Ebay Sales Completed Dead **************January 2025**************

[theglo-68]

We are a business seller with most of our listing on other platforms. However we still have big chunk of our listings on Ebay platform. Ebay has been dead for us for over few months. Sales reach minimum 1-2 per day out of 100s of listings.

What has gone wrong with our once best platform. I know other platforms are doing really well but what has caused issues with Ebay.

[xxandyxexx]

Boost Analytics has the free reports if that helps anyone

[santlache_sales]

Perhaps business sellers are pricing too high!!..

Rather eBay business prices are too high more like it....

Especially when private sellers don't have fees to pay and can undercut you.

But I agree it isn't the Private sellers fault at all and they have done nothing wrong, it is eBay's fault for introducing the free listings policy and never thinking the process through properly.

I imagine there are certain areas where it makes no difference, but in other selling areas it really matters where there are only a few pounds profit to be had, and a no fees seller can undercut you every time.

[santlache_sales]

Yes of course Ebay wants private sellers on the platform, but they don't want Business sellers masquerading as private.  That is the problem that people are railing against.

Totally agree, but the genie is out of the bottle now and the big question is, can they get it back in ?

I don't think they can despite these new policies lately introduced for private sellers, and the only way forward I feel is to drop the business fees quite significantly, before they all leave.

I'm coming down a shop level this month after being a Promoted Shop for over 15 years, I know several in my field who are doing the same, and a good friend who runs two sites both with shops is now closing one down completely.

eBay must be losing a lot of money out of this fiasco they've created.

[the_book_seekers]

I've been on ebay for 21 years and out of a group of friends who sold on ebay I am now the last one, and that's because I don't rely on sales. How long I intend to keep going as a business is open to debate.

I doubt ebay is going to get the genie back in the bottle with the buyers fees on private sellers. Throw in shop subscriptions it's still more expensive to have a business account than operate on a private one. Will the loss of some business tools make any more of  difference - I doubt that too. 

[clou-8367]

People get payed next

but the problem is

gas bills up

electric up

food up

petrol up 

car tax up 

ulez I could go on but I will probably jump off beachy head

[theelench]

".....can they get it back in?"

All depends, do the new restrictions on genuine private sellers , whether designed to push "private" sellers towards registering properly or not, make economic sense to the incorrectly registered?

They are businesses, quite capable of calculating which course is most profitable to them and they'll do whichever is.

You can do the same calculation and answer your own question.

As a private seller I can't be bothered, all I see is an insulting compulsory hold on my payouts because I'm now deemed by ebay to be untrustworthy enough to warrant buyers needing protection from me and my ilk (despite having a spotless account for a decade+).  And for good measure, I need to have my postage options restricted, allow ebay to 'calculate' which options are 'convenient' for me 😮  and 'appropriate' for my (glass) items when I have 12 years experience of what my buyers are happy with and often compliment me on.

I don't know whether ebay can or even wants to solve business sellers problems, nor do I really care.  All I know is that once again genuine private seller's are being inconvenienced in the interest of businesses to make it look like ebay are trying to clear up the mess that they've allowed to fester for years.

I for one won't be putting up with any more of ebays nonsense and I most sincerely hope that a great many other private sellers feel the same way and leave the ebay business sellers to squabble amongst themselves over the dwindling sales that result.

[the_book_seekers]

All I know is that once again genuine private seller's are being inconvenienced in the interest of businesses to make it look like ebay are trying to clear up the mess that they've allowed to fester for years.

I see it as ebay having spotted opportunities to create more revenue streams under the guise of trying to clear up this mess - and failing to improve anything.  These changes are not for the benefit of business sellers however ebay chooses to present them - they are to make more money.

[weston-bay-coin-and-note]

Same here. Last month I was averaging a sale a day on my small site. This month I have had week-long stretches without sales. Maybe it's just a January thing? Sales always drop drastically in January.

[jokers_toybox]

Sales do always drop in Jan, Credit Card bills after Xmas are a huge drain for a lot of people, that combined with food going up as the main factor, I'm guessing people just have less to spend 

[messier44000]

---

@jokers_toybox wrote:

Sales do always drop in Jan, Credit Card bills after Xmas are a huge drain for a lot of people, that combined with food going up as the main factor, I'm guessing people just have less to spend 

---

Had my best ever Jan for sales. OK over on the website. So there is money out there.

Just not spending it here.  

[theelench]

Yes I agree, the CEO said on the announcement that SD is about creating revenue streams, although I don't recall that he said the the same about Compulsory Payment Holds, when that too is obviously creating more revenue for ebay but probably kept quiet about as it looks even more parasitic.

I based my "...private sellers are being inconvenienced in the interest of businesses..." on his previous statement that "Free to Sell" for private sellers was introduced because "Buyers who also sell are likely to buy twice as much as buyers who don't."   Or words to that effect and something I and others have been saying for years, but which ebay has ignored and continued introducing changes that are good for businesses but made the site inconvenient and less attractive to private sellers.  So they've been leaving for years.

So it's now Free to Sell on a site that is still inconvenient and un-attractive for private sellers, that hasn't been changed to make it any better but now we must put up with the further inconvenience of payment holds + ebay will take control of our deliveries and instead of, eventually, sending our money to our bank accounts will deposit in our 'ebay balance/ wallet'  in the hope that we will spend at least some of it buying from ebay business sellers.  If not we can then manually withdraw it to our bank, more inconvenience and delay.

I wonder how the CEO thinks this will draw private sellers back into the fold when it all makes ebay even more cumbersome, inconvenient and un-attractive to private sellers?  Particularly when the elephant in the room hasn't come into the conversation yet.  That is Sponsorship Fees and the way that these days if a seller (business or private) wants to sell anything much they have to Sponsor their listings.

Private sellers who can't or won't Sponsor can forget about getting more than a few token sales before they even get to all the other drawbacks mentioned above.  It doesn't matter how many TV ads. ebay puts out to try and make people believe otherwise, once the reality of today's ebay sinks-in, they won't stay on such a site for long.

Ebay's biggest mistake was turning its back on the flourishing Collectables market, made into a huge success by mostly private buyers and sellers.  Then sabotaging it further by sweeping away all the categories that were so useful, replaced by useless IS based searches.

Now they're trying to replace what they've largely destroyed by making ebay the world leader in old clothes sales and IMO that isn't going to work either.

[weston-bay-coin-and-note]

I am also warried about the idea of charging a buyers' fee. I am considering moving to Etsy, but I would have to consider the high selling fees on that site. As I mainly sell old coins, bank notes and share certificates, I think that Etsy would be better suited to me.

[theelench]

I only looked into selling on etsy once and briefly, back when ebay introduced FVF on P&P (2013??).

Back then ebay was charging a listing fee, 10% FVF and there were paypal fees of 20p + 2%(?) per transaction but it only took a few minutes to work out exactly how much I would pay to sell a £10 item.

Etsy fees were complicated and opaque even back then and I couldn't work out how much I would pay to sell the same item there.

So I didn't go any further, thinking that fees don't have to be so complicated and a site that makes them so must have something to hide.  As etsy, as far as I know, is the only selling site that has sparked open revolt among its sellers with its ways of screwing extra money out of them, I don't have any plans to look at them again.

Instead I went to ebid as a second basket to put some of my eggs in and I'm quite happy there.  As my sales on ebay have fallen, sales there have grown to compensate.

[exponential_developments]

Was doing ok to be honest, but the last four days have gone back to being dead....

[collectible-coins-medals-tokens]

Still zero sales or even activity since 7th Jan.

No new watchers, no offers received and hardly any views at all.

I don't know if this is helpful info, but I think the Nuclear Reset strategy no longer works anymore! I tried a full reset 10 days ago and in fact have received less item views than ever before. However.... when I end a listing and relist it from scratch on an individual basis, it seems to be treated as a brand new item to Ebay and attracts more views! No sales granted, but more views often lead to more sales, so I think the bulk relist strategy is now ineffective.

What do others think?....

[game_raid]

It's better to use sell similar and not relist, you get a brand new item number which will make your item a new listing.

You also need to make some changes to the listing, add to the title and description, add and change pictures around, basically freshen your listings up including the price.

What can happen the buyers that have previously viewed will know it's the same listing as they will see nothing has changed so won't bothering viewing again, of course it doesn't guarantee you get a sale the second time once the changes have been made but at least they are clicking through and you never know they may even buy on a second viewing.

[wyntersemporium]

Same here used to have 15 sales per day lucky to have one now. 
really cannot afford it now. 
I don’t pull a wage from it. I’m using mums money which she give me before she died to prop my store up. Feel like throwing in the towel. 
but then again I can’t get a “proper job” as have way too many chronic migraines for job centre and potential employers. I’ve migraines every day 24/7. 

[wyntersemporium]

I’m not pricing too high rather too low as want to get rid of some of my stock

[wyntersemporium]

Literally just seen a so called private business seller with 2000 items for sale. 

[wyntersemporium]

Would love to go to e*** but I’m banned off there since 2017. Some of their longstanding stores like to report sellers - they said I stole a photo from Aliexpress to use as my own. One small problem it wasn’t Aliexpress’s photo it was mine as mine was in colour and they erased it to black / white. Was told by their secretary to go sell on eBay they have better clientele for your items.