I HAVE BEEN SELLING ON EBAY FOR 15+ YEARS AND HAVE NEVER SEEN SALES AS POOR AS THE LAST THREE MONTHS

[estatecompany]

I have been selling on Ebay for over 15 years and have never seen sales as poor as the last three months.  Since about the middle of April I have seen a steadily decrease in my sales, to the point where so far in July they are 75% down, from a year ago, same month.  50% down in June, 40% down in May, and 30% down in April.  Good sales January to March.  Can this all be over search engines and algorithms?  Ebay out of sync with the major search engine companies?  I've phoned Ebay many times since April, and most reps don't know what is going on.  I've even sent a letter to the CEO, over three weeks ago, by certified mail, and so far received no reply.  OBVIOUSLY something is disrupting sales and views by the hundreds of comments regarding SLOW SALES posted by the Ebay community.  I guess the people at Ebay never heard of the ageless saying that "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT."  Irregardless of this well respected saying, Ebay continues to roll out annual or bi-annual changes, always disrupting my business, and seldom improving it.  PLEASE EBAY, GET THIS PROBLEM FIXED, TELL PEOPLE WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, AND STOP MAKING CHANGES UNLESS THEY ARE REALLY NECESSARY!

[alifeinthepastlane]

I have been selling on ebay since 1997 and the last 3 months have been the worst ever. I have had many problems with the ebay website, i have had to call ebay mulitple times to try and get things fixed. I think ebay is messing with sellers listings and giving the big sellers an advantage and messing with smaller sellers. I'm really starting to think they want us smaller guys to leave

[djmovers99]

It's a new month.  I think my goal for August will be to list as much as I can and try to rule out anything that I am doing wrong or different that caused my sudden decline in sales around April 1st.

DJ

[oz_in_ohio]

Hi disorderlieder....... I read your paragraph and you must have sent the letter ( which only had stamps to pay for shipping ) just as it is. Possibly $1 or so. I found out many years ago that usps will not track a letter so i send everything now as a package....It costs a bit more but the tracking is available and is included in the price....AS buyers are not purchasing, i suggest you to alter the shipping to $3.85 and send in a small package or box....

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

---

@membersinceaug2001 wrote:

---

@uncseniorsportsfan wrote:

Well someone is doing OK - ebay reported decent second quarter results - - both GMV and revenues up over last year - and a 4% increase in the number of buyers.  

Buyer habits change especially when it comes to niche and high ticket items.  Past sales are no predictor of current or future sales. 

Perhaps you are fortunate that your sales have held up well for 15 years - mine took a bit hit in 2007-2008 and never fully recovered.

---

I read some guru article the other day that is predicting ebay's demise.  Seems that 4% just isn't good enough for those billionaires.

---

Not guru articles...speculation opinion articles. And there are equally articles that say the opposite.
And opinions from these speculators change on a daily basis....which is why most of them have a disclaimer that it is only their OPINIONs. They do NOT and never will commit to stating their OPINION is a fact.

[cardsellerusa]

Same here. And the houses sale in my area ATL have been popping up like crazy, I think we're head to a correction.

[my-june]

I HEAR YOU!  I'VE BEEN ON SINCE 2007 AND I'M TOTALLY FED UP!! (BY THE WAY, I'M NOT YELLING AT YOU - JUST SO VERY FRUSTRATED WITH EBAY THAT I'M READY TO RETIRE)

YOUR COMMENT 'IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT" IS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID LAST NIGHT WHEN I COULD NO LONGER GET AWAY FROM THE 'SELLER HUB' - IT IS A USELESS TOOL FOR SMALL SELLERS LIKE ME WHO SIMPLY WANT TO SELL INEXPENSIVE PATTERN BOOKS.

I'M NOT RUNNING A CONGLOMERATE HERE - JUST TRYING TO KEEP UP MY SALES WHICH HAVE DROPPED OFF SO DRASTLY THAT I MAY AS WELL GIVE UP COMPLETELY - TIME TO BULK MY ITEMS TOGETHER AND GET RID OF THEM ONCE AND FOR ALL - I DO BETTER AT KNITTING SOCKS AND SELLING AT CRAFT SALES..............

---

@estatecompany wrote:

I have been selling on Ebay for over 15 years and have never seen sales as poor as the last three months.  Since about the middle of April I have seen a steadily decrease in my sales, to the point where so far in July they are 75% down, from a year ago, same month.  50% down in June, 40% down in May, and 30% down in April.  Good sales January to March.  Can this all be over search engines and algorithms?  Ebay out of sync with the major search engine companies?  I've phoned Ebay many times since April, and most reps don't know what is going on.  I've even sent a letter to the CEO, over three weeks ago, by certified mail, and so far received no reply.  OBVIOUSLY something is disrupting sales and views by the hundreds of comments regarding SLOW SALES posted by the Ebay community.  I guess the people at Ebay never heard of the ageless saying that "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT."  Irregardless of this well respected saying, Ebay continues to roll out annual or bi-annual changes, always disrupting my business, and seldom improving it.  PLEASE EBAY, GET THIS PROBLEM FIXED, TELL PEOPLE WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, AND STOP MAKING CHANGES UNLESS THEY ARE REALLY NECESSARY!

---

[floridainjection]

eBay is turning into a disaster story for small sellers. Small sellers are ghosted in the search when the big sellers and china have low sales. This is how eBay fulfils their contractual obligations with these sellers. A small seller can also be hurt if you ever had a neg, called CS too many times, had a strike etc.. There is an invisible (to the small seller) system that punishes the small seller.

[spartan4545]

I have lost my enthusiasm for selling on eBay because of their policy of no negative Buyer Feedback. A seller cannot rate a buyer anymore or post negative feedback. All Buyers are rated 100% it seems.

[steve66396]

I agree with you. My time is worth way more than $1.00 or so saved using stamps. The online printing of labels saves me a ton of time. I have never come across a place like the post office where the employees never seem to be in a hurry or have anything else to do. It's like a black hole or the Bermuda Triangle when my time is involved. I hate that place with a passion. I love to walk in there with my boxes (with preprinted labels), looking at the 20 people in line and sit the boxes at the end of the counter and smile at them when I walk right back out.

[calistas_closet33]

That’s my experience

[calistas_closet33]

Pretty much think they’ve indicated with their actions “don’t let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out” - they used to collect $1800 in fees before their shipping profit cut off of USPS from me, this month it’s $489 I think? i did better as a new seller with 25% of the listings in January 2017 than I have since April. If they cared, they’d do something, look at sellers that are now providing less revenue to them, but clearly it’s not missed and either replaced or they project it will be.

[calistas_closet33]

I think they retaliate in many ways...it’s big brother here.

[flash_17059]

Same Here----------Slow or Nothing

[byrd69er]

Sell a product that sells.

[jerrythecrazyguy]

Jeff Bezos the Amazon guy recently outperformed Bill Gates as the richest person in the world. I am not a fan of Amazon but if I were you, I would consider trying it. I sell at a flea market and list very few auctions on eBay so this doesn't apply to me but if I were you, unless you've had a bad experience buying something from Amazon before, try Amazon.