Sales Downfall in March 2024

[theglo-68]

I wonder if anyone else noticed a sudden downfall in sales.

Sales are non existent in March however January and February were reasonabley good months.

Please share your thoughts!

[gthomas43]

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@theglo-68 wrote:

I wonder if anyone else noticed a sudden downfall in sales.

Sales are non existent in March however January and February were reasonabley good months.

Please share your thoughts!

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hi

I’ve been wanting to comment on this topic for a while now and this thread seems to be the most logical set of responses I’ve read so far

I’m currently in a 3 week + lack of any sales period and very frustrated at the helpless position I am in again

January & February were very good months exceeding £600 sales in each and up on the previous year. I’m not on about £42 in past 3 weeks!!

In a previous life I have owned bricks and mortar stores and understand how to run a footfall business but also understand the ebbs and flows of this set up. You understand there are risks and your sales do get effected by seasonal flows, weather, customer confidence, cost prices and competitors. But you can do something about these and you can use numerous tactics and marketing strategies to entice customers in and increase your takings. 9 times out of 10 the more you put in the more return you will see. Obviously sometimes you do make a flop but this is Just standard business practices.

EBAY will have all of these pressures/ factors as any business and some dip in sales you will always be able to associate with traditional issues. Mortgage increases, Easter holiday season etc etc however there is one extra factor that bricks and mortar stores do not have. An Algorithm!!

Having a factor where your business visibility can be shut off at any time makes it unviable for any business. It’s like in a bricks and mortar store the landlord pulling the mains electric to the building at a whim.

I have to just look at the overall picture for the year and look to see if I’m getting the same level of sales and accept the algorithm as an ebb and flow and not get too stressed about it and just wait for it to get turned on again. It does make you want to walk away but it is difficult to keep going and importantly buying new stock when you’re not sure if anybody will actually see the listings

When the visibility is switched on sales increase and it’s a great place to sell and eBay & tax man make money off me.

I’m hoping it’s just the Easter period where all of the big sellers are getting the visibility at key times and next week something will improve

As a side I think I’ve sent around 50-60 offers to buyers in last 3 weeks and not 1 has converted to sale even when giving a 20-30% discount. That in itself says something about UK economy

[bizzy-lizzy99]

I came on here to see if others were experiencing the same fall in sales as we are. We hit the wall about the third week in March. Sales have just died. Difficult to know what to do. Pull all the listings and sell elsewhere or stick it out to see if things improve. In 22 years of selling on here I've never experienced such a sudden drastic fall off of sales.

[blueskystore777]

Yes, we sell similar stuff to you and have experienced the same. It is clear 'something' has happened here recently. The only hope has to be that ebay are being severely hit in fee-loss and at this moment, are frantically working to correct whatever it is they have broken/jiggered with. The way this decline has hit, and hit so many sellers, clearly indicates it's not just 'trading conditions'. After trading for years, we all know where our approx. sales ranges lie. Sometimes up, sometimes down but not, 'off a cliff switch off'. Something has intervened and it needs to be corrected asap. In the meantime: relist/revamp/offer freepost/cut promo/cut price/do a sales dance and try not to panic!

All other recuperative advice gratefully received.

[bravergrace]

I'm not convinced that the "sudden fall in sales" being experienced by some sellers is significant in general terms.  Just by the law of averages, with random sales patterns, this will always apply to some sellers.  But if it is a real general fall affecting business sellers, here are some possible reasons:

- There is another general issue with (some or all?) GTC items listed during March - the listing duration was 30 days instead of a month.   The items listed on March 1st were eventually restored to their proper 1-month length.  But the items listed later in the month were not.  They are actually relisting a day early.  This is an anomaly that started in March, and it COULD be that these items listed during March were affected in other ways (eg  if the sort order is based on "1-month GTC listings first", then auctions" these "30 day- GTCs will not show properly, because they are an anomaly and are not 1-month listings).  If this is so, then these GTCs will continue as 30-day listings, and MAY be hidden for that reason.

- In the past, the algorithms have occasionally reversed the sort order.  For instance, at one time, the top items in every search were from "below standard sellers".  Their items were MEANT to be hidden at the bottom of every search, but the programmers hit the wrong button, and put them at the top.  So Top Rated Sellers found their items completely hidden.  Perhaps something similar has happened this time - some sort order is accidentally working as "lowest to highest" instead of vice versa.

- eBay have suffered from private sellers and unregistered businesses leaving the site because of the new HMRC rules.  We know that from the announcements.  It MIGHT be that they are trying to woo  these sellers by giving extra visibility to their items, at the expense of items from properly registered businesses.

- There was a recent change in the Google algorithm affecting what items are shown in Google search results.  I've found it practically impossible to buy anything online - or even find information - for the past few weeks, because the first page of search results are irrelevant sponsored results.

- The eBay search is erratic.  I search (eg):

"Warm yellow jumpers"  - 20 results. 

 "Yellow jumpers" - 10 results. 

 "Yellow jumpers size 48"  - 300 results.

"Yellow jumpers size 48" - in Men's vintage clothing category -  700. 

Attempts to narrow my search give more and more results.  This may be accidental or deliberate by eBay, but it makes buying things nigh impossible.

[moldosgifts]

I think it is largley down to bills, march is the monthe when council tax bills arrive, you get rent rise notification and so on.

In a nut shell people have far less spare change at the moment.

[gthomas43]

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@bravergrace wrote:

I'm not convinced that the "sudden fall in sales" being experienced by some sellers is significant in general terms.  Just by the law of averages, with random sales patterns, this will always apply to some sellers.  But if it is a real general fall affecting business sellers, here are some possible reasons:

- There is another general issue with (some or all?) GTC items listed during March - the listing duration was 30 days instead of a month.   The items listed on March 1st were eventually restored to their proper 1-month length.  But the items listed later in the month were not.  They are actually relisting a day early.  This is an anomaly that started in March, and it COULD be that these items listed during March were affected in other ways (eg  if the sort order is based on "1-month GTC listings first", then auctions" these "30 day- GTCs will not show properly, because they are an anomaly and are not 1-month listings).  If this is so, then these GTCs will continue as 30-day listings, and MAY be hidden for that reason."

This sounds like very solid advice thank you. do you have any advice on how this could be amended to last 1 month and not 30 days. I have tested that theory and my listings are still 30 days 

[bravergrace]

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@gthomas43 wrote:

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@bravergrace wrote:

- There is another general issue with (some or all?) GTC items listed during March - the listing duration was 30 days instead of a month.   The items listed on March 1st were eventually restored to their proper 1-month length.  But the items listed later in the month were not.  They are actually relisting a day early.  This is an anomaly that started in March, and it COULD be that these items listed during March were affected in other ways (eg  if the sort order is based on "1-month GTC listings first", then auctions" these "30 day- GTCs will not show properly, because they are an anomaly and are not 1-month listings).  If this is so, then these GTCs will continue as 30-day listings, and MAY be hidden for that reason."

This sounds like very solid advice thank you. do you have any advice on how this could be amended to last 1 month and not 30 days. I have tested that theory and my listings are still 30 days 

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You could test whether it's affecting visibility or sales by comparing the number of page views in the last month, for items on a 30-day listing, compared with items listed in previous months.  

(I can't do this myself, because I ended most of my 30-day listings which hadn't had any page views during that 30 days, and relisted them.  Of course, we don't know whether items listed this month are listing as 30-days or as full-month, because it's a 30 day month.

If this 30-day business is relevant to search (which it may not be), it needn't be all-or-nothing; it could just be affecting search results in certain categories, or in certain search views (eg Best Match, or Cheapest First).

[gthomas43]

To further the conversation this has popped up in my app and went live 19th March which co-insides when sales stopped 

Is it now expected that you have to pay for everything to be seen 

it's far too complicated to start setting up marketing accounts and paying a monthly subscription for this while adding another % to the selling costs 

will this blow over or actually be a nail in coffin for most. 

https://pages.ebay.com/sell/pl/termsofservice.html

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Please expand on that, where exactly does it tell you that you HAVE to apy for everything to be seen in those terms?

I have listing that are getting plenty of page views etc, that are not promoted in any way.  So it doesn't make any sense, what you are saying.

[best-range]

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@gthomas43 wrote:

To further the conversation this has popped up in my app and went live 19th March which co-insides when sales stopped 

Is it now expected that you have to pay for everything to be seen 

it's far too complicated to start setting up marketing accounts and paying a monthly subscription for this while adding another % to the selling costs 

will this blow over or actually be a nail in coffin for most. 

https://pages.ebay.com/sell/pl/termsofservice.html

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Interesting, as my sales have stopped as from the 19th of March exactly corresponding to the date this new Marketing Service was launched.  Until you posted the link I was not aware they did that.

Sales were OK'ish this year until the 19th March, but since I get gaps of 3-4 days with 0 sales in a row followed by 2-3 days of sales followed by 3-4 days of 0 sales again, etc.

Never in 20 years on ebay I experienced such a crazy sales on/ sales off pattern.

They must have changed/broken something fundamentally on the site since the 19th of March & killed sales for many while implementing that Marketing Services - whatever that is, not a clue.

I had a look at it but dont understand a single thing as it reads like written by an AI "lawyer's language", worse of both worlds, it just gave me headache.

As for "paying to be seen" we already pay the shop fees for that & then promoted fees on top.

But  it looks like they want all the seller profit  & more via their ever growing variety of promotions, new ones introduced almost daily & for sellers to make a huge loss & then pay them for the privilege of loosing money, insane!

Many sellers report paying 25-50%  in fees already since the introduction of promotions, yet it seems this is no longer enough for ebay.

[typo_lee]

Lots on here are blaming ebay for something that really has nothing to do with ebay but everything to do with a dire economy and political mess with the country. The public haven't got any confidence to spend on unnecessary items and on all our selling platforms things are quieter than normal. Its not just on ebay.

[the_book_seekers]

I'd start to think purse strings were beginning to loosen because of some of my sales in Feb and March. March was the best start to a months for some time and then mid March it just stopped almost dead. If it was just me I'd say peaks and troughs of selling, but its not just me and this doesn't feel like a natural dip in sales. I've been here before on a few occassions over the years. 

[yorkshire*flower]

Unfortunately I am not seeing that happen on my other platforms - Amazon and my own website are getting lots of sales and it hasnt dipped (infact grown) so I just think people are deciding where they are spending their money and Ebay isnt perhaps the "go to " platform that it once was.  I used to sell £6k a month in orders about 5yrs ago - Im lucky if I hit £2k a month now on Ebay (infact this month is £1700) - but I get the bulk from elsewhere, its the same amount coming in but divided more across the platforms so if people are still just selling on Ebay and havent branched out then they will feel the squeeze

[wolv_wwc]

Completely the same. Great Sales Jan Feb. Mid March started to tank. Barely do one sale (even though I have 800  listings).  April thus far practically dead. I'm promoting at 13% but even impressions are down. I get about 200 views daily (used to be 400+). I've stopped listing until ebay can prove its worth the time investment.

[theelench]

I can't do anything but agree with you, please see my earlier post @ #29.

Sales on ebid now at 22 this year.  Given that my vintage glass is to an extent quite niche, with the buyer pool relatively small, sellers here should ask themselves why those same(?) buyers are spending elsewhere but not on ebay?

I've always been a low volume seller and seen my sales on ebay decline slowly over the years, but is it really just coincidence that, particularly noticeable since the introduction of MP, the pace of that decline on ebay has increased , while on the other site there has been a corresponding increase in sales ?

I'm guessing that I'm probably not selling any more items in total, it's that buyers are now far more willing to search beyond ebay.  Having taken that step they're finding that there's plenty of what they're looking for on other sites and it's often easier to find than wading through pages of "similar" (PL) items on ebay and might even be cheaper.

I also think some buyers' attitudes have changed.  I haven't had a buyer on the other site message me asking if I'd move stuff to ebay so they can buy it safely, for  some years.  I don't get so many buyers buying a cheap item first, then coming back to buy more when that arrives safely. 

Ebay's lost what many saw as paypal's extra layer of security and the shine has worn off the MBG as its short-comings have become more obvious.  I think at least some buyers have realised that they are no more likely to have problems on smaller sites than they are on ebay.

I used to list on ebay and expect sales pretty regularly.  I used to list on the other site and hope to get a handful of sales a year if I was lucky.  That too has reversed and if ebay thinks I'm going to prop up their profits by paying 25% of my sale price +P&P costs for what has become a 2nd rate service, they can think again.

[treemas]

I have spoken to Ebay about this today because I had a good sales record selling a certain item which has, like others are commenting, has come to a stop.

I searched on Ebay to try to find my item as a customer would and I couldnt find it even after putting various options in the search. The rep was polite and tried to find a solution, however, I was told that if I promoted it  this would get my item nearer the top of the listings.

So in conclusion I think the reason why some/ most items are not selling is because they are so far down the list that buyers are not getting to it.  Popular topics like clothes have many pages and if an item is relgated to page 7 very few are going to see it. This seems to be the issue. I don't know of an answer other than to keep speaking to Ebay until they do something about it, after all a sale is profit to both sellers and Ebay no matter how big or small the set up is.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I am curious as to what you think that Ebay should do about it, if your listing is on page 7?

After all, someones listing has to be on page 7.

You need to play the book.  Top rated is a good start, follow the listing rules and so on.

But if your particular item is one of thousands, then chances are, it's going to get lost a bit, due the sheer volume of listings on the site.

So why should your listing, be above mine?  Or indeed anyone else's?

[typo_lee]

Well said. A lot of these negative anti eBay posts are sellers selling vintage, clothing, difficult to sell items which flood the eBay marketplace. These will notoriously be difficult to sell.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I honestly don't get it.  I've only been selling the clothing for about 8/9 months and it's doing well.  Though I have been trading for a lot longer than that.  

My listings tend to be fairly high in search, because I'm following the rules.

I do promote listings, but overall, the majority of sales are organic.

So I can only presume that those sellers that are really having problems, are just not doing things right.

@treemas   I am also curious as to why a Private seller, is posting on a business forum?

Or are you just another pretending to be?

[leadhills_scot]

My sales are bad, do I care no, last month I sold 41 items. At the moment I only have 16 listing up, will add some more tomorrow. 

I refuse to promote, do have some multi buys but that is all and I may add some best offers to some listings.

I have exactly 1 year left until I can claim my state pension then I'm gone. Am I anti ebay no I'm ambivalent towards them. Stopped buying when I ran out of money in Paypal as that was the only reason to buy on ebay.