eBay

rockbottomvalues · ‎10-26-2018

It seems that over time the complaints about ebay are put forth by most sellers who are selling used items such as vintage clothing or antiques or items found at garage sales.

The sellers who are raking in a lot of sales are not even on these forums. These sellers are selling new items that are made in China or are drop-shipping. These sellers are not even on these forums.

It lends a notion that ebay may be working to phase out the smaller seller who is selling used goods.

Agree?

fine_find · ‎10-27-2018

We have been discussing this on here for most of the year. Yes, most will say they agree with you. It is a new direction that has been chosen and the smaller sellers are taking it hard going from making a living to barely getting by. Some haven't seen sales for months but keep hanging on hoping things will change.

This is why you see so many different forums being mention. Sellers trying to help each other out hoping to find a new 'eBay' out there just starting out. We all want to be there when it arrives. eBay had its day and now everyone is looking for another one to take its place. Even my sales are dismal and yet I keep holding out for that great change to take place with eBay before it is too late.

rockbottomvalues · ‎10-27-2018

@fine_find wrote:
We have been discussing this on here for most of the year. Yes, most will say they agree with you. It is a new direction that has been chosen and the smaller sellers are taking it hard going from making a living to barely getting by. Some haven't seen sales for months but keep hanging on hoping things will change.

This is why you see so many different forums being mention. Sellers trying to help each other out hoping to find a new 'eBay' out there just starting out. We all want to be there when it arrives. eBay had its day and now everyone is looking for another one to take its place. Even my sales are dismal and yet I keep holding out for that great change to take place with eBay before it is too late.

Yikes. That is a jaw-dropper: "Some haven't seen sales for months..."

And I start panicking when I don't get a sale overnight. I used to get so many more sales. Granted I had more listings back when sales were better but I can tell something has changed. My listings may need revision, dropping some of the stupid templates I am using.

juststuffisell · ‎10-27-2018

I agree somewhat with the premise.

eBay is trying to compete with Amazon and by extension Walmart for new commodity listings. The result has been a growing influx of NIB retail items across categories from multiple sellers. This has pushed pre-owned items - across many categories - down in the food chain.

I don't believe ebay is trying to shut out the small sellers, I do believe the nature of the shift in focus has resulted in smaller sellers of used items getting pushed out. This impacts the types of buyers that come to eBay which once represented a fine place to locate "museum" pieces, unique collectibles, etc etc etc, to now a site filled with more low quality new merchandise, much of it from China, than anything else.

IMHO there are a lot of factors at play. Policy shifts that have driven off sellers and in turn buyers. Poor buyer experiences that have driven off buyers. A shift in pricing driving off sellers. Reduced trust in eBay sellers, driving off buyers. Increased costs to sell, driving off sellers. Decline in sectors (collectibles etc) demands, driving off sellers and I am sure there are many additional factors. I do want to make sure I include the fact that every seller, was once a buyer.

While there are lots of vintage and collectibles on the platform still, I can tell you without a doubt, the buyers are not coming back to eBay for whatever reason resulting in an artificial market depression on the platform. I mean, you can watch items selling via auction on alternative website pulling in 25% to 100% more than you'll see on many eBay auction runs. Auction house numbers - and I am watching one right now waiting for a lot I am interested in to come up - items selling for WAY more than I can get at fixed price on eBay for antiques....

Just a sad state. I do not believe things will improve for sellers of pre-owned items on eBay, especially in the auction venue. Watch some auctions at https://www.ebth.com/ for jewelry.... Love that site and they are not shy about what they do well - kind of like eBay used to be. Etsy is a strong platform for retail of unusual and vintage in a fixed price environment with a very streamlined payment process that does not hinder the seller or buyer and the return days are fab 3 to 5 and if it is on sale - no return....nice. IMHO there are options that would be better for most sellers of pre-owned items. Some of us (ME...lol) are just not stepping out of our comfort zone to take advantage of them.

Cheers.

nessas_nook · ‎10-27-2018

I was talking to someone the other day, and they had gone to ebay to find a specific vintage item (I had not mentioned what has been going on here.) They couldn't find what they were looking for, and basically said that ebay is now just full of cheap Chinese nock offs. This is the reputation that ebay is now getting, and that is a person who will not be coming back to ebay. Also, the river is now starting a pilot program for small sellers, at least they realize that the small seller is getting lost amongst the large sellers/companies.

Still trying to find that forum that will work for me, hoping the new 'eBay' arrives soon.

orangehound · ‎10-27-2018

@rockbottomvalues wrote:
It seems that over time the complaints about ebay are put forth by most sellers who are selling used items such as vintage clothing or antiques or items found at garage sales.

The sellers who are raking in a lot of sales are not even on these forums. These sellers are selling new items that are made in China or are drop-shipping. These sellers are not even on these forums.

It lends a notion that ebay may be working to phase out the smaller seller who is selling used goods.

Agree?

I think it is a bit of a perfect storm.

eBay is clearly setting itself up to be a platform for new items ... last year, it was reported that 80% of the listings on eBay are now new items.
The YouTube promoters of "get-rich-flipping-used-stuff" have resulted in a flood of sellers and merchandise onto eBay in the last 2-3 years. I've seen increases of four-fold in a lot of categories like collectables and used clothing - which means that the average buyer has lost 75% of their business due solely to a saturated market. Goodwill has so much demand that they are raising prices.
There are other sites competing for eBay's limited customer base now.
There seems to be a lot of speculation/evidence that the market for used items, collectables, knick knacks, etc is drying up as millenials prefer more minimalist lives, and the aging boomers (who are the primary buyers of this stuff) are downsizing or dying off.

fine_find · ‎10-28-2018

That quote was correct. "months." I for one have experienced this for the first time since I've been on here this year. This entire year has been like that in both stores. This is my 2nd store and very different from my other store but both are struggling to stay here. I have had to pay the store fees out of pocket some months and that is becoming unacceptable. I feel like all I am doing now is giving everything to eBay.

I am also a buyer. I was a buyer long before I became a seller, so I do understand the pros and cons from each side.

fine_find · ‎10-28-2018

You should also add that it is those aging boomers who have most of the money and not the millennials as many think. They are still spending too. As for those millennials, some do understand quality over quantity and are buying up collectibles when they can find what they're looking for even in their minimalist lives.

usmediamass · ‎10-28-2018

@orangehound
You make valid points.
I sell in the saturated market. It did not get saturated in one day. However, ebay did cut my traffic by 30% in one day and never brought it back. The chart of those months just shows one big step down on the first of a month and not a sloping decline.
The loss of items being seen is a huge impact in my market. The sponsored listings that take the place of desired items do not make more sales but do place more money in ebay's pockets.
I understand why the numbers are falling. It is human nature and happens to me. When I am sourcing/shopping for our store I hate being in a place that I have to look at hundreds of items that I have no interest in. I want to source where I have the best chance of finding the hidden gem and many as I can. That is not ebay anymore. The items that I am forced to look at on ebay has taken the fun out of shopping on ebay. If I filter what I want, sponsored items that do not met the criteria that I am filtering for still show up. I spend less time shopping on ebay then I did two years ago, so I also spend less money on ebay then I did two years ago. Yes I know that sales are up 8% on ebay but that is not from me. How does ebay calutlate the sales and all the discount coupons I get to shop on ebay everyday? The new algorithm and the sponsored adds are hurting my market more then downsizing or dying off. The millennials going minimalist like the quality at a lower price.
We are still providing a product that people want or need. We do so at a fraction of the cost of new, with good customer service and as long as people want items that they can not afford new, there will be demand. I just hope ebay allows us to get our product in front of the buyers before they are driven away with the ebay pollution.

orangehound · ‎10-28-2018

@usmediamass wrote:
However, ebay did cut my traffic by 30% in one day and never brought it back.

@usmediamass

This is (likely) due to the recent algorithm change. My observation is that those suffering the loss have inventories that sell more slowly (lower click-through-rates and low conversion rates), and those being helped by the change have inventories that sell more quickly (higher click-through-rates and higher conversion rates).

I think these two numbers, both for single items and for the whole of one's inventory are vital.

This is also why I now believe that it is important to get rid of items that have been sitting in your inventory for long periods of time - auction them off or donate them - improve pictures/titles/prices to improve click-through rates, and have good listings that get good conversion rates.

By the way, two days ago I ended 5-6 items that were 12+ month dogs from our inventory ... they had lots of views and no sales. Before the purge, we had no sales in about a 12 hour period ... within 30 minutes after the purge, we had 3 sales, nearly back-to-back. Coincidence? Probably ... but I took notice just in case.

@usmediamass wrote:
The millennials going minimalist like the quality at a lower price.

Many millenials also like to shop used clothing.

@usmediamass wrote:
How does ebay calutlate the sales and all the discount coupons I get to shop on ebay everyday?

I had read somewhere that the cost of the site-wide coupons comes out of their marketing budget ... but, I don't recall that it was an authoritative source, so that info may be incorrect.

inthepastcollectibles · ‎10-28-2018

I will like seeing how that all plays out for eBay and their buyers, when Trump stops the postage subsidies they now enjoy in China. Along with tariffs that will be imposed, Trump states he will pull out of the postage treaty that allows Chinese sellers an unfair advantage in selling/importing their goods

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/17/donald-trump-administration-moves-pull-out-p...

eBay (and many retailers) have put their eggs in the cheap & new basket and most of it comes from China. I work at the post office and if that comes true, it will be a HUGE HIT on these products and used brand name items from US sellers will look much better. Postage is high to ship in the US, but if this comes to be it will be astronomical for China to ship here. I am not a Trump supporter, but I applaude him if he does this. There are so many headwinds for eBay in the coming future that I have NO DOUBT that this year or the beginning of next year, it will be in drowning territory. The stock is down over 40% this year from $46.99 to $27.34....take heart sellers that are down 40%, it's not you......it's eBay!! This is not to mention the report by Paypal that came out stating eBay is DOWN significantly in GMV and that buyers are not buying, unless they know they can pay with Paypal. Personally, eBay only thought to manage the complaints of sellers and silence them, but they can't silence Paypal and they cannot change US policy. I guess the genuises at eBay thought they could do anything and get away with it. Too bad they were looking through a cracked crystal ball!!!

inthepastcollectibles · ‎10-28-2018

https://www.google.com/search?q=ebay+stock&oq=ebay+s&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i60l3j0j69i65.5359j0j7&sou...

inthepastcollectibles · ‎10-28-2018

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/27/do-paypals-recent-results-spell-trouble-for-ebay.aspx

rockbottomvalues · ‎10-28-2018

@inthepastcollectibles wrote:
I will like seeing how that all plays out for eBay and their buyers, when Trump stops the postage subsidies they now enjoy in China. Along with tariffs that will be imposed, Trump states he will pull out of the postage treaty that allows Chinese sellers an unfair advantage in selling/importing their goods
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/17/donald-trump-administration-moves-pull-out-p...

eBay (and many retailers) have put their eggs in the cheap & new basket and most of it comes from China. I work at the post office and if that comes true, it will be a HUGE HIT on these products and used brand name items from US sellers will look much better. Postage is high to ship in the US, but if this comes to be it will be astronomical for China to ship here. I am not a Trump supporter, but I applaude him if he does this. There are so many headwinds for eBay in the coming future that I have NO DOUBT that this year or the beginning of next year, it will be in drowning territory. The stock is down over 40% this year from $46.99 to $27.34....take heart sellers that are down 40%, it's not you......it's eBay!! This is not to mention the report by Paypal that came out stating eBay is DOWN significantly in GMV and that buyers are not buying, unless they know they can pay with Paypal. Personally, eBay only thought to manage the complaints of sellers and silence them, but they can't silence Paypal and they cannot change US policy. I guess the genuises at eBay thought they could do anything and get away with it. Too bad they were looking through a cracked crystal ball!!!

I have emailed the White House several times to implore Pres. Trump to discard this ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING AND UNFAIR AND RIDICULOUS SHIPPING INSANITY. What idiot thought up to allow Chinese sellers to ship for pennies when sellers in the US ship for insanely inflated prices RELATIVE to Chinese sellers. This is like HELL on earth. If Trump resolves this then he will go down as the BEST US President. This is unbelievable. HOW UNFAIR IS THIS?????? WHY DO WE BEND OVER BACKWARDS FOR CHINESE SELLERS??????

Get a pair of reading glasses for 1.00 including shipping? Give me a BREAK!!!!!

inthepastcollectibles · ‎10-28-2018

Just for an FYI, the retail USPS price to ship a package to China STARTS at $24.00 and goes up from there, depending on weight and dimensions. Let see how many Chinese baubles can be shipped to the US, when the starting price to ship is $24.00. Yes, this will definitely put US sellers in a much better position and push the price of Chinese goods up considerably....... The only thing I wonder is how all these retailers and drop shippers of Chinese goods will accommodate the huge increase in shipping prices (not to mention tariffs) in their business model? Yes those readers might retail at $1, but if you add $24 to ship......well, you can see the problem, can't you?