Hitting the WALL

[paypalpains]

I seem to not be able to get over 12k a month in sales, I am working harder, adding more inventory, making use of Ebays promotional tools, have people working on social media for me, yet still I am stuck at this figure over the month, there or there abouts. Really need to start seeing an increase and need to be pushing closer to 20k a month now. Stuck for Ideas, if anyone has any suggestions then that would be great.

[rsot]

All the best - without knowing specific niche/product of yours, it is tough to tailor a specific plan. You seem to be getting along well, slowly and steadily.

[paypalpains]

Rsot, am getting along, however am now where bills are involved, so is not the same as running it from home. from home, is fine, but i wouldnt be able to do that now, due to amount of inventory being held.
I sell clothing and accessories

[unkown5454]

social media is a waste of time unless you have an established brand people are searching for or you are paying to sponsor people who have huge number of followers

[paypalpains]

Originally Posted by unkown5454

social media is a waste of time unless you have an established brand people are searching for or you are paying to sponsor people who have huge number of followers

Think that depends on a lot factors, not marketing advertising is never a waste of time, its exposure.

And you can do that easily on ebay, to share your listing on twitter etc

[unkown5454]

but are you saying all you do is advertise on EB and social media?

[mmmbop]

Remember eBay throttle sales, so if you are trying to hit bigger targets, eBay may actually be invisibly limiting you..its the 'invisible limits' saga..

[yankee]

Without a lot more details, it is hard to give solid advice but multiple accounts always sell more than one single account. If you are not selling on multiple accounts already, I would consider starting that.

[dachilla]

Originally Posted by paypalpains

I seem to not be able to get over 12k a month in sales, I am working harder, adding more inventory, making use of Ebays promotional tools, have people working on social media for me, yet still I am stuck at this figure over the month, there or there abouts. Really need to start seeing an increase and need to be pushing closer to 20k a month now. Stuck for Ideas, if anyone has any suggestions then that would be great.

Why are you limiting yourself to ebay?

[newjerseymax]

Originally Posted by yankee

Without a lot more details, it is hard to give solid advice but multiple accounts always sell more than one single account. If you are not selling on multiple accounts already, I would consider starting that.

This is so very true!

Often I sell items for more $ on other accounts because one or two are throttled.

[Hammer1]

Originally Posted by newjerseymax

This is so very true!

Often I sell items for more $ on other accounts because one or two are throttled.

Throttled how?

[mmmbop]

Originally Posted by Hammer1

Throttled how?

Dude. if you arent aware that eBay throttle sales, then you need to do a little more research, read some of the community forums, look at the way your sales work, make some graphs if you have to.

eBay throttle sales, they have too many sellers, so part of the reason is to essentially give everyone some of the pie, but also to give those that use say sponsored listings more exposure. That was there more recent addition - you pay to 'advertise' your own product..you know what you are already paying for in the first place with your shop subscription or listings, well they want more! you can add 01-100% of the selling price to be paid to eBay for 'sponsoring' your listing. The more you give them, the more exposure you get, thus more sales.

When you start your 'Promoted Listings' campaign, you will see you sales rise, then they will drop off after a couple of months, this is eBays systems wanting you to then 'up' the percentage you are giving them per sale as a sponsored listing.

eBay isnt a fair playing field anymore, so you have to find ways to cope with their meddling!

[paypalpains]

Originally Posted by unkown5454

but are you saying all you do is advertise on EB and social media?

Do you have some suggestions ?

The costs to ebay alone are huge, spending more and more money is becoming counter productive.

I blog, which is free , doesnt cost anything, however is time consuming, and paying other people is no good, because their english in most cases is not up to scratch , but if you got some suggestions, then you can share them, thanks

[paypalpains]

Originally Posted by dachilla

Why are you limiting yourself to ebay?

Where else is there? Amazon is the only other place, and I find it a nightmare, but i have a product that will be going on there.

The problem with multiple channels multiple accounts is that its more time consuming, managing inventory ( i dont have one product, but many)

And I have staff......

[paypalpains]

Originally Posted by Hammer1

Throttled how?

Ebay hides listings, and promotes other peoples listings, basically funneling people to buy certain products as if that is their best and only option/choice

[Play]

Originally Posted by paypalpains

Ebay hides listings, and promotes other peoples listings, basically funneling people to buy certain products as if that is their best and only option/choice

I feel obliged to correct you. eBay never hides your listing, at least it has never ever happened to me, ever. By that I mean, I monitor my listings from other devices, without them being logged into eBay. My listings are always up.

BUT - you are right, sometimes your listings will sink in best match, and sink in sales as a result of throttling. But they never hide your listing.

[mmmbop]

Originally Posted by Play

I feel obliged to correct you. eBay never hides your listing, at least it has never ever happened to me, ever. By that I mean, I monitor my listings from other devices, without them being logged into eBay. My listings are always up.

BUT - you are right, sometimes your listings will sink in best match, and sink in sales as a result of throttling. But they never hide your listing.

Debatable.

I've noticed on multiple occasions when buyers have emailed asking for a certain item I have a listing for that it cant be found in my store or online anywhere.

If I link directly to it from my own listing it will show up then, but is unsearchable/invisible without doing that.

[Play]

Originally Posted by mmmbop

Debatable.

I've noticed on multiple occasions when buyers have emailed asking for a certain item I have a listing for that it cant be found in my store or online anywhere.

If I link directly to it from my own listing it will show up then, but is unsearchable/invisible without doing that.

Interesting. I've never experienced this.

I would suggest you monitor this more closely. So use the link below (replace "username" with your ebay user id), and see if your items are in fact disappearing or not.

If your items are on this list, then it is under search somewhere, i.e. not invisible.

I should also add, if you are editing your listings in any way shape or form, that can sometimes take it down from search for 24 hours whilst its being reviewed (but listing would still be active in the background).


eBay Link

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/username/m.html?_trksid=p3692

[mmmbop]

Originally Posted by Play

Interesting. I've never experienced this.

I would suggest you monitor this more closely. So use the link below (replace "username" with your ebay user id), and see if your items are in fact disappearing or not.

If your items are on this list, then it is under search somewhere, i.e. not invisible.

I should also add, if you are editing your listings in any way shape or form, that can sometimes take it down from search for 24 hours whilst its being reviewed (but listing would still be active in the background).


eBay Link

I do monitor extremely closely. I did and do extensive testing, thus my summary of the situation is based on this research and analysis.

No two seller accounts will be the same mind, so what happens on one account, may or may not happen on another. This is part of the eBay Invisible limits conditioning.

Editing listings, or do a bulk reedit is required sometimes when eBay makes changes to the algorithms. Have you ever noticed a sales drop off? Just do a group edit, not actual editing needed, just click the buttons, and then sales pick up again in the next couple of days.

Strangely, when there was a world wide report of eBay sales being down in March, mine went through the roof, now they are down heavily, but others are seeing a pick up.

We cant control the machines, we can merely try to play their games.

[mmmbop]

Something else I have noticed recently, which I cant fathom, is my sponsored listings are appearing on the first page, but the actual mirror listing isnt.

Essentially, those sponsored listings use to appear on the same page as the original listing, and now the original listing is no where to be seen.

This is an interesting thread..

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Sellin...8632048/page/2

[yankee]

I watch some high dollar accounts closely and agree that sometimes, some listings are 100% invisible to the point that Seller account A has sales today and seller account B has sales tomorrow. Especially in higher dollar items in nitch markets with a few big sellers and no small ones. When you search an item and you only have 75 results and all by the same 5 people, it is really easy to see ebay funneling the sales to different sellers.

Some old accounts that would sell a few million dollars now never can break 1.2 million even though listing quantity had gone from 400 to 1600.

The only option is more accounts to own another piece of the pie.

[paypalpains]

Originally Posted by yankee

I watch some high dollar accounts closely and agree that sometimes, some listings are 100% invisible to the point that Seller account A has sales today and seller account B has sales tomorrow. Especially in higher dollar items in nitch markets with a few big sellers and no small ones. When you search an item and you only have 75 results and all by the same 5 people, it is really easy to see ebay funneling the sales to different sellers.

Some old accounts that would sell a few million dollars now never can break 1.2 million even though listing quantity had gone from 400 to 1600.

The only option is more accounts to own another piece of the pie.

Its like they have capped certain sellers, or the majority of them. Increase prices, increase auctions, increase inventory, increase items people want , yet still end up with the same amount, or there or thereabouts,every month.