Where are the customers? WHY aren't we getting any sales lately?

[debk255]

Been on ebay for 18 yrs.  top rated seller with 100% approval ratings. Over the course of that time, I've grown and added many new product lines & put thousands of dollars in new items online here this year alone. 

This year it seems is the year that ebay has died, for in spite of discounts, and sales, I am now lucky if I get 100 dollars in sales in a week!  (used to be 3-5x that much)  I have 1400+ current active listings on ebay and not a single sale in 2 days now?  WTH is going on here?   I do price searches for similar items.  Our prices are competitive, nearly always lower than others.  I share several product posts daily on facebook, instagram ect. (free advertising)  Still nothing.   Some say its the new algorithms, but how do we counter or fix that if this is the problem?  (you'd THINK ebay would be more on top of this issue)   I'm not going to be able to hang on here if things don't perk up.   😢 Open to suggestions.  

[signman2014]

Imploding on itself for 2 years now? Change that to SIX (6) years. 

[isaiah53-57]

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@farmalljr wrote:

Here is the thing..... When sellers leave, there are not enough of us being replaced by new people. This is FACT, and eBay's reports say the same thing. 

All these rah rah sellers here, that find no fault in what ebay is doing, are going to pay more for us that leave. When the seller base shrinks, that means fees need to go up, for eBay to continually grow it's income. How much are rah rah sellers willing to pay before reality slaps them in the face? 

There is no denying that there are problems at eBay. The GMV is declining EVERY quarter for the last two years. The user base has been declining too. eBay's take, only increases every quarter. This forcing of sellers to pay to play, is going to do unrepairable damage to the platform. Like inflation, over the last two years, this has been snowballing. The bulk of eBay's seller base is SMALL sellers. They aren't going to pay store fees and promotions, when they don't have any money left. They will leave, and learn a lesson to never trust eBay again. You can't recover when you chase off all your paying customers. 

Sears was an old company, "too big" to fail. But they did. eBay has not been keeping up with the times. They run on an ancient platform plagued with problems, being run by a bunch of people who try to invent new ways to squeeze more money out of every sale. Nothing has been invested in this platform to make it better. They are milking a dead cow. There is nothing left to milk. It's been imploding on itself for 2 years now. All these sellers complaining about dead sales, will leave. I bet by 4th quarter this year, eBay will be on the brink. Money is no longer flowing for them. It's about to stop. 

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Love Your Post @farmalljr  - I hope ebay does something to right the ship before its to late - Truly I hope they do - despite my negative posts pointed toward those managing the site, not the site itself,  I have loved and relied on this site for many years - Got a "Love/Hate" thing going on at the moment and my current relationship status with the company is "separated" with a divorce looming... I hope they do something unprecedented to bring back the magic

[chapeau-noir]

There is no "magic" to bring back - that left when eBay ceased being new.

People need to understand that times change - there is no 'going back' - nostalgia is a delusional trap. 

[miyasamaco]

It's obvious that this site is rigged; if you want sales, you have to pay (& you won't get sales anyway). The site is broken and they string you along hoping that you will be patient enough for sales to magically appear. They won't. 

My story is like far too many others: top rated seller with a store and multiple daily sales now has zilch. It's eBay destroying our businesses on purpose, that is as clear as fine Austrian. 

[chapeau-noir]

I can't get that personal about it - eBay isn't out to destroy anything 'on purpose' - they're here to make money, and more than a few of their decisions are definitely causing collateral damage. The outcome may be the same,  yes, but the way we frame it is how we view our own agency.  If eBay ceases to be relevant, we move on.

[miyasamaco]

Temu and AliExpress know how to promote their sites and create algorithms that work. Ebay has no clue how to do any of that.

[technoshoptotalwireless]

One word comes to mind when looking at your inventory NICHE. 

Like that, all capitalized, not just Niche, NICHE. 

[chapeau-noir]

Yeah, Temu is everywhere online, with direct links and an easy sign up.  If eBay pushed their advertising like Temu does, there would be a lot more engagement, I think.  But AFAIK (and I could be for sure wrong), eBay's mostly stuck on radio and TV if they do much advertising at all. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@grandmasjewelry123 wrote:

funny ..

I have found the same thing. No sales then three sales to Alaska in 10 minutes to three different people or some crazy thing like that.

Again, ebay should just focus on getting people to ebay.

The bots were helpful. I think ebay should bring them back!:))

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They are still here, they just count their visits like before.

[rugerskick]

Well 3 things are affecting everyones sales.

1. Ebay problems that affect sellers/sales.

2. The economy.

3. Items offered for sale.

Every seller here suffers from ebays problems.  Every seller here also suffers from the economy being poor, some more than others.  Third, if you have certain types of nonessential items in less demand during a bad economy, you will feel it more.  I browsed your store categories and you are affected by all 3 things.

If you can diversify into some items that are more in demand you could improve sales even without doing promoted listings.

[lakefor94]

Not to forget Ebay problems that effect buyers. 

Sellers are continuing to get away with the fake tracking scams.

A lot of sellers running the buyers around when processing returns by not sending a return label. The seller selects, label already sent, and then the buyer has to contact eBay, which is not easy to do for many buyers.

That is just to name a couple. Crazy and dishonest stuff and the same sellers are still here, doing the same over and over to buyers.

The shrinking buyer population is the real problem, something eBay should be focusing on.  That has to turn around.

[chapeau-noir]

Jamie thinks the shrinking buyer pool and GMV are fine because the sales are refining into higher-valued buyers, which is on course for something or other, so fewer but higher dollar sellers means less infrastructure. Or something.

 

[mn467462]

It's all relative. $100/week is great. I sometimes dont make that a month. And I see people complaining that they only are bringing in $1K/week. And I'll gladly play them a song on the world's smallest violin for them. 

But there's a lot going on in the world. Ebay is feeling it too. That's why the made ad rates mandatory 2% (which is like leaving you're front door unlocked, it's basically theft at that point if you choose to use it), and fees keep going up. Do I feel that are lot of corporations are taking advantage of this newly defined version of what we call "inflation?" Yes. Do I believe they're jacking up the prices becuase they can, and not because they're actually hurting financially? Yes. 

But regardless of their evil and wicked ways, the customers are hurting financially because of this. And with all due respect, purchasing feathers for arts & crafts projects may not be high on their lists of priorities. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@mn467462 wrote:

It's all relative. $100/week is great. I sometimes dont make that a month. And I see people complaining that they only are bringing in $1K/week. And I'll gladly play them a song on the world's smallest violin for them. 

But there's a lot going on in the world. Ebay is feeling it too. That's why the made ad rates mandatory 2% (which is like leaving you're front door unlocked, it's basically theft at that point if you choose to use it), and fees keep going up. Do I feel that are lot of corporations are taking advantage of this newly defined version of what we call "inflation?" Yes. Do I believe they're jacking up the prices becuase they can, and not because they're actually hurting financially? Yes. 

But regardless of their evil and wicked ways, the customers are hurting financially because of this. And with all due respect, purchasing feathers for arts & crafts projects may not be high on their lists of priorities. 

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$1k/week is not a lot when you're trying to live on it.

[dollsandtoysohmy]

I have noticed the same thing and it is very upsetting.