eBay

partfinds · ‎05-18-2022

Please, report here if you recently within a week or so experienced sudden drop in sales. We can then ask Velvet to pass it on to technical team for review of the accounts. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Updates-are-happening-to-some-item-specifics-and-category/m-p/...

rabites-n-chocobos · ‎07-15-2022

You're description of economics make me aware that you have no real understanding of the topic. It was beautifully written, but it had many observable flaws.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-15-2022

@rabites-n-chocobos wrote:
You're description of economics make me aware that you have no real understanding of the topic. It was beautifully written, but it had many observable flaws.

I'm not sure what you're referring to as I mentioned very little about the economics in my post (especially the one you're replying to), and the little bit I do mention is mostly what pertains to eBay. For the most part, the only thing important to us as an eBay seller is that there's still buyers coming to the categories we sell in.

The important thing to note here is that selling on eBay is, for the most part, NOT about economics. Prior to 2018, we could say it was (more so than now at least). Since 2018, it's about pleasing eBay's search engine. Knowing that is exactly how we're able to do well on eBay.

Impressions/views/conversion rate is just basic math, and that's all you need on eBay. And eBay are the ones controlling impressions and your ranking on search results, which are the root of your views/conversion rate/sales.

I have a ton of graphs/statistics/etc to back up what I'm talking about, so if you want more clarification of what I'm talking about, or would like to show me some areas that I'm wrong where I require education, I'd be glad to discuss more if you'd like, on here or PM's if you'd prefer 🙂

schloopertz · ‎07-16-2022

Thank you for this. You are a voice of reason, and I appreciate that your posts that are always logical and well thought out.

siamjane8 · ‎07-16-2022

The sales issues that sellers are all experiencing is 100% ebay search and algorithm problems. It perfectly coincides with the timing of all the changes they made and in no way reflects what is happening in the rest of retail sale....other platforms are still performing well and brick and mortar stores are busier than ever. That is not to say that in the near future sales wont slow down as we slip into a recession BUT the issues we see today are ebay IT issues or design issues with the algorithms for sure.

Case in point- this very morning when i searched ebay for a "kitty holster"- which is a quality USA made harness to walk a cat with, the first results were all phone cases that included a belt holster!!!!!!

Ebay ignored the word "kitty" and showed me promoted listings of phone cases. this is just garbage.

To be fair- I did not put the words kitty hostler in "" marks. That helped out when i did that later( after i switched to Amazon and bought the product because it showed me exactly the correct item with 1 search)

I have said this before- The sole purpose of designing a search engine is to be relevant for those using it and it has to cater to the masses- you cannot have a search engine that you then have to tell people they need to take a college course on how to use it to get it to show the correct results.

If i put the word kitty or cat or kitten in the search with harness or holster etc. A phone case listing should NEVER waste screen space unless i put a keyword like case or phone cover or samsung or Iphone as well to indicate i am looking for a phone case with a picture of a cat on it.

I do not have the answer but i do know what we have now at ebay is not working at all and drives our buyers away- like it did for me this morning. EBAY SEARCH IS THE KEY to great sales or lousy sales

del_boy-trotters_independent_trading_co · ‎07-16-2022

People who are blaming the economy, probably don't have the experience and knowledge that some of the sellers have, who have been trading on eBay for years. Yes, you would expect a slow down, but not a dramatic drop in sales.

Anyway I have repeatedley been contacting eBay and when I spoke to Business Support team earlier in the week, they stated that they have noticed a quite a few calllers calling in, but still it doesn't seem to be flagged as problem still (crazy). They said the more calls they receive and report back, then the sooner they may recognise they have an issue.

Numerous customer service agents, just dismiss there isn't an issue.

I received a call back on Thursday and we went through my account and they couldn't see any issues again and that I was doing everything correctly and therefore have now escalated to I.T.

In addidition I reffered this thread and mentioned, we can't all be wrong, so they have added the thread when escalating to I.T.

I think everyone should also contact eBay and the more complaints they receive, the sooner they can get to the bootom of this issue. Please be insistent, that your account be looked in to, as they will try and dismiss it.

thebargainwarehouse801 · ‎07-16-2022

Huge drop in Sales since the update. About 60% drop. I am top rated plus, promote listings, list everyday. I have called eBay three times. They always say they know there is an issue and then send it to the tech people. The last person said she talked to the "managers." Sales have actually gone down since I called. Is eBay trying to destroy their own company or what? This is very frustrating.

ci1000 · ‎07-16-2022

So much stress and anxiety. Sales are trickling in but something is still not right. With millions of supposed buyers why are all of my items stagnant with zero views? My watchers have not changed for 4 to 5 days. I've sent out offers and have had zero responses? Usually have at least a couple.... nothing. Are potential buyers actually receiving the offers I send out?

Yes, I know they changed the way they calculate views and supposedly eliminated bot views. What are bot views anyway? Why are they no longer important? It seems eBay considers AI and Bot technology to be extremely important to their site. Why then are they suddenly not important to views?

Sorry, just getting really cranky about all this. It's ridiculous. I am so sick of this roller coaster ride.

ladyindecadence · ‎07-16-2022

Zamo-Zuan, You are one of the few sellers who post on these forums that seem to actually be able to see the patterns and changes in ebays algorithm. I know from my own experience that pre 2018 I could predictably grow my business simply by listing more items and growing the amount of inventory I had listed. After 2018 it has become a quarterly game of trying to figure out what ebays latest updates to the search are weighing most.

And something else I have noticed is that if I start off a day with a sale of an expensive item I almost always sell several more expensive items that day and a slew of cheaper items will also sell. However on days were sales start off slow things rarely ever pick up.

hriczgashenr · ‎07-16-2022

Hi,

I had the same problems. So I said let me try the extra advertising and guess what, everything turned around.

Maybe it is the unspoken figure it out policy. You want more you pay more I'm up to fvf's 50+ %. as soon as I get rid of all my inventory I'm out.Selling costs

$93.42

54.9%

of your total sales

hriczgashenr · ‎07-16-2022

Hi,

I had the same problems. So I said let me try the extra advertising and guess what, everything turned around.

Maybe it is the unspoken figure it out policy.

You want more you pay more I'm up to fvf's 50+ %. as soon as I get rid of all my inventory I'm out. Selling costs

$93.42

54.9%

of your total sales

tradewindsfolkart · ‎07-17-2022

I'm in the same boat.. 60% down instantly and I have been selling consistently for 15 years and I have a minimum ad fee now of 2% on all listing and optimized my SEO on every item as usual and run about 30 offers a week. 1 bite maybe on 30 offers. something is wrong beyond the economy.

twitchsemporium · ‎07-17-2022

welcome to the club, just don't ask customer support for help they will just lie or hang upon you.

del_boy-trotters_independent_trading_co · ‎07-17-2022

Hi,

As per my first post at the end of June and like your saying, is this the start of eBay wanting us to pay extra to promote listings, in order to get sales?!

Like I said to the representative then, we pay approximately selling fee 12.8% + international fee 2.16% + International visibility fee and they charge fees on postage and tax, which is crazy. Now they want promotional fees, then that would add upto to over 25+%, then they might as well take over my business and I will come and work for them. The representative, did state the first time, that I should figure out a new way of selling, meaning to promote listings!

I hope it is a gremlin in the works and not a way for them to try and extort more money from us, if the latter is correct, then I will have to find another platform to sell on or will stop selling completely.

ci1000 · ‎07-17-2022

I have a hard time believing that the reason behind this problem is the economy, the category you list in, the season or eBay's increased promoted listings fees.

I have been selling on eBay for a long time and have been through everything from recession, bank closures, inflation and doom sayers predicting the demise of eBay. No matter what the scenario there are always people out there with money to spend. It only takes one person to buy your item.... if they can find it and pay for it.

This is a systemic problem that needs to be resolved. I have no idea whether it's their servers? the search algorithm? or some other tech problem.

Needs to be fixed NOW.... Thank You

zamo-zuan · ‎07-18-2022

@ladyindecadence wrote:
Zamo-Zuan, You are one of the few sellers who post on these forums that seem to actually be able to see the patterns and changes in ebays algorithm. I know from my own experience that pre 2018 I could predictably grow my business simply by listing more items and growing the amount of inventory I had listed. After 2018 it has become a quarterly game of trying to figure out what ebays latest updates to the search are weighing most.

And something else I have noticed is that if I start off a day with a sale of an expensive item I almost always sell several more expensive items that day and a slew of cheaper items will also sell. However on days were sales start off slow things rarely ever pick up.

Yep, one thing I've said for a long time now is by 10AM you could typically tell how the rest of the day is going to go. And it always fits a certain pattern. Certain algorithms, you might have a slow morning but know your day is going to end within 10% of yesterday. Other algorithms (such as the current one), the traffic you have by 10AM indicates how much you will have for the rest of the day.

This is just one of the many patterns that's possible to observe. I've told people many times to just keep statistics of what they see in search results and their own traffic, people can see for themselves. It's a game of figuring out what stands out to eBay search in the current algorithm, and NOT about focusing on customers. Which is a shame, because it'd be better for everyone if we just had to focus on customers. But that's not how eBay works.