Yes, it's a dead horse, but people don't want to hear that....... What they want to hear is how to fix it, so it goes back to some sort of "stability". People want to hear that if they jump through all the hoops and do the "right" thing, sales will go back to some sense of normal. I am not sure what "normal" is these days on eBay, but I have been selling on eBay since 1997 and what I have seen the last year on eBay is NOT NORMAL. The things I sell are eclectic (i.e.; I sell trading cards, coins, books, porcelains, dolls and doll accessories, clothing, shoes, toys/action figures, cosmetics and more) It use to be that when one thing wasn't selling, something else was and this covered any "ebbs" of the market for any one particular type of item. Last April, I started noticing a decline in sales and in October, I closed my store as sales had dropped off a cliff (I went from about $2,200.00 a month to $400.00 a month) . I still manage a few sales per month and I don't really care about sales (or eBay for that matter), because my monthly income for my bills is now derived elsewhere (I got a job with the USPS).
It feels "freeing" to be away from eBay and I have a lot more social activity in my life since leaving. The best part is that if something sells, great, if not, well I don't sweat it or beat my head over it.....trying to fix a broken wheel. In my humble opinion, eBay is now trying to be Paypal and derive revenue streams not from being a market place, but rather by being a tax collector and by being a payment processor. The best thing (for me) that I can do is to NOT FEED THE MONSTER any more. Thus, my monthly fees to eBay has gone from $300 a month to $24. The less I sell, the less eBay can process or collect taxes on and lets not forget my buying habits. On one particular month I spent $7,000 to buy product on eBay, last year (for the whole year), I spent $62. I know FOR A FACT, I am not alone in my thinking. Once upon a time the boards were filled with other ID's, these people posted regularly and many were medium to larger sellers. When I look up these ID's, they are NARU and all I have to do beyond that is to look at my feedback (both buying & selling) to see how many of the people I have done business with in the past that are no longer here.
eBay has become and IS smoke and mirrors. It is not even a comparison to what it once was and the place many called their e-commerce home. Ebay thinks people are a dime a dozen, be they buyer or seller, but loyalty to a brand or a company does not a dime a dozen make.
