Long 20hr stretches of no sales

[wilsonharborsales]

Has anyone else experienced this?  Lately I am doing long 18hr-24hr stretches of no sales, no offers, nothing … dead.  Then, all my sales will come at once in a 30 minute window.  Often I will see 5 sales in a 30 minute window, and then I am dead again for another 20hr stretch.  Is anyone else experiencing this?  

18,500 items for sale, 12% PLS, 99.7% FB, free returns, TRS+.  

[inhawaii]

That number is a little low for "all discussions" on the boards.

[1funkydude]

I don’t feel otherwise. I’m saying relatively small samplings over short periods of time are not trends. Usually there is no reason. Fluctuations are actually normal. 

[gardeltango]

When I go more than four days without a sale I start to worry.  So far the longest I’ve gone without any sales was twelve days.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

30 minutes is all eBay gives you of exposure on their precious platform for 12% + 13.25% + store fees.

[thexphilatelist]

You're not going to like this:  You need to do away with TRS+ and 12% pl, it only serves the algorithmn to pigeon hole you to a discrete sales range; which is impossible to break free from.

If you're not getting any sales, will it hurt you to try 3 day handling time, and maybe 2% pl, and no free shipping whatsoever. 

The algo matches you to buyers that have a higher chance of producing a sale.  The high pl rate of 12% is making this task impossible.  You're showing up to all kinds of buyers that have 0% chance of producing a sale.  This is driving up your impressions, depressing your click through rate and negatively impacting your sales conversion rate (scr).  By adding 3 day handling time, lower pl rate and full shipping and handling costs, the algo is going to show your items to customers that are willing to pay and don't mind waiting a few days.  But, it can't do that with such a high pl rate.

If you have a high pl%, you're going to pass through a lot of uninterested buyers, and maybe, possibly make it to "your" buyers before the algo deems your items not worthy, at least for the specific time period.  The problem is the sudden massive drop in impressions is going to look bad in the "eyes" of the algorithm.  You may have a cooling off period to endure.

The old saying is, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".  Well, it's also true that if you keep trying something over and over with the same, unsuccessful results...you get my drift. 

Think how the algo thinks.  Alhough AI is new, the algorithm uses old, mid 1900's matching (1962), "The Stable Marriage Problem".  In 2012, Lloyd Shapely and Alvin Roth won the Nobel Prize in economics for their work.  Believe me, it's relevant to our task on Ebay.  Learn "The Stable Marriage Problem" and you'll understand how buyer to seller matching works. 

One of the original variants of the problem was called, Rural Hospitals Theorem, developed to match graduating medical school students with 1 year hospital internship programs that were more likely to produce a successful outcome.

In our modern times, applications of The Stable Marriage Problem and all subsequent variants are everywhere, including ecommerce.   

Good luck and I hope you find consistent success.

[chapeau-noir]

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@hartungcards wrote:

" Sales are generally spread out throughout the day or concentrated during the evening hours."

Except when they're not.

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I sell ALL of my items.

Except when I don't.

[wilsonharborsales]

I have gone that route.  I opted out of promoted listings for all the reasons you mentioned.  I was concerned that promoted listings were lowering my conversions and STR, which only would lead to the algorithm further punishing my store.  Unfortunately, sales and traffic dropped a dramatic 88%.  

[chapeau-noir]

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@wilsonharborsales wrote:

I have gone that route.  I opted out of promoted listings for all the reasons you mentioned.  I was concerned that promoted listings were lowering my conversions and STR, which only would lead to the algorithm further punishing my store.  Unfortunately, sales and traffic dropped a dramatic 88%.  

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I went back and forth on that, too, with the same results you had. I'm in clothing which is a ridiculous market to sell in, so I suppose I understand.

[wilsonharborsales]

I have spoken to others who have had a similar result.  It is difficult, because consensus from the groups that I am in is that a lot of sellers are desperate to make sales right now.  I have more-or-less been steady up until recently, and have doubled down on my listings and quality improvement for my store.  On the whole however, I am still rapidly losing ground.

[chapeau-noir]

I'm of the unpopular opinion that C2C marketplace sales have passed their peak. It's really difficult to increase sales on a platform that is decreasing market share.

[wilsonharborsales]

I was really hoping that I would be able to grow my sales to the point of having enough free cashflow to invest in other products and innovations.  As it is though, I am struggling to survive like this.  

[selsa84]

As usual, just so so helpful and pleasant. 

[valueaddedresource · Accepted solution]

When the news came out of The National sports card show that 20+ year eBay megaseller Burbank Sportscards had signed an exclusive deal to move their ~40 Million card operation to Fanatics, this quote from the owner really stood out to me - 

“I always feel that there’s a glass ceiling with any marketplace I’ve been on,” Veres said. “You keep working, you keep pushing, you keep adding inventory and it doesn’t seem to move the needle in a lot of cases with some of the places that we’ve been. I feel for the first time that I have an unlimited opportunity on a platform.”

https://www.cllct.com/sports-collectibles/memorabilia/burbank-sportscards-to-list-40-million-cards-o... 

Unfortunately, I think a lot of sellers can relate and also unfortunately, many do not have exclusive deals with any platform anywhere near within their grasp as a potential solution.

Sorry @wilsonharborsales , I know that's not particularly helpful and I wish I had more actionable advice for you, but at the very least....you are not alone.

[ten_o_nine]

lol, say 3 to 5 days, and a 1-minute window.

You're doing good, let's hope it doesn't get worse.

[wilsonharborsales]

Liz, I agree with this 100% and your comment is very well-placed.  I appreciate you, as always!