Hi everyone,
Like many sellers, my sales have been worse than last year.
I only sell on Amazon, so I do not have eBay, a physical shop, or another channel to compare against directly.
At first, I assumed the main reasons were broader UK economic pressure, inflation, and weaker demand. That may still be part of it.
But after switching from FBA to FBM, I started paying much closer attention to individual orders, customer messages, and what buyers thought they had selected.
That made me wonder whether some sales problems are not only about demand, price, ads, or seasonality.
They may also involve buyer-side friction in how Amazon presents listings, options, variations, or default selections.
A few examples from my own orders:
- A buyer thought she had bought one white zip, but later found she had actually ordered five off-white zips.I do not know exactly how Amazon presented the product on her side, but similar colours, grouped options, or selection flow may have contributed.
- Another buyer wanted a 22-inch zip pack, but had actually ordered the default 14-inch zip instead.Seller Support later confirmed this was a UI issue.
- A customer wanted to buy deep plum purple zips in both 20 inch and 22 inch to test which size suited her project.She was able to find the 22 inch single-zip listing, but not the 20 inch single-zip listing, even though when I checked it from my side, the 20 inch listing appeared normal.
- I have also seen two duplicate-order cases where the first reaction was to assume customer error, but later a moderator confirmed there was a backend issue. That made me more cautious about treating all unusual ordering behaviour as simple buyer mistake.
- In another case, a buyer thought she had bought two 20-inch zips, but had actually ordered two packs of 5 zip bundles in the same colour group, and in 16 inch, not 20 inch. What makes this more interesting is that these were not only different sizes, but belonged to different parent listings. That makes me wonder whether app or browser display can sometimes make nearby products look more interchangeable than they really are.
So I am starting to think that sales drop may be more complicated than many sellers assume.
It may not be only:
- ads becoming less efficient
It may also involve:
- variation / listing presentation issues
- inconsistent visibility between what sellers see and what buyers actually see in browser or app
- default selections leading buyers into the wrong item
I am not claiming this is the main cause of all sales drops, and I know some cases will still be normal buyer error, weaker demand, or competition. My point is that buyer-side display and selection friction may be an under-recognised factor that sellers cannot easily see from their own side.
I would be especially interested in hearing from sellers who have seen:
- buyers saying they thought they selected one option but received another ordered option,
- child listings that appear normal to the seller but seem hard for buyers to find,
- confirmed UI / variation / backend issues that later affected orders or conversions,
- or drops in conversion where impressions and clicks stayed fairly normal.
What makes me think this matters is that, if buyer-side display or selection friction is real, sellers may be trying to solve the wrong problem. More ads, more keywords, or listing tweaks will not fix a buying path where the buyer is being shown, defaulted into, or guided toward the wrong option. A listing can look active and normal from Seller Central, but that is not the same as knowing how it is actually being surfaced and selected on buyer browser, buyer app, or mobile view.
