2008 has been a very prosperous year for me. I’m averaging $1500-$2000/month with various forms of affiliate income. I was predicting around $1800 just from CJ for March alone. All things were looking good until the last five days. Suddenly my sales have dipped to less than 10 / day, which is very unusual. I usually average around 30-50 sales per day.

Paying attention to the eBay Forum as well as Digital Point, I’m not seeing the usual chatter about low sales all or tracking issues. Could this be related to the eBay EPN switch? Could I be a part of a small subset of tracking errors? I’m not sure. But it could be a reflection of overall market trends. One of the decisions I try to focus on when creating a niche site, is to NOT focus on seasonal sites, but sites that generate throughout the year. With that said, what could determine the change of events?

Trying to find other clues, I’ve noticed similar issues in other areas as well. My YSM PPC campaigns have seen a dip in clicks. My Google AdSense revenue has also dipped in the last week or so. I’m starting to wonder if this could be associated with April 15th tax deadline. Are people feeling the squeeze. Looking at their current income situation and knowing that they may need to pay additional taxes could be tightening the purse strings? I was involved with Affiliate Marketing during Mar/Apr of 2007, but my earnings were much less compared to today, and I had way less sites to notice trends at that point.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Are any of you noticing a change in sales?