Regards,
I just re-read the "Summer Trends" June 27th post by the SVP + General Manager, American Market (link below). However, what I would really like news and details on is how eBay will turn around the continued decline in sales that many, many members are reporting here on The Community, and a lot of them seem to be newer posters ... with Pay per Click PLS Advanced kicking off last year, the November 2021 Category reshuffling, the more recent Views counter change and other changes made to the venue's programming in the last 6-8 months I have lost confidence in the Search algorithms being able to function properly.
Earlier this year on the Traffic report Impressions took an abrupt nose dive ... 80.5% in a very, very short period of time. Historically I run at least one PLS Standard Campaign per quarter and they normally do well but not so in 2022 ... this year the two I ran under performed which is baffling considering one of the ways the venue makes additional income is through promotion fees ... and in checking Traffic the last few days Impressions are once again dropping.
For myself and the categories I sell in I am not buying in to the economy excuse for declining sales ... if that were true then I and others would be making a killing on acquiring low priced inventory to resell ... in fact, the opposite seems to be happening - meaning competition to acquire inventory is stiffer then in the recent past.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Summer-Trends/ba-p/33032652
Something is seriously amiss within the organization and someone or some group knows what is is ... just wish they would let the rest of us know too ...
Regards,
Mr. L
@angelno9 wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:However, what I would really like news and details on is how eBay will turn around the continued decline in sales that many, many members are reporting here on The Community
I think that if eBay knew how to turn it around, they would have done it long ago.
But personally, I am operating with far less information about sales levels than eBay is. All I have to go on is the GMV numbers in the quarterly reports. Those numbers say that GMV was down 20% in Q1 2022 which is very concerning. I'd love to know the Q2 numbers but they won't appear until later this summer.
@angelno9 Oddly, in a lot of cases it's eBay's own information that points to issues ... earlier this year I saw Impressions drop by over 80% ... just this week I checked a few times ... once again seeing a drop, slow and consistent.
Last year I had 6 months IN A ROW in the middle of they ear that set all new selling highs - May through October. That's good growth. This year, not the case and so far May through July aren't even close and only half as much in some cases ...
@yuzuha wrote:
@chapeau-noir wrote:I'm still chugging along - if I list, I sell - but I sell modestly priced pre-owned clothing, which is something pretty much anyone needs. I can say this - eBay's intense focus on their verticals is allowing other clothing websites to pull business right out from under eBay, so they're just letting the massive secondary marketplace for sustainable fashion just dribble away.
I think a lot of that is also being eaten away by the increase in B&M used clothing stores. I can think of at least eight different used clothing shops/consignment shops within walking distance of where I live, and that's not even counting the general thrifts.
@yuzuha We have a local one that makes a killing ... while small, the parking lot is packed every day its open ... I think the other benefit it enjoys is it a nice place for mom's to meet and interact ...
@chapeau-noir wrote:
@yuzuha wrote:
@chapeau-noir wrote:I'm still chugging along - if I list, I sell - but I sell modestly priced pre-owned clothing, which is something pretty much anyone needs. I can say this - eBay's intense focus on their verticals is allowing other clothing websites to pull business right out from under eBay, so they're just letting the massive secondary marketplace for sustainable fashion just dribble away.
I think a lot of that is also being eaten away by the increase in B&M used clothing stores. I can think of at least eight different used clothing shops/consignment shops within walking distance of where I live, and that's not even counting the general thrifts.
Yes, plus a lot of people decided to sell their own items on places like Poshmark, DePop and the like during the pandemic - it was great for lockdown - I don't get a lot of consignments anymore, for instance. But accelerating shipping prices aren't helping - living in the extreme upper left of the lower 48 *everything* is expensive shipping - save for California, most of my stuff goes out east or to the south due to simple population distribution.
So yeah, multiple factors in this. OTOH, I'm really happy to see sustainable fashion gaining ground with more shops and sellers offering it, and more people realising that it's a good idea for their own closets. Now, if we can just get past the Fast Fashion nightmare which is clogging up the clothing supply chain like the proverbial pig in the python, it would get better for everyone. That's gonna take a while.
@chapeau-noir You touched on an extremely good point with regard to shipping and specifically between the US & Canada ... I don't ship to Canada and that's mainly because of shipping costs. However, I get messaged regularly asking if I will ... so I have occasionally turned Canada on for items, let the Buyer know I will only ship Priority Mail due to proximity and traceability ... the comparison in pricing is horrible ... this past week a Buyer 7 hours away from me by car would have to pay about $ 50 for the item whereas a US customer within a 7 hour drive would be paying about $ 10 ...the item in questions sold Auction style for $ 34 ... well, $ 44 compared to $ 84 is an awfully big difference.
We live 6 hours from the Canadian Boarder (Niagra Falls) ... to me its a crime that the two countries can't have a more economical cross boarder shipping option.
@siamjane8 Thank you for that ... yep, can't get good low cost inventory from other sources ... and just did another check on Impressions for this week ... I added new inventory this week yet they still continue to drop. Its pretty clear its the venue.
@donsdetour wrote:Mr L if you keep watching you will see a cycle:
On and then off on your sales:
It seems eBay has set up intentional, or some change unknowingly to cause cycles (sellers into say "phase"); while dropping others from the "phase".
This of course may be incorrect: but seems to be what folks are reporting.
@donsdetour Some other members have posted (in basic terms) the concept that eBay drops sales so sellers panic then scramble to try different promotions or drop their prices ... that idea fits with the agenda to drive prices down or increase the venue's cash flow with Ad fees, promotion fees, etc.
Prior to this year, for about one week after I ran a 30 day PLS (Standard) Campaign sales would almost flat line before rebounding. I run about one per quarter and prior to this year had very good success. I ran 2 this year so far and sales were bad AND the drop afterwards never really seemed to recover. The thought here is instead of 30 day Campaigns they want Continuous which is a setting on the Promoted Listings flow ... meaning they want extra fees ALL the time for EVERYTHING.
Here's another thought ... we know there are Search algorithms for finding things ... so how about the idea of Seller Algorithms that monitor how Sellers list (frequency), promote their items, etc. So they tweak those algorithms and drop sales to "encourage" Sellers to panic and do what I mentioned above.
What you mentioned about "phasing" sales is of course another possibility.
At the end of the day the net-net result is that many are reporting abnormal - sudden drops in sales ... these would be outside normal ebbs and flows of sales.
