So who else has been seeing a pattern of alternating good/bad days since mid Feb?

[blurryrobot]

Because I sure seem to have that going. 

It's not as visible in my "number of sales graph".  Some of those "good" (mediocre) days I sell 5 items to make the total, other days 10, but Ebay seems to be doing some sort of rationing here since mid-Feb based on how many dollars they think I should be making per day. 

I can't see any other way to get such a clearly inorganic pattern. Suspect there is code that looks at day 1's sales and if they seem 'excessive' it clamps down somehow on day 2.    And the reverse, if they seem 'insufficient'.  And I think that whatever constants they are using, are turned up too high, which is making this visible as an alternating overshoot / undershoot. 

Now, some of you are going to look at the daily average and think, well, that seems pretty good. But in fact it's terrible.  Because my livelihood is running a full on curio shop with a good proportion of my inventory listed, 6000+ items.    

But regardless of what level sales should be, they should NOT be so obviously alternating like that.  
THAT is not organic.   That is not recession.  That is clear manipulation by the platform. 
And counterproductive to themselves too, because they get a percentage of sales. 

For goodness sake Ebay, TAKE your fees.  But let my customers shop!

[inhawaii]

I've been seeing a pattern of alternating good/bad days for the last 20+ years.

[luckythewinner]

So who else has been seeing a pattern of alternating good/bad days since mid Feb?

I have seen a pattern of alternating good and bad days since mid Feb  2000. 

[ebooksdiva]

I have been selling on ebay off and on since 2004. Sales have always been up and down.

It all depends on what your selling and what the demand for what your selling is. 

eBay rationing your sales ..I doubt it.

[toysaver]

"So who else has been seeing a pattern of alternating good/bad days since mid Feb?"

My sales fluctuate with a one-day delay on the stock market.

[blurryrobot]

And I've been on Ebay since 2003.    Changing demand I understand quite well.   Seasonal variation I understand quite well.  But sales numbers that flip back and forth like a switch being toggled, on a 2 day cycle, that is not seasonal variation or changing demand. 

[dy42963]

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@toysaver wrote:

"So who else has been seeing a pattern of alternating good/bad days since mid Feb?"

My sales fluctuate with a one-day delay on the stock market.

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And most likely geared to Alcoa fluctuations.

[joels-retrocade]

Patterns happen organically sometimes, it's life.  Humans tend to make connections that aren't there (myself included lol).  Think of it logically though.  If your stuff is selling well / people are buying it; why would they clamp down on you?  Every sale you make makes them more money.  It's in eBay's best interest that we all do well.  ebay will tend to hurt you in other ways; like by raising fees, changing up promoted sales, not advertising the site properly, making needles changes, etc.

[genv]

Ask any small B&M Store what a 'typical day' is like...

[gotta-have-it-collectables]

WOW!

That's looks Just like MY sales pattern Since 2015!

I never ever see sales improvement no matter how many items I list.

Call it what you want...

I call it Fishy!

[hartungcards]

Paranoia strikes deep.  Into your life it will creep.

[blacktopautoparts]

We saw these type of sales patterns from mid-February to about the last week in February. I don't care what some of these others are saying in this thread mocking you, but a store our size has also been experiencing these kind of goofy patterns of late. One day would be up, then the next day would be done, rinse and repeat for almost 1.5 weeks. This has never been a normal pattern for us and I see you had the same thing.

[chapeau-noir]

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@blurryrobot wrote:

Because I sure seem to have that going. 

It's not as visible in my "number of sales graph".  Some of those "good" (mediocre) days I sell 5 items to make the total, other days 10, but Ebay seems to be doing some sort of rationing here since mid-Feb based on how many dollars they think I should be making per day. 

I can't see any other way to get such a clearly inorganic pattern. Suspect there is code that looks at day 1's sales and if they seem 'excessive' it clamps down somehow on day 2.    And the reverse, if they seem 'insufficient'.  And I think that whatever constants they are using, are turned up too high, which is making this visible as an alternating overshoot / undershoot. 

Now, some of you are going to look at the daily average and think, well, that seems pretty good. But in fact it's terrible.  Because my livelihood is running a full on curio shop with a good proportion of my inventory listed, 6000+ items.    

But regardless of what level sales should be, they should NOT be so obviously alternating like that.  
THAT is not organic.   That is not recession.  That is clear manipulation by the platform. 
And counterproductive to themselves too, because they get a percentage of sales. 

For goodness sake Ebay, TAKE your fees.  But let my customers shop!

---

That's a little strange looking but I would keep tracking it - two weeks isn't much to go on.  This month my sales are making regular pyramids each week but that's not always the case.   I don't believe in throttling but I do believe that these odd patterns can happen simply because of how distributed search works - the sale of items brings up like items. For instance, I had a 300% increase in accessories and normally I only sell one once in a while, but someone purchased two and off to the races.  

[sugarnspice777]

 It has been like this for the last 6-7 years.  Ever since geeks gone wild.

In fact, on their off time they like to troll in here and dispute anything negative about the site changes, or these wacked out sales are only happening to you, or the economy, or no one wants your goods, anything but this site.

No it is not rationing.  Or rolling blackouts.

This is all about the never ending site changes and the never ending testing.  Congrats!  Your account

has probably been selected (it happens to the real good sellers) for testing and changes.  When this happens your sales will go down dramatically. 

Now their is some preference, for we are in competition with employees (they sell here), china (this place has financial interest, they are partners).   

The stock holders wants sales as much as we do, but none of them have ever taken a look at the dramatic drops in sales during testing and new LOOK overhauls NO ONE WANTS, and the rolling group of people implements of these changes.

So since the site geeks have taken control of this place this appears this will never end.   they tell you your crazy, it doesn't happen to them, anything to shut you down.  They do not want people to know.  They hide all the negative messages from upper management and they just keep on making massive site changes.  No, this does not happen on other sites.  They will try to say it does.  Yes other sites make small changes, but nothing like this place does, for their geeks are monitored.  Not here.   

I WISH that one day someone very high up seen these messages.  But it hasn't happened in 7 years.  So the massive site LOOK changes will just keep on a coming, and our sales will just keep on a tanking. 

It's like geeks playing with toys, and they do not care about you feeding your family.  Or this would have stopped long ago. 

Yes, I am angry about it, and yes THESE ARE FACTS. 

[blingfling123]

eBay states that they have the right to not show your listings in their UA. 

Pay days are often better days. 

If the moon is full and the tide is high, and it is Wednesday then sales are good. Thursday, and the tide is low, you are out of luck!!

If eBay makes changes to the system, sometimes bad things happen. 

Some people have even shown where they can never go past a certain sales point each month. 

There are many things that affect sales, from economy to the day of the month all the way down to eBay themselves. 

I have up and down days. I just focus on the monthly totals vs looking at particular days. If I am constantly improving month over month, that means I am doing something right.