My sales are down 60% compared to last month and 51% compared to this month last year

[brandonsvsu]

I've been selling on ebay for over 20 years, and my store has had relatively similar inventory over the past 4 years or so.  I've had some ups and downs through those 4 years, but generally, sales have been pretty stable.  But over the past 30 days, sales have absolutely tanked.  And it isn't a seasonal thing either because the numbers are similarly down compared to this time last year.

I'm not normally one to blame sales fluctuations on ebay directly, but these numbers speak for themselves.  Nothing in my store has really changed much in the past few months.  Clearly something is very wrong here.

I blacked out the actual numbers to comply with ebay's not-disclosing-financial-information rule.  These are just the percentages.

[vtgbeersigns]

eBay has lost a ton of active users since 2020.. it was basically in a incline for 15 years and started the decline in 2021.  Most likely culprit is econony , competition , and online auctions.    Used to be able to get nice stuff for a good price at local auctions and estate sales now they base their prices off "eBay' trying to sell to a fraction of possible buyers.   Shipping rates also up.  But my sales are down 60% plus since 2020 although I don't have nearly as much inventory left or available.  

[ci1000]

The interesting thing about eBay is that no matter how much you rant and accuse.... no one ever has proof....  Most people personally know that something is wrong because they look at and analyze their own figures.

Transparency is not a word in eBay's vocabulary.... "we've made some mistakes" is not a phrase that will ever be approved by the legal department.

And my personal favorite.... you signed up for it by listing here so you have to obey their rules.  Hopefully a day will come when people actually recognize and stand up for themselves. Sadly, I don't see that happening any time soon.

My new record low in monthly sales as of today is $90.... one day till I have to pay my store fees.

Overall it's still a wonderful day in the neighborhood....

[kensgiftshop]

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@vtgbeersigns wrote:

eBay has lost a ton of active users since 2020.. it was basically in a incline for 15 years and started the decline in 2021.  Most likely culprit is econony , competition , and online auctions.    Used to be able to get nice stuff for a good price at local auctions and estate sales now they base their prices off "eBay' trying to sell to a fraction of possible buyers.   Shipping rates also up.  But my sales are down 60% plus since 2020 although I don't have nearly as much inventory left or available.  

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I've been to a few yard sales and they'll have a few items with a print out of Ebay listings showing what the item has sold for on Ebay.

[selsa84]

I once set up a time to meet with a antique  magazine collector to buy a lot of mags. They were all priced at $10 each and he started looking them up on eBay while I was there. I had over 150 magazines picked out I was buying and he starts saying that this and that one are listed on eBay for 80 or 100 or so and wanted me to pay what sellers on eBay were asking for. So I told him to check the actual sold prices and they were roughly 5-10 each some even lower. He then came back to his senses and said he'd lower his price. I left without buying anything. Less than a month later they were sold as bulk at a local auction (auction estimate of $1500) and I scored the entire collection for 180$. 

[movieman630]

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@selsa84 wrote:

I once set up a time to meet with a antique  magazine collector to buy a lot of mags. They were all priced at $10 each and he started looking them up on eBay while I was there. I had over 150 magazines picked out I was buying and he starts saying that this and that one are listed on eBay for 80 or 100 or so and wanted me to pay what sellers on eBay were asking for. So I told him to check the actual sold prices and they were roughly 5-10 each some even lower. He then came back to his senses and said he'd lower his price. I left without buying anything. Less than a month later they were sold as bulk at a local auction (auction estimate of $1500) and I scored the entire collection for 180$. 

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And of course you'd have to explain to him the fees, taxes and shipping costs come out of that too.  I sell things for $10 that I'm lucky if I ACTUALLY take away $3.

[fbusoni]

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@redlinear wrote:

Searches are being manipulated by eBay to help those that Promote (for at least a few minutes).
Searches are being manipulated by eBay to spread the wealth (so to speak).
Searches are being manipulated by other sellers entering erroneous information just to be seen.
Sorting and Filters not doing what they claim.
Shoppers are becoming increasingly aware of their searches returning worthless, unrelated results...and are shopping elsewhere.

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Maybe for used auto parts.

Not for the rest of us.

[selsa84]

Nope. It's a lot of people not just auto parts. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

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@vtgbeersigns wrote:

eBay has lost a ton of active users since 2020.. it was basically in a incline for 15 years and started the decline in 2021.  Most likely culprit is econony , competition , and online auctions.    Used to be able to get nice stuff for a good price at local auctions and estate sales now they base their prices off "eBay' trying to sell to a fraction of possible buyers.   Shipping rates also up.  But my sales are down 60% plus since 2020 although I don't have nearly as much inventory left or available.  

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I've been to a few yard sales and they'll have a few items with a print out of Ebay listings showing what the item has sold for on Ebay.

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I see ones for what a seller on eBay is ASKING. 🙄  Not even what it sold for. I would think that here in the Silicon Swamp people would be a bit more savvy (particularly since they put all the good stuff online) but nope, you get the rusted out, trashed Schwinn Collegiate with a printout taped to it where somebody is asking $500 or whatever for it on eBay.

We have fewer buyers here than we did in 2018. eBay is a victim of simple lack of focus (the verticals didn't work) and market forces (mostly competition). There are so many sellers online now that it's a wonder we're not falling all over each other in the ether.

But, I've had abrupt drops from May to June - in fact, I used to close down my store June, July and half of August because it wasn't really worthwhile keeping it open, and I'm used to steady sales. Thinking about going back to doing that, but I need the dough for traveling along with other little perks o' life.

[gardeltango]

And worse sold prices more often than not merely reflect what ONE person was willing to pay at the time rather than a trend.

[redlinear]

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@fbusoni wrote:

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@redlinear wrote:

Searches are being manipulated by eBay to help those that Promote (for at least a few minutes).
Searches are being manipulated by eBay to spread the wealth (so to speak).
Searches are being manipulated by other sellers entering erroneous information just to be seen.
Sorting and Filters not doing what they claim.
Shoppers are becoming increasingly aware of their searches returning worthless, unrelated results...and are shopping elsewhere.

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Maybe for used auto parts.

Not for the rest of us.

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I'll agree that I know my market better than other markets. (mine being used auto parts) (and me knowing might be me just "thinking' that I know).
But, I can assure you, searches are manipulated by eBay... And, eBay's lack of enforcing it's policies lets sellers manipulate search as well.  The latter can be proven any time.  The former doesn't need to be proven.  Just the fact that there are Promoted listings means searches are manipulated to favor Promoted

[beachychicd]

It's  a BIG issue! Only some people are being seen and others not. Yes. ebay is manipulating who sells, who is seen ect. Right now my impressions just dropped off the chart & flatlined since June 25. No reason for it. Called Ebay of course NO HELP no solution NOTHING. They ALWAYS do the same thing when you bring up any issue with them they will send it to the "TEAM"  and you hear nothing ever again. I have not had one organic sale in over a week. Any sale I have had is from sending A LOT of offers. Those have been the only sales I have had in over a week now. None from searching and finding it

.

[selsa84]

Did u end a promotion or something? That's quite the dropoff

[beachychicd]

No, I only had certain things promoted.  There is no explaination. Ebay customer service even had nothing to say about it. Sorry, but it looks intentional to me.

[redlinear]

@beachychicd 
  I search about 50 items per day.   
Filter to USED
Sort to Lowest $ 1st.
Then switch to SOLD.
    Price is far less relevant than it used to be when viewing what is out there -vs- what has sold.
    Just getting on that 1st page in order to be seen appears to be most relevant.
And I believe a lot of what's shown on that 1st page favors some sort of lottery style chance.

I have several of one item, that I used to sell three a week.   
Three of these items still sell each week.  Just not mine very often.  And the only difference between mine and the competition?  Mine are the cheapest.
    Sets of 12 Cummins 5.9 Pushrods... I don't remember the last time I sold a set for $29.50. Probably because that listing only has 3 views. It's not easy to find unless you know it's there. And that listing has never run out of quantity in several years.
Yet, in the last 90 days,  9 sets have been sold.
$35.00
$29.99
$30.00
$65.00
$84.44
$34.95
$62.49
$60.00
$54.00

[gamersbaystore]

That would be me. It was back in 2015, an ebay rep showed up at my mother's front door to threaten me. Given it was my only source of income which I relied upon to pay my rent at the time, I opted not to say anything and just sit silent; which I should not have done. 

The head of ebay's security called me that year profusely apologizing (proven by my phone records). They stole money from me too, which was refunded soon after that call.

They've recently began threatening me again in an attempt to silence me because they don't like my opinions of their platform. I told them to back off or I will take legal action to defend myself and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, I haven't heard a word since.

It should come at no surprise that ebay has several high ranking executives sitting in prison right now for threatening and harassing others.