eBay

oszika · ‎07-07-2022

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?

kathieskorner · ‎07-10-2022

Majority of buyers search newly listed and lowest price.

That may have been true at one time, but I don't believe it is any longer true of anyone other than ebay buyers who have been around for 10-20 years. If it were true the highest price items would not be selling while lower priced items get few views.

Nor do I believe that eBay continually adding methods of manipulating search with new algorithms so that the higher priced items, "sponsored" items, and larger sellers get far more visibility than others is a "conspiracy theory".

I've always sold long tail items that may collect dust until a buyer looking for that item comes along, but I never have used automatic relists - there is usually at least a few weeks before I list an item again - always with sell similar and often with changes to the listing. And I add new items weekly - the more items I sell, the more new listings I add. While my monthly listings are limited to 250 - my inventory of listings is in the 350-400 range at all times with new listings going active before items previously listed.

I am convinced that my drop in sales over the past six months is due to eBay changes - not due to what I have been doing for 20+ years. Collectibles have always been "what's in" today and "what's out", but the cycles are constantly changing. With diversity there is rarely extended periods of everything being out.

jenijensong · ‎07-27-2022

Hi: ".sales drops on eBay ARE BECAUSE OF eBay pure and simple ..." I'm not sure I understand. Can you explain it to me in layman's terms lol. How is Ebay impeding sales? Help me ... I'm confused. Thanks, Jeanette

jenijensong · ‎07-27-2022

Hi: Any updates? Did things get better? Did you change anything? Please let me know. Sincerely, Jeanette

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-27-2022

@jenijensong wrote:
Hi: ".sales drops on eBay ARE BECAUSE OF eBay pure and simple ..." I'm not sure I understand. Can you explain it to me in layman's terms lol. How is Ebay impeding sales? Help me ... I'm confused. Thanks, Jeanette

I'm in total agreement with OP. My sales and many others tanked with all the willy nilly item specific requirements. They do not apply to vintage, antique one of a kind type items. To search using google makes no sense because too many items would appear before any random sellers similar item displays. In testing search on ebay looking for a phone part I was trying to research a car part showed up. I've routinely had Pokeman cards show up in search when looking for electronics and even clothing. There is no rational explanation for that to be happening. If buyers can't find what they are looking for just maybe they are going elsewhere.

-Lotz

mr_lincoln · ‎07-27-2022

@jenijensong wrote:
Hi: ".sales drops on eBay ARE BECAUSE OF eBay pure and simple ..." I'm not sure I understand. Can you explain it to me in layman's terms lol. How is Ebay impeding sales? Help me ... I'm confused. Thanks, Jeanette

Hi again @jenijensong ,

Yes, it's quite simple considering eBay provides some of the clues themselves ... for example, on the Seller Hub Traffic report they show Impressions ... which in layman's terms means every time an item is found in some search around the world it is recorded as an impression, meaning somewhere a browser search found the item ... when there is a sudden DROP in Impressions that means items (listed on eBay in this case) are NOT being found. Minor ebbs and flows are normal ... a sudden drop or steady decline is not. I experienced BOTH scenarios this year alone. Before eBay rolled out their new Views counting I had an 80.5% drop in Impressions ... I recently checked them over the course of a week (about once a day - pic below) ... you can see there is a slow steady decline going all the way down to over 50% ...

So ... if one's items are NOT being found then fewer of one's items are NOT being Viewed and it only follows that one's items are NOT being sold ...

There have also been some threads recently where members state they can find their items in a Google search but NOT when they search on the eBay home page ... gee, why would that happen? A lot of long time Buyers use the eBay home page because that is where they are used to shopping ... so if they can't find it then they might go elsewhere ...

Hopefully that will help explain part of the reasons ...

Regards,

Mr. L

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

japanbaitstore · ‎07-27-2022

@oszika wrote:
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?

Listings Appear in the United States Only Do not appear in other countries

fashionhub.1 · ‎07-27-2022

yes you correct

lawnmowerpartsstore2 · ‎07-28-2022

Not sure why

onefootflipper · ‎07-28-2022

You have a relatively small store. You just had a sale in which you might have sold all your great stuff. You also only listed 8 items in the last week. Most of your items seem to fall into the category of stuff I would buy at a garage sale for a quarter, list for $3.99-$ 7.99 plus shipping and then never give a second thought to after I drop it in it's location box. My store is literally over 100 times larger than yours and I had 1160 sales in the last month. That would have been 10 sales at your store size, be easy to rack up a streak of 6 with no sales when you only average 1 every 3 days.

On the plus side, you have great photos. You seem to understand that first class shipping exists (I have seen so many people with similar stores complain about no sales that have priority shipping on everything). Summer is always slow.

boneyardbee · ‎02-14-2023

As of this morning, I’m sitting at 18 days no sales. I’ve been selling a year with sales every week.

ebooksdiva · ‎02-14-2023

Online sales are never guaranteed. Some months are good some not no so good. If you're selling what people want you'll get sales.

kh-vince · ‎02-14-2023

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.