How many sellers are closing their shops or running down their account in 2024?

[ovleisure]

We have been a seller on here over a couple of our accounts for many years now.   Over this time we have seen a reduction in sales from a max of £13k pcm to £60 pcm.    We have been through mass seller culls, more and more control over the seller/buyer relationship, the forcing of managed payments, increases in fees and requirements to use promoted/advanced promoted and now bid for clicks, to the point where ebay is taking an unsustainable percentage of profit.  

This in turn has lead to such search manipulation as to be virtually impossible for any of our listings to be shown unless we implemented all of the additional promotions, and even then since everyone is in the same boat, it makes little difference.   Search has been broken as a result of all this, and whereas in the past, if your product met the search terms, you could get your item to show, this is now not much short of a miracle!

Maybe you could argue some of it is the economy, but when your listings barely get any visibility unless you pay through the nose for it, it becomes a weak argument at best.

We have closed our shop and have halved our listings, and will be running down all of the stock we do have via other marketplaces.  

I'm just curious what other peoples plans are in 2024, are you bearing with ebay in the hopes of better times, or moving on?

[the_book_seekers]

I don't use best offer which doesn't stop offers being messaged. I think in the last 6 years I have agreed to 1 message and that's because he offered a price substantially above an auction opening price and there were no bids.

[mcr20design]

Ive posted on the tech board....ive switched my buying to the river store, unable to buy anything without constantly having to sign in, get a passcode text message etc.  I cant be the only one with this issue, its enough to put buyers off.

[ghostbay-killah-420]

My plans in 2024 well I be running down my stock on most things as most people just watch and don't buy so no point really to spend money on new things so 4 me is just sell. I was going to list a couple of new items but lately i can't be bothered as it will lead to more watchers and no sale in most cases.

[btr.style]

Slowly I'm inclined to change plans and try to move off eBay with the business. 

We have a lot of quality clothing in stock but unfortunately the more I sell on eBay, the more I realise people on the platform expect stuff for next to nothing and treat business sellers like carboot sale store holders. Barely a day goes by without the infamous 'wuts ur best price on this?' message on items that are already the lowest price online. 

eBay doesn't provide enough ability to create a storefront and listings that really stand out. It's always been a haggling sort of platform but the limitations on how to present listings and add various graphics, logos and imagery makes even the biggest of businesses look cheap and amateur. We spent a lot of money on logos and various imagery and all we get to show this is a tiny profile logo. Had I not decided to import this into listings, it would have been a waste of money for use on eBay. 

So much quality is listed yet people still expect reductions and wait for the price to be lowered further. It's always the way, items sell out for other businesses on other websites at a much higher price than ours, but on eBay we are having to take a hit on sale price and still have leftover stock to pack up until the next season. 

Potentially I could get 1000's if items listed to show off more of our stock and appear more like a proper full time business, but I've always been savvy. Doing so only means more money to eBay and I don't think we deserve to be forking out more to a platform that definitely doesn't deserve it. 

It will be more work no doubt and I'll have to fine tune our photography presentation but it seems a better way to do things and much lower fees to pay. 

[leadhills_scot]

I closed my shop on the 1st February and am listing more items as MVLs . As it is I'm begining to wind down as I can retire in April 2025 so need to make sure that the majority of my stock has gone before then.

[cobwebcottage]

It might help if you correctly registered as a business seller instead of hiding behind a private account. 4.5 k sales and all brand new. Not all buyers are willing to give up their consumer rights and support 'private' sellers who are clearly businesses.

[simplyessential_uk]

Someone has refreshed this thread, which is interesting a month on as I am really putting Ebay on the back burner now. In order of preference of time spent its at the bottom, I think I spend more time in the forum than on my listings 😆 - Joking apart I am removing all PL (I only ever did 2% which is about £20-25 a month spend) and on seeing that noticed my shop fees were £32.40! Which I was surprised they had gone up so basically pondering the removal of the shop and save £50 a month (£600 a year it adds up) as Im not sure what Im getting for that now.  I may just leave the good sellers on here as Im getting so many with 0 views Im clearly paying for the 300 "free" listings for nothing.

Like @darth_baggins ebay used to be my biggest revenue stream but its sitting in joint 3/4th with Etsy and thats only because Etsy only has about 100 listings (half of Ebays!) Im really (insert expletive) off with Ebay, they are just screwing us to the floor.  My sales havent really dropped by turning off PL, they were pants to start with, but I wont pay anymore than 2% when Im already paying 12% + 30p + Shop fees.  My website is doing really really well and Amazon is just so busy so there is no excuse about cost of living etc etc people are genuinely not coming to Ebay.  Watching Love Island and its all EBAY sponsored and all targetting the younger pre-loved market (competing with Vinted) and then I saw an ad for motor parts of a woman doing up her vehicle and thats it! So I wont leave Ebay, but if I get nearer the VAT and have to drop sales guess where they will go first (hence me removing PL as dont want to turnover more than I have to with little profit) its not really my priority anymore.

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Hi,

I understand your frustrations.

Have you thought about doing away with free postage ? and just having a flat rate to cover your costs. We tried free postage during the last year and I didn't see any benefits.

Also, yes Ebay does have a lot of buyers who want lower prices, have you thought about bumping your prices up a little and adding the best offer option, you can set auto decline at a percentage that you will go no lower than.

All the best.

[simplyessential_uk]

Again another annoyance with Ebay! Letting private seller have side hustles who get 80% FVF off, dont have to adhere to DSR or returns then have the cheek to complain about lack of sales. Take a moment to consider that these are one of the reasons genuine businesses struggle to compete with saturation and extra fees.  At least Amazon verify all sellers and remove them asap if they drop below metrics as they understand it tarnishes their brand, Ebays turning into some wildwest, carboot, free for all where rules dont matter attracting scammers and poor sellers.

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Yes, it is very very frustrating, business sellers are pretty much penalised for doing things the right way.

[btr.style]

Thanks. It's not frustration as such, it's a business strategy to shift away for the better. 

Having free postage is a must really. People want and expect free delivery (even though it's just delivery cost added to price and delivery put as free). They get it on Amazon (mostly) so expect it everywhere. If you look on various websites, some deal sites, when a deal is posted and it has a postage charge, lots of people are always saying they'll pass due to the postage charges. 

With regards to offers. Our prices are set as final. Everything we get in stock will absolutely 100% without a doubt sell. Having offers turned on just encourages even more of the price haggling. Such as someone might be about to buy something at the listed price, see the best off button and try to get something knocked off with a best offer. 

The business is going pretty well overall. It's sorted of like eBay and the way if is, is now surplus to requirements. eBay take too much of the slice from us when they don't deserve it (they can't even give businesses the occasional fee promo) and I feel they restrict the business (I only get 250 listings done to avoid paying excess for eBay listings) to sell on their platform, which a lot of people see as a car boot/jumble sale as eBay don't do enough to allow businesses to stand out and look that different to a private seller selling off a load of unwanted junk. 

[exponential_developments]

Now some of my suppliers sell on here, i can't even sell at break even to match their prices, is this good for ebay, who knows, but i do know those companies are busy building up their own websites, so maybe ebay is just used to direct customers there in the longterm.

It's not what it used to be, what does stand out is ebay seem to think sellers margins are sort of 100% or some other crazy amount....lol...lol..

[simplyessential_uk]

Same with Amazon, i have emailed suppliers in the past saying they sold to me then undercut me Ebay/amazon and its not on, cant have their cake and eat it, they got the sale from me, they then cant undercut the same ppl for the direct sale and expect repeat businesss from those same businesses. One did say they were selling low temporarily to get their accounts going with history/feedback them would put them back up, another agreed not to undercut on Amazon, so Some suppliers are not being fair and if they wish to be retail thats fine but theyll lose their wholesale arm, but I always search now on ebay/amazon and if a supplier has a presence selling low I stay clear and any sensible business will do the same.

[darth_baggins]

I once got a form to sign from a supplier with the most ridiculous (and possibly illegal) terms on it, stuff like agreeing not to sell it below a certain price, not to use poor quality photos and not to sell it on Amazon.

At the same time they were undercutting other sellers and using poor quality photos. I told them where to shove it.

Also bought some things from a different seller and listed them on Amazon and they sent me a threatening email demanding I take the listings down. Threatening their own customers for selling things they bought from them to resell. Also told them where to go.

[ghostbay-killah-420]

No point as i got other things to do than spend loads of time on ebay and get registered as a business seller as like i said i am running down most of my items i got.

[the_book_seekers]

 I am removing all PL (I only ever did 2% which is about £20-25 a month spend) and on seeing that noticed my shop fees were £32.40! 

We got an extra 50 auctions when they put the fees up.  

I find your posts interesting as you've tried to be positive about selling on ebay.  Selling has become a process that can grind a body down. 

I had to retire early for health reasons and picked up on ebay again because I love books and wanted to do something that I enjoyed. I still love books, but ebay is squeezing the enjoyment out of selling. There is a point when I will end the business and may revert to being a private seller as I want to reduce my private collection. But not just yet. 

[simplyessential_uk]

I decided to use the 100 auctions over xmas and january and sold a few but im baffled how most get 0 views, its not like I can even pay promo. I try to stay positive and Im doing that by channeling my efforts elsewhere recently.  I dont believe ploughing loads into ads is worth the reward, no point working for less so im switching off PL as a trial. Ebay may pick up but right now I find it extra effort is certainly not reaping any rewards

[potters_uk]

There is a YT video called The rise and Fall of Ebay.  Most answers are covered in that

[jpredman1]

I'm a private seller and mainly I sell construction kits - typically vintage or hard-to-find Airfix, that sort of thing. These I have usually done OK with. You can sometimes break up job lots bought from real-world auctioneers like Vectis, or import multiple units of rare stuff from Japan that is very cheap over there but very expensive here. In each case, by selling what I don't want, it pays for what I do want. At shows, I buy stuff that I know I can sell on for more, and if in doubt I never pay more for an out-of-production kit than what it would cost today if it were reissued (this happens a lot). 

I've recently been decluttering and selling things like hi-fi separates (normally quite collectable), crockery, the kids' old manga books, etc, and something I have noticed is that on this stuff, I frequently get zero views. It seems to shift only very, very slowly. It's labour-intensive to package properly too and books are expensive to send. I have stopped selling except when I get one of the 70% off deals, as the fees are otherwise prohibitive. If I were paying 12.8% on everything, this would simply not be worth doing. 

[simplyessential_uk]

There is a YT video called The rise and Fall of Ebay.  Most answers are covered in that

just watched - Even though its 3yrs old clearly nothing has changed but its definitely correct with the phrase "slowly becoming the Myspace of Ecommerce"  Ebays only mindset at the moment seems to be "throw ads at it"  - Ive been on Ebay long enough to remember that ebay was always P1 of google, no matter what you wanted to buy there it was P1 - Now its always Amazon. Now Ebay want us to pay for that honour with Dynamic ads etc where as it was what I felt I paid my FVFs and shop subs for. Businesses cant keep paying 12% + 30p + Shop fees + DL/PLs resulting in paying 20-25% fees per sale and thats before any profit. How many businesses can stay viable with those figures? They chose to make little profit or increase prices (which makes them uncompetative)   Now Etsy are about 16-18% fees but people are prepared to pay more for that "unusual" item - They are selling themselves as Quality and different so I actually dont mind paying that as I can charge more but Ebay buyers want cheap, yesterday or discounted and they core buyer of Ebay is not looking for quality so its going to be interesting over the next year where ebay is