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.

[mattmg1969]

Hi,
Then call it eBay fees and go back to charging the seller a percentage when an item is being sold. 
EBay need to make revenue and profit, I’m all for helping them increasing their margins slightly if they are struggling, I would rather EBay survived as I’ve always supported their platform. 
All I’m suggesting is that they call it what it is, take the money from the supplier then nobody has any cause to complain. 

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[aymanseller]

Another person who has common sense, which is not so common these days.

spot ON! Call it fees when its a fee. Its like going to kfc buying free chicken and paying £10 for the paper bag. The more chicken you buy the more you pay for the paper bag. But the chicken is FREE. Oh yes you must get a bag else no chicken.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Actually, it is called a fee, a "Buyer protection FEE".

But at the end of the day, what on earth does it matter what it's called?

They have to get an income somewhere.

But think about it, there are other platforms where this is norm and nobody complains about that.

The only difference being, that the older sellers are used to it as it was and quite obviously don't like change.

The only part of the changes that I really think they have messed up, is holding on to money after a sale.
But even this isn't that different to how it was done previously.  Plenty of accounts had to wait for the funds to clear.  Even on Amazxx, you have to wait 2-3 weeks or so before payment is made.  And it's not unusual on other sites either.

I agree, in that they should just go back to charging fees as a percentage of the sale.  But frankly, it really doesn't' matter whether that fee is included or added on to the sale.  It's a fee regardless.

But the whole structure needs an overhaul.  

The way fees are charged for listing items is something that is out of the Ark, and so far from sensible.....

The same can be said of Shop fees.

I don't there is anywhere else, where you have to pay a fee per listing.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

And does it really matter if you pay £10 for the chicken or for the bag?

You end up with the same thing.  So where is the common sense in that exactly?

As regards the more you pay, you have that wrong.  As it's based on the same fee.

So it only works if you pay more for the bag, or for the chicken, depending on which one you want to charge for!  It doesn't change otherwise.

So please get your facts correct.

[snagwagon]

I get what you’re saying, and I agree with the general idea, yes, in theory, the buyer is the one handing over the money that covers fees. But from a seller’s side, it’s not quite that black and white.

As sellers, we still have to do the calculations. It’s not just a matter of slapping a price on and assuming the buyer covers everything. If eBay changes its fee structure, that directly affects my margin, not the buyer’s. They’re not willing to pay more just because fees went up  they’re just comparing prices across listings. If I lower my prices, I earn less. If I keep them the same, I risk losing the sale. Either way, it’s my profit being squeezed.

if eBay said ‘business sellers can ‘sell for free’ under their current fee structure, that’s technically misleading, as they advertise it as a ‘sellers fee’, this is the only thing I see that’s changed on eBay. 

they added the BPF instead of the ‘seller fee’ so they can use vintners structure, and also claim that it’s ’free to sell’ which they do. 

but you stated I need to adjust my prices to stay competitive with the market, a true statement. But if I do this, I need to price my items 4% less than the going rate if I want to stay competitive to those prices. Therefore, I lose that 4% because a buyer won’t buy off me when they could buy somewhere else cheaper. 

the point is:  if an item is priced at £50 for the buyer and it gets a fair amount of sales with eBay’s current structure, would those same buyers pay £50 for an item on eBay if the fees were 0? 

my guess is that they would, so the fees directly affects profits, no matter which way it’s looked at. 

just fyi: I still agree with fees, not the way eBay’s handing some things. For example: I’d rather be charged myself the BPF rather than adjusting all prices to suit the structure, but if they do this, technically they can’t claim it’s ’free To sell’ which is an obvious attempt to me to get more sellers back onto the platform. 

but doing this when their buyers are down 25% since 2018 isn’t a great idea, they need buyers back, not sellers 

[mattmg1969]

Absolutely spot on points. 
I personally just think as a buyer it’s clearer to see a price plus postage, it’s clear and concise. Again my personal view is that what the seller has to pay in fees etc etc should be on our side of the wire.
Yes maybe I am one of the old school Ebayers and I agree that maybe the whole system needs looking at. I understand from comments that this is how other platforms sell, but it doesn’t mean that it works for all. 
Surely looking at the trend of others reporting less sales (and less EBay profits) since switch over should make the Ebay grownups scratch their long beards and wonder if they’ve gone slightly the wrong way. 


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[pinkrabbitprinces82]

it's not actually a buyers protection fee at all, that part is made up and about getting their money rom somwhere how about the sellers or us sellers who are actually making some money to afford the fees. if you seriously believe it's a protection fee then you need your head examined! If you look at the sheer amount of advertising they now have on their page that costs company's thousands t advertise on a platform, like tv channels that arn't bbc get their funding from top buisness's paying thousands just for one advert. so don't give us that waffle ebay are poor they need to charge buyers extra for their items, they are getting plenty in. this post was about why we are loosing customers, if it was nothing to complain about in your opinion, then why thousands upon thousands of complaints not just on this ebay forum if it wasn't effecting people. honestly.

[rosiemac333]

Sellers don’t mind paying fees. It’s charging buyers for buying, that’s the killer. 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

but you stated I need to adjust my prices to stay competitive with the market, a true statement. But if I do this, I need to price my items 4% less than the going rate if I want to stay competitive to those prices. Therefore, I lose that 4% because a buyer won’t buy off me when they could buy somewhere else cheaper. 

Yes, but your missing something here.

Prior to the change (ignoring the free fees farce), it was actually more expensive to sell an item than it is with the BPF.

There have been a few calculations made on the forums to display this.

So I'm not going to give correct figures, but a flavour.

Prior to the change, you sold an item at £50.

Out of that £50, you were charged a selling fee of £6.

So you had a gross profit of £44.

With the BPF, if you sell at item at £50 plus the fee

You now end up with a profit of £50!

So the only way to allow for this, so that buyers are paying the same price as previously, is to simply reduce your price.  Say to £45  Not exact I know!

Any of the sellers now who continue to sell at their original price and are making additional profit (if they sell) and are in effect gouging their customers.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I agree with this, they need to go back to their roots.

Ebay is going down the rabbit hole now and they don't seem to see it.

Ebay needs to be Ebay and Not Amazxxn, or Vintedd etc.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

The point I was making, is that it's a fee.  And I will ask again, what difference does it make whether they call it that, or something entirely different?  It's a fee.

And who said anything about Ebay being poor?  Not me.

All I said was that they need an income, it's not free to run Ebay!

Though prior posters seem to think that it should be entirely free.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Why?

I don't pay the fees when I've sold something.  I charge the buyer for the fees.  Though they may not see it directly, it makes the price that they pay higher!

What's the difference?

If I were paying the fees, the buyers would be getting things at least 12% cheaper!

[gblcfc]

Do you really not understand why the new fee system is bad?

[rosiemac333]

You just answered your own question. 

[snagwagon]

Don’t think you’re seeing it the same way he is. 

a £50 item that was sold for £50 prior to the changes, are still currently being charged £50 with the buyer protection fee included. 

this is the price the buyer pays before and after that change. 

Dont get me wrong, some sellers will refuse to adjust their prices to suit this change, the buyers will then seek the sellers who have adjusted. 

in total, the buyer pays exactly the same, the 4% BPF comes out of the sellers profits. 

a seller can and will only sell at a price customers are happy with, they need to adjust those prices so they can secure a transaction. If enough buyers aren’t willing to pay 4%, the seller is forced to reduce their prices to suit their customers, otherwise they don’t have a business or any sales. 

the fee works the same way wether they call it a 4% seller fee, or a 4% bog, either way, the customers are the one who decides the market price in reality. Because without customers, there’s not a business. 

the fees affect sellers more than buyers in any scenario, as the seller always has to adjust to suit. 

think about outside of eBay, someone invents an item for a total cost of £10, after packing, shipping, or any other fees related it goes to £20 to get it to the customer, they charge £30 for the item for a total profit of £10 

next year, the logistic prices increase by £5, the seller of the item could increase the price by £5 but if the customer is not willing to pay it they either go bust, or they reduce that price back to original and effectively half their profit. 

It’s how business works, but he’s right in what he’s saying. Before, private sellers were charged more, but now it’s cheaper the seller can gain extra cash, while barely altering the price, or they could make it cheaper for the customer and take the same profit as before. 

the customer is the market. 

[rosiemac333]

So sellers should pay the BPF by reducing their prices on items they were going to make little from anyway.

A fee that wasn’t needed because ebay offered the best buyer protection ever, anywhere. Either on the High St or on the internet. I know this as being both a buyer and a seller. 

I’ve been ripped of by dishonest buyers quite a few time. It’s infuriating when you know they’re lying and there’s nothing you can do about it. Their dishonesty is rewarded by getting to keep everything. This was before the introduction of BPF

I have  my listings listed at the market value. Sometimes below the market value, i also, in most cases considered reasonable offers. 

I look a the prices on my item now, since the  introduction of this profit gorging gimmick and i flinch at the price being asked. I would walk away from them.

I can do two things. Leave them at the original price with BPF added knowing it will never sell, or I can take the hit and reduce well below the market value on an item i wasn’t going to make much from anyway.  Some things i had sold at a loss.

Free p&p and promo charges also take huge chunks off the amount you will actually see in your hand. 

You can go on about Vint£d and any other site you want charging BPF, that’s a deflection. ebay isn’t Vint£d. It shouldn’t be copying any other online carboots. It should be leading the way, not regressing to follow. 

Finally:

Providing your N.I. to ebay. Nike and M&S were hacked this week, their customer’s details were compromised. It’s happening all the time and is becoming more frequent 

Withholding your funds. You can’t even see what you have pending now.

Simple Postage is a nightmare to navigate.

Ebay has now set offers as a default setting. You now have to remember to untick it before listing. 

I think they want rid of private sellers completely. The changes they’ve already made year on year has caused many private sellers with fantastic buyer service to leave. 

Business sellers might be rubbing their hands at the prospect. But as the old dictum says:

“Be careful what you wish for” 

[the_book_seekers]

I think they want rid of private sellers completely. The changes they’ve already made year on year has caused many private sellers with fantastic buyer service to leave. 

Business sellers might be rubbing their hands at the prospect. But as the old dictum says:

“Be careful what you wish for” 

The majority of business sellers aren't bothered by genuine private sellers getting rid of personal possessions. It's those running businesses on private accounts that cause us bother.  As for 'rubbing hands together' a lot of us have thrown our hands up in despair at recent changes. We know private sellers are also buyers and upsetting buyers is no good to anyone. 

[honeymonster007]

Ending listings and relisting via sell similar or just relisting doesn't seem to work anymore....what happened ..it used to ☹️

[the_book_seekers]

This month all the usual tricks just aren't working for what ever reason. 

[snagwagon]

I’m not going to argue with any of your points but rather try to explain it in a different light, I may be incorrect with what I’m saying so if I am, please tell me where I’m incorrect. 

I sold 8 years ago, I was a private seller, if I sold an item for the going price, let’s say in this example that it’s £50. 

back then, even as a private seller I was charged a 12.8% FVF, however, unless this fee was wavered between then and since they implemented BPF, I can’t see how this was effectively ‘better’ before they implemented it. 

with a few exceptions, like promotional events such as:

0 FVF fees between certain dates 

or £1 final value fees between certain dates. 

but excluding these promotional events I was charged personally 12.8% as a private seller. So, I’ll give you 2 examples, I will use exact numbers, but I will exclude logistics (shipping), listing fees etc (to keep it simple). 

I’m not arguing, just showing you a fact based on what I’ve sold, as it’s 100% verifiable information based on my listed price, my fees (or buyer fees in second example), and also what my net profit was: 

8 years ago: 

I sell an item for £50, eBay charges me 12.8%, they call this ‘seller fees’ and they do not advertise it as ‘free to sell’ like they do now. 

back to topic, 12.8% of £50 equates to £6.40, deduct this from my original £50 leaves me with a net sale of £43.60 

now for the second example, let’s assume I’m selling that exact same item, it hasn’t lost value or increased in value due to inflation (in this example) and the buyers are still paying the same £50 for this item they were before, this would be how I alter my listing and the total net sale. 

To get the customer to pay exactly £50 for the same item, I need to reduce how much I list my item for to account for the BPF. 

the amount I would have to list this for is £47.36 

4% of £47.36 = £1.89 bringing the total to £49.25

abd let’s not forget the flat fee of 0.75p which brings us to the customers overall price of £50 

so, to summarise: 

8 years ago, on eBay’s old fee structure for private sellers, I would list my item for £50 and out of that £50 my 12.8% gets deducted leaving me with £43.60

now since they changed this to BPF, they charge this fee ontop of your listing price rather than direct from what the customer pays ‘you’, so instead of your customer paying you and you paying the fee, the customer pays the fee direct to eBay (i hope I’ve made this understandable) 

after decreasing my listing to account for this extra charge they pay eBay now instead of going through me first, I’m still left with a total net sale of £47.36.

so effectively I’m being paid £3.76 more than before, even though I’m listing my item cheaper than I was before. 

im just showing you facts from when I was selling back then, compared to now. 

im unsure if the structure was different than this recently, but according to the information I’ve found, I’m pretty sure the 12.8% was still being charged before they implemented BPF 

so obviously, correct me if I’m wrong, but these figures are 100% true so I don’t understand. 

Like I said, I think they chose this route to legally state that ‘it’s free to sell’ it’s caused a lot of free publicity for eBay to try and draw in more sellers. But the fact they keep the old structure for business sellers does not keep in like with the same targets as Vinted. 

Regardless, without comparing to other commerce sites, the fee before this generally squeezed my profits more than this new structure. 

now when you talk about simple delivery, that’s a whole new debate, which I’m not ready for a debate on. This is why I’m purely basing my facts on verifiable information, and excluding shipping costs etc. 

edit: I also don’t understand how after the examples I’ve given, that business sellers think this is a good thing for them?