Downfall in Sales - February 2024

[theglo-68]

Has anything changed recently as we noticed Sales have Dropped once again since Last week.

We have gone down from steady sales of 10-12 to 0 from last week.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[simplyessential_uk]

Unfortunately when posters ask this question from their non selling ID its like asking "how long is a piece of string" We dont know what you sell or what your listings look like.  I sell massage oils so ive been very busy leading up to Valentines, but if I sold something non seasonal then I would have a different experience.  Sellers will come on here and agree or disagree with you but without context or screenshots of your figures it means nothing

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

I find ebay sales are up and down all the time.

I once sold 6 items on the Friday then nothing for the rest of the week.

You just have to take the crumbs ebay throws you.

[maz2333]

Mine have dropped massively! Hardly selling anything. I'm wondering wether it's because of the tax we have to submit to inland revenue now? I was getting steady sales every week and now hardly anything. 

[btr.style]

Dropped too but that's just how it's been across the board for clothing. 

Start of Feb was fine. People still buying jumpers and coats. The past week and until the start of March is a tricky one because a bit late for people to be buying coats and jumpers but too early to start buying shorts and t-shirts. 

I'd predict by the first week of March our sales will start picking up again. 

[1956glyn]

Selling appears to be over rated at the minute 😁

Sell 2 or 3 items and at least one is a non payer.  This is happening a lot to me lately 

[red357rose]

Hi

Yes for us same 1 day selling after day almost nothing, no any sales no any views, when I talked with them, because you need more discounts to give people and after the Impressions will go up.

I just said to her all promotion on, I have active coupons and sending people discounts, so I do not what else need to do to have same sales than before.

Its very hard because after when starting any changes or updates the system is falling down and need wait again to will be normal, but when will start normal after Ebay will start Updated again. 😞

[iposters]

Oddly for us here at iPosters, last year I had 11,500 Page Views and 427 Sales in Feb. This year I have had 45,000 Page Views in Feb but only 199 Sales, seems a lot more People are Window Shopping bored than actually buying. Usually I do 10-12 Sales a day on eBay, this year im pushing 4-5's at top. Sales on my Website are down 10% on Last Year. I just think cost of living is hitting hard. My Website had 3.3k Visits last Feb and this year is 4.4k so more people are browsing, just not buying.

Last Feb across all Platforms I had 914 Sales, this year I am currently at 650. 

Impressions and Page Visits are 3-4x Higher than last year but sales down 20-30% Overall so it's a case of people looking but not buying 

[1956glyn]

Hi

Maybe  you could post on the boards with the account you sell on?.

That way we may be able to offer some constructive help regarding keywords and pictures etc after seeing your listings.

I still think people are also generally purchasing items they need and not want due to financial/cost of living  constraints currently.

[vinylscot]

My last two weeks on eBay have been the worst in the last six months, apart from a short time away from eBay at Christmas. I can put some of that down to the quality of my listings - as well as my BINs, I run about 75 auctions each week, selected from my stock in strict alphabetical order. Sometimes the selection isn't that great, and I'm possibly there now, but I had still expected a little more.

I reckon I've got a couple of better weeks of listings coming up, so I'm trying not to worry yet, until I see how they go.

[simplyessential_uk]

Do you mean because youre registered as a private seller and actually business Ebay are not giving you the sales? Mmm interesting thought process so why not register?

[*vyolla*]

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@maz2333 wrote:

Mine have dropped massively! Hardly selling anything. I'm wondering wether it's because of the tax we have to submit to inland revenue now? I was getting steady sales every week and now hardly anything. 

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I can't see how sellers paying tax would affect buyers making purchases, but you are trading as a private seller (a private seller is one who is selling off their own personal bits and pieces such as stuff from their wardrobe/loft/garage) when you should be trading on a business account.

A business seller is someone who buys or makes and item to sell on.  They need to be registered as a business to meet the requirements of UK law. They need to declare income to HMRC once they reach £1,000 worth of sales (eBay will be providing HMRC with your details anyway so it's vital to keep correct accounts for your tax return). You can obviously offset more expenses as a business seller, but can't offset any at all as a private one.  

To correctly register as a business seller simply go to your Personal Information in your account and to the right of Account Type, which will be showing as 'Individual'  you'll see an Edit option.

https://accountsettings.ebay.co.uk/profile

This doesn't affect your feedback profile or any current listings, it merely upgrades your account so that you're legally compliant. 

[rikk-003]

i never buy from promoted items 
or deals dont i know how many others dont 

its like paying to be front of the que 

always feels like you are being overcharged in the begining

but i normaly find what im looking for at a similar price

[rikk-003]

these keywords are a problem and make searching long and boring 
if its metal its listed as industrial or steampunk 18000

in reality only a handfull of original stuff 

everyone else uses the words as fillers like unusual or rare when they are not..

so the catagories dont really work 

also china somehow lists itself as england as does india ... lol and australia 
they are easy to spot though.

the search dosnt work you can look at the item copy and paste in the search and get nothing 
i used to buy every day 
now once every couple weeks 

ebay are saving me money ... lol

[almaviolet]

Actually that's not strictly true. I have registered to HMRC that I am on on ebay as I turned over last year more than my personal allowance, but my accountant has said I don't need to be registered as a business seller. It depends how big your business is. I'm still down as a sole trader and I'm still legally compliant. 

[btr.style]

"It depends how big your business is. I'm still down as a sole trader and I'm still legally compliant. "

No it doesn't.

By law if you are selling for profit at all, then you have things you need to comply with otherwise you are trading illegally. One of those things is to show full contact details before a sale takes place which includes address. You can only do that on eBay by having a business account. It also isn't allowed for a commercial/business seller to misrepresent themselves. 

One thing for some reason people just assume "business" means something like a bricks and mortar store, warehouse, staff and so on but no..... It's anyone who is buying to sell for profit and that can range from the little right the way up to the huge businesses. 

Tax is an issue for HMRC

Being legally complaint in how you trade is an issue for trading standards.

Just because you are legally compliant with 1, it doesn't mean you are instantly legally compliant with the other one too. 

[debshil-82]

You're not the only one. My sales started to drop in December (understandable Xmas), same for January (understandable and ? Cost of living crisis). However  they started to pick up quite well in Februaru so breathe a sigh of relief.......until March. They have dropped off a cliff. At peak last year I was selling appx 4 items daily. I have only sold about 6 items this month in total.

[cobwebcottage]

Ask your accountant if they think you are exempt from Distance Selling Regs and get them to put it in writing if they say you are. If you are registered as a sole trader you need to comply by law.

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

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@theglo-68 wrote:

Has anything changed recently as we noticed Sales have Dropped once again since Last week.

We have gone down from steady sales of 10-12 to 0 from last week.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

---

From my experience, it's dropped like a hot cake from a handful of sales to very few and far between - but  I'm only selling off my personal items:-)

Then again, I've also experienced a severe problem with trying to pay for an item I really needed which started last Saturday and have had to find a work around solution which eventually worked 8 days later.

Today I wasted an unecessary 30 minutes helping and finding a work around for a buyer who was unable to accept an offer I had sent to them:-(

Can't think why sales might have fallen through the floorboards, can you? 🤔🙄🤐

[iposters]

Our Jan Feb Sales was awful across all the Business. About 40% Down on last year, however our Page Visits was 300% Higher. 

March however (Compared to 1stMarch-13th March last year), I am UP 20% on Website Sales, 11% Amazon Sales, 19% OnBuy Sales.

Sadly, eBay is the only one down, which is by 14.1%, and I have Off-Site Ads now which I didn't last year, as well as upping my Promoted Listings, and having close 200 Listings More, so I am a bit worried on the eBay side. You can see eBay are worried also as hardly any fee increases have come in this year either (Well none announced yet) Which is very very rare