Sales down

[marilu72121]

My sales are significantly down suddenly. I am just a small seller, usually 2-10 items a day.  Now I’m down to going days without a sale.  My sales had been steady for months. I have not done anything differently. I understand the Christmas rush as I have been selling for several years but seems something must have changed that I’m not aware of. Anyone else having this issue?

[48hrs-clothing]

Sales in most categories are down globally as most households incomes have reduced due to COVID 19 pandemic.

Very few and very specialised small to medium size businesses have shown a growth in this period and hope is that in the next few months or so as things start to go back to normal and people start to return to full time work incomes will improve and so will sales.

No doubt these are tough times.

Good luck and stay safe. 

[luxgoods]

i have been selling here for 18 years and have seen many changes on this platform most of them not good.  I too usually get 2-10 sales per day.  Last weekend, I did not have one sale. This has never happened to me.  Sunday afternoon, I called ebay customer service to see if anything was up with my account and was told everything was fine.  The advice the customer service rep gave me was to "keep my fingers crossed".  Monday morning I awoke to 4 sales so go figure.  

[drusalina]

Reasons for slow sales:

1.  Gas prices going up.  We were below $2.00/gal.  in December now we are almost at $3.00/gal.

2. Food prices going up because gas prices going up.

3.  Taxes going up because of new administration adding 28% from 21% for corporations means we have to pay more for food and necessities it trickles down.  Those corporations now have to increase the prices of their goods, because they are paying more in taxes.  People also lose jobs when corporations have to pay more in taxes.  People are seeing what is happening and they are saving money.  That box of cereal, milk and staples are going up.  I've seen it already in the stores. 

4.  Postage prices went up in Jan. 

5.  People out of work, because of C-19

6.  Employers cutting hours because of lost business because of C-19

7.  Stimulus hasn't arrived yet for many.

8.  People are buying what the need, NOT what they want because money is tight and getting tighter. 

9.  Taxes coming due in April if you have to pay and in May if you don't. 

Feel free to add to the list.

[gjs_16]

Yup, it would appear the $1,400 has been spent.

[shag182]

For me personally, SALES , VIEWS, and watches on listings are DOWN.  WAY DOWN!!!! Funny thing, it started just after eBay REMOVED the seller CLASSIC page.  Wonder if their tweaking the system to effect the buyer's search or something???

[lonebuck-books]

I sell on multiple venues.  I have seen a significant drop in sales on all of them in the last week.  My eBay page views/impressions is down by nearly 30% in the last week.  So no, it isn't just you.  My guess is the stimulus money has been spent on important things like rent and utilities instead of non-essential items.  I was hoping to see a 'surge' in sales when the $1400 checks went out like I did when the other two stimulus payments went out but not this time.

I think people are really starting to get scared about their financial futures because the effects of the virus over this long time.  I also think most people thought that once the vaccine went out things would go back to normal quickly.  That obviously hasn't happened and doesn't appear to be going to happen anytime soon.

[keziak]

The problem with this issue is that we're all selling different things in different ways: do we run auctions as well as Fixed Price?, do we run sales, leave offers for items on watch lists, do we list something every day, do we tinker with old listings? 

For myself over these past several months I have pushed auctions hard. I write listings every day so I have plenty to end on Thurs and Sundays. My sales have been way up over the previous year.

However, the gross tells just part of the story.  In my case since losing my most important inventory sources I have had to use other sources which demand a much  higher initial investment. So while I sell more, I make less. I'm trying to figure out how to fix that in 2021 but so far no breakthroughs.

I have every reason to expect that my old inventory sources will not be back to normal (whatever that means) until 2022 and that is dang depressing - it's only April!  But my friend who lost the same sources has refused to pay more just to get inventory and she is basically out of business now. Another friend has maintained his traditional sources (selling on commission for thrifts, buying storage units for example) and he rakes it in. So buyers ARE out there.

[pcobra93]

It is all in the logarithms Ebay uses....I don't care what Ebay says.  Your listing have a narrow window each week to be seen at the top. These can be manipulated a bit. Try marking down a few items just slightly. I believe this increases visibility and works for me. Other things help like shipping quick...offering returns...FREE SHIPPING. All give you points...I am absolutely convinced of this. 

[toysaver]

My sales have been down for the past few days only...  I attribute it to vaccinations and lessening of retrictions with more people feeling comfortable enough to shop in person.  

[Anonymous]

I would also suggest that many people who are sellers, are also buyers and have genuinely left the platform due to disgust and frustration over the new selling methods and gui.

[scholrep-0]

Dam this post really helped especially because of taxes, TAX SEASON.

[shado-x]

I have not done anything differently.

Well, that when you have to do things differently.  Compare your Star Wars listing with your other items and Good Luck.

[kensgiftshop]

So many people are still out of work.

More people are buying things they need and not what they want.

It's warming up and the people that's been cooped up all winter are not spending as much time online.

[valleytrading]

I've been selling on eBay for years.  I've never had a Saturday as dead as this one.  I called Ebay and they were less than helpful.  The CSA literally laughed at me.  However, I 've called at other times and the CSA has been very kind and was able to give my store a boost.  It all depends which agent you talk to, so keep trying.

Good luck Marilu and all of you other eBayers!