eBay

papyruspapillo · ‎11-09-2017

The writing was on the wall years ago, when ebay added the phrase "at low prices" to its home page. My thought was, "well, it's downhill from now on." Still, it is astonishing to me just how prices have tumbled. Except for the very rarest collectibles (like 19th century ephemera), my prices were always reasonable. Today, however, in order to move anything, my prices have to be unreasonably low. And there are plenty of newer sellers who are content to cater to the cheapie crowd. Today, I found a piece identical to one that I list selling for 99 cents -- I can't even buy the item for 99 cents from my usual sources. (And I won't buy the current cheapie and encourage this seller to remain on ebay.) In order to squeeze a few more pennies out of a sale, this person is charging nearly double the shipping that would be appropriate.

Nobody owes me anything, including ebay management. But I do owe it to myself to change direction and replace my (now paltry) ebay income with another, more lucrative endeavor. I started on ebay 16.5 years ago, and it was enjoyable and profitable for a number of years. Now, the experience is largely negative and I no longer find my presence on the site tenable. When my store subscription expires in the spring, I expect to close up shop and move on (barring a miraculous turnaround of ebay). But I will have thousands of unsold items left; my colleagues/competitors are not in a position to buy my inventory since their sales have diminished, as well.

I shall not even address the issue of throttling, which is a major factor in reduced sales.

I am not bitter, but I am disappointed. Everything comes to an end, and I am grateful for the good years that I did have.

smileytown18 · ‎11-09-2017

@papyruspapillo wrote:
Today, I found a piece identical to one that I list selling for 99 cents -- I can't even buy the item for 99 cents from my usual sources. (And I won't buy the current cheapie and encourage this seller to remain on ebay.) In order to squeeze a few more pennies out of a sale, this person is charging nearly double the shipping that would be appropriate.

Well in that case, potential buyers see the full price, and will not be fooled by the 99 cents bid. Most people go by full price including shipping.

eBay was always for bargain hunters though. It did get worse and I the Chinese sellers on here killed it for the rest of us for multiple reasons...

tunicaslot · ‎11-09-2017

You and I have already discussed the throttling issue and have a difference of opinion - but many buyers look at more than just cost when determining to purchase something - at least smart ones do. If I'm looking for a certain item - I'm more likely to choose a seller with a niche in the market so I know they know their stuff when describing the item - rather than someone who just found this in granny's attic.

buckfan3 · ‎11-09-2017

I too have been on ebay for well over 20 years and have been a seller on ebay for 15 years. My income for 5 straight years increased enough that we bought a new house and I was living on the sales from the store on eBay. This past year, I took a nose dive and lossed over 30% of that income.

What do I blame?

I blame ebay for allowing mass distributors on here that have no idea what they are selling. They are mostly computer junkies that have found links to products and sell them on the cheap. If they list 100,000 items and make $1 on 4000 sales a month, that is $48000 for very little work. I see it all the time in what I am selling. I see a seller selling tires and dresses on the same store.

Am I wrong in thinking eBay needs to to a better job of controlling these types of sellers.

tunicaslot · ‎11-09-2017

There are and have been overseas sellers on here and other venues for years. Don't get me wrong - I hate having to filter to get US sellers - and then I still have to watch where the seller is registered and the item is being shipped from - but it's called business - and as long as people buy from them - the will continue to sell. Sound familiar - this is from the River boards 2 1/2 yrs ago - they are everywhere and you have to learn to sell your product better or find a niche that they haven't invaded.

The River turned into ebay the day they let Chinese sell here. Its only getting worse, and then the River gates all categories to try and stop chinese counterfeiters, which in turn hurts American sellers that were selling here for 10 years.

Nothing good comes of letting the chinese sell on your site.

emerald40 · ‎11-09-2017

Ebay was always looked at as a giant flea market, a place to get things at low prices.

It is not intented to be a retail store or a boutique with prices to match.

emerald40 · ‎11-09-2017

@buckfan3 wrote:
I too have been on ebay for well over 20 years and have been a seller on ebay for 15 years. My income for 5 straight years increased enough that we bought a new house and I was living on the sales from the store on eBay. This past year, I took a nose dive and lossed over 30% of that income.
What do I blame?
I blame ebay for allowing mass distributors on here that have no idea what they are selling. They are mostly computer junkies that have found links to products and sell them on the cheap. If they list 100,000 items and make $1 on 4000 sales a month, that is $48000 for very little work. I see it all the time in what I am selling. I see a seller selling tires and dresses on the same store.
Am I wrong in thinking eBay needs to to a better job of controlling these types of sellers.

You cannot control a free market.

Dollar stores took a lot of business from CVS, Walgreens.

Walmart killed many mom and pop stores.

You either compete or you sink, here on ebay and IRL.

faithandbutterflies · ‎11-09-2017

I get what you are saying and I can relate. When I research how much to price an item I'm selling I'm often wondering how in the world can they afford to make a profit selling it at that price. After shipping and fees their profit would have to be something like $0.25 or less. But, I will say as a buyer if something seems too good to be true I usually look at it at that and buy from someone else.

Another thing that makes me as a buyer buy from someone else is the seller has actual photos of the item they are selling. Sellers who tend to sell very cheap almost always have stock photos. I want to see the actual product, not a stock photo.

emerald40 · ‎11-09-2017

Ebay ecourages stock pictures so imo that is not a true indicator anymore.

And I have seen a lot of stolen photos lately from those who take their own photos.

Also, some sell as a lost leader to get people into their store.

And everyone sources their items differently where they pay less so they can sell for less. Many make up for it on volume.

buckfan3 · ‎11-09-2017

The difference is Walgreens and CVS are employing thousands of people. Here, its one person listing thousands and just a few more in distribution centers. Its different.

luckythewinner · ‎11-09-2017

@papyruspapillo wrote:
Today, I found a piece identical to one that I list selling for 99 cents -- I can't even buy the item for 99 cents from my usual sources. (And I won't buy the current cheapie and encourage this seller to remain on ebay.) In order to squeeze a few more pennies out of a sale, this person is charging nearly double the shipping that would be appropriate.

So in other words, he is not really selling it for 99 cents - he has just chosen to allocate his total cost between "price" and "shipping" without regard to the actual cost of shipping.

I do the same thing, but in reverse - I move about 25% of the shipping cost into the item price.

How does his total cost compare to yours?

emerald40 · ‎11-09-2017

In my state we used to have many small pharmacies.

They are pretty much all gone now.

mistwomandancing · ‎11-09-2017

papyruspapillo wrote:..........it is astonishing to me just how prices have tumbled..........

Yes, and it has always been true. Competition always brings overall prices down for buyers. And sellers who can't manage at new lower price levels, have to rethink what they might want to be doing in life.

In a very, very small marketplace, merchants can charge almost anything they want, and since they control all that those folks have to choose from, the buyers must pay the higher asking prices a merchant is charging. When there is no competition to bring those high prices down, it is a definite "You want it, you're gonna' pay for it!" situation. And I'm not even referring to price GOUGING. Just that when there are more sellers vying for (sometimes) fewer buyer dollars, there is always going to be somebody who doesn't even NEED to price his merchandise so high, because he has a great source, or is often the case.. there is always a seller who just hauled back boxes from his grandma's attic, and he just wants to dump it fast, pocket *whatever* quick cash he can get out of it, and move on with his life.

A difficult thing for eBay sellers who are doing this for their income is that they have to compete with so many who aren't in that position selling here. Tons are just cleaning out their surroundings, not in this as a business, and all they want to do is get rid of the stuff, not sit on it for ages until it sells. Price it for a quick and easy sale, dump it off, pocket the cash, and go do something else.

mistwomandancing · ‎11-09-2017

mistwomandancing wrote:
A difficult thing for eBay sellers who are doing this for their income is that they have to compete with so many who aren't in that position selling here. Tons are just cleaning out their surroundings, not in this as a business, and all they want to do is get rid of the stuff, not sit on it for ages until it sells. Price it for a quick and easy sale, dump it off, pocket the cash, and go do something else.

And to add this thought: Those above sellers who have such low asking prices, just to get rid of their stuff, are a great source for many of the rest of us, who snap that merchandise up and market it a bit better at a little higher price, perhaps wait a bit longer for the sale, and WE also pocket profit from those items!

sodelight · ‎11-09-2017

Face it, it's not always about price. It's also about demand. This place is flooded with redundant merchandise that no one wants anymore. The older are all downsizing which has created an oversaturated market of the same ole stuff that has now spiraled downward in price due to oversupply and little demand. If so many millions of sellers weren't all dumping the same stuff into the marketplace at the same time maybe they would actually be able to get something for it! But instead, they keep undercutting each other in price. On top of that these same sellers, don't buy anything for themself. The younger people also don't buy the type of items the older are trying to sell. All they want is tech. It's pretty pathetic when if your lucky enough to get a buyer, the majority of what they pay goes toward shipping and fees!

Here's example of how bloated this site is, and the difficulty of finding anything!! I conducted a search for Dept 56 Village, nearly 75,000 items came up!! That's insane!! No one can casually search through that glut, you'd need to know exactly what you want. I remember when I thought 1000 results of these items was alot, but 75,000 is unbelievable!! It's become nearly impossible to find items these days that don't have huge competition for buyers.

All I can say is if things continue the way they are, this economy is going to fall apart! When no one wants to buy anything besides absolute necessities, it means a huge drop in manufacturing and jobs.

Ebay is not the answer to a viable income anymore. It's clearly a buyers market.