Is ebay dead 2023

[stuffyoulikealot]

Yes. All of ebay's numbers are in the toilet. It has to do with bots,promoted listings,breaking the search function,and directly abusing sellers trust, and lying about all of these things on a regular basis. It's in such a way that I assume it's on purpose. eBay will be gone soon enough,just like it's customers. They will continue to bury your listings if you don't promote. They will rip away any views or attention your item gets monthly. They will keep charging you more money.

I for one LOVED all of the bots that were on eBay. I was getting non stop views,watchers,attention,and sales. It's been the complete opposite for a year or two. 0 views on an N64,an item that sells every day,and I used to sell one whenever listing one,no questions asked. I sell them locally all the time right now. Along with my 7 views no watchers on a Wii console. They sell in the hundreds every day of existence. I sell them locally constantly. All the things that ebay has done in an attempt to destroy the average seller is working great. Even if I list it again,it gets no views. 

I have been able to struggle with rare antiques and make my money on eBay. But they were very pricey and rare. 

The video game category has felt the brunt of all this,one of the largest money makers in the world today,especially on the internet...

But yes,since you searched " is ebay dead 2023", the answer is yes ,ebay is dead in 2023. I wouldn't make it your main thing,sell locally if possible and find other platforms 

[whatmorefabric]

Ebay is not dead.   I am having steady sales .      A lot of the stock market research believe that ebay has righted the ship and is one of the few selling platforms that is weathering the storm well.

Your problem is probably in what you are selling.    The collectables market is nor faring well.     I doubt many young kids are interested in Howdy Doody.     I use to be able to get 100.00 for a McCalls childs pattern from the 30's and 40's,  now I cannot give them away.   Your antiques are not quite in style right now,  but the Farmhouse look / HGTV  look is starting to loose steam.    

I would also not start with the word Vintage.    I would also not use MCM for Mid Century Modern.

I would also get a photo editor as buyers tend to skip over poor pictures.

The flea markets here in NH are giving away antiques.    

[luxgoods]

The OP makes some valid Points. So Collectibles are not selling . Antiques are not selling, Electronics are out and the all time favorite, Clothing is over saturated. If you want to sell on ebay, you have to be creative and work your butt off.  I feel bad for the new sellers because the learning curve is way more difficult than it used to be.

[retrogames10000]

Well, I've only been selling retro games for 3 months and it seems fine.

I think people are moving to purchase more in person through marketplaces like Facebook, seems like that is what your experience is telling us.

My philosophy is that if you can't make the sales you want at 100 listings, then you need 1000, and if that isn't doing it then you need 10,000.  I feel like I am hitting a good stride now near 3,000 listings but I still am at a third or less of where I want to be with sales.  I will keep acquiring items and create listings every day until I achieve the desired result

[cambriachick]

Hi stuffyoulikealot,

I also sell vintage.  I find it runs hot and cold, a week without sales, then 7 sales the next. Overall I do okay.  Do not drop the word vintage from your listings.   Without it, a search will bring up a lot of new, made in China products.  I find it helpful to end my listings after they run 3 to 4 months, wait a couple weeks, or even longer, and relist.  At that point I recheck similar listings to update any price changes or tweak titles, etc.  Don't be afraid to take a chance and branch out.  Once I bought a bunch of old photo negatives at an estate sale.  I figured, what the heck, it was $5.  It turned out quite a few were of old cars from the 50s and 60s.  I had an excellent return.  I've done that several times.  Hang in there.

[pereirahawk]

The AI bots must've been self-aware, had fat wallets and been some major horders, because they were buying up a storm...where the bleep did they store this stuff.

A post from last week got it right:

Ebay attempted to reconcile bot views versus actual human views due to the imfamous, impending pay per click model.  But, they tweaked things too much.  As many of us know, we often have solds on items with no views.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Do I think ebay is dead? No.

Do I think multi channel---continuing on ebay, but adding other channels as well---is a good idea for at least some sellers? Yes.

[windycityart4u]

Glad you branched out locally. First year I have searched for local options as well. Refuse to ship large items for fear of forced return. The standards and rules have for sure driven buyers and sellers away. eBay has long since repelled their antiques and collectables sellers. eBay killed the art market a couple of years back by changing the search engine. Heck, my items were getting banned for listing nude artwork. Thousands of years of nude art being part of history yet king eBay decides what is considered descent. Oh well, eBay's loss. Brought the nudes to local art auctions and have done pretty well. 

[coolections]

It is dead for "some" sellers. It is about the same for "some" sellers. It is very good for "some" sellers. It all depends on the item, the asking price, and the demand. Being a low volume seller, I am very happy with my last 90 day results (85 items shipped in 90 days) too me is very good. Maybe take another look at your prices. They look VERY high for Ebay. Compare to SOLD listings and adjust accordingly.

[carpcabins]

I started using EBay when I had dial-up internet & used to sell things I found too. I have never been a big volume seller, but I used to make enough for some extra spending money.   But as a buyer too, I find that when I search, I don't get results from the low-volume seller like me.  The search results are promoted listings or large volume sellers & you really have to dig deep to get to the small guy listing.  And I don't buy the "bad-picture" thing.  I've never done a professional picture & used to sell all the time.   Now I don't even get views.   I had someone "watch" all my listing once & within two days their "watch" was removed & so was the view.  I don't even mind the fees if my listings were allow in search results. 

[12345jamesstamps]

I have been having great sales within a week. Don't know what I did. I don't use promoted listings anymore.

I looked at some of your listings....and also those that are sponsor on the same page. The sponsor items are less expensive than your items on the same page. So, I think you might have overpriced your items compared to other similar items your are selling. 

I try to stay within the same price or lower with competitors. 

[coolections]

Good answer and should be flagged as "best answer". The problem is most do not want to hear that.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @stuffyoulikealot 

I don't know whether this will be good or bad news to you ... but to paraphrase Mark Twain:  "The rumor of eBay's death is greatly exaggerated."   [I believe I've been seeing posts about it for at least 18 years.]

[bryo_3145]

I think I'm going to start getting into the market of fabric and crafting. That's where the sales are.  

[laststopgeneralstore]

No, eBay is not dead.

You need to sell better, more desirable, quicker selling items. The majority of the items you have listed are not desirable or quick selling by any means. They require a niche of niche buyer that is willing to pay the price you have listed. The categories you're selling in are slow moving & non desirable by most unless they are the niche of the niche in that category.

I sell in what most people say is a saturated category and I average 12 sales per day. Except that in my category when you break it down, the "saturated" part is the majority of what doesn't sell because it's non desirable, slow moving, priced to high etc...

You need to find items that have a fast sell thru rate that you can buy low and sell at a good margin/a margin that you are comfortable with.

If you continue trying to sell what you've been selling then don't expect to get the same results you may have gotten a decade ago selling the same types of items.

eBay is far from being "dead" and isn't going anywhere anytime soon despite what most people say, in my opinion anyway.

Take ownership, adapt to change, stop worrying about things out of your control & do better.

Good Luck.