Sales Down By 50%

[jillphyl1]

What is going on?!!  My sales have dropped 50% since April! Instead of having several sales a day, I am lucky to have 3 or 4 sales a week! Has the algorhythm changed? It can't be the economy, because with high gas prices people should be shopping from home more! If many others are experiencing the same slow sales, I am sure e-bay is worried about their bottom line, too! Please, FIX THE PROBLEM!

[aqeeqsouq]

Me too...

@jillphyl1 

[kensgiftshop]

They might be shopping at home more, but they are probably buying things they need.

[selsa84]

My views are down more than double in the last 90 days  and sales are the worst to date. Leaving ebay soon and moving on to better things. It was good while it lasted and untill ebay trying to fix what wasn't broke. Hope things pick up for you.

[katzrul15]

@jillphyl1 

It has changed drastically for many of us - you can search the boards and there have been many, many threads on this, starting back in March of this year.  We have had over 60+ days of this change/slow-down.

I do think the social unrest in Russia, the uncertainty on wall street, the gas prices over $5/gal (some areas approaching 7), astronomical utility bills erupting all over the US, food shortages and food prices exploding, especially for meat and non-consumables, pet food shortages and huge spikes on pricing.....

It just ALL adds up and not to the PLUS column......not enough $$$ to go around.

We are buying generic items for the first time in over 10 years..........and we are not shopping for much that does not fall into "essentials".  Am guessing many others are not also.

We took my son and a buddy out to dinner for Birthday dinner on Monday night.  Local restaurant that is family owned - have dined there for years.  

I looked it up - at the Holidays, we spent $83 + tip for 4 people + an appetizer (no alcohol) + 4 beverages (sodas).

We spent $173 + tip for 4 people + an appetizer and 2 sodas & 2 waters. 

Meals were almost exact (we are creatures of habit and we tend to order the same things).  It was eye-opening how MUCH they had raised their prices.  (1) Birthday meal out and that could have been more than 50% of our groceries for the week.  WOW!

[natoman777]

We are in a major financial crisis.  You don't have to be a financial guru to see it and understand it.  My sales have been pretty good, but all in all things have been and are continuing to slow down.  I honestly don't think it has anything to do with eBay.  Non-essential items are going to slow down until things get better financially.

[12345jamesstamps]

Amazon, Walmart & Target are having sales due to overstock in their stores.

Buyers are not buying stuff at "Buy it Now"as I notice. Any thoughts of doing an auction for .01 to see some traffic in your store.  You have so much for sale. It seems you want a certain price for something. Sellers here having problems who only do" buy it now" as I notice. Sellers doing auctions are moving their stuff. I can't imagine having all the stuff you sell in your house. I don't think it will get better soon. I suggest trying stuff.

Maybe "buy it now" with free shipping might bring more business.

[m60driver · Accepted solution]

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@jillphyl1 wrote:

 It can't be the economy, because with high gas prices people should be shopping from home more! If many others are experiencing the same slow sales, I am sure e-bay is worried about their bottom line, too! Please, FIX THE PROBLEM!

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It is all about the economy.  With high gas prices discretionary spending is down.  People are using what little discretionary spending they might have to make up for two years of quarantine by traveling to visit friends and family who had not been seen during the quarantine times.  Nobody can fix this problem quickly.  Besides, the only long term solution is to change the political economy but folks have been too brainwashed for far too long to vote in their own economic self-interest.  They have ben duped into voting for grifters who would give tax cuts to corporations controlled by the American oligarchs.

And you have way too much inventory listed relative to your sales.  Perhaps you should have a garage sale and turn your some of your inventory back into cash during these difficult times. I read the tea leaves abut two months ago and lowered many of my Ebay prices to rock bottom to turn much of my inventory into cash.  Just this week Target is in the news for doing the same thing.  Welcome to retail.

[dugoldstuff]

For buyers, making buying too expensive:

1) They didn't used to have to pay state tax on internet purchases, alleviating the cost of having to pay shipping, but now they do.

2) Shipping prices are way up since gas is way up.

3) The middle class has less and less disposable income to engage in collecting and pleasure buying.

For sellers, making selling too expensive:

1) You didn't have to pay eBay commission on state sales tax and on shipping.

2) You didn't have to worry so much that you would get defrauded because eBay had generous return.

policies on YOUR merchandise.

3) It's expensive to travel to find merchandise to resell.

Somebody ruined the economy. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, some of your shipping costs are high compared to your competition.

For example, a Simplicity pattern with $10.15 shipping. Two pillow shams at $12.65 (that at the most could go in a Priority FR padded envelope for $8.45 retail). Same with a vintage tablecloth at $12.65 shipping. Mr T rag doll at $89.20 ship when the doll price itself is $24.99. (Buyers tend to shy away from such disparity in costs.) 13x9” collectible tin at $34.90 ship.

Any how, you catch my drift. With the economy the way it is, inflation and global unrest, buyers will be even more discerning about costs. Just food for thought.

[randyshotrods]

It's ebay monkeying with things.  That's the primary problem.  All sales drastically affected by the update,  The economy didn't drop 50-75% or more in one day,  but ebay sales did for multiple sellers of varying items.  Easy to point the finger.  

Listing tool just crashed.  Sales had crashed incredibly hard for almost two week then miraculously one day they return.   

[m60driver]

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@dugoldstuff wrote:

Somebody ruined the economy. 

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You can put Milton Friedman and his adherents at the top of that list.  And don't forget Louis Powell and all the others who dismantled the New Deal since the late 1970s.  Roosevelt gave us the New Deal which led to a robust middle class economy.  But since Reagan most of the US citizenry has only gotten a raw deal.  

[caseypl]

Lately, more than ever, I have looked more and more at what I spend and what I can do without. I believe alot of people may have hit a cap on mortgage refinances and debt. The stimulus checks have stopped and rates have hiked. People may finally be cutting back and maybe now we are getting to the stage where sellers lower their prices just to generate cash flow and lowest price wins. For example, I had recently put some sell orders in on a stock I hold to sell into a price incresse and lock in some profit. I probably wouldn'tve touched it a year ago, but more sensitive to ensuring I have cash on hand

[asset_liquidators]

"It can't be the economy, because with high gas prices people should be shopping from home more!"

But it IS the economy. When the economy is bad people are going to spend their income on the essentials (gas, food, utilities, rent, etc), all of which have gone through the roof.

This is not just an ebay thing. I have seen a change in sales across ALL platforms that I sell on.

"FIX THE PROBLEM!"

Who? That has to be done at the voting polls. 

[northernsurplus50]

         The sale money from sellers PP account no longer exists ever since Managed PAYMENTS took over   .  Bring back