eBay has changed

[jacsonplace]

I sold on eBay in the beginning and it was spectacular.  Big business took over and it has gone down hill from there.  I quit selling because I just could not make money any longer.  I had to buy items at, at least 90% below retail and it was just a hit or miss if they sold.  

They tried to follow Amazon’s plan, …….and it just deleted eBay’s auction type platform where items sold as they were without  reserves.

PayPal came on board and then we had returns for any reason for used items.  Everything changed for the worse.  Not as described took over the platform and sellers started losing money right and left and then the feedback changed where sellers had no say.

I hope things will change…….but am in high doubt

[buyselljack2016]

In the 21 years that I have been on eBay I have adapted to the changes, and continue to be profitable.

We change/adapt, or get left by the wayside.

[johnrj1226]

@buyselljack2016 

Sold my 1st item on eBay on Jan 20, 2010.  I  made my net profit goal  before taxes then and stopped selling on October 2021..  Made my more than  my target margin on my  last sale.  Over that 11  year span my total eBay and PayPal costs remain pretty much the same percentage  of my total selling price (not counting USPS label costs).  Only shipped 1665 items  during that time frame.  Shipping cost increases were all paid for by m customers.  My profit percentage based on my selling price remained at least the  same adn often a bit more as I learned how to reduce  certain costs  The eBay First Class Package WAS a good deal for light items less than 16 oz.

Yeah eBay made a lot of changes but none that couldn't  be handled. Also  eBay's biggest  screw up (aka  faux pas) was the change to their  main  search engine from Goggle to Cassini in 2013 - that roll out was a mess - i.e. total organized confusion.- kinda' like  driving North or South thru Atlanta on the I75/I85 connector during rush hour and  often at other times.

Now  enjoy spending more time with  our 3.5  y. o. grandson.  Taking him fishing this week end.

[chapeau-noir]

@johnrj1226   Have a great time fishing!  That sounds wonderful.

The shift to Cassini was a banner mess, absolutely, from the get-go.  The CTO at that time was issuing these optimistic bulletins with all of the right words, but he was given the boot and for a while there was a frankensearch with Cassini on the back end and Voyager (their former search engine) on the front end. They just kept stumbling along with it - it would be a massive, massive job, absolutely, but I read an interview with the CTO back before 2010 that their team didn't even know what H-base was when they started, but "they'll learn quickly." 

 

[dbfolks166mt]

Actually eBay missed their projected earnings for the 4th quarter of 2021 and are likely to miss the projections for the first quarter of 2022 as well. They are however not the only ecommerce site that is struggling. 

[johnrj1226]

Thanks  much

Took all my children fishing at age 3 - two boys and a daughter. they  luved it  - my youngest , 36 is a fishing junkie...

CIAO!

and

Happy Easter.

Pura Vida!

[d-k_treasures]

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@annadryl wrote:

Online auctions were all the rage twenty years ago because it was new and fun and you could do it in your sweatpants and flipflops.

It was a novelty. Now it's last generation. But yes, it WAS pretty cool...

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Online auctions are alive and doing VERY well.

[thepembrokepeddler]

I agree. I go back to the start of eBay and yesterday I sold something yesterday for the first time in a while, and a hold was put on my payment. Didn’t seem friendly like it used to.

[miyasamaco]

Sewing will remain a thing as long as people wear clothes and anything with fabric needs assembly. I insist on hard media (DVD-R) for my design backups. I also buy computers with optical drives (a requirement for me).

As for the changes here, as it's been pointed out, the stuck up corporate fools tried to turn eBay into something it wasn't and failed. As for auctions not being popular anymore, Whatnot would disagree.

[rsport119]

Our two stores have had the lowest month in two years.  We have had to adapt and sell other places and put more investment into our other business(not retail) as well.  You can't put all your irons in one fire.  Did not help that the child tax credit was axed and half of the states stopped all unemployment either.

[swapthing]

I was an early seller back in the hey day but haven't used it until recently. I was a little shocked to see how high the fees are and the lack of options. I'm sticking with offerup and Craigslist. 

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.