Sales Way Down -- Best match??

[clarry100]

We operate two basic ebay stores both selling the same kind of items. One focusses more on bulk quantities while the other does more single quantities. All the same stuff, baby headbands & accessories.

Up until about mid December we were averaging 25-30 packages per day between both the stores. Then sales dropped in both stores, to be expected I guess. Since then one store has come back up to nearly where it was before Xmas while the other is now lucky to sell and languishing at maybe 1 item per day.

We check our best match results regularly by using the same keyword search. The one store that is doing badly now has dropped way off the bottom of the search result list, well below 500 ranking while the other has lots of items up inside the top 100. So good best match results is clearly where we sell most of our stuff.

We have not made any changes to the listings in either store. Our DSR's are 5's or very close to it in both accounts. All listings are 100% compliant with the new requirements. ie 30-days returns, FREE post, Express options etc etc. Premium Service on 100% of our listings.

All our listings are straight BIN. We rarely use auction format unless we get "freebies". Listing fees too high for us to recover.

I am at a loss to understand what we have done to deserve this treatment. We typically pay more than $1,000 each month in total fees to eBay and payPal. It will be less this month since sales are way down. This means eBay will lose about $500 from us this month because we are not selling as much. You would think they should want us to sell more for this reason alone.

Can the more experienced sellers here offer any opinions on what we might consider to improve this situation? Or what we might have unwittingly done, or not done for that matter?

[*crikey*mate*]

Avoiding eBay fees policy

Links policy

[duncanvr]

To be more precise your ebay store web link is posted on your web site and or facebook apps store. You can't post your website link on your ebay store but with the ebay store link on your web site anyone who clicks on it will be directed to your ebay store auctions. Why can't you sell different items on a web site with your ebay link to I see pleanty of big power sellers selling on websites and ebay with links, the items all different. Your website will generate viewers if you add it onto every search engine. You should have a wider range display of items on your web site. The facebook app store is a way to bring in new clients google it.

On your web site you can showcase what ever you like with high res images.

Its wise to give an ebay offering every now and then cheaply a 99 cent starter you may loose on it or gain on it but it will bring in an extra bidder who may in turn end up picking up some of your BIN items.

Make sure you have a business card with every item you sell and your email address on it so potential buyers can contact you.

Yes you can use auctiva or photobucket you should also go onto every relevant discussion group on the Interenet that talks about your product and talk up your store to them, the more you advertise the better. Magazine adds could work well to.

Do some market research to look onto Asian ebay stores and see if your product is being sold there to, if it is they maybe undercutting your prices and this could be a reason for a decline on your site. Theres big competition out there you have to know what they are all advertising constantly.

Put a group of items in an auction and see how it goes

The above suggestions and those in my original reply work.

[clarry100]

We have all the above in good order on both of our stores.

But one store is recovering from the after Xmas slump, while the other is languishing at 1 or 2 items per day where it used to be 12-15 or so.

So there is some factor we are not understanding why two stores with almost identical items and listings and one is way down while the other is not.

The BM search rankings on the good store are high up in the results while the other is way way down. There is a definite link to this.

We believe it is somehow linked to the BM search results as it seems that's what our buyers use to find their items.

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[comcol]

I had exactly the same issue as clarry100. Best match literally destroyed business over night.  Ebay does not care less and only introduced Best Match system so that no more than 2-3 sellers (of their choosing) can make any sales on Ebay in each catagory.

The so called best match is no such thing.  Ebay feeds us the line that it is calculated by a very 'sophisticated' system using feedback, postage, service bla bla bla and it is an outright lie.

Even though I had perfect scores on all the supposed items they used to calculate it (along with cheapest prices) my sales stopped immediately and all my auctions were down the list and first starting in at around the 1000th listing !! Obviously you cant make sales there. 

Ebay now makes TWICE the money off sales than I do due to their huge fees!!!

Conveniently, just two sellers have over 90% of the auctions on the frist dozens of pages and now make all the sales even though they rate well down for feedback, service and prices etc.  To rub salt into the wound these sellers have several fake business names and have even had some banned for stealing off hundreds of buyers yet Ebay continues to protect their accounts and wont suspend them. 

Proof that Ebay is rigging the entire system. Someone please invent a new auction site!!

[i-love-my-sheep]

As someone who used to work in the field of maternity (and still do to a degree), I can tell you with absolute certainty, the big months for births is June and September. June is 9 months after Father's Day and September is 9 months after Christmas. I kid you not! Of course you sometimes see other big months, but those 2 are pretty standard and have been since I started in 1986.

[knewdoors]

To answer the original question..Yes Sales for us..(when we usually ship several items a week)..have gone to zero..its been woeful and not for want of trying..

[cq_tech]

You're absolutely correct, chooks. I'm convinced I was a Xmas present because my birthday is September 23. 🙂