Sales

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

I am approximately nine months into selling  -I’ve been on eBay since 2012 however I decided to take the plunge and now have a store!! It’s been a ton of fun- some ups and downs but I’m completely enjoying it. My question is why have my sales suddenly dropped?  I have been selling a lot of items for about the last nine months.  I was offered by eBay to switch everything over from auction to buy it now because of my sale ratings and it would help with fees and to promote my items. So I’m already at top rated seller and was switching over to become the top rated seller plus. As I’ve been switching every thing over when it comes up I’ve noticed my sales dropping… Do sales normally drop this drastically in the summertime?  I am not sure if my items being switched over to buy it now… or something else is causing this drop?? 
I appreciate any help or guidance offered in advance because with the taxes being taken out I know I’m not making much off of this and if I’m not making sales, I’ve only had two this week, I don’t know that I will be able to continue. 

[heckofagame]

HIGH gas prices. High food prices. Interest rates increasing. And summer can be slower for many sellers. 

What taxes are being taken out?

[creativecrisis]

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@thewhimsicalwildflower wrote:

,,, My question is why have my sales suddenly dropped?  ...  I was offered by eBay to switch everything over from auction to buy it now  ...   I am not sure if my items being switched over to buy it now… or something else is causing this drop??

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Many sellers are reporting a drop in sales, and if you read this board, you'll find all kinds of theories about why this is happening. I've been selling here for 10 years, and May and June are generally slow for me. Not sure why, although seasonal ups and downs are normal in retail.

It's unclear what you mean by, "I am not sure if my items are being switched over to buy it now"? Did you change your listings? Depending on what you sell, some items may do better in auctions, and others will sell better through fixed price listings (buy it now).

I think eBay is a long game for most small sellers. There's a lot to learn and it takes time (more than 9 months!) to develop a presence here and a customer base. If you have down time right now, use it to study your competition, develop new product ideas, and most important, list, list, list! Keep working at it if you want to be successful. 

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

Y'ALL DON'T GET IT. EBAY WANTS YOU TO PROMOTE YOUR LISTINGS AT 10%-20% + THE 12.9% THEY ALREADY TAKE. THEY WANT IT ALL. RAISE YOUR PRICES AND PROMOTE AT 15% AND YOUR SALES WILL BE HOW THEY WERE.

[mr_lincoln]

@thewhimsicalwildflower   Its hard to say but eBay has made a number of changes recently and and the cumulative results may negatively affect sales.  If you had success with the way you were selling before then I would say go back to that.  You can always "try" putting some listings up differently as some sell better as GTC (Good til Cancelled) and others sell best Auction style.

I sell a lot Auction style and it works well for certain items.  Some will come here and tell you not to use that format but often results speak for themselves.

There can be naturally occurring slow times for sales, that's normal ...

Regards,

Mr. L

[stainlessenginecovers]

Garage Sale syndrome. 

You sell used items. 

The best stuff/ most wanted stuff- sold in March & April

By May you are left with the items nobody wanted back in Mar/Apr. 

How many new items do you list daily? weekly? 

[donsdetour]

You are not allone: lost of reasons may be causing this and no one agree other than it aint working for some...

[onefootflipper]

When that happened to me I started putting a lot more effort into making sure I had the best prices and my sales immediately went to double what they were before the slowdown. However I don't think that works as well with clothes (which seems to be most of your listings) as the buyer is rarely able to compare a bunch of truly identical items by price like they can with most other things.

[randyshotrods · Accepted solution]

It's something ebay did.  It was almost an exact date that everything went in the toilet.  Not outside factors.  Quit with that bull.  The sales off the cliff for several different sellers in several different categories.  the fact that a google search,  arguably the most used search engine did not yield a single one of my items, fairly unique so there aren't zillions of them on the web,  tells me a whole different story than oh it's the slow economy.   Yeah I get it that could cause a dip or a gradual loss of sales but it's a certain date that they dropped 50-75%.  If it wasn't for the regulars I run month long tabs on,  I wouldn't have any sales and that's running 7 day auctions with no reserve and a .99-2.99 opening bid of stuff nobody else has for sale.   Those same type of items. same era same manufacture were selling very well right until that date. 

[m_pthisandthat]

OK a lot of changes at ebay it is certainly possible this has negatively affected some sales. I know it has probably negatvely effected mine how much who knows. Yet, this is probably not the real issue at hand. Now look at the economy GAS is rediculous with no end in site go to the grocery store you can not name a product not significantly up in price mothers with no formula. Not hard to see that items not considered essential are now a second thought item. Maybe the scariest of ALL no plan being put forth to address any of the problems mentioned.

[chapeau-noir]

For the clothing you have a lot of fall/winter stuff still running, plus shipping is pretty high - $16.10 to my zone for a pair of joggers is pretty high, and that's something I would look in to.  I wouldn't auction clothing IAC, but you seem to be switching over to fixed price for that, so that's good.

People are spending but there is a ton of competition for what you're selling insofar as fashion goes.

[luckythewinner]

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 I was offered by eBay to switch everything over from auction to buy it now because of my sale ratings and it would help with fees and to promote my items.

I am confused.

Can you explain what "I was offered by eBay to switch everything over from auction to buy it now" means? How exactly was this "offered" to you? Any seller can switch any listing from auction to buy it now anytime they want. There is no need for eBay to "offer" it first.

And how exactly did eBay say doing all this would "help with fees"? Even if switching to buy it now did "help" with fees, the second part of that sentence - "promoting your items" - would do nothing but increase your fees.

It sounds to me like you had a good thing going and then you let eBay talk you into changing everything that was working for you.

So I’m already at top rated seller and was switching over to become the top rated seller plus.

Top Rated Seller is a rating that is awarded to a seller when the seller meets certain criteria. A seller either has this rating or does not.

Top Rated Plus, on the other hand, is a rating that is awarded to a listing on a listing-by-listing basis if the listing meets certain criteria. A seller does not have this rating, his listings do. And a Top Rated Seller can have some listings that are Top Rated Plus, and some that are not.

[soh.maryl]

Exactly how does listing with BIN help your ratings or promote your items?

[chapeau-noir]

I suspect OP got one of the 'improve your listings' emails with the above-named suggestions and is simply trying them.  I'm not sure if auctions can be promoted, but fixed price listings can.

IMHO, the problem is seasonal selection and shipping, also general fluctuations - I know people who are selling briskly and people are spending.

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

I don’t sell all used items actually most of my items are new brand and with tags or without tags.  I do have some items that are used but I’m very picky as to what I will post.  Meaning they must look virtually brand new! I’m not just wasting my time here trying to sell junk! 
i’m honestly doing this for fun that’s how the whole thing started… however since I have gone on to list so many items now it’s for fun but I take it seriously wanting to succeed! 

I list approximately 50 to 75 new items weekly. I did just start a 20% off sale on the winter jackets-leggings & shoes that I have. I’m trying to purge my winter items to bring in new for the coming fall.

 Thanks