Sales way down for the last 2 months Aug-Sep 2016

[gameofbricks]

As the Subjects states.....Anyone else feeling the pinch?

If anything i have increased my listings yet not much is moving.

Did ebay change something i missed?

[lyndal1838]

I see you are new to the boards.

Have a look round and you will see that there are a lot of sellers with the same problem as you have.....and for a lot longer.

Ebay has been changing things for a long time and most of it is not for the better.

[transport-posters]

There's been heaps of concern from fellow sellers about this over the past 6 months.  Just use the page numbers at the top and bottom to jump back and see the subjects of the posts to read about it.

[chameleon54]

I suspect some people think I,ve got a few too many Kangaroos in the top paddock, but I have mentioned before that my stores sales seem to be pre set at a fixed figure each month + or - 2 %.  This months sales came in 1.4% below what I believe my sales limit to be. ( within the 2% deviation )  

There are other sellers on International forums reporting this phenomena, but is anyone else on the Australian forums experiencing this ???

[jellybirddesigns]

My July and August were double what they were in 2015, however, my Septermber was half of 2015.

There's no real reason for it - even B&M shops have quiet periods.

[davewil1964]

Yes.

[collect247]

Please explain?

[chameleon54]

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@didawaywith wrote:

Please explain?

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I have two stores that are linked in ebays systems. I linked them originally to get an increase on selling limits when the second store was established.

Every month my total combined sales for the two stores are within 2 % of a specific figure. ( several thousand dollars ) . This figure does not change regardless of wether I list a lot of new items or none at all. ( relying on the 2000 listings I have to maintain sales. )  It makes no difference if its summer, winter, christmas or a federal election. My sales each month come in at the same figure. If retail is slow in Australia, my O/S sales increase to compensate.

My limit appears to have been lowered around 12 months ago. Before that my sales where still consistent to within 2 % of a set figure, but that figure was much higher.

I also sell on a non store account, just using the 40 monthly freebies, plus any extras I find courtesy of links in the forums. This account is completely unregulated. If the items I am selling one month are junk, I dont sell much. If I list quality items I can sell several thousand dollars a month on this account. This is how a free market should operate. Sales should be up and down depending on circumstances..

The benefit of knowing before hand how much I will sell means I can budget on funds being available to pay bills etc. The disadvantage is, I know it doesnt matter what I do, I cant grow my business on ebay. It takes away a lot of the incentive to put in extra effort to run a dynamic, growing  business. It encourages sellers to just coast along in a sea of mediocrity.

[digital*ghost]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

There are other sellers on International forums reporting this phenomena, but is anyone else on the Australian forums experiencing this ???

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Yes and no, but I think my categories have something to do with that - as in, over the years I've built up a number of regular customers who consistently purchase the same items in various volumes, so no matter what eBay does (or tries to do), those buyers can always come to my store a put a spanner in eBay's works (so to speak) by buying whatever they want.

I do experience very similar averages over longer periods of time (I'm talking more like 3-4 months, rather than 1 month). For example, since I received a single order early in September, the value of which was more than I can sometimes turnover in a week, my eBay sales have been quieter than they've been for a while, but long-term average is still creeping up (ever so slowly).

In years gone past, when I was still establishing my store and transitioning from clothing to my current categories, I doubled, tripled or quandrupled sales volume / value every year from August to December, expecting a sharp drop right after Christmas, but the drop never came.... Things would slow a bit, but I ultimately maintained the pre-Christmas sales volume during the next year, with some fluctuations (up to 20% on a week to week basis, but long term it was quite consistent)

Until last year, anyway, when I experienced maybe a 25% increase in that period and went back to normal after Christmas, and so far haven't seen much (if any) increase this year, either, which could be due to a variety of things. If my average turnover is limited (or controlled) by eBay in some ways, then this pattern would suggest eBay let the market decide it up to a point, and if I can handle the increased volume, allows it to continue to a degree, but that perhaps I've reached the limit of their current graces. 😄 

[englishrosegardens]

September was good, most of August was good.  July was a lot slower than usual but this was thanks to ebay making changes to the category.  They did the same late last year and it seemed to take buyers a while to figure out to how to find anything.  I'm not sure how they find anything now because I usually give up whenever I try to browse my main category!  July has always been my best month by far but this year it was way below what other months usually are.