Unusual sales decline Mid July till current. Anyone else or just me.

[bikegraveyard]

I had a major sale decline started in mid July to current.

Just currious if anyone else has had this. Its not the normal slow down that happens at times.

Just wanting to know how many others maybe are experiencing it.

If I am the only one, need to look at my inventory and prices, but if it effecting everyone else as well, then its beyound my control.

Thanks for any input into the matter.

[awardmedal]

There are very few auctions going on anymore. People want to bid and get things at a discount. Nobody likes the way Ebay is anymore either. There are your reasons. Oh, and in coins and precious metals the prices are artificially low in the spot market which all but killed that segment too.

[kcoutouzis11]

The Bureau of Labor statistics just put out their report of the jobs created so far in 2013. Of the 953,000 jobs created this year 731,000 were part-time jobs. Only 222,000 were full time positions. That means household incomes are shrinking because full time positions aren't being created, which means there is less disposable income. Thank you Obamacare. Companies are cutting hours back to 29 hours so that they don't have to pay benefits. Companies can't afford to pay health benefits anymore so the mandate to have health insurance is a burden they can't bear with the soaring costs from the law. With a 9% unemployment/underemployment rate that would be the reason. If we can get back to 3% unemployment/underemployment then sales will be soaring.

So when a politician tells you that the economy is recovering and that jobs are being created, you have to look at what type of jobs are being created. In this case, it is overwhelmingly part-time jobs.

Here is a link to the article.

 http://www.foxbusiness.com/government/2013/08/21/health-reform-turning-us-into-part-time-nation/#

[willspinyou]

Me, and others, are having the same problem and part of has to do with the

changes Ebay has made to search parameters. There is no longer a wildcard

search which results in items not showing up in search results. I was on the phone

with Ebay for almost an hour and a half. If you do not have the right specific term

in your title it WILL NOT show up in search results. There are articles on the internet

about this: http://www.cringely.com/2012/11/09/bug-or-feature-ebay-drops-wildcard-search/

However, nobody from Ebay has said anything yet about declines in sales and why or what

they are going to do about it. 

[willspinyou]

Your items are not being seen by everyone, my sales have declined as well.

Ebay has changed search parameters. See this article:http://www.cringely.com/2012/11/09/bug-or-feature-ebay-drops-wildcard-search/

The result is that you have to have specific, almost exact terms that match Ebay's parameters

or you items will not show up. There is another post saying that Ebay tech support has confirmed this problem.

[willspinyou]

Ebay has stopped Wildcard searches which is hurting sellers as well.
You cannot do a general search and see everything that is for sale.
Here is an article:http://www.cringely.com/2012/11/09/bug-or-feature-ebay-drops-wildcard-search/
Please spread the word, it is hurting our sales!
Also, the reason why Google comes up with more is because they are a Wildcard search engine!

[fishzlot]

This has nothing to do with the world economy.  And nothing to do with free listings.  Ebay is crashing our sales because they have been doing some heavy tinkering with the site starting in July.  There are many, many things going wrong from the resulting bugs that were created.  Go to the ecommerce stinks site for some info.  Servers are over-loaded, people can't find the links to stuff.  Ebay can never go completely down because they use many different server set-ups.  But many of them can be overloaded and buggy.  And something I've been furious about for days; at the top of general searches on the comparison page, it prominently says "No Returns Accepted." I sell mainly books, and because I'm a TRSP, many of my listings automatically bumped to the top on the comparison pages.  All the booksellers, even the big boys like Alibris, are affected.  I have always had 14 day returns on everything; it's required to maintain my status.  They WILL see that I accept returns when they go to my indivdual listings.  But how many are chased away by the false "no returns" that is prominently at the top of comparison pages for my listings?  I've talked to a number of sellers, and they are a combination of scared and ticked off.  I"m terrified.  I"m worried about paying my bills.  Before the catastrophe, EBay was my number one income.  It's an apocalypse for me!  I always get a bump in sales when I list a few hundred more things.  Not in August!!  No bump.  Just fear, anger, and loathing.  Because I know Ebay is causing the slump.  They have many, many, technical problems right now.  Ever since they switched to in-house servers earlier this summer.  They also are tinkering with "select sellers' stores.  Last night I was shocked to see my Ebay Storefront appearance altered. All the color schemes were gone.  4 "featured items" were at the top.  I played with it for an hour, trying to get it back the way it was.  I didn't like it.  But no matter what I did, I couldn't change it back. Then I found out Ebay was tinkering with that, too.  Arbitrarily.  It's back to normal this morning, but how dare they!!!   I'm paying $600 a year in subscription fees; they have no right to alter the appearance of my store front.

[charlotte27526]

My auctions are off too. This past weekend, I only got like 4 bids on about 200 auctions. Usually weekends are when they pick up.

But the last two weeks, stuff I have had listed forever sold. 

I also have that issue where people bid, and don't pay - and you have to file a case. I did change my settings so people with negative or non-paying bidder complaints can not bid on my stuff and that did make a difference.

People are talkng about the new search engine making a difference but I don't see how. I have tested it out a few times and my auctions do come up.

Has anyone checked out other auctions sites? Are any of those worth it?

[dck1221958]

your shipping charges is my guess

[ammolitehunter]

I have seen my vistors plummet over the last few months and sales with them on a steady decline.

I sell high end jewelry so my market always has been the higher end buyer and there enough of these that buy regardless of market conditions so that I have enough sales to meet my minimum target requirements.

My observation is that the world is gripped in a huge economic malaise which is showing up everywhere--heck even Walmart is having trouble.

People are making fewer impulse prchases and pulling in their horns and from my research things are going to get a whole lot worse.

The US is printing money out of thin air to the tune of $90 billion permonth and buying their own debts to keep the balls in the air and that cant last.People are getting clued in and they are frightened.

My response is to create my own stand alone website carrying the same inventory I have on Ebay and increase by reach.

That and buy lots of gold and live debt frre on land capable of a large veggy patch.

[e-partysupplies]

our sales went way down when the postal rate changed but we adapted and things got pretty strong over the summer.  Sales then started decreasing again in october and now we are at less then 50% of our typially sales.  Are you dealling with the same?  any explanation?

[disneyqueenpins]

Honestly, for the first time in years I really am going to move my listing and sales to another site. When sellers buy on ebay to sell on ebay, guess what, it's a double loss for them and if my sales are down on ebay, I can't buy on ebay. EBay's constant changes and new policies that exist to punish a few bad sellers wreck it for all. They should be dealing with just those who abuse rather than creating new policies that abuse all. This decrease has nothing to do with a summer slope. It's completion from other new selling sites. When eBay abuses the sellers too much, they create something new to get away from eBay and if it's successful like many of the new Facebook Groups I'm seeing then it takes the buyers away too right along with them. Ebay has finally made too many tweaks and their are too many problems with their system and disgust over the new unrealistic standard performances. I have heard of eBay sellers that have been using ebay for 15 plus years that are finally moving away from eBay and taking buyers with them.

[citymattressfactory]

I have been selling on Ebay for over 2 years. I do not have 1 negative feedback or even a neutral. I manufacture an exemplary product and give great service. Ebay loves customers like me right? WRONG. They keep making it harder and harder for me to keep my top rated status. We are a large mattress/Futon manufacturer. We make the product as the order comes in. Because of Ebays now even stricter 24 hour policy I have to put Ebay orders in front of store, overstock, and Amazon orders which sell 100X more. We make and box the item and upload shipping in the 24 hour period. Hard to do but we do considering the volume we do. NOW they say it has to be verified within 24 hours. NOT possible. Fed Ex comes to the factory at 5:00pm and loads the trucks. They do not scan the 100+ boxes until they get to their warehouse or they would be at the factory until midnight. I tried to explain this to Ebay. I do not just pull a box off the shelf, slap a sticker on and walk to the post office after every order. They have THEIR POLICY and will not even consider what I am saying. One size fits all. I am going off of Ebay when my inventory I already posted runs out. I am upset because I have worked so hard to build the Ebay business. They will be their own demise. I think the higher ups are bored and sit around a table thinking up POLICIES! I sell on Amazon and they are great. Have NEVER once threatened my status. When Ebay lowers me from top rated because the package wasn't verified in 24 hours I lose 20% which is my profit and my sales fall to almost nothing. NOT worth the hassle. Goodbye Ebay.

[citymattressfactory]

After reading all of these comments I am even more ready to stop selling on Ebay. I was upset because they keep making it harder and harder for me to keep my Top rated with policy after policy of a shorter and shorter window to get product out. I manufacturer mattresses and futons and they want me to make it, box it, upload tracking, and have Fed ex scan in 24 hours. Now I see it is also their own glitches causing sales and status to decline. I have no issues on overstock or Amazon and sell 100X's more. Sad to give up Ebay but no longer worth it.

[kloro2005]

  i used to do almost all of my online buying on eBay. but last year i was burned by two sellers in a period of a few months. partly because eBay was no help in my efforts to deal rationally with the sellers, and partly because my percentages had become bad enough to be scary, i switched to A*zon. My experience so far this year is that when i buy A*zon Prime, I spend only a bit more than on eBay and sometimes less. And i have yet to have a bad exprience over what will soon be a year's time. I had been buying on average ~$100/month on eBay. Now A*zon is getting my money.

[harrisaveestates]

Yes, sales went down dramatically, mine by 80% this month? Can't figure out why?