Sales slump from 1 September 2014

[luxuryhomeliving]

Has anyone notices a drop in sales since 1 Septmber? Quite strange, as my sales have been progressivly going up each month since last year & since 1 September, its dropped horendously.. strange.  Anyone notice the same?

[i-love-my-sheep]

I don't see any ads for external sites......but I have AdBlock Plus installed, so don't see ads on any site. A LOT of people also use that extension, so a certain percentage of people who look at your listings wouldn't be seeing the ads either. 

I was actually shocked a few months ago at how many ads take up so much space on so many sites. I'd forgotten how annoying they were, especially those flashy banner things. AdBlock crashed and I only realised when I started getting ads on the news website.

[casbit33]

I think it may be stress.  A lot of buyers are also sellers, and if they are stressed about the impending money back guarantee policy this might be why they are not buying and sales are down. It's like that for me, i have been focussing my attention on trying to work out what to do on 1st November. I haven't given buying a second thought..

[33_rpm]

10% decrease from last month but 14% increase from last week and my ASP (average sale price) is up (which is even better) as I have raised prices.

[chameleon54]

I purchased a guitar for our son from a long term, experienced  Gumtree seller yesterday. He had the guitar along with half a dozen other music items listed for SIX MONTHS. The guitar which was a well known, mid level, quality brand ( Ibanez Les Paul copy ) had only had 17 views in that time. Needless to say we purchased it for around a third of new price and it was only 12 months old. ( $300.00 for those that are interested )  He had not even had anyone else look at the other items for sale in the six months. His comment was that in the past if he listed that sort of gear on Gumtree it would be gone in two weeks. I was very suprised as the equipment he had for sale was all in great condition, well known brands and priced to sell. Not knocking Gumtree, just suggesting it might be very quiet everywhere at the moment.

[fubu-4021]

Aug/sept and now Oct all down, previous ebay fees $2000+ last month just over $1100

Something is happening

[ithreadz]

My sales are ALARMING low also, from September my sales have dropped by 50%, my ebay fees have been over $2500 per month for over 6 months now and this month they were on $1200, guess what happened - i got a phone call from eBay 2 nights ago asking ME whats going on with my sales!!!! I was so annoyed and she proceeded to tell me that becasue i dont offer free postage, 30 day money back etc etc that it was my fault as i dont have the Premium Banner anymore and so my listings are lower down the chain HOWEVER I have checked and sellers who have the banner are actually lower than me on most searches!  She said there were many sellers like me atm who are down in sales and eBay were currently looking into possible reasons and answers as to why and possible considering making changes.  She said my sales would improve if i got the banner so i just needed to do what she asked, change all my listings and she would give me the "Premium" banner that night.  What a joke, I sell pre-loved and some new designer clothing, i have been selling on here for almost 10 years now and i have 1)never had such low sales & 2)Never been called by eBay!!!  Anyway i refuse to conform to the way ebay want me to conform, buyers are not stupid and know that there is no such thing as free postage etc.and i dont want to inflate my good prices to ad a "hidden" postage cost.  My sales are down due to eBay being too greedy and sadly i am seriously considering giving this away!  I have enjoyed it immensly but i am not doing it for a loss!  The fees are outrageous, especially changing the FVF to include postage charges and now the 180 extended Buyer Protection starting in Nov, its all too much and us private sellers are being sacrificed and screwed.  I hope someone in Australia (or OS) can take on eBay here soon as i am sure they would be inundated with business!!!!

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@qldedeals wrote:
Aug/sept and now Oct all down, previous ebay fees $2000+ last month just over $1100

Something is happening

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[chameleon54]

Purplemands, Agree with your sentiments. My sales are pretty woefull just at the moment. I,m not doing much listing as I am spending most of my time trying to get a new business up and running. ( then its bye bye ) . Ebay has just become too unreliable and hard to get on with. I did buy a huge pile of new stock yesterday so will try to get some time listing next week and hope this kick starts things again. Its a pity, as like you I have had a succesfull couple of years selling here and are sad to see the way it is all heading. The FVF on postage was the last straw for me and the new return policy is just rubbing salt into the wound.

[ithreadz]

Yes Chameleon54, its true and sadly we are not alone, i think it may be the "end of an era" so to speak.  Good luck with your new future business venture, i too am exploring other options, anyway it was good while it lasted!

[thecatspjs]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

Purplemands, Agree with your sentiments. My sales are pretty woefull just at the moment. I,m not doing much listing as I am spending most of my time trying to get a new business up and running. ( then its bye bye ) . Ebay has just become too unreliable and hard to get on with. I did buy a huge pile of new stock yesterday so will try to get some time listing next week and hope this kick starts things again. Its a pity, as like you I have had a succesfull couple of years selling here and are sad to see the way it is all heading. The FVF on postage was the last straw for me and the new return policy is just rubbing salt into the wound.

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Know what you mean about not listing.  Slowly slowly my listings keep dropping to lower levels than ever, whilst I ramp up other income producing activities that don't involve eBay, some proving quite lucrative, whilst others just much more fun than toiling away in this defective environment

Every time over the past several months I get motivated enough to increase the number of my listings to more optimum selling levels, eBay introduce another change which serves to demotivate me entirely from trying to adapt to the defectiveness of this platform.

[digital*ghost]

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@purplemands456 wrote:

My sales are ALARMING low also, from September my sales have dropped by 50%, my ebay fees have been over $2500 per month for over 6 months now and this month they were on $1200, guess what happened - i got a phone call from eBay 2 nights ago asking ME whats going on with my sales!!!! I was so annoyed and she proceeded to tell me that becasue i dont offer free postage, 30 day money back etc etc that it was my fault as i dont have the Premium Banner anymore and so my listings are lower down the chain HOWEVER I have checked and sellers who have the banner are actually lower than me on most searches!  She said there were many sellers like me atm who are down in sales and eBay were currently looking into possible reasons and answers as to why and possible considering making changes.  She said my sales would improve if i got the banner so i just needed to do what she asked, change all my listings and she would give me the "Premium" banner that night.  

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What the? 

That almost sounds like ransom with a hint of bribery to me. Shame on eBay for that kind of "direct marketing" strategy. 😞