When Ebay Dies

[theseeker_jamrock]

When ebay dies it will die of greed and promoted listings maybe its killer. The fact is that they will push listing to the top for the right amount of money even if it is a subpar item they basically force these things on the buyer.

While they get more money and basically give 90% of all sales to one or 2 sellers other sellers are suffering and their items are not being Sold and many sellers close their store once their early subscription ends.

Sellers who promote their listing I litterally see some sellers selling their items for way cheaper than everyone else plus the promote their listings and are at the top. Some sellers raise their prices to accommodate it and the buyer pay sometimes twice the amount for a subpar item. And many buyers when they realize this they are not please and open up returns and are just stop shopping on ebay.
I have read even where many buyers say they avoid promoted listing.

Promoted listings don't just push many sellers away but many buyers are not getting value for their money.

I have seen situations where sellers have good Genuine items and I see another sellers with a subpar item for twice the price with promoted listings get all the sales. This tells me ebay also does not care about the quality of products their buyers buyers receive either.

Promoted listing on Amazon works a bit different as ebay as prime and even if you don't promote your listing once you have prime you will get a lot of sales

[mr_lincoln]

@theseeker_jamrock   I understand the sentiment but don't necessarily agree with some of the comments.  I've had good success with PL and I think it works differently depending on category.  For example, highly saturated categories sales are very competitive the Sellers are splitting hairs on PL %s and pricing ... in less saturated categories I think the advantage is items are seen more frequently.

For myself, if eBay dies it will be for more then one reason ... for this year I think the one that had the biggest negative impact was the GTC mandate by in March ... another ID here just died in 6 weeks ... averaging 36 - 40 sales per week and growing it dropped to 1 per week for 2 months the 1-2 per month.  It went from Basic Store level to Entry Store level and just today cancelled the Store Subscription ... the account will basically drift away to nothing ... I did however fill out the Survey as to why it was closed so they got my opinion about GTC ... loud and clear.

As to Amazon Prime comments, I know nothing about Selling over there but was wondering if once one achieves a certain level in Prime if they get one of those sporty little blue Prime Vans I keep seeing around here?  eBay should have one of those vehicle advertising programs where they pay Sellers each month for advertising on their vehicle ...

[mrdutch1001]

Many selling venues have advertising campaigns/pay to play promotions,etc so I don't think that will be eBay's downfall...There are way too many other factors/ reasons/causes/faults/policies to eBay that will take both sellers and buyers from eBay...

eBay is master of its own destiny and whether eBay is destined to sink or swim, both buyers and sellers will deal with what ever shall be...

[zamo-zuan]

Promoted listings do work in similar situations as to what mr lincoln said.

But they have a major side effect of bringing up eBay prices. This means eBay might be making more profits from the sales, but the cost is eBay being less competitive against competing marketplaces.

I personally believe this is a horribly bad move. Most people only chose eBay because of the prices, as eBay is not able to match their competitors in other areas such as shipping/etc with their business model.

They basically gave up their biggest strength for the dollar signs.

Regarding the Amazon trucks, I believe those are sent out for higher security orders. I had an order where my item was marked as shipped but Item Not Received. I contacted Amazon minutes after the supposed delivery, they instantly offered me a refund and said I could keep the item if it arrives.

In my next Amazon order, it was sent in one of those Amazon trucks. And at the time of delivery, I instantly received a photo on my phone of the item delivered on my front porch. Looked out the window and seen the driver in the Amazon truck still. The next delivery also was in one of those trucks.

I believe they escalated us to a more secure delivery system due to having previous problems, for both ours and their own safety.

[zamo-zuan]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

Many selling venues have advertising campaigns/pay to play promotions,etc so I don't think that will be eBay's downfall...There are way too many other factors/ reasons/causes/faults/policies to eBay that will take both sellers and buyers from eBay...

eBay is master of its own destiny and whether eBay is destined to sink or swim, both buyers and sellers will deal with what ever shall be...

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I think it's a bit different of a story for eBay though. EBay was known for cheapest pricing where the other markets were not. Furthermore, eBay is supposed to allow you to sell "anything" and offer visibility for that, while at the same time having many more competitors for each item.

Seeing that they gave up their biggest strength, I don't think we can compare it to other competitors, which offer strengths that eBay does not have.

Other markets don't have the issues where items don't appear in search even when you sort by price, as well. So it's not that you have to pay the promotion bucks for "more visibility", you have to pay for visibility at all often times. 

Right now if we ask what advantages do you have as to selling on eBay compared to other markets, and it's hard to find one. They're not the cheapest, they don't have the best shipping or returns or delivery. Their policies lead to more losses for sellers.

The main thing keeping us here is that there's no other major marketplaces for auto parts, as that's one place Amazon does not excel in. But this is an issue brought up by Motors sellers constantly. You can see almost all of us have wished for any other market to sell, they just don't exist for this industry. So we're at eBay's whim.

[mementomoria]

Prime Van is Too funny!!

[oldway_rc]

Done selling on eBay. As a hobbyist who sells periodically used items I am screwed anytime a buyer wants to file a return, even when the item is accurately described , pictures provided and it’s clearly stated no returns. It’s taken me too long of time that eBay really doesn’t want people like me selling on their site. They don’t make enough money off me to care. So I’m done. eBay should just move on from type of customer that founded this company. The hobbyist, the flea market guy the mom selling her kids toys and clothes. They need to finally own up and try and be like amazon. They can try but they will lose cause they do t have the capital. I have a few items for sale but this is it. You lost another seller eBay! One that’s been here for 10 years. Good job on driving sellers like me away.

[luckythewinner]

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When ebay dies it will die of greed and promoted listings maybe its killer.

Predictions of eBay's demise have been made on this board every week for a decade. And I have no doubt they will be made every week for the next couple decades, too. 

While they get more money and basically give 90% of all sales to one or 2 sellers

I see countless thousands of sellers accounts making sales here every hour. Are you saying all these selling accounts are all run by one or two sellers?

and many sellers close their store once their early subscription ends.

Until the number of sellers leaving begins to impact the volume of items listed and sold here, eBay will not lose money, will not notice, and will not care. The vast majority of buyers will simply buy a similar item from a similar seller at a similar price and be just as happy. 

Sellers who promote their listing I litterally see some sellers selling their items for way cheaper than everyone else plus the promote their listings and are at the top.

My best selling items sell for $10 to $15 and I bought thousands of them for 25 cents each.  That is why I can sell them for "way cheaper than everyone else" - I have a huge advantage over everyone else. 

I have read even where many buyers say they avoid promoted listing.

So which is it? Do the sellers with promoted listings "get all the sales", or do many buyers avoid promoted lsitings? They can't both be true. 

Some sellers raise their prices to accommodate it and the buyer pay sometimes twice the amount for a subpar item

By definition, half of the people in this country have below average intelligence - and many of them sell on eBay. IMHO if the less intelligent sellers leave, that will help eBay in the long run. 

Many of them buy on eBay, too. IMHO if the less intelligent buyers leave, that will also help eBay in the long run. 

[bonjourami]

Since Ebay has more than two billion transactions worldwide per day,this is not an accurate statement.

"While they get more money and basically give 90% of all sales to one or 2 sellers"

[valuestore]

I member way back 15+ years ago ebay offered listing upgrades  called featured and featured plus.  Fuzzy  on the details but I do remember it was not cheap. So in a way we are going back to the old days of ebay. 

[niftyandthrifty50]

eBay is not focusing on advertising and what advertising they do do is S**T! That ad they ran with purple laughing at B&M stores was ridiculous and insulting! I have 4 children ages 20-30 and they don't shop on eBay! They immediately go to Amazon. eBay needs to start teaching out to millennials or they are gonna run out of buyers (in addition to the ones they've lost with all their glitches and nonsense)

[niftyandthrifty50]

Try selling on Mercari or Poshmark! Poshmark is selling home goods now and no store fees!

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

I have been posting on the boards since 1999. There were predictions of ebay’s demise back then. So saying it has been a prediction for a decade is generous.

[dabunk2000]

Predicted to die every year for the last 15 years still going strong and making money.

[mrdutch1001]

Several other selling venues do indeed have issues that have made them just as undesirable to sell on as eBay...there have been a few eBay wannabe sites that have followed in eBay's footsteps and have completely changed their sites to the point that they have shafted sellers, screwed up search, messed with listing visibility & so on.

Finding a good reliable selling venue these days has become quite a task. There are very few sites out there now that have any more credibility or that much more to offer than eBay in its current state.