Mercari changes really show eBays total algorithim manipulation

[ebaiysellslots19]

So well all know that eBay is dead for the most part for small sellers and has been for a while, but the recent Mercari zero fees update REALLY shows just how bad new management of eBay over the last 5 years has absolutely boned sellers into oblivion with their nonsense algorithms. For context I sell vintage clothes and sneakers.

Mercari changed their selling format to zero fees for sellers on sales, and at the same time must really be promoting an algorithm that targets sellers with more than 10 items. For a long time I've been triple posting my listings from eBay to Poshmark, and Mercari:

eBay:
sold most here, but is always slow, sometimes has a burst of orders randomly that seems very manipulated since it never happens around holidays / tax refund season.

Poshmark: 
just about as slow as eBay and minority sale of shares, but often the things I sell there are listings that never sell on eBay, no discernible pattern to when sales happen or not 

Mercari: 
for a long time sold the least of any sites, but when I did it was almost always for item at higher price with no haggling or offers even made

Fast forward 6 ish years with Mercari's latest update - I've sold about 10 items within a span of two weeks, nearly immediately after they rolled out the zero fee policy, offers and straight buys left and right. What a breath of fresh air, eBay is STALE STALE STALE. Just goes to show how much eBay does NOT push your listings to your target demographic and instead inundates them with Amazon-esque nonsense (because obviously eBay really really wants the Amazon money for the last decade).  eBay obviously manipulates their algorithm and does it very poorly at that.  

Additionally, where as Mercari completely revamped to zero fees, Poshmark and eBay have done the opposite raising their fees higher and higher. 

So, I doubt eBay management will take notice, and instead repeat the insanity they have always done as if that will finally lead to success. Either learn something from Mercari's model or just die already. 

[crazystuff4sale]

Should any of that be dignified with a response?

[714ricki]

The lawn isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. Congrats on the burst of sales. 

Good luck!

🙏✌️

[mam98031]

@ebaiysellslots19 

Exactly how does "...the recent Mercari zero fees update REALLY shows just how bad new management of eBay over the last 5 years..." show anything yet????  It isn't even a month old.  Not enough time to collect any real stats yet.  We / they don't know if this big change is going to work or not.  Not enough time to prove it one way or another yet.  And there are LOTS of buyers complaining.  But only time will tell.  We should visit this question in six months and see what is happening.

Ebay management would be foolish to take notice of about 3 weeks worth of data regarding such a big change and then running with it.  There simply is not enough history yet.  Maybe Mercari will be successful with this and maybe they won't.

[inhawaii]

---

@ebaiysellslots19 wrote:

So well all know that eBay is dead for the most part for small sellers

---

 No, we don't. 

I'm a small seller.

My sales are up.

[crazystuff4sale]

It's easy to see how people with a certain mindset, like those who are always disgruntled about "corporate greed," will celebrate Mercari's move...  but are those the people that any serious marketplace is really courting?

[mam98031]

---

@crazystuff4sale wrote:

It's easy to see how people with a certain mindset, like those who are always disgruntled about "corporate greed," will celebrate Mercari's move... but are those the people that any serious marketplace is really courting?

---

Well some sellers maybe celebrating for now, as many buyers aren't taking to this change as well as was hoped.  Of course that could change in time.  

For sellers that are celebrating this change, IMHO it is really short sited of them because while they don't have to pay the selling fees anymore, they may not get as many sales as they had before this change either.  So getting excited about no selling fees may not be all it is cracked up to be.  Only time will tell how it will all work out.  It certainly could go either way.

[chapeau-noir]

So well all know that eBay is dead for the most part for small sellers and has been for a while,

Who is this "all" in "we all know"?

I've sold on Mercari for some years, too, and my sales also come in batches.

[robbie31415]

I hate mercari.

Everyone wants so much more of a discount. That discount is more than the ad fee. I make more money on the same items on eBay with ad fees than I do on Mercari with 0 fees.

[catjewels9876]

Is it true there is a $2 to $3 charge for payouts to sellers?

[luckythewinner]

So well all know that eBay is dead for the most part for small sellers and has been for a while

I have been listing regularly since the beginning of the year (after slacking most of last year) and my sales are fine. So I have no idea what you mean by eBay being "dead for the lost part".

for a long time sold the least of any sites, but when I did it was almost always for item at higher price with no haggling or offers even made

I always sell at my asking price on eBay and there is no haggling. But perhaps that is because I do not invite haggling by putting Best Offer on my listings as you appear to do.

So, I doubt eBay management will take notice, and instead repeat the insanity they have always done as if that will finally lead to success.

Some would argue that attracting 230 million sellers, 1.5 billion listings, 135 million active buyers, $2.78 billion in net income, and having a GMV that is 1280% larger than Mercari is some measure of success. But then again, you did get 10 sales in two weeks.

[ebaiysellslots19]

Entire point is that these corporations adjust their algorithims willy nilly. Absolutely, perhaps in six months Mercari retools their algos as all Silicon Valley companies try to fix what isn't broken and nobody will care about Mercari anymore. Perhaps eBay will one day after twenty years improve (LOL), could happen.

I'm not here to shill Mercari or jump and shout about how "green the grass is" on the other side - but I will point out how scorched and dead the grass is here on the eBay side of the fence. We could have it MUCH better with different management leadership that actually innovates. 

[ebaiysellslots19]

Well "all" would really include the tens of thousands of sellers that left eBay not in this thread at the moment lol, you forget to compare the utilization of this site in 2024 compared to 2014 and act as if it's been static for over a decade. It clearly hasn't, just read the forums more frequently if you really are that clueless to the decline of quality here. 

[b86fiero]

I am a long time eBay seller and I don't feel eBay has boned me into oblivion. eBay has provided me with an opportunity to operate a business from home and has had my back when dealing with not so honest buyers.

My inventory has changed over the years and while not getting rich, I am comfortable with selling on eBay. Sure, like everyone, I wish sales were more and competition was less. 

Perhaps thousands of sellers will transition over to Mercari and then they can all complain about lack of sales and competition there too. Isn't that what is happening on other online selling venues?

Good luck to you in your future endeavors.

[ebaiysellslots19]

Apples and oranges, try listing regularly for ten years and let me know. Mercari and Poshmark attract completely different demographics than eBay does for this category in 2024, and I think you're forgetting how it used to be. You don't "invite" said "haggling" because the low balls that do come in here on this site are usually just resellers also on eBay. The offers (if any) coming in from Mercari are usually only asking 10% below asking price, meaning these people are real customers wanting to buy and use, not flippers reselling. Mercari and Poshmark advertise themselves much more specifically to clothing and related apparel, that's a big reason why I think normal consumers get their apps.

So then ask yourself why eBay doesn't just do this? Why don't these "real" customers frequent eBay nearly as often as an equivalent? 

The answer is they used to, but eBay nixed the small community appeal in favor of Amazon slop their algorithms push to their users. "Preowned" and "used" are in now considered bad words in the 2020's era of the nu-eBay, all you have to do is look to sales and which categories have dried up over the last decade. What made this site great from the start was the cheap and used nature of listings in an online community. Now eBay's algorithms take priority of new Amazon-esque inventory over used categories, simple as that.