EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

We have operated a small homewares store on eBay for 6 years and found sales in the last few months to be the slowest for a long time. Perhaps we need to update what we sell, but my gut feel is that the marketplace is in some sort of slump. Just a year ago we were doing a lot better. Would be interested to see if anyone feels the same? Perhaps some buyers are drifting to other outlets including facebook to make purchases? Any thoughts..?

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

No sales for me for the past 3 days.... could it be because of the EOFY or simply Aussie sellers are way down the list in search..

 

At least it has given me time to update the silly UPC numbers ebay now wants.

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

yep me too i am having a slump and things have slowed down to a stop in the last week but 3 days with nothing not one sale

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

My sales are going quite well.

 

I see alot of people come onto the forums to justify the low sales and I think its a bad idea. 1 Thread does not represent the whole of Australian sellers. You best just compare with your well known competitors. Record how many sales they make a day and then compare it to your. Do their sales drop at the same time with you? Then its probably what you are selling is dropping.

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

I don't think the OP is referring to ALL sellers, just commenting on how slow business is... for myself... the most days without  a sale is a week back about 4 years ago... had 3 days no sales a few months back, and now again.

 

The forums are here for sellers to get feedback and and hopefully emotional support not vindication for saying what is happening or how they are feeling.

 

 

Really pleased for sellers who are doing well, that is great... A little compassion for those who are not at the moment would be a lovely gestureโ™ฅ

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??


@ourphonecase wrote:

I see alot of people come onto the forums to justify the low sales and I think its a bad idea. 1 Thread does not represent the whole of Australian sellers.

 

 

 

No, one thread does not represent all Australian sellers but there is a lot more than one thread on the boards on the subject of poor sales.

 

There are a lot of threads, started by seller's of many different items all complaining of declining sales.  It is not hard to see that the low sales are spread over many categories ad many sellers.

 

Are you suggesting that it is just a coincidence?

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??


@ourphonecase wrote:

My sales are going quite well.

 

I see alot of people come onto the forums to justify the low sales and I think its a bad idea. 1 Thread does not represent the whole of Australian sellers. You best just compare with your well known competitors. Record how many sales they make a day and then compare it to your. Do their sales drop at the same time with you? Then its probably what you are selling is dropping.


I,m basically a full time seller with three selling accounts averaging 2000 listings. My sales are tracking 30 % below long term average which coincides with a 12 month slump in page views from just over 4000 per month to be currently tracking around 2700 per month ( on the main selling account ) . My second store has seen page views drop around 25% for the same period. Listings in my category are also falling quite markedly.

 

Ebay in its last update to the U.S stock exchange gave forward projections of zero % growth for the coming quarter after accounting for currency fluctuations of around 3%.  This is with a continuing expected growth in seller numbers. More sellers including very large companies and Chinese sellers coupled with no or slow growth in sales = less dollars per seller, particularly for small sellers.

 

The general decline in sales is all formally stated in ebays official U.S Stock market updates which also indicate ebay expects the tough trading conditions to last for some time to come.

 

Having said that it is still possible to sell successfully if you have a product customers really want,  ( I have just had a near record day after listing some sought after items ) But it is getting progressivly harder. The question is  whether the problem is with ebay itself or ongoing global economic uncertainty, which is indicated by current record low interest rates including here in Australia.

 

Whilst it is good to bring a positive note ( and balance ) to threads, a bit of understanding and support for sellers who are struggling is always  appreciated

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

Don't forget that the end of financial year sales have been running for the last few weeks, which may not be helping. A lot of your stuff would normally be cheaper to buy on here but with the sales they are possibly cheaper in the shops at the moment. People may also be waiting for their tax cheques to arrive. 

 

My sales are pretty consistent, but what I sell isn't really available in shops. I do have bad weeks. I use those weeks to catch up on things. This is not my main source of income, so I am lucky in that respect. I really do feel for those where this is their main source. I hope it picks up for you soon.

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

For the past 5-6 months we have been running at about 60-70% down on the average we have been seeing over the past few years.

It's a worry really and has us looking to other selling venues.

 

Our visitors and watchers are way down too. Looks like general traffic is way down on ebay.

We believe that buyers are deserting ebay in droves.

 

We have been told by a few people who would normally buy in our particular category that they no longer prefer to trade on ebay as its just too clunky, glitchy and difficult to navigate around. Also the fact that the place is becoming flooded by cheap Chinese junk that takes ages to arrive has been mentioned to us. All of this equates to bad buyer experiences, the very thing that ebay hammer us sellers for. They should defect themselves.

 

They are now looking for their good quality items in other places so we hope they will find our web site.

 

We have our own web site open now and have also started trading on ETSY.

Both of those are new so sales are slow there too at the moment but early signs are promising tho.

 

We are assuming that it will not pick up again on ebay any time soon so are changing our business model to try to cope with that. We should really have diversified a long time ago.

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EBAY SALES ARE SLOW??

clarry100 - I couldn't have put it better myself!
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