Ebay should consider cutting a deal with USPS like Poshmark has to bring back the buyers!!

[wingsneck]

Poshmark charges a flat USPS priority mail shipping rate of $7.95 to it's buyers for up to 5 lb packages.  Why on earth doesn't Ebay negotiate a deal like this with USPS?!!  To ship a 1 1/2 lb package from MA to CA is almost $20 using the current shipping fees and structure.  Bring the buyers back, become competitive!  I would much rather sell on Ebay than Poshmark.....

[iwasl_55]

$7.95 flat is great because that's cheaper than the price that priority mail starts at. 

But Ebay is a greedy company, they won't give us a flat fee that's cheaper than the starting price. I still remember their "more convenient" update to the instant payout system. It used to be, you could get "immediate" (within 30 minutes) payout of your funds to your bank for 1% or a 25¢ minimum. But ebay decided that they weren't stealing enough of our money, so they changed it to a $2 flat fee. You do the math. You're getting screwed for any payouts under $200. So it completely rendered the instant payout feature completely useless for 99% of sellers. 

[pickapaper]

@wingsneck 

Thank you for answering my questions!

I've "only" been selling on eBay since August, 1998 and have seen a lot of changes.  I sell collectibles, antiques, all kinds of thing, and also track my sales and income and my sales are down somewhat over the years but I attribute a lot of that to changes in collecting, younger generation not buying what parents did, etc.   Not to mention I don't work it as hard as I used to. 

One comment you made was that you sell clothing.  It is discussed a lot on this board how oversaturated the clothing market is because there are so many online venues now selling clothing.   So I don't know if eBay buyers "are leaving in droves", I just think it is because now clothing buyers have so many places to look for clothing: all the online venues, thrift shops, consignment stores, garage sales, estate sales, antique malls, even B&M stores and online retail stores putting things on sale.     And the shipping for that 1/2 zip RL sweater you mention would only be beneficial if Posh has it in your size!

[luckythewinner]

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@iwasl_55 wrote:

You're getting screwed for any payouts under $200. So it completely rendered the instant payout feature completely useless for 99% of sellers. 

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I have been on weekly payouts since managed payments began, and I have paid zero in payout fees and I have had zero payout issues.

I prefer it when eBay chooses to raise revenue through optional fees rather than mandatory fees, because that means I can choose not to pay them.

[dbfolks166mt]

     EBay's GMV has been consistent for the last couple of years but it is down to about the 2013 levels and in fact probably less since eBay changed the way they report GMV in 2021.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/242276/ebays-fixed-price-trading-as-share-of-total-gross-merchan... 

[roccotacodad54]

   "So, who is paying the extra cost to ship those packages? Seller? Poshmark? other USPS customers?"

   Probably other USPS customers. The reason I think so is that USPS got into a contract with Amazon that they are taking a pretty big hit on. The whole covid thing made the Amazon deal and no doubt other deals made go bad with the flood of packages sent in response. Since covid the volume hasn't decreased significantly.  A postal carrier I know told me the USPS tried to get out of it but Amazon wouldn't budge. 

   I don't really know if that's the reason USPS has become so expensive but it probably factors in there somewhere. 

[luckythewinner]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     EBay's GMV has been consistent for the last couple of years

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Thanks for reinforcing my point that eBay buyers do not appear to be "leaving in droves" as the previous poster suggested.

[valueaddedresource]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     EBay's GMV has been consistent for the last couple of years

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Thanks for reinforcing my point that eBay buyers do not appear to be "leaving in droves" as the previous poster suggested.

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@luckythewinner whether or not buyers are leaving in droves is not the same thing as GMV.

As to the specific point about Active Buyers, eBay has had less buyers than Q1 2018 for 10 consecutive quarters, so yes it is accurate to say that a lot of buyers have left this site.

[wingsneck]

I don't disagree about the clothing market but I also think the same is true for collectibles.   For the first year, Poshmark has exceeded my Ebay sales by far and I have been cross posting on both platforms for years.  I have had buyers on Poshmark tell me that they saw my item (I tend to specialize in specialty vintage clothing and home goods) on Ebay first and then made the purchase through Poshmark because of the shipping fees and I hear this quite often.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE selling on Ebay, it is always my preferred platform to sell on and I hope to continue to sell on it until I am physically no longer able to do so.  I cross post all my clothing so if you can find my item on Ebay, you can also find it on Poshmark which I believe is common for most sellers in my situation.

My point is more about Ebay addressing the shipping costs and negotiate with one of the carriers.  Anyways for any sellers who aren't aware of the shipping differences, if you have a heavy or large item, you may want to consider cross posting it.  Thanks for you input.

[dbfolks166mt]

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     EBay's GMV has been consistent for the last couple of years

Thanks for reinforcing my point that eBay buyers do not appear to be "leaving in droves" as the previous poster suggested.

You failed to include the second part of my response that the GMV has declined the last couple of years and is now at about the 2013 level and probably actually farther back than that. Both active buyers and sellers have been in a constant decline but I suspect that has more to do with competition. 

[robbie31415]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     EBay's GMV has been consistent for the last couple of years

---

Thanks for reinforcing my point that eBay buyers do not appear to be "leaving in droves" as the previous poster suggested.

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@luckythewinner whether or not buyers are leaving in droves is not the same thing as GMV.

As to the specific point about Active Buyers, eBay has had less buyers than Q1 2018 for 10 consecutive quarters, so yes it is accurate to say that a lot of buyers have left this site.

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I do feel the numbers are a little misleading.

Covid had a big impact inflating the numbers. The difference from the start and the end of that isn't that massive of a difference.

However it does appear eBay is in a bit of decline.

A lot more competition popping up. More larger stores are turning into marketplaces.

[fern*wood]

I'm curious how the labels appear different or what is displayed on them so that you aren't charged later for shipping a 5 pound item in a priority box with only $7. postage? 

[luckythewinner]

As to the specific point about Active Buyers, eBay has had less buyers than Q1 2018 for 10 consecutive quarters, so yes it is accurate to say that a lot of buyers have left this site.

According to your chart, over the past two years the number of buyers has dropped from 134m to 133m, or ~0.75%. And from Q2 to Q3 2024, they grew from 132m to 133m or ~0.75%.

Thank you for adding more evidence to my opinion that buyers are not currently "leaving in droves". 

[luckythewinner]

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You failed to include the second part of my response that the GMV has declined the last couple of years and is now at about the 2013 level and probably actually farther back than that. Both active buyers and sellers have been in a constant decline but I suspect that has more to do with competition. 

I guess that depends upon your definition of the "the last couple years".

According to MarketplacePulse, for the past two years (from Q3 2022 to Q3 2024) eBay's GMV grew from $17.7 billion to $18.3 billion. To me, that is essentially flat, not declining. 

https://www.marketplacepulse.com/stats/ebay-gross-merchandise-volume-gmv

To me, if both active buyers and GMV have been essentially flat for two years, that is pretty good evidence that buyers are not currently "leaving in droves". 

[valueaddedresource]

@luckythewinner not really sure why you seem to want to make a sticking point out of that particular statement but, yes, as with most statistics, the analysis of what the stats reveal can vary greatly depending on the time scale you are looking at.

Also not sure why you arbitrarily decided to look at 2 years when the person who made the statement didn't narrow it down to that but clearly you're just looking for "proof" to back up your opinion so...I'll leave it at that.

[bashort]

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@fern*wood wrote:

Be careful what you wish for.  I cannot see any change that would benefit me more than ebay.

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absolutely, if ebay makes a change it will most definitely not benefit sellers.