Where are the customers? WHY aren't we getting any sales lately?

[debk255]

Been on ebay for 18 yrs.  top rated seller with 100% approval ratings. Over the course of that time, I've grown and added many new product lines & put thousands of dollars in new items online here this year alone. 

This year it seems is the year that ebay has died, for in spite of discounts, and sales, I am now lucky if I get 100 dollars in sales in a week!  (used to be 3-5x that much)  I have 1400+ current active listings on ebay and not a single sale in 2 days now?  WTH is going on here?   I do price searches for similar items.  Our prices are competitive, nearly always lower than others.  I share several product posts daily on facebook, instagram ect. (free advertising)  Still nothing.   Some say its the new algorithms, but how do we counter or fix that if this is the problem?  (you'd THINK ebay would be more on top of this issue)   I'm not going to be able to hang on here if things don't perk up.   😢 Open to suggestions.  

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@theteamsetguy wrote:

Trucking companies are starting to layoff drivers because there is not enough business. Not too long ago the trucking companies were begging for drivers.

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My youngest son is a long haul trucker.  I won't name the company he drives for, but 85% of their business WAS hauling freight for Amazon and UPS.  In 2021 he was making $3000/week.  Last year he averaged $2000/week.  So far this year he's averaging around $1200/week because there is hardly any freight to haul compared to the last few years.  They are starting to layoff drivers now.  Three years ago they didn't have enough and had to turn away business because they knew they couldn't deliver due to lack of drivers.

[heckofagame]

Send those truck drivers to ND. We need drivers for the oilfield. 

[12345jamesstamps]

It used to be young people were into crafts and such and into making things. Now its all about electronics.

If you could somehow have a kit where someone can make something out of feathers...Dreamcatchers are rather cool....like small necklaces. I have one on my doorknob. Maybe showing one what it looks like in a window or on a door or such. Just some thoughts.

[carriestylesvintage]

Re: eBay's new algorithms, I found Sarah Styles LLC on YouTube has 2 great videos about the new algorithms she learned from her visits with eBay leaders, as well as being presenter at eBay 2023.  She has a lot to say about how eBay has changed the way items are searched for using item specifics (only use the choices they provide on Required Specifics, for one) and that eBay is marking all listings with NWT, EUC, or any punctuation or other abbreviations as spam.  This is new information.  I am just getting re-started on eBay after many years away, and am trying very hard to get up-to-speed with the "new" eBay. I find that eBay's Quality Listing Report is a great help, as well.  I look at other sellers on eBay by checking their sold listings, and know that some are selling a lot, but I currently have only 26 listings and have only sold 3 items since March, so I am hoping that sales pick up for me, as well.  

[farmalljr]

Well if you have Sarah's secret sauce info, you should be getting a ton of sales, right? Anyone who is a presenter, is an eBay prop. They are getting special attention and traffic. 

People here DO realize that eBay has contracts with most of these YouTubers behind the scenes, RIGHT? This is why a lot of what Chris Lin said was garbage. He had a contract with eBay. I have a feeling Sarah is not any different. Lots of YouTubers cashing in on viewers one way or another. 

eBay's new algorithm is PAY to play.  More so than ever before. They are losing sales, buyers, and sellers. All of that shrinks, but eBay's take just keep increasing? Lol, you'd have to be blind not to see that they are cashing in on promotions and fees. Sellers out of desperation are paying enormous amounts of money to promote, because a 5% margin is better than nothing, right? It's got nothing to do with item specifics or what tag you put in the title. 

Seriously. good luck to anyone trying to make a buck here. For many, this platform is not panning out at ALL. Thread after thread about no sales. It's not sellers, it's eBay. 

[chapeau-noir]

and that eBay is marking all listings with NWT, EUC, or any punctuation or other abbreviations as spam

I'm not sure who this 'presenter' is, but that's not really how search works.

Stores here are bustling, as are restaurants and pubs. People are back in stores spending - this has hit Amazon's bottom line as well as other online platforms. Consumer spending overall is up.

However, there's a ton of competition online now with new sites and affiliates opening all the time.  eBay now has fewer buyers than even in 2018. 

All those new hires to take care of changing buying patterns during the pandemic (last three years?), they're not needed anymore because everything has opened up.

It's not really just the 'economy' - it almost never is.

[traditonalproducts]

Amazon down on their stock price and have incurred layoffs, USPS, UPS & FedEx down on stock price and the # of packages they r delivering. It's the Economy period!!! Scroll through the 1000's of posts related to this topic and you will see the same answer as I just provided. Good Luck out there..

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

In January, Amazon said it would lay off 18,000 workers, the largest cutback in its 28-year history. In March, it announced plans to cut another 9,000 jobs.

USPS workers claim they are seeing pay cuts in the tens of thousands, reduced hours April 13, 2023

CEDAR PARK, Texas — Some U.S. Postal Service (USPS) carriers nationwide are seeing major pay cuts, losing anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 a year in some cases, after a fight between the postal service and unions.

Carriers all over the nation have taken to social media to share the amounts they say their pay is being dialed back to and are asking others for advice on what to do next.

[electronicifycanada]

There's other forum posts as to why, you just haven't seen them yet maybe...

Go look at your views in traffic page. No views = no sales. eBay is broken, it's not the economy cause I'm doing just fine on other platforms.

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

UPS shares fall after delivery giant reports disappointing earnings

Published Tue, Apr 25 202312:39 PM EDTUpdated Tue, Apr 25 20232:54 PM EDT

Tomé told CNBC on Tuesday that a larger, industry-wide decline in retail sales in the month of March impacted UPS as well.

She noted that a “change in consumer shopping behavior” has led to increased spending on services and categories such as food and dining, rather than the kinds of goods that might be delivered by UPS.

[calgal19572014]

I had 30 views yesterday and absolutely none today. Traffic is way down for me this month.  I've gotten some watchers but my net sales are so much less than March. Wondering if it's worth it to sell here anymore, even as a hobby. 🤔

[maxine*j]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

... Stores here are bustling, as are restaurants and pubs. People are back in stores spending Consumer spending overall is up...  It's not really just the 'economy' - it almost never is.

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Interesting, and certainly not the situation here in the mid-Atlantic Rust Belt, I'm sorry to say.  And I may be misreading this, but Forbes seems to be saying that inflation-adjusted retail sales figures are not up:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleykohan/2023/04/14/retailers-face-headwinds-in-2023-as-consumer-sp...

I do agree with you that for any given, individual retailer it's never "just the economy" that accounts for sales or a lack of them.  But I'd say that it cannot be ignored, either, in anyone's analysis and plans.

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[aldelbertmatthew]

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@the-hook-and-the-loop wrote:

It's not the economy. eBay has employed adult children who tinker with things they know nothing about resulting in a broken platform. My sales have improved on other platforms as I continue to list more on them. I never had time before because I was busy packing and shipping eBay orders. If you want the traffic you were used to on eBay, you will have to promote your listings at 15%+. Good Luck!

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Exactly this.

I've gone a full 24 hours with zero views or watchers on eBay. My only sales came from offers I sent out. This is NOT normal. My other platforms had between 2-4 sales each.

I'd argue that I don't even think promoted listings are helping at all. I have multiple hardgoods and clothing items that are normally 100%+ sellthrough where the solds outpace the new listings and they're not even getting views or watchers with 9% promotion. THAT MAKES NO SENSE unless the site is broken.

Top to bottom firings are needed at eBay along with rolling site updates back to something stable.

[nilis13]

Me too, if I do not send out offers I would have zero sales - this started a few weeks ago...nothing is helping at all. I looked at my traffic today, views etc...I have never seen it this bad, ever!

[wilsonharborsales]

My latest discussion with customer service is that we need to switch to the pay-per-click promoted listings if we want sales.  I've tried it before, but the fees were astronomical.  I sell mostly vintage and OOAK, so it didn't work very well for me.  I believe eBay is aware of the issue.