Why have my sales dropped so drastically?

[steph38240]

Hi everyone,

For some reason my sales have dropped TERRIBLY within the past month. I seem to never get offers anymore (even though all of my listings DO allow offers) and instead the only sales I seem to make are the ones I send an offer out on. According to my Performance stats my quantity sold comparing this month to the previous month has dropped 61.5%. My impressions have actually gone up 23.4% and page views have dropped only slightly.

I've been listing the same types of items as usual (I focus on clothing) and pretty much the same quantity as usual. 

Does anybody have any idea what might be going on?? I was really starting to enjoy the income from eBay and am really missing it now. I don't understand how I was doing so well for awhile and now my sales have literally dropped 60% for seemingly no reason.

I would appreciate ANY input, thanks so much!

[rosszonebricks]

• Summers are typically slower sales times for any line of product. 
• Global pandemic is being devastating to the economy.
• Resale value of used clothing has been declining for years.

Top 3 that come to my mind nearly immediately.

That said, you do have some nicely taken photos for the ones that aren't stock photos. 🙂

[buftuc80]

Stimulus money ran out, unemployment benefits ended in July (or at least the extra $600 a week did), many of us thought (or at least hoped) this would be over soon, people hunkering down for the long haul.

[toysaver]

People aren't buying extra clothes now, they don't go out much.  Plenty of folks spend the day in pjs.

[steph38240]

I understand that the state of the world has changed drastically over the last couple of months and people can't afford to buy as much. I just feel like there is more to it than that 😞 I sell on other platforms as well and my sales on those have barely dwindled at all between pre and post Covid. Like I noted, my sales on ebay literally dropped over 60% over the past month which just seems insane. 

I recently discovered an issue on my account where the shipping settings on nearly all of my listings got changed from USPS First Class to Parcel Select. I don't even know what Parcel Select is and have never used that as my shipping service, but somehow a ton of my listings got switched to that.  I'm realizing that ebay definitely has its flaws and glitches and I can't help but wonder if there is some kind of "glitch" or something going on with my account.

[kensgiftshop]

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@steph38240 wrote:

For some reason my sales have dropped TERRIBLY within the past month.

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One thing I've noticed since I've been here, when someone comes here complaining about a drop in sales, it's usually clothes sellers.

There are a lot of people out of work and I don't think they are looking for used clothes to wear around the house.

It's Summer, people are not spending as much time online shopping.

[aldente28]

Pageviews up, sales down. See the following:

First round of Covid financial aid checks are spent. Extra unemployment aid ended this month. 30 million unemployed. Eviction moratorium ends this month. Half of Congress waited till the last minute, and now they may not be able to pass a new bill in time for many people to avoid the effects of the things I mention above.

Plus, fewer people are buying clothes these days. Seems there's nowhere to go...

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, was just admiring your listings and noticed that you are in violation of the Picture Policy on eBay. Stock photos are not allowed for pre-owned clothing. Link to that policy below:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/picture-policy?id=4370

"...Activity that doesn't follow eBay policy could result in a range of actions including for example: administratively ending or canceling listings, hiding or demoting all listings from search results, lowering seller rating, buying or selling restrictions, and account suspension. "

Ebay can lower your search placement in response to such violations, which could affect your sales. Not saying that is what is happening right now, but no sense in tempting the eBay gods, either. 

[femmefan1946]

I'm in completely different categories than you are-- with the minor exception that I sell sewing patterns.

From March to the end of June I was selling amazingly well for my tiny business.

EBay was telling me my sales were up 300-400% over the previous time in 2019, and my own records showed much the same.

Mid-July ---> Thud.Zippo. Nada.

Basically back to summer normal.

My records go back to 1998, but only to 2003 on this account, so I can see my track record.

Interestingly, most of that was sewing patterns, including a lot of sundresses-- and scrubs.

There was a rush as people sequestered at home were shopping in boredom.  Now that many areas are (foolishly in my opinion) reopening, they are at work or shopping locally.

What we are seeing in my opinion is a mixture of normal summer sales patterns (that is- slow) and the shock of the sudden end of the pandemic/boredom buying.

I have noticed that my domestic (for me - Canada) sales were way up, while overseas sales (never a huge number) were almost non-existant.

Our government did respond quickly by sending out $2000 monthly cheques to those who could show they had not made $1000 in the previous two weeks and that has been renewed for another couple of months.

https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application/questions.html

That may have made some difference in the number of Canadian sales.

[femmefan1946]

I recently discovered an issue on my account where the shipping settings on nearly all of my listings got changed from USPS First Class to Parcel Select.

Is Parcel Select faster or slower? Is it cheaper or more expensive?
Do you use Flat Rate or Calculated Shipping?

While most of the drop off is probably as the other posters have described, that is a specific difference that you should look into and correct if necessary.

[steph38240]

Wow I didn't know that! I see so many other sellers using stock photos but I have gotten the Vero warning email before. I've been meaning to just remove all my stock photos but hadn't gotten around to it, now I definitely will.

[steph38240]

I'm not sure if it's faster or slower than First Class, it is definitely more expensive so I guess it's probably faster. I almost always do calculated shipping instead of flat rate. I've gone into my "business policies" and changed everything back to the way I want it but I wish I knew how it happened in the first place.

[inhawaii]

Why have my sales dropped so drastically?

Taken from another post:

"once again I cannot believe a seller is here with their selling ID making rude comments about paying buyers. Many sellers wonder why their sales are off. Here’s your sign."

There's your answer.  Sales have dropped because sellers make rude comments about buyers. 

[yuzuha]

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@toysaver wrote:

People aren't buying extra clothes now, they don't go out much.  Plenty of folks spend the day in pjs.

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Yep. Clothing is hardly selling at my B&M job for that reason: no need to buy clothes for work when everyone is working from home, and with social events all canceled, there's no need to buy dress-up clothing either.

[steph38240]

Huh? I personally have never made a rude comment/remark about a buyer...