EBay's profits fell 29 percent in 2019 compared to the year before...

[forecastledistributors]

That should cheer up the stockholders. 🙂

[vintagecraze50]

Actually after I read the excerpt I saw this is a different light. Makes sense to spread the earnings around keeping the stockholders happy and working on other important issues.

[vintagecraze50]

Well of course, indifference to a person or entity is not why people come here to talk. Most love this place and love selling here. That’s why they talk.

[gramophone-georg]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

If I didn't care about eBay I wouldn't get so pizzled off about this stuff - I'd like to see the site pull out of this downward drift, so I guess I just stay tuned for 2020.   (ಠ_ಠ)

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I hear you.

I dumped eBay as a selling venue 10 years ago this coming July. It was a temporary thing since I felt that eBay would come to its senses and straighten up, but instead, every update since has convinced me that I made the correct decision. I'm to the point- and have been for awhile- that I simply don't NEED eBay as a selling platform.

But you know what's worse?

I have come this close to making the same decision about buying here several times. I used to buy EVERYTHING on eBay... records, gramophones, classic German car parts, tools, shop equipment, cars, cars for clients, everyday things I need... but now I'm pretty much just down to some records and a few used parts. The ever increasing stupidity of search, the constant ADDING of clicks, the frustrating glitches, and eBay's lackadaisical, random enforcement of their own policies have just sucked all the joy out of it.

If a 20 plus year enthusiastic eBay power buyer feels this way... how do you suppose an occasional or first time buyer feels when they run smack into the eBay brick wall of stupid? Do you think they'll be back when they find out they can go ANYWHERE ELSE and buy it with less than a quarter of the investment in time and frustration? There have been times I have been able to find, click, buy, and done on Amazon in less time than it takes the first page of irrelevant items to load for the same search on eBay.

[amricons]

Is it true that eBay reports total gross that includes shipping, canceled order, returns, sales tax etc as part of GMV ? If true what percentage of those items of GMV?

[mam98031]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@gramophone-georg wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

E-commerce bytes with Ina Steiner has an except from a CNBC interview where Mr Shenkel stated that some of the proceeds will be used for stock buy backs, dividends and Mergers and acquisitions . Cannot copy paste this to this post.

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Yes I saw that.  Which to me says it IS NOT an either / or situation.  

While fixes around here certainly don't move as fast as many of us would like, that doesn't mean they aren't working on them nor does it mean they don't have a budget for them.  It only means they don't happen as fast as lots of us would absolutely love to see.

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They've been making the same mistakes, over and over and over and over, since the great fumble of holiday season 2007... 13 years. How long should one need to wait?

SOON?

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I've gotten over the comments made about sellers in 2007 / 2008 and moved on.  As well I don't think any of the problems / glitches that happened in 2007 are still plaguing us today.  I think we have a new set of issues.

I did however reason somewhere that the new policy on significant site updates would no longer happen in the last quarter of the year.  That is good news.  Of course only time will tell if it is true or not.  I'm hopeful.  I'm also confident that the disaster that happened in October / November of 2019 was quite expensive for Ebay as well as sellers.  And it played a significant part in the downturn is sales for the 4th quarter for both sellers and Ebay.

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The million dollar question here is will they really learn anything?  I've heard this 'no implementation in the 4th quarter' before and then they dumped that turkey on us in mid-October.  The even bigger question is will they learn anything from the flawed design, testing and implementation of that mess?  I got the distinct impression that developers tried to implement parameters from the broken 'structured catalog' on a category they knew absolutely nothing about.  Did no one research anything?

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Yes, as I said above in the highlighted statement.  

[mam98031]

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@ekmadonna wrote:

I'm still waiting on the BROKEN PROMISE of a replacement for TURBOLISTER that was going to be a Tool in Seller Hub when Seller Hub was first released. what was that 3 years ago? 3 1/2?

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Why?  TL is still available.  I've never stopped using it and I know lots of sellers that still us it.  

They had initially planned to bring functions into the Seller Hub that would at least meet what TL does and exceed it.  But that has presented to be a much more complex challenge than they had thought it would.  Therefore we still have TL.  For me, I'm perfectly happy with TL.

@ekmadonna 

[mam98031]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Well of course, indifference to a person or entity is not why people come here to talk. Most love this place and love selling here. That’s why they talk.

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@vintagecraze50 

This is something that is very true for the majority of posters.  But for some [much smaller number] posters it is not that at all.  They have such anger for Ebay that they want others on board with them too.  Sometimes it seems like a sport for them.  

[mam98031]

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@amricons wrote:

Is it true that eBay reports total gross that includes shipping, canceled order, returns, sales tax etc as part of GMV ? If true what percentage of those items of GMV?

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Yes.  That is why the first word is GROSS.  That denotes before any deductions.

[merica139]

my sales went down too. 😞

[rktoyandhobby]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@rktoyandhobby wrote:

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

eBay is not what it used to be...the eBay that was the go to place for buying and selling no longer exists...and eBay never will be again unless the whole works of the execs and upper staff are tossed and only those persons with good vision, competence and a good working knowledge of what is needed to operate this platform, take on the job of rebuilding this site.

I don't have another lifetime to wait on that to happen, so I have already taken my own measures for when the time comes to bid farewell to eBay...when Managed Payments becomes mandatory for me, I'm gone.  eBay in its current state does not have my confidence nor trust anymore that I'd be so willing to allow eBay to "manage" my selling, my money, my banking info, etc. 

The current eBay is a mess and needs a major fix!!

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Also gone.  I had a massive drop in eBay sales this year.  According to PayPal's numbers, a 63% drop in dollars and a 52% drop in transactions.  That's pretty damning.  I don't know that I've ever seen that sort of drop online.  2015 and 2016 overall saw drops in that range but much of it was from the in-person part of the business.  Back then, eBay used to deliver a relatively steady 5/$250 per month.  That's down to around 1/$50 now.  That's not even flea market money.

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Yeah, that large of a drop is not natural. Especially since you are able to see if your market improved or not, and the market certainly did not drop by 50-60%. 

This type of thing is too common, and almost certainly the result of glitches/errors/bugs in their system. Because if this was intended, they would have an explanation or reasoning as to why. But even the most equipped eBay representatives still can't explain what is going on. 

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Yeah.  The part I wasn't explicit about was in-person sales.  It's sort of an apples to oranges comparison because my schedule is different from year to year.  Like eBay, some conventions get too big for their britches, raising costs despite shrinking sales.  This year I scheduled more new/local shows that didn't really pan out.  However, a show in Philly that I've been doing for 8 years did double or triple the business this year.  So there are people out there spending money, on toys even, though it doesn't seem to be on eBay.

That said, the market does have some unrealistic expectations.  One forum I know constantly complains about not finding anything good on eBay.  Well, you dig into what they're looking for and it's no surprise.  They want some toy from 1994, sealed even, but aren't willing to pay the whole $3 that it cost in 1994.  Or shipping for that matter.  That sort of customer is impossible to serve, let alone on a platform with eBay's fee structure.

[prettywoman-2012]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Well of course, indifference to a person or entity is not why people come here to talk. Most love this place and love selling here. That’s why they talk.

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@vintagecraze50 

This is something that is very true for the majority of posters.  But for some [much smaller number] posters it is not that at all.  They have such anger for Ebay that they want others on board with them too.  Sometimes it seems like a sport for them.  

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Are you a psychologist, or some mind-reader, mam? 

Regardless: if there is anger, that often results from fear. Fear of losing your sales, fear of all your hard work being for naught, fear of not being able to pay bills... Anger also could result from a feeling of hopelessness or helplessness. Or the feeling that you were the victim of bait and switch. Or... many different things can lead to anger. Even an otherwise not so angry person could experience bouts of anger, when push comes to shove. I bet you are no different, although everyone has different levels of resillience and limits beyond which he or she loses control. We are all humans. (Some are more human than others, as the saying goes...)

If you were eBay (which some posters accused of in the past), wouldn't you wish to know WHY some of those people are angry? Maybe some are angry because of misunderstanding things - but perhaps some are angry because they understand things all too well? At any rate, anger is not a constructive, but a destructive feeling. Moving things in a positive direction - if that is even possible - usually dissipates anger and replaces it by contentment.

PW

[prettywoman-2012]

I should have written, 

"If you were eBay (which some posters accused you of, in the past),..."

Sorry, ran out of time for editing. 

PW

[mam98031]

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@prettywoman-2012 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Well of course, indifference to a person or entity is not why people come here to talk. Most love this place and love selling here. That’s why they talk.

---

@vintagecraze50 

This is something that is very true for the majority of posters.  But for some [much smaller number] posters it is not that at all.  They have such anger for Ebay that they want others on board with them too.  Sometimes it seems like a sport for them.  

---

Are you a psychologist, or some mind-reader, mam? 

Regardless: if there is anger, that often results from fear. Fear of losing your sales, fear of all your hard work being for naught, fear of not being able to pay bills... Anger also could result from a feeling of hopelessness or helplessness. Or the feeling that you were the victim of bait and switch. Or... many different things can lead to anger. Even an otherwise not so angry person could experience bouts of anger, when push comes to shove. I bet you are no different, although everyone has different levels of resillience and limits beyond which he or she loses control. We are all humans. (Some are more human than others, as the saying goes...)

If you were eBay (which some posters accused of in the past), wouldn't you wish to know WHY some of those people are angry? Maybe some are angry because of misunderstanding things - but perhaps some are angry because they understand things all too well? At any rate, anger is not a constructive, but a destructive feeling. Moving things in a positive direction - if that is even possible - usually dissipates anger and replaces it by contentment.

PW

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I was not talking about anyone specific, nor did I say that.

[mam98031]

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@prettywoman-2012 wrote:

I should have written, 

"If you were eBay (which some posters accused you of, in the past),..."

Sorry, ran out of time for editing. 

PW

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Yes this happens to me and to anyone else when a poster gets frustrated that I don't agree with them on one subject or another.  It is merely a statement in the effort to dismiss anything I have said.  It doesn't mean I was right or wrong, it simply means the other poster didn't like what I said, so they felt the need to throw shade.

[craigsdieselrepair]

A bug that I have been experiencing, is when I try to create a listing off of an existing listing- eBay will come up with the 'sign in' page. But the page will not load. I get an error, every single time! The only fix I have found is I have to manually sign out of eBay, and sign back in, then I can go to the listing and use the 'sell similar' feature.