eBay

vintagequeennyc · ‎04-25-2019

Man, oh man. I’m really starting to worry about the future of selling on eBay as a small to mid-level seller. This site is beginning to feel like a graveyard.

My sales have been in a very steep and fast decline since January 2019. My 60 day sales total is thousands of dollars below what it was 3-4 months ago and dropping by the day.

I have kept increasing my number of listings but sales are almost non-existent. I’ve been selling new and used clothing here for 13 years and this is currently my full-time job. Yes, I know clothing is saturated but it always has been. That’s never held back my sales. 2 years ago I was making twice as much money with half the number of listings. I’m currently partly disabled recovering from an accident and unable to work an outside job. So for me, this massive slump of sales is becoming incredibly frightening.

Not to mention my impressions dashboard metrics are all up substantially since the GTC change a month ago but my sell-through rate is down 50%!!! I KNOW it’s not my inventory or prices. I’ve been at this game a long time and keep a careful watch on those things and know I am offering amazing deals on desirable items.

It’s starting to get VERY scary for me here. I used to know that if I listed good stuff at great prices, I could make money fast and reliably. Now the only reliable thing is the lack of sales.

Is ebay truly dying?? Have buyers abandoned this site en masse? Is it the algorithm and blackouts? Are we seeing the beginning stages of an economic recession? I sit here and look through my listings and think, “How the HECK hasn’t that sold?? Or that? Or this?!”

I’m truly at a loss as to what is going on. I’ve NEVER seen such a fast and drastic sales slowdown in all my years selling here. It really feels like an apocalypse.

gamersbaystore · ‎04-26-2019

This is exactly what I mentioned in another post just the other day. I shared an image that showed the entire DVD and video games categories were down over 7% in sales as well. ebay is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. As for their claims their revenues are up, they're clearly cooking the books.

ebay is clearly lying to its investors. Their sellers are all going bankrupt, and so is this platform, and their own data proves it. I saw the financial reports for ebay in the news this past few days, its all a lie. ebay is claiming their sales are way up, they definitely are not.

baantiques · ‎04-26-2019

I gave up trying to make a living selling on Ebay. The closest I came was late 2016 through August of 2017. After that, ebay slowly reduced my hidden selling limit so that now it's part time income only. I've found I can keep a not unreasonable level of sales by listing new items or relisting old items after they have dropped off the 90 day window.

zamo-zuan · ‎04-26-2019

@gamersbaystore wrote:
This is exactly what I mentioned in another post just the other day. I shared an image that showed the entire DVD and video games categories were down over 7% in sales as well. ebay is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. As for their claims their revenues are up, they're clearly cooking the books.

ebay is clearly lying to its investors. Their sellers are all going bankrupt, and so is this platform, and their own data proves it. I saw the financial reports for ebay in the news this past few days, its all a lie. ebay is claiming their sales are way up, they definitely are not.

I've complained about it a lot, but the biggest example of this isn't GTC, rather it's Sponsored Listings.

They lower the amount of visibility you can get normally, then you have to pay them directly for Sponsored Listings to get it back.

This money goes DIRECTLY to eBay. It does not give the customers any better offerings - it actually gives the customer WORSE PRICES. It does not help sellers, it costs sellers more.

It only puts money in eBay's pocket, so they can make their stock reports show earnings. Despite the fact that they are losing sales.

Try something out. Check the "Deals" on the front page of eBay. Any that are not refurbished, highlight them, R click, and compare to competing marketplaces.

EBay used to be the cheapest. Now we're higher. Even the "Deals" on eBay are more expensive than competitors regular offerings.

tunicaslot · ‎04-26-2019

@gamersbaystore wrote:
Yeah, I keep listing daily to try and combat the declining sales. Adding hundreds of new listings brought 1/3 as many sales as the month prior. At this point, I haven't even made enough money to pay my store fees that are due in 5 days 😞 To make matters worse, I'm running out of stuff to list for sale, which isn't helping the situation.

I can't even afford to buy food. I've been eating 20 cent packages of instant noodles for weeks and nothing else. Its all I can afford. Its literally gotten to the point where its made me sick. Last night I finally broke down and bought real food for the first time in weeks. Its not worth starving to death to pay ebay. I'm still sick from weeks of not eating right though.

I did get some sales this past week, but the funds all went to my ISP, as they were threatening to shut off my internet unless they got paid ASAP.

Its not just ebay that's the problem, its the huge economic divide in America that's turning us into a third-world country. We're now a nation of the haves and have nots. The rich keep getting richer, while the working class keeps falling deeper and deeper into poverty.

I'm going to disagree with the bolded because if the rich keep getting richer - they are the ones that would be buying the high end and niche fashion that the OP and I sell and they're not. I listed an item here and cross posted it on another venue. Great item - lots of interest right away - a lot of low ball offers - when I checked the other venue - it had already sold at full asking price.

Ebay has trained buyers to expect more for less. A couple of months ago month I wanted to get rid of shelf sitters. I marked a vintage tee - new with tags $10 with free shipping. I got an offer of $5 when it cost $4.36 to ship. I decided to donate everything instead.

People do have money - but where they are buying has changed and clothing sellers do better elsewhere - but hey a sale is a sale and why so many of us still cross post on Ebay.

zamo-zuan · ‎04-26-2019

@tunicaslot wrote:
@gamersbaystore wrote:
Yeah, I keep listing daily to try and combat the declining sales. Adding hundreds of new listings brought 1/3 as many sales as the month prior. At this point, I haven't even made enough money to pay my store fees that are due in 5 days 😞 To make matters worse, I'm running out of stuff to list for sale, which isn't helping the situation.

I can't even afford to buy food. I've been eating 20 cent packages of instant noodles for weeks and nothing else. Its all I can afford. Its literally gotten to the point where its made me sick. Last night I finally broke down and bought real food for the first time in weeks. Its not worth starving to death to pay ebay. I'm still sick from weeks of not eating right though.

I did get some sales this past week, but the funds all went to my ISP, as they were threatening to shut off my internet unless they got paid ASAP.

Its not just ebay that's the problem, its the huge economic divide in America that's turning us into a third-world country. We're now a nation of the haves and have nots. The rich keep getting richer, while the working class keeps falling deeper and deeper into poverty.

I'm going to disagree with the bolded because if the rich keep getting richer - they are the ones that would be buying the high end and niche fashion that the OP and I sell and they're not. I listed an item here and cross posted it on another venue. Great item - lots of interest right away - a lot of low ball offers - when I checked the other venue - it had already sold at full asking price.

Ebay has trained buyers to expect more for less. A couple of months ago month I wanted to get rid of shelf sitters. I marked a vintage tee - new with tags $10 with free shipping. I got an offer of $5 when it cost $4.36 to ship. I decided to donate everything instead.

People do have money - but where they are buying has changed and clothing sellers do better elsewhere - but hey a sale is a sale and why so many of us still cross post on Ebay.

On that note, eBay has money too. They are making more money, off LESS SALES, than ever according to the stock report.

They're making money every time you use their shipping labels. They're making money off the returns on the non refundable FVF's. They're making money by replacing first page search results with sponsored listings. They're making money off customers, as the prices are going up due to having to pay for sponsored listings, which translates in to higher FVF's as well.

They've improved their own margin out of the pockets of sellers AND customers.

One thing I would like to try is checking with someone who purchases our items from search. See if they don't use a sponsored listing (and use a natural search result) and check if we're being charged for the sponsored listing fees when they don't click the sponsored listing...

partsman330 · ‎04-26-2019

Ebay IS making money but not off sales. Ever notice when you are checking your selling page that there is a banner ad? There are banner ads everywhere. Everytime you look at how your sales are doing or shipping orders you are giving those banner ads impressions. I noticed some are even positioned so you accidentally click on them more easily. They are making money off sellers in other ways not just commissions from sales.

They generate revenue in many other ways you don't even realize. Its very smart, just not good as far as things go for those who are selling on their site.

zamo-zuan · ‎04-26-2019

@partsman330 wrote:

They generate revenue in many other ways you don't even realize. Its very smart, just not good as far as things go for those who are selling on their site.

I would say in the short term, it's very smart.

But considering it's actually hurting eBay's sales and market value, it's not smart in the long term.

Why on earth would a marketplace profit off of giving customers WORSE offerings like they do with Sponsored Listings?

Other marketplaces do the opposite to encourage growth. Amazon takes a loss on shipping. EBay profits off shipping by giving us Commercial Plus prices on some items, and Commercial Plus + 5 cents on others. Meanwhile they have a deeper discount that they only give to China sellers. To "help them get around the tariffs"... when US companies are the one to pay tariffs anyway, and not China!!

And they're using those same shipping bonuses as "incentive" to get people to use their fulfillment system.

Any marketplace that discourages rather than encourages growth? I can't say that's a "smart" system at all. They are profiting from the wrong areas and this will hurt them more than it helps.

partsman330 · ‎04-26-2019

I agree with you its not a good business model esp in the long term. It's smart in the way its so sneaky and clever. Most people don't even realize it at all. This, along with other sneakey money-grabs, are what is keeping them afloat IMO.

goldrushfinds · ‎04-26-2019

greg213213 - Exactly the same thing for me. Sales were OK in Feb/Mar, then since early April it has been lights out. This past week has been pathetic. I also check sales for other local sellers on Ebay and their sales are also abysmal. As a side note, I recently bought a pair of shoes on Ebay and I tried to look it up under solds. Well you know what, even if I entered the exact listing title, the sale did not show. Ebay has got problems.

tools* · ‎04-26-2019

@partsman330 wrote:
Ebay IS making money but not off sales. Ever notice when you are checking your selling page that there is a banner ad? There are banner ads everywhere. Everytime you look at how your sales are doing or shipping orders you are giving those banner ads impressions. I noticed some are even positioned so you accidentally click on them more easily. They are making money off sellers in other ways not just commissions from sales.

They generate revenue in many other ways you don't even realize. Its very smart, just not good as far as things go for those who are selling on their site.

I never see ads on websites.

weschurch · ‎04-26-2019

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@tunicaslot wrote:
@gamersbaystore wrote:
Yeah, I keep listing daily to try and combat the declining sales. Adding hundreds of new listings brought 1/3 as many sales as the month prior. At this point, I haven't even made enough money to pay my store fees that are due in 5 days 😞 To make matters worse, I'm running out of stuff to list for sale, which isn't helping the situation.

I can't even afford to buy food. I've been eating 20 cent packages of instant noodles for weeks and nothing else. Its all I can afford. Its literally gotten to the point where its made me sick. Last night I finally broke down and bought real food for the first time in weeks. Its not worth starving to death to pay ebay. I'm still sick from weeks of not eating right though.

I did get some sales this past week, but the funds all went to my ISP, as they were threatening to shut off my internet unless they got paid ASAP.

Its not just ebay that's the problem, its the huge economic divide in America that's turning us into a third-world country. We're now a nation of the haves and have nots. The rich keep getting richer, while the working class keeps falling deeper and deeper into poverty.

I'm going to disagree with the bolded because if the rich keep getting richer - they are the ones that would be buying the high end and niche fashion that the OP and I sell and they're not. I listed an item here and cross posted it on another venue. Great item - lots of interest right away - a lot of low ball offers - when I checked the other venue - it had already sold at full asking price.

Ebay has trained buyers to expect more for less. A couple of months ago month I wanted to get rid of shelf sitters. I marked a vintage tee - new with tags $10 with free shipping. I got an offer of $5 when it cost $4.36 to ship. I decided to donate everything instead.

People do have money - but where they are buying has changed and clothing sellers do better elsewhere - but hey a sale is a sale and why so many of us still cross post on Ebay.
On that note, eBay has money too. They are making more money, off LESS SALES, than ever according to the stock report.

They're making money every time you use their shipping labels. They're making money off the returns on the non refundable FVF's. They're making money by replacing first page search results with sponsored listings. They're making money off customers, as the prices are going up due to having to pay for sponsored listings, which translates in to higher FVF's as well.

They've improved their own margin out of the pockets of sellers AND customers.

One thing I would like to try is checking with someone who purchases our items from search. See if they don't use a sponsored listing (and use a natural search result) and check if we're being charged for the sponsored listing fees when they don't click the sponsored listing...

Intelligent conversation folks! This is awesome! Thanks to everyone as this really is talking the ins and outs of Ebay currently.

As I've been saying, and the release from DW confirms, Ebay is staying afloat from all the fluff tactics/site structuring and not because of sales. Actual sales are decreasing rapidly and Ebay is trying to capitalize on whatever fame they had years ago solely with the Ebay name. In reality the site, for sellers, is in shambles. Ebay then uses those sellers, and the allure of 2010 Ebay, to get the desperate struggling folks to reach further in their pockets. Ebay has became a snake oil expert.

The hope is mangled payments will be the next revenue booster to stay afloat. This is the golden egg, that if fails, will probably be the end of Ebay.

The problem is instead of the doing real genuine work to the core marketplace Ebay has decided to focus on doing whatever they can to show profit. Short tern revenue boosts to show quarterly gains over and over and over. That however has done such damage to the reputation, couple with Amazons continuing explosion and relatively positive image that Ebay is not in a position any longer to force people into managed payments like they did with paypal decades ago. People will just decide Ebay doesn't hold the presence it once did, isn't a bit fun like it used to be, and is to burdensome to justify signing up for.

Then whats left? A whole lotta of junk with no buyers. Watch it play out, its going to be ugly.

keziak · ‎04-26-2019

@vintagequeennyc wrote:

I have kept increasing my number of listings but sales are almost non-existent. I’ve been selling new and used clothing here for 13 years and this is currently my full-time job. Yes, I know clothing is saturated but it always has been. That’s never held back my sales. 2 years ago I was making twice as much money with half the number of listings. I’m currently partly disabled recovering from an accident and unable to work an outside job. So for me, this massive slump of sales is becoming incredibly frightening.

A buyer's perspective: until recently when I lost weight I only bought clothing by brand (Just My Size usually). Lately I've felt like buying dresses to feel pretty. It was an eye-opening experience. Searching by size returned so many listings, including what I could tell was Chinese junk. Fortunately I stumbled upon a brand elsewhere and found the dresses here for 50% off compared to elsewhere and I bought a few. But searching for "denim dress" in my size just returns way too many dresses that do not interest me or even look like what I have in mind. So despite the saturation I have only found a couple of things to buy.

citabriapiper · ‎04-26-2019

I wish this wasn't your posting ID, I was interested in looking. But I understand. Sales are worse than ever
You are not alone

gamersbaystore · ‎04-26-2019

I agree this downturn has a lot to do with those promoted listings, rather than just changes with GTC. But I've seen traffic go up as a result of them, and my sales get cut down to nothing at the same time. Its how ebay's algorithm's work with those promoted listings that's the problem.

As I mentioned in other posts, ebay is now grouping all similar items together, and this is exactly why prices are falling so hard and not just sales, ebay is forcing a massive price war among its sellers. List a game or movie for sale, and ebay will advertise all your competitors identical items directly inside your listing.

After ebay opened the doors for smaller non store sellers to make use of promoted listings, this helped institute that price war we see now. ebay is using promoted listings not just as a means to make more profits from sellers, but also as a means to force sellers to lower their prices or lose all potential sales.

And of course store based sellers are losing tons of sales, simply for the fact they're now forced to compete with the sellers who have 10 or 20 items for sale, and who're willing to give their goods away for pennies on the dollar.

The prices for just about every product on this platform are down the tubes. We can see now through the evidence provided from ebay's own analytics that the entire ebay market place is down over 7% in sales on average over the last month. There's too much competition, and ebay ruined the bulk of its larger sellers by allowing the smaller ones to undercut us.

The real issue above all is ebay's bad algorithms. They're designed to make ebay profits, all while bankrupting sellers. and just look at the ridiculous rates for using those promoted listings. The rates have gone up substantially over the last month for just about any category.

gamersbaystore · ‎04-26-2019

Two words, "Promoted Listings." Its a feature the bulk of sellers now all have access to, and many of those sellers are just looking to give all their stuff away for beer and gas money. And you're right, there's plenty of people who still have money to spend, but no matter what price you put, ebay will use your listings to promote your competitors similar, and in many cases identical items.

I'm sure those buyers with money are still buying, they're just getting everything they buy for pennies on the dollar now, no thanks to ebay's crooked algorithms that force you to slash your prices down to nothing.

Store subscribers now have to compete with those selling counterfeit and stolen merchandise, and obviously I cannot compete with the low prices of either.