Consumer spending is down in the U.S. economy. (It began around March 2023 and has gone on until May 2023) It is believed a large part of the reason has to do with inflation and rising prices stretching people's budgets, so they are cutting back on spending, especially discretionary (less essential) consumer spending. Retailers Face Headwinds In 2023 As Consumer Spending Slows, Forbes, Shelley E. Kohan, April 14, 2023 They looked at change in sales between the months of February and March. Consumers pulled back spending across many categories, with the most significant declines in discount stores (minus 3.2%), department stores (minus 2.5%), and home improvement (minus 2.1%). Another sign that discretionary consumer spending is down, if you look at eBay forum comments, many sellers have complained that their sales are way down. They have barely had any revenues, with some saying this might even cause them to get out of the business and stop selling altogether. This was one vendor's comment: Extremely Slow sales 03-19-2023 This March 2023 so far has been my slowest month in my 3 1/2 years of selling professionally on ebay. Still 11 days left in the month and in the end I don't think it will be worse than my March 2020 but [in my opinion] (unless something crazy happens) this month is shaping up to be in my top 3 worst selling months since I started selling seriously in summer 2019. I am making this thread to see if anyone can relate and what people think the main reasons might be. My theory is it must just be a terrible economy and people spending less on unnecessary items. I sell handmade oil paint and vintage art supplies mostly, so my crowd is kind of a niche audience. Definitely do not sell overly saturated or seasonal items. I've noticed a bit of a downturn slowly building since about spring of 2022 but it didn't really mean much until this past holiday season, which was absolute garbage in comparison with previous years. I sold more in summer months 2022 than I did nov/dec 2022 and that trend seems to be continuing into the new year. I'm normally slow this time of year, but something else is going on. Slower than normal and christmas sales were a big letdown. I figure it must be the economy. As I mentioned above- I sell handmade and vintage niche items, so you'd think my market wouldn't be oversaturated. Another person replied: You aren't alone. I've noticed that as well, and I've also seen sellers on youtube mentioning it more often than before. It probably has to do with inflation. Not as many buyers because people are trying to just pay their bills and survive. Someone else commented: I have yet to have a singe sale this weekend and that is well beyond two deviations from the norm and is, statistically speaking, a black swan event that does raise questions. 03-19-2023 Another person commented they had recently seen "dozens" of other postings expressing the same concerns. Economy may be a small factor, but there's other factors at play here. There's tons of sellers ahead of you with the same concerns. NOT normal drops, decreases in sales, but like someone turning off the faucet to drip drip. Someone else commented: Still think the last postage hike was a death toll for many small items. Inflation has pushed the post office and delivery services to raise postage rates, making it harder to sell small less expensive items. I have been selling on Ebay 22 years and it is really slow. Our high inflation economy is hurting Americans ability to purchase discretionary items and senior population is scared right now. 03-29-2023 I've been selling for over 10 years. And yes this year has been my worst so far. I claim over 70k a year! I’ve lowered prices in half I’m still not getting the views I used to get... 04-02-2023 I had recently noticed that a lot of expensive items are selling at rock-bottom prices. This made my wonder whether many sellers are desperate and trying to liquidate their inventory even if they take a loss. Perhaps this is even a sign that sellers are shutting down and permanently getting out of the business. eBay keeps losing active buyers; this quarter alone, the company shed 2 million buyers, down to 133 million globally. The bottom line is that eBay's core marketplace continues to shrink, resulting in a loss of 15 million active buyers over a twelve-month period. eBay Reports Solid Q3 2022 Earnings - But Buyers Continue To Flee the Online Marketplace, eSeller365, Richard Meldner, November 3, 2022
Consumer spending is down? Thank goodness. We need more investment, which is the onlly way to increase productivity! Thank goodness for deferred gratification!!
