My sales are down 60% compared to last month and 51% compared to this month last year

[brandonsvsu]

I've been selling on ebay for over 20 years, and my store has had relatively similar inventory over the past 4 years or so.  I've had some ups and downs through those 4 years, but generally, sales have been pretty stable.  But over the past 30 days, sales have absolutely tanked.  And it isn't a seasonal thing either because the numbers are similarly down compared to this time last year.

I'm not normally one to blame sales fluctuations on ebay directly, but these numbers speak for themselves.  Nothing in my store has really changed much in the past few months.  Clearly something is very wrong here.

I blacked out the actual numbers to comply with ebay's not-disclosing-financial-information rule.  These are just the percentages.

[sumsum70]

Do you sell other places? If so, how does that compare to eBay?

I do sell other places and I can debunk all of the usual pro-eBay garbage like "it's the economy and nobody wants what you selling or your price is too high" by comparing my eBay sales to my non-eBay sales. I haven't sold a thing on eBay since June 22. During those 6 days to date, I have sold over $7000 via other marketplaces. I have 4 server sales today and it is only noon here.

If you are waiting for sales on eBay, watching paint dry may be a better use of your time.

[ten_o_nine]

I see the average sales price per item is down 35.5%, that can have a huge impact on your total sales.

[redlinear]

Searches are being manipulated by eBay to help those that Promote (for at least a few minutes).
Searches are being manipulated by eBay to spread the wealth (so to speak).
Searches are being manipulated by other sellers entering erroneous information just to be seen.
Sorting and Filters not doing what they claim.
Shoppers are becoming increasingly aware of their searches returning worthless, unrelated results...and are shopping elsewhere.

[luckythewinner]

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I do sell other places and I can debunk all of the usual pro-eBay garbage

I am an experienced eBay buyer and I can also debunk the usual anti-eBay garbage like "your items are hidden".  I can easily find the OP's items. 

[brandonsvsu]

I don't sell other places - and probably given the nature of what I sell (modded thin client computers and custom retro builds), youtube is probably the best promotional tool I could use (just don't have the time).  Average sales price is down because while my small-money items are still selling reasonably well, the larger ones have suddenly basically halted.  Most of what I sell is either in the $100 range or $350 range, and my $350 items suddenly ceased selling after what had otherwise been a great first 5 months of the year.

I despise ebay's promoted listings, so I use them very sparingly.  My items are unique enough that not only does that not help much, but I've noticed in recent months that the actual promoted results that come up with various key words that typically lead to promoted listings are UTTERLY, COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to what was searched for.

I could barely keep up with sales in May.  Now in June I'm twiddling my thumbs.  There could be some amount of coincidence here and other factors at play, but I'm thinking ebay has finally so fundamentally broken their search engine and has reached a critical mass point of useless results that buyers are suddenly just giving up.

[sumsum70]

I never said OPs items were hidden, so you're not debunking anything to me.

My experience over the past six months tells me there are plenty of buyers buying - just not on eBay.

Buyers aren't paying eBay's overhead anymore. That free ride is over.

[redlinear]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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I do sell other places and I can debunk all of the usual pro-eBay garbage

I am an experienced eBay buyer and I can also debunk the usual anti-eBay garbage like "your items are hidden".  I can easily find the OP's items. 

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Advantage, you know they are there.
And what you see today will change...quickly

[redlinear]

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@sumsum70 wrote:

I never said OPs items were hidden, so you're not debunking anything to me.

My experience over the past six months tells me there are plenty of buyers buying - just not on eBay.

Buyers aren't paying eBay's overhead anymore. That free ride is over.

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Due to all the ways eBay's search function is manipulated, and not understood..   Buyers are searching for other venues.

[the_backyard_bear]

The best I can offer is my own experience in the past two weeks.  

Since noticing the SUDDEN DROP... I dropped ALL promoted listings.  

My views IMPROVED.  My sales IMPROVED.

And I'm NOT paying the RIDICULOUS PL fees to do it.  

Still below my CONSISTENT averages... but it has improved some.

They can gaslight you until the cows come home... but they are just SHILLS protecting the CORPORATION.

(Go ahead ebay... penalize me again for calling your SHILLS SHILLS.  As long as they keep SHILLING... I will KEEP calling them out.  Their emotional state does not concern me.)

[redlinear]

@the_backyard_bear 
Yes, you are still paying for those promotions  (for 30 days).
Promoting helps (for a few minutes, every now and then)...and that's IT.
Ending promotions does a little bit of the same (once)
   Changing something is what seems to help..  But it's short lived.
Constantly changing something helps the most.

[the_backyard_bear]

Only if they found the listing thru promotion and were waiting. 

14 sales Wednesday... ZERO promoted charges.  They did charge me PL fees for two yesterday... but they were waiting on a discount offer to get them over the decision hump.  I expected that. 

But just in the past week, I have probably saved over $100 is PL fees.  Enough to offset at least some of the drop in sales.

PL was working for me personally before because of OFFSITE advertising.  Over and over again, my ads brought new customers to the eBay platform.  Customers who became profit points for the Corporation long term.  

In my opinion, eBay is killing itself... 

[toysaver]

The heart of the problem may be what you are selling.  Video Gaming sales from 4 years ago during the start of the pandemic should be higher than today when we are free to leave our homes and do so many real life activities.     

Why the Video Game Industry Is in Trouble - RetailWire

[movieman630]

To completely discount the "economy" angle isn't working anymore.  Do you buy groceries?  I do, I've heard people practically in tears who say they have to find another job just to support their family.  They have to choose between paying a bill or feeding their children.  Money for ebay shopping isn't what it used to be.  It's true.

[toysaver]

Or time to spend playing video games...