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? 

[atikovi]

I always thought a Google search result is based on the number of views a webpage has received. The most views show first. If you search on Google with some general search words, you  might get 15 million results. If your Ebay item has only a few hundred views, nobody will scroll through those 15 million results until they get to your Ebay listing near the bottom.

[clu3]

Ebay customer service is dead wrong.  It's all about the words used to search.

Google is not kind to ebay, and I really doubt this new GTC policy will help.  Instead of directing Google searches to what they actually searched for - Ebay directs the link to items they are promoting first.

There's no need to make all listings GTC, they just need to re-use the same listing number on a re-list.  And it doesn't take 30 days for SEO to index.

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@southern*sweet*tea 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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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.

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[clu3]

Search is about the words used, the combination, sometimes the order. 

Searching Google for Vintage New York City Postcard Statue of Liberty will give you vastly different results than just Postcard, or even Vintage New York Postcard.  The title of your listing is everything.

If someone's google search is specific enough, you can frequently end up in the top five (or better) search results.

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@atikovi wrote:

I always thought a Google search result is based on the number of views a webpage has received. The most views show first. If you search on Google with some general search words, you  might get 15 million results. If your Ebay item has only a few hundred views, nobody will scroll through those 15 million results until they get to your Ebay listing near the bottom.

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[atikovi]

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@clu3 wrote:

Searching Google for Vintage New York City Postcard Statue of Liberty will give you vastly different results than just Postcard, or even Vintage New York Postcard. 

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That gets me mostly ended listings or dead links. Not very useful compared to searching with those words directly on Ebay.

[cad777864]

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@divwido wrote:

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.

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Buried alive eh, you sold 25 items since the 6th, i can pack and ship that many in about 4-5 hours, yours is 11 days. You have over 20,000 posts here, maybe if you weren't in here all day every day, you would have time to do all those shipments that your buried in.   People are having real issues with sales.  So lets be realistic here.

[djmovers99]

I was just thinking about how I used to dread Sunday night because of the spike in sales that I would have to pack and face the long USPS lines that are typical of Mondays.  I don't have that problem anymore...

[clu3]

Of course searching directly in ebay is preferred.  But not everyone starts here.  Even a dead link may bring a buyer to the Ebay site and present them with other listings or an alternate.

The dead links are part of the reason Ebay is making all listings GTC.  Which doesn't make a lot of sense.  If the item sells, it's still going to be a dead link. 

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@atikovi wrote:

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@clu3 wrote:

Searching Google for Vintage New York City Postcard Statue of Liberty will give you vastly different results than just Postcard, or even Vintage New York Postcard. 

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That gets me mostly ended listings or dead links. Not very useful compared to searching with those words directly on Ebay.

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[johnrj1226]

@weschurch 

You  hit the  nail on the nail on the head.   As a buyer (am a seller primarily) the  biggest issue I have with eBay is trying to search  for an item I want to buy.  When input  my wishes into the  search  bar I get a ton of other results of almost the same item but not what I want and  have to pan (as in panning for  gold) thru all the stuff to find what I'm looking for - a big PITA.  My  simple theory is the  Cassini search engine ain't so hot and hasn't improved much since it terrible roll out in 2013.

My searches via Google are fast and more on target.  eBay needs to target making it easier to  for potential  buyers to do business with the myriad of different eBay sellers.  The lowering  your price suggestion or offering a discount  or free shipping, free returns is very  "sophomoric" approach by eBay IMHO.

[joesoucie22012]

Because many people just Google something there looking for. ITS THE WORLDS LARGEST SEARCH ENGINE. What don't you understand???????

[atikovi]

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@clu3 wrote:

 Even a dead link may bring a buyer to the Ebay site and present them with other listings or an alternate.

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That wouldn't help you much. I thought the point was to get YOUR listing at top of a Google search.

[johnrj1226]

@mpcac 

Read up on the Hula-Hoop craze  of the late 1950's.  Wham-O found out that the Hula-Hoop  craze (sales) did not go on forever and sales suddenly  dropped like a rock due to several  factors - market saturation, competition, price competition (lower  profit margins), no planned obsolescence - the hoops didn't wear out - of course, some  got  destroyed or stolen.

Wham-O was best known for it sling shots (had  a couple when I was in my pre acne years), hula-hoops (had 1) & frisbees (played with one or two).

[miascloset56]

As a big internet shopper, Ebay has become a great place for me to shop.

I'm sick of Amazon wanting customers to pay monthly for Prime and dangling price cuts for their Prime customers.

In the past week I've bought rugs, pool floats, soap dispenser, toys for the kids and am now looking for a shower curtain.  I don't care about huge discounts. I just want to pay a fair price and what it costs to ship.

For those that say they can't  find anything here, I say **bleep**.

It's now my number 1 site.

Nice clear photos and really good descriptions get me every time.

Ebay could use some real time target marketing and see what shoppers are looking for.

You may be looking at a downturn in your market so maybe think about targeting a different product along with your present ones.

Fancy pens are nice as gifts  for the holidays so think about what someone would buy in the summer months.

Selling online is a lot of work.

[clu3]

Ultimately, the more people using the Ebay site, the more it CAN help me as a seller. The more traffic, the more potential sales.   If I want someone going directly to my listing, I can always promote it myself through social media or print ads. 

If I was looking for a widget, I'd likely Google it first to see where I can buy one (because I like to know ALL my options) - it'll give me Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, widgets.com.  Then I make the selection.  Maybe I'll see under Google Images, the exact widget I was looking for.  Or, I can search directly on ebay for widgets - not only am I limited to only what's on Ebay, but it'll be further throttled by Ebay's horrible search mechanism.

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@atikovi wrote:

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@clu3 wrote:

 Even a dead link may bring a buyer to the Ebay site and present them with other listings or an alternate.

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That wouldn't help you much. I thought the point was to get YOUR listing at top of a Google search.

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[unique-finds-for-everyone]

Promote listing doesn't help easer...It looks like what was before regular listing becomes to be promoted listing...eBay is sinking really bad! But I am selling on other platforms....Too much frustration with eBay lately...

[johnrj1226]

@clu3 

$18.00 t o ship across  country seems a bit high from here for a 3 lb package., unless the  box  exceed  1 cu. ft..  I live in Georgia and i ship a fair amount of  items to the  Western Coast region - like 45% of my total sales and  don't recall ever paying that much to ship.  Have your looked at Priority Regional Rate A & B boxes - they  have been a  $ saver for me  - they  come in two style - top & end opening.  You won't find them at your local PO  you have to order via USPS.com - go to shipping supplies - they are free  to order w/ no charge shipping

2.  Why are you looking at the retail rates for postage?  If you ship via USPS you will receive  the commercial rate the amount of discount varies by  service type.  For example, this morning I  bought a Padded  Flat rate envelope label for an item  going to  California - my  cost via eBay labels was $7.55 - received a 6% discount off the retail or counter rate.

3.  if you are looking at a flat rate service like medium,  or large flat rate box you are wasting your money.  I've only  used  maybe a  handful of those in 1524 shipment - too expensive unless  the weight is large.  We  rarely  ship anything over 5 lbs.