Rolling blackouts a thing?

[stephp4007]

I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but in my research last night I fell into a DEEP rabbit hole about complete slumps in sales. In the years I’ve been selling, I notice a definite cycle to my sales. Cycles that don’t seem to coincide with anything particular,  anyway, these past eBay discussions about rolling black outs made the go “huh” wonder if that’s actually a thing !

Not blaming this for my dismissal sales ( so please no mean comments!) I’m dust genuinely curious if anyone has heard of this, and what are your thoughts on it!

[stephp4007]

• I can’t edit from my phone. I meant dismal sales! Not dismissal ! Lol

[dhbookds]

You've had almost 700 sales in the last 90 days........so not like you've sold nothing........

Cycles mean nothing in retail.......as soon as one seems to develop.......it changes.......ask any brick and mortar seller.....  That said.......sales go up and down for all of us......hundreds of reasons possible......  Only thing you can do is be sure your listings/pictures/titles are the best you can make them and roll with the punches. 

It's easy to "blame" ebay, but accomplishes nothing.........

my opinion

[slippinjimmy]

It's a "thing" used by some sellers to justify that their lack of sales are at the whim of eBay and not because of any deficiency in the way and what of the items they offer.

[uncseniorsportsfan]

I've been on this board for over 20 years and the rolling blackouts conspiracy theory has been around for at least 15 of them.   

Since ebay uses multiple servers, I would assume that the idea of rolling blackouts has something to do with not all servers being available to all users 24/7 - more the nature of the beast than manipulation.  

[coolections]

Before I even looked my guess was you 99% chance you sell clothes. NO, no rolling blackouts. What DOES happen since there are over 10 million of you that sell clothes the default listings get moved around in order. So if you where on page 32 you may now be on page 163.

[chapeau-noir]

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@dhbookds wrote:

You've had almost 700 sales in the last 90 days........so not like you've sold nothing........

Cycles mean nothing in retail.......as soon as one seems to develop.......it changes.......ask any brick and mortar seller.....  That said.......sales go up and down for all of us......hundreds of reasons possible......  Only thing you can do is be sure your listings/pictures/titles are the best you can make them and roll with the punches. 

It's easy to "blame" ebay, but accomplishes nothing.........

my opinion

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OP wasn't 'blaming' eBay - they're just asking a question.

@stephp4007  - I'm a way tinier clothing seller than yourself, but I see very odd but consistent patterns, and have for years.  There aren't rolling blackouts, but eBay uses a relational search, there are a lot of algorithmic effects, and of course the 'relevant results' clause.  Being in a highly competitive category your item ranking can really vary, particularly for heavily representative brands, and a lot depends on activity. 

I've before had to start with google to find what I want on eBay, which is frustrating - somehow google can direct my query but eBay can't, yet the item is there and visible in both cases. There are too many variables, not to mention random human activity - even well established, large B&Ms have trouble predicting foot traffic - there will be almost none one day, then a mob the next day. 

[dhbookds]

I didn't say/mean she was blaming ebay............but some will...........

[chapeau-noir]

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@dhbookds wrote:

I didn't say/mean she was blaming ebay............but some will...........

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Oh, I know - but OP specifically said they weren't.  Which tells me they have a true enquiry and wonder about any theories.

[animesalesandmore]

Ill say its 50/50 ebay fault. Their Silence on many issues people confirm or say a generic corporation response, I truly believe if they become more helpful and prove or fix these problems publicly than most people will stop complaining. 

[yuzuha]

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@dhbookds wrote:

Cycles mean nothing in retail.......as soon as one seems to develop.......it changes.......ask any brick and mortar seller.....  That said.......sales go up and down for all of us......hundreds of reasons possible...... 

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Yep. I've worked B&M retail for years and I can assure you that the exact same sorts of cycles happen there, complete with all of the same weird coincidences. (When I worked at a store that sold alcohol, I would have days where nearly everyone I carded was born in December, two people with the same exact birthdate buying alcohol in a row, etc.)

[chapeau-noir]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Cycles mean nothing in retail.......as soon as one seems to develop.......it changes.......ask any brick and mortar seller.....  That said.......sales go up and down for all of us......hundreds of reasons possible...... 

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Yep. I've worked B&M retail for years and I can assure you that the exact same sorts of cycles happen there, complete with all of the same weird coincidences. (When I worked at a store that sold alcohol, I would have days where nearly everyone I carded was born in December, two people with the same exact birthdate buying alcohol in a row, etc.)

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There's even a statistical model for seeming patterns in huge random samples - yet they're still random.

[femmefan1946]

Then there's the belief that in any group of 40 people there will be two with the same birthday.

In my family that happens twice, DD and her cousin, and then again with BIL, nephew and niece.

Coincidences happen.

[caldreamer]

LOL...I live in California where we have "actual blackouts".   The electric company turns off the power to your neighborhood if brush is too dry or there are wildfires nearby.  Because its so dry in California...sparks from electric wires have caused major wildfires.

[yuzuha]

One of my friends and I have the exact same birthday. We jokingly refer to each other as "twin" because of it!