Been selling on eBay for 11 years, and our sales have taken the same nosedive there as on Etsy. Opened three stores on Etsy last December. Pretty slow, at first, but a few sales coming from our blog. Then a few sales (and I mean a few sales) from searches, mostly Google (a few Etsy).
Views/favorites mean nothing, learned after so many years of selling on eBay. It's the sales that matter.
I feel sorry, though, for those who depend on this venue as their main income and are experiencing this "online recession". This is not the historic "ebb and flow" of online selling. I've watched people in online forums offer up a never-ending list of hollow excuses for no sales: it's Christmas, it's after Christmas, it's New Year's, school has resumed, it's winter, it's tax time, it's Easter, it's Spring Break, school is almost out, it's spring time, it's graduation time, it's post-tax time, school is out, summer is here, it's vacation time, it's summer time.
Online selling is different than storefront selling. It transcends these problems, most of the time. Everyone buying online does not celebrate Christmas & Easter, doesn't go into debt for Christmas or have taxes due in April, live surrounded by children's needs or school events, pay for an extravagant vacation, thrill for the feel of the outdoor, or even have the same weather.
In fact, these same excuses have all been used in past years as positive markers for online sellers: YEA, it's Christmas (and people need gifts), it's after Christmas (and people have Christmas-gift money to spend), it's New Year's (and there's a party need), school has resumed (and supplies/wardrobes need to be refreshed), it's winter (and people have time to sit at their computers and shop), it's tax time (and people have refunds to spend over the next three months), it's Easter (new clothes for the kids), it's Spring Break (and you need new things for that trip to Daytona), school is almost out (and we're looking for things to do/wear this summer), it's spring time (and I need something new to do/look at), it's graduation time (and the gift list is pretty long this year), it's post-tax time (and I've got a refund burning a hole in my pocket), school is out (means extra evening time for the computer not spent doing homework with the kids), summer is here (new clothes/toys are a must), it's vacation time (and everyone needs new things to take), and it's summer time (whoo-whee, it's too hot to be outside, so I'll sit at the computer for a while).
So, you see, these are not helpful answers for this receding-income issue. In previous years, you could count on Christmas bolstering things up a little. But there's never a guarantee. Last year was shaky for even the big retailers.
People ARE spending money, even if it's less than before. Since we've watched eBay, Amazon AND Etsy slowly-but-steadily decline over the last year or so for sellers like us, we know that this isn't something that they can fix. If they could, they would have fixed it already. (Granted, Etsy does need to do some big-time advertising to become the household-word that these other two are.)
We have to face up to the fact that people -- the buying public -- have changed their spending habits over the last several years. We, as sellers, need to figure out how to tap into this "new" market. While a few of the small sellers seem to have figured it out, the rest of us have to face up to the fact that our items/services may not be what people want right now.
We sold books for 25+ years, and it was painful to watch that market dry up. I love old patterns and sewing supplies, but not many people sew (or even craft) anymore. We've been buying/selling antiques for 30+ years, and we watched it lapse into its slump. And "Handmade" has little value with the general public these days.
Please don't get me wrong, I know that there are still sales happening in these (and other) areas. Generally speaking, though, I've been in this long enough to confidently say that "things ain't what they used to be".
I'm still plugging away, though, always trying to figure out what will sell for us. Making excuses for low sales isn't getting us anywhere. Marketing has changed, because people's buying habits have changed. While some product or season may have been successful last year (or the year before), you can no longer bank on it working in the coming year.
Old Indian proverb: "Keep ear to ground, and sales will come". (Not really, I just made that up.) If you're selling what people want, they will find you. To be found, though, you have to be waiting for them. Somewhere. Doesn't matter what colour your photo backgrounds are or how many items you have in your shop. Just keep trying to find out WHAT people are looking for, the true selling VALUE of that item, and WHERE the buyers are looking.
I won't say "hang in there". It's all about stewardship, at the end of it all. How you spend your time, talent and money. In a time of plenty, it's easy (and fun) to play the game. When things get tight for everyone, though . . . well . . . sometimes the right thing to do is to keep playing. Sometimes it's time to quit and use your resources elsewhere.
We keep plugging away, because we've got this credit-card debt to exorcise from our lives. At times, though, it's been more cost-effective for us to back off of the online selling and use our time to make living within our means a reality. Never an easy decision, but it's always been worth it, in the end. At other times, we just keep listing and hoping. And that's always been worth it, in the end. It's just a matter of knowing which time we're in . . . right now . . .
