Zero sales for 6 days, is that possible?

[oszika]

This is weird. We have 167 items in our eBay store (We're Vintage) and suddenly our sales dropped to ZERO for the last 6 days with one offer by a low baller. The previous average for 6 days was around $350.00, not a lot, but something. Obviously we have some none trendy crap, but they sell too. Our 30% off storewide sale ended 2 day ago, so even considering that, there is four days with ZERO sales. Is that possible, even in this economy? Is there some monkey business going on?

[krazzykats]

Yes, it's possible.

[12345jamesstamps]

Just the economy going in the wrong direction. Plus everyone on vacations. Maybe it will pick up in September. I went from auctions to buy it now and building my items for sale during the slow period.

I throw in auctions and free shipping sometimes to draw buyers. It seems to work.

[oszika]

What makes you think that's realistic? Never, ever happened before, not even close. The worst was one day.

[ckimodog]

@oszika 

Vintage is a very popular and saturated category here on Ebay.  Lots of other sellers experiencing the same thing.  Hang in there.  

[fashunu4eeuh]

It’s retail, it happens. 

What kind of monkey business?

[oszika]

I'm just speculating, could be search related. A million worthless Chinese thing is more valuable for eBay than one little vintage thing, so they're prioritizing. Also one of my old customer reported, the "Offer" feature didn't work several times. 

[mr_lincoln]

@oszika   Yes, very possible ... I had Impressions drop by just over 80% out of the blue a short time ago ... nothing I did different, just sales took a dive ... I know the ebbs and flows of normal slow times after all the years of selling, what I've seen this year is not normal, too many venue changes and not enough algorithm tweaking ...

Mr. L

[kensgiftshop]

People don't have the extra money to spend on things they want, they are buying things they need.

[inhawaii]

Yes, it's very possible and quite common.

[slippinjimmy]

The monkey business.....you had a 30% off sale in June, you made quite a few sales.....

July comes around, there is the holiday weekend distraction, the sale is over and your best items were mostly sold in June.

Or it could be other factors...........

Erratic and often lower sales are the new normal of the (semi) post-Covid, inflationary times we live in.

There is no grand conspiracy!

[chapeau-noir]

I've had dropouts of up to 5-6 days and I also only have a relative handful of items listed (maybe 150-170 at any one time).  And if that drop-out was over July 4 - that's a slow holiday for sales, anyway, particularly this year with the pandemic rebound.  People go outside to play - they're not online.

[joseh1445]

My sales usually drop on the summer by 50%.  The months of June, July and August are my worst months to sale.  Because of that, I decided to get a part time job.  You have to do what you have to do.  Keep in there, sales usually pick up around September.

[jenijensong]

Hi:  I just raised my prices and am no longer taking offers on pristine or new items.  I have asked Ebay to put a button next to the price for sellers that can say FIRM.  I get so many offers through messaging.  But now that I raised prices my sales have dropped.  I went 4 days without selling anything.  Now slowly watchers are coming back and I'm having a slow but upward burn with better profit margins.  In your case though, that doesn't seem to apply so I would also like to hear why your sales dropped to zero.   It's not the economy because a friend of mine in IL is selling like a mad dog lol.  With Ebay have 150 million customers you'd think we'd sell out every other day lol.  Let me know if things get better & if you find out what's going on by posting it.  TY. 

[mr_lincoln]

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@jenijensong wrote:

Hi:  I just raised my prices and am no longer taking offers on pristine or new items.  I have asked Ebay to put a button next to the price for sellers that can say FIRM.  I get so many offers through messaging.  But now that I raised prices my sales have dropped.  I went 4 days without selling anything.  Now slowly watchers are coming back and I'm having a slow but upward burn with better profit margins.  In your case though, that doesn't seem to apply so I would also like to hear why your sales dropped to zero.   It's not the economy because a friend of mine in IL is selling like a mad dog lol.  With Ebay have 150 million customers you'd think we'd sell out every other day lol.  Let me know if things get better & if you find out what's going on by posting it.  TY. 

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@jenijensong   I agree that its not the economy ... here's what friends and family are doing to offset the major cost increases, food and gas ... they are cutting out the junk they buy at the grocery store and being smarter about the trips they make ... meaning, once a week to the grocery store and plan ahead, no more OOPS!  Forgot the Mayo, will JUST run out and get some ... nope, they make it a point not to forget the Mayo.

I buy mainly from online auctions for my inventory and if it were true that the economy was stopping people from buying then I would be making a killing on acquiring new stuff to sell ... BUT GUESS WHAT?!?  That's not happening ... in fact it seems to be harder to get inventory this year then last year ... maybe all those people making adjustments for the higher costs are figuring they have more money to spend at these online auctions ... nope, I'm not buying in to the economy excuse for the categories I sell in ... sales drops on eBay ARE BECAUSE OF eBay pure and simple ...