Sales

[freedomfinders]

It seems that the general consensus is that this is the slowest it has been sales wise on the platform. In regards to my own store, I'm looking to see if I'm doing something wrong?

I'm not sure if it is because I listed a very expensive dress, which is something I normally dont sell, in addition to adding free shipping to it. Additionally, I also just added the discount shipping to see if that would help sales. Is it because I implemented two changes to my store that my sales are slow as a result? I have heard that even the smallest change can flip the algorithm and I'm wondering if that's it.

We list in demand items (100% sell through rate), we list 30 items consistently everyday, and we have everything to ensure we are top rated plus. I'm used to selling 15-20 on ebay alone and the past week and a half feels like July this year. Just trying to see if I should be doing something else. 

[freedomfinders]

I'm not complaining, I just noticed slower traffic and was just wondering if it was something I did 🙂 I'm still new to ebay in a sense, only being on here for 2 years and figured that someone who has been on longer could give more insight, thats all 🙂

[freedomfinders]

No you are 100% right. I offer free returns, do discounted shipping, etc. And yeah I can understand with times being tight. 

[freedomfinders]

I'll check into that, thank you!

[freedomfinders]

Thanks! I am clearing out some older stuff and surprisingly, some Ann Taylor stuff does well if it is vintage, has certain factors, etc 🙂 

[freedomfinders]

Thats true too 🙂

[freedomfinders]

That makes sense for sure

[12345jamesstamps]

It's not you. It has been very slow or eBay is playing with algorithms of certain sellers. I give up trying to figure it out. I list items below other sellers prices and am not seeing any changes.

I only promoted high end items...about 200. If I promote everything it just means I want to pay higher fees. That makes no sense. I do notice those who sell 25,000-75,000+ items their items pop up quite a bit.

Most of my promoted items promoted higher than what eBay suggest I don't even see.

I see "Top Rated" plus sellers who get their stuff shown quite a bit and a lot of these sellers are not 100% with positive feedback. That makes no sense.

Some of these sellers with 75,000+ items are in my category are selling junk at .99 to get more exposure on the site. Then there are those sellers selling a junk item at $50,000+ that is only worth a penny. LOL

[freedomfinders]

I've noticed that as well. Its interesting for sure

[lakefor94]

"It seems that the general consensus is that this is the slowest it has been sales wise on the platform."

Back a year or so ago, I started seeing a LOT more posts of slow sales. Of course we have been seeing the same type of posts since the forums were started. This past year or 1.5 years in particular, I see longtime Posters/Sellers complaining.

Sellers that were always doing OK in past years and would post, "my sales are fine", " it's retail, always up and down" yada yada.  

These days, a LOT more are seeing the downturn from what I read here from a many of the longtimers and of course, the newbies. Folks that never felt the crunch have been feeling it for awhile.

I have been throwing down quite a few hours myself with unimpressive results.  I have to work that much harder just to stay at something which resembles a steady cash flow. 

Still with all that said, the most desirable items are still found with search and sell. A lot of my usual inventory just does not sell like it used to. So many more sellers and outlets available to obtain products. I don't see the shortages from the past few years. Everyone has inventory. 

2020 and 2021 and past years were the bomb. Not so much the latter half of 2022 and 2023.

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

It is not because of any insignificant change in your listings. 

Pretty much every retailer out there, online and offline is heavily discounting, advance Black Friday sales are everywhere. For the consumers that have money to spend they are bombarded with offers and  i mean real deals not the fake ones that many eBay sellers try to fool people with.

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This is spot on and really many retailers have been quite aggressive since the alleged end of Covid (There is no end, it's endemic now).

Good news is eBay is advertising, I see ad's on my phone, I see ad's on youTube videos I watch... How much impact will have given the above of course is the dice roll.

In fact my lady wants get me a wool jacket, Macy's, $400 MSRP checked via other sites for $119 bucks.  Me well, Office Depot has 1TB Samsung Evo SSD drives for $60!  That's basically 1/3rd where there were scant months back.  Neighbor bought a Shark Rotator lift away Vac for $149 at Kohls spanking new, when we got ours not 8 months ago, $279.  There are deals all over the place and we're just at the start.

Me well, I generally accept any decent offer comes in, just got rid of $149 item for $99.  Nuthin's worth anything whilst it sits on shelf.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@dwise3671 wrote:

The economy isn’t technically showing signs of weakness. It’s quite the opposite.

There are many economic measures. GDP is used to define a recession but early in the Biden administration when it said recession, the administration denied it was.

There are 12 leading economic indicators which are used as predictors of when the GDP will say it is a recession. 7 of the 12 are currently pointing to a recession in the close future.

The economic pain of inflation is still here, in spite of a lower inflation rate each month.

Until wage gains equal the cumulative rate of inflation, the pain of inflation is tangible to many people.

If wage gains rise significantly, they will be viewed as inflationary and the FED will increase interest rates.

Economic weakness is not a recession, it is in the eye of the beholder, and economists differ in their use of this exact term.

This is a weak economy, which is why all of the polls show a majority of the public disapproves of the government's economic policies.

Although they call economics "the dismal science" it is not a science, and there are no settled facts.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

There may be deals now but don't count on cuts later.

Inventories of many publicly traded retailers are low and anticipating reduced demands as the season progresses. They are not counting on a great sales increase, they are planning to maintain margins. Many of the reductions are a result of still wanting to clear the inventory which they bought in a panic when it appeared the supply chain crisis was other than transitory.

There is more critical analysis of this week's financial reports than usual and more numbers are being analyzed.

[lakefor94]

"Me well, I generally accept any decent offer comes in, just got rid of $149 item for $99.  Nuthin's worth anything whilst it sits on shelf."

Product in, product out. 

Product out is vital