Sales down 70% on last year... what is going on?

[knewdoors]

Unbelievable...been doing Ebay for 10 years and it's never been this bad..our sales compared to last year are around 70% down...18 days at the moment without a sale, when we usually have around 8-10 per month..This has never happened before..we have 100% rating..All of our listings are free to Aussie customers..we ship same day (business day) pop prepaid satchels in post..reg post the next business day....despite all of the reassurance from the reps..i feel something isn't right..is it the lights on lights off theory?? is that real? or just an urban myth...all i know is things have nosedived compared to previous years..sure there is amazon & facebook..& gumtree..product trends change to..but really 70% so drastic Ebay says everything is fine re: page views traffic is coming..the reps are terrible here..arrogant is a word that comes to mind..sure they cant make people buy..but i still think something ain't right and does one get "blacklisted" if you disagree with their views..ie: they choke your traffic..shrugs i have no idea..then i read ebay makes a stack from google ads and we are just providing content to them..what gives...???

[davewil1964]

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@books_unlimited_kk43 wrote:

The time has come the walrus said,  the sun is shining over the sea, even though it is night time. This makes the moon angry and it makes me even more angry. I totally agree and my sales are down around 50%.

I am just a pauper eBay seller and happy to make $5 on each item I sell on ebay, to help supply me in coffee's (I am addicted).

In 2018, my average sales were $300/month. In 2019 at start of year $200/ month, but by end of 2019 to present 2020 is around $160/month. I currently have 130 items for sale, but only 11 watchers, go figure.

Apparently, over 8 million Australians interact with ebay every single month, but where are they?

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From when?

Why do your care how many watchers you have? If they were fair dinkum they would have already purchased.

This thread is a year old.

Are your sales down 50% on a mythical level before that? If not why are you dragging up an old thread? There are plenty of more current ones to post your lament on.

[chameleon54]

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@books_unlimited_kk43 wrote:

The time has come the walrus said,  the sun is shining over the sea, even though it is night time. This makes the moon angry and it makes me even more angry. I totally agree and my sales are down around 50%.

I am just a pauper eBay seller and happy to make $5 on each item I sell on ebay, to help supply me in coffee's (I am addicted).

In 2018, my average sales were $300/month. In 2019 at start of year $200/ month, but by end of 2019 to present 2020 is around $160/month. I currently have 130 items for sale, but only 11 watchers, go figure.

Apparently, over 8 million Australians interact with ebay every single month, but where are they?

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My sales have slowed around 25% since Christmas but I havnt done any sizeable new listings for two months. Before that my sales where going exceptionally well.

The plan is to wait until kids go back to school and people get back to work after chrissy holidays and go on a listing binge. This usually works well to kick start slow sales.

[collect247]

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@books_unlimited_kk43 wrote:

The time has come the walrus said,  the sun is shining over the sea, even though it is night time. This makes the moon angry and it makes me even more angry. I totally agree and my sales are down around 50%.

I am just a pauper eBay seller and happy to make $5 on each item I sell on ebay, to help supply me in coffee's (I am addicted).

In 2018, my average sales were $300/month. In 2019 at start of year $200/ month, but by end of 2019 to present 2020 is around $160/month. I currently have 130 items for sale, but only 11 watchers, go figure.

Apparently, over 8 million Australians interact with ebay every single month, but where are they?

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To me you're one of many sellers who are selling items that may sell over time and not soon after they have been listed.

If you're only after enough money to buy a coffee then why are you complaining?

Personally I might buy only 1 or 2 of the items you sell.

If you have an ebay store then you should at least sell what buyers want if you want to make great sales.

There are plenty of items that sell all year round and like most successful sellers on ebay they put in the hard yards to make them successful meaning sourcing out the items that will attract buyers.

All the best for the coming year.

[party_buzz]

eBay mobile app is terrible and thats where most people shop i think its killed sellers businesses. You can only scroll and see one product at a time you cant adjust it to seen a line of different sellers products say 4 or 6 etc only one. eBay stores are hidden and cheaper items from china are everywhere. Before any one gets to see what else you are selling all the sponsered links are first. So our items are buried. When i go to Etsy the search is great multiple products per page to see and the sellers other items easy to find. The mobile app has killed ebay sales thats for sure. I try to only shop on a desk top or via the browser never the app. I am selling of last stock which will take forever with such slow sales. I closed down my store sales are so bad eBay only one making money. 10yrs ago over 300 sales per week - 5Yrs ago 55 sales per week - Now days 3-8 sales week. eBay will never die because they rip you off on fees everywhere. Waste of time. 

[davewil1964]

But what were your sales like in April LAST YEAR, when the question was asked. Maybe you don't have what people want at prices they are prepared to pay.

Try selling books. A lot of book sellers have reported sales increases of 200%+ during the various lockdowns.

Mine were at that level, but my stock levels are significantly lower than 6 months ago, and replacement stock is hard to source, so I'm only running 100% over last year levels.

[imastawka]

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@party_buzz wrote:

eBay mobile app is terrible and thats where most people shop i think its killed sellers businesses. You can only scroll and see one product at a time you cant adjust it to seen a line of different sellers products say 4 or 6 etc only one. eBay stores are hidden and cheaper items from china are everywhere. Before any one gets to see what else you are selling all the sponsered links are first. So our items are buried. When i go to Etsy the search is great multiple products per page to see and the sellers other items easy to find. The mobile app has killed ebay sales thats for sure. I try to only shop on a desk top or via the browser never the app. I am selling of last stock which will take forever with such slow sales. I closed down my store sales are so bad eBay only one making money. 10yrs ago over 300 sales per week - 5Yrs ago 55 sales per week - Now days 3-8 sales week. eBay will never die because they rip you off on fees everywhere. Waste of time. 

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Good grief!   Are you blaming ebay for poor sales of party supplies during a pandemic?

Or haven't you heard about it?

[springyzone]

I agree, I don't like the mobile app at all either when it comes to looking at ebay items. Much prefer the laptop.

But if you're selling party supplies, I would be surprised if you'd be getting many sales at the moment, especially from Melbourne or Vic. No one is having parties. No one.

[davewil1964]

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@springyzone wrote:

I agree, I don't like the mobile app at all either when it comes to looking at ebay items. Much prefer the laptop.

But if you're selling party supplies, I would be surprised if you'd be getting many sales at the moment, especially from Melbourne or Vic. No one is having parties. No one.

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Some are, but after budgeting for the inevitable fines they wouldn't have enough left over for buying party supplies.

[Anonymous]

Well...in the months since March there has been wholesale job carnage.

It wouldn't surprise me if ebay has become saturated with desperation

listings by people just trying to get by.

I have no idea how many sellers were listing last year compared to now

so I am just guessing.

In effect the whole world is down 70% on this time last year.

The only good thing ebay's algorithm does is try to give everyone a shot at

being seen.

With many thousands of listings perfectly structured to be visible in best match

it doesn't leave much room on page one so we all get turns.

The light at the end of the tunnel will remain a little speck for some time.

LOL

I didn't realise this was such an old thread but what I have said

is most likely a current reason.

[south.coffee]

eBay like the rest of the internet is just overcrowded and if you can't get on page 1 of Google without paying you have very little chance of being heard.

A friend spent a bucket of money on Google Clicks and got zero extra visits and zero sales over one entire month. Said it was a waste of money and unsustainable advertising cost.

I think you are right in that eBay is sharing sellers around with preference deals for established and 'lucrative' sellers. Having tweaked all our items and titles I can't find any other method to increase traffic or sales.

At the end of the day it comes down to buyer demand and how much money is in their pockets.