Is eBay a healthy market for sellers?

[bandbsolutionsworldwide]

I've been noticing over the past 5-7 months my eBay sales have come to a crawl. Obviously December is going to be high and January low, but I'm averaging sales comparatively to previous years. I went from making substantial profit shipping 3-5 items a day to going days without a sale. It's getting hard to want to continue and justify having a store and working so hard for so little. I work hard to keep my top rated seller and have amazing feedback, I have same or next day handling, I have everything as a best offer... I'm really at a loss for what to do.

1) I was curious if anyone else here is experiencing the same type of stagnating or negative sales trends?

2) Do you think eBay will bounce back?

3) Is the current eBay policy/culture and fees just too much combined with rising USPS costs?

4) If you are a veteran seller/having success what are some ideas for getting more visibility and sales?

***Thanks for reading my post and for any constructive feedback you may leave.***

[tunicaslot]

The market can be healthy depending on what you sell. I looked at your listings and you and I both sell a variety of clothing and hardgoods. Clothing sellers especially have been hit hard the past couple of years due to the variety of online selling venues where clothing can be sold and Facebook Marketplace. 

Postal costs - I'm sure contribute to the problem. That said -  it's important now more than ever to never put your eggs all in one basket. I have items listed on 3 different venues and just put things up on FB.  I was late to this game as I've always had the utmost confidence in Ebay and only listed here - but sales have decreased and for me - it's not a option to stay solely on Ebay.

Sellers in other categories are doing well here - so they say - but I see most clothing sellers cross posting these days. Just make sure if an item sells on another venue that you come right to Ebay to end that listing so it doesn't sell here. Other sites don't penalize you like Ebay does.

[popeye3165]

---

@bandbsolutionsworldwide wrote:

I've been noticing over the past 5-7 months my eBay sales have come to a crawl. Obviously December is going to be high and January low, but I'm averaging sales comparatively to previous years. I went from making substantial profit shipping 3-5 items a day to going days without a sale. It's getting hard to want to continue and justify having a store and working so hard for so little. I work hard to keep my top rated seller and have amazing feedback, I have same or next day handling, I have everything as a best offer... I'm really at a loss for what to do.

1) I was curious if anyone else here is experiencing the same type of stagnating or negative sales trends?

Yes many one of a kind sellers are experiencing what you are I'm also seeing some larger sellers starting to mention it.

2) Do you think eBay will bounce back?

As a long time seller I have seen the ebb and flows many times eBay is eBay it would take a lot to take it down this isn't it.

3) Is the current eBay policy/culture and fees just too much combined with rising USPS costs?

No doubt all that is killing seller profits.

4) If you are a veteran seller/having success what are some ideas for getting more visibility and sales?

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.....good luck!

***Thanks for reading my post and for any constructive feedback you may leave.***

---

[tsme35]

Sad to say ebay is a dying  horse, ebay is shooting itself in the foot by all the consent change's "for the good of the seller", CEO bragging about how ebay had a increase in profit yet sellers lost 2-3% in sales. But the biggest killer is gonna be the yearly 10-30% postage increases, my fishing rods took a $3 increase alone to west coast this year, had to end international shipping because its too expensive, AND now with states collecting taxes, more added each month is just chipping away to the point there's not much profit. My sales have dropped 50% from 4 years ago

[tunicaslot]

Everyone knows though that taxes being collected and postal increases are across the board for all venues - not just Ebay - so while they will affect sales - they are not an Ebay problem that can be fixed whereas glitches and changes in algorithms are.

[Anonymous]

There is something drastically WRONG with eBay and it just started last month for me. My sales are down 60% (so far) and I haven't had a sale in 8 days now, which has NEVER happened before. I don't think it was the GTC roll out BUT something happened around that same time that has caused our sales to nose dive. Someone thinks it's the search engine and I'm inclined to agree with him/her. It CAN be manipulated and probably has been, starting in April. I don't know HOW I'll be paying my bills next month and get sick to my stomach every morning when I see it's ANOTHER "no sales" day. This is VERY sad for those of us who depend on eBay to supplement our Social Security.

[tunicaslot]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
There is something drastically WRONG with eBay and it just started last month for me. My sales are down 60% (so far) and I haven't had a sale in 8 days now, which has NEVER happened before. I don't think it was the GTC roll out BUT something happened around that same time that has caused our sales to nose dive. Someone thinks it's the search engine and I'm inclined to agree with him/her. It CAN be manipulated and probably has been, starting in April. I don't know HOW I'll be paying my bills next month and get sick to my stomach every morning when I see it's ANOTHER "no sales" day. This is VERY sad for those of us who depend on eBay to supplement our Social Security.

---

I love your store! Brings back a lot of memories and I'm so surprised at the amount of items you have. Years ago - a poster names Retrose advised everyone to not put their eggs in one basket and make sure you use other platforms as well. I tried many back then but sales on those platforms were slow and I just didn't feel like putting the work into them as I had a nice steady gig here. 

How wrong I was - and how right Retrose was. I'm glad I started to cross post listings last year when I had some slow times but I should have done it a lot sooner and not put all my confidence into Ebay.  Ebay is still a great sales platform - but with the emergence of so many others - it's has more competition than ever before.

[slati_2013]

' One of the troubling things I have noticed is what eBay presents as "Best Match". It seems eBay is going mainly with prices and not sellers with experience and complete products.

For many of the things I sell, me and many other sellers who used to top the page are now pushed back several pages. My products are complete. Nothing more to buy. Battery, power cord, anything to enable use right away.

Meanwhile many on top of the page are selling products that are incomplete, untested and in bad shape, but because their prices are lower, they go to the top of the page. Their feedback, well, terrible, but to be fair, most of their listings make clear the state of the items, with pictures to boot. Many buyers it seems to save money take a chance and are getting burnt badly with non-working products. 

Ebay needs to tweak its Best Match settings. 

[luckythewinner]

Is eBay a healthy market for sellers?

That is a bit like asking whether a dump truck is a good vehicle for a businessman.  It might be a great vehicle for a building contractor, but a terrible vehicle for a floor trader on Wall Street. 

I use eBay to sell records and sheet music, and I find it to be a very healthy market. But from reading this list, it may not be a very healthy market for people selling Rolex watches or used MacBooks.

[luckythewinner]

1) I was curious if anyone else here is experiencing the same type of stagnating or negative sales trends?

No.

2) Do you think eBay will bounce back?

For me, there is nothing to bounce back from. My sales have been consistent for years.

3) Is the current eBay policy/culture and fees just too much combined with rising USPS costs?

No. The GTC change has made it a bit more work, but I have adjusted to auctions and so far my sell-through is about the same. And since I ship primarily media mail or First Class under 8 ounces, the USPS rates have not affected me.

4) If you are a veteran seller/having success what are some ideas for getting more visibility and sales?

• Many buyers still shop by price, so make sure you are the lowest.
• The best way to avoid getting lost in Best Match is to not sell items that other people are selling. If you think Best Match is your problem, then your real problem may be the amount of competition for your item.
• When you get a SNAD, you lose (a) the cost of shipping; plus either (b) the item; (c) the cost of return shipping; or (d) both. If you are experiencing SNADs, you can reduce your exposure by shifting away from heavy, expensive items.

[robot-hands]

Need needs to ditch their secret algorithms, secret rules and all the search manipulation and go back to being a place where people sell stuff.

This is all needlessly complicated and does nothing to serve the users better.

[backroomnoir]

Hats are a tough sell.  I sell maybe 2 a month lately.  Any sports memorabilia is just impossible, it never moves.  I noticed you have a lot of seasonal items as well, which could be a problem.

I went from selling 50 to 100 on one account per month, to barely selling 30 on multiple accounts.  Have I been cherry picked?  Am I selling the wrong things?  Is my stuff priced right?  Probably.

I really have no advice... Just wait it out, you have a good mix of items for sale.  Sales will come, eventually.  

[tsme35]

That's what i'm saying, taxes and postage increases will slowly kill internet sales across the board, not just a ebay problem. Like I said, my fishing rods shipping($9.95) increased $3($13), 30% increase to WA and WA charges sales tax on total, so a $4 to $5 increase. ebay has lobbyist and should be using them to do something about the postage increase. Just saying each year I'm dropping more and more items that just aren't worth selling, no money in $3-$5 items, so not buying them to resell

[tunicaslot]

It's funny that so many malls and B&M's have been closing due to internet sales which are delivered right to your door, were without taxes most of the time and could conveniently be sent back without a customer having to go to an actual B&M. But what I see happening - is the resurgence, to a point, of regular stores due to the high costs of shipping, taxes having to be paid and many internet sites are rethinking their free returns so a buyer would have to accept the cost of that making those items not as attractive.

An article I just read said that Amazon is rethinking their return policy because it is costing them so much. Plus you have the problem of stores only offering things in their internet stores and not in their B&M. Before purchasing online - I often want to view the item to see the quality, size and color -whether it be clothes or textiles as I hate returning. 

I posted before that I was looking for a specific colored curtain and found little selection in any of the 8 stores I visited. Being the color is so specific - I don't want to be ordering and then sending the items back. I saw a couple on Ebay that were promising - but even though they had a free shipping free return policy - I wasn't going to take advantage of that seller with the color I needed being so specific - so opted for a black gingham to match the hardware. Unfortunately due to the shipping costs, FVFs ect that sellers here have to figure in - I found them 30% less elsewhere.

I would like to shop more on Ebay - but my pocketbook doesn't allow it when sales are slow or search is not showing the items I'm looking for.

[tsme35]

Yep, just what I was saying, there's gonna be a shift back to B&M stores, slowly but will happen. 5 years ago I use to say ebay's gonna run me out of business but in the last couple I've change to it being the USPS.