New Year - SLOW sales?

[firejake2003]

I know we all sell products that run the spectrum from electronics to flower pots to everything in between, but I find it strange that I haven't had a sale in 10 days.  Anyone else finding your year starting off with slow/no sales?

[katzrul15]

Sales have stayed pretty steady since Christmas, especially the past weekend.  We had 6 go out today and 4 so far for tomorrow.  Sales are lower than Holiday time line, but to be expected as we inch into January and credit card bills are showing up, etc.  

[erkosuniverse]

yes,selling is getting worse right now,our country is in great despair and many people are placing their top priority's first-food,rent,etc.

I am in the northeast and things are very bad in sales no matter what it is

[laststopgeneralstore]

Sales haven't been to bad here, slowed down a bit but that's to be expected. You also can't compare the last 2 years to this year because of all of the money that was pumped into the system. This year will most likely be much different than the 2 past. I looked at your store and you haven't listed any new items in over 3 weeks. I wouldn't be surprised that your sales have slowed down or that you haven't had any since your not active/listing new items. eBay likes consistent activity, you don't have list every single day but I will say that if you do your sales will go up and be much more consistent. I started listing daily on January 1st of 2021 & haven't missed a day yet. Consistent daily sales and have only had 1 day with no sales in the past year.

[wrong66]

Maybe firefighting equipment is just slow right now.

[baantiques]

Yes.  I have noticed a pattern with my sales over the years.  I buy large vintage auto parts collections, typically truckload sized.  It takes a while to work my way through as I'm a one man show.  Whenever I buy a collection, I have gangbuster sales for about 5-7 months driven by many new listings, then sales drop back to about half and that's where they stay regardless of how much I list.  It's a completely predictable cycle. It starts with me not getting quite as good of a bump in sales from new listings, followed by a drop in sales over the course of 4-6 weeks, during which no amount of new listings has an effect.  Once sales drop to half, new listings have an effect, but only to the extent of maintaining the new lower amount.  Sometimes sales will drop even lower.  4 years ago the slide started in July, leveled out in August, and then in October slid to the point where I ended all my listings and downgraded my store subscription, waited a month, and relisted.  Obviously there is a point in time where, if I stopped listing long enough, sales would be gangbusters again but I'd bet real money the total amount would be about the same either way.

I've just come to the conclusion that Ebay puts a constant downward pressure on your sales that you are sometimes able (or allowed) to overcome for brief periods.

[frugality_inc]

Sales down 44.7% compared to this time last year.

Same trend as 2021. eBay continues to fail to offer any competitive advantage over Amazon and Walmart. Management throws darts at a board and continues to push promoted listings to make up for the lack of traffic to the site. 

Amazon and Walmart are higher than eBay and have less than 10% of the overall SKUs.

[mr.emk]

Sales are slightly down for me.  Last year most of us got stimulus checks and had a little extra money for things.  No stimulus checks from this new administration.   Best of luck!

[firejake2003]

My listings automatically renew every 30 days.  Do you suggest I end all of them and relist so they look new and repopulate in the search?  My products aren't one-offs so the continuous renewal just keeps them active on their own rather than having to end and relist.  Any advisement is appreciated!

[sensualfriendz]

Smiling Here

[vintagecraze50]

Always a pretty steep drop off after Christmas especially for some types of items. 

[katzrul15]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Always a pretty steep drop off after Christmas especially for some types of items. 

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Yes, there typically is.  We're in a recession, stimulus checks have ended, tax bills potentially due soon, inflation is killing us at the grocery store and commodities and covid is raging all over the US.  

We had 9 sales total for today.  To be honest, I am pretty thrilled with any sales right now.

[lamber9347]

My sales on eBay have been slow for January, but I must say my sales on another platform are stupendous!! Makes up for slow sales on here....

[goldrushfinds]

Uhura, please try all hailing frequencies ..............

[buyologist-3]

"I've just come to the conclusion that Ebay puts a constant downward pressure on your sales that you are sometimes able (or allowed) to overcome for brief periods."

_____________________

Yes!  I wonder what that's called?  (I've gotten some flack for the word 'Throttling' from a few people).  I so agree with you, baantiques!  You are right.