eBay

new_spin_boutique · ‎08-17-2023

Hi fellow eBayers.

Due to the increasingly crippling site issues and erratic behavior of our platform, I decided to cross list my entire store. Then, I decided, let's just try promoting the 2/3 of my store that is not promoted, at 3%, just to see. If eBay is demanding I pay a little more in addition to the standard fees(which is charged on shipping & tax) + store subscription, then maybe it's worth playing their game so that I can avoid having to worry about managing two platforms.

After two days, here is the data that I have from my performance tab. While the data indicates that my impressions more than doubled, my views barely increased, my sales plummeted(including ZERO promoted sales), and I picked up a significantly less amount of watchers than I typically do in the same time period.

What I can deduce from this, is the site is broken. I don't sell junk. I sell, mostly, sought after necessities. In this economic time, as it has been shown in history, consumers seek out cost-saving opportunities for said necessities when the cost of living increases or the ability to meet the monetary needs of the cost of living decreases. eBay, in the categories of necessities, SHOULD be thriving. There SHOULD be an uptick. Parents still need to clothe and feed their children. People still need to dress appropriately for the jobs they have that barely pay their bills.

eBay has created a situation where it has become difficult, if not impossible, for the buyer to find the item they're seeking, difficult for the seller to connect with the appropriate buyer, and is, instead, relying on extorting sellers for meaningless traffic that exacerbates the problems on this site.

I'm happy to pay fees to conduct business on this platform. I'm happy to look past eBay charging fees on shipping & TAX collected. I'm happy to pay the store subscription costs. I'm happy to work with eBay to help improve the platform. I'm happy to cater to my customers, because, they're OUR customers. I'm happy to take lower offers for those in a bad financial situation. I'm happy to go far above and beyond to provide positive experiences for buyers, to my own financial detriment. I'm happy to provide free returns for customers who are less than satisfied and eat the costs. I'm happy to take more photos than necessary, and painstakingly detail anything that could be perceived as an imperfection. I'm happy to forget about the fact that I can't find a customer service rep that can provide customer service, or can even express themselves clearly, or has basic knowledge of the platform.

I can go on, and on, and on about all of the problems. We didn't even dive into policy issues that are exploited, daily, and the lack of recourse that we have.

eBay has become a real 'you know what' show. It's unhealthy for the buyers and the sellers. This effort to strongarm the difference between what eBay was and what it is, out of the sellers, only serves to further accelerate the decline of the site.

I don't want to cross list and build on another platform. Though very easy to do with today's tools, I have been an ambassador for the platform for so long, participating in every way that I could to help improve the site - sending in videos when asked to, participating in eBay Council, etc. However, at this point, it has become apparent it was all for not. This new system is literally destroying the platform as without the sellers and the buyers, eBay is just a bunch of (broken) code. The sellers are eBay's customers and the buyers are OUR customers. Without the sellers, you have no buyers. Without the buyers, eBay has assets to liquidate to pay off its debt.

vvvIMPRESSIONSvvv

coolections · ‎08-18-2023

@new_spin_boutique wrote:
1/3 of my store that I had been promoting is old stuff. I took 2022 off, and what didn't sell during that year is what I began to promote after returning this year.

There is your problem. If people did not want it in 2022 there is an extremely good chance they will not want in in 2023.

new_spin_boutique · ‎08-18-2023

@coolector LOL, you're funny

new_spin_boutique · ‎08-18-2023

Thread has been solved. Updated with best answer (for comic relief)... we could all use it

coolections · ‎08-18-2023

Thanks. Experiments rarely work, especially on Ebay and without tons of data. Glad you know to not take it so serious.

new_spin_boutique · ‎08-18-2023

Yep, nothing to see here, folks. As it turns out, we're all delusional. Coolections solved the riddle.

movieman630 · ‎08-18-2023

3% isn't enough. You now have to go to the "suggested rate" in order to see a difference.

new_spin_boutique · ‎08-18-2023

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't... that's not the point. The point is the data. Nearly three times the impressions, same views, dramatically LESS sales. Worst sales day in years in a progressively worse trend.

I don't believe the sales were a result of going promoted as most other resellers I know had an abysmal day yesterday. In fact, many stating that it was their worst day in years, like me. They didn't do any dramatic changes like I did.

However, according to the performance tab, I saw a dramatic increase in traffic which should have reflected in the other statistics, but it didn't. In fact, it was inverse. What this proves is that the site is broken. I'm almost certain that promoting will have a positive impact in sales when the site is working, but not when the site is broken, as it currently is.

I do promote things in competitive categories. I'm fine with that. I see the benefits, even at lower rates. However, when the site is broken as it currently is and has been, I may as well be standing on my front porch yelling into the sky "LOOK AT MY LISTINGS"

bryo_3145 · ‎08-18-2023

Some but not all of my grocery prices are starting to go back down.

bryo_3145 · ‎08-18-2023

Disney's graph looks about the same.

new_spin_boutique · ‎08-18-2023

@bryo_3145 Glad to hear.

cardxcraft · ‎08-18-2023

I was never one to compare Ebay to other sites, and I was on the fence as to whether or not the economy was the biggest factor influencing the downturn in sales.

Then I started selling on another platform that is a fraction of the size of Ebay, yet, I get more sales from the other platform. I wrote this yesterday and several days ago: it's not the economy folks, it's Ebay.

Ebay has fallen and they can't get up...That's a reference only a golden oldie could appreciate.

new_spin_boutique · ‎08-18-2023

The sad thing - the search on the community hub forums works far better than on the selling site. Why can't eBay get the guy who programmed the search feature on the community hub to program the search feature on the selling site?

Kinda makes me wonder - what's REALLY going on at eBay? Mistakes? Accidents? Mishaps? Errors? Or.......

lizual · ‎08-18-2023

I agree. I recently did a search as a BUYER for a specific brand of jeans in my size. Of the first 4 results I saw at the top of the screen, three were the correct brand but one was not my size. The fourth one was not the correct brand or size. So they are asking us to pay for promoted listings and then promoting stuff to buyers that doesn't even match their search. This is a broken system.