February Sales Dead 2025 - Ebay Sales Completely Dead

[theglo-68]

Any thoughts as why would suddenly ebay sales would do ZERO since start of February.

We have been closely monitoring our sales and since start of January 2025 sales are down. But they have now completely died as soon as February started.

[biscuits_bargain_bazaar]

Been a private seller for many years to declutter and sell collectables I no longer wanted. I had some success and made a little pocket money to boost my pension. It was a nice little hobby. 100% FB. Not sold anything for ages and can no longer be bothered with it. EBay have killed their own platform. As a result I now buy very little from Ebay preferring to buy direct from UK suppliers or the local shops. I do not use Amazon either for similar reasons.  Any stuff I would have sold on line I swap or sell to family or friends or just give away or stick it in boxes and store it in the loft ! I may try another platform in due course and will look into that next winter.

[2012bespoke]

I could not agree with you more, my sales have literally stopped, I'm not a huge business seller, but in general £1000 per month guaranteed, Feb and March have not even come near to that amount, I have discounted, promoted and still nothing, what is happening?? Its such a worry 

[paxton-33]

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.

[theelench]

Perhaps ebay needs to do what sellers, particularly private sellers, are being told they should do.  That is adapt to changing economic conditions.

Many people do not have the disposable income they had 10-20 years ago.  Those that do are said have changed their spending habits in favour of 'experiences' over 'possessions'.  Yet ebay continues to fixate  on it's share price and high returns to 'investors' just as it did in the boom years of 'the consumer society' of the 80s, 90s and 00s.  Why should execs. still expect that level of remuneration / bonuses or shareholders expect billions in dividends every year on the back of declining site use and sales?

Years ago when a company was on the slide, bonuses were reduced / stopped, dividends were stopped and the cash ploughed back into the business and only resumed when the next 'up-side' of the economic cycle resumed.  Just like sales or even selling on ebay bonuses and dividends are NOT a right, but should be earned.  But not any more, the entitled few expect them as the norm.

I would guess that many of the small businesses selling on here have had to accept pay cuts or even going back into paid employment as their profits fall.  They've reduced their ebay shop levels, reduced their stock and turnover to reduce costs.  Private sellers are being told to accept less for their cast-offs or collections and absorb the BPF.  Wait longer for their sales proceeds so ebay can prop itself up by making interest on their money.

Basically ebay's strategy is to screw the maximum out of its customers so it can continue in its out-dated profligate ways, making everyone suffer to maintain the standards from a by-gone era.

That strategy didn't work before, during the Great Depression, it made the depression deeper.  It isn't working now as buyers and sellers desert a site that's priced itself out of the market.  Perhaps they should forget about the 90s and "Greed is good" (remember what that led to in 2008??) and remember a slogan from the Depression years - "We're ALL better off when we're ALL better off" and stop squeezing the last drops of blood out of the goose that can't deliver any more golden eggs because it's starving.

[vintagechinashop]

Totally agree. I too am by nature a stress head on sales mostly because this backs up my income.  I now have some savings behind me so I’m not so dependent on eBay to pay the bills. March is looking better than this time last year so far and I’m encouraged by this. I have managed to keep my TRS status for almost a year now as I’m improving on my delivery times. My plan to reduce my stock year on year is going well. Looking forward to be able to get my spare room back as a spare room and just keep my stock room low 

I’ve given myself 5 more years of doing this so that I can really enjoy my retirement Hopefully eBay will assist me in my quest 

[theelench]

I'm glad things are looking up for you at last 🙂

[vicaa_81]

Not only dead in the UK but also in the US since December my sales have dropped grom 6 to 10 sales a day 7 days a week to I am lucky to get 1 a day, and I have been using selling similar and also going through and rediscripting my items, even sending offers anywhere from 100 to 180 and nothing this is awfull.

[theukbargainbucket]

You do realise as a business seller (which you should had been long before) with over 2k listings and 2.5k items sold, you'll be looking at £437.00 a month shop fees that you need to pay eBay, that's not even including your selling fees ontop of that.  Then you'll start to realise why business sellers get annoyed by private sellers like you.

There is no "in the process" you simply move to a business account immediately.

Are you even paying your taxes?

[vicaa_81]

VML'S STUFF L.L.C. Thank you

[the-dustbucket-tradingco]

Hey, this was why i was looking up the answer but i feel i know a few of them:

1)   eBay have advertised a lot that its FREE to sell free on eBay, so here we are diluted with cheaper items.

I know research to test the market then add a fair price, a bit lower than some.

Add that to Vinted where items really are cheap, cheap 🐤🐥 & my items harder to sell against a cheaper market.  Thats why the awful China market sells so much even with so much bad/negative feedback.

2)  Now add on that buyers have to pay a protection fee.  Before that was free to them. Its a choice on Vinted.

3) and also i can no longer use my android 9 phone to list sell or buy!!! Oh why oh why eBay? Will i buy a new phone. Not likely but i am very frustrated with that as i used it to download photos and using my lap top for everything else (dyslexia and easier to see and type on a laptop.) 

4) Royal Mail large letter was something i used, cheaper postage for a buyer. Always good if an item went missing or was late as always compensated.  NOW i dont get paid until the end of the month as no tracking!

I take lots of photos so the app thing is a real pain as now I am lost to as what to do.

Car boot sales start soon too 🙂 take care & good luck 🍀

[the-dustbucket-tradingco]

Hi, I have just looked and i have sold 1.6K items, taken into account i started in 2005. 

The items dont sell and go round and round and i keep on adding my junk. 

I find stuff, often given stuff & theres the stuff I dont use anymore,

plus I am a hoarder using eBay as some type of therapy.

😂

When i first started to buy and sell in the early days, it was really hard work.

Based on decency and trust.  Many sellers really did take advantage.

I ended up with a sewing machine that did not sell, a pram with a wonky wheel 😤

& the bidding part back then was very exciting.

Over the years i have given eBay so much feedback.

Many sellers in the early days, we were all just selling mostly 2nd hand stuff and saving landfill.

Unwanted gifts and outfits that no longer were worn.

Now when an items sells, its the game of where to find it...Ive got 3 days🤣

Just worked it out, thats 76 items a year.  

Now I cant sell due to my android phone will not take the app?? 😕😬🤯

[the-dustbucket-tradingco]

oh i meant to add, you also have bucket in your name 🪣yay 😂

[the-dustbucket-tradingco]

oh my, i hear you... my spare room 😂& my empty daughers room 🤣

eBay changed their app and my hoarding needs eBay.

Sales for me are really low currently (a positive to end there.) 

I replied to the first post so no need to add answers.

A question for you is maybe same for me. 

I often see eBay put the delivery date to a customer even though i have left tracking i know the item will not move until the next day due to collections.  

Would it, does it make any difference to when they say an item will arrive.  As tracking should not lose a delivery day just becasue i added it. It does look as if its been posted.  Which often is in the shop over-night.

Thank you and good 🍀

[aproe-19]

eBay is the only platform that consistently pushes me back to the high street and not because I love brick-and-mortar shopping, but because dealing with eBay has become intolerable. Of all the marketplaces I use, this is the one that actively repels me. It is outdated, cumbersome, and a masterclass in how to drive away modern buyers.

The feedback system? Rigged beyond belief. Sellers can scrub away genuine negative reviews, making the entire process as trustworthy as a site like "Trustpilot" which, ironically, is the least trustworthy name on the internet. eBay's ecosystem feels frozen in time, dominated by sellers who appear stuck in the early 2000s, clinging to habits that have no place in a digital economy.

The shopping experience is bulky, tedious, and joyless. Once, I would spend hundreds every month on eBay. Now? I struggle to justify spending even £10. That money has moved elsewhere to platforms offering better service, clearer quality guarantees, and far superior product discovery. Shopping should be exciting, efficient, and rewarding yet eBay offers none of that.

Frankly, it makes me wonder who the supposed 130 million active users are because it certainly is not anyone under 35. Younger buyers have abandoned ship, and as the older generation becomes more tech-savvy, eBay's last bastion will collapse. This platform is on life support.

Whenever I do find something of interest on eBay, I immediately check if the seller has an independent site and I buy directly. Every return visit to eBay feels like walking into a digital graveyard. It serves as a reminder that better options exist everywhere else.

From both empathy and humour, here is the brutal truth: eBay is an awful place to shop. I would not recommend it to anyone. Every moment spent there generates momentum to leave. This is the epitome of a marketplace in terminal decline, irrelevant, unpleasant, and obsolete.

[gblcfc]

A perfectly reasonable assessment of the 'ebay experience'

But what explains the steep decline in sales for many Business & Private sellers?

My wife has a mate who is a Business Seller (and has been for years)  - her sales have dropped from a very consistent average of c. £1300 per month to less than £100 per month since BPF was introduced (which  doesn't impact her anyway). What market or platform dynamics are driving this?

Consumer confidence (or the lack of it) is only a partial explanation. 

[andha-21]

---

@gblcfc wrote:

A perfectly reasonable assessment of the 'ebay experience'

But what explains the steep decline in sales for many Business & Private sellers?

My wife has a mate who is a Business Seller (and has been for years)  - her sales have dropped from a very consistent average of c. £1300 per month to less than £100 per month since BPF was introduced (which  doesn't impact her anyway). What market or platform dynamics are driving this?

Consumer confidence (or the lack of it) is only a partial explanation. 

---

I've posted before that I do think they lost alot of users with that big update on 4th February, far more than we've been seeing on these threads.

I was chatting with a CEX tech yesterday and we were talking about app updates and I told them about eBay and how it looks like everyone with older than Android 10 has been blocked from using it. They were aghast. Said that was crazy and wondered if they knew just how many users they'd blocked.

Considering CEX are one of the big 2 in secondhand mobiles, the other being Music Magpie I'd guess they know what they're talking about.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they lost over 6 figures worth of users that day and that could certainly explain the massive changes some of us are seeing on this site, even without all the BPF related bs.

[gblcfc]

Another very valid point that has been lost in the debate on the general topic. I spoke with CS on 5/2/25 when the BPF hadn't appeared on my listings- they told be that they had been 'overwhelmed' with issues relating to the app. I posted this on another thread only to be shot down by numerous 'Mentors' on here

[threadgame]

"Seller feedback rigged beyond belief", not much experience of selling then, have you?

You're 'that' buyer who probably takes pride in destroying someone's 100% feedback, because if you knew anything about selling on eBay you wouldn't have said the above.

The feedback system is terrible from a sellers perspective, buyers can leave negative feedback before even receiving the item, so it's a damn good job eBay support can scrub 'certain' feedback, that's the absolute minimum seller protection sellers deserve. The fact sellers can no longer leave a buyer neutral or negative feedback is another bad move.

 EBay is 110% buyer focused, so don't wade in a predominantly seller focused post with ridiculous comments.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

You're 'that' buyer who probably takes pride in destroying someone's 100% feedback, because if you knew anything about selling on eBay you wouldn't have said the above.

Don't look at feedback left.......  🙂

[threadgame]

Easier said than done, sometimes! 😩🤞