The suddeness of the decline in sales for February suggests it has something to do with the recent changes, but there seems no way of being sure of the cause. You are not alone in experiencing hard times: Ebay is in trouble. Ebay are/have shedding employees (around 1,000), they have also invested large amounts in other businesses, $38 millions in one case, and these investments are not bringing in the returns they were expected to. That may change in the future. The top people at ebay are pursuing multiple strategies in spite of their public pronouncements that they have a unified vision for the future. There is an air of confusion at the top and potential investors are hesitant to risk their money when they see a muddled leadership presiding over an over-extendedd company. Shareholders are concerned because the user base firstly shrunk then stagnated, and thus revenues are falling. Add the rising cost of living, and the extra burden of BPF on buyers (a protection they had free anyway, as ebay constantly reminded buyers), and the annoyance of some/many? private sellers at the late changes in payment and postage conditions. Like many I used sales revenue to buy from (usually) ebay, private and business sellers. I removed my listings on the 3rd of February and won't be selling on ebay for the moment. Consequently I am spending a fair bit less on the site. I can understand how business sellers are infuriated when they see other business sellers masquerading as a private sellers. That is something ebay had a responsibility to stop but didn't, anymore than they removed sellers selling obviously counterfeit goods. That a few people are cheats is not the fault of the majority of honourable users, private and business. As to how ebay will extricate itself from its current difficulties may depend upon the general economic environments in which it works - a fall in the cost of living would help increase revenue and reduce overheads.
