why I stopped selling on ebay

[ellawrini]

I got tired of all the changes to supposedly 'optimize the buyers and sellers experience' all the time, also when the pandemic started it appears all the people with nothing to do and free money from the government discovered ebay.  A lot of scammers, a lot of people claiming items not received when tracking showed delivery, people claiming the item was not as described requesting a refund but unwilling to return the item even when I offer free returns.  Also with the new promoted listing feature my sales went down to the point that in the month of June I made only one sale.  After a few months I lost my Top Rated Seller status.  I tried the promoted listing on a few items and one item which was sold for $20.00, after all the usual fees and promoted listing  fees my payment was $13.57.. very disappointing.  The shipping costs have become ridiculous and continue to increase.    

[rosszonebricks]

May you find success on your new selling platform.

[bonjourami]

" a lot of people claiming items not received when tracking showed delivery, people claiming the item was not as described requesting a refund but unwilling to return the item even when I offer free returns. "

if tracking showed delivery, you should have been protected. If a snad case was filed, and you responded with a return label, and refund after return, you would have received your item back.

[ellawrini]

I know, I was not held accountable by ebay in the case of the 'not delivered' items because I always mail with tracking, the free return case will only work if the buyer prints the label and really returns the item, which never happened.  I just got disappointed and tired to deal with people trying to rip me off.  I once had a customer return an item using UPS and paid $12.00 for shipping and wanted a full refund on the shipping.  A lot of explaining to do and teaching the customer how returns work on ebay, also calls to ebay which sided with me.  Also a lot of people do not read the items description and I get insulted a lot because I sell doll's outfits and the doll is not included and they think the doll is included (even when it is specified even on the title) .  So like I said I just got tired of all the inconveniences from buyers and ebay .   It was good for me years ago but it doesn't make me happy anymore.  I wish you the best!

[bonjourami]

Understood..the best to you too! Ive stopped selling myself too...

[uncle-papaw]

I retired from ebay at the first of the year too.  Slow sales, higher selling and shipping costs, lower profit margins. Just not worth the trouble any more for me. Almost never any problem with buyers though.

[luckythewinner]

---

@ellawrini wrote:

I tried the promoted listing on a few items and one item which was sold for $20.00, after all the usual fees and promoted listing  fees my payment was $13.57.. very disappointing. 

---

The fee schedule was available to you before you listed.

So although the results were disappointing I have to assume they were not unexpected.

[urbaniz]

I've started to clear out my inventory of collectibles on Ebay.  The profits just don't add up.  I think increased shipping costs are deterring buyers.  Time spent acquiring items, holding them, packing and mailing - not worth it.  

[rugerskick]

Its never been better to sell across multiple platforms.  Some will be a better fit for people than others.  Some may not be good to sell on for a number of reasons.  Experiment, you may find multiple good places that work well for you.

I think most sellers here would tell you, you shouldn't be selling on just one platform.  🙂

[rugerskick]

What made you decide to stop selling?

[rugerskick]

Have you found a better place to list your collectibles?  I know people say certain sites are geared more to those kinds of items.

[katzrul15]

@ellawrini 

Good luck to you, for whatever the future holds.

You are not the only Seller who has separated from the site - we too are weighing how much longer it makes sense to list and "try" to sell here, when it is now less expensive thru FBA, since we are using increased PLs.  The shift to the PL amount being on the TOTAL amount of the sale (shipping, sales tax, international fee(s) if applicable, etc) has really been an eye opener.  And it may just be the game changer/impetus we need to make overall changes short-term and perhaps long(er)-term.

Wishing you all the best!

Katz

[inhawaii]

Many of the things you mentioned have nothing to do with ebay.

Good luck to you in the future.

[rugerskick]

Thats true, some may also occur on other platforms, but that really isn't the issue here.

The issue is ENOUGH negative things occurred on this particular site, to have the seller make the determination it was no longer a viable platform for them, weighing all the things they consider detrimental for their business.

Other sites may have some of these issues too, but they might not have enough negative things there, so they may remain viable selling platforms for this seller.

[mam98031]

OMG that is quite an outlook on life.  While certainly some people didn't need the extra money, so they just spent it on whatever they wanted, which in turn helped the Economy, which is one of the reasons the checks were sent in the first place.  For others it allowed them to FEED their kids and/or keep the lights on.

We have many more new buyers on the internet in 2020 and 2021 because many of the supplies they needed around their home simply could not be found locally and that would be if they could get out of the house to get them.  

You are right, it did bring around more scammers.  But since you left several months ago, why is this still an issue for you?

Promoted listings isn't new and it is an optional tool that sellers can use.  I personally don't use them but for other sellers it is pretty handy.  The seller sets the amount of additional fees they are willing to pay when using promoted listings.  Maybe you set yours a bit higher than you should have.  This is however something you should run the math on before you list your item or update the PL you have on the listing.

Yes, USPS rates continue to rise.  This is a concern for all of us.  So far buyers seem OK with the increases, but we are coming up on another one that starts October 2nd.

The STRONGEST seller protection Ebay has in on INRs.  If the electronic tracking shows deliver.  99.9% of the time the seller will win that claim hands down.  So if you are leaving because you got too many of these claims, that simply doesn't make sense that this would play any part in that decision.