topic Is anybody out there? in Seller Central

Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:29:02 GMT

I've had a long break from selling on Ebay but as my wardrobes are bursting at the seams decided to try and make some space (and hopefully, money 😄). Listed around 31 items but it's as though no-one is even viewing ANYTHING ... I keep waiting for tumbleweed to move across the 'active' page ...

I hate to use the 'V' word in here but that place is BUSY ... tons of views but I would rather sell on Ebay (for a variety of reasons I won't bore you with).

What's going on? Is it just general retail apathy or is Ebay dying a slow death? I can understand no offers or sales but why is no-one viewing? 🤔 I'm sure it used to be a lot busier in here. Curious to see what anyone has to add.

Re: Is anybody out there?

tressygirl — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:39:32 GMT

January is just a very bad month for everyone @brenata-uk

The clothing ' market' on eBay has always had great competition especially with all the ads all over all media, 'Sell for Free' !

At this time of year when peeps have the least money after a probably expensive Christmas, and a long month to be paid again, sales will be low.

Never gauge anything by viewing numbers that's never been accurate !

Hopefully, for you and everyone sales will pick up after the expense of Christmas and New Year has passed!

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 06:43:53 GMT

Thanks for the reply .... I've just sent someone an offer - she was my ONLY watcher 😂 I really hope it picks up soon though - I even got some 'thank you' stickers in anticipation 😆

Re: Is anybody out there?

tressygirl — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 06:54:29 GMT

Good luck, it's certainly not easy now, especially in the clothing ' market' as there is such great competition, for example I put in the description for one of your items the PerUna medium grey jacket. There are 91 similar Per Una jackets for peeps to choose from, yours is near the top of the listing, but there are some not identical but similar for much cheaper, and buyers will always go for a ' bargain'.

Price is always a factor if your items are not selling, you may need to lower them ? 🤔

@brenata-uk

Re: Is anybody out there?

suelel1968 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 09:44:00 GMT

Hi, just to add, try changing your titles a little. Imagine what you would search for.

Instead of "Women's Per Una Wool Jacket - Black - BNWT - Size 10"

Try "M&S PER UNA ladies black wool mix jacket size 10 BNWT"

Lots of buyers have searches set up for M&S

Also, although you have to use SD I think most of your items should be small parcel 1kg, so not over £3 delivery.

Your photos are not bad, but the jacket above looks green in the main photo you selected. The one hanging on the door is better. You could easily remove the background on your main photos which would improve them. Aways photograph lables for fabric content and washing instructions. Using a tape measure in the photos is good.

I don't personally think you need to mention BPF in your description.

Just to mention sales and engagement with the platform seems to improve visibility. Putting everything on at once may not be the best tactic. Sending offers is good. Reducing some prices just to get a couple of sales might be a good idea. Allowing offers is supposed to be good for improving listing ranking.

Clothes are a tough sell. Relist "sell similar" items every couple of weeks if they have no views.

Re: Is anybody out there?

kyanyama — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:34:17 GMT

I haven't looked at your listings. If you are selling after a break hopefully you have read up on all the changes, mostly about Simple Delivery which affects all private sellers.

I took a break from selling on eBay July/Aug as they forced me onto Simple Delivery. I started back selling in Sept once I had got my head around the changes. I sold 5 items in Sept. It was like I was invisible. But Oct it was like the old days (well sort of - never will be as good as when Voyager was the search engine). I think I sold about 20 and Nov was ok too. Dec wasn't great but not much of my stuff is gift stuff.

Nearly everyone is skint after Christmas! And I heard in a queue someone explaining to their child that it's a 5 week month so money would be tight!

You are in for the long haul. Not sold on V but may consider it as some of my things are bigger than small parcel which is catered for on there whereas on here I only use Royal Mail small parcel as more reliable.

Re: Is anybody out there?

insidethe93 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 14:25:59 GMT

A small point - it's about sewing, so skip as wished.

It's not always a total disaster if there are lots of sellers selling the same clothing item or type of item. Sewing customers may well buy more than one e.g. my speciality is buy a skirt, buy a duplicate in a larger size, transform the latter into a matching jacket. I'm not an unusual hobbyist seamstress (was going to write "sewer"!) - if I'm doing it, so are others.

The secondhand clothing market, online eBay or physical charity shops, is a really good way to find bargain fabrics, or to fall for a lovely pattern as you can usually change the design. Buying fabric new is expensive and ideally you handle it, look at it under different lights, consider shrinkage etc, before buying = physical shops. Even budget new fabric can be more expensive to buy and make a garment than to buy one ready-made, although the fun mainly comes from making it.

A friend told me she'd visited "V". She's a sewing-demon so I trust her when she said stuff there was cheap but rubbish. Like probably any sensible hobby sewer, I will stay on eBay!

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 16:51:33 GMT

Hi, thanks for all the advice - photographing is a nightmare, especially black - no time to do during daylight hours at moment though. I did wonder how you got a white background but don't know how to do it. Will change the title for the Per Una ... well spotted .. I normally DO say if it's M&S 🙄 must have had brain freeze. What is BPF?

I've already sent an offer to the one person who was watching the Roxy hoody but no response. That said, I've just sold a ring and a hoody but they were a lot cheaper than I wanted to sell at.

Not sure what you mean by 'Relist "sell similar" items every couple of weeks if they have no views" 🤔 (I know, I'm an idiot 🤣) . 💜

Re: Is anybody out there?

suelel1968 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 18:38:45 GMT

@brenata-uk

Try www.remove.bg it only does one at a time if you want to use it for free, but it's very good.

If you end your listing and relist it is effectively the same listing. If you end the listing and select sell similar it will start a new listing from that date. It just tricks the algorithm, newer listings get better search rankings.

BPF buyer protection fee.

Don't worry about listing titles reading properly. I wouldn't start a listing with "womens"

Sales at any price will help at this stage.

Re: Is anybody out there?

tikashop-2007 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:08:43 GMT

I think your prices may be too high to attract viewers. In my experience it has got much harder to sell clothing on ebay even at very low prices. Vinted may look better on the face of it, listings get more views, but they do not translate into sales very readily even at low prices.

Maybe the bottom line is that most of us have already got far more clothes than we actually need!

Re: Is anybody out there?

kyanyama — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:32:10 GMT

I have a pile of stuff I need to photograph. I just keep it in a place nearby where I photograph my items and wait for a sunny day and then do them all - but only list a few at a time. If you get in close it doesn't matter the background - and you should trim your photos when you upload them to your listing anyway to remove as much as possible except for the item itself.

Always include the size / care label. And make sure you show measurements with tape measures.

First 4 words of your title are the most important (apparently) but then put all the other info without any punctuation which takes up valuable characters. Only exception is using inverted commas for inches, etc.

And do some research - look at similar items, especially sold items. It will get easier as you go along - I even found 2 months away from selling was like "getting back in the saddle". And with practically no sales in the 1st month after a short 2 month break was worrying.

I read somewhere it is better to list 2 - 3 items every couple of days than a lot in one go. I only use 'sell similar' as it makes a brand new listing. And don't forget to delete the old unsold one! Always change the main photo and change around a couple of words in the title. Somewhere I read even changing a couple words in the item specifics helps. I usually just change the main photo and words in the title. Using plain 'relist' does not get the visibility a new listing as sell similar does.

You will get the hang of it!

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:36:10 GMT

Yes I agree with you on having too many clothes .... I was astounded when I started going through my wardrobe(s), found stuff with labels still on or new items without labels totally untouched, I never throw anything away either .. I get what you're saying about the pricing and that's my biggest issue - a lot of my stuff is brand new (with or without tags) but I've priced it around 2/3 less than what I paid for the better branded stuff ... Roxy, Billabong etc. The thing is, a couple of years ago it WOULD have sold in here but with Vinted stuff going for £2-£5 it's hard to compete, that said, I've seen new items on there around the same prices as mine or in some cases higher. Vinted isn't a pleasurable experience either, the photo's aren't good - no pics with measurements and if you deign to ask for them you just get ignored.🤣 Don't even get me started on their customer services ... I'm not getting emails with my labels/QR codes or notifications (don't use the app much, prefer my laptop) so it's a bit of a pain to say the least having to keep logging on.

I've got a lot more to sell so going to get rid of the items that didn't cost me too much and just price them low, the thing is I just think it's going to cost me more in petrol driving to the PO than it would be if I didn't sell, unless I got lucky and sold a few items in one go.

I've decided I don't need to buy any more clothes in this lifetime, I literally wear the same scruffs every day (virtually housebound now).

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:40:30 GMT

Thank you ... haven't heard of remove.bg will have a look. So to clarify, if I end a listing - where would it show me 'sell similar'? Is it the page that shows you others that have got listings of the same type?

I've always used 'Women's ....' at the beginning thinking if I didn't it wouldn't show up in that part of Ebay, trying to think if I've seen it used a lot now or if it's just me 😁

💜

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:50:58 GMT

I think I left in a huff when they introduced the simple delivery and introduced the buyer protection, I just couldn't get my head round why that was needed because if one of my items went missing I was covered by Royal Mail anyway, you have to reduce your price to cover that fee - it doesn't make sense.

I joined a few FB groups about Vinted and they are FULL of people complaining about parcels not being picked up from lockers or going missing, then there is the total lack of customer service when you need it quickly. The general level of ads is quite low, bad photo's lack of info etc and then there are the scammers ....I don't think in 15 years on Ebay I've had a single issue with a buyer.

It's good for cheap 2nd hand stuff but not so much if you want to sell new with tags, everyone expects it to be the same price as worn/older clothes. I sent messages to FIVE different sellers asking about sizing and not a single one replied .... what's that about? 🙄 If they had just put them on the ad they wouldn't have people like me bothering them ...🤣

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:09:13 GMT

yeah I need to re-think the pricing but it's driving me crazy because in my head I just see the price I paid for it and it's STILL new. Some of them were bloody expensive too but it's all down to what someone else is willing to pay for it .... suppose it's like buying a car, the minute you drive it out of the showroom it's value plummets. That said, I've knocked off 2/3rds but need to go back and have a look, I have stressed that I am open to 'sensible' offers but I know when I send an offer I always feel guilty about it ...🤣

I'm going to get some more stuff on but the more used clothing and hope they sell faster so I'm not traipsing to the PO for £2 sale on it's own ... parking is a nightmare never mind the petrol cost .... I've just sold a hoody for £4.50 and a Pandora ring for £14.99 - (someone else was selling same ring for higher price) so hopefully things will pick up. 💕

Re: Is anybody out there?

department28 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:13:58 GMT

'I've got a lot more to sell so going to get rid of the items that didn't cost me too much and just price them low, the thing is I just think it's going to cost me more in petrol driving to the PO than it would be if I didn't sell, unless I got lucky and sold a few items in one go.'

If you don't mind excluding Evri from your postage options, by choosing to use only Royal Mail you can book a free parcel collection from home when you get your eBay Simple Delivery postage label.

'Sell similar' will appear on your 'Unsold' page - it's hiding in the drop-down menu on the 'Relist' button.

Good luck 😊

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:16:36 GMT

omg you would HATE Vinted ... most of the photo's are terrible, no measurements given (it doesn't let you pick one size iether when you're listing, it's 8/10, 12/14 etc - you can't customise anything, god forbid you ask a seller for measurements, I asked 5 people - not one replied.

My photo's are pretty good, always use tape measures for pit to pit etc and crop them, trying to figure out how to do a white background though.

You've given me some really helpful info there so thank you for that .... especially the re-listing and the importance of the title words ... have copied and pasted your post onto my desktop. 💜

Re: Is anybody out there?

suelel1968 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:29:59 GMT

Hi @brenata-uk

If you end a listing it will end up in Ended listings, and you just tick the action at the side of the unlisted item and select "sell similar". If you have a few you can tick them all and do them all at once.

I do think you need Womens or ladies in the title, but I would do brand first then type. Also, if you are selling brands, you can usually find something similar if you search in sold items to get a better idea of price. If you really get into this, start monitoring your Sales conversion rate on the overview page. It needs to be as high as you can get it, which is unlikely to be much over 2, but it leads to better search visibility. You will notice that if you list a lot at once the calculation lowers the number, which is why i think you should drip feed your listings.

Good luck.

Re: Is anybody out there?

brenata-uk — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 01:07:23 GMT

Wow! I can't believe all the years I've used Ebay and not really seen that page, just wondering how I've missed that as don't recognise it at all, maybe I've always sold it or just removed un-sold stuff? No idea 🤣. Not a clue about the 'conversion rate' either ... I've copied all that and added it to the early notes. So would it be okay to do my drafts in bulk (save for later) and then drip feed them live? I'd rather do a decent amount of work in one go than bit by bit. xx

Re: Is anybody out there?

suelel1968 — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 09:16:53 GMT

@brenata-uk yes, that's the way I do it. You used to be able to have 30 drafts, not sure if that's still the case. They only last 70 days, but one small update to the draft will give another 70 days.