Sales down - my sales dropped off a cliff. What is going on?

[kathcap-27]

I always have consistent sales but this past week all sales stopped. I see Ebay pushing promotional sales - could this be a reason? I sell a low-cost item so can't justify paying promotional fees on top of my monthly fee. My business has never been this slow. 

[estate_echoes]

I feel like it's a poorly coded algorithm combined with an over saturated market and those paying to be placed higher up in search results that causes these common peculiar ebb and flow of sales. Worst thing you can do is nothing. It may prolong or keep you in a no/low sales rut. 

Are your traffic, views, suddenly down too? Note your traffic as whole and on individual items, and then do things differently and see if it has any effect.

Add more listings. End listings that are due to relist soon, and then "sell similar".  Research your items that have been sold by other sellers and see if there are better title keywords to use. Add more item specifics, focusing on ones ebay marks as "trending". Put a link in your listings to your similar category items, like if someone views a watch of yours and its not quite what they want, you can have a link to your other watches and they may find what they want. If feasible, offer free shipping on additional purchases of similar sized or smaller items, as it likely won't increase shipping price. Try promoting items at very low percentages. Try promoting a few items at the recommended percent and see if it has any effect. Instead of promoting at a percentage, off a price discount of the same percentage. Note the traffic on a few items during a 30 day period, then run them through a 7 week auction 4 times and compare the traffic. Use the "send offers" to interested buyer's tool. Etc.  

[inhawaii]

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@tarotfindsandmore wrote:

She had five sales on the 2nd, and two more the following day.  She's also had 200 sales in the past 90 days according to her "solds" which translates to an average of 2-2.5 sales a day.  With that in mind, she'd be very wise to ignore your wannabe tough love as she does have a history that is consistent with what she originally posted.  

Honestly, I'm not sure why you responded to her post.  The whole Eeyore thing doesn't do much to help anyone.  She has an honest question and it appears from her selling history that it is justified.  Why not take a look at what she's selling and what has sold before telling her no one wants her stuff?  

While it's certainly true that there are many instances where your canned "your stuff sucks" posts are applicable, this doesn't appear to be one of them.  The type and quality of her items is at least on par with your own, and people buy your stuff.  

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You can have 10 sales a day for 10 years.

The fact is one day those sales will slow or stop.

When they do, it doesn't have to be a glitch or throttling or a conspiracy theory or algorithms.

It can just simply be that nobody bought from you that day.

I never ever said my stuff is better than yours.

I never said "your stuff sucks", just that people aren't buying it right now,

The same applies to myself.

Today for example, I'm having a no sales day so far.

You wanna know why?

BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS TO BUY WHAT I AM SELLING!!!

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@dy60609 wrote:

Seriously, please remove that copy and paste nonsensical reply from your repertoire.

@tarotfindsandmore wrote:

Again, just ignore the stupid, unhelpful posts telling you it's your stuff.  You can always consider this possibility down the road if the other options don't pan out.

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It is disturbing to read this. 

There will always be disagreements when using a forum peopled with folks from many walks of life, and many varied viewpoints. But growth of understanding is often the result of vigorous disagreement.

What is usually not helpful is traveling too close to the border of name-calling and insulting observations. It is entirely possible to be diplomatic while disagreeing or sharing alternative insights.

Otherwise the conversation devolves. It is difficult then, without an atmosphere of thoughtful and respectful discourse, for anyone to derive benefits from it.

[tarotfindsandmore]

OR it could be the multitude of technical problems we've dealt with this week (for crying out loud, one of those tech issues is even pinned at the top of this board) OR it could be some sort of thing with the algorithm OR  it could be a slow week.  Whatever it is actually is, there is no benefit in assuming that "nobody wants your stuff" is the correct assessment.  The bottom line is that there is nothing to be gained from that assumption, and in the OP's case it isn't even consistent with the empirical evidence.

On the other hand, she is here asking for input and, presumably, some feedback.  As I and others have now suggested, there are ways to determine if it is the case that nobody wants her stuff by trying a few things out.  If those things don't pan out, then she can consider your diagnosis.

[ct_thrifter]

eBay wants you to kiss the ring and pay their promotional extortion fees.  If you're not promoting, you're most likely not being seen.  

They just want more of the pie, plain and simple.  Unfortunately it's just a cost of doing business on this platform now

[estate_echoes]

I think inhawaii missed that it was a "week" of no sales, as they are talking about a day.

Additionally, it seems a poor choice of words has led to them being misinterpreted. They don't mean that "nobody" wants their items, they were implying that of the people who viewed their items that day, nobody bought them. Which at a day of no sales, sure that's not alarming. But 2-3 daily sales average, a "week", it's a bit more odd. 

[johnrj1226]

Sold  for a career for 4+ decades - never once did I have a level or  steady sales activity level  but rather activity like the movement of a yo-yo with lots of ups and downs - competition has  a big effect. on sales activity and with high   prices at  the grocery store people are reducing their "would like to  have" purchases".  Jewelry/watches is  certainly one of those items as any one with a cell phone has a watch - personally I have both but I'm a '44 model but do have a 1963  Bulova Acutron Spaceview 10k watch in working condition - my grandson will get it down the road. don't  wear it but  do wear a a Seko Automatic - the Z generation aren't into watches

Suggest you  offer  stuff  in the must  have category  or stuff fitting for the upcoming grads HS, College etc

Hint: Gotta' roll with the flow or get  further behind.

[ocean-state-mint]

I thought the same thing, but in comparison to my previous year I was actually up about 8%. February is generally a slow month and add some economic uncertainty so it seems a bit slower than usual. I utilized the downside to send offers, have flash sales and send out my newsletter. Tweak some listings as well, just keep finding a reason to make your listings better. Good luck!

[animal-house-8]

Consumer Confidence  has been plunging it's now the 3rd month in a row, I have been selling on ebay since it started, I've seen this before.  I listed 10 new things this week and my traffic count went down 27% and my sales down 37% this is not normal so I would expect a further slow down in sales is coming, ebay told its shareholders to expect lower revenues in the coming months, I don't see this as a temporary blip. 

[luckythewinner]

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@estate_echoes wrote:

I think inhawaii missed that it was a "week" of no sales, as they are talking about a day.

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For the OP, I see: 

• 4 sales on March 1
• 5 sales on March 2
• 2 sales on March 3
• 1 sale on March 7 

So from my vantage point, the sales drought appears to have been 3 days and not a week. 

For the OP, I also see:

• 6 days in December with no sales (13-14, 19, 24, 29-30)
• 4 days in January with no sales (18, 21, 25, 28)
• 5 days in February with no sales (3, 9, 11, 14, 28) 

[johnrj1226]

Should  have a been around in the late 1970's early 1980s. Inflation rate peak at12%+,& 5, 30 year fixed rate mortgages went to  +16% - was glad to get a 9.5% rate in  late 1978, 10%+ unemployment. Dec 1981 was laid of after 14 year so f service to  same company - unemployment benefits -  family of 4 - 85 bucks per week. - utility bill in Jan. 82 - $650 - 1 week of  - 27 F -minus 80 to 100 for 1 week.  Found job  90 days later - same pay + company car and gasoline credit card.

Worked for a forklift  company and experienced one moth new equipment sales were -36 units for our company  -reason customer cancellations.

Life is still good.

[reallynicestamps]

...but this past week...

How were your sales in early March 2024?2023? 2022?

Don't compare week to week, retail is both wildly inconsistent and remarkably consistent.

I find I rarely get sales on Sundays or Wednesdays, though my weekly sales are pretty consistent.

But I could close my Stores in November and December for all the sales I get. Collectors seem to put their hobby allowance towards gifts for others then, and that is consistent across all my product lines.

This doesn't affect you, but compare value of sales to number of sales. Sometimes sellers think they had a terrible period for sales because their high value merch is not moving, but on investigation find they made the same profit on many smaller sales. Or vice versa.

[reallynicestamps]

A summary of suggestions :

1.) Diversify your stock

2.) List more items, preferably every day.

3.) Diversify to other platforms

4.) Use PL , standard at the 2% minimum, on your higher priced items.

[chapeau-noir]

the Z generation aren't into watches

Yeah, they are - they've been back in for a while.

[animal-house-8]

Or are just too scared to spend money ... always that possibility.