices used to always be the lowest, but now the same or higher than everywhere else I sell.  I don't like selling on eBay anymore as the profit margins are tiny and they think they are Google when it comes to advertising.  I wil happily pay eBay a final value fee, but then stop asking me to run ad campagins - that is your job eBay or lower your fees!  eBay has also little to no repeat customers making advertising even more costly.  I just hope they learn and start to right the ship....