EBAY STILL FLATLINED. Is the end near? What if sales drop below the cost of listings?

[darrellschweitzer_pa]

I am concerned I will not be able to pay for my listing and subscription fees out of declining eBay sales. With over 1300 listings I have sold one $3 item this week.

So I am thinking of, at the very least, a reduction strategy, which is to invite friends and customers over and sell them books from my eBay stock, deleting those listings as I go. If am am still losing money by having listings, I may have to cease selling altogether. Is this what eBay wants? I fear they may be suicidal and in denial about what they are doing.

The promotions seemed to help momentarily, but sales have collapsed again. The change is in eBay, not me, because I did far better with the same listings or the same type of listings before GTC. It wasn't even that Good Till Cancelled itself was a bad idea. I manually relisted most of my listings every month. Something has happened to make them invisible.

[equid0x]

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@rixstuff wrote:

Here is something else to consider. I started selling videos and did pretty well but after a time, every body had changed over to DVDs and those last videos I had I unloaded in lots for not much money.  Then I sold off most of my DVDs and CDs and again the last to go didn't get much because now every body streams online.  You have some awesome hard to find titles but I think there are just fewer book buyers just as there are fewer collectibles buyers and fewer antique/vintage buyers.

So yes, I think your idea of local sales or maybe making lots might help.

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The only books I ever found to sell well were current revision textbooks(un-obtaineum). Everything else just sits forever, and it can be quite a lot of work digging through shelves of books to find the "good ones."

[turquoisetulips]

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@selsa84 wrote:

Search has been rather bad lately and there are no shortage of new sellers. My sales are down also as are many many other sellers.  Ebay has changed alot of options that have hurt sellers here on ebay. Gtc is just one of the many issues hurting sales. Search is worse now than ever before.  Items going missing every day from my store , sometimes 100 or so at a time.  hope this helps and i hope your sales pick up

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My views are WAY down and my sales down 25 %  from this time last year . I'm going to be really hurting when e bay removes their fees  which will happen any day now . I made one small sale tonight but it's just a tiny fraction  of what e bay says I owe them. Not sure this is worth the worry any longer . Tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

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@cs497kcpope wrote:

Thank you turquoisetulips, It was a generalized statement, from what I have  experienced and from what I see and hear on just this board! If our items are not being seen then how are we going to sell anything? 😞  You must admit that there is something terribly wrong with search? 

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There must be or something else really bad has happened .  My views are nearly gone ,, 4 views on one of my items in 5 days as an example isn't normal .  If this  thing was only happening to me  I could shrug it off  as just having a slow period . But I can honestly say in all the years I've been on e bay  I have never seen as many sellers  reporting no sales  as they are now .  It's worrisome . Tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

Spring Update was announced April 30th - GTC was announced at the end of Feb - People started seeing slow sales in March and many did walk and continue to walk away from the venue to this day.

I don't profess to buy a lot - but many of those sellers did and word of mouth travels quickly - so for every dissatisfied seller that says they will no longer buy here - you probably have 3,4 or more family members following suit. Ebay jumps in with both feet instead of considering the consequences.

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It might be  all the constant never ending changes could be the work  of  some  e bay employees  trying to impress their bosses  with '' look how busy I've been '' !  It could  be  all about  keeping personal  jobs  but inadvertently   bankrupting everyone else . Tulips 

[membersinceaug2001]

Lots of Amazon brainwashed Primes. I've read many comments from people who admit they don't shop around, just buy everything from Amazon, to justify the Prime cost.

[membersinceaug2001]

Don't pay listing fees!  They give away plenty of free listings, no need to run the store gimmick.

I read an article in the local newspaper about the economy is still in the toilet 12 years on now.  They say the buying patterns of people young and old hasn't changed in the last 50 years, people today are just too broke to buy extra stuff.  The top 1% just keep getting richer.

[turquoisetulips]

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

Don't pay listing fees!  They give away plenty of free listings, no need to run the store gimmick.

I read an article in the local newspaper about the economy is still in the toilet 12 years on now.  They say the buying patterns of people young and old hasn't changed in the last 50 years, people today are just too broke to buy extra stuff.  The top 1% just keep getting richer.

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Simply untrue . The current  U.S economy is booming .  Its much wiser to listen to a variety of professional economists  than to rely  on one opinion piece  article .  Tulips 

[equid0x]

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

Don't pay listing fees!  They give away plenty of free listings, no need to run the store gimmick.

I read an article in the local newspaper about the economy is still in the toilet 12 years on now.  They say the buying patterns of people young and old hasn't changed in the last 50 years, people today are just too broke to buy extra stuff.  The top 1% just keep getting richer.

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I agree with this. Basic necessities have gotten so expensive that there is no longer any disposable income. 

[tunicaslot]

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@turquoisetulips wrote:

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@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

Don't pay listing fees!  They give away plenty of free listings, no need to run the store gimmick.

I read an article in the local newspaper about the economy is still in the toilet 12 years on now.  They say the buying patterns of people young and old hasn't changed in the last 50 years, people today are just too broke to buy extra stuff.  The top 1% just keep getting richer.

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Simply untrue . The current  U.S economy is booming .  Its much wiser to listen to a variety of professional economists  than to rely  on one opinion piece  article .  Tulips 

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I agree - you really just have to look around you. I do think people again have some disposable income but they are careful where they spend it - the parking lot of thrifts, stores like Walmart, Target, the Christmas store the Dollar store are always packed - but the malls are dying. The food places are always packed, tickets are sold out quickly for the entertainment venue around here - people's spending habits have changed. Older people don't need to buy many material goods - we have everything - younger people live for today and aren't as materialistic or sentimental. But that doesn't mean that sales should drop so suddenly  the past couple of months for so many sellers here - you see a gradual decline - just like when we get the summer lull - it just doesn't fall off the cliff like it has for many.

We have lots and lots of glitches, we have problems with search and their mobile app thru which 70% of sales are made, we have sellers who were also buyers leaving, we have new buyers coming here - but not like we used to because of all the other venues that have started up. I just learned of another "hip" place to sell vintage clothing that opened 2 yrs ago but now is a hit with the younger crowd. These kids will either do a google search or go directly to a "cool" site their friends recommend and why eBay's decision to cut marketing costs is wrong. They should increase the marketing to target the younger crowd with commercials shown during the shows they like.

I know I dated myself with the words I used - but I don't know the current lingo or #signs

[evodoor]

I am seeing glitches like crazy as well! I also have an unpaid item case that won't close, even though the buyer paid. Having trouble getting to messages, lots of error messages. What is the deal, eBay???

[upgradedendmills]

A general statement in your local newspaper does not relate to the specific problems eBay sellers are facing. An open discussion among those sellers with an eye towards solving those problems can help.

     Social Security and eBay are my only income and even with slow sales I still have some disposable income.  There is no reasonable way to relate the spending habits and needs of my generation to those of the younger majority.  The latest eBay problems have been too sudden and severe to relate to long term trends. 

[upgradedendmills]

Well thought out and written reply. Thanks.

[turquoisetulips]

I know I dated myself with the words I used - but I don't know the current lingo or #signs  tunicsalot 

Oh don't worry about that . I understood and agreed   . It was totally far out and groovy  🙂   Tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

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@upgradedendmills wrote:

A general statement in your local newspaper does not relate to the specific problems eBay sellers are facing . 

That's totally correct . Local newspaper articles are commonly just one person's opinion  but can be cleverly  arranged  to appear as fact  as well . The old saying '' Don't believe everything you read ''  rings true more than ever today . So much of it  is so slanted  I'm surprised the words don't slide off the page . Tulips 

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[membersinceaug2001]

I don't think this was an opinion article.  I recall reading a survey was done.  I've read in other places about how wages today are still far behind what they were back in the 70's.