Small Seller Epiphany

[Anonymous]

Hey All,

I've been in the group thinking that eBay is going downhill, ruining the site, and on their way out.

Cruising this forum and reading hundreds of threads, I've had an epiphany.......

eBay is making this site more difficult and unusable for SMALL SELLERS. eBay isn't going anywhere, small sellers are.

eBay started taking views from all sellers in groups at a time months ago, even before the roll out of Promoted Listings Advanced. They are still in the process of taking views and haven't gathered all sellers yet. If you are a small seller and are still getting sales without promoting, you just haven't been gathered yet. It's coming.

Small sellers can't afford PLA, it would eat up all profits for the promise of views, not sales.

The companies and really big sellers here, once gathered, can afford PLA to buy their views back.

Thousands of small sellers, once gathered, have clung to Promoted Listings Standard to buy their views back and are getting sales. PLS is affordable and usable for small sellers.

PLA was the first big shove to get rid of small sellers, and is the first step in a plan to do so.

If eBay's next big move is to make PLS unreachable for small sellers, or to do away with it altogether......well, small sellers are done. No views or sales for them once gathered, and eventually they all will be.

It's looking like eBay is converting to a more cataloged, commercial format.

There will be no more trinkets, collectibles, closet, yard sale, or used items sold here.

The best we small sellers can hope for is that they don't change or remove PLS for the rest of Q4.

Keep in mind, hundreds if not thousands of sellers will be leaving the platform at the end of the year voluntarily over the new reportable income amount dropping so much. Pretty sure that many small sellers have not been reporting their eBay income.

Thoughts ?

[Anonymous]

I stated that sellers leaving over the $600 rule will be going on as well as eBay pushing out small sellers, I never put the two together.

I appreciate your view and hope it's the same going into the new year.

[katzrul15]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Well, you've gone 360 in 1 day.............

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That's good, isn't it? If you do a 360, you will continue the way you were going... 😁

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Today, as 1 seller stomps off this site to go sell somewhere else, dozens more line up to take their place.  Why?  Because it is still "easier" to sell here than many places and only 1 (the Behemoth) has more traffic.

 I have always thought the "small sellers" (which would include me) are the ones with constant turnover, including those who only list one or two things and then never do anything more for whatever reason. Dozens may be "leaving" (or simply going inactive) as dozens more come in with their small listings. Their contributions, in other words, are about as negligible as their departures. It's only the massive sellers whose departures might actually have some measurable effect on eBay's bottom line.

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Used 360 as thought he was going around in circles....180 works too....LOL

Think we are saying the same thing.....the OP was talking about all the small sellers leaving - my point was that it will not matter... Some constantly out one door and many constantly "in" another door.

You are likely correct - if a contingent of the MEGAs decided to amass and leave, that "might" get someone's attention.  I used "might" as you can never really make logical statements about e-Bay.

[rustydalmatian]

Ebay is a publicly traded company.  They are beholden to their shareholders, not the occasional user of their platform.  You nailed it.

[bonjourami]

"I predict many will announce their departure."

All thirty million of them? What will Ebay do?

[chapeau-noir]

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@yuzuha wrote:

Small sellers are the LEAST likely to be affected by Promoted Listings since they tend to be the ones selling OOAK/harder-to-find items that don't have much competition in search. The ones who are really going to get hit hard are the big sellers who are all trying to sell the same commodities.

For a seller who is trying to sell, say, an antique mohair teddy bear or a vintage piece of Corning Ware where only 20 others are listed, there's no reason for them to promote their listing since they're all going to be on the first page. But someone selling iPhone cases? There are probably thousands of sellers selling those, and they're all going to be jockeying to be on the first page.

This is one case where the small sellers are actually going to come out ahead of the bigger ones.

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This ^^  I think people are missing this essential point.  Let the supergalactic sellers worry about beating each other over the head for a smaller and smaller slice of the pie.  People come to us for stuff they DON'T sell.

[flyingmvp]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey All,

I've been in the group thinking that eBay is going downhill, ruining the site, and on their way out.

Cruising this forum and reading hundreds of threads, I've had an epiphany.......

eBay is making this site more difficult and unusable for SMALL SELLERS. eBay isn't going anywhere, small sellers are.

eBay started taking views from all sellers in groups at a time months ago, even before the roll out of Promoted Listings Advanced. They are still in the process of taking views and haven't gathered all sellers yet. If you are a small seller and are still getting sales without promoting, you just haven't been gathered yet. It's coming.

Small sellers can't afford PLA, it would eat up all profits for the promise of views, not sales.

The companies and really big sellers here, once gathered, can afford PLA to buy their views back.

Thousands of small sellers, once gathered, have clung to Promoted Listings Standard to buy their views back and are getting sales. PLS is affordable and usable for small sellers.

PLA was the first big shove to get rid of small sellers, and is the first step in a plan to do so.

If eBay's next big move is to make PLS unreachable for small sellers, or to do away with it altogether......well, small sellers are done. No views or sales for them once gathered, and eventually they all will be.

It's looking like eBay is converting to a more cataloged, commercial format.

There will be no more trinkets, collectibles, closet, yard sale, or used items sold here.

The best we small sellers can hope for is that they don't change or remove PLS for the rest of Q4.

Keep in mind, hundreds if not thousands of sellers will be leaving the platform at the end of the year voluntarily over the new reportable income amount dropping so much. Pretty sure that many small sellers have not been reporting their eBay income.

Thoughts ?

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Thoughts? 

The current model is not working, thousands (Millions?) of sellers of all size and category are depending upon the acts of another publicly traded corporate, with multi millionerd CEO/management, share holders with multiple agendas that are totally counter productive to sellers, small/medium and even large.

[Anonymous]

One of my points is that one-offs and trinkets will no longer be needed or sold here.

It will become more of a commercial, new item selling place.

It doesn't matter how many small sellers of small or trinket items are being allowed to revolve in or out right now, none of them will be allowed the views required to sell, so they will all be dropping out.

[iart]

You might be right.

But how else should eBay handle the serious reduction in buyers? Buyers have left, confused by or tired of the glitches, or found new places to buy or just moved on. eBay may be trying to hold onto its medium and large sellers at the expense of the small ones. So, they focus on which sellers bring in more profit for them.

Yet, there will always be small sellers getting rid of items to clear out their attic, get pizza money or simply to brag that the 'sold something on eBay'.

We were small sellers once and we will be small sellers again within a few years. So, we hear ya.

[Anonymous]

eBay is going to a more efficient, steady business model.

They are done with small sellers coming in and going out, selling or not selling at their leisure.

Moving toward having only companies and large professional sellers here is a move toward even, steady consistency and a guaranteed rise of annual income. Yes, all for the shareholders and bigwigs who could care less how eBay does it, just that they do.

[coolections]

For every seller that leaves another comes. You are confused, ebay is not going down hill. The naysayers have been saying that for over 15 years now.

[coolections]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not without views, that is the key. 

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People see you stuff. Don't fool yourself.

[yuzuha]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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This ^^  I think people are missing this essential point.  Let the supergalactic sellers worry about beating each other over the head for a smaller and smaller slice of the pie.  People come to us for stuff they DON'T sell.

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Exactly. Just earlier today I was doing a search to price some seasonal collectibles I have to list-- 59 total search results. Why on earth would I want to waste money promoting them when they're guaranteed to be on the first or second page of results? Buyers will be able to see them just fine if they search for them, they're not going to get buried under 800 other listings like iPhone cases or phone chargers would.

[chapeau-noir]

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@Anonymous wrote:

One of my points is that one-offs and trinkets will no longer be needed or sold here.

It will become more of a commercial, new item selling place.

It doesn't matter how many small sellers of small or trinket items are being allowed to revolve in or out right now, none of them will be allowed the views required to sell, so they will all be dropping out.

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That would actually be hard to do - it means that the search has to be coded to exclude so many search queries and routines as to make it virtually useless.  I guess eBay could refuse any used items, gating categories like Amazon does, but that would mean everyone going onto another site and taking their customers with them.  Yes, granted less than 20% of items here are used, still, that would be a considerable reduction in their marketplace, and eBay is already struggling with shrinkage (hence, their cannibalizing it with promotions).

[coolections]

You are correct. The promoted listings is for those who compete with thousands of others selling the same thing. No need for promotions if there are fewer than 75 or so listed.

[powell-memorabilia]

@Anonymous 

My thought is that the doom and gloom crew is busy working overtime to spread defeatism, despair, and paranoia.  Well done.