Where have all the sales gone?
We are now facing a critical point in our business. Our amz sales have plummeted to one sale every other day. The past 2 months (coinciding with the launch of the INFORM Consumers Act upgrades on amz) we watched our sales drop by over 50 percent. Over the last year (2022 wasn't that great either) our sales have fallen by 40 plus percent. The downward trend is only partly a result of economic uncertainty. We are not getting sales for a number of reasons. One reason, dare I say, is that potential buyers simply cannot find our listings. We did a little experiment to prove this: we asked several of our fellow book dealers (in various locations through out the US) to look up two dozen specific titles at three different times during the day - first in the morning, then after lunch, and then finally towards 10pm. The results were disturbing. Two of the three dealers stated that they did not see any of our listings available at any of those times. The third, who is located with two states from us, was able to find some of our listings on amz in the morning and then in the evening - but not a lunch time. What should a reasonable person conclude from this? Amz is throttling sales. Where have all the sales gone? Into the black hole that is amz.
Where have all the sales gone?
We are now facing a critical point in our business. Our amz sales have plummeted to one sale every other day. The past 2 months (coinciding with the launch of the INFORM Consumers Act upgrades on amz) we watched our sales drop by over 50 percent. Over the last year (2022 wasn't that great either) our sales have fallen by 40 plus percent. The downward trend is only partly a result of economic uncertainty. We are not getting sales for a number of reasons. One reason, dare I say, is that potential buyers simply cannot find our listings. We did a little experiment to prove this: we asked several of our fellow book dealers (in various locations through out the US) to look up two dozen specific titles at three different times during the day - first in the morning, then after lunch, and then finally towards 10pm. The results were disturbing. Two of the three dealers stated that they did not see any of our listings available at any of those times. The third, who is located with two states from us, was able to find some of our listings on amz in the morning and then in the evening - but not a lunch time. What should a reasonable person conclude from this? Amz is throttling sales. Where have all the sales gone? Into the black hole that is amz.
66 replies
Seller_14o3oVAXRYtJd
Hello,
I'm sorry to hear you are facing this.
We experience a declined in sales since April 2023, not sure why as we did nothing that would create this issue, but it seems that since the account verification started some sellers have reported declined in sales.
In a recent post I made an Amazon moderator mentioned that the account verification do not affect sales but I do not think that is true, I believe that the fact that amazon posted a noticed on the health dashboard caused the internal system to reduce traffic however this can't be proven.
To restore traffic we have launched ad campaigns on all our ASIN's, we have seen some increase in sales after 7 days that the dashboard alert was removed from our account but we have not been able to reach same level of sales yet.
I would recommend you create some ads for your listings since organic search is not working for you and I also recommend you revise your shipping templates and check delivery times, that also seems to have an impact on search results.
Good luck.
Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp
Amazon is a challenge for book sellers in the best of times. Their fees are ridiculous and their ASINs are a mess.
If you haven't done so you need to start listing items on ALL other available sites. Actually, you probably should have done so a year or more ago.
Save yourself, NOT Amazon. They will not be there for you if needed!
Seller_BeWo5Xt3t43rn
CAPITAL ONE's free APP that finds the lowest price across multiple sites rarely ends up with AMAZON listings being the lowest! There are several other similar apps and AMAZON prices are not the cheapest even on the GOOGLE SHOPPING results.
Major cutbacks in certain sectors of consumer spending with rising interest rates and very high consumer debt do not help either!
There is evidence that AMAZON's site is having backend problems recently and I actually got several servers busy denial of access "please try again later"
Seller_ecUFDj9n1jqdi
sales are always down in summer. people spend money on vacations. this is normal
Seller_7iQjFTabKHqyC
We experienced a four point drop in our account health during the Inform process several times. . Your account health is used in determing your ability to be the best offer and where in the rankings ; although price and FBA status are still key. We had nothing unusual happening to drive down our account health. We wish Amazon would be clearer on what’s driving these decisions so we would know what to fix. Our sales are also down.
Seller_XI4zYGL88zheW
Amazon is as unfriendly to buyers now as it has been for sellers. The catalog is flooded with knockoff merchandise and the search algorithms skew more and more toward whatever Amazon wants to sell you rather than what you typed. It's not an organic marketplace; it's a bureaucratically controlled market with inscrutable algorithms deciding who eats and who starves. I've been leaving for 5 years (20+ year seller) and this year it's so bad that I might finally do it.
Seller_RdNJOq9MIOkFR
Our Amazon sales have also experienced multiple drops in account health during the Inform process since early May. This situation, to my knowledge, is not limited to just a few individuals. Some people claim that TEMU has had a certain impact on Amazon, but the platform has its own consumer base and it is unlikely to cause such a significant effect. This year has been the toughest one in the past seven to eight years. Hopefully, we can overcome these dark times as soon as possible.
Seller_ENBrTBTSn3PDq
Sales were down for me for the whole MONTH I went through verification. My last deposit was 75% SHORT the current week and 25% short the two previous weeks.
"Assuming" that verification is OVER my sales have come back slowly. Hoping I will be back to normal by next payout.
This verification process is far beyond what has been required by others. Amazon is using this verification process to clean up its' site however, it is also hindering legitimate sellers due to technicalities.
Seller_RQHtgaS5AgnMA
Yes, we have seen a decline in sales since April. Don't know why. Hopefully things will break out soon. We're glad that we've finally seen the last of the yellow warning label and now get back to daily business. Best of luck to you.
Seller_lCX40xAkSs1xm
There has been no material effect on sellers from the inform act yet. You can still sell during the verification process.
Also credit card debt is at an all time high. Is it possible buyers are feeling a squeeze and spending their money elsewhere? Perhaps on food and shelter?
