It’s better than it was but not as good as it used to be before it got to be as bad as it is.

[richard1rst]

According to Seller Hub my sales in the past 30 days are 22.8% above the previous 30 days. BUT the previous 30 days were way below average. So a 22.8% increase only sort of puts me back to normal.

BUT this is November and, in the lead up to Christmas, in past years November has always been way above average. So while I am of course pleased with the bounce back it really isn’t enough to get overly excited about.

Sales are not so bad that panic has raised its ugly head yet, but sales are down enough to give me some extra Think Time to consider alternatives.

But what are those alternatives?

Some other posters have mentioned a couple of sites where they seem to get better sales on clothing than they get here (I don’t remember the site’s names - and in any event I don’t sell clothes). Etsy exists but apparently only for artisan crafters, not conventional resellers. I tried Bonanza a while back and was dissatisfied. My own independent web site generated more sales than they did.

I sort of get the impression we are all adrift on the giant ocean liner Entropy in danger of sinking - and there are no life boats available.

If the new (or more correctly Returning) management team can not right the ship - where do we go?

Suggestions?

[richard1rst]

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@lex-talon wrote:

I have to admit, your thread subject makes a good tongue twister. 

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In fairness I stole it from my grandmother. That is the response she would give when asked about her health.

[uncseniorsportsfan]

I have sold on a number of sites through the years - Bidville and Blujay both worked for me for lower priced items, but neither lasted.  In the early days Amazon books was better for books than eBay, and I sold there until the big cheapsters flooded the site, and they raised fees.   From time to time I've also sold on Bonanza, ecrater, etsy, and ebid - but none worked well for what I sell.  I'm not into social media or anything that requires apps, tech skills, or a mobile phone - so eBay is really the only choice for a dinosaur like me, and I'll probably go down with the ship.  

It's a real shame that eBay abandoned its roots and its niche in the ecommerce world trying to be more like Amazon.  

[wheredidiputthatremote]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@gwzcomps wrote:
I will be branching out to other sites next year for various reasons. eBay is no longer a good site to sell on unless a person is a masochist that enjoys being scammed by eBay.

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I have seen a large number of posts from sellers saying they were going elsewhere. But they never answer the underlying question- Where will you go?

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I’ve heard many other people refer to it as “that snooty site which you can sell vintage (anything circa 2000 or before) items site”. Or “that snooty Crafts site”. I have had moderate success there. I am finding my sales being down here but now that I’m cross listing everything I can, I’m making up the difference on “that snooty crafts site”.

[chapeau-noir]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

eBay is still best for variety items due to being a variety website.  No other website is going to 'step in' and 'replace' eBay - doesn't work that way, especially nowadays - if that were the case, sites like Bonanza, eCrater and the like would be competing instead of being veritable ghost towns.  It's why people move to social media selling or open up their own website and do their own marketing, etc. 

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I tried Bonanza some time ago and, you are right, it was a ghost town. I get more sales from my own independent web site than I did from them.

BUT since Bonanza already exists as a somewhat similar concept to eBay what would happen is a new tech AND retail savvy team of executives took over? In the world of big business there are a group of people using the title “turnaround experts”. They take over a company, weed out the problems, institute new procedures and revitalize the core business. They are not always successful but when they do the results are outstanding.

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That would be great for eBay, which badly needs a make-over, but I don't think an operational change like this would manufacture foot traffic where there is none.  Bonanza had a chance years back when it was offering some competition, but the leadership failed the site, they tried to replace their own advertising efforts with  'turbo packs' to force sellers to pay for advertising, similar to what eBay and Etsy (especially Etsy) are trying to do, and it didn't work. My sad feeling about eBay is that a lot of its ills are operational, particularly to do with tech problems, and they're backed into a corner because the problem is bad with borked legacy coding and bad documentation and lack of talent that anything they do just makes everything worse.  Maintaining this site is a huge, complicated job and now trying to fix the mess - I dunno.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Many people have been having good sales with facebook marketplace for years now. 

[movieman630]

I can remember one November I had the best month of the year in sales $10,000+ This November has been a bummer so far. On Saturday I did $10.00 all day. I haven't had a day that dead in I don't know. Something happened. It was like a switch was flipped and someone just turned off the store. It has been slow since.

I usually put my store on "vacation mode" for the last 2 weeks of the year as a little vacation. This year I may not even have to...

[movieman630]

There is nowhere else to go. No matter what people say the only thing that can happen is we all just get spread out over multiple sites that have zero traffic and zero sales activity. eBay still has no direct competition for it's model. Depending on what you sell alternatives could be etsy or amazon but for now, for me, this is it.

I still have hope that one day ebay will roll back some of it's bad decisions and start getting things back to the way it used to be.

Starting a private website is an option but at what cost? Advertising would be enormous!

[richard1rst]

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@movieman630 wrote:
There is nowhere else to go. No matter what people say the only thing that can happen is we all just get spread out over multiple sites that have zero traffic and zero sales activity. eBay still has no direct competition for it's model. Depending on what you sell alternatives could be etsy or amazon but for now, for me, this is it.

I still have hope that one day ebay will roll back some of it's bad decisions and start getting things back to the way it used to be.

Starting a private website is an option but at what cost? Advertising would be enormous!

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That is generally my opinion as well. Every time I ask one of those “going elsewhere” posters where they will go I never get an answer.

A private web site is not that expensive. $100- 200 a year at best. And no advertising is necessary. And no FVF.

What you have to do is learn about Search Engine Optimization rules and include that information in your meta header.

My site routinely appears on Google search results often enough that it generates sales from that alone. OK not nearly as many sales as I get here - but I do get some. But then again since eBay generates the bulk of my sales that is where I put my main efforts. If eBay fails then I would expend more effort on that site and most likely improve the sales amounts.

[kathieskorner]

eBay needs more than a makeover - it is on technical life support.   Their IT staff has been adding more algorithms, more cosmetic changes, and more "fixes" to a crumbling infrastructure.   It will eventually collapse unless they invest in more competent personnel that can actually overhaul the current mess.  

[sakic92710]

You are absolutely correct.  What are the other choices?  I'm on other avenues & nothing is happening.  Almost nothing here now, too!  1 sale since Wed.  ***ONE!!***  Even the flea market is horrible for some.  You mentioned Etsy but, who wants to give out banking info?  Who wants to only get your money paid to you once a week?  I live day-to-day.  I need the money ASAP.   Good luck with sales!

[adelaideg]

A BIG technical makeover!! Maybe bring your engineers back on shore, so when someone rolls out an obviously bad update (Item specifics I am looking at you) someone can immediately roll that back until a real fix can be implemented and TESTED.

As a person who works a office job a handful of months a year, the diminishing sales on here have sped up my process of liquidating and going back to a 9-5 all year round. I am grateful for those great years which helped me and my family, but the panic has hit me and I am thinking things are going to get way bad before it gets better.

It's not just here. Look at all the clearance stores have. My local mart had swimsuits marked to a $1 each. They were there for 2 weeks. I haven't seen that priced clearance last more than a day, clothing- food- or otherwise 

[adelaideg]

As I am currently showing signed in under my posting id and my other account is the one posting. Totally unrelated emails and user names. Goody. Thanks ebay.

[chapeau-noir]

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@sakic92710 wrote:

You are absolutely correct.  What are the other choices?  I'm on other avenues & nothing is happening.  Almost nothing here now, too!  1 sale since Wed.  ***ONE!!***  Even the flea market is horrible for some.  You mentioned Etsy but, who wants to give out banking info?  Who wants to only get your money paid to you once a week?  I live day-to-day.  I need the money ASAP.   Good luck with sales!

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I used to sell quite a bit on Etsy, the bank deposit was no problem (one's bank account info is on every single debit transaction and if one still uses checks, on every single check) and you can get your funds transferred any time you want.  Unfortunately, Etsy has a whole host of problems now that has nothing to do with banking info or transfers.