Falling Sales on Ebay!!!

[mpcac]

My sales started to drop in August 2018 and continued thru the end of the year. So far this year my sales are off 70%. I realize that maybe the market for what I sell could be changing, but this has been a very sharp decline and I would expect a more gradual decline with the loss of interest. I was wondering if my sales on Ebay are off because I'm not participating in the  " Promote Listing " option? 

[weschurch]

I've watched it drop for years, its now almost pointless to come here.

I don't want your big box stuff, I have a website for that and that website didn't almost kill my business years ago. Do you think I'm buying big box items from you Ebay? Not in a million years.

I don't want your endless supplies of Chinese junk, because well, its Chinese Junk

And no offense to sellers but I don't want your "Ebay business" goods either. They are all marked up for you to make a profit, then on top of that have your ridiculous "cost of doing business" fees on top of them. 

Those are who remain here, running the gauntlet of Ebay. None of them are attractive to me.

I want Jane Doe in Oshkosh Wisconsin who found an old toy in her kids closet and wants to get rid of it at a decent price. Thats what Ebay was founded on but Jane Doe isn't bothering with all the nonsense and hoop jumping just to get rid of it anymore, and I don't blame her. 

Those sellers are few and far between anymore, and because they have gone, I will go. It serves no purpose in my life anymore

[membersinceaug2001]

Fountain pens seem to sell pretty well.  I see 121k listed and 67k sold.

[membersinceaug2001]

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@mpcac wrote:

Thanks for taking the time to reply. My past sales were pretty consistent until August of last year..... now the loss of sales  ( approximately 70% off ) is also consistent, and I'm not happy about this. Something has changed. Either the interest in what I'm selling has changed, or maybe the slump in my sales is because of my choosing not to  participate in the " Promote Listing " offered for a fee by Ebay.  If the interested in what I'm selling was falling off, I would expect a more gradual decline in sales and not such a sharp drop off in sales. 

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This abrupt drop happened to me way back in 2007/08.  It's never recovered.

That's when they did the "New Ebay" test site with the BigCorp's and drop-shippers and chinese, before moving them onto the real site.

[mg152]

Actually my sales are slowly trickling up. Well, sometimes. It does seem that promoted listings help and it costs very little. I set 1-4% on mine.

[mg152]

Yep. I set mine at 1-4% depending on the price of the item and how long I’ve had it.

[mg152]

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@weschurch wrote:

I disagree with this post, sorry

As a buyer I could care less about refund policy. I don't buy expecting to have to return. If you have buyers this is important to those are the buyer that WILL be looking to return an item. Its the Ebay rent-a-center buyer. Best avoid buyers like that anyways.

Secondly, the picture thing is to me is silly. If I want an item I buy it. I dont care if you took a picture with a fliphone with a ugly background. 

And lowering the price is pretty generic. Sounds like Ebay telling you to do that. Just keep lowering prices til it sells. Gee, what a concept Ebay!

Some people want to try to have an explanation for poor sales. The reality is 

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I agree with most of your post except the picture part. Google won’t show pics unless there’s a white background.  I use a cheap card table and old portable clothes rack and 2 - $2 white sheets. Cheap and easy. Oh abd last year I bought a $20 light kit so I’ve got about $40 invested in my picture taking area. 😀

[mg152]

I collect pens. Medical pens that have cool designs and pens with businesses on them. I used to buy them here but then I found I could get 50 pens for $9.99 free ship on the river. They are misprints but the truth is only about 10 pens out of 50 are misprints and I use those 10 around the house. I was paying $10 and up for 1 pen here.

[readabouthorses]

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@mg152 wrote:
I collect pens. Medical pens that have cool designs and pens with businesses on them. I used to buy them here but then I found I could get 50 pens for $9.99 free ship on the river. They are misprints but the truth is only about 10 pens out of 50 are misprints and I use those 10 around the house. I was paying $10 and up for 1 pen here.

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I have boxes and  boxes of medical pens. I worked at a mental health center and when the drug reps came in they passed them out like candy. Some of them are really cool. I also have a friend who worked at Duke and he used to give me boxes of medical pens.

I do think more people collect pens than you realize.

[grasshopperx]

I've been a member since 01. Me it happened the first day of June 2013! Overnight. cassini. I'm surprised some sellers have hung on as long as they have before the AI noticed them.

[ekmadonna]

Google shows my Etsy listings and they do not have a white background. They are the same listings I have on ebay but they do not show my ebay listings on Google?

[laurabeardsley]

I was told by Ebay CS that google will not show any ebay listings that do not have a catalog number. That means all antiques, collectibles and used items will not be shown on google. I can only repeat what I was told by an Ebay CS. This would explain the low sales in these categories.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@laurabeardsley wrote:

I was told by Ebay CS that google will not show any ebay listings that do not have a catalog number. That means all antiques, collectibles and used items will not be shown on google. I can only repeat what I was told by an Ebay CS. This would explain the low sales in these categories.

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CS is wrong again. I have items showing on Google, and they don't have catalog numbers. No such thing when it comes to old books and papers.

[divwido]

I know I keep saying it but if you have nothing to do, then come pack that Castor Set for me.  I'm buried alive in sales.

[atikovi]

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@laurabeardsley wrote:

I was told by Ebay CS that google will not show any ebay listings that do not have a catalog number. That means all antiques, collectibles and used items will not be shown on google. I can only repeat what I was told by an Ebay CS. This would explain the low sales in these categories.

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Is that of any significance? What does Google have to do with Ebay? I would imagine anybody searching for an item would enter the search words directly into Ebay. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@atikovi wrote:

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@laurabeardsley wrote:

I was told by Ebay CS that google will not show any ebay listings that do not have a catalog number. That means all antiques, collectibles and used items will not be shown on google. I can only repeat what I was told by an Ebay CS. This would explain the low sales in these categories.

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Is that of any significance? What does Google have to do with Ebay? I would imagine anybody searching for an item would enter the search words directly into Ebay. 

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Some of my buyers come to my listings from Google. They don't directly shop Ebay. How do I know? They tell me, because they are surprised to actually find good stuff listed here. (then they become repeat customers!) They think all the good stuff is on Etsy or Ruby Lane.

I regularly sell items to three antique shops. All three of those shop owners originally found me through an item of mine showing up on Google.