Sales have dropped

[littlehouseofplenty]

I am continually sending out offers on eligible items and I list new items regularly yet my sales have dropped considerably in the last month.  Is anyone else experiencing this?  I can usually count on a few sales daily, now I’m lucky if I get a few sales weekly.

[chapeau-noir]

My sales have been slow, but I was traveling this weekend - the ski resorts near me are packed, the hiking trails are busy and the stores were also quite busy in the several towns I visited.  Even roadside eateries in the tiny towns I passed through - busy.  It has been like this every weekend I've been traveling - the gas prices haven't impacted this at all.  Now that's just my region, but I suspect people are making decisions of what to do with their money, and they're choosing to spend it on other things.

What I'm doing (I realise I a much smaller seller than you are) is simply staying consistent - this is usually a kind of slow period for me, anyway, but with the pandemic easy, people are dying to go and do stuff.

[coolections]

Looking at your completed listings I see no drop at all. Fairly consistent for the last 3 months. Do you have another account that has that drop in sales you speak of?

[dbfolks166mt]

     My experience has varied. EBay has definitely been slow for several months. However, the other forums and platforms I list on have been holding pretty steady especially the local forums where almost everything is local pickup and I can list the items cheaper due to no fees or lower fees and the buyer does not have to pay for shipping and can pickup the item almost immediately and they don't have to worry about shipping damage or lost packages. 

     Due to the USPS surcharges that took effect on 3 April there are some things I won't even bother listing on eBay simply because I cannot list the item at a price that is competitive. A lot of people have returned to the B&M stores and are focused more on needs than wants because of the inflation. The stock market took a huge dive last week and is not expected to see the kinds of gains it has seen in the last 5 years. 

[partfinds]

Yes. It is very very slow  and gets worse. I see that my traffic was good and low sales. I guess people window shop more. This is what happens when platform enforces huge fees on sellers and doesn’t leave us choice but raise the price. The prices on ebay are very high (due to high fees imposed on us) and shipping is high. My sales are cut by half compared to first quarter and I sell car parts.

[coolections]

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@partfinds wrote:

This is what happens when platform enforces huge fees on sellers and doesn’t leave us choice but raise the price. 

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@partfinds 

It's not the fees. Maybe when you add the shipping cost. Your fees only went up 1% so if you raise your price 1% buyers would not even notice.

[chapeau-noir]

Mailing costs have a bigger impact than the small fee increase.  I also simply no longer sell things on this platform that I will continue to sell on other platforms due to shipping being too expensive - it's not bad getting to this time of year as I'm selling more light stuff, but I had to move most of my coats off here to elsewhere, for instance.  Same with the 'parts or repair' busted stuff I sell and does fine elsewhere, but just too heavy here.  Part is geographic location.

People are spending money, they're just being more choosy about what they spend it on and how much, and with warmer weather coming, I don't think indoor stuff is going to be at the top of the list.  Heck, I couldn't move business attire through the entire pandemic, it was all tops and sweatpants lol and I was stocking that stuff, plus every single mouse, keyboard, remote, etc. I had listed just flew - sales slowed down on that now.

It's always something.

[partfinds]

It is fees $5 here 5 there 5 extra charges on every item on shipping and accumulates. I don’t sell cheap cheap stuff so it is not pennies. I also have to have cushion for returns and scam. Not mentioning that getting item cost me more (my suppliers charge more, I drive 500 miles (gas expensive tolls are more); storing is more , electricity is more etc, less money in my pocket and so the price is higher. Ebay should not raise fees at this time.

[partfinds]

NY is definitely colder than I can remember in the last 10 years. It is not getting warmer at all. I don’t remember such cold and long  winters  or very high winds. I would still buy sweaters and blankets at this time of the year.

People are spending more on one item (they are for ed to) but won’t buy another due to running out of funds

[chapeau-noir]

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@partfinds wrote:

NY is definitely colder than I can remember in the last 10 years. It is not getting warmer at all. I don’t remember such cold and long  winters  or very high winds. I would still buy sweaters and blankets at this time of the year.

People are spending more on one item (they are for ed to) but won’t buy another due to running out of funds

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I still have some cold weather stuff listed, but in the secondary market my experience has been that people start buying more for the next season at about this time, so I start introducing more and more warm weather stuff and just let the cold weather items slowly lapse.  It's kind of transitional season right now.  I have coats elsewhere at this point.

Yeah, people are picky about where they spend their money.  I'm not buying any clothes unless they're falling off my back (or I just raid my inventory) because my money is going to race entry fees, for example - not both unless I can find something at the Goodwill.

[theteamsetguy]

In case you weren't aware the GDP in the US dropped in first quarter of this year for the first in several years. Couple that with higher food and energy costs there are fewer dollars for other items.

[divwido]

Of all the shops to be slow, I wouldn't guess one would be yours.  You seem to be doing everything right.  Although making offers to watchers never worked for me.

My only real advice would be more exposure in more places.  Not everyone loves or shops on eBay and that might be a issue.   We've all seen how many people purport to hate it here.

[partfinds]

@theteamsetguy 

„In case you weren't aware the GDP in the US dropped in first quarter of this year for the first in several years. Couple that with higher food and energy costs there are fewer dollars for other items.”

What does that have to do with what the post is about and why are you addressing it to me? Did I say something that offended you? Or you trying to explain lack of compassion (for sellers) and the greediness of corporations that don’t want to take any loss of any type and so they take advantage od sellers.

In case you didn’t read, Ebay announced that auto parts category  is booming despite everything.

It is fees fees fees fees on top of fees .   You do the heavy hard leg work getting and perfecting the merchendize. This is just a venue and it doesn’t justify the raises they make every 2 months. It is not 1% . Earlier I was paying 9-10% of the item price now it is around 25% (combined with „mandatory” (if you want to get exposure) promoted ) and soon more and this is before even any penalty fees. Gross.

[theteamsetguy]

I’m not mad at you. I was just trying to point out some factors on why sales are down for not just you but most people in general. 

Like another poster here indicated Amazon stock dropped stock dropped more than $400.00 per share on Friday because sales and profits were not what the market expected for the first quarter of this year. The CEO also indicated that they expect 2nd quarter sales and profits to be lower also. If Amazon is seeing slower sales wouldn’t it make sense eBay sales would be down also?

[annadryl]

The OP never complained about fees, they are having slow sales. Buyers have nothing to do with fees and fees have nothing to do with the question.