They Broke eBay - How Sad

[allthings-collectible]

Although I realize that titles like this will inevitably draw out those who feel that it's their duty to not only defend eBay, but even blame sellers for doing something wrong, then so be it. We know who you are due to your condescending consistency. 

Yet, this year is shaping up to be the beginning of the end for eBay. What caused them to try to change so many aspects of eBay's front-end and back-end systems? Greed perhaps. Or maybe desperation, in an attempt to stop the bleeding of lost year-over-year market share. Their motivation to add PL coupled with a revised definition of impressions shows that they no longer care about sustainable sellers, let alone the overall effect on fair market values of resold goods.

This current system has only one outcome, which is to drive sales by price competition. This includes parading identical items with lower prices in front of buyers AFTER they made their purchase. It's no wonder why cancelations are up and sales are down. All of this ocurring during a time when eBay is losing over a million sellers each year since 2018, all the while it's competitors are gaining sellers and market share. The writing is on the wall.

[maxine*j]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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Just because younger generations don't like collectibles doesn't make them inferior people. I'm really sick and tired of this gross and untrue generalization. Sorry if they don't like knickknacks, neither do I.

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And that's just it-- they DO collect, just not the same things that the older generation collects. I sell collectibles aimed at younger people. I go to conventions and see people there spending hundreds of dollars on collectibles. What they DON'T collect is stuff like Precious Moments or Hummel figurines, Thomas Kincade plates, etc.

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Yes.  I know that I'm generalizing, but: 

Many younger people today live in small spaces and in shared spaces, are likely to be urban-dwellers, and expect to move around for employment.  They often work long hours.

They don't want heavy,  glass-fronted corner cabinets filled with "collectible" plates or figurines.  They don't want silverware, gold-rimmed china, crystal glasses, or other fussy dinnerware that can't be put into a dishwasher.  They want furniture that is multifunctional and easy to break down to move.  And so on.  They're realistic and practical.  They just don't want the stuff that the older generation is trying to get rid of as it "downsizes."

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TBH, this describes how a lot of humanity has lived down through a hundred generations. And to be honest, a lot of we olde fartes didn't want much, or any, of the fragile or specific collectibles, either, or like having just a few items that mean something to us, or might have 'the family china'. 

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Of course.  But I was speaking, generally, about generations that are alive today and that are likely to be eBay users.

As for me, I'm an olde farte who lives in a 750-sq-ft one-bedroom apartment and find that I have more space than I need for my stuff.  I could "downsize" from here to a studio apartment and be comfortable, maybe more comfortable since there'd be even less to clean.  🙂

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[ed8108]

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@allthings-collectible wrote:

Yet, this year is shaping up to be the beginning of the end for eBay

.... eBay is losing over a million sellers each year since 2018, all the while it's competitors are gaining sellers and market share. 

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Although sales may be down, more than a few buyers appear to have run away, more seasoned sellers are leaving.

 We are told ebay has continued  profitable.

Could it turn out that ebay is just too big to ever fail ?

[traditonalproducts]

Correct and where was the profit comparison. Sales figures means zip, it's based on net profits. 

[traditonalproducts]

Please provide the net profits. Gross sales mean nothing along with how many people are on this platform. Net profits would be the deciding factor. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

An interesting article which suggests that, whatever issues may plague ebay on ebay, the rise in competition is also a big factor. And it isn't as if ebay sellers are moving to these two growing apps, since neither one is open to sellers.

These apps don't directly compete with me (in terms of what they sell) but they clearly are having an impact on ebay itself. And as the article note, a lot of this can be attributed to the massive amounts of money one is spending on marketing.

It will be interesting to see if any mention is made of this in ebay's Upcoming Q2 Earnings Call. 

https://channelx.world/2023/07/amazon-lose-1m-daily-app-users-ebay-lose-2m/

[joliztoyco]

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@traditonalproducts wrote:

Please provide the net profits. Gross sales mean nothing along with how many people are on this platform. Net profits would be the deciding factor. 

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What do I look like?
Google? Alexa?
You're sitting at a computer RIGHT NOW!
Do your own research.

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And I find your statement that "Gross sales and the number of active users on this platform mean nothing" infinity humorous.
Is that why Ebay devotes the time and space on each Quarterly and Yearly review to report on these numbers??

[slippinjimmy]

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@traditonalproducts wrote:

Correct and where was the profit comparison. Sales figures means zip, it's based on net profits. 

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Net Profit from Operations have been fairly steady but obviously falling somewhat from the Covid peak.

Total Net Profit is also not a good number to look at because it includes the big ups and down from their investment portfolio. Bottom Line, any company netting 2 to 3 Billion per year from operations isn't "failing".

[chapeau-noir]

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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Just because younger generations don't like collectibles doesn't make them inferior people. I'm really sick and tired of this gross and untrue generalization. Sorry if they don't like knickknacks, neither do I.

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And that's just it-- they DO collect, just not the same things that the older generation collects. I sell collectibles aimed at younger people. I go to conventions and see people there spending hundreds of dollars on collectibles. What they DON'T collect is stuff like Precious Moments or Hummel figurines, Thomas Kincade plates, etc.

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Yes.  I know that I'm generalizing, but: 

Many younger people today live in small spaces and in shared spaces, are likely to be urban-dwellers, and expect to move around for employment.  They often work long hours.

They don't want heavy,  glass-fronted corner cabinets filled with "collectible" plates or figurines.  They don't want silverware, gold-rimmed china, crystal glasses, or other fussy dinnerware that can't be put into a dishwasher.  They want furniture that is multifunctional and easy to break down to move.  And so on.  They're realistic and practical.  They just don't want the stuff that the older generation is trying to get rid of as it "downsizes."

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TBH, this describes how a lot of humanity has lived down through a hundred generations. And to be honest, a lot of we olde fartes didn't want much, or any, of the fragile or specific collectibles, either, or like having just a few items that mean something to us, or might have 'the family china'. 

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Of course.  But I was speaking, generally, about generations that are alive today and that are likely to be eBay users.

As for me, I'm an olde farte who lives in a 750-sq-ft one-bedroom apartment and find that I have more space than I need for my stuff.  I could "downsize" from here to a studio apartment and be comfortable, maybe more comfortable since there'd be even less to clean.  🙂

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Just trying to give a historical perspective - too often people talk about events as if they have NEVER EVER happened before in the history of mankind, or that the short few-generation window of conspicuous consumption that has led to all of this STUFF accumulating has somehow always existed.

[joliztoyco]

My "expectation" is that the numbers improve year by year. Even slightly.
If the numbers stay "relatively the same" as you put it, it means the platform has become stagnant. Stale. 
If the numbers DECLINE for several years in a row, it means Ebay is LOSING business.
Not that you'll accept the numbers( research is hard!) but when Ebay's current 2 year slump began, it's stock price was around 80.00 a share.
It's now around 46 bucks. 
You do realize that "my opinion and your hopeful happiness" have zero influence on Ebay's poor decisions that have caused this prolonged slump?
As for those "millions of others" that would be negatively impacted? That's on them.
They should have been paying attention.
I have replaced EVERY CENT  of the money I was making on Ebay with different income streams. And I mean every cent.
I throw up about 10 or so "auctions" and let them rot on Ebay's dead platform. Don't care if they sell or not. I refuse to give Ebay a cent in Promoted listings. What a joke.
Anyways...I'm doing just great .
Hope you other sellers are....

[pls-consignments]

Lol... love it!

[mam98031]

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@joliztoyco wrote:

My "expectation" is that the numbers improve year by year. Even slightly.
If the numbers stay "relatively the same" as you put it, it means the platform has become stagnant. Stale. 
If the numbers DECLINE for several years in a row, it means Ebay is LOSING business.
Not that you'll accept the numbers( research is hard!) but when Ebay's current 2 year slump began, it's stock price was around 80.00 a share.
It's now around 46 bucks. 
You do realize that "my opinion and your hopeful happiness" have zero influence on Ebay's poor decisions that have caused this prolonged slump?
As for those "millions of others" that would be negatively impacted? That's on them.
They should have been paying attention.
I have replaced EVERY CENT  of the money I was making on Ebay with different income streams. And I mean every cent.
I throw up about 10 or so "auctions" and let them rot on Ebay's dead platform. Don't care if they sell or not. I refuse to give Ebay a cent in Promoted listings. What a joke.
Anyways...I'm doing just great .
Hope you other sellers are....

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Happy to have the conversation with you, but I'm NOT the poster that said "If the numbers stay "relatively the same" as you put it...".  That wasn't me.

Losing members as buyers or sellers, can mean that Ebay is losing business or it may mean that many of them were dormant accounts in the first place.  We don't know the break down of the numbers.  Not every account counts as an active member.

I've been a seller on Ebay for a long time.  I sell on multiple channels, not just Ebay.  I only sold on Ebay in the beginning while I was learning how to be an internet seller.  

You seem to apply certain feelings and statements to me when I'm don't feel that way nor did I say what you said I did.  Not sure why.

I don't use Promoted listings either.  Guess you don't know as much about me as you think you do.

[chapeau-noir]

Throwing up auctions sounds painful. 😮

[traditonalproducts]

Why should I perform research on an incomplete statement YOU made. No, I was not sitting at a computer, I was standing. Now, since Slippinjimmy provided the graph of the NET profits, they have been sliding over the last 6 years but it's still over 2 billion. Regardless, I do agree that whatever strategy is being used has not totally corrected a sliding scale.

One last note, think of it this way, I have never worried about my overall sales numbers in both my fulltime job & here. It's how much money both the company & I make. Take for example, I sell $5mm a year of products and get paid a bonus based on profits. I could sell $4mm a year of products and actually make more bonus money than at $5mm based on profit margins & what products are tied into the mix. Same happens here, my sales figures could be down but theoretically I made more profits. 

Lastly, I agree that we do want to look at sales figures but it's not the only deciding factor.

[jasoheat_0]

i believe they are an ebay employee , typical response callous and could careless

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I'm not saying the active user and GMV declines are good news for ebay, but: When the new CEO took over, he made very clear that Wenig had lost the battle against Amazon, and that ebay's competition going forward wouldn't be Amazon or WalMart....companies that, from the retail end, are primarily about new, in season merchandise. He said ebay viewed its real competition as sites like etsy, stockx, etc.

In this, I agreed with ebay. In fact, I'd been suggesting this for years: ebay's business model was not suited for being a real player in the new, in season market. Wenig wasted years trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. ebay has long had the potential to be THE dominent player in the non- new, in season market. I don't know exactly what Iannone's vision is for ebay, but I suspect the initial plan is to actually trim down, to become much more focused, and to be profitable at a smaller scale. So these declining numbers might not be as big a worry to ebay as it is to some posters here. ebay has no chance of dominating new, in season, no chance of ever ranking up there with Amazon....that ebay was once in a competitive position versus Amazon was largely a fluke, and its to his credit that Iannone realizes this. (I often wonder to what extent this reality and this overall strategy was spelled out in the never publicly released report from Elliot Management).

I'm not convinced Iannone's tactics are the best for the strategy he has chosen, but that's another issue. A company doesn't have to be huge to be successful. If ebay continues to bleed buyers and sellers , yes, there will be reason for concern, but ebay can be a profitable company with the current numbers, and even less. 

None of which means I think ebay is doing a great job. It just means I don't think ebay is on the verge of collapse. I think it still has (some) time to do better.