eBay

fastjag1 · ‎02-07-2019

It's been a while since I have posted to these boards so bare with me. I have been selling on eBay since 1999 or for 20 years. From 2007-08/2016 I was selling in excess of $135K per year. Since 08/2016 my sales have plummeted to just $85K per year. When I give that date I mean it dropped OVER NIGHT to exactly $85K when I was on par to hit $150K going into the holiday season. For me that is a loss of $55K (at least) per year. That alone is proof positive that eBay is LIMITING/THROTTLING the exact amount that I can earn. Take into consideration that I have DOUBLED MY INVENTORY since 08/2016 and my sales have STAYED EXACTLY AT $85K hits all this home! Your sales do not drop to an EXACT figure overnight and flat line at that figure. Additionally your sales do not stay at that exact figure when you DOUBLE YOUR INVENTORY!

I am here today because I just got off the phone with CS (). I was told my account has no holds or limits and that there is nothing wrong with my account. Strange that my last sale was Feb-05-19 14:04:20 PST. It is currently Feb-07-19 06:10:20 PST. If my math is correct that's right around 43 hours without a sale. Take into consideration that the 2 months leading up to this BLACKOUT my slowest day was 2 sales. I have over 1000 items listed and I list more each day. The idea that on a global platform like eBay I would not have a sale in 2 days is mind boggling and is OBVIOUS limiting of my sales! I freak out when I have a 24hr blackout but this is crazy at 2 days! In 2016 when they started this I took on allot more financially by adopting a little 4 year old. At the time earning $135K I felt comfortable at age 54 coasting into retirement and taking care of this little girl. Then I was hit with a $55K per year loss! I literally can not pay me bills and take care of my new daughter. EBay is my only source of income as I closed down my other business to do this full time. Additionally, this past DEC we had to take in my in-law's due to health issues adding to my financial stress. I could take care of everyone if eBay would just, AT THE VERY LEAST, allow me to sell at the level I was at prior to 08/2016 when I had HALF of the items for sale that I have up now! I have continuously asked eBay to release my limit on sales and they consistently tell me "I have no limits". I have sales reports that prove otherwise and there is not a court in the US that would not see it my way!

Please post with similar issues.

zamo-zuan · ‎02-12-2019

@esg-enterprises wrote:

This might sound insane, but could a large seller such as yourself ever get the ear of a board member and explain your research?

I wish I could.

I did meet with several eBay staff members last month when they were in our area, who were higher-ups in the Motors category. Time was somewhat limited, but I gave them sort of a presentation and showed them a lot of what I discuss here, assisted with some printouts of graphs/etc.

I don't know how much of a difference it made/will make. I can just hope the correct information makes it's way to the board members, because it's very doubtful that even this employees can do anything but pass along the feedback.

I think a lot of the issues are the result of eBay misinterpreting the reasons for the problems that eBay is facing, combined with the fact that they have to put such a spin on the stock reports that it seems they even believe their own excuses.

I would absolutely love it if I could get a chance to have a couple hours with a board member to explain/display what it is really like for sellers on eBay, and show them the actual problems sellers are facing. But I doubt I will be given that opportunity, haha.

esg-enterprises · ‎02-12-2019

I think a lot of the issues are the result of eBay misinterpreting the reasons for the problems that eBay is facing, combined with the fact that they have to put such a spin on the stock reports that it seems they even believe their own excuses.

My father and I have some money together at Merrill Lynch, on a recent visit the broker was asking me about business.

I told him some of the issues lately, he replied that he tells people to run from ebay stock!

He also acknowledged the industry opinion is pretty much with proper management it would be 4x what it currently is.

lovefindingtreasures2 · ‎02-20-2019

@esg-enterprises:
I'm hearing the same things from nearly everyone I come in contact with regarding eBay. They don't buy here anymore. When I talk about eBay, I am hearing several similar reasons for why they no longer shop here.

It takes too long to find what they want with searches. Can't figure out how to narrow down what they want to buy using the choices without getting items that have zero to do with their search, and pages of International vendors. I hear a lot of, "eBay is a just a bunch of junk now, I never can find what I want there" (or a similar story).

Is it safe to buy on eBay and also, is it safe to sell on eBay. Most people in and around my life know I sell on various platforms, they want to know about those places, not eBay.

ALL my friends, family and neighbors know I am an eBay seller. Some save me boxes. All shop online. NONE shop on eBay ever (they all used to), guess where they all shop? A. I have a lot of A boxes.

Worse, many of them tell me, "Why are you selling on eBay when you could sell on A?" They want me to sell on A. It's odd.

I can't answer their questions anymore. I can't tell them why they should buy here when things are so glitchy, China is in every category (like antique and vintage with new items), and the items they want to find are moving to smaller platforms, which they are as the sellers migrate to them.

I've also heard numerous times, "If eBay isn't selling weird stuff (i.e. collectibles and oddities), why shop there? I use eBay for finding XYZ thing they can't find most places" My neighbor told me eBay takes too long, they get their stuff from A super fast. They are rampant consumers, get deliveries everyday. Not from eBay.

This worries me. Used to be everyone I knew bought on eBay. We used to have a weekly poker game and everyone got into poker stuff. It was ALL bought on eBay. Vintage cigar ash trays, cool 1950's glasses, old poker chips, all bought on eBay.

Everything was bought on eBay and A was an after thought. Many people sold here. All gone now. To the people I know who used to buy here, they consider this the myspace of online selling.

That's what I hear from everyday consumers who buy daily items and hard to find. They don't look here anymore. How does eBay get these buyers back? Or has eBay replaced all the collectibles and oddity buyers with a new wave of new widget buyers so to eBay it makes no difference bottom line?

It's all bottom line, so I have to assume that the new stuff sells more volume for eBay than the one of a kinds, the weird, the hard to find, the replacement parts, collectibles, antiques, all that used to be eBay.

I know I leave eBay to look for those items, I too cannot find them in the volume and diversity I could just a couple of years ago. Now I find myself frustrated every time I do a search here. Heck, I can't even get the cookies of eBay to remember the search criteria I put in from page to page, like gallery view instead of vertical, 192 items per page instead of 24, etc., It resets on me EVERY SINGLE TIME I LEAVE THE PAGE.

That makes me frustrated and I leave. I'll even pay a bit more just to find it, buy it and be done with it. I just did it again today on the A site, couldn't for the life of me find what I needed here. Or I did but it was one of those 'multi item' listings where a photo of what I want is showing at a decent price, but the item I want is 2X or more the price when I click it into the buy button. This is bait and switch to me, wastes a mass amount of my time, and also erodes my TRUST in this site. Cool item $3, nope, cool item is $9 and the safety pin that holds it together is $3. Show the photo of the safety pin then, not the more expensive item.

I don't know what eBay is going to end up being as a selling platform, but I know I am going extinct here.

equid0x · ‎02-20-2019

There is a huge difference between A & eBay in that nearly everything on A has a cost premium attached, possibly even in 2 ways with the purchase of Prime membership. eBay seems to be striving to be like A with a marketplace of vendors who do not have business models that necessarily translate to an A format.

I think eBay was correct in pursuing a piece of that market, but I think they would have been better off, and more profitable, to leave the old market in place and build a new one beside it catering to new items.

eBay's original format is about as good as its going to get for used/vintage/collectible because individual descriptions and photos and terms are key to the sale.