eBay

vintagequeennyc · ‎05-05-2019

As I said in earlier threads, my sales are down atrociously the past two months. And not getting any better.

Well, a few weeks ago, I started keeping track more closely of some of the sales of sellers I watch in my selling categories. These are sellers that sell very similar inventory and are what I consider to be fairly big sellers. These are the sellers I watch to gauge the market, prices, velocity, growth, etc. All of these sellers have very consistent sales and have shown continued growth, or at least stayed constant with their sales volume for at least the past year.

Over the past few weeks, every single one of these sellers has also seen a massive decrease in sales. Their number of sold listings for the past 90 days has been dropping steadily every day I’ve checked. Most are now MANY hundreds of sold listings below what they are normally. Even a few of these sellers, the biggest ones, have seen a tremendous decline in sales. Its very sobering to witness.

I’m not happy that others aren’t doing well either. But there is some small measure of comfort to see that it’s ‘not just me’ who’s experiencing this crazy drop off in sales. It’s definitely happening across the board here at eBay. The real question is WILL it ever pick back up or are the pie pieces just going to get smaller and smaller till we’re all starving?

I think anyone who says ‘my sales are great!’ are the anomaly and outliers here now.

jeannicho22 · ‎05-05-2019

@mam98031 wrote:
Great observations.

Speaking for myself only, my sales typically drop off this time of year. It does normally pick up a little after tax day, but this year it hasn't.

There are some that would like to blame it on the GTC claim, but even by your own description that can't be the reason as you noticed the downturn BEFORE it became mandatory. Whatever is causing it, I hope the ship rights itself very soon.

I have been in GTC since its inception and my sales are also down. This dip in sales has nothing to do with sellers being switched over to GTC and probably much more to do with a change in the algorithm. I will say that I do see an increase in sales a day or so after I list new items. I generally will end poor performing listings periodically, do a few changes and do a sell similar so they get re-indexed. I also see a HUGE drop in sales days after a buyer comes in and buys a large number of items that raise me above the "normal" amount of sales I would have done by this time in the month. My sales remain very low until I am back in line for what would be considered "normal". This does reaffirm my belief in throttling....Yeah, I know I will get a lot of blow back on that one but I will share a screen shot so sceptics can see what I'm talking about. And this happens every time.

tunicaslot · ‎05-05-2019

I just checked about 10 sellers out of 30 or so I follow - most have between 700 and 1200 listings. The average number of sales this weekend is about 3-5 - but one is rocking it with 25 sales -2 came in as I was checking. She does BO and free shipping but not free returns - she promotes at 1% - and her prices are high!!! She is running a 25%,26%,27% sale. She's already made more in the weekend than I made last month. These are not unique items - others have the same thing for sale on Ebay - but sales beget sales and her visibility is high and has been for about 3 weeks now.

Our problem is trying to figure out how to make a few sales to get some visibility going! Good luck all!

jeannicho22 · ‎05-05-2019

@tunicaslot wrote:
I just checked about 10 sellers out of 30 or so I follow - most have between 700 and 1200 listings. The average number of sales this weekend is about 3-5 - but one is rocking it with 25 sales -2 came in as I was checking. She does BO and free shipping but not free returns - she promotes at 1% - and her prices are high!!! She is running a 25%,26%,27% sale. She's already made more in the weekend than I made last month. These are not unique items - others have the same thing for sale on Ebay - but sales beget sales and her visibility is high and has been for about 3 weeks now.

Our problem is trying to figure out how to make a few sales to get some visibility going! Good luck all!

You may consider following her lead. Go in and raise your prices by about 12% and then run a sale with 10% off. I think the algorithm loves sale items. Also, consider ending, revising and doing a sell similar on poor performing listings as I think your entire store gets "punished" for poor performing items.

Yes, once your get sales on an item, eBay's algorithm deems that item as important and for multi-item listings will jet that to the top of search.

For anyone who thinks I come off like I know what I'm talking about.... I don't, these are just suggestions and observations on my part. I'm not an expert, I'm just a young girl trying to learn. LOL

mam98031 · ‎05-05-2019

@jeannicho22 wrote:
@tunicaslot wrote:
I just checked about 10 sellers out of 30 or so I follow - most have between 700 and 1200 listings. The average number of sales this weekend is about 3-5 - but one is rocking it with 25 sales -2 came in as I was checking. She does BO and free shipping but not free returns - she promotes at 1% - and her prices are high!!! She is running a 25%,26%,27% sale. She's already made more in the weekend than I made last month. These are not unique items - others have the same thing for sale on Ebay - but sales beget sales and her visibility is high and has been for about 3 weeks now.

Our problem is trying to figure out how to make a few sales to get some visibility going! Good luck all!
You may consider following her lead. Go in and raise your prices by about 12% and then run a sale with 10% off. I think the algorithm loves sale items. Also, consider ending, revising and doing a sell similar on poor performing listings as I think your entire store gets "punished" for poor performing items.

Yes, once your get sales on an item, eBay's algorithm deems that item as important and for multi-item listings will jet that to the top of search.

For anyone who thinks I come off like I know what I'm talking about.... I don't, these are just suggestions and observations on my part. I'm not an expert, I'm just a young girl trying to learn. LOL

Please provide a link to whatever policy or rule you feel is causing this.

For the record you do NOT need to end your listing to make some changes, repost it using sell similar and it gets a fresh start in the search returns. That is an old statement that many have passed around for years, but it is not true.

A listing has to reindex anytime you make changes to the title, pricing, pictures or ISBs. So if you want to get your existing listing a refreshed look, just make some changes. No need to close and sell similar.

Besides when you do that, if you have watchers, you lose them, if you have a sales history on the listing, you lose it. And a few other things.

BUT if you have an excessive amount of VIEWs on that listing, then it could be in your best interest to close it, make some changes and then do a sell similar. Too many views will bring you a bit further down in the search returns.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

jeannicho22 · ‎05-05-2019

@mam98031 wrote:
@jeannicho22 wrote:
@tunicaslot wrote:
I just checked about 10 sellers out of 30 or so I follow - most have between 700 and 1200 listings. The average number of sales this weekend is about 3-5 - but one is rocking it with 25 sales -2 came in as I was checking. She does BO and free shipping but not free returns - she promotes at 1% - and her prices are high!!! She is running a 25%,26%,27% sale. She's already made more in the weekend than I made last month. These are not unique items - others have the same thing for sale on Ebay - but sales beget sales and her visibility is high and has been for about 3 weeks now.

Our problem is trying to figure out how to make a few sales to get some visibility going! Good luck all!
You may consider following her lead. Go in and raise your prices by about 12% and then run a sale with 10% off. I think the algorithm loves sale items. Also, consider ending, revising and doing a sell similar on poor performing listings as I think your entire store gets "punished" for poor performing items.

Yes, once your get sales on an item, eBay's algorithm deems that item as important and for multi-item listings will jet that to the top of search.

For anyone who thinks I come off like I know what I'm talking about.... I don't, these are just suggestions and observations on my part. I'm not an expert, I'm just a young girl trying to learn. LOL
Please provide a link to whatever policy or rule you feel is causing this.

Please revisit my post where I explained that I was not an expert but that these were my observations, so no link for you... Much like the soup Nazi.... no soup for you. LOL

For the record you do NOT need to end your listing to make some changes, repost it using sell similar and it gets a fresh start in the search returns. That is an old statement that many have passed around for years, but it is not true.

Can you please provide the link to whatever policy or rule you feel is causing this? I have spoken at length to US based and yes, dedicated CS reps who have advised to NOT just revise a listing because it could in fact harm the visibility of the item, likewise in just hitting relist. As a matter of fact they (more than one) were rather emphatic about it.

A listing has to reindex anytime you make changes to the title, pricing, pictures or ISBs. So if you want to get your existing listing a refreshed look, just make some changes. No need to close and sell similar.

In spite of eBay giving out the warning that this listing has not sold in more than XXX amount of time, consider revising it, I was told to not do this.

Besides when you do that, if you have watchers, you lose them, if you have a sales history on the listing, you lose it. And a few other things.

I think you have to weigh out the pros and cons of ending a listing and doing a sell similar. I have some listings that have been up for years and have sold well over 100 items from it and there is no way I want to lose the history of that listing. So if I feel a need to revamp this listing, I generally will do a revise so I don't lose the history. But slow movers that haven't seen much action are great candidates for an end and sell similar.

BUT if you have an excessive amount of VIEWs on that listing, then it could be in your best interest to close it, make some changes and then do a sell similar. Too many views will bring you a bit further down in the search returns.

This part is true. When an item has a lot of views but no or little sales, the algorithm seems to interpret that something may be wrong with the item or listing to make it not sell. Therefore why would they waste prime real estate on a dog, they want best seller up front where BUYERS can see them.

I'm not really certain why the need to discredit my post since I CLEARLY posted that I was no expert but these were my observations.... well, now as I've explain in this rebuttal, it was more than just my observations. Both of us know that I dislike mis-information getting spread on the board since we've discussed this a few times. I truly did not try to come off as an expert (even stated that), but you are certainly welcome to put your observations on the board as well.

jeannicho22 · ‎05-05-2019

@jeannicho22 wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
@jeannicho22 wrote:
@tunicaslot wrote:
I just checked about 10 sellers out of 30 or so I follow - most have between 700 and 1200 listings. The average number of sales this weekend is about 3-5 - but one is rocking it with 25 sales -2 came in as I was checking. She does BO and free shipping but not free returns - she promotes at 1% - and her prices are high!!! She is running a 25%,26%,27% sale. She's already made more in the weekend than I made last month. These are not unique items - others have the same thing for sale on Ebay - but sales beget sales and her visibility is high and has been for about 3 weeks now.

Our problem is trying to figure out how to make a few sales to get some visibility going! Good luck all!
You may consider following her lead. Go in and raise your prices by about 12% and then run a sale with 10% off. I think the algorithm loves sale items. Also, consider ending, revising and doing a sell similar on poor performing listings as I think your entire store gets "punished" for poor performing items.

Yes, once your get sales on an item, eBay's algorithm deems that item as important and for multi-item listings will jet that to the top of search.

For anyone who thinks I come off like I know what I'm talking about.... I don't, these are just suggestions and observations on my part. I'm not an expert, I'm just a young girl trying to learn. LOL
Please provide a link to whatever policy or rule you feel is causing this.

Please revisit my post where I explained that I was not an expert but that these were my observations, so no link for you... Much like the soup Nazi.... no soup for you. LOL

For the record you do NOT need to end your listing to make some changes, repost it using sell similar and it gets a fresh start in the search returns. That is an old statement that many have passed around for years, but it is not true.

Can you please provide the link to whatever policy or rule you feel is causing this? I have spoken at length to US based and yes, dedicated CS reps who have advised to NOT just revise a listing because it could in fact harm the visibility of the item, likewise in just hitting relist. As a matter of fact they (more than one) were rather emphatic about it.

A listing has to reindex anytime you make changes to the title, pricing, pictures or ISBs. So if you want to get your existing listing a refreshed look, just make some changes. No need to close and sell similar.

In spite of eBay giving out the warning that this listing has not sold in more than XXX amount of time, consider revising it, I was told to not do this.

Besides when you do that, if you have watchers, you lose them, if you have a sales history on the listing, you lose it. And a few other things.

I think you have to weigh out the pros and cons of ending a listing and doing a sell similar. I have some listings that have been up for years and have sold well over 100 items from it and there is no way I want to lose the history of that listing. So if I feel a need to revamp this listing, I generally will do a revise so I don't lose the history. But slow movers that haven't seen much action are great candidates for an end and sell similar.

BUT if you have an excessive amount of VIEWs on that listing, then it could be in your best interest to close it, make some changes and then do a sell similar. Too many views will bring you a bit further down in the search returns.

This part is true. When an item has a lot of views but no or little sales, the algorithm seems to interpret that something may be wrong with the item or listing to make it not sell. Therefore why would they waste prime real estate on a dog, they want best seller up front where BUYERS can see them.

I'm not really certain why the need to discredit my post since I CLEARLY posted that I was no expert but these were my observations.... well, now as I've explain in this rebuttal, it was more than just my observations. Both of us know that I dislike mis-information getting spread on the board since we've discussed this a few times. I truly did not try to come off as an expert (even stated that), but you are certainly welcome to put your observations on the board as well.

We all know how much I dislike mis-information so I would like to disclose a mistake I made in my post. One of the items I was speaking of has now been up for 4 & 1/2 years and I've sold 492 of them, it currently has 161 watchers on it. I recently "bit the bullet" and did a revise on it without ending it and haven't sold a single one since the revision, that was about 2 weeks ago. On average, I've sold one of these every 3.4 days over the last 4 & 1/2 years, so 14 days is a long time without a sale... We shall see.

turquoisetulips · ‎05-05-2019

@mam98031 wrote:
Great observations.

Speaking for myself only, my sales typically drop off this time of year. It does normally pick up a little after tax day, but this year it hasn't.

There are some that would like to blame it on the GTC claim, but even by your own description that can't be the reason as you noticed the downturn BEFORE it became mandatory. Whatever is causing it, I hope the ship rights itself very soon.

I don't think the GTC is having any effect just speaking about my own sales . I always did 30 day listings that would auto relist up to 8 times before so there's not much difference that I can see . However I didn't know that revising a title or doing a few tweaks would change placement/ search . Perhaps I need to try it . I have one item that's been for sale at least 6 weeks. Its gathered a multitude of views and now 9 watchers but it never gets actually purchased . My sales are down 6 % from this time last month . Not good . tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎05-05-2019

@tunicaslot wrote:
LOL - didn't say how much clothing I was in tho!!

I know ! but right now my pasties and g string are in the wash 🙂 tulips

escuintla · ‎05-05-2019

Ladies, GTC and algorithms, Yahoo, Google and whatnot are not the only obstacles affecting the performance of your stores. There's something called economy.

If you haven't noticed, the famous "you will get $1,000 to buy a brand new car or remodel your kitchen" tax cut boloney was a bust for many Americans.

Whether we believe it or not, many people started the year with higher property taxes to pay, high price of gas, produce, and I put an example, a piece of celery is $2.99, almost triple the last price. So, all and everything added, don't expect people to be buying as they used to do.

I am not having any problems so far to comment on GTC, I just don't like the fact that Ebay took away our own decisions to determine how long we list an item.

And, you need to be resourceful, I am telling you, if you are only stuck to clothing, shoes, or anything else, you are missing on things that may have fallen on your feet, you pick them up, for what other Ebayer must have done good chunks of money with it.

_________________________________________________________
If you haven't paid for your item, you're a winning bidder, not a buyer!
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mam98031 · ‎05-05-2019

You can Google it or search the threads. Much has been written about it over the years but I don't think Ebay has an actual policy page that explains how re-indexing works.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=3cnPXPbHPInB-gSd95rgCQ&q=ebay+reindexing&oq=ebay+reindexing&gs_l=ps...

For a complete explanation that may suit your needs, if you have time, come and ask your question at the Weekly Chat on Wednesday and they can explain it to your satisfaction.

I don't know why someone would tell you not to revise a listing. I'd need more information on that before commenting on that one. Ebay doesn't give warnings for stale listings. They put a note on your active listings in the Seller Hub or My Ebay so you can easily identify them. Or at least I have never received a warning from Ebay for a stale listing.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

coolections · ‎05-05-2019

You're most likely a clothes seller. Please do not paint with a wide brush because regardless of your theory sales are NOT down for most sellers as you say. For every seller who does not sell an item another seller gets their item sold instead.

richard1rst · ‎05-05-2019

@vintagequeennyc wrote:
Their number of sold listings for the past 90 days has been dropping steadily every day I’ve checked.

The “number of sold items” is irrelevant

Almost from the beginning I have had a consistent strategy. Before I go to a major trade show I determine what my average sales dollar amount has been for the past year. $sales divided by # of items.

At the shows I make it a point to buy items with a slightly higher retail price than that figure. Done consistently over the years my average sales figure has constantly risen.

NOW here’s the pay off:

The NUMBER of items I have sold in the past 12 months, compared to the previous 12 months, has gone DOWN by 12%.

BUT My total DOLLAR sales with the same comparison is UP by 7%.

ADDED BONUSES: More expensive items generate bigger profits

AND 12% fewer packages to ship means less time spent packing orders and a lower cost of shipping supplies.

TADA: The “number of sold items” is irrelevant

"Laissez-faire capitalism (AKA The Great Material Continuum) is the only social system based on the recognition of individual rights and, therefore, the only system that bans force from social relationships." ~ Ayn Rand

moms**art**window** · ‎05-06-2019

i'm kinda optimistic that the brand can only bottom out so much then at some point there is only up,i'm starting to see some method to the madness,it takes them a long time to tweak things when it's obvious it needs tweaking if they could tweak as fast as they made changes it would be a hole lot smoother,they really need some deeper thinkers there,master chess player types to tweak this platform in it's layout and rules and regulations to optimize

One thing that would help me optimize sales is if i had control over how my best match worked in my store.

If they let sellers do this they might be surprised how much difference it would make in sales.