Something has to give -Sales are down over 70% and I feel ebay is nothing more then an ad campain

[gunnookstore]

You can call this a conspiracy theory, but I’m pretty sure it’s accurate. I feel like eBay is nothing more than an ad campaign anymore. All I see are people complaining that sales are down. Us included, so naturally what’s the first thing we’re going to do as sellers? Especially if our livelihoods depend on this. We’re going to promote items, ( as if 12% wasn’t enough let’s go ahead and pay another 10% to 15% on top of that to promote an items that should be showing up.  We’re going to eat  shipping cost, we’re going to do everything we can at the cost of costing us more money for little in return while eBay profits greatly. ( this officially makes us employees of eBay as far as I’m concerned. At these percentage rates ) especially if you’re reselling goods.

I called eBay a few months ago when our impressions drastically took a 72% drop essentially overnight. This is also when they were rolling out big updates. When I called in to complain and point out that clearly this was a sharp decline and that not only were impressions down by 72%  but so we’re our sales. Their response to me was to promote my items. Hmmm, ad driven company, sharp drop in impressions.. promote your times.. I'm not seeing the connection (Sarcasm) One of the things I noticed was that strong keywords that are not only on our item title but also in the description was not coming up in their search. In fact the only way I could get our items to pop up was if I literally copied and pasted our title in search and then I could see our items. At the time I was a top rated seller and have a store front. ALL things that are supposed to push our listings up.

It also doesn’t help that ebay is now flooded with foreign people selling on the ebay US platform that are drastically under cutting us. I really can’t see a positive outcome to this but I wanted to reach out to the community and get your thoughts.  See if there are any like minded people that feel the same way I do, or am I just making it all up in my head? 

I get the economy and the fact that summer is here and restrictions are getting lifted but that's a HUGE drop. But at the end of the day Ebay is a public traded company with shareholders.. So tell me I'm wrong, that this is just not a google ads words / advertising platform now and storefront second.

[jonathankirkland]

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@gunnookstore wrote:

Thanks for your fed back, We also put a discount card in every purchase and have a 100% customer feedback (Customer is always right) However you also have a few things going for you. You've been here since 2003 and are top rated and most of your items are around $20 to $30 dollars. I feel like ebay keeps top sellers up in the search's because your moving items at a faster rate so they are making there money off you. where people that are not top rated, (and are the majority) are the working horse, that feed the ad machine to try and get to that point.  Again these are just my thoughts.. Like I said we're doing FINE until all the updates and then BOOM over night drop. 

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I can tell you when I first started selling it was 3-4 years ago now and I reached TRS very quickly and easily. But I sold small items that were very desirable (video games for the current gen console) and that helped me to very quickly rack up the 100+ sales needed for TRS.

So I would say it's not difficult to earn TRS status, you just have to be savvy about the way you go about getting steady sales. It's not necessarily the amount of $ you make. Quantity over quality! Haha not really but as far as earning that TRS status... that's kinda how I did it. Of course I was not taking losses or anything, but I wasn't making huge profits on those individual sales. Just did it to bolster my numbers. 🙂

[zenpowerstore]

When looking through eBay from a buyer perspective, sometimes it feels like eBay is another front for Alibaba.  As I'm familiar with shopping at Alibaba, I recognize various sellers.

[forward-motion]

I totally agree with you. I'm not sure it is all ebay's fault but more so the market. Ebay has now become saturated with the same products that if you don't promote you will get lost. I play the game but I have enough profit margin to do so. I look at it as if I had a real store and I had to advertise to get my product out there.

[skeletonstore]

It looks like you have a niche market without a lot of variety.  I see lots of stock photos so you must have a lot of competitors selling the same thing.  Are you dropshipping?   If so,  chances you are working for your distributor/manufacturer not just ebay.  I used to dropship and know how distributors have secret sales channels and the practice attracts insane competitors willing to sell the items below cost.  The asian sellers would literally undercut me by 50%. They call it winning the box on amazon and ebay is full of amazon sellers.  So it appears you don't have many options.  If you are working with a distributor and you have the actual items you might want to take your own photos and make sure you're not using generic titles.  One other thing to step out from the crowd is using photoshop but there's no guarantee.  I personally would never trust a distributor ever again.  It's all a game to get you t odo free advertising for them and their secret sales channels.  Chances are the ones you see undercutting you is your distributor(if you are a dropshipper)

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@jonathankirkland I don't do "gift cards", but I do send an ebay coded coupon, printed right on my packing slip. Very easy to set up, and I can print one on the packing slip, and for those who don't use packing slips, a stand alone coupon can be printed and inserted in the package. Discount code is then entered at checkout by the buyer. Have you tried using them?

[btjfitter]

I noticed it also. My adds were taken word for word,not just the  title but the whole description in the add, even my background as a seller I had placed in my description and were placed in adds promoting to be within the USA but the seller id's are based in China. The bad part is when they did this, ebay tagged my product ratings onto their adds. I have not seen the product ratings around lately by my background is still in other sellers adds.

[coolections]

I checked your helmets, They ALL show up. 19 listed and most all was yours. It is not Ebay search. I doubt there are that many people buying $350 plus ballistic helmets.

[gunnookstore]

No we do not drop ship.  The market is just saturated with replica under par items being sold out of China at a fraction of the cost. 

[skeletonstore]

Well I would personally jazz up my pictures.  I too am frustrated with sales and have too many long tail items.  I have found I can get views without advertising if I use humor or sex.  I have the means,  why not?   top rated is a joke imo. We have to offer so much free stuff and the buyer can still send it right back.  I don't feel like having to cough up $50-$75 if someone doesn't like a more difficult ship item.  I also don't trust a buyer to know how to package a guitar for example.  If possible hire a model to display the items.  Although there are good and bad clicks.  IMO clicks even if they don't result in a sale will push you up the search standing.  Eyes on.  Most people are on little phones.  You've got to catch their scrolling eye.  

[gunnookstore]

There lies the problem, I’m going to assume you’re not familiar with the market. $350 is actually a very good price for a good quality made ballistic helmet.  In the last year foreign sellers (mainly China sellers) started selling their cheaply made helmets on the US EBay  platform at a fraction of that cost and that’s what people see now for around $169-$200 however these helmets are very dangerous  as there’s numerous YouTube videos of bullets penetrating those shells and going right through the Helmet. Rounds which they claim the helmet should stop. But that doesn’t stop the consumer form seeing that price and thinking that’s the price they should be paying however, they’re putting their life on the line if it’s military or law-enforcement that we happen to sell to most of the time. 

also you’re seeing my helmets because I’m promoting those listings

[skeletonstore]

Do you point out to your customers to beware of chinese knock offs which will not offer the same level of protection?   I'm assuming there are ratings on helmets and gear, are these other sellers lying in their listings?  That could be a liability issue with ebay.  You might even want to put together a video in your ads showing the difference.  It's a tactic than can work,  upset the apple cart,  put doubt in your customer's mind about the other helmets.  I would go to extreme lengths to show the difference and even scare the customer with a Faces of Death like video.  

[skeletonstore]

Demean the other listings,  call them costume quality helmets.  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I agree with skeletonstore about the video. If the real problem you face is not ebay, but competition offering cheaper but less safe helmets, a video demonstrating what happens when a bullet is fired at your helmet and what happens when it is fired at an inferior helmet might be useful. Maybe come up with a tagline about "What is the price of safety?"  It sounds like you really need to get out in front with the marketing of your brand. Social Media can help with that, too.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Just looked at your store. I would reword the blurb about your business (for one thing, you are violating ebay rules with the link to your website)---instead, I'd focus on the quality of what you sell, and, as skeletonstore says, don't be afraid to mention inferior products: "Their helmets can save you a few bucks. Our helmets can save your life. You decide."

[skeletonstore]

I just watched a video of various guns hitting helmets and from what I can now gather they're not really designed to take a direct shot from a gun. I went to the website and don't see any clear indication where the helmets are made.  I also see there are many kinds of helmets for different purpose. Selling is a form of argument.  If these helmets are also made in China you have to look for other arguments.  do the other helmets carry a warranty?  If they don't that is a word that needs to be in the 1st 5 words of the title.  I see prices all over the place and like I said different kinds of helmets.  I do not know if the Chinese sellers are selling almost identical models.  I don't know the lingo. Just off the top of my head I might make the argument the helmets I was selling was designed for the American market where people have gun rights and the Chinese sellers were designed for their own market where weapons(guns) are not allowed and designed stop chop stick attacks at close range ;-).  Really define the differences.  He has to know his market and who buys these helmets.  Another technique some sellers use is combining items, such as including SWAG.  In other words embellish.