Why Do My Online Sales Go Up And Down

By:G Branning

Updated: Oct. 2025

On Sunday, July 11, 2021, Sir Richard Branson went up past the edge of space in a very sexy looking space plane. Designed and built by his company Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard beat out his rival Jeff Bezos to be the race to be the first Billionaire to get to space.

Spaceport U.S.A. on VMPlus.
Spaceport U.S.A.

Having “slipped the surly bonds of Earth” from Spaceport America, located about 20 miles from the aptly named city of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, he did what many of us have dreamed of. Become a Billionaire – oh and go to space. The entire space flight happened in a fraction of the time it takes to bake a frozen lasagna and my wife and I watched the whole thing live. – High Flight by John Gillespie Magee

Lots Of Things Go Up And Come Down

Yes we watched Sir Richard Branson in his VSS Unity spacecraft (Unity 22) go up – and we watched it go down. Great work if you can get it. So what does this have to do with selling online and why should we, as ecommerce entrepreneurs care? Well here’s my takeaway. Just like the epic spaceflight, sometimes our online sales soar up, and then for what seems like no reason at all, our sales go down. Like a short hop into space or perhaps more like a rollercoaster. Now I am talking about our own online sales. However many online sellers we talk to, experience the up and down online ride. So why is this? Can we put our finger on a reason and perhaps stop it?

Online sales on eBay can be like a rollercoaster.
Rockets Make Sales Go Up, Gravity Makes Sales Come Down

That’s ridiculous you say. OK, you’re right it’s not rockets, it’s not gravity. So what is it and does it matter?

The fact is that as an individual small to medium volume online seller, these monthly ups and downs have an impact. Both real – changes in Cash Flow, and imagined – “What is wrong with my listing, is everyone going through this or just me?”.  What I am saying is that in my opinion it’s as good an explanation as any. We have heard all kinds of sellers give all kinds of reasons for regular ups and downs in sales. Rolling search blocking, time of week, time of day, holidays or weather. Pandemic, Stimulus Checks, a good month for rich aunts to kick the bucket giving online buyers buckets of money to spend online. Nuts I say. All these reasons may contribute in some way at some time or another, but is there a pattern one can address? Once again I say Nuts to that!

As Alfred E. Neuman of MAD Magazine says “What – Me Worry?” I don’t worry about the ups and downs of ecommerce sales and neither should you. So when looking at your Ecommerce sales you should always be singing in the back of your head the chorus of Bobby McFerrin hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. I’m doing that right now.

Don't worry about your online sales.

Disclaimer: the definitions below may or may not contain the opinion of the author.

entrepreneur
[ahn-truh-pruh–nur, –noor]
noun

plural entrepreneurs

  • a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.
  • an employer of productive labor
  • someone who for better or worse operates an ecommerce business.

gravity
[grav-i-tee]
noun

  • the force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the earth.
  • heaviness or weight.
  • the reason your sales plummet.

Sources:

virgingalactic.com
Poetry Foundation: High Flight by John Gillespie Magee
madmagazine.com
Dictionary.com
my-opinion.its