Help Please

[mistymeadowtreasures]

Hi I'm Misty Meadow Treasures. Last Thursday night I de-listed 106 items that had been in my store for over a year.  I've  slowly been revising some and writing off others.  In the meantime, I've been listing new items daily as I always do.  I'm Top Rated and approximately 25% of my store is Top Rated Plus. Here is the issue.  Beginning on Friday my sales literally died.  Since Thursday night I have made one sale.  I usually make 3 to 7 a day.  Ebay is SO difficult to get a hold of so I haven't called them.  My question, my plea for help - is for insight, clarity, knowledge and help.  What in the world?  I thought eBay didn't want stagnant listings so I unlisted them only to have my store... die.  Please, if you have any ideas, please advise me.  I don't count on this income but it is a side hustle and I'm getting a little panicky now that I'm on day 5 of absolutely no sales. (except the one outlier) Thank you so much everyone!

[toysaver]

I see you had 2 sales on the 24th and 2 on the 27th.  Welcome to the new normal.

[albertabrightalberta]

It's the middle of summer and people go on vacation. It's not uncommon for summer to be a time of slow sales. 

Your previous 3 to 7 sales a day (21-49/week) sounds pretty darned good to me, especially for the types of items you sell. But it doesn't surprise me that those same categories would slow down.

[pls-consignments]

I hear your concern, as I do others who have experienced the same thing. I average about 5 per day with an active daily effort, but I've also experienced two Fridays in the last 30-days with NO sales, which is not the norm.  Programming tweeks are usually made on Thursday nights, but are mostly complete by mid Friday. So, this may be a little different. You are doing the right things that have worked for many sellers. We just may be entering a different playing field with AI as our opposing team.

You may want to consider your timing as buyer trends have changed even in the last 5-yrs. I try to refresh my listings and make my offers in the evenings when most buyers are online.  Hopefully that helps.

[mistymeadowtreasures]

The sales on the 27th were one for $1 that we did as a test just to see if it was actually possible to still purchase items from my store - and the real sale that came later that day which I referred to in my post.  The 24th was Thursday when things were still normal, it was Thursday night that I unlisted 106 items and it was Thursday night that everything died.  

[spreadlovelikefire]

From my experience, eBay's search engine doesn't like old listings but it also doesn't like a sudden drop in active listings, even if they are old.  What I do is about 10 a day.  I will end 10 old listings, decide if I want to relist them, then relist those that I pick.  That way your store doesn't go into shock.  I've done this for about 6 months and my sales have been pretty steady.  Give it time to catch up but next time maybe end no more than 10 at a time and see if that helps.  

[m60driver]

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@mistymeadowtreasures wrote:

 Ebay is SO difficult to get a hold of so I haven't called them.  My question, my plea for help - is for insight, clarity, knowledge and help.  What in the world?  I thought eBay didn't want stagnant listings so I unlisted them only to have my store... die.  Please, if you have any ideas, please advise me.  I don't count on this income but it is a side hustle and I'm getting a little panicky now that I'm on day 5 of absolutely no sales. (except the one outlier) Thank you so much everyone!

---

Best to never call Ebay unless absolutely necessary.  Never call regarding slow sales as they have no control over sales, not to mention that a customer service rep will have little knowledge or control over the algorithm gods.  Understand that every call to Ebay is a cost to Ebay and the CEO has little tolerance for small sellers creating costs for Ebay.  By the way, I am rethinking my own policy of ending listings with no views and then relisting with sell similar later at a later date.  I shall see what will happen in the coming months.

[mistymeadowtreasures]

Thank you so much for your insight.  I didn't know about their Thursday night programming tweeks.  I truly believe that eBay does everything in its power to encourage store sales since, well, that's how they make a lot of their money too.  Unhappy sellers will go elsewhere and eBay will wither eventually.  I've been selling for a few years, and I've never gone more than a 24 hour period without a sale, this is breathtaking.  If I didn't know another reseller who happens to live in my home too, and who is making his 5 to 10 sales a day right now I would think it was the dreaded Summer Slowdown, but this is extraordinary.  I will keep in mind Thursday night algorithm updates and timing offers.   Thanks again!

[mistymeadowtreasures]

I'm thinking you are describing EXACTLY what happened!  I think it's in shock too.  It has to be the de-listings that I did.  I'm just hoping that it recovers... I did just make a sale though!  Whoop whoop! LOL, a $10 dollar sale, buy hey, I'll take it!

[kandf_vintage_finds]

Maybe it has something to do with your recent negative where you refused to make things right with your buyer?  Shouldn't matter if you buyer missed the window.....making things right usually = no negatives.

People reading this may think twice before purchasing from you.  I would.

[vintage-camerastuff]

Maybe try running a sale with 5 or 10 percent off for a couple of weeks and see if that helps drive up sales.

[12345jamesstamps]

Work on your titles.....

'vintage'...Waterford Crystal...are you selling vintage or a Waterford Crystal?

Get rid of some of the first word(s) in your title.

Most potential buyers will know it's vintage or old or such.

Add exactly what it is in the title.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Ebay will provide you with no answers to your questions. Customer service reps know even less than Ebay sellers about what governs your traffic and sales.

I would characterize what you sell to be "decorative accessories" and would expect most of your sales to come from broad searches or buyers who have saved you as a seller. You have a significant number of followers.

You can certainly use Ebay's performance measures to see traffic to your listing and to your store.

I have always found that adding more listings builds traffic and sales. Not always sales of the new items. If your attention is elsewhere, it could contribute to effects of your deliberate reduction in number of listings.

Theories about how that occurs can range from the plausible to the totally unlikely and no one knows the answer, probably not even the programmer who maintains that code.

I have driven my number of listings up over the past month, and seen an increase in sales. Will that work for you, if you do not try you will not know.

Whatever the problem is, the solution will come from you, not Ebay.

[mistymeadowtreasures]

I've thought about trying to get that removed.  The buyer wanted a discount after purchase, I wouldn't give him one, then he claimed it was broken, then he claimed it was purchased without his consent and contested the purchase through his credit card company. I need to get that taken care since some folks believe exactly what they read without considering that they may not be getting the entire story.

[mistymeadowtreasures]

Thank you, great idea! I was thinking of that too, I think I will.