Slow Sales?

[mksports03]

Sales down, views down, interactions down.  Anybody else experiencing slow sales, views? Due to Capitol insurgence? Would love to hear from some of you.  Thanks and stay safe.

[vtgbeersigns]

Same , haven't been listing as much but still have 550 plus listings.  Had huge rush around black friday and early December , fell off a cliff since mid December.  Holidays were a factor , had a small spike with stimulus but they are very flat.  My slowest times have been March (covid panic), election week , and now.   

[jklfindings]

Yep, this past week or so has been miserable.  January is always kinda blah already, but I'm down 30% from last year.  I assume it's all the political mess and covid ramping up again.  Just keep chugging ahead....

[lovefindingtreasures2]

Pretty much went dead in the water on all platforms. Nothing shipping out today or yesterday.  Been slow since the Capitol mess for me.

[public-direct]

Yes, very badly down. 

I was already down 40% from normal but it's usually still pretty consistent...until this morning....all of a sudden sales are down another 50% today from the new slow normal.

I did ebay's survey last night In which I wasn't very favorable so maybe that had something to do with it lol.

I've never seen it this bad. Very worried.

Did anyone else with regular sales have a huge drop just today?

[my_boston_baked_beans]

I do not feel the Capital protest has anything to do with sales directly, but I do feel people on both sides of the election outcome have other concerns right now.

The economy has a huge part people out of work, holiday expenses, and struggling to keep their heads above water.

Every year this has been a slow time for me, and once tax refunds come in April spending picks up for awhile. Sales die again in summer months.

That being said, everything depends on what you are selling. I sell vintage/antique and clothes( a saturated area) not the best merchandise nor high volume.

[inhawaii]

It's a little slow for me but still steady.

I expected a slow down after the busy holiday season.

[coastaltechsolution]

[vsb1146]

Everything going great till about last week of January 2021. Nothing hardly. I hope ebay is not messing with site again. 

[randysauto01]

Not sure what everyone else is selling. We have 2 automotive salvage yards. I've worked for this company for nearly 15 years. We've been on ebay few years, however I only took it and our other e commerce platforms over about 10 months ago.

For our industry I've noticed a pattern that was mentioned in a comment made above. Around middle of November, things slow down for us, people spending/focused more on the holidays. December was fairly dead as expected during the cycle. January everybody gets their credit card statements, leads to another slow month.  February into March it starts to pick up as tax returns role in. 

That being said, I'm not sure how much Covid or politics have had much of a negative bearing on our store front at least,  were up 74% vs last 31 days and 109% vs same time period over the last year.

Generally speaking, unless someone's car is completely down, they aren't looking to fix minor things unless they absolutely have to. Just my 2 cents

[ilovemyveggiegarden]

Yep see a slow down maybe a day no sales now at 3 days no sale at all. Wondering if specification requirements on items causing it if not all updated. Yes super slow right now I will keep posting items. Got to keep people working out there.

[alfontso]

I sell mens winter clothes. I did a test last week and dropped the price on two items to crazy low for the weekend. Got a few sales (about 25% of normal) of other stuff but not these items. Were not even viewed.

I have noticed over the years that whenever eBay rolls out a change to the site, the sales die off until they fix whatever they broke in the new roll out. This may be the horrible new payment system (give me back PayPal where I controlled my money and eBay couldn't "dip" into my funds and hold them for every crackpot who wanted a return. I have had few legitimate causes for refunds.) or these item requirements, many of which make no sense at all, such as requiring a specific size when I have 250 sweaters listed, each with its own size in the multi item listing. Also, all my listings were originally listed under Mens .... something etc. Now I had to go back through almost 600 listings and put in Department - Men. IT WAS ALREADY THERE!!! And has been since day one! How ignorant are these programmers?

Here's another interesting item. eBay takes commission on shipping costs charged. They make money on your shipping. But they disclaim all responsibility when USPS takes 6 weeks to deliver a package due to the pandemic. Then they refund the buyer, who receives the package late anyway and gets it for free. You the seller end up paying for eBay's lack of concern. I appealed and got my money back, but eBay agent says no responsibility on eBay's part here. Does this issue have a bearing on sales? Probably indirectly. USPS is back to normal again now, but the damage was done and eBay punished the sellers instead of adjusting policy to fit the circumstances. Regular, repeat buyers see the mess and back off.

There are peaks and dips in sales, but not to the extent of zero sales for 3 days across almost 600 listings and a total of about 6000 items.

Pandemic has had an effect that no one can gauge because it has never happened before.

So I am rolling along, not putting too much time into eBay and making my income elsewhere. However there will come a time that I will cancel my store subscription if sales do not return to some level of normal, and so will many other sellers I have no doubt. Nothing being sold... eBay will suffer the same as us if this continues.

We have not seen any offer of relief from eBay - they just keep charging away like mindless automatons. They have no consideration for the sellers, only their own bottom line. So they may need a kick in the bottom very soon. And maybe a class action in the matter of shipping liability. Any lawyers out there?

[divwido]

Money is tight for most people.  Covid is killing hours and jobs which means less money.

[corgey22012]

I sell a variety of everything and my sales went from selling a number of high priced items to small and to very small priced items to now nothing.  I have not had a sale now for 5 days.  Now I am getting concerned.  I know this time of year can be slow but down to no sales----what is going on?  Where is everyone???

[tonys-vintage-cycles]

Hello yes diabolical sales i have 3 page listings not a lot but last month was really good sold over 1000 

this month feb 2021 £400  a lot stuff i have had to re list at 9.99 because before was not even getting 2 views ,

so high risk of it going for 99 p ebay does not care if you have more than 1 neutral or slow sales you don't get the views im convinced ebay manipulates and messes around with people's  ebay 

plus worst ever reception and covid does not help i can see way people go elsewhere good job my livelihood does not depend on tha naff income from ebay