No sales for small sellers has to impact Ebay's bottom line also

[anglbear123]

Many thousands of small sellers are being killed by the new changes on Ebay.  My sales too, have dwindled and are basically non-existent recently.  Here is my situation:

My prior sellers account(the money I owe Ebay for Final Value Fees, Store Subscription, etc.), usually runs around $200-$300 per month.  This month - seller account is $12.  A twenty fold decrease in money I owe Ebay at the end of the month!

My buying on Ebay during any month averages around $300-$400.  This month, with no sales and no extra money, my purchase on Ebay are $0.

At the end of this month, I have a feeling that there are going to be some frantic meetings at Ebay to figure out why their profits are down also.  I can only hope that things change...

Anybody else have figures like these to share?

[Anonymous]

I pretty much have the same story that you do. My sales for March were UP 40% and now, a little over a month since GTC started, my sales are DOWN 60%. My purchase of new inventory is dwindling too. Instead of paying eBay $167 for March, I only owe $50 this month so far. Our figures are likely just a spit in the bucket for eBay and they could care less about small sellers losses OR how this is affecting our lives. Sad but true. B (

[sweetpieces4you]

I know you are a small seller compared to many others but you have a store !! Your Choice. And if your sales are not enough to pay for that store and make you personal income then I personally would no longer have it !! I saw that you currently have 79 items listed. Not many at all. I don't have a store and don't know what your monthly allotment of free listings are ??? I am right now ( LOL ) the smallest seller on ebay !! My Choice !! But without a store I get 50 free listings per month and no store fee . You have to know and decide for yourself if a store is right for you given the amount of sales !! Do the math it's not hard to figure out !! And that decision is for everyone that has a store and either needs to downsize the store they currently have or decide not to have a store at all !! January,February and March it would have benefited me to have a store given the amount of fees I paid !! But I backed off as to not pay ebay that amount again !! I sell at my own pace and with a store I would have to list at least enough to pay for it every month. I like to be in control of at least something here and with no store I am !! Good Luck

[orangehound]

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@anglbear123 wrote:

At the end of this month, I have a feeling that there are going to be some frantic meetings at Ebay to figure out why their profits are down also.

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eBay releases their first quarter profits (Jan to March) this evening (April 23, 2019) ... I expect that their profits will, as usual, show strong growth, and this is what investors want to hear.   When profits look good, there is no panic at eBay.

However, I expect the growth of the sales on eBay to be flat based on how flat they were last quarter - by "flat" I mean low single digit growth or no growth.  They might surprise me with stronger growth because I haven't noticed a lot of sales lately.

[anglbear123]

Currently I only have a fraction of what I used to have.  Since the beginning of this month, I have deleted over 300 listings and moved them to other platforms, where they are selling.  I have downgraded my store subscription beginning May 1st.  I do sell on other platforms, but have always thought of Ebay as a place to find and sell unique and rare items.  That is what I have listed here in the past.  The market for these type of items is not dead, certainly not as large as it once was, but it seems to have disappeared on this site.  Something happened.  The GTC in March seems to have eliminated anything OOAK, Vintage, etc. from the searches.  It all happened too suddenly for too many.

[sweetpieces4you]

Fortunately for myself GTC doesn't have any impact on me whatsoever !! BIN or AUCTION style listings work well for me !! And the GTC was always a option for sellers and I'm sure many used it a time or two. People I believe relied on the 30 day listings because it showed that a item/items were coming off in a day or two and customers saw that and would purchase their item/items. But many,many items are not being sold and ebay is getting no money for that. So if you used all of your free listings you are going to have to pay to put that item/items back on and ebay will at least get something from those listings !! It's about MONEY !! We all know that !! But I am a firm believer that if you list something and if it's going to sell . It will sell regardless of how many days are left !! When I list BIN I want it to sell DAY ONE !! If it takes longer so be it !! The problem in my opinion is that people are just listing everything and anything as fast as they get it !! And it's not selling !! They are using their free listings unwisely and have to many non sellable items listed !! It's just list , list , list regardless !! Well then you will pay ebay for continuously listing the items that don't/won't sell for whatever reason !! You do have choice to not hit the list button and a choice to hit the end listing now button !! 

[ncsureshot9]

Me too. I usually sale between $500 and a $1000 a month. The last two months I've sold a total of $100. I'm going nuts. There has to be some reason for this, but I don't know what it is. I'm having to think about selling elsewhere. I had to close my ebay store as well.

[laurabeardsley]

I do not have a store but have been selling on ebay for over 17 years. There has been a sharp decline over the last couple of years. I just got fed up with giving money to Ebay with no results so this last month I stopped listing except for my 50 free. I also have called Ebay at least 50 times over the past few years about not getting any promotions for free listings. None for 2 1/2 years and got tired of the excuses. Well ,this morning after hardly listing for the last month I got the first promotion in over 2 1/2 years for 500 free listings. I almost fell on the floor. I believe this is a result of me listing less and the tons of other sellers who either have left or cut back and just maybe Ebay is getting the message?

[thebagladyandboxboy]

 -if no profit from sales,  then you believe the Ebay strong growth comes from profits from new store subscriptions? and from ads, maybe?, which helps them, but not us individual sellers.

[some.old.stuff]

I’ve been a part time small seller on eBay since 1999 selling glassware China and pottery. I only sell just for a hobby/make a little extra money. I’ve never had a store, I don’t pay for promoted listings, I don’t even use all the free listings eBay gives me per month. I like having the option of BIN for 5 day, 7 day listings. If things wouldn’t sell then I’d put them back up for another 7 then maybe go to 30 days. I used to make between $500 to $1000 per month. So eBay gets about $150 out of me per month. Since GTC started, I’ve tried 7 day auctions and GTC listings with Best Offer option. Sales are pretty much non existent. I haven’t received a single offer on BIN with Best Offer. I’ve had one 7 day auction sale this past week for $19.95. I have money invested in inventory that no longer sells. eBay is in business to make money just like all of the sellers here. If we don’t sell anything eBay makes no commissions.  Eventually you would think that they would realize what a big mistake this was. Everybody knows it’s a pure money grab. Until things change back to the old way, I only will be listing whenever I feel like it. It takes too much time to write up, take pictures and follow non sales to even be bothered anymore. I really feel for the sellers who depend on this marketplace to make a living.

Hoping things change.

[sweetpieces4you]

I do get a few listing promotions of 100 free every now then . And the nickel promotions as well ! But not usually when I don't use the fifty free !! But I'm selling less items than the 50 free right now !! So I still have enough to use for auctions that won't sell until the beginning of next month ! I'm done selling for this month !! So my ( 1 ) listing ( soon to be ( 2 ) lol will be the start of my sales for MAY !! I play the game !! Good Luck

[buyselljack2016]

Some are up, some are down.  I have no explanation.

[sweetpieces4you]

I personally believe if Ebay doesn't get the Money Results they want with this new GTC it will be reverted back to the 30 day listings !! Companies make decisions. Some Right Some Wrong !! People do the Same Thing !! Good Luck 

[disneyshopper]

I'm a low volume seller, selling in a niche market.

Sales have been slow for the past couple of years.

However, so far this year my sales have been as follows:

   January - 6 items

   February - 7 item

   March - 10 items

   April - 11 items for 23 days

I guess things are picking up!  

[jscar59]

But grass hopper.......Many rain drops makes for a great flood!