huge drop in orders - what's happening?

[gabi-mode]

is this forum visited by a competent eBay employee?
Can he check what's going on? I have a model account, top marks, great offer and in April only a few sales!
Other sellers also have a huge drop in sales. Will ebay refund the subscription fee for stores to sellers?
The declines in offer views have been for several months! Does ebay see it at all ?!
Is there anyone else in eBay thinking or ebay is just AI, only?

I am asking for an answer, because it may be a waste of time to put up offers on eBay.

[turquoisetulips]

My best friend has 5 daughters, dcintennessee -- --------------------------------

I raised two sons  and I thought that was a challenge  . Five daughters would of  been exhausting , 5 sons  would have put me in a padded cell . I do have a friend I havent seen in years  but they had 6 sons  the last time we spoke . This sort of  reminds me of the Erma Bombeck  article I read one time . She was giving the results of a poll they had done on parents.  The question was '' If you had to do it all over again ,, would you still have children '' ?  the results - 30 % said yes , another 30 % said no they would not , and the other 40 % were under sedation and were unable  to  comment .:)   Tulips 

[msg767]

They didnt say it was the messaging but that was just one of the problems out of 10-12 I have had and when I am on getting views , (unlike the last 4-6 weeks) I can go to bed and when I get up have several messages and 3-4 sales. The recent cycle has me on full blast for 2-3 days with lots of e-mails but no feed back, Then 2-3 days of feedback with no sales and lastly about 10 days with bare minimal sales and it then starts over.  I guess what I am saying in short is if you arent getting e-mails or messaging for several days then have 15-20 in 24 hours there is a High probability you items are not being seen...

[dcintennessee]

Tulips, I loved Erma Bombeck!! Her recipe for making cookies is my all time favorite. It includes retrieving kids from playing in the toilet, etc.

Said friend with 5 daughters is padded-cell worthy. Perhaps even more since two of the girls gifted her with 4 grandsons...

[variety_nook]

you're in Germany. I don't know who your primary buyers are, but here in the U.S. April is that dreaded month where taxes come due, for those who owe the Gov. That could be a part of why sales have been down in April.

With U.S. buyers anyway.

[part2go]

It the last 3 years in the account I have traffic decline by 70%

[grannywith6]

Agree...I might add...I think people are going to thrift stores themselves these days for pre-owned clothing...It's become a hobby of sorts ...I used to sell every single pre-owned clothing I listed where as now it's one or three a day...Hence, I am in my 60's and retiring this summer--Yay for my grand-kids...more time with Granny!, less money, more time!

[grannywith6]

indeed, and many brick/mortar stores are selling out and going to online sales only--

[part2go]

it is very dangerous, buyers are leaving -> fewer sales -> stores and seller are reducing their activity->less buyers->...this is very dangerous death spiral!

[dhw900]

Giving China basically free shipping with the e-packet usps deal doesn't help matters (for about 8 year now). Does anyone know if other countries receive this deal. Would like to know before investing anymore time in ebay.

[drinkwine1204]

thanks for the check-up. I closed my basic store the end of january, gave up hope of things picking up. It has been a downhill slide for over  a year for me. 

just trying to do what I can control, my offerings, prices, etc until I sell enough to close shop for good. I enjoyed many good years here but everything changes.

Best of luck to all.

[hv2drive]

Just celebrated 19 years onEbay but will be closing my store at the end of the month. Will keep 30-40 active listings but nothing like what I used to do. Have seen a huge drop in sales since the latter part of 2017. This year has been off the charts bad. Not sure what is happening or has happened but I don't seem to be alone in my frustration.  I have read a lot of the posts and it looks like there could be a number of reasons for the decline. Anyway, see you on the flip side...........!

Hv

[iart]

We're doing very well for April. Sales are brisk. Up over 20% from last year.

So, it's not everyone. Are you all bribing ebay with promotions like we are?

[jimw1776]

I see your store listings...now I'm wondering about mine...my sales have been so slow this month

[damselinthisdress]

Same here. Beginning the month of April my items aren’t able to be found if potential buyers try to filter for size, color etc.  I’ve phoned eBay almost everyday & they all claim there’s no known problem.  Then a person tells me that they’ve received many calls re this but it’s still not a problem with the system. How can that be???!  Then he tells me to only use 2 words in my title because too much information on title of item confuses the system, OMG. 

[orangehound]

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@damselinthisdress wrote:

Same here. Beginning the month of April my items aren’t able to be found if potential buyers try to filter for size, color etc.  I’ve phoned eBay almost everyday & they all claim there’s no known problem. 

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I randomly searched for three of your items, and every one of them came up in search without problem.

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@damselinthisdress wrote:

I’ve phoned eBay almost everyday & they all claim there’s no known problem.  Then a person tells me that they’ve received many calls re this but it’s still not a problem with the system. How can that be???!

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Used clothing and shoes are facing much more competition on eBay - listings have grown 3 to 4 times over the last 2 years.  Sales may be up overall in those categories, but because of so much competition there will be fewer sales per seller.

Added to that, sales of new retail clothing are far down from projections over the last two quarters, inventories are high, and large retailers (e.g., H&M) are reporting that they are now offering deep discounts on new clothing to move inventory.

So, its not the eBay system.  It is the market and the competition.

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@damselinthisdress wrote:

Then he tells me to only use 2 words in my title because too much information on title of item confuses the system, OMG. 

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eBay's Far East customer service is poorly trained (they are not sellers who know things from experience), and they simply make up answers to get you off the phone ... their advice and actions will sometimes even put you in a worse situation.