Another "Drop in sales" post.

[wiremeshshop]

I've read so many posts about this issue but wondered if some "promoted listings" experts could take a look at my listings to see if I'm doing something wrong?

I've been experimenting with promoted listings for a few months now and it just seems as if there is nothing more I can do to get visibility, and found that PPC is like burning money.

I've just been running "promoted listings standard" for a couple of weeks and it seems to be getting worse day by day. I have 22 listings, only 9 are promoted standard "Dynamic", so as I see it I'm basically letting Ebay take any % of a sale to get a result. However in the last 7 days I've had just 57 clicks (declining) which comes out less than one click per listing per day. I've had just 2 sales and both from repeat customers. 

I'd be very grateful if people could take a look at the listings so see if there is a problem with them, I'd welcome any critisisms.

I've attached a print of the chart showing promoted listings standard covering the last 13 months...... , You will see impressions and clicks fell off a cliff on 31st May but interestingly, I never used any promoted listings until 11th May so I don't know what the previous data even means.

Many thanks in advance.

[padanpcparts]

In the same boat, doesn't matter what we do it's like a ghost town in what has historically been the busiest part of the year. 

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

I am finding it dead everywhere. Ebay, etsy, amazon, my website etc etc

Not just sales but messages and offers.

Hopefully its just a lull before xmas.

[loftu_23]

I noticed for the last 4-to 6 months that people are going to the towns and the car boot sales, I mentioned the car boot sales before on the community forum, and that there are more people buying items at both bottom prices and the retail prices, I was at the car boot sales for the last 8 months, selling the retail/online prices at the car boot sale, I could not believe it, the income I received is significantly higher than eBay this year, I could not bother to list any more new listings on eBay earlier this year.

More people said to me they can't wait for the items to arrive, and the issue of any type of courier firms not delivering their parcels, parcels missing, in transit but not moving, etc.

My guess is people now are returning to the high streets and the car boot sales more frequently now, just to buy the items and take the items home, rather than waiting for the courier to arrive.

I showed the income received to my accountant earlier this month, he was surprised at it, he recommended I carry on with the car boot sales, and just use the eBay Basic Shop subscription fee for the moment till the end of December or March, then I will close the shop subscription fee for good.

With eBay promoted listing email reminders to me on a daily basis this month, I just ignored it, it is not worth paying more fees to eBay, with the shop subscription monthly fee, and the eBay fee commissions on items and eBay wants to me to pay more fee for higher promoted listings I received the eBay email messaging today. 

[typo_lee]

I hope your right but I have a gut feeling its not just a lull but I hope your right. Today being Black Friday we are stone dead. So where is the traffic? Two days last week were very busy. Definitely peaks and troughs at the moment.

[bojangled]

@typo_lee think 'Black Friday' is the 24th.

My take on shopping habits this year, I agree people are out and about. Pre covid and postal strikes the rush for me was always after the BF silliness. 
In previous 'normal' years I've seen my best December day the second Monday in December. I'm still aiming for that. 

[santlache_sales]

My guess is people now are returning to the high streets and the car boot sales more frequently now, just to buy the items and take the items home, rather than waiting for the courier to arrive.

You may well be right, what with the whopping price rises we've seen from Royal Mail this year, it's made it very expensive now.....once you've managed the queues at the Post Office !

Everything in this country seems broken, and I think we all know what, and who, we have to blame for that.

[wiremeshshop]

I've just heard on the radio that retail sales are the lowest since Feb 2020 (lockdown)

[typo_lee]

It's nearly 5pm and we are heading for our worst daily sales (by far) in the history of selling on eBay for over 20 years. This is scary. Very scary and Christmas is around the corner. Never experienced anything like this during the credit crunch 

[charmkeyrings]

If I wasn't experiencing this for myself, I wouldn't believe it.  I wish I could offer a solution, I can't.  I've wasted two months trying to sort this farce out.  I'll leave my shop open but that's it.  I'll spend my time on other things.

[exponential_developments]

Only advice i can give to anyone struggling is stop doing the same thing over and over, this issue could go on for a couple of years, i so this coming after lockdown, hence the buisness shift to new pastures. If you own your stock then if you downshift de-stock, every sale is money in the bank that does not need to buy more of the same, use it for something else.........time is of the essence.

Either think fast or it really is tick tick tick tick .......boom.

[simplyessential_uk]

Without repeating many other threads which offer advice the obvious thing i see it your titles and item specs. Dont waste your money on promos just set it at 2% minimum and experiment with gradually increasing if you want, but the trick is to get 1st sale then the algorithms will give you more impressions not pile money into ads.  Your title should use the strongest 4 keywords a buyer will search by, your using the measurements so under the item specs your putting in exact or imperial when ebays using metric as options, on the app/mobile youll see it filters using the pre-set options so if your setting your own you will be hidden. Use the nearest then put in the title the exact or imperial, try searching on your mobile/app and youll see what i mean.  Close any old listings and start again setting good title keywords.

[wiremeshshop]

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my listings. I did wonder about how best to display dimensions but I'd never looked at the filter. Makes total sense what you say about new listings and algorithms, I started a multi-variation listing in the summer but that has slowly dwindled down to being totally useless now. I'll certainly try experimenting with your advice and probably start tomorrow with that MVL 👍 👍 👍 

[simplyessential_uk]

Ebay are using the Item specs alot now and the more you use their suggestion the better so for me I was say putting in my own versions for fragrance then realised the filters were hiding my bespoke suggestions. So if a listing is Rose Geranium, thats not on the drop down so I select Rose as its the nearest and similar in scent . If your listing is over 3mths old and few views click on the views and see when you last had a view, if its recent then its still actively being seen - If you havent had a view in 30 days your listing is pretty much hidden so closing it and starting it again (can change the title) tells ebay this is a fresh new listing with no history and it gets a temporary bump to the top (you will have seen them yourself searching best match and says "new listing" next to it - Ebay is testing it out at the top so if you get a bite Ebays algorithms will put it up the rankings next time someone is looking for wire etc and so on so plowing money into ads is money down the drain but you have to opt in to some promos or your dead unless its a niche item that people search for.

[tabletop-hobbies]

I've had a quick look at your listings, the first thing that stands out is the photos.  Now I'm not sure how you do a great photo of a roll of wire mesh, it's a tricky subject really-  But what cassini and google consider to be a great photo is anything on a white background, that'll get you hits.

Maybe a technical shot of some mesh on a white background with measurements written on for the mesh size, wire thickness etc for the first photo would be useful.  I was told by an ebay person that cassini loves this and google likes whote backgrounds for google shopping too.

[suelel1968]

Hi, if i were in the market for what you sell, i would search for "chicken wire" and see what comes up.

I tried this and it would seem that your honest policy of a price for a roll is always going to put you behind all of those who sell between £1 and £200 depending on quantity. 

I think you could set this up and still only sell the full roll because all the other sizes are out of stock... If you can't beat them....

[simplyc-accessories]

I always look at myself and how I am spending if I have cut my spending which I have because of the rising cost of living I assume others have not so much disposal cash around anymore. 

Postage costs have killed a lot if buyers have to pay postage the "free postage" some still think it's free. Get it.

[knit-in-styles]

I think Temu may have an impact. They have heavily advertised these last few months.  They sell absolutely everything,  they are cheap, they offer free delivery and it does usually arrive within a week. Loads of people I know are now using it.

The website is pretty good too as is the customer service. Plus if you buy something then the price drops within 30 days of the order, you can apply for an instant price reduction. 

[performance_suspension_uk]

Maybe a coincedence but it was our worst day (or certainly the worst I can remember) too, we often joke when it's quiet or we don't sell anything/have no messages for about 10 hrs that someone has turned eBay off! it makes no sense as they make money off items selling but it does make you wonder, it is getting quieter on here that's for sure

[typo_lee]

Def the quietest we've known. I think millions are leaving shopping on this site and shopping on temu and shein as our Etsy shop has been dead as well. Whether December will be good I don't know but my gut feeling is I very much doubt it