Why are things getting bad on ebay

[jeff-second-chance-silver]

One of my ebay store has over 11000 items listed and only 3 sales the last 2 days. The other one has 5200 items and has only 15 sales. Both top rated. Things have gone horribly south in the last few years.  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

To add to my post: Yes, ebay does send listings to Google, etc, but the marketing ebay is doing for non Focus Categories is , as execs like to say, "Table Stakes"  And that is especially true when competitors are aggressively  marketing this kind of stuff.

ebay defends its marketing failures by arguing the Halo effect: Buyer who spends $1,000 on designer handbags also spends $2,000 on other stuff. (Not the actual figures, I don't have ebay's statements handy). 

But ebay never notes just what type of other stuff is being bought. My guess it is mostly what I call category adjacent stuff: the handbag buyer buys expensive fashion and jewelry perhaps, but how much other stuff? 

ebay is still known, especially among older folks, as a place to buy old stuff. But that type of stuff is being offered at so many more places now, that if ebay doesn't aggressively promote it, ebay will simply be known as the place to buy expensive sneakers, handbags etc.  

[my_boston_baked_beans]

I agree with you, and excuses do not help justify failing eBay sales for some years now. eBay owns the problem, and we (sellers) are their CUSTOMERS. We pay eBay for a viable site to sell, and return it is up to eBay to make site enhancements the will improve sales! 

For myself, if I am not selling I am not buying. No tickie No washie!

[beautifulbeauty2012]

People don`t have money to buy jewelry and some collectibles - is what you sell now. Those who sell items in demand have good sales. I am in the same boat as you, as most of my items are collectibles, which were selling ok before, and now it is a rare occasion. 

[rugerskick]

Yay, day 4 of zero sales.  Switch still off.  Thanks so much ebay.

[vintagecraze50]

I think the auctions are doing much better because people are looking to get stuff at significantly reduced prices. The general public who are not buyer /sellers may not be buying as much when they are listed at their market value across sites. What I see in the gold category is a lot of buyer/sellers bidding to get it cheap and then resell on other sites or their own Brick and mortar.

[mr_lincoln]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

To add to my post: Yes, ebay does send listings to Google, etc, but the marketing ebay is doing for non Focus Categories is , as execs like to say, "Table Stakes"  And that is especially true when competitors are aggressively  marketing this kind of stuff.

ebay defends its marketing failures by arguing the Halo effect: Buyer who spends $1,000 on designer handbags also spends $2,000 on other stuff. (Not the actual figures, I don't have ebay's statements handy). 

But ebay never notes just what type of other stuff is being bought. My guess it is mostly what I call category adjacent stuff: the handbag buyer buys expensive fashion and jewelry perhaps, but how much other stuff? 

ebay is still known, especially among older folks, as a place to buy old stuff. But that type of stuff is being offered at so many more places now, that if ebay doesn't aggressively promote it, ebay will simply be known as the place to buy expensive sneakers, handbags etc.  

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

One thing eBay is trying to figure out is WHO they will be selling to once the current "Older folks" generation ages out of buying online.  The tail end of the Baby Boomers generation is entering retirement years and I would venture to say they still purchase a good chunk of what is sold on eBay.  "Collectors" don't stop collecting when they retire, they keep collecting until they have to downsize and move to retirement villages or homes.  I see "collections" coming out on to the open market on a regular basis.  It's hard to get that stuff for a good price because other collectors are still collecting and know where to find it.

For the present eBay should be focusing on striking while the iron is hot and catering to that age group ... not that they can't be working on the future but they seem to be missing the opportunity to get as much out of the Baby Boomer generation as possible ... News Flash ... most tail end Baby Boomers don't buy luxury purses or designer sneakers! 

[vintagecraze50]

Well the baby boomer have a lot more money than the younger generation as well. Go figure.

[vintagecraze50]

The wealthy baby boomers WILL buy the luxury purses, sneakers not sure that’s a kind of younger generation impress your friends thing.

[vintagecraze50]

The halo effect of the buyers of expensive vertical items can translate to a search for other value able collectibles.

[vintagecraze50]

 I am starting to tweak the switch with sending offers. I got one sale yesterday with that. WhooHoo!

[vintagecraze50]

I disagree with the attraction thing. They have to attract people who are not hit hard by the economy right now. Getting these people on here with a bank roll definately helps across the board.

[movieman630]

I have a feeling it's going to be a booming buyers market in antiques and collectibles soon.  We're going to see people liquidating like never before.  A lot of areas will be flooded with items and prices will drop significantly in a lot of collectible categories.  

I can remember back in 2008-2010 auctions were amazing for all the liquidating going on.  Prices on a lot of things hit rock bottom.  I was buying left and right.

Where things are inflated right now there's about to be a lot of "deflation" in value real soon.  That includes real estate which has been so inflated the last couple years it's almost insulting to even look at the prices. 

[farmalljr]

Mmmmm. Here the thing when it comes to "luxury" stuff... Yes, some people buying it make the kind of money to pay out of the pocket for it. I work for many people who are boomers, wealthy, and they have luxury purses (among other things in their home that are very high end). 

BUT, I also observe the world around me. There are plenty of millennials and other generations (like my own gen X) that don't make the money to buy the stuff, but have a credit card that they can buy it on. APPEARING like they are wealthy enough to afford that stuff, is why they have it. They might be driving a hunk of junk, or living in low income apartments, but by golly, they got a LV purse. LOL. Why do you think the fakes market does so well? 

You are on point though, that Boomers are not buying as much. This is why some markets, like milk glass, you can't give the stuff away. Boomers are dying off. The markets are becoming flooded with all the things they bought and the market to sell to is shrinking quickly. Just look at the old, old tools. Yes, there are some collectors, but not nearly as many as their used to be. 

I think that anything will sell. The problem is, I think buyers want to find whatever they are looking for EASY. I think they want choices. I think they want relevant searches. If they look for a can of tuna, they don't want to see cans of spam or corned beef. People's attention span is only getting shorter. So the more you make someone search, sorting unrelated items for what they want, the faster they just click away. 

I've done searched here for very specific things. When I find one of those in 100 displayed items, I just go to Google, and buy somewhere else. I have stopped a lot of buying here, simply because their search engine is horrible. I AM what eBay calls a "high value buyer". It's just not here anymore. And I specifically think this is why other platforms tend to be successful for sellers. Even given their traffic is much lower, sellers are getting sales because the search engines other places, just work like intended. 

eBay is so consumed with making money on promotions, it has cut it's own buyer base by not serving them what they want. Results are influenced by the cut, rather than by exactly what the buyer wants. I personally believe this is the crux of the matter. Anything will sell, but the buyer has to be able to easily find it. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@mr_lincoln @vintagecraze50 

Ten years ago, I probably would have said "OK" to the Focus Category Strategy. But the competitive landscape has changed drastically. Today, stuff that would have been sold on ebay is now being sold on a lot of other places...and not just offered, but its being sold. Maybe ebay is fine with that. Maybe the Focus Strategy considers non-Focus stuff to be expendable. And ebay may be confident that they simply don't need to be the place where you can find just about anything...they'd rather be the place where you can find certain categories that appeal to the enthusiast buyers. 

BUT...if ebay DOEs still want to have its huge selection, it can no longer afford to be complacent, it can no longer neglect these other categories because it is steadily losing ground to the competition, and what's lost will be hard to get back.

[mr_lincoln]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Well the baby boomer have a lot more money than the younger generation as well. Go figure.

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@vintagecraze50   That is because most Baby Boomers grew up in an era where the US actually manufactured stuff and "Made in Japan" or "Made in Hong Kong" were the foreign low cost Asian manufacturing countries.  Once the Manfacturing shifted from here to mainly China the growth in income changed in the US as we approached more of a service based society instead of a manufacturing society.  

It was a negative downward spiral, lower wages, lower income, low buying power, etc. ... so yes, Baby Boomers have more wealth on average than later generations and sadly the later generations will be the future of buying in the US ... and that is a scary thought with regard to vintage type stuff ... 

Someone mentioned milk glass ... at the local online auctions I and other local eBayers shop at we often comment about how much "glass ware" comes out for sale and sells for dirt ... it's sad, complete and well maintained place settings for 6 or more people goes for almost nothing.  

The eBay of today is not the eBay of yesterday and it will certainly be something different in the next 10-20 years.