Sales on my eBay shop have dropped over 70%. I cant seem to find out why?
I have been selling on eBay for over 8 years. In the past 12 months l have been averaging between $500 - $900 per week.
In the past month it has dropped over 70% and l can't see why.
I cannot find anyone from eBay customer service who can help me on this.
How can l have over 500,000 impressions & not sell anything over a 10 day period, when before l was averaging 1 sale a day.
Can anyone help me?
Andrew
40 comments
countessalmirena
·2 years agoPerhaps the experience is different for different categories, or for some different sellers at different times.
I don’t doubt that having a great range of products and being au courant with what’s wanted by buyers is pivotal. Top quality listings will always speak to the buyer, too. But eBay DO hide some listings sometimes. I can’t fathom why, but it does happen. I’d looked for a particular item listed by several Australian sellers (major sellers), but wasn’t ready yet to buy as I was still comparing models and brands. All of a sudden the best-priced one of that item was no longer visible with the search terms that defined it. It wasn’t there in completed/sold listings either. But when I thought to look in my watched items list, there it was, still available, still the best price. The title field and description hadn’t changed; and re-searching for it still came up with nothing.
Even when I copy-pasted the title in its entirety, enclosed by quotation marks, it was not returned in the search results.
I accessed it again from my watched list, and did end up buying it.
I have subsequently seen similar things happen.
Perhaps it’s a glitch, but that’s cold comfort to sellers who suddenly find a dearth of sales.
davewil1964
·2 years agoIt's not a glitch. Ex-eBay employees have admitted in the past that eBay do use a lights on/off approach.
Happily I'm in a lights on situation.
carolinebennett
·2 years agoI haven't sold anything for 4 days. Doesn't sound like much, but all of my listings are promoted and previously I might have gone ONE day. Logically, I should be acknowledging that the financial 'gloom' is to blame, but 4 days with nothing seems very odd.
Caroline
p9games
·2 years agoThis question is raised frequently on this forum. Some sellers believe it's nonsense voodoo magic and there is a code that one needs to conform to in order to win favour with the Ebay algorithm gods. List new items, change descriptions regularly, change the font colour of your listings from pantone 826 to pantone 825 and so on and on
Then you have the other camp - the people that proclaim the ending of Ebay. They've seen the 4 horsemen of the ecommerce apocalypse and have moved to other 'better' platforms because Ebay is dying and/or run by a cabal of malevolent space monkeys.
The truth is selling on Ebay is a business. Business is unpredictable. And success requires you having a detailed knowledge of your market, your customers and your products. If your sales are down I'd steer clear of the crackpot conspiracy nuts and the doom and gloomers, and go back to basics of operating a business. Research the market (on and off ebay). Look at product trends, pricing, macro economic factors and the like. Experiment with pricing, promotions, product bundles. Improve your listings, introduce new product lines and so on.
Good luck
chameleon54
·2 years ago" This question is raised frequently on this forum. Some sellers believe it's nonsense voodoo magic and there is a code that one needs to conform to in order to win favour with the Ebay algorithm gods. List new items, change descriptions regularly, change the font colour of your listings from pantone 826 to pantone 825 and so on and on "
Theres always been the knockers and their Kudos supporters on these forums who have a lot to say but never back anything up with proof. ( one of the reasons I rarely post here anymore ) A quick look at some forum posters selling accounts show a lot of what they say is B$.
So what real evidence can we glean from my current selling chart shown below.
1) 90 day sales at $6600 after $4300 sales this month shows an account that was stagnating at around $1000 per month in sales. A dramatic reduction on what it used to run. An account in major sales decline. ( the OP's concern )
2) If you check the chart you will see three peaks 25th July $600, 31st july $1100 & 20th August $450, each followed by a taper of better sales. These are the days I finished bulk auction listings with the tapers being both unsold, relisted BINS and existing BINS that had not moved in years. It clearly shows auctions are achieving very high visibility in search algoythms at the moment.
3) There is a break of several days after the auction tapers with no sales. Algorythms turning against the account as large sales have been made in previous days. The evidence is clearly there for anyone who knows or cares where to look.
4) quite good sales of existing BINS from 7th Aug to 13th Aug as the account normalises but responds to recent account activity to provide better BIN sales ( up to $160 per day ) than was being achieved before. After this sales again taper off as no new listings have been done for a couple of weeks.
5) Note the $2500 in sales from 25th July to 4th August ( ten day period ) proving that dramatically improved sales can be made from stagnant accounts if high quality stock that people actually want is listed.
Successful ebay selling is as much about understanding computer algorythms as it is about understanding your customers needs or what items sell. Get any one of these three wrong and you are doomed to ebay mediocraty.
sugar249
·2 years agoAbout the only valid comment amongst your so called evidence
sugar249
·2 years agoWow you have time to check who is giving Kudo's to who, I am to busy packing my sales to worry about that
chameleon54
·2 years agoThe OP's question is a common one. Why do accounts experience dramatic drops in sales and is it possible to quickly turn around a stagnating account that is experiencing a dramatic drop in sales ?
I have shown proof that it is possible to turn accounts around quickly and have explained how it was done and the understanding of what causes it in the first place. If any of the other nasty knockers who inhabit this forum can provide proof of similar turn arounds and explanations of how it was achieved I'm sure that would be most welcome by everyone.
As for this little Gem
" the people that proclaim the ending of Ebay. They've seen the 4 horsemen of the ecommerce apocalypse and have moved to other 'better' platforms because Ebay is dying "
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/ebay-statistics/
The proof is there for anyone to see. Ebay's charts and data for buyer numbers and GMV ( gross Merchandise Volume ) or " actual stuff sold " on ebay continued to rise since it was formed up until around 3 years ago. Since then, active buyer numbers and GMV ( Stuff actually sold ) has declined rapidly to now be sitting back where the company was in 2013. Long before COVID had any influence on global e-commerce. The only thing that is holding is ebay profit. This is being achieved by taking a bigger slice of the sellers pie through promoted listings or pay to play. No pay, no play ( unless you can understand and find other ways around the algorythms that drive visibility ).
This is at a time when more people are moving to online shopping than ever before. While I have not yet moved to other sites I am certainly watching the ebay global data and factoring it into future decisions. For now I have no reason to move as I can still generate all the sales I want here if I put the time and effort into it. Less sellers means less competition in the specialised areas I sell in.
These forums can be a great place for people to share experience and advice. Its a pity a few have trashed them with their constant nasty posts that have driven so many forum posters away. Some of the ones who have left where highly experienced sellers who shared some great insights into how ebay really works. Pity, but that seems to be the way some people choose to approach anonymous social media. It says a lot about their character and what sort of people they really are.
Good Luck to everyone. See you round some time.
eol-products
·2 years agoAre you using promoted listings. I have always found regular listing improves sales as I don't pay for any promoted listings or send out any offers. Usually takes around 2 weeks of constant listing to get things moving again and can usually go a week or so without any new listings once things improve.
Also for me the new listings only account for a small amount of the sales when it increases and most items are usually 6 months or older.
gutterpunkz05
·2 years agoBye again CHam, thought you would have been too busy with your million dollar project, to be bothered with ebay. But I suppose everyone needs a hobby.
chameleon54
·2 years agoOnly a million ?
Since you raised it the actual figure was $2.5 Million.
With the high volatility in the property market, I have been trading in real estate for the last 18 months. Profit actually taken in cash was $600,000 and another $900,000 in capital gains, so around $1.5 mill. profit for 18 months work. And as always I can back this up with proof if you really want ( screenshots of around 3/4 $million cash going into my bank account, Valuer General valuations on rates notices etc. )
As for managing Qantas, No middle age white guy is going to get that gig ( unless of course they identify as one of the woke special groups ) It doesnt matter how good they are.
But yes you are right - Everyone needs a hobby ...........
Now sit back and watch the fur fly ...........😉 .........Bye for now - other stuff to do .............
repentatleisure1952
·2 years agoI can't speak for others.
However I'm impressed & humbled by your modesty.
sugar249
·2 years agoGoing to ignore the rest of your diatribe, but at least we all know how good you are, not sure why you aren't running Qantas, they need some guidance.
But I just love the gem above. In regards to using anonymous accounts, says the Camelion who is using an anonymous account LOL
Bye we will miss you
*sons_n_daughters*
·2 years agoYou may find that they haven't been driven away, they have died. Sadly, it happens. Some we hear about, some we don't.
davewil1964
·2 years agoAlgorithms
p9games
·2 years agoRather than algorithms I care about business fundamentals. Great customer experience and service. Wide range of product. Quality listings. Sophisticated, constantly evolving and automated software and systems. My business doubled in 2020 (covid) and has grown 20% or more every year thereafter. In an incredibly competitive market I'm in the top 3 sellers and by FAR am the largest seller in my category on ebay that does not also operate a bricks and mortar store (or chain of stores).
To suggest that Ebay punishes you by slowing down your sales after a large selling period is nonsense. I mean why would ebay do that? What possible motivation would a market place, who takes a cut of your takings, have for slowing down your sales? With all due respect it's absurd. Ebay wants sellers to sell as much as possible to maximise it's own earnings.
If you, or any other seller wants to grow their ebay business their focus should be on running a sound business not trying to second guess (and blame) a piece of code because of their own inexperience or inability to run a business.
springyzone
·2 years agoI've heard reports from a couple of regular sellers that ebay sales have been down for a while.
You seem to have a fair few items listed & I suspect they are the same types of things you normally have listed so if sales have dropped 70% in the last month, and nothing for 10 days, then something is going on.
The economy isn't great and a lot of people are being a bit more careful, especially with interest rates going up & up. But that's been happening for several months.
I suspect your items aren't as visible on ebay, for some reason. I'm not saying they aren't visible at all, but maybe they don't pop up on the first page of search results or whatever.
Perhaps as someone else said, you need to have new listings almost daily to stay up near the top.
You mentioned 500,000 impressions. Does that mean views?
If you have only had about 90 items listed this month, then I totally don't believe they have had 500,000 views in that time. The ebay register may be faulty. I believe that out of 500,000 views, you would have had to have at least one sale. So something is faulty somewhere but I doubt ebay will ever admit to it. Things may change though next month, you never know.
Overall, I would guess these things are affecting sales
-you're not showing up high in search results at the moment, for some reason
-the economy is causing some people to slow up with non essential spending (although your items aren't all that dear & someone could justify a purchase if they tell themselves that catching fish will be an economy measure & save money)
-not prime fishing or holiday weather yet
-other sales sites. eg BFC online, which is currently having a sale. I actually think this is a big one in that when people want to buy something and google it, they will, these days, be looking at stores that sell that stuff & a lot of people don't think of ebay as a first port of call any more.
But that still doesn't explain a sudden drop of 70%. Your items are just not showing up as high in the searches is what I suspect.
sugar249
·2 years agoImpressions sounds more correct then views. As actual views will be way less then impressions, I think my store runs something like 5% of impressions turn into views.
But be it views or impressions it is just a ridiculous statement to say that they must result in at least one sale. There are so many reasons why people wont buy from this particular seller, that you cant just assume there must be a sale.
springyzone
·2 years agoWhat is an impression then, exactly? I have to admit to being confused if an impression is not a view.
I don't think it is ridiculous to say that that total of views should result in a sale.
Statistically speaking, it would be very unlikely that 500,000 views of an item (and in my previous post I was assuming an impression meant a view, which may be mistaken but is what I thought at the time) would result in not one sale.
I know there are a lot of reasons why people view and don't buy. I certainly don't buy everything I view either.
But I'll put it this way-if 500,000 people wandered into Kmart for a look around, I'd be shocked to find it didn't result in even one sale.
You are right in that it isn't a 100% certainty; it could possibly result in no sales. Just that I think it is statistically unlikely.
sugar249
·2 years agoWe count an impression when a link to your listing appears on eBay. At this point, the buyer is one click away from your listing page.
Listing Views
The number of visits to all your item listing pages.
ie. impressions can be when your item is shown as a suggestion, at the bottom of another sellers item, or in search results. A view is only when someone actually views the page.
To use your K mart analogy Westfirld may have 500,000 people walking past Kmart (impression), but only 10,000 of those walk into the store (view).
Impressions is really only a number to give you warm and fuzzies. It's views that count.
springyzone
·2 years agoJust did the maths.
If 5% of impressions (whatever they may be) turn into views, that is roughly 27,500 views. On about 90 items.
I am cynical. I have my doubts the ebay counter is accurate. That's an awful lot of views. It's well down from 500,000 I know, but over a 10 day period, I'd expect it to average out at maybe 9,000 views. (if it is a monthly counter)
I would still be surprised if I had 9,000 explicit viewings of my ad and not one sale. If we were talking about extremely expensive, luxury items, it might be more understandable but we're not. We're talking about prices that start at about $9.95 with free postage.
I just find it odd that with that number of supposed views, not one sale?
sugar249
·2 years agoBut still possible.
Just checked my click through rate is actually 1.6% at the moment.
I looked at the ads and there are cheaper sinkers and stuff around so, why would I buy from OP. the ads look great as, but when you actually view them you see to get any decent sinkers its not the low price its the higher price.
springyzone
·2 years agoThanks for explaining views/impressions.
It's the first time I had come across the term impressions.
Personally, if I were still selling, I wouldn't be grateful for the 'impressions' ebay uses in my ads as I know (as a buyer) that often when I look at something, it will show me same or similar items underneath from other sellers.
As a buyer, I sometimes click on one or other of them, sometimes not.
It is hard to say how the buying public acts at times.
I looked at the ads and there are cheaper sinkers and stuff around so, why would I buy from OP. the ads look great as, but when you actually view them you see to get any decent sinkers its not the low price its the higher price.
I don't fish so I'm not the ideal judge but on other things, I have sometimes paid a higher price if I thought the item would be higher quality & it was from a reliable seller, so I could count on getting it reasonably quickly.
A 70% drop in sales just seems a lot in one month. I can imagine it could happen to some products over a year but in one month, it does seem very sudden. I am just not convinced changes in the economy count for all of it. I still suspect this seller's items aren't showing as high in the searches at the moment, for some reason.
It would be interesting if hookemsinkem could come back in another month and let us know if there has been any change in the pattern.
chameleon54
·2 years agohttps://www.businessofapps.com/data/ebay-statistics/
Back to the future - 2013 to be exact
chameleon54
·2 years agoI havnt been on the forums for quite awhile and have scaled my ebay selling back over recent months. Closed one store and running another one down.
I,m still keeping one store stocked up pretty well and ticking over. What I have noticed is that ebay is really hitting accounts that dont have a lot of activity. ( more than in the past ) If you are not constantly listing, revising and selling, your items drop completely from searches pretty quickly at the moment.
The economy is definately affecting sales, but there is still buyers out there for the right stuff. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a bulk lot of high quality stock ( specialist books ) for $800 and spent several full days listing them for auction. I received multiple bids and international enquiry for a number of items and a lot of stuff that didnt sell at auction sold quickly when relisted as BIN's All up around $2.5 K in sales in ten days and about the same in listed stock still to sell.
With average sales over 90 days on that account sitting at around $6K it shows that it is still possible to get results with intense listing activity and auctions of decent quality stock. All up its encouraging enough that I might start trying a bit harder on ebay now.
twyngwyn
·2 years agoI agree....you have to list every day.....but a bit hard when life gets in the way....
eol-products
·2 years agoSave some as drafts and use those for days you can't list.
countessalmirena
·2 years ago(waves hello to Chameleon)
davewil1964
·3 years agoMy sales have spiked over the last week.
Maybe people are deciding to stay at home and read a book rather than going fishing. A title I would love to have.
etb321
·3 years agoIt's warming up a bit now but the last couple of weeks the weather down south has been seriously cold. Not the weather to think about going fishing.
sugar249
·3 years agoIf by down south you mean Melbourne, we have had one of our warmer winters for a long time.
And besides a serious fisher person like a serious golf person doesnt let weather deter them.
countessalmirena
·3 years agoSome warmer times but also some extremely chilly times…
It’s a long time since I’ve gone fishing. I think I was put off when my father insisted he’d caught a gummy shark and I could see clearly that it was a stingray.
love_of_cars
·3 years agoI didn't think about the cold! It's been sooo cold here in VIC for weeks and weeks.
supermussolinibros*
·2 years ago$160 before fees in sales in 1 week - WOW , dave's rockin ebay!
Congrats Sir!
Who said albo has wrecked the joint - sales going gangbusters, dude!
gutterpunkz05
·2 years agoSo where does ebay rank in the scheme of things, online still very much at the top of the tree, those who think other market places are performing any better are dreaming.
The economy is in a big hole, and unlikely to improve anytime soon, despite what pollies want to tell you.
More and more tents popping up all over the place, Companys/builders collapsing almost daily, more immigrants arriving arriving daily (to boost tax base) and the housing shortage just keeps getting bigger.
Great time to buy stock, as long as you have storage space and can afford to hold it.
davewil1964
·2 years agoNo, gutter, musso swears by FB Marketplace.
love_of_cars
·3 years agoHey guy, it's just the economy. Same with me - buyers I usually have from all around the world on eBay and my website have gone missing the past few weeks and I'm really having to push my marketing to get any kind of interest in my artworks.
We hear in the news that people are spending mostly on essentials since the price of bread went from 95c to $2.40 in just a couple of years. Many are also switching from preferred brands to cheaper home brand stuff so they can pay their increased energy bills and entertainment subscription services.
But........ you go to shopping centres here in VIC and they are so packed with people. Was at DFO to find my son a new pair of shoes and there were so many people buying big new luggage bags for their international holidays. Every single shop had people in all the isles and so many cars were double-parked outside, yet we are told that spending is down. It doesn't make sense.
I see you sell fishing stuff. I guess my own experience would relate to that. On the weekend we looked at planning our December holiday away with the kids but were shocked to see accommodation prices in the thousands with a minimum of 3 nights required. So now we're not going away. Road trips maybe, but not a multi-day traditional resort holiday this year.
sugar249
·3 years agoMany possible reasons. You are getting impressions so your ads are being seen. so the options.
1. Another seller has better pricing.
2. Over inflated prices.
3. People just don't want your stuff
4. Economic conditions
5. Etc, etc, etc
paper-jack
·3 years agoI can't help you in that I keep my fish in a pond and don't eat them. However I can offer an observation. I very much suspect the constant economic news telling people not to spend has something to do with current drop in sales for many sellers.