eBay

cometcollectibles · ‎10-14-2021

Well, the time has come. After this holiday season, I'm officially done.

First, I know that there are numerous threads regarding this subject. Here's the situation.

The week eBay rolled out PLA Beta, sales and impressions took a serious hit. Currently my sales and impressions are both down 60% this month. Now I get it, eBay is a public company, looking to maximize revenue. So, rather than being a victim, I decided to take a look at the things I could control.

Here's a list of what I've done: Reduced prices to rock bottom, sent offers to every watcher, continually listed, took listings down (hit "sell similar"), then relist them (I've had great success with this rather than just using the "relist" button); run promotions, turned on best offer, promoted some of my listings (standard).

Here's the other situation. In my business model, along with the need to be profitable, I value turnover. Significantly. I don't waste my time selling items that don't have demand. Sold listings for my items (even at prices HIGHER than mine) are coming in (and I have near 1900+perfect feedback). Having capital tied up in slow moving inventory is a legitimate business risk. So, the argument that people don't want what I'm selling doesn't hold up.

Obviously in life there are non-controllable aspects. All that you can do is control what you can. I like to think that is what I've done here in this instance. I'm all about personal accountability. At the end of the day, it's my fault this is happening to my store; there's something I could've done differently to not have this happen. But it's honestly tough to get out of the mindset that it's eBay doing this.

We can go back and forth on whether it's the economy currently (which, BTW, I'm very surprised there's not a major recession going on), or PLA Beta, or whatever. I know that correlation does not equal causation. But when you have all of these controls in place that I've mentioned, it's hard to reasonably not think it does in this instance. The only variables that have changed in the past 2 months have been the economy, and PLA Beta and the Fall update (I was struggling before they rolled out the Fall update yesterday, so I don't think that's it).

This rant isn't going to accomplish anything, but I felt the need to vent and prove that PLA Beta is hitting extremely hard. I know I can't be the only one going through this. Before this Fall, I've had fun with eBay sales paying my college tuition bill. I'll be liquidating product within the next few months, and will be putting my eBay store to rest.

Sorry for the negative post. Hope everyone has a great Halloween.

whatmorefabric · ‎10-14-2021

We have had 40 years of cheap labor.

It is over.

flyingmvp · ‎10-14-2021

@whatmorefabric wrote:
There has been a decline in trust issues as younger buyers are turning to more reliable sources, such as store websites , due to poor quality of goods. In other words cheap China garbage has caught up with sites.

Which only makes the timing of the recent updates in Collectibles & Art, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, Parts & Accessories, Sporting Goods even more questionable then before.

Chinese garbage can be purchased on amazon Prime for cheap and fast shipping, why would Ebay harm and cause such a disruption to these specific categories which still hold some unique value at this time of year?

unless there is a plan to intentionally devalue the venue before it's being sold to amazon or alibaba but that's a different discussion.

whatmorefabric · ‎10-14-2021

The updates to collectables are more about updates to Google and the devices that consumers use to buy things. It use to be desk tops and laptop computers, it is now tablets, chrome books and phones.

Collectables are also not purchased by younger consumers. There has been a steady decline in the market for over 10 years.

donsdetour · ‎10-14-2021

@flyingmvp wrote:
@whatmorefabric wrote:
There has been a decline in trust issues as younger buyers are turning to more reliable sources, such as store websites , due to poor quality of goods. In other words cheap China garbage has caught up with sites.

Which only makes the timing of the recent updates in Collectibles & Art, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, Parts & Accessories, Sporting Goods even more questionable then before.

Chinese garbage can be purchased on amazon Prime for cheap and fast shipping, why would Ebay harm and cause such a disruption to these specific categories which still hold some unique value at this time of year?
unless there is a plan to intentionally devalue the venue before it's being sold to amazon or alibaba but that's a different discussion.

The term incompetent comes to mind..... the question is who?????

That is what management should be asking.....

aeparts1 · ‎10-14-2021

Tony Kahn & the rest of the AEW crew will tell you to start selling some AEW items, WWE is going down!

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

luckythewinner · ‎10-14-2021

@cometcollectibles wrote:
Here's a list of what I've done: Reduced prices to rock bottom, sent offers to every watcher, continually listed, took listings down (hit "sell similar"), then relist them (I've had great success with this rather than just using the "relist" button); run promotions, turned on best offer, promoted some of my listings (standard).

You are suggesting that PLA is responsible for your drop in sales.

And you say you have tried everything you can control.

But IMHO there is a huge, obvious, gaping hole in the list of things you have tried.

If you think PLA is the reason your business has fallen off, wouldn't it make sense to at least try using PLA yourself before abandoning a six-figure revenue stream?

cometcollectibles · ‎10-14-2021

Hi jda15121, I totally agree with your sentiment. Effectively, that's what I'll be doing as I remove myself from the platform.

cometcollectibles · ‎10-14-2021

Yes dude! I can foresee that going down in the next few years.

cometcollectibles · ‎10-14-2021

Definitely makes sense. I'll be honest - I have my doubts about it, but you raise an excellent point. I will try to slowly phase it in. My margins will suck, but at this point, not much else to do.

If you can't beat it, join it I guess.... haha

cometcollectibles · ‎10-14-2021

I appreciate your words, vintageviscera. PLA beta is a new feature brought on by Ebay where you pay per click and "bid" with other sellers to be the top listing when buyers search for X or Y. This results in lack of impressions - and then lack of sales.

The sentiment of my post is it's tough to see disappointing results and want to make changes, but not know how to or it's beyond your reach. Best of luck to you as well; I hope Q4 turns things around for you.

goldair1_4 · ‎10-14-2021

In the land of Aus ebay sales are up over 300% according to the news.

I wonder how much of that is cheap Chinese crap

I also wonder why people buy it knowing its crap

buyologist-3 · ‎10-14-2021

"Flo-Mingo!" I love your ID name!! Thanks for the laugh! That was gooood....

buyologist-3 · ‎10-14-2021

Flo-mingo: I agree w/you, too.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-14-2021

@cometcollectibles I assume (but don't know) that you sell single quantity listings, vintage stuff? Because PLA is NOT really designed for that sort of business model. ebay has even said that. Before you "test" PLA, PLEASE take the time to attend ebay's "Ads Academy". It is easy to waste money on PLA...Ads Academy should help you figure out whether it's a good fit for your business model, and, if it is, how to use it effectively (or at least reduce the chance of wasting money).

It might help you, I don't know. It has helped some people. Others have simply wasted money.

One more thing: As you say, correlation is not causation. Ask yourself: Back when I was doing well, did my items usually secure the top slot in search? Is that why I was doing so well? Or was I doing fine without it? Because the only thing that has really changed with PLA (unless there is some massive glitch associated with the roll out, which I've seen no real evidence for) is that for some searches , someone has "won" the top slot. But an item has always been in the top slot, even before PLA. And if you were doing OK without being in the top slot before PLA, you should probably do OK without being in the top slot now. MAYBE you'll do better if you can gain the top slot, but that really depends on what you sell. For me, with my long tail, single quantity listings, the top slot isn't really important.