anybody notice a slowdown in activity as of late? or is it just me? hope to hear from you all. Regar

[beaujangles0]

Hi people, was just wondering if anybody else has noticed a bit of a slowdown in activity the past few weeks? or is it just me and a coincidence? Hope to hear from you. Regards, C.L.

[tunicaslot]

And kosmic - I believe this was your post about bad sales on another thread that is still active - so please look in the mirror before calling others out.

From 3/30

Yes!!!!!!!!! It's not just you and I'm glad it's not just me! Haven't had but a few sales this month and haven't had a single sale since the 9th! My current bill is only $22!!!!!!! TWENTY TWO DOLLARS

I am top-rated plus seller with a STORE, have 100% positive feedback, 600 items listed, good titles, good clean descriptions no HTML, HQ pictures, using markdown manager and other store features, have all SEO keywords set, etc etc! I could go on...

Not getting any listing PROMOS either! So I'm not relisting my 300 unsold items!

I am so desparate I'm about to call eBay just to waste some CS time and see what they say is wrong. I figure it's just the time of year or my stuff is not what people are looking for or my prices are too high?! I don't know but it's pretty bad.

Anyone else?

eBay is a goner

You ask anyone else but then complain that it's all you read here.

[cf9100]

Please ebay, please roll back to your previous search engine.  No longer can a customer put in a term and get the results based upon that term only. 

I.e. put in "ephemera lot" and you get over 2,700 listings while trying to find large paper lots, most of which are irrelevant..

This is killing both SALES and BUYING (yes, I buy a lot of larger lots on ebay a well).

In my circle of friends, we have 100% agreement that our sales have declined significantly.  Other than repeat customers, we are rarely seeing sales from new customers.  Again, this comes from a circle of about 20 sellers.

If we don't sell and we don't buy, your fees will be reduced significantly, thus your share price will plummet.  This is not about lack of advertising, markdowns, etc. and whatever other things ebay will tell us should help, you have crippled buyers with your new search and all are suffering.

Please roll back and save your company.

[mirror-in-the-attic]

Maybe for what you are searching?  I think the prices have become so low it is hard to make a profit.  The competition of bidding 1 lower than the lowest and before you know it what was once a 100.00 item is going for 10.00.   If you can purchase the item in retail for same as you are selling on Ebay, it is  too high because, at least to me, why wouldn't I buy it at brick and mortar-where I can see it first-hand?  Also, people buying close out.  The individual small seller cannot compete with that.  It is like a yard sale competing with a Big Lots.  

People can and do shop online regulary.  If A..... has it for close to your price, you risk losing the sale for the reputation that co. has vs this one alone.   

I think some people come to Ebay EXPECTING to get that 100.00 item for 10.00.  Even if the item is comparable to the new 100.00 item, just because it is sold on EBAY.  That has a lot to do with reputation.    

Just my 2 cents worth.  (Going for a wish and a prayer on my site) ;0

[kozmicbluesbabe]

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@tunicaslot wrote:
And kosmic - I believe this was your post about bad sales on another thread that is still active - so please look in the mirror before calling others out.

---

Hmm, I never said I didn't complain myself about the lack of sales on the forum. Obviously I'm just as upset as everyone else. I put a lot of work into my photos and listings, so my complaint was valid in my eyes. 

I come to the forum almost everyday (started to especially when the lack of sales started to see if other people were talking about it). What I was getting at was people who complain about lack of sales yet could easily benefit from fixing up their eBay listings... but don't take advice from other experienced sellers (the regulars here, not me) who tell them to redo their pictures, change the description, etc etc etc etc. Broken record by now. 

As for the comment that you can't see my perfect listings (which btw I don't think are perfect at all, I'm always changing something)... there is nothing to see, I "harshly" described how they look quite clearly several times.  

I agree maybe I should have been a bit more professional, but my reaction to the person's listings was honestly real, I believe their listings are not good to say the least. I'm done arguing my point. They can take my "negative" advice or not. 

[ymeagainlord]

It may be that since the March rollout of their new "guided modules", eBay had decided to "guide" buyers away from our listings.

Not content with "guiding" sellers, eBay had now decided to guide their buyers (to what THEY want them to see and ONLY what they want them to see.

No wonder buyers are leaving in droves.

[timzbiz]

I worked in the newspaper advertising business for 25 years. So I know a few things about advertising. There have been many studies on what works in advertising. One study focused on ad/layout  and how well professionally designed ads do compared to horribly designed ads by novices.  It made no difference if the ad was designed by a New York ad agency or a man at home using desktop software, sales results were the same for both. What did make a difference (in sales) was what page of the newspaper the ad fell on. The front pages of the paper (pg 2, 3 , 4 ,5) sales results where much superior to those ads placed in section D page 9. I believe the same issue is true here at eBay. It has nothing to do with the looks of your description, but everything to do with your listing placement in best match.

[kozmicbluesbabe]

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@timzbiz wrote:

I worked in the newspaper advertising business for 25 years. So I know a few things about advertising. There have been many studies on what works in advertising. One study focused on ad/layout  and how well professionally designed ads do compared to horribly designed ads by novices.  It made no difference if the ad was designed by a New York ad agency or a man at home using desktop software, sales results were the same for both. What did make a difference (in sales) was what page of the newspaper the ad fell on. The front pages of the paper (pg 2, 3 , 4 ,5) sales results where much superior to those ads placed in section D page 9. I believe the same issue is true here at eBay. It has nothing to do with the looks of your description, but everything to do with your listing placement in best match.

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Very true, very very true. Could not agree more. 

But... it has been a myth that the way your listing looks/ what's in your listing can effect your placement in search or best match, right. And your photos can effect that as well, because if you have less than appealing photos, they will be skipped over in the results, thus pushing you down further ending up on page 9. Of course this is just myth opinion theory or what have you. 

[amazingarts]

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@kozmicbluesbabe wrote:

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@tunicaslot wrote:
And kosmic - I believe this was your post about bad sales on another thread that is still active - so please look in the mirror before calling others out.

---

Hmm, I never said I didn't complain myself about the lack of sales on the forum. Obviously I'm just as upset as everyone else. I put a lot of work into my photos and listings, so my complaint was valid in my eyes. 

I come to the forum almost everyday (started to especially when the lack of sales started to see if other people were talking about it). What I was getting at was people who complain about lack of sales yet could easily benefit from fixing up their eBay listings... but don't take advice from other experienced sellers (the regulars here, not me) who tell them to redo their pictures, change the description, etc etc etc etc. Broken record by now. 

As for the comment that you can't see my perfect listings (which btw I don't think are perfect at all, I'm always changing something)... there is nothing to see, I "harshly" described how they look quite clearly several times.  

I agree maybe I should have been a bit more professional, but my reaction to the person's listings was honestly real, I believe their listings are not good to say the least. I'm done arguing my point. They can take my "negative" advice or not. 

---

  The sad part of all of this right now is that a blank listing would probably get the same amount of views and sales as a perfect one.

The tweaking and relisting is not working anymore.

Too many sellers that have had sales, and then nothing.....whether listings are "perfect" or not.

Seller purge 2016.....Im telling ya.

[mr_lincoln]

  The sad part of all of this right now is that a blank listing would probably get the same amount of views and sales as a perfect one.

 The tweaking and relisting is not working anymore.

 Too many sellers that have had sales, and then nothing.....whether listings are "perfect" or not.

 Seller purge 2016.....Im telling ya.

___________________________________________

This is not directed at you but your one comment I have seen a number of long time Sellers make ... having Sales when things are slow.  I think when things are slow they are just that, slow.   Then what happens when things get busy again there they are with lower prices, losing money unless the raise the price ... and savvy Buyers might notice that ...  I have charted Views and Watchers and already identified (for what i sell) Mon-Wed can simply be ignored ... very little traffic (i.e. viewed items or items marked for being watched).   I am new to selling, month 8, and prefer Auctions ... I think one thing that hurts Sellers is 30 Day FP listings ... there is no pusing the Buyer to make a decision if an item is going to sit there for 30 days.  Auctions force people to ake a decision within the time frame of the Auction ... so if they want it they have to decide.  I am not saying that works for all things, but for some things it does.

Now I will say that there is no garanty that if your activity is good (views and watchers) that you will get orders.  I had one week where activty was really good and I actually pre-packed several items being confident they would sell .... well, the auctions came to and end and the orders did not come in ... so for whatever reasons the Buyers just did not take the step to purchase.

[ymeagainlord]

Yep, if all my items that have watchers sold I'd be a. very happy b. frantic to get them all packed & shipped within time and c. absolutely stunned LOL

[thumpingooddeals]

We have great photos; a simple description system; and yes, very competitive pricing, but our sales have tanked since Jan of 2016. We sell both rare and common retro video games, so we cover a wide range of categories, systems and genres.

We have tons of stock, but we had to take most of it down because it was costing us more having it sit online for months with no sales. There was a time when we could list 30-60 items on a Monday, and have most it sold by Sunday. We've been selling since 2009, so we did have plenty of repeat customers over the years. But now? Those repeat customers have vanished, but it wasn't from bad of service or poor product representation.

Our DSR is great (even today) and we don't have a single negative on our account. So, I ask -- is this eBay's way of stiffing sellers or has the 'eBay' platform lost its revelance as an e-commerce platform?

[ymeagainlord]

They're busy "guiding" your buyers to other listings.

[sin-n-dex]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

sin - I agree with you - but there does come a point when you just can't keep adding inventory to get the same % of sales. My space is loaded and I'm about to go full time at the reg job - which I would hate to have to do as much as I love my job - because Ebay sales keep falling.

---

True, but I have plans to get rid of inventory (which works only in some genres... or you end up with a bunch of 99 cent sales).

In the past few weeks, I've been putting up about 10 items each week that are stale, but will sell for an okay amount (which the buyers will determine what that is, because best offer isn't shaking it out). I need to review each listing to make sure it's safe to gamble on (so if I don't sell it for much, I don't take too much of a hit on my costs). Anything risky that I don't want to deal with is returned to the BM store (and no longer my problem because I don't own the BM store, I just sell for them). He usually tells me to gamble and auction it, we do several as a lot so if one item does bad, the two or three that do great will absorb the hit.

We acquired a new collection a week ago which needs to go up (and it will sell fairly quickly if I did my research right on prices, which are 10-15% less than what they usually sell for). I also have 150 tokens left that are pain in the butt to list, but when I list 10 in the evening, one or two are sold by morning. Really makes me worry that I'm underpricing too much, but I reassure myself someone was looking for that item and the price was fair.

And the best part is, coins and tokens take up little space. We have a bedroom in our house full of action figures, vintage toys, comic books and other stuff that I haven't got time to list and sell (or just to list). Photographing will take days to get through all the items. I'm saving it for when I have free time... been waiting a few years for that free time, maybe not until I find myself between jobs again.

Cheers, C.

[timzbiz]

Curious if any sellers have tested these suggestions. Has anyone removed embedded photos and html from their listings and noticed a noticeable increase in sales? I need some success stories. Thanks.

[timzbiz]

Don't embed pictures in your description. Instead, upload pictures to your listing.

Don't include information unrelated to the item for sale.

Don't use all caps, multiple fonts and font colors, and HTML. These things can make your listing unreadable on a mobile device.

Don't repeat information provided in other sections of your listing.

Don't create lengthy descriptions, fine print, and surprises, which buyers may not read.

The way you word the title affects whether your listing appears in buyer search results.

Use correct spelling in titles.

Don't overuse acronyms in titles.

Don't use all caps in titles.

Have any sellers tested these suggestions and noticed an increase in sales? especially the remove embedded photos and html. I need to hear some success stories before going through all this labor. Thanks.