I've had over a week to think about the direction Ebay is headed and how that affects sellers on the platform. We all know that the new CEO of Ebay comes from Walmart and from the existence of Walmart they have never sold antiques or collectibles in their store. How can a CEO possibly know how to manage such categories to make sure they are receiving the highest value possible... you can not, you will need to hire experts in these categories to ensure success (that is not happening either is it).
I can only speak from personal experience but I mainly resale jewelry (costume and vintage, not fine, not antique and yes there is a vast difference in all of those categories).
When I am on the main Ebay homepage I click on the "Shop by Category" drop down menu beside the "Search for anything" box at the top of the page. When clicked on there is no option for Jewelry, so naturally as a buyer I click on Fashion, then choose Women. That screen takes me to a new page and again THERE IS NO JEWELRY CATEGORY. There isn't even a category for Accessories (which just may have jewelry). NOPE not an option. So if I am someone who shops by browsing what is available rather than typing in a specific item I am looking for in the search box, how is a buyer ever going to find jewelry to shop from? That is a valid concern as a seller and makes sense as to why I have had ZERO sales for a month solid before this new Seller Update took place.
As I scroll down the page I see nothing but "new" items that I could buy at any huge retailer/shopping mall (again no jewelry icons to click on anywhere). But what is more concerning is when I scroll down to the very bottom I see a spot that says MORE TO EXPLORE. What I see here just doesn't make any sense. Some of the Categories included are:
* 4th of July Clothes For Women
* Habitat Clothes to Live In
* Japanese Clothing
* Korean Clothes
* Pinup Girl Clothing
* Sexy Clothes
* Women With Control
SERIOUSLY? What in the world does any of that mean? I've never walked into any retail store and seen options like that.
So I go back to the main homepage and decide this time to use the search box and type in "Jewelry" just to see what pops up. Tons of new categories that have nothing to do with jewelry is what pops up...AND categories removed that have everything to do with selling jewelry. My main category is "Costume Jewelry from the 1950-90's era" but there is no option to search for that, not even well known Jewelry makers is an option to search. Ugh frustrating. So my main options for what I sell is limited to Fashion Jewelry (nope not that), Fine Jewelry (definately not what I am selling), and then Vintage and Antique Jewelry (that might work) so I choose the last category option.
Now I am finally given the choice of what type of jewelry I am wanting and I click on earrings as that is mostly what I sell. That is the only page I see item specifics on the left hand of the side of the screen to narrow down what I am looking for. But when I see the options the numbers are incredibly small. Only 200 listings for AVON??? Really find that hard to believe when before there were 100s of thousands of Avon earring listings... where did they all go Ebay? Are these just listings that are paying to be seen? If so then I am out as I am not going to pay you more money for hardly any sales.
So my conclusion, Ebay is without a doubt only showing listings that are paying to be seen AND are transitioning into a Walmart/Amazon online e-commerce website. I 100% hate shopping on Walmart and Amazon (and refuse to do so) because I can never find what I am looking for without first being shown hundreds of items that I could care less about. Frustrating and discouraging and sickening to say the least.
Those who forget where they come from are doomed to fail. Ebay do you realize that? YES YOU DO and shame on you for such disgusting behavior.
My search feels like I'm cruising a soft porn website rather than looking for vintage hard to find pieces of jewelry that buyers want to collect. And I've not even checked to see how the other categories I sell in are now being displayed to shoppers- I'm a bit afraid to if we are honest.
