Declining sales

[kivo-ebiz]

I have been selling on ebay for 23 years but this year has been disasterous. I usually pay about 5% on the promotional fees. I resent having to pay this but without it I get virtually no views.

I thought things would pick up in November (usually my best month) but my"views" are down about 80% and the same with watchers. I can't put my prices any lower - with ebay fees and free postage, I am making little or no profit for our charity. We may, sadly, have to walk away.

[tressygirl]

If it makes you feel any better,  that is,  an assurance that there's nothing that you are doing that's wrong, as many others are reporting the same fall in sales,  as yourself.

There is no one reason, there never is,  but I'm sure all the ' usual' ones will apply,  economic reasons and that Christmas is just around the corner a big spend for all, so perhaps peeps holding onto money until that last mad panic rush to buy those Christmas presents.

It's a toughie selling on here, many peaks and worrying troughs, for sure.  😐

@kivo-ebiz 

[style_wise]

To add to excellent reply - from someone who knows about charity selling on eBay - my experience of Charity volunteering is that it is important to stay positive, practical, and proactive. What might that mean here?

- When sales are slow do you check Completed Listings or use the Research tool to make sure your prices are right?

- If watching Seller Dashboard metrics is getting you down, ignore them. Your peace of mind is more important. Views and watchers don't matter, these are different from Buyers.

- Do you know Promotion attributions changed in Spring 2025? If you resent paying 5% on nearly every item, with a decrease in sales, it might be time to take a closer look at whether promoting is still worth it for your Charities.

- You're in charge of the prices. If you're making little/no profit on some items it may be worth asking: Is eBay the right place to sell this? Or would it sell better on eBay as a bundle, or parted out?

For instance, the Build-a-Bear could go for up to £29 as is. Or if you like selling under £10 items, you could part it out to sell the clothes and bear separately.

Good luck in November!

[suelel1968]

Hi @kivo-ebiz 

I tried promotional fees some time ago and it did nothing. I only used them because it was a free offer. Some pointers which may help. Although I appreciate you have done this for a long time, longer than me, but things do change. 

I think I could sell the Karen Millen stole in a flash at that price. When I looked at the listing, the main photo is not the KM stole, it is a stock photo for a similar item. The rest of the photos of the actual garment are just about OK, but... you could add some proper sizing by photographing with a tape measure in the pictures. The pictures are blurred and photographed on the floor (I use a piece of wallpaper which looks like floor boards - so perhaps i should take my own advice!) Designer garments photographed this way do not sell the dream. Similarly with the Hugo Boss Coat. Stock photos are OK, but there are so many fakes out there that I would rather see actual photos of the actual garment with the logos, care labels and quality on show.

JMHO Good luck

[edgeclothinguk]

I was a seller of over 10,000 electrical items a month. Ebay screwed us over so many times and let us down. They favour the buyer and don't care ahout the seller. They allowed fake reviews to be left and favoured the buyer, kept flagging our listing's as counterfit products. On top of this, the fees kept increasing. The thing that really did it was when they made sellers pay for return postage!! They don't deserve our business. Go elsewhere. Screw eBay