Sales Still Suffering? This Maybe Why!

[nuclearomen]

After a horrid September month and sales falling to lowest they been in a year I called EB MP, who connected me to Sales Team and what did we find? Promoted Listings dropped from the time I told them sale plummeted. Check your Performance -> Traffic and see if this affected you. Eb reported it to Tech Support to look into because - there is Nothing we can do about it, it's Ebay's job to promoted listings and generate traffic to your listings/store. Either something happened on the account or there is something wrong with the Promotional Campaign ebay has your listings in, mine is " Listing Campaign - US - 64" 

[nuclearomen]

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@mr.tomany wrote:

I was doing ok then around the 14th things dive-bombed ,, If thats a sale event why did we get thrown into that? Like a light switch again , What a joke

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we all were, however for me and many others the date was Sep 3rd til everything crashed... but not everyone was affected. I have no answers, all I can do I report what I'm doing to try and gain sales back. What I wrote about is only something that maybe issue, staying using the same old promotional campaign maybe one of the issues.

[femmefan1946]

@nuclearomen 

as the buyer is registered in another country, and use US shipping address to a ship forwarding service the international fee applies...

I would imagine that is less the site or the address than that the buyer is using a non-US financial instrument-- a PP account in euros or a credit card in yen.
I pay more in PP fees for payments from my US customers than I do for my domestic (Canadian) customers -> 3.7% instead of 2.9%.

PP and by extension MP is dealing with an overseas financial institution and there are some currency exchange fees  involved.
Which is not to say that MP and PP are not making a profit on the deal, but that's capitalism for you.

On reason I am avoiding MP is that they will not allow us to attach multiple bank accounts. With PP I have different Canadian bank accounts in Canadian loonies and in US dollars as well as an American bank account in US dollars. MP will only allow one bank account and it must be domestic.

[mam98031]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

@nuclearomen 

as the buyer is registered in another country, and use US shipping address to a ship forwarding service the international fee applies...

I would imagine that is less the site or the address than that the buyer is using a non-US financial instrument-- a PP account in euros or a credit card in yen.
I pay more in PP fees for payments from my US customers than I do for my domestic (Canadian) customers -> 3.7% instead of 2.9%.

PP and by extension MP is dealing with an overseas financial institution and there are some currency exchange fees  involved.
Which is not to say that MP and PP are not making a profit on the deal, but that's capitalism for you.

On reason I am avoiding MP is that they will not allow us to attach multiple bank accounts. With PP I have different Canadian bank accounts in Canadian loonies and in US dollars as well as an American bank account in US dollars. MP will only allow one bank account and it must be domestic.

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There is some incorrect information on this thread, so please make sure you are basing your opinions on the correct information.  

PP charges a 1.5% international fee.  MP charges a 1.65% fee.  

The highlighted statement of your above doesn't really make sense to me, so if you wouldn't mind, would you explain it further to me.  PP's and MP's international fees are really close in amount.  So how does this affect Adyen or am I misunderstanding your statement.  I'm a little confused on this, sorry.

[oldwestgold]

Yes, I have experienced the same in September.  My impressions, organic and promoted, have dropped by over 50%.

[nuclearomen]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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The highlighted statement of your above doesn't really make sense to me, so if you wouldn't mind, would you explain it further to me.  PP's and MP's international fees are really close in amount.  So how does this affect Adyen or am I misunderstanding your statement.  I'm a little confused on this, sorry.

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I could be wrong, be I took their statement as meaning that those fees vary based on country of residence for PP...but maybe I misunderstood the whole thing. 

Luckily I did find through my settings, that somehow at some point ebay removed my block on buyers with PO Box addresses, I added the block again, though this doesn't fully stop order outside US ship to a ship forward service, but some it does. 

[nuclearomen]

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@oldwestgold wrote:

Yes, I have experienced the same in September.  My impressions, organic and promoted, have dropped by over 50%.

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yup... but I believe I have fixed the issue, no one wants to listen to me so I'll pass on the further explanation for now.

[mam98031]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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The highlighted statement of your above doesn't really make sense to me, so if you wouldn't mind, would you explain it further to me.  PP's and MP's international fees are really close in amount.  So how does this affect Adyen or am I misunderstanding your statement.  I'm a little confused on this, sorry.

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I could be wrong, be I took their statement as meaning that those fees vary based on country of residence for PP...but maybe I misunderstood the whole thing. 

Luckily I did find through my settings, that somehow at some point ebay removed my block on buyers with PO Box addresses, I added the block again, though this doesn't fully stop order outside US ship to a ship forward service, but some it does. 

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I would think it would stop very few.  Most of the ones I get are to a street address and suite number.  But then I have no desire to block them.  I've had very few issues with sales to a reshipper over the years.  Nothing that would make me want to try to stop those kinds of sales at all.

Even if it is as you interpret the statement, it is still incorrect.  At least for the US site.  

[overstock-discount-products]

After ending my 1% campaign and raising my promoted percentage to 2%, I saw no bump in impressions, or sales, so I raised my promoted percentage across the board to 3%. Something in the past that I swore I would never do.... Yet, still no bump in impressions and sales are still suffering. Granted, it's only been one day, but I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm listing a lot of new product daily. I've tried tricks like setting my store to away, then back. My store has been "refreshed" (whatever the hell that means).  I've called Ebay and spoke with them via Fb numerous times, only for them to tell me that everything looks great and there are no problems with their system (because an 80% drop in impressions is completely normal, I guess). I don't know what else to do at this point. Any positive changes on your end thus far?

[zamo-zuan]

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@overstock-discount-products wrote:

After ending my 1% campaign and raising my promoted percentage to 2%, I saw no bump in impressions, or sales, so I raised my promoted percentage across the board to 3%. Something in the past that I swore I would never do.... Yet, still no bump in impressions and sales are still suffering. Granted, it's only been one day, but I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm listing a lot of new product daily. I've tried tricks like setting my store to away, then back. My store has been "refreshed" (whatever the hell that means).  I've called Ebay and spoke with them via Fb numerous times, only for them to tell me that everything looks great and there are no problems with their system (because an 80% drop in impressions is completely normal, I guess). I don't know what else to do at this point. Any positive changes on your end thus far?

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Interesting, what category do you sell in?

It seems like there may be even more things going on that are dependent on category... 

[nuclearomen]

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@overstock-discount-products wrote:

After ending my 1% campaign and raising my promoted percentage to 2%, I saw no bump in impressions, or sales, so I raised my promoted percentage across the board to 3%. Something in the past that I swore I would never do.... Yet, still no bump in impressions and sales are still suffering. Granted, it's only been one day, but I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm listing a lot of new product daily. I've tried tricks like setting my store to away, then back. My store has been "refreshed" (whatever the hell that means).  I've called Ebay and spoke with them via Fb numerous times, only for them to tell me that everything looks great and there are no problems with their system (because an 80% drop in impressions is completely normal, I guess). I don't know what else to do at this point. Any positive changes on your end thus far?

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Since I last week with trying to rely on ebay tech support I got a huge boost back to prior Sep 3 on impressions/views/watchers and couple of sale, then within 24 hrs that completely dropped back down to after Sep 3rd flatline. 

Yesterday I ended the campaign all my listings were in since 2018. Spoke with Sales Team member and I raised the question of what would happen if I ended campaign and started a new one? They didn't know but we got to thinking that the flatlining maybe caused partially due to ebay rolled out a completely new algorithm for these PL with the change they made from trending rate to suggested rate. Thinking perhaps the old campaigns are in someway corrupted (course even that is the case no one at ebay would ever tell you). So I ended the old campaign, I removed all listings from any elections first before ended it. Then I made a new campaign and went back to seller hub listings and manually re-entered all listings with varied elected rates based off the item and their suggested rates... those elected rates range from 1.5% - 4% - only reaching their suggested rate on a hand full of items (the ones they suggest 2-4%). Any higher then that I have to raise my prices by several dollars. 

I seen a return in clicks/views and made 2 sales... however, those two sale were on one item I don't promote because I've sold more then anyone on ebay of that item so I have a good word of mouth thing there instead. I did however gain views and few more watchers yesterday after doing this. The down side here is they changed the campaign results to reset every day the counts on views/clicks/sold...go back to zero daily...so while you can the daily little better the total impressions for entire time of campaign are removed and you have to try and determine if the campain(s) you create are paying off in the longer run. And you can determine any real significance til likely in the evening every day on the counts. Fact is any change you make in the campaign will in some ways be instant... but any real change to the translation of impressions/views - clicks into actual sales may take some time to see any real results. 

But anyways, I do believe at this point the people saying that you must change elected percentage to what they suggest for each listing is wrong and not a good idea to just jump and do that. I believe the issue is the old campaigns and need to give your listings a fresh boost, that being said only way to do that is remove all listings from old campaign and start a new one. Tech support can't do anything as it's the algorithm that is responsible. But my personnel suggestion is do not go all in and raise all your elections to what ebay says as suggested rate...you'll wind up in long run giving ebay way more money then likely it will take. Instead increase percentages by 0.5% increments for listings that are low money items. If you have a $20-$30 item and paid anywhere from $10-16 to obtain it wouldn't be wise to promote that over 1.5% (again that's IMO) you want to still be able to make something if it sells on the promoted listing. For the items you have priced higher and cost was around the same as smaller money items can test this new algorithm with a higher elected rate, 4% say should not loose you too much money in the profit margin you originally intended. 

All that rides on if the listing sells via the promoted listing, which there is no certain it will. Sales rep said that promoted listings involve and do way more then just shop your listing to outside sources, and which I already knew this and have said several times in this thread, they are designed to draw traffic to your other listings and stores as well so the likeliness someone clicks a promoted listing and then goes to something else you have and buys that instead can easily happen and thus you sell through the normal listing. But if it sells on the promoted then your paying more in fees of course and depending on your election for the promotion if it's too high you maybe eating all your profit... I believe and said to the rep that these suggest rates on many items are insane 8% - 9%... on top of 11.5% FVF + $0.30 Trans Fee... at that rate no one can make any money, we have to pay for the merchandise and sell to make a profit. Rates should be capped at 3% for any items under $100 - IMO, that is more fair, p\still provides ebay with millions more in paid fees and sellers don't lose out and close up shop. 

[nuclearomen]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@overstock-discount-products wrote:

After ending my 1% campaign and raising my promoted percentage to 2%, I saw no bump in impressions, or sales, so I raised my promoted percentage across the board to 3%. Something in the past that I swore I would never do.... Yet, still no bump in impressions and sales are still suffering. Granted, it's only been one day, but I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm listing a lot of new product daily. I've tried tricks like setting my store to away, then back. My store has been "refreshed" (whatever the hell that means).  I've called Ebay and spoke with them via Fb numerous times, only for them to tell me that everything looks great and there are no problems with their system (because an 80% drop in impressions is completely normal, I guess). I don't know what else to do at this point. Any positive changes on your end thus far?

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Interesting, what category do you sell in?

It seems like there may be even more things going on that are dependent on category... 

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i don't think it's category dependent at this point, however, ebay did recently make changes in a ton of category for listing requirements...so part of this can be related to if those sellers didn't update and fully fill out item specifics. The new algorithm is also heavily reliant on key words... a tool the Sale rep said we are suppose to have is suppose to run a check on your key words for PL and return suggestions for changes... but the tool doesn't exist anywhere we could find... it maybe ebay didn't actually roll it out yet to us, but it's suppose to be on the promoted listings manager.  

[zamo-zuan]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@overstock-discount-products wrote:

After ending my 1% campaign and raising my promoted percentage to 2%, I saw no bump in impressions, or sales, so I raised my promoted percentage across the board to 3%. Something in the past that I swore I would never do.... Yet, still no bump in impressions and sales are still suffering. Granted, it's only been one day, but I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm listing a lot of new product daily. I've tried tricks like setting my store to away, then back. My store has been "refreshed" (whatever the hell that means).  I've called Ebay and spoke with them via Fb numerous times, only for them to tell me that everything looks great and there are no problems with their system (because an 80% drop in impressions is completely normal, I guess). I don't know what else to do at this point. Any positive changes on your end thus far?

---

Interesting, what category do you sell in?

It seems like there may be even more things going on that are dependent on category... 

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i don't think it's category dependent at this point, however, ebay did recently make changes in a ton of category for listing requirements...so part of this can be related to if those sellers didn't update and fully fill out item specifics. The new algorithm is also heavily reliant on key words... a tool the Sale rep said we are suppose to have is suppose to run a check on your key words for PL and return suggestions for changes... but the tool doesn't exist anywhere we could find... it maybe ebay didn't actually roll it out yet to us, but it's suppose to be on the promoted listings manager.  

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I can only share what worked for us, and that's what I mention above.

Here's the evidence I have to support, and you can notice the exact date I made the change (and I changed our promo about 1 hour before midnight Sep 22-23, the night things shot back up).

So on our product line/category, it certainly made a difference. I can't speak for everyone, though!

[nuclearomen]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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I can only share what worked for us, and that's what I mention above.

Here's the evidence I have to support, and you can notice the exact date I made the change (and I changed our promo about 1 hour before midnight Sep 22-23, the night things shot back up).

So on our product line/category, it certainly made a difference. I can't speak for everyone, though!

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and here are mine, you'll notice it's very similar, and I'm not raising elections to ebays suggested rates. 

[reallyhardtofindjapan]

I'm an international buyer located in Japan and I noticed a huge problem when searching for items. Many items are not showing up in search results even if shipping is offered to me in Japan. Here's my link below.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Ebay-s-search-engine-is-BROKEN/m-p/31226062#M325315

[nuclearomen]

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@reallyhardtofindjapan wrote:

I'm an international buyer located in Japan and I noticed a huge problem when searching for items. Many items are not showing up in search results even if shipping is offered to me in Japan. Here's my link below.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Ebay-s-search-engine-is-BROKEN/m-p/31226062#M325315

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because I refuse to sell/ship outside immediate US on ebay I can't say why that is happening as it's not something I pay attention to. According to your link post, seems the issue would be within the GSP program, if that as you said is how the seller is shipping to Japan but not showing in search etc... I know sellers who ship international and do not use GSP and don't seem to have that issue? I remember seeing varied posts as of late about GSP issues but didn't pay any attention to them, perhaps is mentioned in one of those threads. 

As for the promoted listings and views/impressions being flatlined since Sep 3, I believe I can now say I have fixed the issue, my views/watchers counts are moving, and sales are coming back, 6 sales yesterday which is best day I had since the Sep 3 flatlining.