eBay

wdiptr · ‎01-06-2019

*Posting ID

Anybody elses sales down 50% or more. The Performance metrics are flawed. I've been doing about 1/2 the sales I did the past few years during 4th Q and the start of the year. What's your take?

grasshopperx · ‎03-07-2019

Wechurch. Hit the nail on the head. I couldn't have said it better myself.

cburkhartrrs · ‎03-09-2019

I can hope that we all can recover from this. I would rather be busy than have just 1 or 2 orders a week. Been contemplating cancelling my yearly contract with Ebay. Not worth paying high dollars when I am not getting the traffic I am paying for. I can't slash prices any lower without taking a loss and I can't take any more losses. I do keep adapting, but Ebay also needs to step up to the plate for its sellers.

joesoucie22012 · ‎03-09-2019

It's been happening for Along time now. There is no EBay on Google shopping. Other sites are there but not eBay. But eBay listings do come up in Google searches, sometimes. (rarely at top of page.) So what is happening, who knows but it appears that Google hates eBay listings.

extraordinarilyyou · ‎03-09-2019

Correct: Amazon
No Correct: Not interested in Vintage

weschurch · ‎03-09-2019

Amazing isnt it? You have jumped through the hoops and still no reward? Despite all Ebays upgrades you paid for? All the things they told you you were doing wrong. Ebay has tricked sellers into thinking its something they are doing things wrong, getting them to puchase upgrades, then changing the structure again to sell further upgrades. It couldn't possibly be the buyers are gone, I mean after all this is Ebay right? Ebay does nothing at this point but come up with money grabs on search placement, listing upgrades, promoted listings, etc. because the they no longer can grow revenue from actual sales. IT ENTIRELY OBVIOUS

Yet, some sellers are still to blinded by EBAY past, EBAYs once prominant name. They are thoroughly convince the buyers are here and all they have to do is jump to the top of the search, use promoted listings, blah blah blah. All these "structures" that were put in place by guess who? Ebay.

I get a kick out of sellers who think the lighting in their pictures are the problem. Conversations about angles and background color and all this nonsense. Sellers who think its GOD Awful to reuse a shipping box. Everything down to the color of packing peanuts. Do you REALLY think this is why people are struggling to sell? REALLY? In 2005, did any of that matter? Did the angle of the picture drive you to buy that used hoodie? Of course not. Sales were good because Ebay had a massive amount of inventory. A vibrant selection from sellers from all over the place. Then Ebay started hiking fees and instituting insanely inefficient policies. Sellers left with every update and the the sum of all those batches of sellers leaving has left a site full of Big Box sellers, chinese junk, and common garbage. Who remains, sellers that are willing to jump through the hoops because they have an EBAY "Business". Of course they are trying to make money, so deals are few and far between. Ebay keeps asking sellers to add all the extras onto their selling price, but then again, it makes the item prices higher.

Buyers have plenty of Big Box item places they buy from before coming here.

Buyers don't want to pay "Business" prices from your store of unique items that you are marking up prices for because you are a "Business". I mean what is the chance I'm going to find a good deal from your business as I'm sure you know what your widget sells for and then are jacking up the price to make a profit?

Buyers don't want a casual seller who has her widget marked up with the plethora of fees added in.

Buyers want unique stuff from Mary in Des Moines Iowa, who found the widget in her closet and just wants to get rid of it. The problem is Mary was ran off years ago. Mary doesn't want to run the complicated maze Ebay presents her to sell her widget.

Keep letting Ebay tell you its your fault, keep jumping through the endless hoops but the reality is the buyers are just not there.

yuzuha · ‎03-09-2019

@weschurch wrote:

Sales were good because Ebay had a massive amount of inventory. A vibrant selection from sellers from all over the place. Then Ebay started hiking fees and instituting insanely inefficient policies. Sellers left with every update and the the sum of all those batches of sellers leaving has left a site full of Big Box sellers, chinese junk, and common garbage. Who remains, sellers that are willing to jump through the hoops because they have an EBAY "Business". Of course they are trying to make money, so deals are few and far between. Ebay keeps asking sellers to add all the extras onto their selling price, but then again, it makes the item prices higher.

No, sales were good because - at the time - eBay (and online buying/selling in general) was novel and unique. People got caught up in the excitement of online auctions and paid more for things than they would have if they were right in front of them in a B&M store. But then the excitement wore off, competition cropped up, a lot of things that people thought were rare turned out to be not so rare after all, and the novelty was gone. Anyone who thinks otherwise has rose-tinted glasses on, and I say this as someone who has been on eBay since 1999.

weschurch · ‎03-09-2019

I disagree, It certainly was a novel thing, but everyone wasn't trying to be a "business" and selling was so much simpler. If the rare products were still here, buyers would still be here as well. I'm not coming here for big box items and If you have a "business" with 3000 items the chances I'm going to find a good deal from you is not very high. I've been here since 99 as well. Sold over a million dollars of stuff in the 00's but I got fed up years ago and left and went to another platform. I still buy from here all the time because I like rare OOAK stuff. Before I could search new stuff in my favorite category and have listings literally popping up faster than I could look at them, it started going downhill a few years ago but I could still find stuff, Now a whole day is lucky to net a full page of newly listed items a DAY! I had a list of over 180 sellers I would look at years ago who were constantly adding new stuff. Today 4 of the 180 are still selling.

The unique casual sellers don't want to bother with the plethora of goofy changes Ebay has made over the years. The sellers of what made Ebay unique are history and what remains are big box sellers, want-to-be big box sellers with inflated prices, and a bunch of chinese junk. The good unique sellers left and the buyers arent interested in what remains so they just quit coming here

yuzuha · ‎03-09-2019

Buyers are absolutely still here... do a search for 'Star Wars,' 'Black Panther,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'Funko Pop' or 'Pokemon' and just look at how many sold listings there are. The only thing that has changed is what buyers these days want. I could list my (used) copies of Rule of Rose, Kuon and Haunting Ground for the Playstation 2 and they would likely sell within hours because they are rare and in high demand.

There are many, many unique casual sellers here who are doing just fine (many right here on these boards) because they have adapted to the current market, which is not the same as it was almost 20 years ago. Trends change, buyer demographics change, and the sellers who have an interest in succeeding adapt and change along with them. The sellers who don't want to change are the ones who find themselves slowly garnering fewer and fewer sales as the demand for what they're selling shifts. You can't blame that on eBay-- eBay can't magically make buyers want to buy anything. When buyers want to buy something, if it's listed at the right price, they will.

weschurch · ‎03-09-2019

If you say so, we will agree to disagree. Its pretty widely known that Ebay is fledgling marketplace. I mean they are getting crushed by the competition. The growth rate is embarrassing and the messageboards are filled with sellers facing drastic drops in sales. I search here everyday, I can tell you firsthand the unique supply has slowed to a trickle. If it works for you great. I don't know about being a seller on here because I jumped off the sinking ship years ago and the pastures are MUCH greener where I went but as a buyer I can say with certainty its not close to what it was even in 2015-2016 and only continues to spiral in a downward direction.

jersuniquebooks · ‎03-12-2019

Hi all, I had two basic stores selling books for a few years. Until April 2018 sales were good. In April 2018 my monthly sales dropped 50-70% every month to include all three months this year (2019). Blogs are full of these stories. I decided to stop trying to figure out the poor sales on eBay - closed one of my two basic stores last week and the frustration went away with the store closure. I was so happy, I could not wait to close the store. Do yourself a favor and remove the cause of grief. There are plenty of OTHER sources out there. I have put my remaining store on notice as well. 11 months of dismal sales is enough.

robertbolt · ‎03-13-2019

You are selling vintage documents. I don’t think that’s what most folks here are talking about but thanks for sharing

jersuniquebooks · ‎03-14-2019

I sell vintage, rare AND new books. My post is in line with the title of this blog and I certainly have experienced 2019 and all of 2018 "tanked" sales. Rather than continue to grieve over dismal sales for a 12th straight month, I took my business away from eBay. But thanks for your feedback.

drusalina · ‎03-14-2019

When eBay first started, the thrift stores emptied out. So many re-sellers came here to sell unique and hot items.

Now the Thrift Stores full again. Those re-sellers don't want to even try to sell here anymore. eBay has become so convoluted, and the the sellers are beat up with every day eBay Glitches and Problems selling. The Constant Changes to to make sellers work harder and pay more fees just isn't worth it anymore.

Change the channel!

weschurch · ‎03-14-2019

Yep, this is the story for most these days. The buyers are decreasing as well as sellers leave. Had Ebay left well enough alone who knows where we would have all been. Ive honestly never saw a company tinker with stuff thats not broken more than Ebay, only to mess it up.

cburkhartrrs · ‎03-16-2019

You have that right. I still have unique items, but have run into the nightmare of you have to be a authorized seller to sell a particular item or we are going to turn you in. I am sorry, but I am not going to just sell one thing. Nor do I have thousands of dollars to pay one company to sell their item. I joined Ebay as a boutique not as you say a big box store. Ebay's VERO list is incomplete and lacking. Plus who can hire a fleet of employees and lawyers. I am a single person business and was/am in it for a supplement to my income. So fed up. May end up going elsewhere after my contract is up with EBay.