Ebay Sales Completely Dead **November 2024** ‌

[theglo-68]

Hi

We have been selling on ebay for over 10 years. Sales have been down since start of 2024 but its completely dead. Like we look at our stats from July to September and sales figures are less that what we are paying ebay for Promoted listings etc.

Although we have moved our inventory to Amazon and tiktok but wondered what has actually happened to our Ebay. It used to be aweseome but we now cannot even afford to list.  Listings are sat there doing nothing even with promoted listings.

November has been our difficult month so far as with Zero sales i mean come on there got to be something causing this loss. Is it new so called AI.

Please share your findings.🤔🤔

🤔🤔🤔

[michbut20]

Thank you for your kind words. I do hope things improve for you too. I’m sorry you are still having to work part time, you should be able to enjoy your retirement without the pressure of having to have to work.  I don’t want to come across as saying it’s all private sellers are to blame as they are not. There’s only one organisation responsible for all this and it’s EBay. I wish I was more technically savvy to move on from EBay. I am in the process of learning and trying to expand into other avenues but it takes time. 

[theelench]

I sell vintage glass slowly but surely on ebid using platinum listings at 5p each.  They don't seem to have many curtains for sale.  It might be another basket to put some eggs in??

Warning!! DON'T sign-up for lifetime membership with an up front fee.  Read ALL the options in the FAQs .

[vintique*violet]

Yes, it is on  mine also ( private) - I actually do not mind this when looking for items to buy as it directs to  other  sellers items you would not know existed  - this could  help business sellers.  However,  this being on business sellers pages is encouraging  potential buyers to " shop elsewhere"   -  okay competition ( business) can be good, but its like going into Sainsburys' and being re-directed to M&S through a back door! 

Why not put a banner to show sellers you have purchased from before ( who may have that item ) would that be impossible to do? 

I have purposely now sorted my favourite  " saved sellers" page - so that I seek those sellers out first before looking elsewhere i.e. packaging materials, haberdashery, cards, gifts etc. If they don't have what I m looking for then I do a new search. 

[johnwash1]

---

@theelench wrote:

I sell vintage glass slowly but surely on ebid using platinum listings at 5p each.  They don't seem to have many curtains for sale.  It might be another basket to put some eggs in??

Warning!! DON'T sign-up for lifetime membership with an up front fee.  Read ALL the options in the FAQs .

---

I agree that it's wise to sell on ebid without the lifetime deal first, and see how it goes, despite the higher fees doing that.  Higher, but  from outrageous.

But you've been on ebid so long, and regularly reported success with your nice glass (perfect for that special someone at Xmas!  No charge for the promo! 🙂  ), I would have thought it long ago became worth your while getting the £49 lifetime deal.  Have you not done the arithmetic?

[1956glyn]

I always go to my saved sellers first......but most have not listed anything for several months 😞

[impressivecreationuk]

All the big players have gone eg Argos, Pc world, currys, Superdry to name but a few.  No doubt this has impacted the traffic. Ebay want us to spend more on promoting off site so they dont have to, I promote a very popular item that is at the top of the page regular. No sales hardly and no views. Something that is so popular is all of a suddan unpopular and not being seen. I have put up with so much over the 16yrs on Ebay. Wont mention what as other long term sellers know what goes on. Looking at what I am seeing regarding the stats and what other long term sellers are saying Ebay need to pull their finger out. I dont think the people at the top realise what is going on and my belief is Ebay have been on a downward spiral for a couple of years. Ebay have lost some serious big players. who bought in a massive income for them but due to the rising costs they have gone. I believe there is more sellers than buyers on Ebay this is why they are trying to get private sellers back. Back to how it used to be.  Unfortunately sellers are doing their best to impress or do better for their buyers but Ebay are not playing ball. Greed and not knowing (or not caring) Ebay are making it really difficult for sellers to make long term plans for their business. Lets see what the new year brings

[charmkeyrings]

I always do / did that.  A lot of my saved sellers aren't here now.  It's a shame.

[leather-wiz]

is that right, they have all left ebay !! this wouldn't surprise me at all.

personally i think your correct, they want to get everyone on promoted listings etc, personally its become unsustanable for us, its to bloody expensive, an recently we have had a lot of returns, they customers all state item not as advertised (we sell paints, so its hard with colours) then we loose sales as they restrict us.

ebay are on self destruct mode i think personally, ebay used to be a place you coud have a nice little business on, then all this item speciffics bs came out, promoted listings etc and its ruinied it, its so expensive now, some of the promotions we have are stating a promotion rate of 21.5% !! how on earth are you suposed to run an add at thet, 21.5.% then 11.9% plus all the hidden *bleep*..

[theelench]

Hi and thanks for the plug!!

Yes I did do the maths and decided not to go for the Lifetime membership .  I'm still ahead on listing fees and until ebay went Free To Sell I didn't mind paying half price FVF, so didn't count them.

The result would be different now that I'm paying more over there, but I'm also now running out of more items to list.

The Lifetime plan works best for those with thousands of stamps or postcards and are listing in crowded categories.

My listing fees will soon dry-up leaving only FVF for sales and I really don't mind paying so little when I get a sale.

[johnwash1]

---

@theelench wrote:

Hi and thanks for the plug!!

Yes I did do the maths and decided not to go for the Lifetime membership .  I'm still ahead on listing fees and until ebay went Free To Sell I didn't mind paying half price FVF, so didn't count them.

The result would be different now that I'm paying more over there, but I'm also now running out of more items to list.

The Lifetime plan works best for those with thousands of stamps or postcards and are listing in crowded categories.

My listing fees will soon dry-up leaving only FVF for sales and I really don't mind paying so little when I get a sale.

---

Fair enough.  I confess I've never had to do the arithmetic, I was one of the lucky ones that joined early enough that I got lifetime for free.

And it's interesting the language I use.  Joined?  I don't 'join' my electricity supplier or my supermarket.  Ebid feels more like a club than a business.  And 20 years ago I would speak of being an ebay 'member', without giving it a second thought.  Never today.  Clubs look after their members.

[pillarboxred]

Don't waste money on Promoted Listings: eBay sees you coming. I burnt my fingers: never again.

[theelench]

I didn't join until 2013 so was nowhere near early enough to be given it for free  (it will cost you £70 these days) and over the years I've become less convinced that, it's 'good value for money'.  As I understand it there are still some (very small) fees to pay and in crowded categories sellers get the advantage of being able to constantly re-list and rotate their items.

But doesn't that in itself lead to most of their ads. being ignored by google?  Or should I say never picked up by google.  It seems to prefer my older listings.  I've been looking at the "Recently Sold" strip on the HP for a while now and it's surprising how many are RUS listings even stamps and postcards. 

[Anonymous]

The Steiner case, I guess that is why buyers are not there anymore.

[army.90l0md9f]

This is exactly what I was thinking having found the same issues! This is
why google having the monopoly on search is not cool.. they are going
through court on this too, not with eBay but in general.. I believe google
& Amazon have a love affair…

[lcpc-it-services]

Giving away free listings to private sellers was the worst thing ever. I know they need to compete with sites like Vinted, but that's put business sellers at even more of a disadvantage. Makes you wonder whether it is even worth listing stuff on here anymore. I feel sorry for the bigger sellers on this platform who have probably seen their profits go down over the years. Don't know what the answer is.

[vintique*violet]

eBay need to weed out  the business sellers masquerading as private sellers using the "free to sell"... that is the huge issue. 

[johnwash1]

---

@lcpc-it-services wrote:

Giving away free listings to private sellers was the worst thing ever. I know they need to compete with sites like Vinted, but that's put business sellers at even more of a disadvantage. Makes you wonder whether it is even worth listing stuff on here anymore. I feel sorry for the bigger sellers on this platform who have probably seen their profits go down over the years. Don't know what the answer is.

---

I'm not familiar with Vinted.  Is the fee structure there the same for private and business sellers?

[cleanlinesuk]

Yes exactly ,and it looks like that might be the issue ,look at timing of the changes and they correspond to an up tick in other sellers sales plummeting ,obviously there's something going on due to the huge numbers of replies on this topic .

[leadhills_scot]

That was the worse November that I can ever remember. Nearly 75% down on last year, what a joke this place has become.  Enough is enough two more weeks and I will cease trading on ebay.

[mrob7487]

I’d been considering closing my shop for a few months now and not having a single sale in November on eBay has just made it a 100% certainty. I’ll hang around until after the new year then I’ll remove most of my listings and cancel my shop subscription. I’ll list a few items on a monthly basis and pieces that don’t sell will be ended and a few different pieces will be listed. But never again will I open a shop on this site.