eBay sales are non-existent!

[digginforgoldtradingpost215]

eBay sales have been slow for a while, but now they have grinded to a screeching halt! With 600-700 items listed, I've maybe sold 5 or 6 items per week over the last few weeks, and those sales were for low dollar items! Has eBay changed something while trying to push people into Promoted Listings? Considering just getting a job, because eBay isn't even paying what a convenience store job would pay these days! I'm just tired of trying to jump through the eBay hoops all of the time! 

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

I have to say you do have a few good points there 🤔

[aldelbertmatthew]

The odd thing I've noticed ever since I've started selling on Poshmark is interactions with my account despite having half of the listings on eBay are drastically higher. My listings are being shared, liked, offers are being given, bundles are being made, messages are being sent. My sales are now higher on Poshmark than they are on eBay thanks to multiple no sales days on eBay. I normally sold 3-5+ items a day.

On eBay with double the listings of Poshmark? Ghost town. Handful of interactions at best. A few messages with extreme lowball offers. No watchers for hours.

At what point is it just gross negligence on eBay's part to run the company like this? How do you cause the entire site to implode within 4 months? This isn't normal.

[bryo_3145]

Who's been spending more us or our government? 

[wifetrained]

That old saying, 'IT'S THE ECONOMY STUPID", is 100% on point. No question that Ebay has its issues which are mostly self-inflicted but far too many people are living paycheck to paycheck and credit card debt is at an all-time high. That CC use reportedly is to bridge the gap but there are limits and once they are hit, then what??

Where's the money going to come from to buy on this platform? Or any platform for that matter. We are witnessing a unique situation unfolding in this country and I fear it'll get much worse long before anything gets any better. As an example, yesterday I went to our local Foodland and purchased 1 bag of Hershey Kisses and a bottle of ST Joseph's low dose aspirin, total cost was $24 and some change. Then over to the gas station and a top off, less than 8 gallons, and that was near $27 and change, then over to the post office for a roll of stamps that cost well over $50. There's a hundred bucks gone and not one iota of food. 

It's not rocket science, pretty simple math really. I suspect the local Dollar stores are doing brisk business.

[baantiques]

I've been doing pretty well the last few months although sales the last week went into the tank, probably because of the seller update.  It happens every single time.  

What I've been doing the last three months is listing regularly (10 items every day), removing old inventory regularly, and trying to keep on top of answering messages.  I've had a few slowdowns where I've gone back and removed a bunch of dead weight from inventory and that's improved things drastically.  You have to be active in your store.  Sitting around waiting for sales means a lot of sitting and waiting for no sales.

[pmtime1]

"Search" is broken (in my opinion but not apparently not in ebay's opinion) such that buyers may not be seeing your items listed.  "Search" doesn't list every item in the search (why not?).  For example, when I searched for "Beatles" in all categories and sorted by lowest price first, I got a list of only 160 items with the first (lowest priced) item being a book for around $30.  Cleary not correct.  I refined my search to "Beatles Help" and got a list again of only 160 items but with the first (lowest priced) item being a record for around $15.  I narrowed my search and got lower cost items??????  So, I refined my search further to "Beatles Help mono" and the list grew to 220 items with the first (lowest priced) item being a record for around $8.  Then I limited this latest search to items under $5 and got several items not listed any of the previous searches.  How effed up is that?????

If buyers can't find your listed items, they can't bid on them.

[bendel23]

Same here, I’m a new store owner. Started in July. But have been on eBay selling here and there since 2016. July I listed tons of my old vintage toys from the 90s and sales were awesome. 
 Now in sept-oct very meager traffic and sales one a day; to zero. 
I list 10-20 items daily. Running vintage sports memorabilia, postcards, 1920-60s ephemera. Lego sets everything. I have a 75 feedback and all positive no strikes.

now literally no offers, traffic or sales week after week!

[ulfesharpe]

You have to pay a good deal to be able to sell here — you need to spend almost what you earn for each sale!

Strangely, people pop along here saying they like it like that.

[baantiques]

It's not the economy.  Even in a horrible depression there are still plenty of people with money to spend.

I had a slow period in the end of September beginning of October.  I've gotten out of it by doing the same stuff I did to increase my sales initially back in June

1. List every day.  10 new items seems to be the magic number

2. Get rid of old stuff that hasn't sold - drop the price, have a sale, throw it away, whatever.  You want to avoid things that don't sell because they hurt you in search and also cause your store to bloat which reduces your sell through rate.

3.  Good customer service.  Respond to messages requests and questions, etc.

It's really not that difficult, you just have to be consistent.  I've more than doubled my sales and I still work maybe 4 hours a day.

[seconhandrosie]

The Great Recession was not nearly this slow.

[duffy4444]

    The overall drop affecting most online sellers can be best explained by what I heard on Fox Business recently (paraphrased): "The bulk of consumers are paralyzed by uncertainty". This is the most comprehensive and simple explanation I've heard so far. It says it all.

    The best thing we can do is Accept > Adjust > Adapt. Accept the situation and the need to be patient, Adjust our expectations and be wise about adjusting our listings and business models where we can, and Adapt to the new reality by riding it out until it blows over, which it eventually will (fingers crossed).

    There are rich periods and there are lean periods. That's the nature of online commerce that I've experienced in the 25+ years I've been selling here and on other online venues.

Chill...

Cheers, Duffy

[frankenhobbit]

I would never even consider trying to make a full time living on eBay. Selling off my old stuff, yes. A little sideline to supplement retirement when it happens, sure. 

A lot of items that (people who have noticed depressed) sales appear to be selling seems to be sourced from places that everyone has become aware of over the last couple years.  A huge wave of YouTube videos about thrifting, garage sales, estate sales and the 'Goodwill Bins' (I consider that more of a feeding frenzy now than thrifting!) means that compared to a year or so ago, a lot more people are trying to flip. 

Can you make a couple hundred bucks a month? Sure. Give up your day job? Not so much. Not unless you are sourcing new items from dedicated suppliers. My personal opinion is that the 'flip what you thrift' pond is now all fished out. 

Not a pro, but just my thoughts. 

[jahe149822]

I have no idea what the cause of all the pain is, but it’s nice to know we’re all on the struggle bus together.

Just got to stay motivated and work twice as hard during times like this! That’s how you survive. 

Earnings this quarter should be interesting. I have a hard time believing that what we’re all experiencing won’t affect the company’s bottom line.

It’s easy to get frustrated at eBay during times like this as they push promoted listings, but I’m sure they want us to sell more stuff. That’s where they make their money! 

[Anonymous]

and your point is?

[regeni71]

Has anyone else noticed a decline in eBay's prominence with google search?  There are several big players that sell items similar to mine and they seem to be dominating the top results. Admittedly, I'm not savvy with regards to all of the factors involved in search positions but I am nearly certain that eBay listings do not have the same prominence in search results as they have had these last 3 years that I have been selling. That may be unique to the type of product I sell and the level of competition but I kind of doubt it. Check your own listings. Just copy a particular listing and paste it to search. I'd like to know if this is just my imagination.