What has happened to my handmade business?
I do not have a clue what happened to my sales. For 2 years I have been selling very well and last year I was shocked at how busy I was every day. Since January it all slowed and now I am 80% under same month/day as last year. This week I am at zero. The weird part is my best item is still on the first page of my category and the Buy Box is at 100% with a down arrow.
Any thoughts? I have not changed anything on the listings and my metrics are about perfect no problem there.
Thank you!
What has happened to my handmade business?
I do not have a clue what happened to my sales. For 2 years I have been selling very well and last year I was shocked at how busy I was every day. Since January it all slowed and now I am 80% under same month/day as last year. This week I am at zero. The weird part is my best item is still on the first page of my category and the Buy Box is at 100% with a down arrow.
Any thoughts? I have not changed anything on the listings and my metrics are about perfect no problem there.
Thank you!
30 Antworten
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_ob5I74DPwNtS4 It is never good to hear that a Handmade Seller's sales are down.
Are there any ASINs you would be willing to share wit the Community to see if other sellers can make any suggestions or observations? That's optional, of course.
KJ_Amazon
Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTG
This makes me sad to read because we are experiencing the same thing too! Sales are in the toilet. Ads that were at 21% ACOS are now over 70% ACOS and have become erratic and unpredictable most days bringing in $0 in sales. These are ads that have been fine tuned over the years for our best selling products and keywords. Also our health is 100% perfect and has been for years.
I attribute this recent drop in sales to the new No Return policy that was just implemented. It is bad and unfortunately it is going to get worse for sellers of handmade and custom items. We should have the option to opt out of this policy. I was perfectly fine with the policy that preceded this new one and so were our customers. We were always able to make our customers happy. This new policy is frustrating for sellers and buyers alike and makes no one happy.
I do not believe there are any changes that you can make to your listings that will change this sudden drop in sales. It has nothing to do with your listings or products. If it was just you then I would say maybe your listings need updated but we are experiencing the same exact thing in the handmade category.
What is even more sad is how empty this handmade seller forum is! :(
Seller_pzwTDo25iqlFM
Like others have replied below, it's due to the new return policy on customized items. Thank you @KJ_Amazon for chiming in and I hope you will continue to report to the Handmade Team that this is a huge problem for Handmade sellers. Many true Handmade sellers probably don't even know what hit them and I'm sure this is a much bigger problem than the forum response might indicate. To other Handmade sellers reading this thread, your ACOS would have shot up just like @Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTGindicated. I experience this also and I just had to turn off all of my campaigns. It's a death blow for us, especially with the added problem of our listings (some of us) getting smeared with the GENERIC label.
Seller_PLoLYOEcibF06
I have complied with every rule regarding my listings on Handmade yet my sales are at zero for 3 weeks. The return policy is attempting to put most handmade sellers out of business. This is very unfair to us hardworking sellers of handmade products. Since most handmade sellers are afraid to post here or don't bother to post here even though they are disappointed, the Amazon Handmade Team will not really know what the majority of the Handmade sellers are experiencing. Every item I have ever sold in Handmade is made with my hands yet some of my products are listed as generic.
Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTG
Posting link to my new post here as I found a serious discrepancy with the new policy and how it is not inclusive to ALL customized products. There are products that are obviously customized that are still able to accept returns. Not sure why but this is what I found while researching.
Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTG
Everyone please follow the link and read! There is a way to still accept returns on your custom items as per KJ_Amazon's reply!
I have set mine to accept all returns so we shall see what happens. Wish we would have been made aware of this info before this policy rollout! But better now than never.
Seller_2azHBWt7FzGTG
Please review your listings on the marketplace today. I have confirmed and documented that this No Return policy has been removed from all of my listings although the policy change is still showing as non-returnable in Amazon policy pages. I do believe this was removed because the policy was at face value a discriminatory policy that was implemented and did not cover 100% of customized products which in turn caused an imbalanced and unfair marketplace advantage to any listing not subject to it. What are you seeing on your listings today? @Seller_PnrXkbtrZXyxc @Seller_PLoLYOEcibF06 @Seller_ob5I74DPwNtS4
Please also note that this policy is now showing in the "Terms and Conditions" under the customization button but is not being displayed in the buy box as they could not control the 100% coverage of the implemented policy to make it a fair marketplace policy (as I documented here in the forums). But the damage has already been done to the sellers and listings that it was dominantly shown on for over 30 days.
5. Returns: Customized products are not returnable but may be refunded or replaced as set forth in our Return Policies.
