Sales absolutely tanked. Anyone else?
I sell in the handmade section, which has been ravaged since Amazon dumped us into the same categories as everyone else i.e. beforehand we were in handmade/posters and prints and now we are in home and kitchen/posters and prints. This meant we went from number 1 in catergory to about number 900 overnight.
However we still managed to limp along because ranking doesn't really affect sales from PPC, but it did halve our turnover. But this month has been shocking, the ads are still spending but we are getting zero sales, NONE. For the last 3 days not one sale and only 3 sales this month. I am at a loss to understand it. I even had to deregister for VAT in January.
Has anyone else experienced this in 2026? I'm literally considering signing on! This time 2 years ago both myself and I were on a very comfortable income, it's getting a bit desperate now.
Thanks.
Sales absolutely tanked. Anyone else?
I sell in the handmade section, which has been ravaged since Amazon dumped us into the same categories as everyone else i.e. beforehand we were in handmade/posters and prints and now we are in home and kitchen/posters and prints. This meant we went from number 1 in catergory to about number 900 overnight.
However we still managed to limp along because ranking doesn't really affect sales from PPC, but it did halve our turnover. But this month has been shocking, the ads are still spending but we are getting zero sales, NONE. For the last 3 days not one sale and only 3 sales this month. I am at a loss to understand it. I even had to deregister for VAT in January.
Has anyone else experienced this in 2026? I'm literally considering signing on! This time 2 years ago both myself and I were on a very comfortable income, it's getting a bit desperate now.
Thanks.
20 replies
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
I would say 2026 is generally down for a lot of sellers. It can't have helped that news is recently stating that fuel prices are about to rise again. People might be getting flashbacks to the soaring energy costs and fuel shortages that happened when the Ukraine was first invaded, and avoiding spending on unnecessary items.
Jameson_Amazon
Thank you for sharing your experience, @Seller_lyUF34znaGncK. I'm sorry to hear things have been difficult lately. I wanted to jump in with a few suggestions that may help.
Before starting or continuing with PPC, it's worth making sure your listings are fully optimised. If the listing isn't aligned with what customers are searching for, the ad spend won't convert. Here are a few things to review:
- Product Title: Is it clear, concise, and under 80 characters? Does it include the word "Handmade" or "Handcrafted" to differentiate your products?
- Bullet Points: Do you have 4 – 5 strong bullet points highlighting key features, materials, and benefits?
- Search Terms: Are your backend keywords up to date and relevant to how customers are now searching in the broader Home & Kitchen category?
- Images: High-quality images significantly impact click-through and conversion rates, even on paid ads.
If you haven't done so already, it's also worth exploring a few additional levers to drive sales outside of advertising:
- Deals & Promotions: Consider creating Lightning Deals or coupons to boost visibility and conversion.
- Pricing Health: Check your Pricing Health dashboard to ensure your offers are competitive.
- A+ Content: If you're eligible, adding A+ Content to your listings can significantly improve conversion by giving customers a richer product experience.
I hope this helps! Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any additional questions.
All the best,
Jameson
Seller_fLJ3Hdgrt17Ze
We have been selling on Amazon for more than 10 years, but recently our sales have dropped significantly. Compared to the past few years, our sales are down by about 70%, which is very concerning for our business.
Over the years we have always tried to provide good products and reliable customer service. However, the current situation on Amazon has made it much more difficult for long-time sellers like us to maintain our previous sales levels.
A large amount of our time is now spent dealing with constant operational issues such as sudden brand name changes, new rules and regulations, frequent policy updates, A-Z claims, free returns, and free postage requirements. We also face problems like SKU theft, which takes additional time to resolve. We spend a lot of time reviewing materials such as Seller University just to keep up with the platform.
Another major challenge is the seller support system. Whenever there is an issue, we are required to open a case with seller support, but most of the time we do not receive any real help or proper solutions. Instead, we end up spending valuable time going back and forth without resolving the problem.
It is not the same Amazon marketplace we used to know. Of course, it is Amazon’s marketplace and they have the right to set their own rules, and sellers must either accept them or leave. As a small business we are still trying to continue, but in the past we never imagined we would consider leaving Amazon. Nowadays it feels increasingly difficult to sell in a professional and sustainable way in order to make a living from it.
We hope Amazon will listen to long-time sellers and work toward creating a more stable and supportive environment for small businesses. Good Luck .
Seller_fj3M54GkuGQyT
We noticed that sales have been decreasing for a few years now. That and the constant hoop jumping you have to do with Amazon and we are looking at growing sales elsewhere.
In the past 3 years we've gone from a £600k turnover on Amazon to just over £300k and all I can say is I'm glad we're not just relying on Amazon.
Seller_w0NuiqSLJxWvi
You seen the news recently? Or maybe your one that does not indulge in such negativity which is great. However many people do watch the news and lets be honest its pretty dire. An impending economic meltdown when things are already dire. Our heating oil has tripled in cost. What do I do - put oil in the tank to keep my family warm or spend on non essentials? Thats the reality for a lot of people. Maybe an impending world war? Who knows. Doesn't instill confidence in people and certainly doesn't give that feel good factor for people to spend.
Seller_GPLxAbyNPI33I
Yes terrible for about three weeks now.
£10.27 in sales today from over 4,000 inventory.
Middle-East war having a big impact on spending.
I wish that Amazon agents would stop jumping in trying to convince sellers that their sales are down due to PCC etc instead of admitting the situation & face facts!
Seller_iZL0ysZFrLJmN
I am in handmade too and yes, I agree it's been a more pronounced downturn due to the re-categorisation of Handmade. It's not just down to cost of living
I was on Amazon before Handmade came in. I barely sold anything and then got invited to Handmade and boom! it was like a switch had been turned on.
Covid - it went wild and then 'every man and his dog' got a website and sales then became worse than before covid (despite having more listings than pre-covid).
Each year has been a steady downturn since the covid boom, with the cost of living crisis having an impact, but this latest re-categorisation has made it much, much worse.
Being handmade it's hard to do FBA so we miss out on Prime. But I went on a cruise and used Amazon's new holiday settings. I had orders during that fortnight and no problems with people waiting for them. I've not had many more in the last fortnight - so time waiting for delivery doesn't seem to have impacted sales.
Per Jameson's suggestions:
I got my trademark, so I have A+ and a store - who knows what difference that has made - it might be that any sales I get are because of the store. I've gone over titles blah, blah - but it's just horrendous since they decided there wasn't any point supporting handmade like they used to.
I often have 100% buy box most of the time, being handmade, so it's not buy box.
It's definitely got worse since they said the re-categorisation would improve the visibility of handmade products .... NOT!
Seller_w7a0AtJqubh6W
Nearly 20 years on Amazon and I've never known it so bad but it's been made worse for me by Royal Mail failing to scan large letters upon delivery causing my VTR to drop to 89%.
My OTDR is 100%. Everything is posted tracked 48 within 24 hours and is arriving within the estimated time frame... everything.
Why should I be punished because Royal Mail are refusing to scan large letters? I'm losing hundreds every week.
Seller_xU4h6ZbAduf0O
Sales across the board on Amazon in general are down for a lot of sellers from what i have witnessed over the last 4+ years.
With Brexit, Ukraine and now Iran all adding to a squeezed economy since Covid, people just are not spending like they used to.
I also believe a lot of sellers are getting so restricted by Amazon with constant failure to verify suppliers for un-gating and spurious customer claims, unfair Safe-T and A-Z etc.
This has led to a detrimental effect on both seller and customer.
Sellers are moving their products to other platforms after Amazon have either blocked them from being sold with continuous verification hurdles, or lost the confidence of sellers to have any kind of protection from fraud.
As a lot of sellers have posted over the years on this forum, they simply do not trust Amazon (or it's customers) to sell anything of high value on it's platform due to fraud and lack of Amazon support in just about every area, cheapening Amazon's brand as just another TEMU or Shien full of cheap imported white label goods.
As Amazons catalogue becomes more and more fragmented with bad listings, hijacked listings and endless copies of the same imported products with different brand names no one has ever heard of, customers themselves are losing their love of Amazon, and just searching the web instead of going straight to the Amazon platform like before.
This in itself drives traffic away from Amazon in general.
As for Handmade, generally most people associate that with ETSY and no doubt Amazon has abandoned Handmade for that very reason, lobbing you in with general sales that swallows your advertising for no return.
It feels like Amazon is at a crossroads where it just does not know what it is anymore.
Seller_w0NuiqSLJxWvi
your going to sign on? Good luck with that. The only people to get decent handouts are the ones who do nothing!
