There are many old time sellers who can relate to what you are saying. I am one of them. This is what I think the problem is besides economy which is a little bit but not all of the problem. I don't like blaming economy because that means there is nothing we can do and I don't buy that sentiment.
Ebay has focussed on how to make more money and forgot its basic stuff which is what launched ebay back in the mid 90's, getting more traffic to the sellers. It has lots of ways to add promotions, add fees for auction, feedback scores and its top ranking, mid ranking, below ranking etc..., stores, and layers of store and item specifics and on and on... it should be focussed totally on getting traffic to ebay.
The sellers have spent money on promotions, improving item specifics, coupons, etc... but the best thing I have found is to do whatever you can to increase traffic. End the listing and resist it. I have spent money on back end seo and the best thing has been stop old listings and relist them. That costs nothing more. Again, its focus on traffic, and the algorithm, (however that works)
Outside of that, I have no idea. Move to China. That seems to be where the Hot Market for Americans is.
Agree with most things. With regards to China you don't have to move there thanks to ecommerce. The foreign market place now represents over 50% of eBay's transactions and has grown significantly over the last several years. I believe that is a big reason why they developed the EIS program and are pushing sellers that were not already selling internationally to utilize the EIS program.
While there have been some transition issues if the program maintains the seller protections it currently has, which are better than the ones for domestic sales, this could be a huge opportunity for domestic sellers. It will be interesting to watch and see how this unfolds.
I do have some reservations about selling to some foreign countries China being one of them but those reservations are not based on risk.
