eBay

debvor · ‎07-23-2018

Lately my auction activitey has sucked. I have auctions that have anywhere from 50 to 200 view with multiple watchers and no sales. Also, most of the items that are bid on (and that is very few) don't go up but the first bidder wins the auction even with scores of views and multiple watchers. Is Ebay manipulating this? Is there a glitch that no one knows about? Something just isn't right.

orangehound · ‎07-23-2018

@debvor wrote:
Is Ebay manipulating this? Is there a glitch that no one knows about? Something just isn't right.

No eBay is not manipulating this ... and, though there are lots of software problems, this is not one of them.

What is most likely happening? One of the more consistent patterns we are seeing is that sellers of collectables, antiques, knick-knacks, etc., are experiencing what you describe. Thus, it is either a large drop in demand or a flooded marketplace, or both.

It isn't eBay ... it's the market.

thatsallfolks · ‎07-23-2018

@debvor wrote:
Lately my auction activitey has sucked. I have auctions that have anywhere from 50 to 200 view with multiple watchers and no sales. Also, most of the items that are bid on (and that is very few) don't go up but the first bidder wins the auction even with scores of views and multiple watchers. Is Ebay manipulating this? Is there a glitch that no one knows about? Something just isn't right.

Why would eBay manipulate something in a way that would cause them to make less money?

Most of your sales come from Fixed Price listings; maybe you should run fewer auctions.

debvor · ‎07-23-2018

I call **bleep** on that. I was having one of the best years I've had in over a decade and it just dropped off a cliff. Also it is not just people in collectibles and antiques. You don't really know that it's not Ebay. You're just speculating.

debvor · ‎07-23-2018

I usually run about 70 to 100 auctions and around 1200 fixed price. The fixed price market has taken a dump as well. Most of this started when Ebay rolled out their new search engine.

debvor · ‎07-23-2018

And as far as Ebay manipulating that's all they do is interfer with and manipulate sellers. Why can't they just be a venue and leave sellers alone. I realize there needs to be some guidelines but leave it to as few as possible.

orangehound · ‎07-23-2018

@debvor wrote:
I call **bleep** on that. I was having one of the best years I've had in over a decade and it just dropped off a cliff. Also it is not just people in collectibles and antiques. You don't really know that it's not Ebay. You're just speculating.

As are you.

But, you are correct. Sales problems are affecting more than just collectibles and antiques ... I've also seen sellers of used clothing report terrible sales this year, and I've seen sellers of grossly overpriced products report terrible sales. But, overall, sales on eBay are up about 8% for the year ...

zamo-zuan · ‎07-23-2018

@debvor wrote:
Lately my auction activitey has sucked. I have auctions that have anywhere from 50 to 200 view with multiple watchers and no sales. Also, most of the items that are bid on (and that is very few) don't go up but the first bidder wins the auction even with scores of views and multiple watchers. Is Ebay manipulating this? Is there a glitch that no one knows about? Something just isn't right.

Some may be saying there's no issue, but there's definitely some severe bugs affecting visibility.

This is on top of the fact that the eBay CFO just said public that their search has been favoring "high price, branded items" which has "brought sales really down" but brought the average selling price up.

It's hard to know what is a bug and what is intended anymore. But based on the CFO's statements... does not look good.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-23-2018

@orangehound wrote:
@debvor wrote:
I call **bleep** on that. I was having one of the best years I've had in over a decade and it just dropped off a cliff. Also it is not just people in collectibles and antiques. You don't really know that it's not Ebay. You're just speculating.
As are you.

But, you are correct. Sales problems are affecting more than just collectibles and antiques ... I've also seen sellers of used clothing report terrible sales this year, and I've seen sellers of grossly overpriced products report terrible sales. But, overall, sales on eBay are up about 8% for the year ...

Yes. You can see it on Terapeak. Overall sales are up. But top sellers market share is DOWN.

It has become near impossible to survive on eBay alone. Especially if you are a large seller that is reliant on eBay. We lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales, and around half of our staff this year, after being #1 of our category for 4-5+ years.

I hope it's more bugs than intended. But regardless, it seems almost as if eBay is trying to force sellers to either leave eBay or diversify...

lovefindingtreasures2 · ‎07-23-2018

Auctions are messed up. I agree 100% with you. Now eBay is throwing out 100's of free auction listings too! Whatever you list it at is what it will sell for. Either start it close to what you want or don't do them. I just did a bunch with the free auction promos, re listed all my re lists as auctions. But I don't expect much right now. Sorry this is happening to you as well.

Yes, they are all speculating. No one knows for sure. No one.

lovefindingtreasures2 · ‎07-23-2018

Best guess (and I do mean guess) is they have far too many sellers and are giving server space to their big money making sellers. They rest of us get to rotate in the heres a sale, theres a sale, now there isn't any sale, round and round we go. I honestly think they have been trying to starve out small sellers for quite some time now. They can't tell us to go, that is lawsuit material. But they can make it near impossible to make it worth selling here. And gather up a lot more listing fees and other monies that sellers will throw at them in a desperate attempt not to go under.

I dare anyone at eBay upper management to prove I am wrong. There is NO WAY a tidal wave of sellers is experiencing the same issues at the same time and it is related to a sudden glut of items in their category.

Nothing happens that fast.

lovefindingtreasures2 · ‎07-23-2018

SPOT ON! Agree with you 100% zako-zuan. What eBay did to your store is beyond disgusting. I just have myself to take care of, you had to lay off employees.

But no, it's not eBay. Suddenly the entire World no longer wants what you sell, right?

Wrong. IT IS EBAY.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-24-2018

@lovefindingtreasures2 wrote:
Best guess (and I do mean guess) is they have far too many sellers and are giving server space to their big money making sellers. They rest of us get to rotate in the heres a sale, theres a sale, now there isn't any sale, round and round we go. I honestly think they have been trying to starve out small sellers for quite some time now. They can't tell us to go, that is lawsuit material. But they can make it near impossible to make it worth selling here. And gather up a lot more listing fees and other monies that sellers will throw at them in a desperate attempt not to go under.

I dare anyone at eBay upper management to prove I am wrong. There is NO WAY a tidal wave of sellers is experiencing the same issues at the same time and it is related to a sudden glut of items in their category.

Nothing happens that fast.

Just want to point out, they are not rewarding top sellers right now. This is why I say what they are doing is very dangerous for eBay.

We were top of our category for years. Here is a Terapeak graph I saved a couple months back from 1 year ago:

https://www.screencast.com/t/vol1keZel0Q

Here is at the time I took the screenshot:

https://www.screencast.com/t/pKcJRQ4ag

Notice the top part? Top 10 sellers market share? It was 40% a year ago. 30% this year.

This means on average, top sellers had went down 25%.

If top sellers can not even make it on eBay, how is anyone else?

This is happening to smaller stores as well. Which means the only possible way this could be true, is if the market share was spread to "more" sellers.

And notice that one seller that actually went up substantially this year? They were NOT using eBay's best practices. They were doing restock fees until they were removed. Their base method is 7 day shipping. You pay $6-7 for 5 day shipping, around $25 for 3 day shipping. Buyer pays returns. No guaranteed delivery.

Does not feel good to follow eBay's recommendation, and to see that store slowly surpass us. Meanwhile they are able to get a couple dollars cheaper than our base price because they are NOT following eBay's recommendations, and they shoot up to the top of the search simply bc their base price is lower??

If you factor in our shipping and returns, our listing is the better deal. But that was not considered in the algorithm apparently....

But I just want to make it clear. EBay is not supporting large sellers right now, outside of the CFO admitting that they are supporting certain "brands". They could care less about the "sellers" apparently. Just who is selling one of the few brands they have approved & decided to support with these new changes.

treasuresfromtanya · ‎07-25-2018

I see the same trend. With stores in multiple places, I had the best quarter in 10 years during the first 4 month of this year, then it dropped off to absolutely nothing. I decided to re-open my ebay store in April/May after activity slowed elsewhere. I don't understand though, the first 4 months of this year were amazing, and then nothing for almost 3 months. I don't even want to run any auctions because the do suck...which is one of the reasons I reopened my ebay shop, just for auctions, but in this enviroment...no way.