Handmade Community
Handmade Community
Our Handmade sales are deteriorating!!! (SOS) Save Our Sales!!!
First time posting on the forums. Thanks to all those who have posted and given us insight over the years through this resource! We have been selling on Amazon Handmade for 7 years. At the end of July 2023 our sales decreased within days to 65-75% down and holding from the year before. Prior to this we have experienced consistent organic growth month after month, year after year with very consistent year round sales up until the end of July this year. Our account is considered to be (HV) high velocity seller. Our best selling product was ranking #4 in its category, it is now far from that position. We have around 90 product listings in total.
We started working with the Amazon Accelerator team towards the end of February 2023 to improve and update our store. We had our word mark and trademark done, built out our A+ brand store, and recently completed 15 A+ product pages. When we completed our A+ brand store and the first few A+ product pages is when we saw an immediate decrease in sales. We did not know if it was something to do with the updated information of A+ content or something else. We have an account manager that we meet with for 30 minutes weekly/bi-weekly over the phone. That person along with their resources to other teams assured us that based on reports from various teams it is not the result of A+ content upgrade.
We do not have any understanding for ourselves or answers from team support yet as to why this is happening or a fix. Our account health is excellent, product categories are all correct. We are expecting some more data from our meeting on this coming Friday with our account manager to why all our impressions are so low compared to prior of July, our coupons have a fraction of clips as they did prior, ads ACOS went way up and are not even converting now, we have turned off all of our ads because they are not working. Along with why our strongest selling ASIN is not selling and why are the sales on other products so random? We can look at data and see a very strong pattern to past sales ASINS, none of our remaining sales we are getting act anywhere close to the prior patterns.
Over the years we have done extensive work to meet Amazons Handmade requirements to sell our product here, which we do make by hand and are a small business. We have had a couple of scares over the years, but nothing close to what has been happening for the last 2 months. We are grateful for this platform as it has provided so much opportunity to our 14 year old company to grow on other platforms and our website. It would be a shame to see this store continue to die without the possibility to fix it. We hope there is a solution to this situation. If anyone can give us advice or direction in regards to this situation in restoring our sales to any degree on this platform please help.
Our best wishes to the other stores on handmade experiencing this as well.
Thank you for reading, regards to all!
52 replies
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
No A+ content here, I prefer the bullet points. I often update titles and keywords hoping to find that magic formula, but no big changes on my end to account for the drop off.
Seller_lnG1vEHPdDS1j
As with all posts regarding sales dropping after "X Changes", I can tell you from experience that there will never be a clear answer on the associations between new features on this platform and your sales, but you need to consider a wider view before associating two variables.
For example,
- Overall economic spending from users
- Seasonal changes / pattern changes
- Shopper Platform preference (people shop at other stores for products in your classification)
- New competitors
- Advertising Spend
We can presume that Amazon wishes to increase revenue via commission and independent seller accounts, so if your sales are decreasing, you need to ask, who else is increasing in sales? Product Opportunity Explorer, Brand Metrics, and search terms work pretty well to answer this question. If you can't prove from that data, then it's likely externalized, i.e. free advertising on Google for Amazon has stopped for your category, shoppers are buying on another platform, etc.
Also, the bots tend to re-evaluate after major changes to an ASIN, so change at a major level likely will come with a re-evaluation period.
Seller_P85u3WAAnD3kQ
Handmade seller, here. Same story. My sales are always slow in June/July, and then my biggest months are August, September, October (I sell costume masks so Halloween is our biggest time of year). It's now mid september and i've never had sales this bad. I've been selling on amazon since 2015 or 2016.
Now I'm seriously considering going back to terrible Etsy. I'm already screwed this year since it's my busy season and I am NOT busy.
OP, it's not you. Amazon definitely did something to make this happen. I haven't filled out all the brand pages you have, so it's not that. I think it's some kind of change they made to the handmade categories, like how we show up in search results. No one is searching the handmade category on Amazon, so if our products don't appear in normal search results, no one is going to see them!! I think that's what is happening to all the handmade sellers right now--we're not showing up in search results.
I tried to counteract this by increasing my amazon ads--they're not working! now I'm wasting a ton of money on ads!!!
I feel like it started in May when amazon made me do that verification madness they put everyone through. my sales immediately dropped during that time.
priscilla_amazon
Hi All, I'm really sorry to hear about this and I appreciate you surfacing your concerns and details of what is happening.
I've raised your concerns to our team internally.
Seller_ecQyUxErlLmIZ
Yes down 40% for handmade also!
Been a terrible 2 months
Seller_JL6HfmnayP6jw
Absolutely. it makes 0 sense. The last 12 months or so have been awful, im down maybe 80%, yet my in person events (i Do art shows comic cons etc) are up almost 300%. I dont know what Amazon has done but they messed it up.
Seller_q5udOJ80okR7U
Just to echo everyone else on here, we've been experiencing a similar pattern starting back in June.
According to the business report tab on the seller app, our page views this month are down 77% compared to last year, despite us spendig 100% more on ads and optimizing our titles/bullet points/images etc.
The only thing keeping the lights on is the fact that our sales conversion is much better than last year.
Maybe it is macroeconomic factors causing an overall decrease in online spending, or an increase in competitors, but it's certainly alarming to say the least.
Seller_PwRVRiqjB2PWI
Just curious if everyone experiencing this problem is continuing to add new products... I know it seems futile when sales are already deader than dead but I think that is part of cracking the Amazon nut...
Seller_rcF8wdoWqZpX5
Same issues, same dates. My sales have dropped dramatically for no apparent reason.
Seller_CVXS7OOEFPqdB
Same here! I have had a best seller on the bestseller list for 4 years straight, toggles between #5 -25 typically. Over the past 3 weeks, I all of a sudden have days with no sales and now my ranking has plummeted to below #200 on BS list. Its not the economy or buying interest. My same item is still selling on etsy.
Seller_MoGbTyff168AW
You are not alone, Our sales are down 50% from last year
Our Handmade sales are deteriorating!!! (SOS) Save Our Sales!!!
First time posting on the forums. Thanks to all those who have posted and given us insight over the years through this resource! We have been selling on Amazon Handmade for 7 years. At the end of July 2023 our sales decreased within days to 65-75% down and holding from the year before. Prior to this we have experienced consistent organic growth month after month, year after year with very consistent year round sales up until the end of July this year. Our account is considered to be (HV) high velocity seller. Our best selling product was ranking #4 in its category, it is now far from that position. We have around 90 product listings in total.
We started working with the Amazon Accelerator team towards the end of February 2023 to improve and update our store. We had our word mark and trademark done, built out our A+ brand store, and recently completed 15 A+ product pages. When we completed our A+ brand store and the first few A+ product pages is when we saw an immediate decrease in sales. We did not know if it was something to do with the updated information of A+ content or something else. We have an account manager that we meet with for 30 minutes weekly/bi-weekly over the phone. That person along with their resources to other teams assured us that based on reports from various teams it is not the result of A+ content upgrade.
We do not have any understanding for ourselves or answers from team support yet as to why this is happening or a fix. Our account health is excellent, product categories are all correct. We are expecting some more data from our meeting on this coming Friday with our account manager to why all our impressions are so low compared to prior of July, our coupons have a fraction of clips as they did prior, ads ACOS went way up and are not even converting now, we have turned off all of our ads because they are not working. Along with why our strongest selling ASIN is not selling and why are the sales on other products so random? We can look at data and see a very strong pattern to past sales ASINS, none of our remaining sales we are getting act anywhere close to the prior patterns.
Over the years we have done extensive work to meet Amazons Handmade requirements to sell our product here, which we do make by hand and are a small business. We have had a couple of scares over the years, but nothing close to what has been happening for the last 2 months. We are grateful for this platform as it has provided so much opportunity to our 14 year old company to grow on other platforms and our website. It would be a shame to see this store continue to die without the possibility to fix it. We hope there is a solution to this situation. If anyone can give us advice or direction in regards to this situation in restoring our sales to any degree on this platform please help.
Our best wishes to the other stores on handmade experiencing this as well.
Thank you for reading, regards to all!
Our Handmade sales are deteriorating!!! (SOS) Save Our Sales!!!
First time posting on the forums. Thanks to all those who have posted and given us insight over the years through this resource! We have been selling on Amazon Handmade for 7 years. At the end of July 2023 our sales decreased within days to 65-75% down and holding from the year before. Prior to this we have experienced consistent organic growth month after month, year after year with very consistent year round sales up until the end of July this year. Our account is considered to be (HV) high velocity seller. Our best selling product was ranking #4 in its category, it is now far from that position. We have around 90 product listings in total.
We started working with the Amazon Accelerator team towards the end of February 2023 to improve and update our store. We had our word mark and trademark done, built out our A+ brand store, and recently completed 15 A+ product pages. When we completed our A+ brand store and the first few A+ product pages is when we saw an immediate decrease in sales. We did not know if it was something to do with the updated information of A+ content or something else. We have an account manager that we meet with for 30 minutes weekly/bi-weekly over the phone. That person along with their resources to other teams assured us that based on reports from various teams it is not the result of A+ content upgrade.
We do not have any understanding for ourselves or answers from team support yet as to why this is happening or a fix. Our account health is excellent, product categories are all correct. We are expecting some more data from our meeting on this coming Friday with our account manager to why all our impressions are so low compared to prior of July, our coupons have a fraction of clips as they did prior, ads ACOS went way up and are not even converting now, we have turned off all of our ads because they are not working. Along with why our strongest selling ASIN is not selling and why are the sales on other products so random? We can look at data and see a very strong pattern to past sales ASINS, none of our remaining sales we are getting act anywhere close to the prior patterns.
Over the years we have done extensive work to meet Amazons Handmade requirements to sell our product here, which we do make by hand and are a small business. We have had a couple of scares over the years, but nothing close to what has been happening for the last 2 months. We are grateful for this platform as it has provided so much opportunity to our 14 year old company to grow on other platforms and our website. It would be a shame to see this store continue to die without the possibility to fix it. We hope there is a solution to this situation. If anyone can give us advice or direction in regards to this situation in restoring our sales to any degree on this platform please help.
Our best wishes to the other stores on handmade experiencing this as well.
Thank you for reading, regards to all!
52 replies
52 replies
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
No A+ content here, I prefer the bullet points. I often update titles and keywords hoping to find that magic formula, but no big changes on my end to account for the drop off.
Seller_lnG1vEHPdDS1j
As with all posts regarding sales dropping after "X Changes", I can tell you from experience that there will never be a clear answer on the associations between new features on this platform and your sales, but you need to consider a wider view before associating two variables.
For example,
- Overall economic spending from users
- Seasonal changes / pattern changes
- Shopper Platform preference (people shop at other stores for products in your classification)
- New competitors
- Advertising Spend
We can presume that Amazon wishes to increase revenue via commission and independent seller accounts, so if your sales are decreasing, you need to ask, who else is increasing in sales? Product Opportunity Explorer, Brand Metrics, and search terms work pretty well to answer this question. If you can't prove from that data, then it's likely externalized, i.e. free advertising on Google for Amazon has stopped for your category, shoppers are buying on another platform, etc.
Also, the bots tend to re-evaluate after major changes to an ASIN, so change at a major level likely will come with a re-evaluation period.
Seller_P85u3WAAnD3kQ
Handmade seller, here. Same story. My sales are always slow in June/July, and then my biggest months are August, September, October (I sell costume masks so Halloween is our biggest time of year). It's now mid september and i've never had sales this bad. I've been selling on amazon since 2015 or 2016.
Now I'm seriously considering going back to terrible Etsy. I'm already screwed this year since it's my busy season and I am NOT busy.
OP, it's not you. Amazon definitely did something to make this happen. I haven't filled out all the brand pages you have, so it's not that. I think it's some kind of change they made to the handmade categories, like how we show up in search results. No one is searching the handmade category on Amazon, so if our products don't appear in normal search results, no one is going to see them!! I think that's what is happening to all the handmade sellers right now--we're not showing up in search results.
I tried to counteract this by increasing my amazon ads--they're not working! now I'm wasting a ton of money on ads!!!
I feel like it started in May when amazon made me do that verification madness they put everyone through. my sales immediately dropped during that time.
priscilla_amazon
Hi All, I'm really sorry to hear about this and I appreciate you surfacing your concerns and details of what is happening.
I've raised your concerns to our team internally.
Seller_ecQyUxErlLmIZ
Yes down 40% for handmade also!
Been a terrible 2 months
Seller_JL6HfmnayP6jw
Absolutely. it makes 0 sense. The last 12 months or so have been awful, im down maybe 80%, yet my in person events (i Do art shows comic cons etc) are up almost 300%. I dont know what Amazon has done but they messed it up.
Seller_q5udOJ80okR7U
Just to echo everyone else on here, we've been experiencing a similar pattern starting back in June.
According to the business report tab on the seller app, our page views this month are down 77% compared to last year, despite us spendig 100% more on ads and optimizing our titles/bullet points/images etc.
The only thing keeping the lights on is the fact that our sales conversion is much better than last year.
Maybe it is macroeconomic factors causing an overall decrease in online spending, or an increase in competitors, but it's certainly alarming to say the least.
Seller_PwRVRiqjB2PWI
Just curious if everyone experiencing this problem is continuing to add new products... I know it seems futile when sales are already deader than dead but I think that is part of cracking the Amazon nut...
Seller_rcF8wdoWqZpX5
Same issues, same dates. My sales have dropped dramatically for no apparent reason.
Seller_CVXS7OOEFPqdB
Same here! I have had a best seller on the bestseller list for 4 years straight, toggles between #5 -25 typically. Over the past 3 weeks, I all of a sudden have days with no sales and now my ranking has plummeted to below #200 on BS list. Its not the economy or buying interest. My same item is still selling on etsy.
Seller_MoGbTyff168AW
You are not alone, Our sales are down 50% from last year
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
No A+ content here, I prefer the bullet points. I often update titles and keywords hoping to find that magic formula, but no big changes on my end to account for the drop off.
Seller_gwzuNYC3ogYNo
No A+ content here, I prefer the bullet points. I often update titles and keywords hoping to find that magic formula, but no big changes on my end to account for the drop off.
Seller_lnG1vEHPdDS1j
As with all posts regarding sales dropping after "X Changes", I can tell you from experience that there will never be a clear answer on the associations between new features on this platform and your sales, but you need to consider a wider view before associating two variables.
For example,
- Overall economic spending from users
- Seasonal changes / pattern changes
- Shopper Platform preference (people shop at other stores for products in your classification)
- New competitors
- Advertising Spend
We can presume that Amazon wishes to increase revenue via commission and independent seller accounts, so if your sales are decreasing, you need to ask, who else is increasing in sales? Product Opportunity Explorer, Brand Metrics, and search terms work pretty well to answer this question. If you can't prove from that data, then it's likely externalized, i.e. free advertising on Google for Amazon has stopped for your category, shoppers are buying on another platform, etc.
Also, the bots tend to re-evaluate after major changes to an ASIN, so change at a major level likely will come with a re-evaluation period.
Seller_lnG1vEHPdDS1j
As with all posts regarding sales dropping after "X Changes", I can tell you from experience that there will never be a clear answer on the associations between new features on this platform and your sales, but you need to consider a wider view before associating two variables.
For example,
- Overall economic spending from users
- Seasonal changes / pattern changes
- Shopper Platform preference (people shop at other stores for products in your classification)
- New competitors
- Advertising Spend
We can presume that Amazon wishes to increase revenue via commission and independent seller accounts, so if your sales are decreasing, you need to ask, who else is increasing in sales? Product Opportunity Explorer, Brand Metrics, and search terms work pretty well to answer this question. If you can't prove from that data, then it's likely externalized, i.e. free advertising on Google for Amazon has stopped for your category, shoppers are buying on another platform, etc.
Also, the bots tend to re-evaluate after major changes to an ASIN, so change at a major level likely will come with a re-evaluation period.
Seller_P85u3WAAnD3kQ
Handmade seller, here. Same story. My sales are always slow in June/July, and then my biggest months are August, September, October (I sell costume masks so Halloween is our biggest time of year). It's now mid september and i've never had sales this bad. I've been selling on amazon since 2015 or 2016.
Now I'm seriously considering going back to terrible Etsy. I'm already screwed this year since it's my busy season and I am NOT busy.
OP, it's not you. Amazon definitely did something to make this happen. I haven't filled out all the brand pages you have, so it's not that. I think it's some kind of change they made to the handmade categories, like how we show up in search results. No one is searching the handmade category on Amazon, so if our products don't appear in normal search results, no one is going to see them!! I think that's what is happening to all the handmade sellers right now--we're not showing up in search results.
I tried to counteract this by increasing my amazon ads--they're not working! now I'm wasting a ton of money on ads!!!
I feel like it started in May when amazon made me do that verification madness they put everyone through. my sales immediately dropped during that time.
Seller_P85u3WAAnD3kQ
Handmade seller, here. Same story. My sales are always slow in June/July, and then my biggest months are August, September, October (I sell costume masks so Halloween is our biggest time of year). It's now mid september and i've never had sales this bad. I've been selling on amazon since 2015 or 2016.
Now I'm seriously considering going back to terrible Etsy. I'm already screwed this year since it's my busy season and I am NOT busy.
OP, it's not you. Amazon definitely did something to make this happen. I haven't filled out all the brand pages you have, so it's not that. I think it's some kind of change they made to the handmade categories, like how we show up in search results. No one is searching the handmade category on Amazon, so if our products don't appear in normal search results, no one is going to see them!! I think that's what is happening to all the handmade sellers right now--we're not showing up in search results.
I tried to counteract this by increasing my amazon ads--they're not working! now I'm wasting a ton of money on ads!!!
I feel like it started in May when amazon made me do that verification madness they put everyone through. my sales immediately dropped during that time.
priscilla_amazon
Hi All, I'm really sorry to hear about this and I appreciate you surfacing your concerns and details of what is happening.
I've raised your concerns to our team internally.
priscilla_amazon
Hi All, I'm really sorry to hear about this and I appreciate you surfacing your concerns and details of what is happening.
I've raised your concerns to our team internally.
Seller_ecQyUxErlLmIZ
Yes down 40% for handmade also!
Been a terrible 2 months
Seller_ecQyUxErlLmIZ
Yes down 40% for handmade also!
Been a terrible 2 months
Seller_JL6HfmnayP6jw
Absolutely. it makes 0 sense. The last 12 months or so have been awful, im down maybe 80%, yet my in person events (i Do art shows comic cons etc) are up almost 300%. I dont know what Amazon has done but they messed it up.
Seller_JL6HfmnayP6jw
Absolutely. it makes 0 sense. The last 12 months or so have been awful, im down maybe 80%, yet my in person events (i Do art shows comic cons etc) are up almost 300%. I dont know what Amazon has done but they messed it up.
Seller_q5udOJ80okR7U
Just to echo everyone else on here, we've been experiencing a similar pattern starting back in June.
According to the business report tab on the seller app, our page views this month are down 77% compared to last year, despite us spendig 100% more on ads and optimizing our titles/bullet points/images etc.
The only thing keeping the lights on is the fact that our sales conversion is much better than last year.
Maybe it is macroeconomic factors causing an overall decrease in online spending, or an increase in competitors, but it's certainly alarming to say the least.
Seller_q5udOJ80okR7U
Just to echo everyone else on here, we've been experiencing a similar pattern starting back in June.
According to the business report tab on the seller app, our page views this month are down 77% compared to last year, despite us spendig 100% more on ads and optimizing our titles/bullet points/images etc.
The only thing keeping the lights on is the fact that our sales conversion is much better than last year.
Maybe it is macroeconomic factors causing an overall decrease in online spending, or an increase in competitors, but it's certainly alarming to say the least.
Seller_PwRVRiqjB2PWI
Just curious if everyone experiencing this problem is continuing to add new products... I know it seems futile when sales are already deader than dead but I think that is part of cracking the Amazon nut...
Seller_PwRVRiqjB2PWI
Just curious if everyone experiencing this problem is continuing to add new products... I know it seems futile when sales are already deader than dead but I think that is part of cracking the Amazon nut...
Seller_rcF8wdoWqZpX5
Same issues, same dates. My sales have dropped dramatically for no apparent reason.
Seller_rcF8wdoWqZpX5
Same issues, same dates. My sales have dropped dramatically for no apparent reason.
Seller_CVXS7OOEFPqdB
Same here! I have had a best seller on the bestseller list for 4 years straight, toggles between #5 -25 typically. Over the past 3 weeks, I all of a sudden have days with no sales and now my ranking has plummeted to below #200 on BS list. Its not the economy or buying interest. My same item is still selling on etsy.
Seller_CVXS7OOEFPqdB
Same here! I have had a best seller on the bestseller list for 4 years straight, toggles between #5 -25 typically. Over the past 3 weeks, I all of a sudden have days with no sales and now my ranking has plummeted to below #200 on BS list. Its not the economy or buying interest. My same item is still selling on etsy.
Seller_MoGbTyff168AW
You are not alone, Our sales are down 50% from last year
Seller_MoGbTyff168AW
You are not alone, Our sales are down 50% from last year
