a massive decline in sales on Ebay

[daintreejudi]

Is anyone else experiencing a decline in sales?  I cannot believe how bad it has got, my sales have been reduced by more than half for same time last year, having problems keeping up with relisting fees, only ones making any money is Ebay

[jimbojones99]

Now that we are on the subject of declining ebay sales, i too, have never seen it so quiet.

If anyone gets a moment, could they have a quick look at my listings and tell me what I am doing wrong please?

Sales have nearly died and I don't know what my problem is.

Thanks in advance.

[springyzone]

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@phantomchris1984 wrote:

facebook lets you sell now and gumtree which is free. ebay is too expensive. the final value fee is pretty expensive for low cost items.

it should be like 50 cents or something for like $20 items but its like $2. then there is like $1 paypal then postage and it soon comes down to like $14 in your pocket or less from $20 when its free elswhere. now thats excluding the $1.50 insertion fee if you run out of free ones that month.

ebay encorages free postage included in cost but you have to subsidise postage sometime plus they take fee from postage now. loose loose situation.

ebay is done. 😞

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You're right about FB & gumtree being sales sites but I have found they only work on some items and with FB, you have to pick your group carefully. FB works wonderfully for things such as baby items if you live in a young area. Gumtree works reasonably well for some furniture items.

But for smaller items such as books, forget it on gumtree. I had bundles of books on for months. really good quality hardcovers at about $4 a bundle and barely got any views, let alone sales. I took the ads down after a couple of months & donated to the op shop but I have seen the same titles go on ebay from about $10+ each.

The pivotal difference is for small items, people can't be bothered driving to look or pick up, they would  often be as happy to have them posted out. And they don't have to live close to the sellers if they do that, so sellers have a wider sales area on ebay.  That's the main difference I can see, anyway. That  and the fact they can pay on ebay for a small item with a bit more confidence they can get money back if they don't receive the goods.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@x3n0m wrote:

Plus, the fee on postage has been there for several years now.

Doesn't make it right .. You make it sound like you like it .. the reason it is there is because our ACCC are a pack of traitorous machiavellian thugs (with the American Chamber of Commerce as their leader in chief) ..

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How do you come to that conclusion??? Do you have cameras in my house to see me go all warm and gooey each time I have to pay my eBay fees? I thought my intense love of fees was my secret. Looks like I'll have to go back to loving the cat again instead. Oh well.

[x3n0m]

Looks like I'll have to go back to loving the cat again instead.

.. your message is confusing .. is english your first language? ..

[springyzone]

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@x3n0m wrote:

Looks like I'll have to go back to loving the cat again instead.

.. your message is confusing .. is english your first language? ..

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I'd be pretty sure it is. or else she's awfully competent in a second language. She was just being a bit flippant.

She's right, you know. The ebay fees have been there on postage for a while now.

Doesn't make it a popular move, of course. But it's a bit like stamp duty on houses. Absolute govt rip off but if you want to buy a house, you're stuck with it. Same on ebay-want to use it, you're stuck with their terms and conditions.

Me- I came ontothese messageboards ages ago, hoping to pick up some selling tips after a time away. What it has done is turn me off using ebay to sell a lot. I am a lot more wary now. Mind you, it has made me a lot more confident as a buyer. I probably wouldn't put up with some of the stuff (as buyer or seller) that we did in the past.

[x3n0m]

She was just being a bit flippant.

Very nice of you to come here and explain it all ..

She's right, you know. The ebay fees have been there on postage for a while now.

.. oh that goes without saying .. of course she is right .. never been wrong .. she wasn't being a sadistic troll at all .. and your not her apologist .. now I needs to wash myself .. all over ..

[lm-entertainment]

Since you're criticising people's English; I believe it is "you're" and you "need" to wash yourself? 

[x3n0m]

If anyone gets a moment, could they have a quick look at my listings and tell me what I am doing wrong please?

I can't see anything that is wrong about "your" listings (can grammar police confirm spelling?) ..

.. it is likely that it is the lack of money held by grass-roots consumers throughout the economy that is causing the marked slowdown in sales many are experiencing for the last few months etc .. stuff is still selling albeit slowly .. my advice is; just don't make the mistake of investing in large amounts of slow moving stock as things may not improve in a hurry or ever .. in my opinion it is a good time to offload unwanted stuff from around the house etc .. (downsize and consolidate and make do with what you own etc).. I am enjoying selling unwanted items and replacing them with wanted items but indicate I am not a business seller at all ..

In my opinion in this economic climate buyer expectations are very high and it is a buyer's market .. what I often do and it doesn't always work is: perhaps if you have a bit of wriggle room maybe try bringing prices down incrementally until your stuff sells .. when it still doesn't sell I just give it away or garage sale it for very very cheap and make someone happy etc ..

[4476.iveco]

Back on topic, I read somewhere on the forum to tweek selling catagories.  I tried that & changed from unisex clothing (where I have been successful for many years) to mens clothing, although women buy the most.  The result is about a 25% increase in sales over the last 6 weeks, so why, I don't know.  Not that amounts to anything great, but its better than it was.  Our own website is taking a hiding too with over 4500 visits in less than 3 days, but only a few sales.

[brerrabbit585]

Without opening any of your listings and just looking at the titles, I can see that a lot of things wouldn't show in a search because of the lack of vital keywords.

Unless people specifically search for airline kits because they collect them, you might be better to say what they actually consist of, and have 'travel kit' in the title.

If your apple dumpling is a doll, it'd have a much better chance of selling if you used the word doll in the title.

I'm not sure how a vintage 80s/90s handbag can be brand new. If it's old but never been opened, it's still not brand new as some things deteriorate with age even if they're not used. You'd be better to say vintage but unused or something similar. Your current wording makes it sound like it might be in a vintage style rather than be old.

Your ladies retro/vintage 50s hat has plenty of space to include knitted, and perhaps the name of the style if you can find it out.

You're probably better stating the actual items in the title of the japanese listing and dropping the words cultural and souvenir, unless you know for a fact that people search for those two words. Specific words relating to what the items are always work better than descriptive words like rustic, cultural, etc.