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. 

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

Yes I do have a lot of clothes! I am right now getting ready to post quite a few coins and stamps that we have -but I have been researching these before just listing them! 
thanks 

And that’s a good point and what I have been doing I’ve been trying to drop pricing on items that have been in my inventory longer. 

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

Yeah I’ve struggled with the shipping part and I have refunded a lot of people when the shipping is that high! 
I don’t know where I got off kilter with the shipping but I have definitely been looking at that and trying to remedy that situation, before rather than after but there’s a few that I just can’t catch and with almost 600 listings it’s hard to go back into all of them and fix shipping but as I have them renew I try to look at all of them and change shipping as they come in to me to be relisted. 
thanks! 

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

I keep getting messages in my inbox from eBay saying that as a “top rated seller”if I switch certain things on my listings over that I’ll be a “top rated seller plus” . So in that message it says my items will be more promoted by them and I’ll have cheaper final listing fees. So that’s why I stated that trying to change everything over from auctions to buy it now like it stated and also the other changes that they state must be made to be the top rated seller plus for all the perks that my sales dropped drastically when I started changing everything but we were also going into spring. And maybe it’s a little bit of both, gas prices and what not. However my husband and I run a pretty successful business …gas is high however it doesn’t affect us to not purchase items that we either want or need within reason.

but I’m sure it does affect a lot of people as does the whole Covid and everything else. 
thank you

[natoman777]

My wife and I have bee full force on eBay selling for about 10 years, but have sold since 1999.  Summers can be slow, but as others have said, the economy is affecting sales.  Your prices seem to be good, so just be patient.  If you are paying for a store, you might do a promotion (like a coupon, or a sales event).  This has helped me. 

Out of season clothes go slower, but I have still sold even coats in the summer (although I don't list any until the end of summer/early fall). 

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

According to them that will give a discount for final sales when switching everything over (as a top rated seller)  To buy it now and one day shipping and accept returns … There may be some thing I’m forgetting. But the many different emails I’ve received from eBay says when doing that I’ll be a top rated seller PLUS And receive those discounts and more promoted items by them. 
so my thinking was what would it hurt to try it and see if them promoting my items etc. would help me get more sales to be more successful with The Whimsical Wildflower. 
thanks hope it makes sense! 

[mynewfindstore]

To be a Top Rated Seller Plus, you need to have free returns but if you are new and not selling enough, this will not be worth it for you.  My sales here dropped as well but I am cross-listing to other platforms now so I hope to get more sales elsewhere.  

[katzrul15]

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@natoman777 wrote:

My wife and I have bee full force on eBay selling for about 10 years, but have sold since 1999.  Summers can be slow, but as others have said, the economy is affecting sales.  Your prices seem to be good, so just be patient.  If you are paying for a store, you might do a promotion (like a coupon, or a sales event).  This has helped me. 

Out of season clothes go slower, but I have still sold even coats in the summer (although I don't list any until the end of summer/early fall). 

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@thewhimsicalwildflower 

This is a good point.  We sell a lot of Christmas items at the holidays - but some sell all year long.

Consider a % off sale or list items that are more seasonal appropriate for now.  List some every day - seems to move things along for us when we do.

Sales are slower right now - graduations, weddings, vacations, high gas prices, high shipping...lots of tugs at disposable income.

Good luck!

[creativecrisis]

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@thewhimsicalwildflower wrote:

According to them that will give a discount for final sales when switching everything over (as a top rated seller)  To buy it now and one day shipping and accept returns … There may be some thing I’m forgetting. But the many different emails I’ve received from eBay says when doing that I’ll be a top rated seller PLUS And receive those discounts and more promoted items by them.

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Just my opinion. You can safely ignore most of eBay's suggestions for improving sales. You're better off doing your own research. The things eBay thinks will work don't work for all sellers.

If you haven't already, read about the top rated program here: https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/protections/top-rated-program The top-rated plus designation may give your listings a little boost in search but that's about it, in my experience. The discount on fees is tiny (10%), which doesn't have much impact if you're a small seller. Not saying you shouldn't try to be top rated, just be realistic about the benefits. They are minor.

Using standard promoted listings at a low percentage has helped my sales. Running promotions has boosted my sales. Consistently listing always seems to help. Try things, draw your own conclusions.

[chapeau-noir]

I have to agree with Creative that it's a mistake to take all of eBay's suggestions to heart without understanding your own markets - they're geared way toward replicate commodities (i.e., stuff you can get anywhere) and not OOAK, which can be quite different.  You don't necessarily need FREE everything (shipping, returns, etc.) to be seen if you're not selling the same widget as a million others.  You DO need good title SEO, photos and selections, seasonality and regular activity, you might want to promote listings in crowded brands.  The small amount one saves on fees with top rated plus needs to be weighed against how expensive it really is to support top rated plus, particularly in a high-returns category. 

As for the shipping adjustment (probably the quickest fix you can do right now) - using bulk editing is a good way to just go down the list and fix the shipping.  Most pants over 1 lb can go in the flat rate padded envelope, for instance, so that's a quick change.   I did this full time for some years so I know what it's like to go through hundreds of listings to have to change something.

[soh.maryl]

OK, but you do know that "promoting items" costs more money, right?  

[bighawaii00]

I am experiencing the same issue no sales for a week and a half. Then four in one day now nothing again. Also hardly any views. I called eBay to ask if my page was active or being suppressed for any reason . They said no and that it may be my items are seasonal. I looked ,only three items are winter items out of 160. So it’s not that.. I’m used to selling at least one item a day. They change their site around a lot and are really pushing the promoted listings. This could be what the suppression is. I can’t lose any more money on items through promoting items. They said to be patient, I’m trying .. Hopefully it goes back to the way it was and we can see sales again.. 

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

yes, i do. I rarely promote. I did to see if it would help as I had no clue to what the heck was going on. 

sales are back up a tad...

[thewhimsicalwildflower]

Thank you! 

That's exactly what I have done- 20% off and im trying to purge winter clothing. I appreciate your candor. 

Best-

Lauren

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I would think long & hard about doing free returns when you sell clothing.  IMO, TR Plus is meaningless, buyers don't care & the "promotion" that Ebay is talking about is simply a supposed boost in search, but it is so small, you likely would not notice any difference.  

No way would I pay for returns, when selling clothing.  YMMV.  

If it were me, I'd look into using a background burner, there are many.  I like Photoroom, but I think Ebay editing even has that feature.  Many of your backgrounds are not doing you any favors.   I would be more concerned with that & bulk editing your shipping to reasonable rates, than I would trying to get TRS+.    I like using Calculated Shipping b/c then Ebay figures out the shipping costs for you to the zip code & for the weight & you don't have to try & figure it out.  

I would also change my sizes in titles to be S/M/L, not spelled out sizes (or do both), but be sure to have the industry standard S/M/L in there.  

Summer is often slow in clothing sales, hang in there. 

[knappys_komics_and_kollectibles]

I have been on eBay for years, and this recent drop is unusual.  They've done something different with their algorithms that they would never admit to.  THEY mention seasonal as a defense.  I think their software highlights sellers with stuff currently selling at the time.  That way, they always maintain sales & fees in slow times - sellers be damned.  They don't care about all sellers, just the ones who have stuff that is actively selling based on their noticed trends. So, in the summer, if you're not selling sunglasses or grills or whatever, then you're out of luck. Comic books sellers sell **bleep** in the summer based on this algorithm. I've been on this site for a while, and they constantly play games with the system for their own good. What is happening now is beyond unusual.  The economy would explain a slowdown, not a large drop-off.