Worst Day on Amazon since Lockdown
I have no clue what is going on with this sales venue. I have never seen it so slow, it's even slower than the beginning of the pandemic. All listings show active and feature offer available. My other venues are down too but nothing like on Amazon.
Something weird is happening on this sales venue in particular. Any thoughts or similar experiences?
Worst Day on Amazon since Lockdown
I have no clue what is going on with this sales venue. I have never seen it so slow, it's even slower than the beginning of the pandemic. All listings show active and feature offer available. My other venues are down too but nothing like on Amazon.
Something weird is happening on this sales venue in particular. Any thoughts or similar experiences?
81 replies
Seller_WsdULSSIajCRd
Views across the 7k or so listings I sell on are down about 27% YTD, which closely tracks my sales decline. We advertise and we have made considerable listing contributions
Amazon is the Canary in the cold mine of US consumer spending, so my outlook on the general economy isn't all the good.
Seller_QT9BMbwnVRjtg
market is getting flooded with chinese sellers undercutting US sellers. I have a product i was researching. It would cost me 50 bucks a unit delivered to amazon to sell it plus amazon FBA fees . meanwhile a chinese competitor is selling it for 61 on amazon. I cant compete with that.
Seller_ToPPYvOWlyp9j
This week our sales are approx. average but Thursday/Friday, will fall off a cliff and stay that way till Sun evening/Mon--if we're lucky!!. Maybe we should go out of town as @Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp suggests.
Anyone who has extra money will be traveling/camping/visiting; maybe just bar-B-queing in their back yard- even though hamburgers w/ condiments/ lettuce/tomato/beer/chips aren't cheap!! Unless one sells essential items, don't fore-see big sales this weekend, particularly if weather is good.
Seller_aeodhddVTXi25
My sales are all platforms are down a lot. I know its the economy but also, the Chinese literally stole my handmade best seller, including my photos, an original design I came up with. I went from having 25 sales a day in Oct to about 5 a week now.
Seller_LVFWAyltr8BvK
It appears that Amazon messed up their algorithm and as all we know they have always been siding with the Chinese accounts (allowing their fake reviews, stealing other sellers listings, and etc.), so that's that.
I have a fully equipped (in every possible way) store page and listings. I do everything perfectly by the book. No matter what I do, even I spend ridiculous amount of money on ad campaigns, the sales are on the ground. I am literally losing money for over a month now. I kept spending and thinking that it will help build the base to go on, but no, It more feels like Amazon is just happy with the money they make out of ads and membership fees. I used to sell much better with less equipped store and listing pages, less ads, less reviews and everything.
I believe that Amazon is basically trying to swap all locals with Chinese and they literally do not care what we have to say.
Seller_BYn3ICHDweKIc
Yes, we are experiencing the same problem. It is to such an extreme degree, that we won't be able to stay in business here if things don't change soon. I can pinpoint our drastic drop in traffic back to April 2023. There was a huuuuge drop in views and traffic. And than it steadily just got worse. It doesn't seem to matter what changes we make, it does not seem to help. Amazon has majorly changed something in search function and algorithm. I keep hearing soooo many struggling because of this, and haven't received help or transparency from Amazon. Our sales happen just as sporadically and inconsistantly as you describe, whereas it was NOT like that before. Amazon is slowly suffocating us here. Here's our traffic graph. I'll link you to a post I made yesterday, too.
Here's my post from yesterday. Just LOOK at that graph!! This is NOT normal.
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/144db4df-56fa-4034-8f4a-da439bd43b94?
Seller_gDktQSA1WFw4Y
Yes, I remember that around April 2023, Amazon quietly changed its search algorithm. Previously, they would push listings to the most affordable and high-quality products to the first page. However, since changing the algorithm, the listings they push are all from products that have paid significant advertising fees. As a result, Amazon's advertising revenue has seen tremendous growth since then
Seller_BYn3ICHDweKIc
Hey, thank you for the reply!! I agree and think this is where the problem began, and than slowly got worse. If you get a chance, would you possibly be willing to look at your traffic stats for the same dates I have? Even if you don't feel comfortable posting a pic, and I would totally get that, could you possibly check and see if there's any similarities to what I'm seeing? Thank you!
Seller_gDktQSA1WFw4Y
Hello, my sales haven't declined as much as yours, overall down about 25% compared to the same period two years ago. However, this is because since I discovered Amazon adjusted the search algorithm, I lowered the selling price of individual products because the chinese competitors sales price is veryand increased the advertising budget several times. This has created a huge problem for me now, as my profit margin is struggling to support the costs and expenses of my business, such as rent and wages.
Seller_WsdULSSIajCRd
I'm looking at one of your listings, this particular one you've been losing ranking for some time.
You have a competitors advertising over you. Even though you have the Amazon Choice for the Baby Category, if you aren't advertising defensively at the least, you views are going to continue to go down as you are pushed down the page in the organic search results.
I'd highly recommend you look at an Ad software like Perpetua (I have no affiliation) to help you fight for ranking on search.
It's just the way it is now, but even with a great product, overtime, the sellers that are advertising are going to drink your milk shake.
NameSigns
Seller_BYn3ICHDweKIc
Thank you for the insightful response! I know it's not ideal, but glad you aren't in the position we are.....what I would give to be 25% down.
Man, we've tried so many different things here. We've tried lowering prices.....I had originally increased our PPC budget, but the ACOS kept climbing. With all the fees already being raised, I just became unwilling to pay 40 to 50% ACOS. It just seemed to climb higher as we upped our budget.
So than with (as you can see on the graph) views being tanked so drastically, decided to heavily heavily cut PPC budget. And we used to spend a TON on PPC. Just not willing to pay 50%. Just not willing to pay Amazon more.
Of course we have done all of Amazon's recommendations, as well. We've done A+ Content, updated all listings, updated search terms, etc.
Our profit margins are desperately struggling, as well. We've already used up all our stocks/reserves to keep things afloat through this year. I'm about to sell a car to hopefully float a few more months. But to be honest, we're on our last breathes here. Man, there's something so SH*# about working sometimes 80+ hours a week, to than realize that it's still not only enough to live and depleting all savings.....but being super worried if you can even buy just the needed supplies. We've owned our own business for over 15 years......slowly and steadily growing. Never took it for granted, always felt lucky to have customers. Incredibly lucky tbh. I would sleep at our store for months at a time......happily.
This is all just so unfortunate, with no end in sight, no help from the company that wants to take 50% or more in profit, and absolutely NO transparency or even remotely caring for their sellers/customers that made them what they are and pay them so much.
Thank you again!! If you have any helpful insights on anything we can do for the algorithm changes, would love to hear it! Wishing you the best of luck and the least stress possible friend!
Seller_WsdULSSIajCRd
If you're using Amazon's PPC manager, it isn't going to do more than eat up your profit. You'll need to find something better to help you find what to bid on, how much, and when.
Seller_BYn3ICHDweKIc
Genuinely thank you for your response and the time you put into this. Ok, so we're going to check out Perpetua, I'm going to start looking into it asap.
I've honestly ALWAYS been a huge fan of PPC and using it with Amazon. In the past, we would spend thousands and thousands on PPC. This wasn't an issue as long as we could justify it with a somewhat low ACOS. However, noticed in the past year, that it just kept growing and growing higher. On top of that, Amazon raising it's fees....and what I believe in somehow handicapping organic sales/views/and rankings. I cut our ads costs WAAAAY down. Just not willing to pay them more. Don't get me wrong, happy to pay PPC....just not willing to pay 50%.
Yo, I genuinely appreciate your insight, can tell you know what you're talking about. Real. I'll be checking out Perpetua ASAP!
Seller_WsdULSSIajCRd
You're very welcome and I'm sorry you're in this pickle. If you do end up trying out Perpetua, I'd recommend targeting no more than 8% ACOS and giving it some good starter keywords. There is software out there that can get you started or pull the keywords your competitors are using. I can recommend SellerRise for that, much cheaper than Helium, but with it you can plug in all the ASINs of your competitors and then find what keywords don't have many bids and then also the ones that they are bidding on. Make sure you set your Perpetua campaigns to Dynamic Bid Down Only, don't let it bid up and then just let the software find other valuable keywords. Many sellers runout of ad budgets early, so if you are really strapped for cash, bid the second half of the month. Lastly and assuming you aren't already debt strapped, try and seek some additional capital for inventory. If you have an offer from Marcus through Amazon, that's a good company, and if you don't try a line of credit through a big bank like Chase. If they can't give you a LOC outright, they'll do the paperwork for you to get a chase LOC that's backed by the federal SBA program.Wishing you the best!
Lastly, if you do find that you're still fighting a losing battle, it doesn't mean you have to stay fighting it. If you've been selling on Amazon awhile, then you've picked up valuable skills. Ones that you could take to another company and help them get on Amazon or grow their business there. If you do, shoot high and for brands that have IP that is defendable and have demand beyond Amazon. These are the brands that have the strength and tools to defend themselves in the current Amazon wasteland.
Sadly, more and more sellers will close up shop, but it doesn't mean their experience isn't valuable. If my company can continue to make it through, I know that this is the first place I'd check for people that have survived all Amazon has thrown at them up to this point and many of those people will be true assets to any sellers that make it.
Seller_gDktQSA1WFw4Y
Thank you for sharing your advertising strategy here. I was also considering using such software, like Teikametrics. Since you mentioned Perpetua, I would like to ask if you have any recommendations for choosing software?
Seller_KZzvCF3A9DRxa
Sales are down, but this is the time of year they normally are for us. As for the sellers complaining about the direct sellers from China, that can only be fixed at the US Trade Agreements level. Start lobbying your US Reps to do something about the under $800 rule of no tariffs from China. If that goes away, yes, Temu goes away, and the China direct sellers will be forced to raise prices. Also, the fight for regulation of products similar to the EU safety standards, which more than half of the China-based products can not meet.
Seller_p8DgF7zAESNUZ
I have two brands of apparel that I own. One has been running for about 7 years and the other just got it's trademark Jan 2024.
What's interesting is my new brand made more money 2023 than my old brand and over all inspite of have some serious technical issues with amazon, it wasn't a horrible year.
That being said, Jan, Feb and March were all about "normal" by annual standards but as of right now, the last 5 pay periods have decreased from the previous and this pay period is showing about the same love.
My other sales venues are also slowed way down. I can pick up other work as I screen print all my own merch so I have other services to offer, but even that is slow.
I see whats happening on TikTok too, and the American bases apparel sellers keep dropping their prices more and more. Selling an $18 single sided print medium range Tee for $8-$9. That's a bad look and doesn't help the pricing for the rest of us. This is the same situation I saw back in 2012 as a freelance graphic designer during our last big recesssion. The corp world dropped all the designers (we are a liablity on paper) and they all went freelance but charged their regular corp hourly instead of true freelance rates which at the time were about 300% higher than corp hourly. That ruined the freelance market. I don't see these drastic price drops doing much for anybodies benefit either.
Good luck people. Stay strong. Everything comes in waves. Endure to the next peak!
Seller_pP1WLqRuXala5
Its the start of summer time, this happens every year and every year people always forget that the same thing happened last year.
It gets warm out and people go outside and temporarily forget about everything else.
Enjoy the time, it will get busy again soon enough.
Seller_dy0iaamuixQa3
Same here. But I usually experience a drop during this month after mother's day. I know that the economy has a role to play along with normal sales cycles. However, there are probably some other factors, as well.
Seller_BeWo5Xt3t43rn
AMAZON search is far more censored than usual and it only shows mainly sponsored and those rated 4 stars and above! Took me FOREVER to shop for the best block chesse slicer which SHOULD have been a leading product due to unique features such as wire tension adjustment but it was not! Google is now using AI aided search and it makes a difference in what AMAZON items showup! Many more TEMU items show up! And despite SNL recent sketch making fun of TEMU many are attracted to its cheap prices!Remember many depend on Google for finding items on AMAZON as we know AMAZON SEARCH SUCKS!
