eBay

young4189 · ‎03-23-2017

For all of you wondering why their sales have fallen off the cliff you are not doing anything wrong. You are in the same position that 100’s of other sellers like myself are in and it is no fault of their own. This is entirely e-Bay’s fault and if your looking for an admission they won’t openly admit fault. They will continue to dance around the subject and never admit that they caused this. The main reason behind the slow sales is little to no visibility. E-Bay had a 10-year contract with Google for advertising that came to an end and e-Bay elected not to renew and no longer pay Google for advertising. My decline started around September, 2016 and has gotten worse every month since. That is why the sales have fallen off a cliff short and simple. And instead of e-Bay being sympathetic to what has happened they have chosen to raise their rates again in May. E-Bay is going to continue to push sellers to do their own advertising and promoting their own e-Bay stores through their own social media. e-Bay is also charging sellers a higher fee to get better visibility within their own site. This is GREED at it’s finest.

jimnipe · ‎03-23-2017

After reading your post, which I don't doubt in the least, I did a little experiment. I simply went to some of my listings, copied the title of the listing (one at a time, of course), and pasted it into Google's search box. Two of three times, the listing came up first in Google results. The other time an old listing that I'd cancelled came up on something called "Pic CA Search eBay faster". It had a link to a relisting of that same item (which I have indeed relisted) but the link was dead. I don't know if all this means anything at all. I DO know that my sales have slowed considerably (to about 1-2 a week at best) since late January. I've slowed new listings. What's the point of spending a bunch of time crafting a good listing if no one's going to even view it? I don't need eBay sales, so it's no big deal, but it's mildly irritating how things have changed over the last couple months after a much better 2016.

grasshopperx · ‎03-23-2017

you should look up cassini. That's when in all started. When ebay implemented the first phase of cassini in 2014.

chrysylys · ‎03-23-2017

You're selling shirts and t-shirts. Very expensive ones. I've never paid over $10 for a t-shirt and I will never spend $100 on one.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.

nowthatsjustducky · ‎03-23-2017

@young4189 wrote:
E-Bay is going to continue to push sellers to do their own advertising and promoting their own e-Bay stores through their own social media. e-Bay is also charging sellers a higher fee to get better visibility within their own site. This is GREED at it’s finest.

Surely even the pointy haired bosses running the show here would understand that if they expect their customers to advertise and promote their stores themselves on social media and elsewhere, then those customers are likely going to remove eBay from the equation completely, and (especially on social media) will just push for direct sales.

I know that if I were expected to do eBay's job for them (aka promoting the site and its customers), it would more likely be my eCrater and Etsy stores that get the publicity instead. eBay has not earned the privilege of undying loyalty from their paying customers to warrant them being exclusive outside of eBay.

If it works, sell it. If it works well, sell it for more. If it doesn't work, quadruple the price and sell it as an antique.

-- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #80

bigmotormania · ‎03-23-2017

@chrysylys wrote:
You're selling shirts and t-shirts. Very expensive ones. I've never paid over $10 for a t-shirt and I will never spend $100 on one.

Motorcycle branded clothing and apparel is not cheap.

Bigmotormania

luckythewinner · ‎03-23-2017

@nowthatsjustducky wrote:
if they expect their customers to advertise and promote their stores themselves on social media and elsewhere, then those customers are likely going to remove eBay from the equation completely, and (especially on social media) will just push for direct sales.

That line of reasoning has been used regularly on these boards over the years, yet the number of listings on this site recently hit 1 billion. So I guess I would come down on the side of "I'll believe it when it actually happens".

blackoptimuscollectibles · ‎03-23-2017

Personally I've stopped posting new listings and have let existing listings lapse. The rates hike and low visibility makes it not worth the effort. This may change in the future but for right now?

grasshopperx · ‎03-23-2017

That's because stores like Wayfair list a million items. As well as some of those giant book sellers. All the small sellers are gone, and most of their customers. I know that for a fact. Because every customer I have has moved to another site, and I am one tiny seller. Everyone I buy from has left, and anyone I talk to in conversation says they don't go to ebay anymore. It's the mega sellers and the Chinese filling up this site. Now, how does a place like ebay expect to compete with Amazon and their fast shipping, when 3/4 of the items on ebay come from CHINA. That takes five weeks. When you add in all the unhappy sellers, all the unhappy buyers, this place is toast.

lex-talon · ‎03-23-2017

Especially if they're Vintage Harley Davidson products.

marketofprovence · ‎03-23-2017

I agree. My sales have bombed in the last three months. As it becomes easier to maintain your own site I think eBay will continue to decline. Personally, because of my particular product, I opened an Etsy shop a year ago which is now outselling my eBay listings. Etsy's 3.5% commission and .20 cent listing fee, and that's for 4 months, made it a no brainer. I've noticed many more supporting sites that sellers can explore using to sell their items. It's about customer service and fair fees. Something eBay doesn't show its sellers.

pantlandia · ‎03-23-2017

@young4189 wrote:
For all of you wondering why their sales have fallen off the cliff you are not doing anything wrong. You are in the same position that 100’s of other sellers like myself are in and it is no fault of their own. This is entirely e-Bay’s fault and if your looking for an admission they won’t openly admit fault. They will continue to dance around the subject and never admit that they caused this. The main reason behind the slow sales is little to no visibility. E-Bay had a 10-year contract with Google for advertising that came to an end and e-Bay elected not to renew and no longer pay Google for advertising. My decline started around September, 2016 and has gotten worse every month since. That is why the sales have fallen off a cliff short and simple. And instead of e-Bay being sympathetic to what has happened they have chosen to raise their rates again in May. E-Bay is going to continue to push sellers to do their own advertising and promoting their own e-Bay stores through their own social media. e-Bay is also charging sellers a higher fee to get better visibility within their own site. This is GREED at it’s finest.

Very old news. And also spoken as someone who has never run a business.

Thanks for the info.

byrd69er · ‎03-23-2017

All of the small sellers are not gone. I know many. I'm doing fine for the amount of time spent and the number of listings I have...usually betwen 10-20.

It all comes down to a few things:

#1 - What you sell
#2 - Is your price resonable and competitive?

#3 - Do you run your operation properly?

#4 - Do you keep you customers satisfied?

Because...

What you sell is what brings people to you.

If you are fairly prices, or less than others, people will come to you, and return

If you do your operation properly, customers will be satified and there's a greater chance they will return

It's not difficult being suucessfull on ebay.