topic Re: SALES dead in the water !!!! in Selling

SALES dead in the water !!!!

rosiegrinsel — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:38:30 GMT

My Ebay sales are gradually GRINDING TO A HALT !!

I am a Top Rated seller with around 20 items rolling over every 30 days

* All with Free Postage

* All with big watch counts

* 100% feedback score

Since the beginning of May.

1st to 16th May............... 56 sales (around my normal figure)

17th to 31st May ........... 28 sales (NO sales at all 17th - 19th May)

1st June to 16th June...... 27 sales

17th June to 20th (today) ... 4 sales

EBay please tell me please WHAT IS GOING ON ?????

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

thecatspjs — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:21:18 GMT

New competitor ???

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

phorum_junkie* — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:29:47 GMT

It is hard to sustain a store with only a few items listed, works much better if you use all your free listing allowance. Also why not try listing a few related products so you are more likely to appear in searches and people may buy one of your prints with another item.

Times are hard and more and more people are going to look at cheaper ways of doing things, if I wanted something like you are selling I would create and print it myself.

You may have had a niche market for a while but others looking to start selling on ebay may have seen your products, realised they can do similar and so started selling in competition. To succeed long term on ebay you have to be prepared to be flexible and to change your business model if needed.

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

cicero6911 — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:58:35 GMT

Me too rosiegrinsel. Exactly the same pattern of decline in my sales. IMO it is mainly the rather drastic economic climate...no one has money to spend on niceties and non essentials. High personal debt coupled with rising cost of living. Hopefully the new financial year will bring renewed hope. One thing is for sure: it aint got nothing to do with what you are or arent doing!

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

the-fab-gift-shop — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:12:13 GMT

Check to see if you items are actually being listed. Problem with search engines this month.

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

2106greencat — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:15:35 GMT

You are not alone rosie - I am suffering, like you I would be selling ten times the amount in normal times, I am counting on the prediction that it will pick up after EOFY - of course it is MY prediction, so here's hoping 😞

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

little*lotus!! — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:21:40 GMT

I'm selling no where near as much as I was a few months ago...I wish I knew why! ?:|

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

pinktoedannie — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 23:28:58 GMT

Check your listings under a separate buying ID - chances are the new ebay feature, advertising competitors items between the price and description - are taking buyers away from your listings.

They are directly under the price/picture and before the description, and will be the same, or similar items generally cheaper and frequently from china.
The thing that annoys me most is ebay has slyly made it so these don't show on my listings when I check under my seller ID but always show when I check under a buying ID, so they are trying to hide the true story.
It's insulting and annoying they draw people, who have clicked on my listing due to the title, gallery and placing in best match - so are half way to buying - away from my listing, before they even get a chance to read the description.

Every seller needs to complain.

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

winkler78 — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 00:29:28 GMT

Naah.... Probably not....... Too busy thinking of other ways to 'make my fortune'. (lol)

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

rosiegrinsel — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 01:33:57 GMT

Yep, I just checked one of my items with another ID, and there, between MY item and it's description, was my major competitors's item for the buyer to see !!!

When I looked at the same item on my seller's ID it was not there !!!

Thankyou for bringing this to my attention.

I will certainly get in line to complain about this. !!!!

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

bsal6160 — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 10:05:05 GMT

I am a buyer only, and I DONT see this thing about any competitor on your listing? unless you consider JetStar ads as a competitor. Maybe its a thing that happens if you ALSO have a seller ID?

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

davewil1964 — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 11:25:21 GMT

It comes up, apparently, between the header info and the product description.

I don't know anything else, as the listings I DO look at, I tend to scroll straight to the description anyway, so I don't see them.

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

rosiegrinsel — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:18:34 GMT

Thanks everyone for your input !!!

Re opposition ads coming up between picture and item description.

I saw them there this afternoon, as per my previous post, but now they are gone, so they may be only visable intermittantly.

OR perhaps ebay took note of the complaint I put in about this, when I rang the help desk this afternoon.

(By the way, I had not been able to bring up the call number and pass code on the ebay contact pages for a full week !!... Miraculously it appeared this afternoon.

I had made several queries about it to the help chat line and was told it must have been my browser at fault and I should change it . However I didn't do that and can only presume it was a fault at ebay's end)... weird...

Had only one sale today.

Taking advice on board, staying positive and being pro-active now in improving my store.

Can only hope for better.

Best wishes everyone

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

davewil1964 — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:32:34 GMT

May 2012 - 23

May 2013 - 27

June 2012 - 19

June 2013 (to date) - 21

I am certainly staying positive, given my fees have gone down by $34 per month, my sales are no worse and my FVF has reduced marginally as well.

Horses for courses. This particular course suits me well.

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

wickedfezplayer — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:50:38 GMT

Hi, I haven't been selling on E bay for awhile, Unfortunately with what you are selling I have to agree with what PJ said in post 2 , even by posting with your selling Id people might think well I can sell that. I have found over the years with eBay you have to keep your business evolving and keep trying to be innovative and fresh. There is always going to be someone that will be your competitor and will cut their price, , I would add more items to your store. Good luck with it and I wish you success with it.

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

bw_bargain — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:38:16 GMT

try searching your item, just today, i realise that best match has been shuffled. i use to be on the top when i search a certain keyword, just today, when i search the same keyword, all new sellers with random listings are on the top. anyone else having the same issue? is ebay having some problem today with best match?

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

davewil1964 — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:13:24 GMT

I don't use 'best' match and I doubt anybody who is not a newbie would. The consensus from buyers (on the boards at least) is that they search by ending soonest or P+P lowest first.

I wouldn't worry too much. I don't rate a guernsey on BM or P+P, but I still sell. Maybe the average buyer is a bit more savvy than eBay assumes?

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

rosiegrinsel — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:55:09 GMT

Yes " bw_bargain"...

I noticed that today that my best selling BIN item went from around 10th or 12th spot on the Best Match list...

(where it had been hovering around for ever)

right down to around 380th spot !!!!

AND one item in the same category that I have JUST listed, and have had no sales with, is even above it on the listings.!!

ALSO three of the four on the very top of the BEST MATCH list were marked "NEW LISTING"....

I had to make sure I was not looking at the New Listing list....

but indeed it WAS the Best match list after all !!!

Doesn't make much sense.

I am hoping it will all sort itself out

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

davewil1964 — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 13:37:05 GMT

I don't use 'best' match and I doubt anybody who is not a newbie would. The consensus from buyers (on the boards at least) is that they search by ending soonest or P+P lowest first.

I wouldn't worry too much. I don't rate a guernsey on BM or P+P, but I still sell. Maybe the average buyer is a bit more savvy than eBay assumes?

Re: SALES dead in the water !!!!

beachandboho — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 23:32:33 GMT

The thing to remember with Best Match is that it is also designed to give everyone a fair go. It is designed to shuffle listings around into different orders so that the same listings are not always at the top. This is in combination with delivering the buyers' supposed 'best match' for what they are searching for (based on the words they enter and their past buying history). If different listings/sellers show at the top of searches on different occassions then it is working. The problem is that there are so many listings for the exact same thing that they can't all be on the first page of a search, so Ebay have come up with this BM as a way to supposedly give all sellers a fair go. But if there are 50 pages of listings for your item, then it is impossible to get a fair go.