Thanks for posting. I am at this point now where you just do not know anymore why sales have fallen off a cliff. There are so many theories out there that you can't even discount what others think, unless they are way out there. My seller hub and discount tool changed again within the past 2 weeks. I feel like someone over at eBay is bored so they keep fiddling with everything. I also sell on Amazon and as much as they have their own set of problems, they do not keep changing the interface of their amazon seller central. I can't even remember the last time we had a chance on the UI. The eBay app got updated for me again last week with some new radical changes, and I keep thinking to myself who wants all this as its not helping make the overall buyer and seller experience that much better.
Like you, I will have 2-3 days of mediocre selling and then I'll get one really good day. I am also promoting both offsite ads and promoted listing general, as you kind of need to in eBay motors with the amount of sellers and items on the platform. I have tried to figure out what else besides technical glitches, eBay AI, and the algorithm are adding to some of this mess.
Back to the topic at hand, we have to figure between the eBay continual updates they are causing all kinds of issues for buyers and sellers. Then lets add the uncertainty that people are having with where we are heading as a country here in the US. We have some astronomical inflation going on right now that doesn't seem to be getting better. There are more big box stores that are closing down, now we can add Hooters to that list of restaurants that is filing bankruptcy and Joann Fabrics did not get a buyer so they are completely closing down. Everything with the USPS has been a mess since the Fall for a lot of people, so its causing a lack of confidence for buyers and even sellers. The weather in many places was very bad for weeks to even a month. We can make many lists and there are multiple factors at this point besides just the technical issues that eBay is also having that is attributing to all this.
If people follow macroeconomics, which I think many on these boards do not and just spout out its your items or some other ridiculous cut and paste narrative, economically things are very bad with the home market being at a standstill due to the interest rates, credit card debt at an all-time high and the list goes on. Buyers also have a limited amount of money to spend, so now they will think on where their money will go.
It was weird as January had quite the uptick for us from December (which was the worst month in years) and then February we are seeing the slowdown again. Lets just hope those that get their tax returns soon that we can see a bump in March and April, but I fear that people will need that money to pay for other necessities and while some of us sell those type of items, when people need to survive they will wait on even buying some of these items.
