Sales and Views are Way Down

[sassynlacey]

My sales have really tanked since Christmas which even my Christmas was down from my usual rush. I sell a lot of vintage/collectible Christmas plus random glass, wooden and other desirable collectibles. I feel like I get way, way less views since EBay put their new visibility policy in place supposedly just eliminating Bots. I know it’s not my items and or prices because I monitor price and demand…I’m also not a fan of the generalized categories…we used to be able to be more specific with collectibles as in brand names, materials etc.  I’m wondering if it’s because I don’t pay their “Boost Fees” to supposedly boost my visibility? I’ve been at this over 5 years, have over 140 followers and it just seems strange?? Also my sales never missed a beat over Covid. Anyone else experiencing this? Thank you in advance!

[inhawaii]

https://community.ebay.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=false&q...

[meme6253]

There are many here in the same boat!, Sales have been trending downwards for to long, I don't find the views to be trustworthy at all, Views are suppose to last for 30 days & then start over, but I have seen to many times a view today & gone tomorrow way before the 30 days is over!, & I am not certain that the boost fees as you call it, are actually worth it either, I have had many brand new promoted listings found WAY down on the listings!, Good Luck To Every Seller feeling these effects!!

[kensgiftshop]

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@meme6253 wrote:

There are many here in the same boat!, Sales have been trending downwards for to long, I don't find the views to be trustworthy at all, Views are suppose to last for 30 days & then start over, but I have seen to many times a view today & gone tomorrow way before the 30 days is over!, & I am not certain that the boost fees as you call it, are actually worth it either, I have had many brand new promoted listings found WAY down on the listings!, Good Luck To Every Seller feeling these effects!!

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No, the views don't start over.

The views you got 31 days ago will drop off.

It's a rolling 30 day count.

[redlinear]

We all have our theories that range from nothing's going on-to-eBay has singled me out. 
And, we are all probably trying different things to help, running little one off tests, trying things we find here and on youtube....  Just trying to figure out if there is something we can do to get more views.

I think it's a combination of Covid Competition and Promotions (what shows up 1st in search, the promoted chicken or the exact phrase egg?)   

[femmefan1946]

I feel like I get way, way less views since EBay put their new visibility policy in place supposedly just eliminating Bots.

Absolutely. You are only seeing views from human beings, and those roll over after 30 days.

In any case.

Viewers view.

Watchers watch.

Buyers buy.

Glib, but I have been sending Best Offers to Watchers for a couple of months now, and have had no responses.

Which makes sense, since a Viewer was shopping, saw my item, and rejected it.

Anyway, two suggestions.

Don't compare this month to last month or to last December.

I sell a lot of vintage/collectible Christmas plus...

You can't sell bathing suits in October and you can't sell tree ornaments in July. To everything there is a season.

Compare your last 30 days to the same period in 2022/2019/2018*.

I’m wondering if it’s because I don’t pay their “Boost Fees” to supposedly boost my visibility?

Likely.

A Canadian seller has been experimenting with PL vs discounts. Annoyingly, he finds the PL works better, at a lower cost, than customer discounts.
https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/experiment-with-almost-give-away-listing-pondering-probl...
#6 of 13

I certainly have more Views on my PL listings.

Oddly I don't have the same percentage of sales as PLs. It looks like PL is bringing the Views in, but while purchasing is also up for me, the sales are slightly more likely to be on the non-PL listings.

Which is a Good Thing, since we only pay for PL advertising if the PL sells.

I stick to the minimum 2% rate, btw, which may or may not make a difference.

*There is a general consensus that the pandemic surge in online buying ended fairly abruptly in January of 2022.  So the worst years of the pandemic were unusual and outliers for sales.

[rivertown-pickers]

We had our best day ever 2 weeks ago ($830 gross) but besides that things have definitely been trending downwards for us.  Our total profit is on pace to be about 25% less than last year.  Although last year we had 2 highly-profitable large volume buys late in the year which really boosted our numbers.  We still try to list 5-10 things per day (both my wife and I have full-time jobs) and our views are down 30% (over 30 days).  Our impressions are down 20% as well even with promoted listings.

It stinks but we are just gonna keep trudging along.  Yard sale season is here and we've had a few good scores already.

[coolections]

Figurines are always a hard sell now days and getting worse. Younger folks to do not collect figurines, and older folks and getting rid of figurines. As far as Christmas items, no one pays attention to those except at Christmas. Some of your other items are just priced too high. Re-evaluate your situation and you should be fine.

[meme6253]

Well if they drop off they basically start over, Isn't that the same thing?

[lonestartreasuresfinds]

I have been selling for many years with over 900 items in the store. This past week my organic views way down. The last two days I had zero views. Ebay you need to look at my account and get this fixed quickly as this is affecting many of your sellers on your platform. 

[d.s.turner]

Been on eBay since 1999. As a buyer, I used to be able to sift through page after page of eBay items and find specific vintage and antique items I was interested in by using keywords to pinpoint my search. Now, my carefully worded searches are cluttered with page after page of new stuff I have no interest in. Recently, the "Higher Visibility" listings (that sellers must pay extra for) show up several times in the same search which makes searching a laborious waste of time.  I have been trying to sell some of my vintage collectibles over the past year or so, and I suspect many potential buyers never even find my items before auction end, resulting in either a minimum bid or no sale at all. Also shipping prices have gone way up and the economy has gone way down (which is not eBay's fault) and I don't think paying more to boost my visibility will help with the kinds of things I sell. Years ago when I listed vintage things EVERYTHING would sell at good prices. The more eBay "improves" and changes searches, the worse it gets. I wish they would put the search function back the way it was about 5+ years ago which worked perfectly fine, but I kind of feel like they wish sellers of "old stuff" would just go away. At least eBay is very responsive to sellers when you have questions or need customer service. Hoping things will improve soon...

[coolections]

@d.s.turner   I notice you sell a bunch of horse memorabilia. I can say for a fact that I have tried selling several and they are my worse selling items out of around a dozen different types of memorabilia. Not sure why but it seems people just do not want that stuff. I sent 3 of close to the same thing you have listed right now to Salvation Army last month after not even getting a view for 30 days.

[sassynlacey]

Agreed! If they are expecting everyone to pay to boost their visibility they are going to be sorely disappointed!! Ebay will lose money in the end,  and also possibly dedicated trustworthy sellers who have been loyal for years and not consistently getting complaints or returns. I guess Ebay will have to figure it out for themselves...hopefully before it's too late.

[d.s.turner]

Thank you for the reply and selling advice. I looked at the items you are selling for ideas, but didn't find anything for sale. What do you usually sell that does well?

[hartungcards]

I really doubt eBay is expecting "everyone" to pay for promoted listings.  Something tells me they have a department dedicated to figuring out just how many of their sellers they need to pay for promoted listings so that they won't be sorely disappointed.   Besides, if "everyone" promoted their listings, then in effect, no one would be getting promoted.  I'm pretty sure eBay is aware of this as well.