topic Re: No sales for months in Selling

No sales for months

vintagewatches57 — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 08:36:12 GMT

Hi Sales gave been so slow since covid hit, nothing like previous years, but the last few months absolutely zero, no offers, nothing. Havent had a sale for a over a month. Alot of money tied up for no sales hope it gets better soon

Re: No sales for months

p9games — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 21:44:18 GMT

Online shopping has boomed during Covid. Ebay traffic is up. My sales are well up this year on last.

If you have zero sales for months you can either blame covid or have a good look at your business and the market you operate in and plan your way out.

Re: No sales for months

kitschkoven — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 22:37:10 GMT

I don't have many things up, but I too have noticed this. Not sure if I want to put anything new up, what with all the people here who are getting complaints about parcel delays.

Re: No sales for months

jellybirddesigns — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 01:08:42 GMT

My shop was doing very well generally and in fact sales were booming the first 6 months of Covid, and then in November 2020 it was like a switch was thrown and suddenly my sales were down around 50%.

In the last couple of months, they're down even more, around 60-75% less than a year ago.

On another site I sell on, my sales have gone in the other direction - UPWARDS.

Not easy to say it's one's business model when the opposite shows as true on other sites.

@p9games - people are allowed to voice their frustration without wanting to leave the platform. Even though my sale are down here, it doesn't mean that the ones I have are not valuable to me. Every transaction helps put food on my table, especially since my husband lost 2 jobs during Covid.

Re: No sales for months

sugar249 — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 02:48:48 GMT

My sales are booming.

Maybe your items are overpriced, not wanted or a multitude of other reasons, look at your offering.

I just looked at one of your items, I wouldnt buy even if I wanted it.

The description is - ''Vintage Japan Ricoh Automatic 21 Jewels - Green Dial - Stretch Band - Day/Date'', no other details, there is no way I am buying a used watched where you cant even bother to give me some details on it's condition, or anything else, or is that your way of avoiding an Item not as described dispute, because you havent described it. $120 plus $15 postage (a little high).

Maybe look at how you are trying to sell your product.

Good luck

Re: No sales for months

south.coffee — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 04:59:41 GMT

Both our stores down around 50% last two months. JobKeeper long spent and little left in pockets hurting discretionary sellers more. Staples reasonably steady. We put it down to economy. One indicator is when eBay start running TV commercials.

Another oddity, with really slow postal delivery, I suspect some buyers have stopped online purchasing with lock downs stopping. Plus, everyone wants a holiday !

Re: No sales for months

eol-products — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 06:46:33 GMT

I have noticed a huge drop recently and put it down to delivery delays. Recently sent an item to a suburb 15min drive away and 7 days and still showing expected delivery in 2 days.

Re: No sales for months

*sons_and_daughters* — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 09:03:05 GMT

I think it comes down to, what sells well this week, doesn't even get a look in next week, or next month. I haven't been selling that long, but last year, sales were there, but not as much as I'd have liked. This year, I've actually had to take the odd day off from my real job to catch up with all the orders. I had to have a day off 2 weeks ago as I was getting snowed under. I generally only have around 50-70 active listings, so definitely not a high volume seller by any means.

I guess it depends on what they buyers want at the time. With all the lockdowns, people may not want to buy a watch, because they can't go anywhere to wear it. In the 4th quarter of last year, I ended all my listings, left it a week, then relisted. Sales went BOOM.

Re: No sales for months

vintagewatches57 — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 09:43:49 GMT

Cant find your store

Re: No sales for months

vintagewatches57 — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 09:45:57 GMT

What an Attitude LOL

Re: No sales for months

jellybirddesigns — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 11:09:53 GMT

@vintagewatches - many sellers post on here with a different ID to their store ID.

Re: No sales for months

mark88880 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 07:41:00 GMT

Trying to be constructive, as an active purchaser lacking selling experience.

I buy a lot of items on eBay and the number has gone up sharply over the last 12 months. However, the types of items I've been buying has changed significantly:

This should not be relevant for you, but I've been staying away from anything requiring pickup.

More relevantly, I've been cutting back on the luxuries and increasing things like home office supplies, hardware, kitchen items and really anything that spares me a trip to the store.

I'm consciously trying to buy from small businesses in lock down areas.

Sales wise, I really just sell no longer needed office items, tools and garden equipment, which have been selling surprisingly well. I suppose I'm not the only one who had more time for projects.

I wonder how many other people are doing this and whether you may need to pivot your product line, at least for the time being?

Re: No sales for months

davewil1964 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 08:13:32 GMT

I doubt it is lockdown related. More likely end of government support. When, soon, federal government payouts for people to sit on their backsides ends, people will be looking at cutting down on discretionary purchases.

Re: No sales for months

mark88880 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 09:05:35 GMT

I don't know why you replied to me - intended for OP?

Anyway, I think we have different visions of the landscape over the next 12 months+. Lock downs look to be over, but Covid and its fallout will be with us for a long time to come. "Living with covid", which I consider essential, is going to require a lot more "pivoting".

Re: No sales for months

jellybirddesigns — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 09:55:17 GMT

After my initial reply, I started to think about the situation.

I've always believed in having eggs in many baskets, which is why I run 2 shops on different platforms, and when possible, attend craft markets to also sell in person.

I've now started to devote time into developing my own website.

Whilst Ebay still has a role to play for me, I want to become less and less reliant on it, especially as there are such wild fluctuations.

Re: No sales for months

mark88880 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 15:24:26 GMT

That seems wise to me. When I referred to "pivoting" I was being intentionally vague. I was mainly thinking of what (to sell), but you're right; how is just as important.

Re: No sales for months

kitschkoven — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 21:18:34 GMT

That's what I plan on doing too (craft markets) especially with the postage problems. I don't sell handmade items on here but I've used lockdown to produce some things.

Re: No sales for months

gec2002 — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 00:32:25 GMT

Not so much related to a long term drop in sales, but for shorter periods of a 1-2 weeks, drops in sales almost always occur after a change in eBay. eg the recent Spring Update with changes in Promoted sales, stores upgraded and coded coupons to name a few.

After changes like these the site needs to re-index, Google may also reindex these new pages, as well as new redirects occuring etc all of which take time before re-establishing the normal traffic. Also, eBay may have made changes to its algorithm, which can cause dramatic drops in sales .

Re: No sales for months

gumleaf_goodies — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 04:07:21 GMT

I hope you are right. After steady but slow sales earlier this year, I haven't had a sale since 2nd October. Lots of watchers on many items, but no sales.

Re: No sales for months

nett_sales — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 10:46:25 GMT

Has Ebay changed their search algorithm to favour sellers in USA over other locations ?

My sales are down 95 % over the last 6 months.

The first 12 months of Covid it was barely changed.

👀