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.🤔🤔

🤔🤔🤔

[555njp]

You are spot on. Younger people are simply not using eBay and whilst nostalgia sells (as do spare parts to a generation that know how to repair things!) those markets are dying because of how eBay is working.

If you have an item that someone wants, at a fair price, then listing it here should sell it fairly quick as for say a used or refurbished lawnmower motor, where else are you finding one?

The problem is eBay has driven away buyers through a search manipulation designed to direct buyers to the more profitable sales.

Buyers aren’t finding what they want so give up and go elsewhere, sellers aren’t selling enough so eventually give up too. So the downward spiral continues.

Even the new influx of users drawn in by the free to sell campaign won’t hang around if their stuff doesn’t shift.

[malmallyn]

I fell they need to restrict China. It's unfair

[vintique*violet]

China is the biggest user of Coal and introducing new coal  plants weekly... UK has nut-zero so I have no faith that eBay will " disappear" Chinese accounts ,who incidentally show on almost every search feed at the top? 

It is all backwards

Edit..to change china to Chinese. 

[ett1954]

"I fell they need to restrict China. It's unfair" - Some would say that operating a business on a private account is also unfair ............. as well as illegal.

[malmallyn]

Ebay only looks at its bottom Line regarding shareholders , If china sells
a lot of stuff on its site cheap , Ebay has no qualms about how China
achieves it . Even if they drive the workforce like cattle

[reedfisher]

Hi

I fully agree, my sales are completely dead

The vintage fishing tackle, rods, reels etc used to sell but it seems now my listings are invisible.

My sales collapsed Internationally after Brexit due the customs and imports my buyers had to pay plus the fee I had to pay eBay.

eBay are a business and I know they have to charge commission on sales but to charge 10% on the postage is outrageous, I know they say it's because buyers used to charge say £2 for an item then £20 postage so I said to them if we use the eBay postage label service it shows the sellers are charging the correct amount so why then are we still being charged commission on the postage fee.

It's just another way of clobbering sellers to make selling no longer viable.

They don't even provide postage for fishing rods, and as the postage for some is over £20 10% off that adds up and dents any profit.

eBay has messed about with everything on their site to make it impossible to make any sales and don't seem bothered whether you list with them or not.

They used to be a very good platform, but if they are not careful they will have no businesses left to sell on eBay.

D m Norfolk.

[josepgregori_0]

My sales are kinda dead for some time,ebay keeps on pushing promoted sales, try some on more than a 100 or more items did not help one bit,the whole company being run by AI ROBOT,so they can eliminate hiring human beings, it is happening with all these on line platforms,killing small businesses malls all over closing down all over the good old u.s.a. and the corporate world having more power over our lives,all those tales of sci-fi story's are a reality, and a president that,that hangs out with billionaires, who are carving up the country , these are scary times, wake up America, George orwells 1984 is not not only here,but it's far surpassed it, we are slaves to the corporate world.

[johnwash1]

@josepgregori_0 

Surely the USA has its own community boards.  We have enough problems in the UK, without worrying about the "good ol' USA"!  The UK and USA ebay sites have similarities but are typically not in step when there are changes.

[dch2112011]

I am glad you understood that post I thought Armageddon was upon us !

[josepgregori_0]

Get a grip.

[dch2112011]

You mean Armageddon is upon us !

[pulseofthedead]

Just a thought to why the younger generation are turning away to places like Vinted.

During Big Brother which was sponsored by Vinted. The adverts showed young people were selling off their used clothes and shoes and excitedly bought by another.

The EBay advert shows a young couple getting rid of a tiger ornament  that nobody wants and that’s it….and just saying it’s free to sell on eBay…

Which advert would appeal more to the younger generation….

Had the eBay advert shown a more sentimental scene. A guy selling off his old  x box and being opened excitedly by a young kid on Xmas day especially as this promotion was in the run up until Xmas, may have won a few more back or new to buy/sell.

All just a thought…..

[bittyboy101]

eBay have also made many sudden and recent changes to their site over the last 3 years which have also crippled regular sales and driven a lot of small sellers away who were also buyers...

These include;-

1)

The new seller hub which now requires a user to open many pages just to see/access the same information that was once accessible at a glance on just one simple page.  

2)

The eBay Managed Payments which now requires a user to trust eBay with their personal bank details and is SLOW and time consuming to get paid when before PayPal simply offered INSTANT payments with no processing time on 95% of all transactions.

3)

Brexit. This has now crippled lots of international sales with the continental countries as buyers now have to pay more for shipping/postage and also a customs/vat charge once the item arrives in their EU country. 

4)

The forceful reporting of small seller's income to HMRC. I think this was enough to scare off a lot of small sellers who were also buyers buying items from eBay to fix up and resell on a small scale in order to help supplement  their low income and help pay for the cost of living which is now high.

5)

eBay's Promoted Listings & Merging categories . This is basically a search manipulating where if a seller pays eBay a percentage, they have more chance of selling because eBay then places their item higher up in the searches and advertises it in their side show ads on other sellers listings UNDERMINING other sellers by showing an identical but cheaper item than what the seller is selling the same item for on that page/listing where these ads appear halfway down. Also merging categories was a very bad idea as this has now killed off the sales of vintage and rare items.

6)

eBay's sudden change to the feedback pages, This is very important and now affects the the trust of buyers as the feedback pages now are HEAVILY MANIPULATED to only show all good feedback a seller has received and any VITAL poor feedback is now hidden so this is now very off putting to many well seasoned eBay users who have been using eBay for a very long time and know what to look for !

7)

eBay Managed Shipping & Payment Holds. This is the most recent change proposed by eBay in early 2025  and this alone is now very off putting and will be the reason why I will be giving up selling my stuff on eBay and moving to another site without these over the top ludicrous restrictions.

Sellers deserve the liberty to be able choose and use whatever shipping/postage service they feel happy and comfortable with. Taking this away is a very bad move by eBay and will cripple the eBay site even further when lots of sellers who are no longer happy with this leave eBay.    

[malmallyn]

interesting to read

[bittyboy101]

Thanks 🙂

Apart from the odd typo which I wasn't able to edit due to running out of time, I think I covered most of what eBay have now done which has wreaked sales...

They will probably be more things which I missed but I think I covered most of it in that post above...  

[dch2112011]

Whilst I cannot disagree with a lot of what you say and certainly it is very relevant to seasoned private sellers, who seem to be swept up into these changes without any thought for the responsible and 'professional manner they deal with selling their unwanted goods.

A huge influx of inexperianced private sellers may find some of the changes useful for example 'managed shipping'  

it eliminates a seller having to find the funds to pay for postage

There are no fees on top but are there any now  - bit of a red herring !

You do not need a printer for a label 

It is an easy option for new sellers who haven't yet come to grips with choosing postal methods.

For experianced sellers who understand shipping and have preferred carriers it is an imposition and for the good sellers who ship promptly it is certainly an intrusive invasion of their succesful proven method of delivery.

It  has good and bad for different levels of seller - a wish would be to force it on new sellers until they have sold a number of items  and proved themselves. (It ain't gonna' happen ) but it would be a compromise giving the opt out to proven sellers 

Could this be a hidden agenda that regular private sellers are going to be pushed onto ' business style accounts'  leaving occassional and one off private sellers to have their hands held by ebay - it is just another thought 

[bittyboy101]

Yes, Totally agree with what you say.

It would be so nice if only eBay would have the common sense to give their users a CHOICE and OPTION whether they wish to change to these new services or just leave things the way they are which in some cases worked very well for most people.

I believe that everything should be an option and people shouldn't be forced to change to something they don't like or don't feel happy with.

eBay really needs to recognise and respect that for it to succeed successfully without any loss of members (casualties) they must give people a CHOICE for most things and not make everything mandatory by force as what may work well for some users may not work so well for other users so CONSIDERATION is important so that everyone is happy.

[dch2112011]

Ahhh the words of common sense and logic - a by gone era since the introduction of AI and data mining !

[theelench]

Excellent reply @bittyboy101 .  If you don't like the idea of trusting your good, solid locks to God knows who for delivery, you can imagine how I feel about trusting them with pieces of vintage glassware.

[bittyboy101]

Thanks Elench  🙂

Glass ware and eBay chosen delivery = EVRi !!! 🙄

I'd rather you than me ! - Better pack it in a ton of bubble wrap and expect the courier to play rugby with it before it reaches your buyer !  😁 

This an't gonna work well is it ? !  😞 

Wish eBay would stop making destructive changes for the worst ! 😞  😞  😞