eBay

Anonymous · ‎10-24-2021

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 ?

itsjustasprain · ‎10-25-2021

@yuzuha wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Once you've been sent into the black hole, you don't get any views without promoting.
Congrats if you haven't been sent yet, but you will be.
Because it couldn't possibly be that some things just don't have much demand. I've listed items that had multiple views and watchers within about 30 minutes of them going up. I've listed other things that were just crickets for weeks because not many people were interested in them.

I list stuff in my selling account for which Im willing to wait because I KNOW there will not be a lot of interest unless its someone who needs that part. When they do then I may be the only one who has it or at least has the best price for it. I can think of one item in particular where I have a bunch of them all New old stock and as close to zero demand as you can get - but as long as its a zero cost listing then why not let it run - and when someone suddenly actually bought one a month or so back after over a year of no activity on that listing - maybe even two years by now - I have to admit that I was amazed. But the buyer was happy and I got a few bucks for it - so all good.

yuzuha · ‎10-25-2021

@itsjustasprain wrote:
I list stuff in my selling account for which Im willing to wait because I KNOW there will not be a lot of interest unless its someone who needs that part. When they do then I may be the only one who has it or at least has the best price for it. I can think of one item in particular where I have a bunch of them all New old stock and as close to zero demand as you can get - but as long as its a zero cost listing then why not let it run - and when someone suddenly actually bought one a month or so back after over a year of no activity on that listing - maybe even two years by now - I have to admit that I was amazed. But the buyer was happy and I got a few bucks for it - so all good.

Exactly-- I do the same. I once had a particular collectible listed for three years before it finally sold, but it did sell for my full asking price because along came that one buyer who really wanted it. It didn't have much demand but it was worth it in the end because I made a pretty nice profit on it. That one buyer who wanted it REALLY wanted it and was happy to pay my asking price.

glasser · ‎10-25-2021

eBay sees advertising--PLs and the new PL--as lucrative revenue stream. They see how sites lime Amazon make money off of selling valuable--top of search--real estate and think hey we can do that too.

I am pretty sure a next step at some point will be selling PLs that get you placements on Facebook and Google. If they can raise how the male on a sold listing by a few % they can make oodles of money. FVF fees may stay the same but the cost of selling rises (like charging FVF on taxes).

We don't know the full consequences yet long term. eBay has always been a platform where sellers compete against one another. However, it was based on how well you knew your market, your titles and descriptions, and the quality of customer service your provided NOT how much you were willing to pay eBay to make the sale.

Buyers won't be happy if their search results are littered with items being promoted that are not relevant to their search (happen all the time on Amazon). I have noticed that the best match sort of results know contains some item specific potential sores as well. Pointless in what I sell probably helpful in other areas.

If eBay's long term plan is extricate more $'s per sale from sellers, it either means they lack the creativity to find ways to build the buyer base, and/or they believe growth in revenue can only come from from a stagnant of diminishing buyer base ( AKA as a death spiral).

Small sellers can compete in niche markets as long as buyers hang around. eBay would be well-served to understand these niche markets better (maybe listen to some of us :() I may not do a ton of sales but eBay gets more from me each year than my ISP or phone provider. eBay's infrastructure and overhead costs are likely pennies to the dollar for a compared to a Verizon or Comcast so I am sure eBay is making money on me.

fantasticresales · ‎01-04-2022

been selling since 2003 - and have rolled with all the punches and iodic changes that ebay has implemented went from 16,000 -20,000 a year seller to 749.00 - they have made it impossible and our now stating they are going to suspend my account from ever EVER SELLING ON EBAY AGAIN - THAT IS THE THANKS I GET FOR SELLING ON EBAY - I HAVE PAID thru the nose for previews and because my 2 items were not scanned no fault of my own and my home had a flood incident in which two totes were lost by moving company disaster management and i DID NOT catch that the said items were in the LOST totes under ebay polices i have been below standard because of it - EVEN THOUGH FLOOD IS CONSIDERED BEYOUND MY CONTROL AND IS DOCUMENTED - WELL KICK ME IN THE **bleep** ... THE 2 ITEMS NOT SCANNED - I PLACE IN MAIL BOX TO be picked up by rural post office person and YES SOME OF THOSE CANCELED SALES WERE BECAUSE I HAD DUPLICATE LISTINGS AND SOLD SOME OF THEM - HUMAN ERROR - MEAN WHILE LARGE MEGA SELLERS CAN HAVE 32 NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS AND DEFECT RATES AND LET ME SEE NOT SHIPPING THIER STUFF AT ALL AND BECAUSE THEY ARE A CASH COW - THEY GO UNNOTICED - I KNOW BECAUSE I ORDER JEWELRY FROM INDIA AND I HAVE SEEN THIER FEEDBACK - i feel like i am just being swept under the rug and they are taking my 60.00 a month and now froze my limits - I CANT LIST **bleep** - THANKS EBAY - I CANT BE A CASH COW IF I CANT LIST - YET MY FEEDBACK IS GREAT AND MY CUSTOMERS LOVE ME - SO I HAVE ONE NEG FEEDBACKI - THEY LADY OPENED CASE WITH PAYPAL NOT EBAY I COULD NOT REFUND HER SHIPPING THRU PAY PAL BECAUSE SHE OPENED CASE WITH THEM AND THEY RULED ITEM REFUND ONLY NOT THE RETURN SHIP I WAS GOING TO REFUND HER IF SHE SENT IT THRU EBAY - AND I HAVE ONE NEUTRAL -ALL 500 CUSTOMERS ARE PERFECTLY HAPPY ...HMMM BUT IM SUCH AN AWEFUL SELLER - FOR LET ME SEE SELLING TO OVER 5,000 ALL THESE YRS - AND GIVING FREE GIFTS AND REPEAT CUSTOMERS TOO ... that is okay - I AM TAKING MY MERCH AND I AM GOING SOMEWHERE MORE TRENDY ... THEY CAN KEEP THIER MEGA SELLERS AND CASH COWS - I MAY EVEN OPEN MY OWN LITTLE SHOP IN TOWN BY THE HIGH SCHOOL BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT FOR AWHILE ....EBAY ALL I CAN SAY IS ........ KARMA