Once a week my sales drop as if a switch was hit. Anyone else with this problem???

[markej67]

All year I have had record sales months.  I'm a TRP, I list every day, I promote all my listings, I ship daily using    E-Bay labels.   I'm an active store.  I'm averaging $200 a day in sales.  I sell books priced $10-100 dollars. 

MY FRUSTRATIONS:  #1. Every week, the day varies, I have a $10 to $80 day.  #2.  I can have a good $200 day, but sales come in groups.   I might have several sales in the early morning hours and then nothing the rest of the day or perhaps not until late at night.  Sometimes I have no sales all day and several in the evening.   It's as if a light switch is turned on and off.   Several times a month I have $300 - $500 days.  when that happens, I get consistent sales every hour or so all day long. 

I've heard about being 'capped' but this should not apply to me.  I used to have a store with 7.500 books.  Two years ago, I downsized, delisted common books, changed my business model and began promoting.  I now only have 2.500 books on more desirable topics.   When I call E-Bay support they say there is nothing wrong and my items are visible.     IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING THIS PROBLEM???    

[slyders_finds]

It's been happening for years. Have you also noticed you get sales in the same 8-10 States? I know California is one for me. My worry is, what if Ebay is pushing my visibility in CA when they are sleeping. Basically broadcasting to nobody. EBay has been broken for as long as I can remember. EBay will say they want every seller to have a fair chance at making a sale(personally I think Ebay doesnt have enough servers). Sorry, but I have been selling for 19 years. Why should a horrible seller with a minefield of negs and neutrals be getting the same exposure as a 100% feedback seller who gives top notch service at all times?

[yuzuha]

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@slyders_finds wrote:

It's been happening for years. Have you also noticed you get sales in the same 8-10 States? I know California is one for me.

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California has the largest population out of all the US states. It should not come as a surprise to get more sales to CA than to other states simply because there are more potential buyers there.

[freelawnichols]

The tap shut off almost completely 9 days ago with 2 offers of $40 and $50 on $500 products 

[bricksandbamboos]

I'm experiencing the same issue. Full time seller - listing 10-20 new items a day, promoting, ship daily using Ebay labels - Top Rated Plus seller....I've also noticed a trend of having a few great days and then a day with no sales or like you mentioned - a few sales in the morning...nothing throughout the day and then a couple at night...

Last week I had a great week - taking home about $1200 after fees over about 35 sales..Then, this week it's like crickets - a few sales over a few days so far this week for $99 after fees....It just seems to be this rollercoaster of inconsistency. My goal is to take home (after fees)  $100-200 per day; but hard to stay on track with these "dips"...

Been tweaking things here and there, but only other option would be start cross listing...Anyways, cheers to more cha chings for the rest of this year/the future.. 

[isaiah53-57]

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@markej67 wrote:

All year I have had record sales months.  I'm a TRP, I list every day, I promote all my listings, I ship daily using    E-Bay labels.   I'm an active store.  I'm averaging $200 a day in sales.  I sell books priced $10-100 dollars. 

MY FRUSTRATIONS:  #1. Every week...  It's as if a light switch is turned on and off.

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If it quacks like a duck...

[powell-collectibles]

Curious how many sellers think that slowed sales days are the result of eBay flipping a switch to the off position. Might it be that your good sales days are ones where eBay is pushing buyers to your store?

[selsa84]

Most sellers on eBay will agree that if you have a new account and start selling you'll get a boost. Well how does eBay go about "boosting" that new sellers inventory? Wouldn't some other seller or sellers have to be suppressed or "throttled" to give those new sellers a boost? Of course they would.  I've been on eBay long enough (15 years) selling what I sell now and 5 years before that to know that eBay has major server issues, rolling blackouts and regional blackouts. 

[selsa84]

Your sold listings tell a very different story. You've sold quite a bit more. 

[powell-collectibles]

I don’t think that most sellers agree that there is a boost for those just starting out listing. My take is that new sellers put out their best stuff first. That stuff sells really well. Maybe those new sellers don’t know how to price – maybe they’re setting things low enough so things move.  When those new sellers get down to their B list inventory – or the things that are just priced way too high, sales suffer.

[reallynicestamps]

I worked in retail for many years.

When I needed  to have a discussion with a customer - say to plan an installation or to appraise a collection- I would try to have the appointment at 2pm on Tuesday.

No matter what I was selling 2pm on Tuesday was usually the quietest time of the week.

On eBay I rarely have a sale on Monday or on Friday, but Sundays and Wednesdays are busy.

All of which goes to say that in retail there are waves.

@slyders_finds It seems your wave is 10 days on 10 days off.

How do your sales over the past quarter compare with the same quarter in 2023? In 2022? We ignore the pandemic surge years, but sometimes also look at 2019.

This is because there are also waves within categories. When I sold woodstoves, the high period was August to November (we kept installing until January).

The same company sold patio furniture from January to May and BBQs from Easter to Father's Day.  No one was buying furniture after Mothers Day nor BBQs after Fathers Day.

[reallynicestamps]

@freelawnichols 

You can avoid those lowball offers by setting automatic Accept/Reject parameters when you set up Best Offer.

Rejected offers get a polite message from eBay (you never see this) telling them to try again.
I have seen lowballers made two or three low offers before hitting my sweet spot.

Also @slyders_finds  When we get a sale the algorithm gives us more visibility in Search both in that location and for our similar products.

If you sell a variety of products you may notice that the sale of a Purple Wigglewag to Idaho leads to sales of Pink and Green  Wigglewags elsewhere and another Purple Wigglewag in Idaho.