huge lost in sales past month and a half

[thebossorder]

hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone else is seeing a very abnormal decline in sales in the past 45 days. It seems that ever since ebay implemented a bunch of changes I'm barely making any sales , I've lost about 50% so far going from 10 to 15 orders a day to now 2 to 8 AT BEST. I'd say about half of my orders were international but right now it's 99% canada with most of my usual high sales regions not even buying a single things anymore.

what is even happening right now ???

[thebossorder]

to add to this. im being contacted left and right about shipping quoted on my listings now being 22-30$ instead of the usualy 8 to 19$ , even usual buyers aren't able to get shipping discounts like they used to

[jtg204]

RE: Shipping costs...

Check if your settings to pass on ebay discounted rates to buyers was changed to standard rates without discounts here:

https://www.ebay.ca/ship/prf/carrier

Doesn't seem to be the case on some listings though.  Ones with Lite seem to be lower with $3 handling? Keychains seem to have normal rates.

[thebossorder]

no i still offer the ebay discounted rates as per usual.

to be clear, i have not changed anything myself.

[recyclagest-bruno]

Hello!
Since September 1st,

yes, I've almost lost three-quarters of my sales.

I used to sell 20 to 25 pieces per week, now 5 to 10.

[mrdutch1001]

whenever there is any sort of drop in views/sales,etc, sellers are quick to blame the selling site, when in fact there are so many variables at play that are overlooked...This is not unique to eBay>sellers on other selling sites will tell similar stories about decreased views/sales,etc.and quick to blame the selling site...

so, No this is not about the selling site and/or any changes that have taken place on a selling site...there is a lot more to it than that...there are more obvious reasons...

[thebossorder]

hi. ive called and ebay already established there was an issue, so youd be incorrect. were not talking about a 20% drop here, im talking 800$ a day to 100-200$ a day drop. when most of my international sales cost 15$ to ship for the buyers but now they tell me they see 33$ while i didnt change anything this is not a seller problem, its a website problem

[jtg204]

It's just the US buyers questioning the higher shipping?

On some of your listings, I get the higher EIS rate instead of your $9 Tracked Packet USA option as the first shown.

On the items thy ask about, when you look at the listing does it have you shipping rate listed when you enter a US shipping location?

[thebossorder]

no, its US and international as well. 

ive looked at some of my listings and EIS program is changing my setings for much more expensive options as well as limiting my options. ive opted out this morning before making this post as im assuming it might be one of the cause of my problems.

are you able to link me one of my listings that you view this problem right now ? 

[jtg204]

I'm not seeing EIS now on the listings.  I think one that had EIS as the primary method was a Wii U game.

An example of one where it has higher FedEx shipping as the primary shipping over Tracked Packet though:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/257212389720

[thebossorder]

thank you very much for the exemple. its one of my newest listings that i just made, here's the options as i view it and how much of my new listings are setup.

ebay should be contacting me this week to see what can be done.

honestly id be perfectly fine with it just being a me issue, but when a US buyer tell me quote " it’s gonna charge me the $22 shipping on each one" while i have combined calculated shipping on the listings he's talking about, im very concerned that a lot of potential buyers are seeing these huge numbers and just going elsewhere while its usually much more affordable

[msau4301]

ive looked at some of my listings and EIS program is changing my setings for much more expensive options as well as limiting my options. ive opted out this morning before making this post as im assuming it might be one of the cause of my problems.

Yes, it was most likely the eIS putting your shipping costs way up if you've had regular buyers question the higher amounts. Now that you've opted out they should see it normally but make sure you have everything in order for potential extra duty/tarriffs, etc so they don't get shocked on the receiving end. Though if you were doing $800/day you are probably well aware of the new process.

[thebossorder]

yes. on my side everything was going great and ive gotten nothing but positive experiences, the worst ive got was duties but specifically only with the US since they removed the deminimis and UPS decided to charge duties on my duty free items so buyers refused the delivery.

according to the eBay person i spoke with it SHOULD be fine in 2 days. but if not im gonna have to do something as this is no longer viable 

[jtg204]

If you want the lower shipping to show first, then probably bump FedEx down the list so Tracked Packet USA shows before it for US buyers.

One place buyers wlll only see the first shipping option is in offers (ie: auto-offers, I got a bunch from your listings).  Unless they close the offer pop-up or go to the listing again, they are presented with only one shipping price in the offer details.

Example:

[femmefan1946]

I'm seeing my normal Q4 decline in sales. 

Selling since 1978, this has always been the slowest period for both B&M and mail order sales in my category.

Are you comparing your sales to last month or to October/November 2024? 2023? 2022?

Retail does go in waves and any comparisons less than a year , and preferably a few years, don't show natural changes in demand.

You can't sell Christmas trees in February or BBQs after Father's Day.

I agree that my US sales are off, even given the Trump Tariff and other chaos he is causing the US economy. 

I have noticed a small uptick in overseas sales, not enough to quantify. 

shipping quoted on my listings now being 22-30$ instead of the usualy 8 to 19$ ,

Are you listing on dot CA using the newly introduced eBay International Shipping (eIS)?

You customer is seeing their shipping prices including the Trump Tariff , regular duty, and of course sales taxes. 

In addition, Trump killed the $800 duty free allowance (de minimus) which means that many of our uS customers are seeing duty and tariff on their imports for the first time. 

Whether these import fees are paid at the time of purchase, or whether they are a fun surprise on the customer's doorstep, they are going to be charged. 

If you are shipping to the US directly, you may have noticed that eBay has suspended Canada Post labels for the duration of the current postal dispute.

Instead we only have UPS and FedEx labels available through eBay, which are much more expensive. 

(I recently sent a shipment to Czech Republic via Canada Post for $68  for which UPS wanted to charge $216)

Canada Post labels are still available directly through Canada Post. 

If you have a Solutions for Small Business account (which is free) you also get a discount. Not as generous as the one eBay negotiated and the label making is not as smooth, but it's there. 
https://sso-osu.canadapost-postescanada.ca/pfe-pap/en/registration/business?sourceApp=SMB&sourceUrl=...

[femmefan1946]

the eBay person i spoke with

If you phoned eBay you did not speak with an eBay employee.

The phones are sub-contracted to a call centre in Utah, with service reps in the Philippines.

If you contacte eBay by social media and they phoned back you got an actual trained employee. 

What did the transcript say?

[thebossorder]

i knew this about canada shipping as they give you the option of which ones are first and last. now i have no idea international were seeing them like that as well however it never been an issue before. ill change it all for future listings just in case 

[visual-sound]

I wish I had two sales everyday!

[thebossorder]

my sales last year same period were higher than my sales this year and I'm no longer a new seller by any means , the numbers are just differents.

again, 50% of my sales are international (is in NOT america) so whatever is happening to the US is of little to no concern to me as they barely represent 10% of my sales. now those 50% overseas sales are just GONE. not a slight decline over a period, it's a 100 to 0 in a day kind of drop. I opted out of EIS 2 days ago because clearly it's bad in it's current state

[thebossorder]

just an update on this as things changed yesterday.
so after talking to ebay a lot of kept being told EIS doesnt have anything to do and i might just "not offer what people want anymore". ive decided to opt back in following a suggestion i got from chatgpt and running the numbers, well guess what. after i did the sales have been coming back and none of them used the EIS program so far. what im guetting from this is EIS might cause a visibility technical issue from the global market if you opt out.

id like ebay to actually respond to this.


also somewhat related but ive went to some of ebay other websites such as .FR .NL .PL ETC.... and even tho i ship there and all my listings allow shipping there my store has a blue message saying none of my items are shipping over there which is a total lie