Ebay is no longer a viable selling platform

[umie11752]

My opinion. So I’m thinking I just figured out what ebay’s whole operation premise is. For the past year I have been asking myself, why the changes, nobody could possibly be this stupid right, over and over. Then, it hit me. Ebay sales is not what they use to appease their stockholders nor is that their goal. It’s store subscriptions and advertising. I do neither on here so I’m good. For those of you who continue to give them money literally out of pocket because you are seeing little to no return, you are contributing to this malarky and honestly should not even be on here complaining about sales. You are literally telling them, “Here take my money, it’s ok if I don’t see a return.” This is a hobby for you not a supplement to income or a business 💯 (because absolutely any smart business person understands at some point you cut your losses and ties with the money pit and just use free listings) so sales or no sales, shouldn’t even be an issue, cuz ur just doing it for “fun”. To the rest of you who do view this as a business I am truly sorry but you will do yourself a favor to find other platforms. Let the rara’s n pseudo rara’s keep paying them. Your best interest is elsewhere. Like I said, this is my opinion, let it resonate. N no need to make excuses for why you do what you do, that’s your business. I literally could no longer care less. Just thought I’d share 🙂

[hotspotauctions]

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@cashvaluerecovery2011 wrote:
Let me second this motion with a perfect example. I ended 10 listings yesterday of fishing stuff. Lowest on ebay. Would have cost me about $60 in fees and another $60 to ship had they all sold here. I would have had to wait 30 days and pray multiple buyers didnt scam me or want a refund. I would have pocketed a max of $225 after fees and shipping. No traction here anyway.

I made one large ad on the local social media marketplace selling all of it for $250 cash. Sold within 12 minutes. 4 other offers. No fees no shipping no returns and cash in pocket and $25 more in pocket with zero hassle or work.

Had no idea this existed 6 months ago. Had no idea i could get more traction on junk near my house than ebay now gets over the entire world.

"Dear ebay, its not me. Its you."

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I love the social media marketplaces. I do the same thing, rough out what my actual profit on eBay would be, and shoot for that amount or a little above. Buyer gets a deal, I get a no hassle sale, and everyone is happy. Win Win! 

[miyasamaco]

As I have stated in another thread, I really believe that eBay is intentionally crashing the business in order to sell it off for scrap (it's already in progress). The dopes in the executive suite still get their million dollar payouts no matter what.

I have a few free listings here but I have no sales. It is a far cry from the hundreds of listings and a store that I used to have that would have everything sell (auction and buy-it-now).  Customers that message me on eBay asking about items that they want that are not listed here, are directed to the other selling platforms that I use now.

Everyone needs to get while the getting's good. Don't give this company your money anymore!

[theartofserver]

i don't get it? what is your complaint?

[trustedbasset]

I haven’t yet but I’m thinking of just canceling the store subscription and going with the free listings.
June was the last month I enjoyed multiple sales every week. Now all I get are low offers and a sale once or twice a week.
I’m selling elsewhere and it is not doing that great now either.
I did really good from June til September and it dropped off.

[ferdefer]

Very true what you are saying, Ebay is not my selling partner any longer. 

A net increase of 50% in my selling fees in the last 2+ years without anything to show for at all on their side ( stagnant growth and no clear model) speaks volumes on how lost in the "Amazon" this site is. Dedicated all efforts in the last few years and used our seller discount $ to try to mimic and copy Amazon, 2 days guarantee delivery, trying to match Amazon prices, business model, website looks, managed payments ala Amazon only to see their nemesis move forward in leaps and bounds with new innovations and offerings for buyers. 

Now we have reached the unbelievable point where most of the items I usually bought on Ebay are cheaper on Amazon and I get my items in 1 business day delivered by Amazon's own delivery vans. 

I used to buy $ thousands a month on Ebay, I do not any longer as I can get cheaper offerings somewhere else. 

Where to next? I am afraid a lot of us sellers are asking themselves the same question.....

[laurabeardsley]

This may be their intention, who knows. If they care to save this site they need to speak up and let the sellers know how they intend to gets things going in the right direction before they lose so many sellers things will fall apart whether they want them to or not. So Ebay, please be more transparent as I am sure many of the sellers would like to see this site return to its glory. 

[cashvaluerecovery2011]

For all my cheaper stuff not worth meeting someone I have made a deal with a local business lady. She has a small store that sells nicknacks and womens clothing. I drop off my stuff listed on the social media site and she lets people come in the store and pick it up there. She charges me nothing because my customers are PERFECT for her store and often continue being her customers too. No shipping, No fees, Cash money, no returns, no scams, no over seas customer service. The writing is on the wall.

[krys888]

Ooooo that’s a great idea! I might look into that in my local area! Thanks for sharing that! Love it!

[etvideo1ataol]

When I started on eBay, it was a fun place to be and I was able to sell a lot of stuff around the house and a listing was 5 cents.

NOW, it is absolutely no fun and more and more, I feel like an UNPAID employee of eBay, while at the same time it takes a LOT OF WORK to list anything and most rarely sells.

Then there are the endless changes, like the one on the 15th that requires hours and hours of revising of hundreds of items, one at a time, before I can list anything.

Making eBay one of the most USER UNFRIENDLY places to be.

[byrd69er]

snip:  Ebay is no longer a viable selling platform

Perhaps not for you, but for many many others, eBay is just fine.

[twnpopcards]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@umie11752   I'll share this, maybe some have already read this, is so pass on ...

I spent 12 months on a 2nd ID building it to the low 5 figures in sales.  I used known good selling items flipped back and forth between accounts.  I used Promoted Listing campaigns several times a year but only ever one per quarter to optimize the $ 30 PL Credit ebay gives Stores ... I opened a Basic Level store during that 12 months.

Then along came the GTC mandate march 18 ... by the end of April (6 weeks) sales had dropped 50% ... May and June sales dropped to 1 per week (let me repeat that, 1 PER WEEK).  This despite the regular PL Campaign.  I dropped the Store level to 100 ... July sales we 1-2 per week.  On August 1 I infused the account with new inventory, sales went back up but then died again in September ... last week I cancelled the Entry Level store, now its 50 freebies and today, for the first time this month one item sold ...

eBay said they would make adjustments in June if the GTC mandate did not work out the way they expected ... well, it was all about fees for double relistings in months with 31 days but as to improved sales and an item's history moving forward with each Relisting??? Errnt, not seeing that, not seeing increased sales, not seeing GTC sales increasing ...

So, the other account is dead in the water ... inventory for the most part has been liquidated, shifted to another account or to other venues ...

This I would bet is a recurring theme and keep in mind, with lost sales, downsized stores Home Office is not getting the fees they hoped to NOR the advertising either.

I am hoping the new CEO makes some broad brush changes to improve things ...

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I actually took things further starting in June and just changed my strategy in October due to the GTC policy.  I actually took all of my listings for all accounts down and cancelled the stores.,  When I read that Devin Wenig had left the building I hoped that things would change and reopened my stores on a month to month basis to see what would happen.  I still have not gone full bore with either store, but my sales have picked up in both stores and fees have been completely covered while still only listing older inventory that was not getting views before.  Not sure if the break made a difference or not, but so far, so good.  Sales on the other sites though have much more than made up for what I lost selling on Ebay, but unfortunately listing on multiple sites like I was does take a lot more time than just uploading the items from Turbo Lister as I have been doing for so many years on ebay.