No matter what I do....$2000 a month on ebay- dosen't MATTER what I do- THE SAME??

[madmax69trojan]

No matter what I do- $2000- I used to do $8500- $10K A MONTH, AND i DID THIS FOR years- IF i WORKED MORE i MADE MORE BUT THAT IS NOT THE WAY IT IS ANYMORE- for the last 2 years- LIKE CLOCKWORK- $2K.

I can list 2X what I normally do- what's my total- 2K.

I can take off 2 weeks and list for 2 weeks- same thing- 2k.

i CAN LIST 1/2 OF WHAT i NORMALLY DO- 2K.

i GUESS EBAY THINKS i AM WORTH 24K A YEAR- THIS IS BELOW MINIMUM WAGE AND IT IS AN 80% DROP IN MY BUSINESS AND IT SIMPLY is not enough EBAY.

six bucks an hour ebay- after 14 years of service!

mb

[jnybuysell]

Been saying this on these boards since 2012. It was never the lack of sales that scared me about Ebay. It was the consistency.Month after month same $ amounts in sales and fees.  If they were down, a last few day burst of busy to get them back in range. couple times could be coincidence,but 4 years of watching it is pretty convincing.

[my_boston_baked_beans]

I meant buyers want

[nowthatsjustducky]

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keziak wrote:I go elsewhere (Amazon) and sales have declined there. No idea why. Meanwhile I now have 1000 "free" listings on ebay and have worked to up my listings and sales are pretty good. I'm in books and some other media.

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I think the one of the biggest causes for Amazon sales declining is that 2 years ago, in many of the non-traditional categories (used toys and electronics for example), there were nowhere near as many third party sellers.  For the first couple years I was really rocking with Nerf guns and accessories, Walkmen and Discmen (and their better quality non-Sony counterparts), and micro cassette recorders, and was getting some insanely sweet prices over there, even better than those were doing here on the 'bay.

But as with all good things, word got out and the Kindergarten Class finally arrived to pee in the pool, causing that race to the bottom in order to be the lowest price no matter what; and prices dropped to where many of these things were no longer profitable.  It always came across as clueless sellers thinking that even though they take a loss on each item, they are making it up in volume.

That said, I am slowly scaling back my Amazon operations now, as eBay is becoming the better value for me for many of those items again as a seller.  In time, I could be back to just using Amazon for the occasional book, CD, DVD, or video game sale.  No biggie.  This is one of those reasons I never encourage anyone to quit eBay altogether to seek out greener venues.  Instead, I always advise simply not putting all your eggs in one basket, and expanding to other venues in addition to the 'bay.

[etvideo1ataol]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

I have to pay more going to etsy and elsewhere.

My stuff is sold at a lower price over there.  Fees are a lot less! 

---

It's cheaper to not sell somewhere else than to not sell on eBay.

[my_boston_baked_beans]

Why etsy is so much cheaper on their final value fees? Also, depending on what you sell ( as sell some vintage decor) there is more visibility built into there venue for vintage as you can not sell new unless it is handmade.

We pay 13% for ebay and paypal, and on etsy I pay less than half of that. Etsy also has it's won credit system.

The idea of making money is to lower your overhead to allow for other expenditures and investments to grow your business not to be gouged by over charged fees for visibility/ exposure.

[my_boston_baked_beans]

etsy's own

[etvideo1ataol]

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@my_boston_baked_beans wrote:

Why etsy is so much cheaper on their final value fees? Also, depending on what you sell ( as sell some vintage decor) there is more visibility built into there venue for vintage as you can not sell new unless it is handmade.

We pay 13% for ebay and paypal, and on etsy I pay less than half of that. Etsy also has it's won credit system.

The idea of making money is to lower your overhead to allow for other expenditures and investments to grow your business not to be gouged by over charged fees for visibility/ exposure.

---

The problem is that eBay and a lot of others that use eBay believe that all sellers are the same,  That listing on eBay automatically make the Lister a business.  This is far from true.

While some have tried to make listing on eBay a business where they have overhead and products they buy to sell, a lot are not.

There are collectors, (remember them?) that started eBay and have a collection they either want to get rid of or just sell off extras.

There are those like myself with a lifetime of acquiring and have reached an age and income where the ability to pay the bills is greater than the need to have all this stuff.  You can accumulate a lot in 74 years.

So, for me, there is no overhead other than packaging materials (I save all boxes) and since I buy nothing to list, I don't have products, I have stuff, things, collections.  $500.00+ a month was enough and that was possible with enough listings.  Now, that to the cruelty of eBay and listing restrictions, I can only do about $100.00.

And, from talking to eBay, they don't care.

I have about 1700 listings on Turbo Lister and they will sit there until eBay realized they belong to me and not eBay, that my buyers are MY customers and not eBay's.

They are also listed elsewhere and I have to keep removing some from Turbo Lister when something sells there.  Can't see how that's an advantage to eBay.  It just gets me customers that will now look there first.

[mon949]

I am a small time seller, but NOT this small. Since April 2015, my sales have gone down, and further down! Before that, my sales were not great, but pretty steady.

I have not sold anything since last Tuesday April 9th. Right now I have two bids.

I checked the ebay outage page, and I am "yellowed" out on the east coast, west coast and south. They are just not showing my items. So why lower my prices since no one is looking at my items anyway?

It is very frustrating!

[ittybitnot]

I have about 1700 listings on Turbo Lister and they will sit there until eBay realized they belong to me and not eBay, that my buyers are MY customers and not eBay's.

Quick question:  Don;t you have to pay to renew or Good til close lisiting every month....Seems like if an item "sits" it would be past its deal so to speak?  Maybe I am missing something, and those that do this can inform me.   Personally, I like the 20 cents insertion fee for fixed price that will be up for three or for months or so.   Rather pay the 20 cents than have a monthly subscription fee now days even though nothing sells.   Please advise.  Thanks in advance.

Your BUYERS will be considered Ebay's cutomers until they prove to be "crooks". Then the seller is on his own. 

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

I have about 1700 listings on Turbo Lister and they will sit there until eBay realized they belong to me and not eBay, that my buyers are MY customers and not eBay's.

Quick question:  Don;t you have to pay to renew or Good til close lisiting every month....Seems like if an item "sits" it would be past its deal so to speak?  Maybe I am missing something, and those that do this can inform me.   Personally, I like the 20 cents insertion fee for fixed price that will be up for three or for months or so.   Rather pay the 20 cents than have a monthly subscription fee now days even though nothing sells.   Please advise.  Thanks in advance.

Your BUYERS will be considered Ebay's cutomers until they prove to be "crooks". Then the seller is on his own. 

---

I have about 1700 listings on Turbo Lister

That means they are stored locally on etvideo's hard drive, waiting to go back up when the opportunity arises.

[etvideo1ataol]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

I have about 1700 listings on Turbo Lister and they will sit there until eBay realized they belong to me and not eBay, that my buyers are MY customers and not eBay's.

Quick question:  Don;t you have to pay to renew or Good til close lisiting every month....Seems like if an item "sits" it would be past its deal so to speak?  Maybe I am missing something, and those that do this can inform me.   Personally, I like the 20 cents insertion fee for fixed price that will be up for three or for months or so.   Rather pay the 20 cents than have a monthly subscription fee now days even though nothing sells.   Please advise.  Thanks in advance.

Your BUYERS will be considered Ebay's cutomers until they prove to be "crooks". Then the seller is on his own. 

---

Turbo Lister is a listing tool where you create listings.  They are not listed until I upload them.  Something that will not likely happen for a long time with selling limits.

I prefer the 5 cents media listing fee.  After all 10% FVF should be enough for a business that is about selling.  The higher the listing fee, the more eBay looks like it is only about listing.

Meanwhile, after 18 years and thousands of sales, many to countries all over the world as my feedback would indicate, I have not been ripped off once by a buyer.  Yes, I have had non payers, but that cost me nothing but time.  I have had more problems from my mistakes than from crooks.

[keziak]

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@nowthatsjustducky wrote:

---

keziak wrote:I go elsewhere (Amazon) and sales have declined there. No idea why. Meanwhile I now have 1000 "free" listings on ebay and have worked to up my listings and sales are pretty good. I'm in books and some other media.

---

I think the one of the biggest causes for Amazon sales declining is that 2 years ago, in many of the non-traditional categories (used toys and electronics for example), there were nowhere near as many third party sellers.  For the first couple years I was really rocking with Nerf guns and accessories, Walkmen and Discmen (and their better quality non-Sony counterparts), and micro cassette recorders, and was getting some insanely sweet prices over there, even better than those were doing here on the 'bay.

But as with all good things, word got out and the Kindergarten Class finally arrived to pee in the pool, causing that race to the bottom in order to be the lowest price no matter what; and prices dropped to where many of these things were no longer profitable.  It always came across as clueless sellers thinking that even though they take a loss on each item, they are making it up in volume.

That said, I am slowly scaling back my Amazon operations now, as eBay is becoming the better value for me for many of those items again as a seller.  In time, I could be back to just using Amazon for the occasional book, CD, DVD, or video game sale.  No biggie.  This is one of those reasons I never encourage anyone to quit eBay altogether to seek out greener venues.  Instead, I always advise simply not putting all your eggs in one basket, and expanding to other venues in addition to the 'bay.

---

I think you summarize the situation well, though it's still odd to see business cut in half in just the past few months. I go to library sales and this Spring they were positively overrun, more than in the past I mean, and they've always been busy. Every used book in the USA is ending up on Amazon. At least on ebay I have powerful tools such as Best Offer and easy combining and book lots. I used to do 60/40% Amazon/Ebay and lately it's flipped. 

[odditiesandantiquities1]

No offense meant but diversify. There are sites coming out the ying yang to sell on. No one restricts us to just one. Once you open one avenue up, start opening another. 

I started selling on eBay in 2012. By 2014, September I was burnt and knew I needed to change what I was doing. Now I'm on four sites. Two doing extremely well, the other two are just backups for things that don't sell on the first two.

I don't find it harder. I'm disabled and trust me everything is hard. But...this is working for me.

Cheers!

[ittybitnot]

I have not been ripped off once by a buyer.

Lucky You!!!!!    There is an interesting novel by that name...fiction of course. 

Many of us are not so fortunate, and thus remain here. 

[etvideo1ataol]

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@keziak wrote:

---

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I think you summarize the situation well, though it's still odd to see business cut in half in just the past few months. I go to library sales and this Spring they were positively overrun, more than in the past I mean, and they've always been busy. Every used book in the USA is ending up on Amazon. At least on ebay I have powerful tools such as Best Offer and easy combining and book lots. I used to do 60/40% Amazon/Ebay and lately it's flipped. 

---

Things like Best Offer just cheapen things.  As it is, Fixed Price has destroyed the catalog value of most collectibles as sellers priced rare items at give away prices.  When it was just auctions, prices were much higher but that ship has sailed.  All those price guides are now worthless except for the information they provide.

I decide the lowest price I am willing to accept and stick to it.  Yes, I have had offers and I politely refuse them.  Nine times out of ten the item sells for my asking price.  If I can't get my price, it goes to charity.