So what's the real story?

[mr_lincoln]

I just re-read the "Summer Trends" June 27th post by the SVP + General Manager, American Market (link below).  However, what I would really like news and details on is how eBay will turn around the continued decline in sales that many, many members are reporting here on The Community, and a lot of them seem to be newer posters ... with Pay per Click PLS Advanced kicking off last year, the November 2021 Category reshuffling, the more recent Views counter change and other changes made to the venue's programming in the last 6-8 months I have lost confidence in the Search algorithms being able to function properly.

Earlier this year on the Traffic report Impressions took an abrupt nose dive ... 80.5% in a very, very short period of time.  Historically I run at least one PLS Standard Campaign per quarter and they normally do well but not so in 2022 ... this year the two I ran under performed which is baffling considering one of the ways the venue makes additional income is through promotion fees ... and in checking Traffic the last few days Impressions are once again dropping.

For myself and the categories I sell in I am not buying in to the economy excuse for declining sales ... if that were true then I and others would be making a killing on acquiring low priced inventory to resell ... in fact, the opposite seems to be happening - meaning competition to acquire inventory is stiffer then in the recent past.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Summer-Trends/ba-p/33032652

Something is seriously amiss within the organization and someone or some group knows what is is ... just wish they would let the rest of us know too ...

Regards,

Mr. L

[m60driver]

The real story was laid out by Ianonne several months ago when he stated that the future of Ebay is higher end niches like sneakers, trading cards, etc.  The real question is whether he will spin off the "traditional" small seller Ebay or just let it very slowly wither on the vine as he is now doing.

[katzrul15]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

I just re-read the "Summer Trends" June 27th post by the SVP + General Manager, American Market (link below).  However, what I would really like news and details on is how eBay will turn around the continued decline in sales that many, many members are reporting here on The Community, and a lot of them seem to be newer posters ... with Pay per Click PLS Advanced kicking off last year, the November 2021 Category reshuffling, the more recent Views counter change and other changes made to the venue's programming in the last 6-8 months I have lost confidence in the Search algorithms being able to function properly.

Earlier this year on the Traffic report Impressions took an abrupt nose dive ... 80.5% in a very, very short period of time.  Historically I run at least one PLS Standard Campaign per quarter and they normally do well but not so in 2022 ... this year the two I ran under performed which is baffling considering one of the ways the venue makes additional income is through promotion fees ... and in checking Traffic the last few days Impressions are once again dropping.

For myself and the categories I sell in I am not buying in to the economy excuse for declining sales ... if that were true then I and others would be making a killing on acquiring low priced inventory to resell ... in fact, the opposite seems to be happening - meaning competition to acquire inventory is stiffer then in the recent past.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Summer-Trends/ba-p/33032652

Something is seriously amiss within the organization and someone or some group knows what is is ... just wish they would let the rest of us know too ...

Regards,

Mr. L

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@mr_lincoln 

The issue?  You or I do not sell Trading Cards, Vaukt Items, Watches, Handbags or High-End Sneakers. 

In other words - what "we" sell, is not important.

[mr_lincoln]

@m60driver  Near the end of the article vintage board games are mentioned which would point to smaller Sellers ... I have had success with those in the past, even some of those mentioned.  ... certain ones do very well BUT I can't get them for a reasonable price to resell ...

I have two multi-compartment plastic cases that contain old vintage board game pieces and tokens so in some instances I can "complete" an otherwise incomplete vintage board game ... bingo tokens, dice of various sizes & colors, wooden finial shaped tokens, plastic houses - hotels for monopoly and other similar games, square cubes with letters for spelling games, ...

[mr_lincoln]

@katzrul15   So my three Barbie Dolls are throw aways right?  The end of the article mentions vintage board games ... which I have for sale and in the past have done quite well with ... I think I have sold 2 all year ... the ones I know that do well are hard to come by for a good price ... I do have one of the early Chutes and Ladders games but since I have 2 grand kids and another on the way I'm fine with not selling that one LOL!

Half of what was mentioned in that article are frequently scammed compared to other collectible categories ...

[ckimodog]

@m60driver 

A while back, I read an article where our fearless leader stated..."Ebay will be the NEW Amazon and the NEW Walmart...lol.  😆

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@ckimodog  That must have been a very long while back, because our current fearless leader has said repeatedly that ebay is not even really trying to compete with Amazon and WalMart anymore. 

[ckimodog]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Yes, it was sometime last year.  I guess they changed their mind.  

[monster-deals]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

Near the end of the article vintage board games are mentioned which would point to smaller Sellers

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Which is non-sensical because vintage board games are garbage or gold just like every other single item on this site.

Yes A board game is worth several hundred dollars.

...but it is one out of many multiple thousands of board games for sale.

If they could just figure out how to make the search engine work again and get buyers to find what buyers want to buy all of our problems would be in the past....but ebay does not want that.

[evry1nositswindy]

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@ckimodog wrote:

@m60driver 

A while back, I read an article where our fearless leader stated..."Ebay will be the NEW Amazon and the NEW Walmart...lol.  😆

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We already have a Walmart and an Amazon. 

Let's be something different!  Play up the hard to find, vintage, and fun aspect of finding things that makes eBay unique.

[lakefor94]

@mr_lincoln 

"For myself and the categories I sell in I am not buying in to the economy excuse for declining sales ... if that were true then I and others would be making a killing on acquiring low priced inventory to resell ... in fact, the opposite seems to be happening - meaning competition to acquire inventory is stiffer then in the recent past."

I mainly sell parts for structured data cabling, computer rooms and other voice/data equipment etc, etc.

Sales over the last 5 years were as steady as can be until last fall and then in April got even slower. I run about 1100 listings, steadily, consistently replacing sold items with new/different listings. I always used PL at 1% just to get the additional listing that would come up in search. When they said they were going to 2%, I cut that off a few weeks ago since it was not making much of a difference anyways. I never did see that many sellers using PL's in my categories.

Having previously worked in project management/purchasing in this field, I used regular vendors and Google to find parts/products. Only used part numbers for search. Never went and used eBay search. Always google.

Businesses remodeling and moving into new office suites and various communication contractors , IT personnel are my main buyers

I my mind, I have been relying on having solid item specifics and my items moving up in google search over time for buyers to find them on eBay. Most buyers using eBay search are other sellers looking to resell.  I sell to them quite often, especially lots. I reckon my point here is, I don't think eBay search was a huge factor in my sales.

I am thinking the economy has a lot to do with overall sales in my categories. Companies are holding back and spending less this year thus the reduction in sales. I might expect this trend to easily continue into next year.

I have no idea what eBay is doing to decrease sales. They are probably adding to the reduction in some ways and that would not be surprising considering the expertise offered from some savvy posters here on the boards.

I have family in town and have been in vacation mode for about a week. If I get into buying mode next week, I will report back after I get a feel for what is out there. My gut feeling is prices will be steady or up and overall inventory down. 

Dayam, it is has been hot in Texas.

[southern*sweet*tea]

The real story is people are going back to shopping in person.

I read an article last week - I wish I had bookmarked it - one of those big survey companies did some surveys and the results were that over 60% of respondents stated that they would not be continuing online shopping like they did during the pandemic, they were or had already returned to shopping in person.

Add that to high inflation, high prices and an overall crap economy right now and online sales of non-necessities go down the toilet.

As for myself, I'd much rather take a stroll through the antique mall looking for goodies then sit on my behind looking things up online, irrespective of the venue I'm looking on.

[eunster1313]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

I just re-read the "Summer Trends" June 27th post by the SVP + General Manager, American Market (link below).  However, what I would really like news and details on is how eBay will turn around the continued decline in sales that many, many members are reporting here on The Community, and a lot of them seem to be newer posters ... with Pay per Click PLS Advanced kicking off last year, the November 2021 Category reshuffling, the more recent Views counter change and other changes made to the venue's programming in the last 6-8 months I have lost confidence in the Search algorithms being able to function properly.

Earlier this year on the Traffic report Impressions took an abrupt nose dive ... 80.5% in a very, very short period of time.  Historically I run at least one PLS Standard Campaign per quarter and they normally do well but not so in 2022 ... this year the two I ran under performed which is baffling considering one of the ways the venue makes additional income is through promotion fees ... and in checking Traffic the last few days Impressions are once again dropping.

For myself and the categories I sell in I am not buying in to the economy excuse for declining sales ... if that were true then I and others would be making a killing on acquiring low priced inventory to resell ... in fact, the opposite seems to be happening - meaning competition to acquire inventory is stiffer then in the recent past.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Summer-Trends/ba-p/33032652

Something is seriously amiss within the organization and someone or some group knows what is is ... just wish they would let the rest of us know too ...

Regards,

Mr. L

---

@mr_lincoln 

The issue?  You or I do not sell Trading Cards, Vaukt Items, Watches, Handbags or High-End Sneakers. 

In other words - what "we" sell, is not important.

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Around and around eBay's strategies go, were they stop nobody knows.

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone told investors at a presentation following the company's

annual shareholder meeting on June 8, 2022, that the company's previous strategy

was not working.

"In fact, close to 90% of eBay's GMV is derived from non new in-season items."

eBay CEO Tells Shareholders Old Strategy Was Not Working

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2022/6/1655217275.html 

You can find a link to the recording of eBay's June 8th annual meeting

and CEO presentation on the eBay Investor Relations website.

https://investors.ebayinc.com/events/default.aspx 

[katzrul15]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@katzrul15   So my three Barbie Dolls are throw aways right?  The end of the article mentions vintage board games ... which I have for sale and in the past have done quite well with ... I think I have sold 2 all year ... the ones I know that do well are hard to come by for a good price ... I do have one of the early Chutes and Ladders games but since I have 2 grand kids and another on the way I'm fine with not selling that one LOL!

Half of what was mentioned in that article are frequently scammed compared to other collectible categories ...

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@mr_lincoln 

Just think e-Bay's Focus is only in select "silos" right now.

If you sell Trading Cards - high-end and graded, you are a golden seller right now.

I do think having disspariate resources available to different categories is grossly unfair and short-sighted.  

I'd be singing a different tune if I sold high-end watches, sneakers, handbags......

I get it - wealthy buy high-end items, even in economic downturns. 

Still feel like many of us are left at the station, with no prospect of a "ride".   Ymmv

p.s.  No clue about Barbie.  Her condo is in foreclosure, her pink sportster is repo'd and her high-end couture has maxxed out her credit cards.  She's in need of an EM doll, except his billions might be running out too!

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@mr_lincoln There are plenty of changes I'd like to see ebay make. But that's a different subject.

Experience has taught me that , for my business model (small seller of mostly used and vintage single quantity, long tail items), the Summer Slowdown has always been real. So, whatever reduction in sales I'm seeing can be attributed at least in part, and maybe primarily, to the Summer Slowdown.  Are there other factors involved as well? Sure, and some of the reason is probably tied to ebay. 

But ebay has the data that can answer the big questions. (and some of that will be publicly available when they report Q2.) My little store's data is simply insufficient to draw any real conclusions.