General comment

[briawashingto-1]

Morning Ebay!  

I have loved my experience on this platform.  I was **bleep** near on the street when a friend told me about it and I got started with my account of 50 free items. I've been working diligently everyday for about three years and my store and sales grew.  It was fantastic. 

That said, I have a background in business and the only thing more coveted then a secure bankroll is consistency.    Consistently good or consistently bad. 

This year it seems, unfortunately this platform seems to have run out of consistency.  It doesn't really matter what aspect we are talking about, views on items listed, sales, mobile app bugs, promotion listing analytics etc.    I can very well run a promotion at 7% and get 100 clicks on Tuesday, and 40 clicks the next Tuesday there is really no rhyme or reason.  I can have $3000 sales in a month or $800 sales the next month.  

It is really hard to build any type of strategic action plan for growth or decompression when there is little to no consistency, except the fact there is little or no consistency. 

The only think I know for sure is Ebay did provide an decent, consistent income for a few years.  Other sellers who are going through the same frustrations I am by these consistences, my heart goes out to you.   That said I have been in business long enough to know that sooner or later you have to cut strings on the service, product, or employee that has no consistency.  

I have a month or two left in me but after that I'm not sure.  Comes down to the opportunity cost.  How long do I continue to work diligently with a platform who's obvious  concern is not  growing revenue through their advertising, but growing revenue through forced competition and marketing by there users. 

 According to there First Quarter results "In advertising, eBay grew promoted listings placements and eligibility. In the first quarter, there were more than 800 thousand active sellers who took advantage of the program, promoting over 200 million listings. This drove over $65 million of revenue in the quarter, up nearly 110% year-over-year."

It also seems Ebay has very little to say about this inconsistent as I've spoken with managers and the such and the answer is always the same.  "We're sorry to hear about your frustration but we value you as a seller."  Yeah I bet. 

[moondogblues]

IMHO...and I am hoping that I am wrong, but I think we are due for a recession and a lot of people are cutting back on spending. My family is and we are hunkering down a bit. I should confess that I am a bit of a hoarder and so have probably enough food to last 6 months or so, but hey I'm in earthquake country so that's my excuse.

But seriously...spending on fluff while gas just jumped about 20 cents here seems wasteful. Though when times get tough I wanna buy something blingie.....but just not now....maybe after Nov 2020.

[briawashingto-1]

I'm in agreement with you. People could be cutting down. I know in LA gas is over $4 on the regular, sometimes $5 if you're in Santa Monica or Hollywood. People very well could be cutting back. I can't blame them.

[turquoisetulips]

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@ed8108 wrote:

Reality 101

As ebay continues to increase the number of new revenue streams derived off it's sellers, sellers take more hits to their profits.

This does work well for ebay, with the result of continued profit growth for ebay.

Good luck & Happy EBay Selling

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It's a shame they can't do more to pass on  their good fortune  to the people who helped them earn it . What ever happened to the beloved '' Share the wealth ''  virtue   so many claim to believe in ? Our  selling fees  don't seem to be decreasing  in good or bad ''weather '' . Tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

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@moondogblues wrote:
IMHO...and I am hoping that I am wrong, but I think we are due for a recession and a lot of people are cutting back on spending. My family is and we are hunkering down a bit. I should confess that I am a bit of a hoarder and so have probably enough food to last 6 months or so, but hey I'm in earthquake country so that's my excuse.

But seriously...spending on fluff while gas just jumped about 20 cents here seems wasteful. Though when times get tough I wanna buy something blingie.....but just not now....maybe after Nov 2020.

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There's actually no recession on the horizon  according to the economists . However it never hurts to save money for a rainy day . Tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

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@briawashingto-1 wrote:
I'm in agreement with you. People could be cutting down. I know in LA gas is over $4 on the regular, sometimes $5 if you're in Santa Monica or Hollywood. People very well could be cutting back. I can't blame them.

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I also live in So . CA . ,, prices are just high here in general  in comparison to other states ,, especially in  housing . The new  governor  has already announced his plan to raise our taxes  on just about everything imaginable . High taxes  are one of  the reasons  of so many residents are  fleeing states like New York  and California  in record numbers . Tulips 

[genv]

The "economists" who declare the "economy" strong use the GDP, a false measure, which counts all sales made in US, even if it's a foreign company whose cash/profits go out of US. They also use the Stock Market, the playground of the wealthy, as most average joes don't have much there, either. The Tax Reform shoveled more $$ into the top 5-20% and took more from the rest in reduced tax deductions. The rich don't buy from us. Middle class does, and, that group is shrinking in the quicksand. What we have is a recession that is not experienced by the wealthy, and, is not talked of by the well paid heads on TV. Economic disparity caused by bad tax policy is like mold, it creeps up. When we can't buy from the big companies, it will affect their bottom line. You can't have a CEO making 400 million and a worker making less than $15 an hour and expect the game to continue for long.

[mg152]

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@moondogblues wrote:
IMHO...and I am hoping that I am wrong, but I think we are due for a recession and a lot of people are cutting back on spending. My family is and we are hunkering down a bit. I should confess that I am a bit of a hoarder and so have probably enough food to last 6 months or so, but hey I'm in earthquake country so that's my excuse.

But seriously...spending on fluff while gas just jumped about 20 cents here seems wasteful. Though when times get tough I wanna buy something blingie.....but just not now....maybe after Nov 2020.

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Also people with some extra money to spend are getting older and worrying about their old age. 20 years ago I would spend money I didn’t have on things I didn’t need. Now I watch every penny. Not one penny goes out without me thinking do I really need this? Neither one of us can work anymore and we are seniors now. I feel like a lot of eBay buyers are in the same boat. The stuff they collected is now just junk to them taking up space and there are more of us trying to offload our collections to a smaller buying pool.