Selling

[handcraftedcountry2016]

I have been on ebay for over 20 years. Use to sell a lot on ebay but the last few years it has slowed down some every year. Don't get a lot of views or watchers like I use to. What has happened? To much competition or people just don't like it anymore. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Past performance on Ebay, as well as on the stock exchange, is not a predictor of future performance.

Tastes have changed, budgets have changed and life has changed. Some items no longer have the appeal they once did. And some pocketbooks do not have as much money as they once did.

If you believe in the quality of what you are selling, you may have to be more patient.

[dbfolks166mt]

     There are probably multiple reasons, competition is certainly a huge factor what you are selling is another.  I sell on multiple venues and forums. Some of those have seen sales decreases some have increased. 

[inhawaii]

I don't know what it is but I reckon ebay has something to do with it.

[hartungcards]

If I had to choose one of the provided reasons, I'd go with "people just don't like it anymore."

[rugerskick]

Multiple factors all,working together:

1. Ebay search sucks.

2. Ebay ai manipulates how/when your listings are displayed.

3. Economy post-covid is poorer.

4. Ebay buyer numbers are decreasing.

5. Compared to 20 years ago, the number of ebay sellers have increased about 8 times.

[carlmarxx]

The search   filters   in seller's stores  are missing  so it hampers   buyers from  going through  everything .     

[mustang707]

I think a couple of years ago ebay did away with bot views so you are only seeing organic views. But that only explains your comparison to many years ago and would not explain the last year.

[sakic92710]

I used to enjoy working on eBay.  A small percentage of items would sell but, at least, something would sell almost every day.  However, when I would have 700 listings & my sales dropped to less than 10 per month (from 75-100), on a constant basis, it made for multiple disappointing days, weeks, months.  I live in a small city (140,000) & it is pretty sad when I can generate more interest (locally) in my items than I can with the potential millions of buyers existing out in the world.  Only 4 years ago, I broke a personal record with 85 sales within 2 weeks.  Now I cannot get that many inside an entire year!

[dbfolks166mt]

I used to enjoy working on eBay.  A small percentage of items would sell but, at least, something would sell almost every day.  However, when I would have 700 listings & my sales dropped to less than 10 per month (from 75-100), on a constant basis, it made for multiple disappointing days, weeks, months.  I live in a small city (140,000) & it is pretty sad when I can generate more interest (locally) in my items than I can with the potential millions of buyers existing out in the world.  Only 4 years ago, I broke a personal record with 85 sales within 2 weeks.  Now I cannot get that many inside an entire year!

     I live in a large metropolitan area and the local forums and venues have continued to represent an increasing percentage of my sales by volume. I attribute a lot of this to the rise in the cost of shipping which while high is nothing compared to your Canadian shipping costs.

     I can also list the item somewhat cheaper since I am not paying FVF's. It's a win/win for both me and the buyer. 

[sakic92710]

2 weeks ago, in 1 day, I sold $375 on Marketplace.  It was dead for a week after that but MUCH better than always being dead on eBay.  lol   Wish you continued luck, locally.  Do you mail much on FBM?  I think about 35-40% of my sales there are shipped.

[chapeau-noir]

Online shopping is actually driving the increase in consumer spending, but there is so much competition now that eBay is becoming just another player. Also, buyer numbers have really dropped.

[femmefan1946]

I sold vintage SF/F paperbacks here for years, including the library of a well known reviewer on consignment.

Then the market just ended.

I think 21st century readers just aren't interested in 20th century literature.

Shipping and e-readers also come into it.

I switched to sewing patterns, and when I am listing, which I haven't been for a couple of months, my revenue from those is very like my revenues were from books.

What in your current stock does sell?
Concentrate on that and don't buy any more of the stuff that doesn't sell.

And of course, if you don't list anything, you can't sell anything.

How many items have you listed in the past six months?

[dbfolks166mt]

2 weeks ago, in 1 day, I sold $375 on Marketplace.  It was dead for a week after that but MUCH better than always being dead on eBay.  lol   Wish you continued luck, locally.  Do you mail much on FBM?  I think about 35-40% of my sales there are shipped.

     Local forums account for about 70% of my sales by volume but I would estimate that I ship less than 5% of those sales. It's the lower price and lack of having to pay for shipping that I believe makes a lot of the items more attractive to the buyers. 

     They can also look at and inspect an item before they take possession which is a win/win and neither myself or the buyer has to worry about the logistical issues. 

[johnrj1226]

A lot of those views you  "used to get" were received promptly were from eBay "scrubbing" listings for pokicy  violations.    Watchers can be from any body - I used to watch stuff  and was primarily a seller - just want to see how the other guys item sold or not.  Often I  had items bought within a couple minutes of listing it.  In  malls  people just  like to "window shop" with no intention of buying.   Had tons  of views and beaucoup watchers =  zippo sales.  Used to  window shop at Christmas Time on State Street in Chicago in the late 60s thru early 80s and page thru those big fat Sears Roebuck & JC Penny catalogs when they were free and dog eared pages on stuff I "wished"  to get for  Christmas - but seldom received.

In a nutshell views/watchers  are  not an accurate for predicting future  sales.

Only  having 1 item currently for  sale for  $600  will  be a good indicator for  slow or no sales activity.  The longer an items states unsold the few views or watchers will  be seen.  "If wishes were horses beggars would ride."