Have sales slowed down for you in September 2022 ?

[ringleader1978]

Anyone else feeling the slow down in September? I usually get at least 2-3 orders per day... Now crickets for the last 10 days...Very weird, also I usually get a lot of watchers, views on my items but this month it seems to very low count.

[motortown_inc]

Yep I have been " slow" for the last few months. I do think the economy is playing a part, but I also think this promoted listing issue and search  issues are also playing a role.  I do watch sellers that sell the same items as I , and some of them are doing far better than me, but they are promoting and some are offering free shipping  that is not free as they have inflated the item price, but it does seem to work. The real question is are they trading sales for profit? They may be working twice as hard and chewing through inventory and getting reduced profits.  But maybe that works for them if they have a low cost of goods. The outcome for each seller will be different .  I like to keep my selling costs low, and  I am in a position where I can hold out for the sale and I do not plan to participate in the race to the bottom.  ebay is going to do what it wants and sellers must make personal choices as to how they plan to exist within the environment  ebay creates. 

[skeletonstore]

I've personally never done that.  Then again I really don't understand how people shop anymore.  As I mentioned I tried over the past few days many experiments to generate traffic but either people don't have money or aren't spending or I'm attracting the wrong people.  I really don't know what to do or think.  It used to be a new listing or relist was good enough but in a few minutes I'm on page 3.  That's a lot of carpal tunnel.  Consider 4 promotions on a phone.  That's a pretty good amount of scrolling since they're one on top of the other.  As i've said MANY times before customers often don't even know what they're looking for or want.  Yes it would be lovely if foxnews business featured my store like the way they do home depot but it would also be sad as I would not have enough items to sell. Why does ebay make us choose whether an item is handmade?  If you're going to copy amazon/etsy then give us our own category and in my particular situation,  give us HALLOWEEN back.  I would be doing MUCH better if I could be seen through mountains of dropshipped goods.  32K items in seasonal holiday props....Some of which are xmas.  It's like another country is running ebay and I think that is EXACTLY what's going on . 

[skeletonstore]

Hey ebay can I offer free shipping to the lower 48 but calculated to Alaska & Hawaii etc?  Alaska residents are about to get $3500  😄

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

Wow

[crystalscience]

Yes. Sales are way down!

eBay is messing about with the algorithms again and hitting the smaller business sellers to benefit the big boys.

Sales a down, probably affected by the dreadful service from Royal Mail. Strikes, bank holidays etc. The Royal Mail is failing to deliver around .5% of mail due to THEFT. Add to that late deliveries to around 23% of mail.

This means that a lot of buyers dont trust the delivery times on ebay. So they vot with their feed and buy elsewhere.

So as not to upset its biggest customers, eBay adjusts its algorithms to favour those larger customers at the expense of smaller business customers.

Witness all the extra adds to sell/buy on eBay - a sure sign 

[movieman630]

It's been abysmal the last couple weeks.  The past couple days unbearable.  I can't do business like this.  I don't know what's going on but I wish they would fix it.  The invisible throttling needs to stop.  It's not fair to sellers trying to grow their businesses and support a family.  My name isn't Walton or Bezos.  My kids need to eat.  Please let us sell!  We all make money when you let us sell!!

[movieman630]

The invisible sales limits are evil.  There's no reason why they shouldn't just let our sales exposure be organic.  How can you build a business when someone is constantly hiding your stuff from the shoppers?  The most frustrating thing is that they're able to get away with this manipulation because nobody will ever admit it is happening.  It's cruel and unnecessary.  I long for the day when someone blows the whistle on this practice and provides evidence.

[htownmma]

Ebay wants you to pay them more via promotional listings and now advanced promotional listings, I think they are making it way harder for listings to get views and sales without paying extra for promoted listings. I feel bad for anyone selling common goods as now they have advanced promoted listings to take even more from your sales. 

[royalsage]

It's not just ebay being run by another country. 

[royalsage]

I agree with  you. Something funny is going on with ebay.  Any suggestions for better alternatives than ebay besides Amazon (where I already sell)? 

[laststopgeneralstore]

My organic sales have always outpaced my promoted listing sales every single month and as been for almost 2 years now. Their as been a few weeks where the promoted sales out paced but that was because I decided to see what would happen if I cranked it up past 20/25. Although it did work and my sales skyrocketed, I lowered it back down to normal(for my store anyway). Regardless at the end of the day it's all averages and my margins average out to exactly where I want them to be. All that promoted listings do, for me anyway, is allow me to get more exposure which may lead to more sales. The more eyeballs I can get the better and no matter what it's still cheaper to sell on hear than it is to have my own website, pay for advertising, saving photos, listings, payment processor, doing all of the sales tax work etc... You don't have to promote your listings to get sales, having a good in-demand item, good title, keywords, price, return policy etc... will get you the sales, NOT promoted listings. Promoted listings is their to get more traffic NOT more sales, it's up to the buyer to click on your item(s) and following thru with payment NOT eBay.

[mickeysheehan]

Yep. As of this past week. My listings aren't even getting any views.  Now everyone has the same problem and is upping their promoted ad rate higher and higher and the only one coming out on top is eBay. As usual. eBay HATES it's sellers

[cards98765]

I've been  very slow for a little over a month. 

Listing Impressions down 53.2%

Click-Through Rate just a 0.0 down arrow

Listing Page Views down 50.7%

Sales Conversion ratio down 2.0%

This is the second month in a row with numbers like this.  It feels like these numbers are a bit heavy on the downward swing for just normal swings.  I have also been regularly posting so that shouldn't have hurt it.

[708christyone]

Same here.  When I look at SOLDS, I notice that 90% of the sales ended in July/August.  Very few in September.  Have to assume it's because of inflation and higher interest rates.  Only items I'm selling are the very low-priced household items - which is minimal. Will be interesting to see what happens in the highly regarded 4th Quarter.

[bweshoppe]

It's the economy.  Take a look at the big picture instead of just talking about selling techniques.  Unfortunately the worst is yet to come.  We need to either lower the price or wait it out.