eBay

dugoldstuff · ‎07-22-2018

Very interesting article. I bolded /redded the best parts:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4188922-ebay-stagnation-mode

eBay: In Stagnation Mode

Jul. 21, 2018 3:18 PM ET

eBay's second-quarter earnings report fell heavily short of analyst expectations, with revenue growth dimming to 9% y/y (from 12% y/y last quarter). The company's below-consensus guidance caused the stock to take its biggest hit. GMV growth in the U.S. also showed its weakest growth rate since a year ago, while the volume of sold items stayed flat. Margins also showed a worrying contraction.

Despite all the signals that keep pointing to its demise, eBay (EBAY), the one-time e-commerce wunderkind, continues to plod forward as if it was still a giant of the internet. Like last quarter's earnings release, eBay's Q2 post showed a company that is continually unable to meet analysts' targets as the company fails to accelerate the process of bringing new buyers to its platform.

Rightly so, eBay has been one of the worst-performing of the large-cap internet stocks all year, despite general enthusiasm for the e-commerce space. Companies like Etsy (ETSY) and Stitch Fix (SFIX) that were earlier pegged as losers, for example, have shot up meaningfully in the first half of 2018, as has perpetual giant Amazon.com (AMZN). eBay, however, seems incapable of reversing its slow decline. Year to date, the stock is down nearly 10%.

Yet, I believe the shares have further to fall. Activity on eBay seems to simply be running cold. Call it the hangover effects of eBay's fee hikes in the past several years - as sellers walked out on eBay in protestation of higher seller fees and took their variety of wares with them, buyers also saw less and less reason to buy on eBay. One of the things shoppers like most about Amazon is that it's the "everything store," where you can type in even the most obscure of items and find at least one seller that carries it. On eBay, with both the selection and volume of items getting thinner, it's getting harder and harder to bring buyers to the platform and, more importantly, reverse the steep deceleration in GMV growth.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-23-2018

@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:

And there were sellers complaining about no sales long before this year on ebay too...go back and look in the archives. This may be when you began having issue.....but there have always been such complaints....and there have always been complaints abou how everyhting is ebay's fault...which never changed anything for the most part.
And there is and was no guarantee that buyers will always want what you sell either or to pay whatever you charge. Nothing last forever and sellers have to adapt to lots of things all the time....but mostly to buyers wants and needs. There are also generational shifts...today buyers to do care about some of the stuff the older generation did and earlier generations eventuall pahse out at some point which may be slightly different times for different sellers.
TImes change, people's wants and needs change....sellers adapt or not
Let go of the past...the past is gone.

Sure, people always complained, but this year is different. This year it is easy to back up with evidence, even eBay's own evidence with Terapeak.

But you are ignoring the evidence.

Everything you mention about "buyers practices", to put it simply, does not apply here. The markets are UP this year, yet the top seller market share is DOWN, the impressions of top sellers are DOWN.

Based on this alone, what does it indicate? There's more buyers, more of these products are selling, but eBay is limiting the visibility of top sellers.

This is not a theory. This is a fact with evidence with an eBay provided application (Terapeak).

This is not a choice of the buyers. Buyers don't control what impressions appear. This is 100% controlled by eBay's search algorithm.

You know, the search that the CFO admit to limit sales on...?

no-plain-white-envelopes · ‎07-23-2018

They have made sellers and buyers alike mad. Who in their right mind if they were a seller and received the famous lifetime ban from selling would continue to buy here? Another thing how many sellers have lost cases to scammers that sell your CELL Phone ploy over a year ago left a bad taste in plenty of new prospective sellers minds and ran them off forever. EBAY needs to return maybe not to their roots , but just about 5 or 6 years back.

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎07-23-2018

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:

And there were sellers complaining about no sales long before this year on ebay too...go back and look in the archives. This may be when you began having issue.....but there have always been such complaints....and there have always been complaints abou how everyhting is ebay's fault...which never changed anything for the most part.
And there is and was no guarantee that buyers will always want what you sell either or to pay whatever you charge. Nothing last forever and sellers have to adapt to lots of things all the time....but mostly to buyers wants and needs. There are also generational shifts...today buyers to do care about some of the stuff the older generation did and earlier generations eventuall pahse out at some point which may be slightly different times for different sellers.
TImes change, people's wants and needs change....sellers adapt or not
Let go of the past...the past is gone.

Sure, people always complained, but this year is different. This year it is easy to back up with evidence, even eBay's own evidence with Terapeak.

But you are ignoring the evidence.

Everything you mention about "buyers practices", to put it simply, does not apply here. The markets are UP this year, yet the top seller market share is DOWN, the impressions of top sellers are DOWN.

Based on this alone, what does it indicate? There's more buyers, more of these products are selling, but eBay is limiting the visibility of top sellers.

This is not a theory. This is a fact with evidence with an eBay provided application (Terapeak).

This is not a choice of the buyers. Buyers don't control what impressions appear. This is 100% controlled by eBay's search algorithm.

You know, the search that the CFO admit to limit sales on...?

OK been that way for years...in the terms of use...ebay will not guarantee your items will be visible and they will hide items....and you agree to that every time you use the site. Happens on all the sites...not anything new for buyers either.

It sounds like you never read the TOU and recently discovered all this in some article or here on the boards...but it is not anythin new, anywhere

You also do not need evidence when they tell in you black and white in the TOU

zamo-zuan · ‎07-23-2018

@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
OK been that way for years...in the terms of use...ebay will not guarantee your items will be visible and they will hide items....and you agree to that every time you use the site.

Just because their policy was there for years, does not mean they were abusing it for years.

This year, they are.

Why are you fighting so heavily against a fair marketplace for sellers?

Do you really want eBay to be a place where businesses can't even succeed on?

Do you seriously think, sellers having to leave eBay, is the best method for success of eBay?

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎07-23-2018

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
OK been that way for years...in the terms of use...ebay will not guarantee your items will be visible and they will hide items....and you agree to that every time you use the site.
Just because their policy was there for years, does not mean they were abusing it for years.

This year, they are.

Why are you fighting so heavily against a fair marketplace for sellers?

Do you really want eBay to be a place where businesses can't even succeed on?

Do you seriously think, sellers having to leave eBay, is the best method for success of eBay?

They are abusing something they told you they would/could do??? Or maybe you think they didn't really mean it???

You have to make decisions like everyone else if ebay is a beneficial tool for your business. Sellers make this decision all the time. Ebay is not your business...you use ebay as a tool for as long as it is beneficial to your business.

castlemagicmemories · ‎07-23-2018

@jason_incognito wrote:
eBay will not seperate used from New.

eBay originally rolled out new as it's own area and it bombed. They finally integrated it into all the rest to make it work.

Yes, I remember that. Ebay Express. It failed.

I think that was when they put store listings into search.

I just think they should offer both, new and used; the greater variety, the larger the buyer base, and that expands as needs occur, building a loyalty and boosting sales, IMO. More variety, greater selection, greater chances of sales.

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎07-23-2018

@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
OK been that way for years...in the terms of use...ebay will not guarantee your items will be visible and they will hide items....and you agree to that every time you use the site.
Just because their policy was there for years, does not mean they were abusing it for years.

This year, they are.

Why are you fighting so heavily against a fair marketplace for sellers?

Do you really want eBay to be a place where businesses can't even succeed on?

Do you seriously think, sellers having to leave eBay, is the best method for success of eBay?
They are abusing something they told you they would/could do??? Or maybe you think they didn't really mean it???

You have to make decisions like everyone else if ebay is a beneficial tool for your business. Sellers make this decision all the time. Ebay is not your business...you use ebay as a tool for as long as it is beneficial to your business.

You know what ebay is doing and what they said they are doing and how they are doing it.....and you take that info and make decision for your business accordingly. It works for some and not for others...it has always been that way and always will.

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎07-23-2018

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@jason_incognito wrote:
eBay will not seperate used from New.

eBay originally rolled out new as it's own area and it bombed. They finally integrated it into all the rest to make it work.
Yes, I remember that. Ebay Express. It failed.

I think that was when they put store listings into search.

I just think they should offer both, new and used; the greater variety, the larger the buyer base, and that expands as needs occur, building a loyalty and boosting sales, IMO. More variety, greater selection, greater chances of sales.

That is what all those search filters are for...so buyers can narrow down searches. It is in part what they all are doing.
Part of all this is the sites are trying to be similar in some ways to make it easier on buyers...so they do not have to figure how to use and find how to do things for every site they use. So it does make sense and helps to eliminate some buyer frustration and easier for them to work

zamo-zuan · ‎07-23-2018

@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
OK been that way for years...in the terms of use...ebay will not guarantee your items will be visible and they will hide items....and you agree to that every time you use the site.
Just because their policy was there for years, does not mean they were abusing it for years.

This year, they are.

Why are you fighting so heavily against a fair marketplace for sellers?

Do you really want eBay to be a place where businesses can't even succeed on?

Do you seriously think, sellers having to leave eBay, is the best method for success of eBay?
They are abusing something they told you they would/could do??? Or maybe you think they didn't really mean it???

You have to make decisions like everyone else if ebay is a beneficial tool for your business. Sellers make this decision all the time. Ebay is not your business...you use ebay as a tool for as long as it is beneficial to your business.

In response to your comment about filters, that's part of my point. The filters are not working properly and are removing visibility from sellers.

This is a seller forum. We are supposed to provide feedback.

My feedback (along with many other top sellers in our categories) is that eBay is becoming a place that it is no longer possible to survive and thrive on.

You tell me eBay is not my business. Well guess what? A couple years ago an eBay manager came to visit us and personally told us that they wanted to work together with us to succeed. They wanted us to be able to sell on eBay exclusively and thrive.

What you are telling me now, is the complete opposite of what eBay told me person to person, directly looking me in the eye as he said it.

Guess what? EBay decided they will no longer connect us to this person, and we must simply deal with MSO directly.

The point I'm trying to make, is beyond just myself. It's that eBay is becoming a place that is not possible to survive on, period. We're one of the few sellers who was actually #1 in our category for years. We're one of the sellers who directly, personally worked with eBay.

We have enough experience to know how eBay works, and we invested heavily in eBay. Now eBay has turned in to a place where if you 100% focus on eBay, you will go out of business, or be forced to go elsewhere.

Honestly, I'm not sure what your motives are. But I want eBay to succeed, as all of the sellers success is dependent on eBay's succees. Your comments are not helpful for eBay sellers, nor are they healthy for eBay. You basically are saying, if these new changes cause problems, don't use eBay. Isn't it in eBay's best interests for as many sellers as possible to STAY on eBay? Especially if their annual income is in the millions?

If this keeps up, more and more major sellers will go elsewhere. That's what sellers like myself are trying to prevent from happening. And you are encouraging sellers to leave, while saying eBay's practices that lead to sellers leaving are okay...?

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎07-23-2018

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
OK been that way for years...in the terms of use...ebay will not guarantee your items will be visible and they will hide items....and you agree to that every time you use the site.
Just because their policy was there for years, does not mean they were abusing it for years.

This year, they are.

Why are you fighting so heavily against a fair marketplace for sellers?

Do you really want eBay to be a place where businesses can't even succeed on?

Do you seriously think, sellers having to leave eBay, is the best method for success of eBay?
They are abusing something they told you they would/could do??? Or maybe you think they didn't really mean it???

You have to make decisions like everyone else if ebay is a beneficial tool for your business. Sellers make this decision all the time. Ebay is not your business...you use ebay as a tool for as long as it is beneficial to your business.
In response to your comment about filters, that's part of my point. The filters are not working properly and are removing visibility from sellers.

This is a seller forum. We are supposed to provide feedback.

My feedback (along with many other top sellers in our categories) is that eBay is becoming a place that it is no longer possible to survive and thrive on.

You tell me eBay is not my business. Well guess what? A couple years ago an eBay manager came to visit us and personally told us that they wanted to work together with us to succeed. They wanted us to be able to sell on eBay exclusively and thrive.

What you are telling me now, is the complete opposite of what eBay told me person to person, directly looking me in the eye as he said it.

Guess what? EBay decided they will no longer connect us to this person, and we must simply deal with MSO directly.

The point I'm trying to make, is beyond just myself. It's that eBay is becoming a place that is not possible to survive on, period. We're one of the few sellers who was actually #1 in our category for years. We're one of the sellers who directly, personally worked with eBay.

We have enough experience to know how eBay works, and we invested heavily in eBay. Now eBay has turned in to a place where if you 100% focus on eBay, you will go out of business, or be forced to go elsewhere.

Honestly, I'm not sure what your motives are. But I want eBay to succeed, as all of the sellers success is dependent on eBay's succees. Your comments are not helpful for eBay sellers, nor are they healthy for eBay. You basically are saying, if these new changes cause problems, don't use eBay. Isn't it in eBay's best interests for as many sellers as possible to STAY on eBay? Especially if their annual income is in the millions?

If this keeps up, more and more major sellers will go elsewhere. That's what sellers like myself are trying to prevent from happening. And you are encouraging sellers to leave, while saying eBay's practices that lead to sellers leaving are okay...?

You should go backand read about 2008, 2010, 2012.....this is nothing comparatively to especially 2008
If ebay wanted to prevent or stop anyone from leaving or anything else they would...and yet they don't and never have...and a few sellers are not going to change that. It is their choice. Again sellers come and go always have and always will.

hioctane62 · ‎07-23-2018

@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@jason_incognito wrote:
eBay will not seperate used from New.

eBay originally rolled out new as it's own area and it bombed. They finally integrated it into all the rest to make it work.
Yes, I remember that. Ebay Express. It failed.

I think that was when they put store listings into search.

I just think they should offer both, new and used; the greater variety, the larger the buyer base, and that expands as needs occur, building a loyalty and boosting sales, IMO. More variety, greater selection, greater chances of sales.
That is what all those search filters are for...so buyers can narrow down searches. It is in part what they all are doing.
Part of all this is the sites are trying to be similar in some ways to make it easier on buyers...so they do not have to figure how to use and find how to do things for every site they use.

Because we all know that buyers are easily confused, and need to be reassured, have their hand held, wipe their nose, and maybe a nice, warm bottle? I especially like the ones who are confused about what the seller sent them, and send back something completely unrelated, with no value, used, or nothing at all.

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎07-23-2018

@hioctane62 wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@jason_incognito wrote:
eBay will not seperate used from New.

eBay originally rolled out new as it's own area and it bombed. They finally integrated it into all the rest to make it work.
Yes, I remember that. Ebay Express. It failed.

I think that was when they put store listings into search.

I just think they should offer both, new and used; the greater variety, the larger the buyer base, and that expands as needs occur, building a loyalty and boosting sales, IMO. More variety, greater selection, greater chances of sales.
That is what all those search filters are for...so buyers can narrow down searches. It is in part what they all are doing.
Part of all this is the sites are trying to be similar in some ways to make it easier on buyers...so they do not have to figure how to use and find how to do things for every site they use.
Because we all know that buyers are easily confused, and need to be reassured, have their hand held, wipe their nose, and maybe a nice, warm bottle? I especially like the ones who are confused about what the seller sent them, and send back something completely unrelated, with no value, used, or nothing at all.

There is no reason to trash buyers in general in any of this...as that is not what any of it is about...and not something most agree with either.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-23-2018

It's not just a few sellers.

You really need to check Terapeak if you think this is even remotely similar to past events.

I've spent a lot of time trying to give some information about what is actually happening. I won't bother reiterating points, as you change the subject when there's a question you want to avoid answering. You can choose to ignore everything I say if you want.

But if you truly care about facts, or truth, Terapeak is provided by eBay, you can login with your eBay account, and you will find major warning signs.

Less than 5% of sellers are actually thriving in this new eBay climate. Major sellers are dropping and/or leaving eBay. Many of their biggest earners in categories are disappearing.

That may be the advice that you are giving them - leave if it does not work for them. But that is not a good thing for eBay, nor any of us selling.

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎07-23-2018

Do you have any idea how many millions of sellers are on ebay...those complaining are a very small fraction.

You are repeating things that have been said for years on end and it doesn't chnage anything and won't now. Ebay will do what ebay wants to do and this is their sandbox...and you freely accepted and agreed to pay by their rules...and you will do that until you decide otherwise. EBay will also not force anyone or beg anyone to use the site that doesn't agree with the terms. There are plently of people who do and will and more joining everyday..all over the world.

hioctane62 · ‎07-23-2018

@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
@hioctane62 wrote:
@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@jason_incognito wrote:
eBay will not seperate used from New.

eBay originally rolled out new as it's own area and it bombed. They finally integrated it into all the rest to make it work.
Yes, I remember that. Ebay Express. It failed.

I think that was when they put store listings into search.

I just think they should offer both, new and used; the greater variety, the larger the buyer base, and that expands as needs occur, building a loyalty and boosting sales, IMO. More variety, greater selection, greater chances of sales.
That is what all those search filters are for...so buyers can narrow down searches. It is in part what they all are doing.
Part of all this is the sites are trying to be similar in some ways to make it easier on buyers...so they do not have to figure how to use and find how to do things for every site they use.
Because we all know that buyers are easily confused, and need to be reassured, have their hand held, wipe their nose, and maybe a nice, warm bottle? I especially like the ones who are confused about what the seller sent them, and send back something completely unrelated, with no value, used, or nothing at all.
There is no reason to trash buyers in general in any of this...as that is not what any of it is about...and not something most agree with either.