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!

[annadryl]

Parcel select is WAY slower than 1stC, especially these days. If the service is lagging behind a bit (they usually are now) it's simply saved for whenever there's time. Think collecting dust on a cart somewhere. They also seem to like to kick it around a bit more.

[chapeau-noir]

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@steph38240 wrote:

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.

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Parcel Select is online parcel post meant for heavy/large packages.

As for clothing sales - as someone who has sold clothing for a while, I can say that the few number of your items, the fact that the brands are supersaturated here, the time of year and clothing use during the pandemic pretty much will guarantee you almost no sales. 

My sales are way down because I've simply run out of stock and consignments here have dried up, and my sales historically have been steady even in the summertime (although a bit slower than the rest of the year).

Stock pictures don't matter (though they need to be replaced, absolutely).  I doubt the parcel select thing matters.  It's simple demand.

[go-bad-chicken]

Parcel Select "Ground" service is DEFINITELY WAY SLOWER THAN 1ST CLASS!

This could be one of many reasons that your sales have fallen off as eBay will show buyers 2x to 3x longer estimated delivery times than listings with 1st Class postage. 

The good thing about listings with 1st class postage is that if the item ends up weighing over 1 lbs. you can always upgrade the customer to Priority shipping and eBay views it as an upgrade to shipping. So using 1st class gives you the seller some options when it comes time to ship.

[Anonymous]

Well every time Ebay has New Policies changes.. We lose more sales Maybe more sellers leaving( also your buyers) I  have slowly went from Top Rated Power seller to 1  eight dollar sell in 3 months......

[femmefan1946]

@steph38240 

I'm not sure if it's faster or slower than First Class, it is definitely more expensive

This may be useful to bookmark.

I would be guessing that you also get some sort of discount as an eBay seller from some shipping label sellers.

https://postcalc.usps.com/

I hope you also own a tape measure and a digital scale. Rates can change on a gram.

You might find it useful to use that tape measure the put the actual bust/waist/hip measurements into your descriptions. Manufacturers use "vanity sizing" which varies from label to label. Not having that is a turn off for buyers.

[chapeau-noir]

Actually, to make things more complicated, some manufacturers use vanity sizing and others use what is called a 'modern sizing' chart (as opposed to 'classic') which is in fact smaller.   Then there are different patterning conventions for junior, misses and plus sizing (there is no such thing as "regular" in women's RTW - I have NO idea where eBay came up with that).  Absolutely, everything really should be measured - the whole industry is just nuts.

[postingid7659]

My sales have tanked the last few weeks too, including a couple of bid retractions on stuff.  I don't sell clothes.  Have things getting very good views and I research to price it reasonable but only the most desirable stuff sells. 

[chapeau-noir]

I have friends hanging on by their fingernails - I suspect window shopping is what they can afford right now.  One has had to close their once-thriving business of almost 30 years.  I'm only buying items that I really, really need right now - and mostly staying local with whatever mad money I DO have - support my neighbourhood businesses.

[viraprasa]

everyone facing slow sales.I think this is due to pandemic situation over the world

[kathieskorner]

Just a note on parcel select mail - it is treated the same by the post office as media mail - my post office throws both in the same bin.   This means it is basically "space available" mail - used to be referred to as SAM - so it will often spend more time in sorting facilities than first class mail.    The sorting order for mail is express - priority- first class - parcel/media.    

For clothing items over 15.9 ounces - priority mail is always a better choice than parcel select and is often only a few cents more expensive.   The only  advantage parcel select has when it comes to price is for oversized packages (over 70 inches in girth) - there is an added surcharge for them with priority mail but not parcel select. 

[kyanyama]

Just visiting from the UK.  Came to the US boards as we are having similar problems across 'the pond'.  Sales seemed to have dropped off a cliff from 1st week July.  We've also not been getting email notifications when an item is sold which used to happen previously.  I had one sale 17 July  when emails were normal then another sale on 31 July - and that's when eBay sale notification didn't arrive - only the PayPal payment notification of funds received.   Others have mentioned similar on the UK discussion boards. 

[lonesomegrk]

I was busy up until 2 days ago when I was approved for managed payments. I usually sell 10 items a day or so in clothing mostly socks, but since managed payment set in, Nothing, zero sales except for an offer I sent a watcher. What gives???

My other account which has not been approved for managed payments as of yet, is doing fine. I don't understand & it's frustrating

[oldedale]

EBAY adjusted or changed system search on July 1. Our sales are down over 50% since then. Steady daily sales for 3 months before this change. Now ebay has issues with shipping and search results. Very poor search results. EBAY system defaults to a specific category during searches now. We tested, showed us 31 items at first, changed it to all categories, showed 76.

[turquoisetulips]

My sales are awful here too . I'm lucky these days to make one sale a week . Some of the suggestions as  to why sales are down  make some  sense . However on my other site  my sales are excellent . I can barely keep up with the custom order requests alone . So needless to say  I   have no idea  why  all of the current U.S  turmoil  would be damaging  the sales but  on only one platform . Tulips

[turquoisetulips]

E bay just recently notified me that I no longer qualify  for top rated seller  status  . It was due to the fact that I was 5 days late in refunding  a buyer one time  . At the time  I had no idea  that e bay had changed the rules  making it  impossible to refund a buyer  directly from your checking account ,, but instead you had to refund  from your Pay Pal account . So I had to put in a transfer  of funds  from my bank account  to my Pay Pal  account in order to refund the buyer . The transfer took  5 days  for the bank to complete  . Tulips