Where have all the sellers gone?

[sortuda]

This might sound an odd question - I've been a bit out of the ebay loop as a buyer and seller for a few years until recently, but it appears that after the new payment policy a huge number of types of items/sellers have just vanished. I even wrote to ebay about this but of course never got a reply back.

Where has everyone gone??

I used to spend hours combing through page after page of truly unique and great antiques, wonderful coffee sets, great old vintage jewelry, odd brick a brack and I noticed right after the new payments I would type in a search term and literally come back with maaaaaybe 2 pages of items. Impossible! Click 'include description' and it's not much better.  I used to get pages and pages of listings and my sister and I could spend hours combing through pages in tandem browsing pointing out great items we each might like.

I know something is up as this is what is happening with almost everything I'm interested in. I honestly buy more on ebay than I sell, and I know something is not right. I seem to be getting more pages of ***bleep*** now for searches with new modern items results, overseas items, nothing am interested in. My thing is unique, one-off, vintage, antique, unusual, and ebay USED to deliver those results. Sure, I found some things tonight that are 'vintage', etc but nothing quite looks or feels the same somehow. Things are either China ***bleep*** being sold as 'vintage' or it's bottom of the barrel, -where is all the old quality vintage and antiques?

Has something happened to the search function? Have most of the quality dealers left? Are the fees now just too high (um yeah, I know that's a 'yes' but ...?)? Am I the only one noticing this? 

[drusalina]

Half of my saved sellers have no listings.  I like to buy from small sellers and will even pay a few dollars more to support them.  I avoid the Large Sellers and especially the Large Book Sellers.  I had two large book sellers send me either the wrong book or CARP with pages ripped out!  that I had to return.  The large sellers always have hundreds of negatives, and I am not going to take the chance of getting carp. 

[luxgoods]

Your post pictures are hilarious. Keep them coming

[luxgoods]

Fake news

[linus.hux72fe]

I dont want to wade into an arguement over number of sellers and whether some left or not etc.

Instead, I'm just tossing out my anecdotal experience which may or may not be relevant to the discussion. 

For years I have searched and purchased Laguna pottery specifically PKL.  Now I generally find some listed, some new,  some I dont like, some I'd like at a much cheaper price, some not in the condition I'd like etc.  A page worth on average.  A week ago no results were returned in my search.  Odd but not inconceivable.  Day 2 same.  Day 3 same.  So I suspected something is off.  I googled and found there was in fact some listed on Ebay.  

I adjusted my search terms over and over until I found it.  

It appears to me Ebays search algorithm "tightened" up a ton.  Exact match meant just that EXACT.  

For example, I have always been able to search Laguna PKL and it would return results including PKL, P.K.L., P K L, pkl, p k l, p.k.l., etc.  No longer was this true.  Please see my screen shots of 2 searches.  It was also not included in the similar but not exact section farther down on my page.  In fact included in that section were car parts and electrical parts which have nothing to do with pottery as far as I can tell.

So perhaps it's not simply the case that sellers of unique have left although I'm sure some did but that the search is not returning all results under the "exact" parameter?  So searches need to be more exact and detail specific to get results?  Thus making it appear that fewer things are listed and leading to a possible assumption that sellers have left?  

I dont know, I could be dead wrong and like I say, I dont want to argue and I'm certainly not saying Ebay is hiding listings.  I'm simply suggesting that it appears to me the search function has changed parameters.

I 

[toysaver]

"it appears that after the new payment policy a huge number of types of items/sellers have just vanished"

Where did you get figures on the number of sellers that are no longer here?  How did you calculate that?

[soh.maryl]

Aren't the shipping fees set by the carriers, not eBay?

And, if I'm not mistaken, USPS fees go up every January.

[drusalina]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Aren't the shipping fees set by the carriers, not eBay?

And, if I'm not mistaken, USPS fees go up every January.

---

eBay if they had been smart they would have better negotiated prices for shipping with ALL the carriers.  They missed that boat too.  Amazon and the Chinese negotiated the shipping charges and look how successful they are.   eBay is making the wrong decisions IMHO.  

[bbravo65]

"...Those were the days my friend...We thought they'd never end..." (Those Were The Days - Mary Hopkin)

[drusalina]

I bought 6 Gibson Sponge painted bowls at the Dollar Tree ($1 each) a while ago.  They are just the right size for many uses.  Recently I broke one, it slipped out of my hand and hit the counter just right.   So I went to eBay and started searching.  Those bowls are now going around $15.00 each with $12 to $15. shipping.  Sorry sellers, but I just can't justify buying the same Dollar Tree bowl for $30.00!  

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@sortuda 

I understand what your saying. Try changing up the search words a little and avoid the dreaded word " vintage".

     This word has been beaten to death, it no longer means what it is supposed to mean. I no longer use it in my store.

     Try the words original, midcentury, antique or even put in the year you're looking for. I have had better luck using the word antique then " eek, vintage!"

     Best to you finding those special pieces, ebay has never let me down when finding mine.

[drusalina]

I just did a search for "cotton sleeveless dress."  My size and Midi Length (sellers think that Midi means Mini).  Midi means below the knee.  My search resulted in many Maternity cloths.   I didn't ask for Maternity cloths.  I only got 800 results.  Mostly Big sellers.  Small sellers are gone. 

One listing I clicked on said Cotton in the Specifics.  but when you scroll down to read the description it says "cotton like fabric"  What the heck is Cotton Like Fabric????  Always read the descriptions.  

[bbravo65]

@silverstatetreasureboxes 

...poor "vintage", she was expelled...😕

[katzrul15]

I do think many Sellers realized continued selling on this site meant issues with the IRS and 1099 reporting. 

Yes, that reporting begins in 2023 for the year 2022 sales.  But a wise Seller realizes that might trigger the IRS wondering why the revenue was not reported before.

Personally, if that is why Sellers left (those I have bookmarked are still here, so who knows), glad to see it.  Should have been reporting the income all along.

2020 meant few estate auctions, etc.  Many sellers just now comfortable resourcing for items as in the past. 

Vintage and the word "new" are grossly over-used on e-bay.  Often neither are true or apply.

[soh.maryl]

The OP appears to focus on antique, vintage, unique items.

I have a feeling his complaint is about not finding as many of those things as he had previously, not that there still are not millions of Chinese cheap items available to choose from.

[powell-memorabilia]

@hemma52 

Okay, you are getting $18 more in eBay fees, but roughly $18 less in PayPal fees.  It seems disingenuous to decry the increased fees with eBay without mentioning the zeroing out of PayPal fees.