A while back, eBay put forward the idea of paying more to get more exposure - where sellers would essentially bid for higher placement in search results.
It's just a theory with no real basis, but that could be why they introduced free listings pretty much across the board - maybe people will be more inclined to pay more insertion fees if they're 0 to start with, and then they can blame the fact that you aren't seen on not 'choosing' to pay for exposure.
In practical terms, I don't think anyone here has a solution, or a real idea how to help. We all just do what we can and wait / hope, never really knowing if the last thing we tried actually made a difference. Smaller sellers such as myself are probably less likely to have / notice a dramatic difference in sales volume, as it's not unusual at all for me to have no sales at all for a few days then several in one day. But when things are slow, I do some or all of the following:
End old listings that aren't getting any interest
Revamp photos / titles on listings that I can and could use improving
Update descriptions
Start a sale
Pick a few older listings that have no or low sales history and no watchers, end the listing then start it again from scratch
Put a few new items up
Sometimes these things seem like they make a difference, and not long after views / sales pick up. Other times it seems they make no difference at all...except to improve my store, I guess.
