Is it just me or has your eBay shop died too???

[ehairsupplies]

In the past 2 months my sales have dropped dramatically!

I was selling $3000/wk now am lucky to sell $300/wk.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

The Chinese have killed my category, this place will end up just being full of Chinese factories from what I am seeing and no Aussies will be able to make any money if the product comes from China.

[kopenhagen5]

While we are talking about the Chinese on ebay.

BE AWARE, there seem to be more scam sellers or hijacked accounts opening up from China.

As word gets around amongst unscrupulous people in China these will undoubtedly increase.

[auto2retro]

First time in nearly 10 years I have come to the community looking for an same answer.

I was wondering whether ebay had penalised me but Top Rated Seller status hasn't changed. Maybe ebay had changed the search process or google has mucked around with their algorithm again! 

After showing steady growth all year sales over the last 3 plus weeks have dived dramatcially. I was hoping there was an answer on here......

Lots watching & I have even become more creative with free post/discounted post & offering to deliver items but not converting to sales! 

Chinese imports don't affect what I sell so can't blame them.....I do this full time so really need it to work.........

[sueken4812]

Just record the worst week I've had in a long time.  It just seems to keep getting worse.  I can't work out what's going wrong.  The sales come in burst.  some when I am switched on, the sales come through.  But the switched on seems to be less and less.

[egglesdtp]

I've never had so many items listed simultaneously on ebay - nearly 500 across two IDs - after taking advantage of the 100 free listings last weekend on both IDs plus using up my free monthly 40, plus some still running on the 3 free relists. And how many items have I sold this weekend? One. So yes, all that hard work is really paying off. Not.

[print-stuff-and-things]

I'm sorry, but really, blaming the Chinese? I would say that most 'Aussi sellers' are sourcing their products from China to re-sell on here anyway! (If not directly re-selling, then packaging etc, etc) There wouldn't be one Aussi seller that doesn't use something from China. At the moment labour is cheap in China and so is postage. That's just the way it is - capitalism! What has changed is something with ebay. I'm not sure what it is - perhaps buyers find it too clunky to use now and they are buying elsewhere or maybe it's problems searching or all the stupid changes putting people off? I dunno, but please stop blaming of the Chinese.

[chameleon54]

I hav'nt done any serious listing on my stores for a couple of months which slows sales normally. Taking this into account, my sales are still reasonably steady and do jump when I get around to listing a few new items. The 100 freebies on the personal account went quite well ( not huge, but still solid ) with good clearance rates and some multiple bid auctions achieving above expectations.

My sales are not affected by the Chinese in any way, so maybe the Chinese thing is part of the answer for many sellers who are struggling.  I suspect there are also bigger changes at play, such as reduced google rankings for ebay listings and changes to "in house" ebay search rankings affecting many local sellers ..

I Hope things pick up for everyone soon   

[knewdoors]

one word for us : WOEFUL compared to last year..sales down by 60%...The Ebay expereicne isnt what it used to be..storelights turned off..too many Chinese sellers..bad search engine results....fees..etc etc..

[everard6920]

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@print-stuff-and-things wrote:

I'm sorry, but really, blaming the Chinese? I would say that most 'Aussi sellers' are sourcing their products from China to re-sell on here anyway! (If not directly re-selling, then packaging etc, etc) There wouldn't be one Aussi seller that doesn't use something from China. At the moment labour is cheap in China and so is postage. That's just the way it is - capitalism! What has changed is something with ebay. I'm not sure what it is - perhaps buyers find it too clunky to use now and they are buying elsewhere or maybe it's problems searching or all the stupid changes putting people off? I dunno, but please stop blaming of the Chinese.

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It depends. As I've mentioned before, I sell imported goods, so I'm not going to sit here and complain about international sellers, nor am I a fan of xenophobic sentiments.

However, in my category, the Chinese sellers most definitely influence sales (and search results) by selling poor quality rip-offs of my (and other seller's) products.

I can easily discern between what is genuine and what is not, but a buyer (especially one buying for their child/sister/whoever), may not. They just see the price and think, "oh, that one's much cheaper".

With that said, you have to deal with your competition no matter where they are from. I created an information page in my store to help buyers tell the difference between genuine goods and non-genuine goods.

I also offer fast postage, gift wrapping, and other service features that most of my competitors do not. I am the leading seller in my category right now.

I also buy a range of goods on eBay, and a tip to all sellers that might prove helpful: you're not doing yourself any favours by using stock photos. Sometimes, I search for something, and 90% of listings use the same picture. You might not think that it makes a difference to take your own photos, but it definitely does (to me, as a buyer). It makes you stand out, and that's what the problem is here. Of course, sometimes stock photos are needed, but remember you're SELLING the product - so really sell it! Take pictures of ALL of its features. Just one feature might be enough to convince the buyer to purchase.

Ditto descriptions - I absolutely hate clicking on a listing and having to scroll through 5 headings that all say the same thing (usually the name of the item in various sizes and colours). Write the description as if there is no photo.

You can't always beat other sellers with price, but it's not always about price (especially if the difference is minimal).

[tea_warehouse]

same here, sales go down by at least 50~70 % from past two months.

My sales was start to drop from July this year, and I think I am in bottom now.

Few factors might involved for drop of sales.

• Economic - rise in unemployment rate, uncertainty about downturn of property market, increase of interest rate, people are more uncertain about future therefore more conservative with their spending.
• ebay policy (embrace of giant retail store)- as ebay is flooded by giant retail store in the street, then ebay became less attractive as it is not more an interesting place to shop around
• Ebay policy (less seller friendly) - lots of non senses rules and just want to make buyer 200% satisify, by making sellers upset.
• ebay users find ebay less interesting place to shop around.
• Chinese seller - Sellers in China is not trustworthy for the product they offer, as I can see the sale price couldn't even covered the cost of product itself.  
• Australia Post (domestic) - should lower the price of small parcel (says 250g) and make post man to deliver small parcel. By doing this Australia post would much more competitive edge.
• Australia Post (international) - extremely high international postage. It makes impossible for seller to connect to the rest of the world. Australian government does not stand to help trading business in Australia.

In fact, all other ebay sellers are experiencing drop in sales. Not only sellers in Australia, but also sellers in China and rest of the world. Because I have track their feedback per month and I can see it is dropping degree is the same as I am experiencing now.

[knewdoors]

there's a difference to fact & "xenophobia" everard... sales drops have nothing to do with "xenophobia"..it's simply the poor experience that is Ebay today..if you want to whine about political correctness suggest you go to some other suitable forum for handwringers..