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Dismal sales
 

Has anyone else noticed a complete drop in sales since the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US? It's like instantly all buyers are dead. Dropping price by $10 each day has no effect. Either the economy is permanently screwed or people are not interested. The last three years have been crap, but it keeps getting worse.

Re: Dismal sales
 

What category are you seeing this in for your sales?

This is the worst Xmas I have ever seen since I join Ebay.
In the past,after finishing their thanksgiving dinner,they come online and start buying for XMAS.
But this year many shoppers are going to brick and mortar stores or their online websites to buy,they are being offered some good deals ,using their credit cards and BYPL.
You know in about 1 week,it will be over except for the last minute purchases.

For the few who bought in my Etsy shop,they are low priced items,buyers have become very good in bottom fishing,I have clothing which are new but been kept in closet for years I am trying to get rid of,they dont make such good quality clothes anymore,either in the material they use or the workmanship.
Where are the big spenders?

Good to know you are still doing well,
On Etsy seller forum,many are crying NO SALE.

also like to point out-buying online ,they have to pay sales tax and shipping,unless you are willing to absorb shipping which is not that cheap anymore.
first class stamp will go from 66 cents to 68 cents next year

Consumers are cutting back,food,rent,auto expenses have all gone up,there is just less money for DISCRETIONARY items.
I think it will get worse in first qtr of 2024 .

No,ETSY is worse.
Asking price is higher on Etsy,you know where they get their antiques and vintage items,FROM EBAY.

There used to be an Ebay seller who sells BBY returns,but the last time I looked,even BBY is selling on Ebay.

You can tell how well Ebay is doing by looking at its stock price,compared it with AMZN or Shopify or even Etsy .
Is it not ironic Bozo never go to Harvard MBA school but Meg and the guy after her both attended Harvard ? and they do not seem to care Ebay is the largest dumpster in the world?

Ebay rotates the seller,thats why you see sales perk up and then drop off,
It is also known a sales venue will give new seller a honeymoon period .

someone once called EBAY and asks why no sales,Ebay rep said Be patient,your turn will come???
that was before promoted selling.

too many sellers and not enough buyers.
Buyers do not want to buy used,slightly used,rejects,returns as Xmas gifts and Ebay has tons of them.
Besides legit retail stores ,they all have websites and heavily promoting Xmas selling.

Yes,it is amazing

may be it is just Ebay,as most prefer to buy MIB mint in box gifts.

sorry .it is BNPL,buy now pay later.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Glad to hear your feedback and to know it isn't just me. Sales are in different categories, but mostly home electronics and automotive. It seems everything is almost dead across the board. Agent006140's experience matches mine exactly. I have never seen it this slow in all my time on egay.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Hm. I am cranking out sales on etsy right now. Peoples buying habits shift and threres so many platforms now. People in certain income brackets are still spending money. That's who you gotta target ;). People in upper brackets are still shopping like nothing is happening. My sales are down compared to the last few years but that is expected because everything was hyper inflated. What I am seeing now is similar to 2019.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Ebay are now pushing their promoted sales 'services'.

So we've got promoted listings and promoted listing Advanced.

And now in the UK (is it the same for the US?) they're introducing 'Offsite Ads'. It seems to imply that even google searches will be controlled and pushed toward those who shell out even more on promotions.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/...rs/offsite-ads

...and then there's there new Social Ads for facebook etc. It never ends.

If you don't play along you can be absolutely be sure your listings will slide down the rankings/visibility.

Like you I've seen a drop in sales, watch the "boost your sales through an advertising promotion" land in our in-boxes pretty soon. I wouldn't put it past them to deliberately suppress listings prior to offering this solution to panicking seller.

It's a massive moneyspinner for them, the suggested ad rate in my categories just for the basic promoted listings is more than the FVF.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Honestly go to the eBay forums and the selling section.

Literally 10 or more threads on what you are asking.

This started happening to be back in June which I believe eBay started testing out stuff. Others confirmed it started in August or sooner.

But I am glad it confirmed what I was experiencing especially with the tons of removals of items I was selling for years without issue.

Constant suspensions and over 50% drop in sales since then.

Re: Dismal sales
 

OP and I are saying that visibility has gone down on clean accounts, no policy breaches or account issues.

I think your removals and suspensions might explain your lack of visibility, it's always been like that. Surprised you even have an account if you've been constantly suspended.

Re: Dismal sales
 

They are expected during holiday time, but when it comes to getting either one policy violation or two and then getting suspended. Then you know something has changed.

I am even getting multi account policy hits across accounts despite using Inkfrog to run those accounts. One inkfrog to one eBay. No way they could be linked when they sell in totally different categories.

I expect economy to get worse once more layoffs and businesses start to shut.

But reading the threads on eBay forums for example this one:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Sellin...4013730/page/7

It does contribute to it, but when your sales and views drop over 50% within weeks or even days, then you know something went wrong with eBay's changes.

Other platforms and venues for them still sell while eBay's takes a dump.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Clearly there's a link you've overlooked. It's not happening by mere chance.


On the second point, I'm not defending ebay policies but they must be doing something right. If their total sales took a nosedive similar to OPs and mine then they'd be calling an emergency board meeting to find out why and how to correct it.

I've said it already, but sales are going to Top Rated businesses with a very healthy promotions and advertising budget, the latter probably earning them more than FVFs too. Win-win for ebay, the Amazon model they wanted so badly is slowly falling into place.

Indeed you can almost guarantee they have discussed using an Amazon style catalogue for certain items and I reckon we will see it as some point in the not too distant future.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Go through those forums and read through them. Top rated businesses having higher promotion budgets still are not getting the views like they were before.

Most top rated sellers and businesses have fled eBay in the past year.

eBay can continue to go "Amazon" style, but they are going the opposite.

Forgetting to add like people mentioned in those eBay forums. Once Temu started hitting the marketplace, buyers can go there to buy cheap stuff.

Ya, I remember seeing big brands are selling on there as well. Don't know how much eBay contributes to their revenue.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Somebody is, ebay aren't allowing their business to collapse in front of their eyes. In reality, the 'proper' big sellers don't waste their time on forums nor share their spend with ebay.

Nah, most truly big sellers, the ones ebay favour, have not abandoned ebay and definitely not 'most' top rated sellers by any stretch of the imagination. There are websites out their like sellerpulse which confirm this.

In any event, I'm not sure how anyone other than ebay would be able to quantify the true net loss number if it was indeed falling.


Here's the bottom line. It is what it is and we either adapt and play along or we become one of the statistics to refer to.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Some replies from the eBay forums:

I do hope this is something eBay will only be testing for a year or less to determine how this will work. But if this is permanent, it is not going to be good.

Re: Dismal sales
 

No they don't. Maybe on page 10 but not where it counts.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Trying to figure out what they are trying to do is confusing, but that is how they have always been.

It is just now, it is magnified with all the AI crap they are implementing.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Shopify had 22% yoy growth.

Re: Dismal sales
 

what is BYPL meaning?

Re: Dismal sales
 

I think you are correct, it is a combination of the crappy economy, flood of cheap items and customers watching spending this season

Re: Dismal sales
 

Spending time on that eb forum is a messy affair

Re: Dismal sales
 

Same as the Amazon forums. Manned primarily by a handful of disgruntled seller with an axe to grind with ebay/Amazon. Half the time they dive into your account and look for faults with you rather than answering the query.

Best to have a non-seller posting account or simply brows for any info you can make use of.

Re: Dismal sales
 

I believe Buy now pay later causes a lot of buyers remorse. The item has to be really worth committing to otherwise they return the item and cancel the loan

Re: Dismal sales
 

Exactly - those trolls diving into ppl's accounts is annoying and potentially problematic

Re: Dismal sales
 

Is there something wrong with my browser?

Where did all the spammers posts go? I can see them copied in other members quotes but not the original posts.

Re: Dismal sales
 

They are also using BNPL with grocery,can you imagine returning half a loaf of bread or Rotisserie chicken missing a drumstick>
Someone bought a box of chocolate on Ebay,took one bite and filed INAD.

Re: Dismal sales
 

which spammers posts? Mods might have had them removed.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Etsy is laying off 11% of its workforce to contain cost!
thats around 220 people.
You know this Xmas sales is very slow on ETSY,and the dollar amount of many orders are low .
Big spenders have disappeared or gone elsewhere

Re: Dismal sales
 

I feel all of your pain. I had this exact issue happen back in around July of 22'. Mainstays in my inventory just quit selling and I was meeting minimum goals with items that had been making me money for years.

So, what was the problem? Two major issues: inflation dynamics with seller demographics, and advertising.

Inflation was squeezing the disc. income of the groups that bought my items alongside the Chinese double dipping in the category. So, as many have mentioned in this thread previously, I spent a lot of time positioning myself for higher-income demographics with new products away from that much cut-throat competition. Do I still sell against the Chinese in the old category, yes. But at around 50-60 percent less profit. It still makes enough to keep it viable. As for the new products and the mention of advertising, I attack those categories. When I say advertising cost, I'm talking 15-20 percent plus eBay fees and mailing. Yes, it has come to that much of the pie. But it will get you hot under the new eBay system. This year has come back to excellent profit compared to last Christmas which was a bean counters one. Good luck.

Re: Dismal sales
 

Layoffs to also increase profit on the revenue

Re: Dismal sales
 

I have come to realize this as well, I can get slightly better sales on higher priced egay items with a better margin if I use more advertising dollars, I assume this is what is required now