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?

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

When we started selling as a business in around 2007 the fees were little more than 5% and there were no fees on postage or overseas taxes etc etc, also there was no VAT on top of the fees.

When you include promoted listing fees etc overall fees are now circa 300 - 500% higher than they were in 2007 - 2008.

[charleysshop]

And unfortunately it’s only going to get worse. You may have already read this but if not, I would highly recommend you do and let other businesses know. 

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-marketing-terms-update-december-2024/

[charleysshop]

Hi,

I think you will find this article helpful, please feel free to forward on to others.

i am already running my shop down to be gone by the end of the month. 

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-marketing-terms-update-december-2024/

[greencrest-intl]

I am looking to sell the whole shebang, shop and stock, (although i take it no potential buyers on this thread🤔..)

I am too uneasy with the future.

We are right down on last year .. although some of that down to changing lines but that only answers a bit

and we have since promoted more and reduced prices and chipped and changed everywhere .. it just wont do it for me. any advice would be great. 

BTW Why promoting listings would make the subtle increases in sales on  my store is beyond me! most of our lines are almost unique with little and sometimes no competition ... and priced cheapest, but hey maybe one day the post office scandal enquiry will reach these shores.

Its a wonder when using tools to calculate year on year sales it reaches a bug (they simply cannot show the drop!!)

Aug 23 £6,200 - Aug 24 £4,250

Sep 23 £7,000 - Sep 24 £5,800

Oct 23 £5900 - Oct 24 £4,950

Nov 23 £8,070 - Nov 24 £5,390

And with all the fee increases.. ! I wish i could just quit

[greencrest-intl]

No surprise they hide the data they cannot justify, showing these figures may just need a tad of explaining

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

As time has gone on Ebay have got more competition.

Amazon arrived and became more popular than Ebay.

For a lot of items ebay isnt the best way to shop.

30 day money back guarantee's just arent good enough.

If I buy a TV from Currys I get a years warranty.

If I buy pc parts from ebuyer I get 3 years warranty !

[charleysshop]

What a shame. Sorry to hear that. Wish you all the best, Charley

[digitrade99]

I sell my products for £20 plus have been for about 5 years usually do quite well. Sales started to drop after the emergence of timu 2 to 3 years ago. They're selling them for £5 ! so how am I supposed to compete with that especially after eBay's fees. Government needs to do something about the Chinese flooding our markets with super cheap products it's almost like a form of economic  warfare, our retailers and people employed in the retail sector are losing their jobs and livelihoods while the Chinese feast on our money and build weapons to use against us.

[vintique*violet]

As time has gone on Ebay have got more competition.

Amazon arrived and became more popular than Ebay.

For a lot of items ebay isnt the best way to shop.

30 day money back guarantee's just arent good enough.

If I buy a TV from Currys I get a years warranty.

If I buy pc parts from ebuyer I get 3 years warranty !

New items especially electronic come with the manufactures warranty.

They usually contain a warranty card for you to register,   this then gives the 3 or 5 year warranty.

Ebay offering  a 30 day money back is nothing to do with a manufacturers warranty. 

[charleysshop]

Hi, 

I fail to see why Temu is used so much 🤷🏻‍♀️ If you are on LinkedIn follow the British Retail Consortium for useful information, many businesses are also concerned that our country is becoming flooded with cheap products. 
I (not just as a business) am increasingly worried about the environmental impact that it is going to have on our country as well as the economy. Britain should be holding their head up high with the amount of successful businesses and creative talent we have here, (see the thread platform to see how many there are) and yet we seem to be drowning in cheap, throwaway items 😢 there needs to be a big push/campaign to change this, but where to start?

Any one have any thoughts/ideas or capability of tackling this?

[exponential_developments]

£2.89 in 2 days....lol...............I have no words left.

[the-nutwood-collection]

Thanks @theelench , @british-ceramics-and-paintings and @sheba-knows-best for taking a trip down the eBay fees memory lane.

I think the great garage clear-out was probably at the tail end of the lowest fees, so I was probably right in thinking that the fees were considerably lower.  However, eBay was buzzing with buyers so, even if the fees were greater, I would have thought it worthwhile to have a slot on a such busy platform.

Where did it all go wrong?  We spent a lot of time on my post grad course, analysing Harvard case studies on companies that were once thriving but have now faded, discussing where they went wrong and what they could/should have done differently.

I have a feeling that, in years to come, eBay will be the subject one of those case studies - along with the brand-destroying activities of the Markles of Montecito.

[the-nutwood-collection]

FedEx turned up with a parcel, and the guy saw my stockroom.  He asked if I had a side hustle (no, actually mate, it's a business), and how it was going.  I said that it wasn't going as well as I hoped (masterly understatement).  Then he said that if I only made £1, it was a £1 that I didn't have yesterday.

Obviously a glass half full person.

So ... be like the FedEx guy and look on the bright side.  It's £2.89 that you didn't have two days ago.  It'll buy a pig in a blanket for the family to share on Christmas day.  

[lonewolfmozes]

I might be gone next year also from ebay because I don't like the new changes coming into February 2025 with payment new rules etc so I won't be sending nothing in the post just cash and collection only or if I can't sell then I will throw away what I got left that I don't want 2 keep like. 

[azeemsh-39]

same my issue

[lazyandyt]

Opened up a selling account last year. After a promising start. Sales have literally gone to zero. I'm loyal to the platform but can't go on like this. So going to try other alternatives. I think ebay is definitely for buyers. But if more sellers keep leaving there will be fewer choices for buyers.

[555njp]

---

@vintique*violet wrote:

As time has gone on Ebay have got more competition.

Amazon arrived and became more popular than Ebay.

For a lot of items ebay isnt the best way to shop.

30 day money back guarantee's just arent good enough.

If I buy a TV from Currys I get a years warranty.

If I buy pc parts from ebuyer I get 3 years warranty !

New items especially electronic come with the manufactures warranty.

They usually contain a warranty card for you to register,   this then gives the 3 or 5 year warranty.

---

But rarely if ever valid if you purchased from eBay (or other online site) via a reseller or anyone other than an official authorised product outlet.

When you register a product online, the first question is “name the retailer where this product was purchased from”.
If you put curry’s and upload receipt, no problem.

If you put eBay, via Curry’s outlet, and upload a receipt, no problem.
But if you put eBay via “Joe bloggs slightly dodgy resales Ltd”, you’ll get “sorry, this retailer is not on our authorised product distribution list. Your product cannot be registered”.

Unfortunately many buyers simply don’t know this and worse, many resellers are claiming that products purchased from them are covered by a manufacturers warranty when in reality they are not.

As such, any product protection offered in the above case would come via the reselling business. It is highly unlikely to be more than 12 months and even then very difficult to enforce unless you want to take them to the small claims court.

The 30 day money back guarantee offered by eBay is the only safety net.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

But if you put eBay via “Joe bloggs slightly dodgy resales Ltd”, you’ll get “sorry, this retailer is not on our authorised product distribution list. Your product cannot be registered”.

Actually, that needs clarifying a bit more.

If you purchase on Ebay from a retailer that has bought the item via a valid supply chain, then you can register a warranty with no issues at all.  You do not tell them it's from Ebay, but just the supplier name.
Ebay is just the marketplace, nothing more.

This is from past experience, where I sold a lot of white goods.

The problem actually comes from so many dodgy sellers on Ebay.  They are not selling truly supplied items.

There are an awful lot that dropship from Amazon and such.  Or private sellers who pretend to be business and so on.  At the end of the day, as long as you buy from a properly registered business, then 9 times out of 10, you won't have an issue with this.  I say 9 out of 10 purposely, as there are always going to be sellers playing very loosely with the rules.  Whether that's on Ebay or even the high st.

[santlache_sales]

This is my last month with what used to be a promoted shop, not that it ever gets any promotion from the blood suckers at eBay. I will be downgrading to a basic shop at the end of January and also removing many of the listings I currently have.

I have already started the cull and removed 50 items, I am simply not going to sit around here paying an arm and a leg in fees with ever dwindling sales, while Private sellers undercut me with their free listings.

If it doesn't improve ( which I doubt it will) the basic shop will go too.

I told eBay CS service as much today, and how after 22 years I have had enough of being ripped off and taken for an idiot by eBay, with them giving absolutely nothing back in return. 

[vintique*violet]

I wrote ... New items especially electronic come with the manufactures warranty.

They usually contain a warranty card for you to register,   this then gives the 3 or 5 year warranty.

555njp wrote.... But rarely if ever valid if you purchased from eBay (or other online site) via a reseller or anyone other than an official authorised product outlet.

When you register a product online, the first question is “name the retailer where this product was purchased from”.
If you put curry’s and upload receipt, no problem.

If you put eBay, via Curry’s outlet, and upload a receipt, no problem.
But if you put eBay via “Joe bloggs slightly dodgy resales Ltd”, you’ll get “sorry, this retailer is not on our authorised product distribution list. Your product cannot be registered”.

Unfortunately many buyers simply don’t know this and worse, many resellers are claiming that products purchased from them are covered by a manufacturers warranty when in reality they are not.

As such, any product protection offered in the above case would come via the reselling business. It is highly unlikely to be more than 12 months and even then very difficult to enforce unless you want to take them to the small claims court.

The 30 day money back guarantee offered by eBay is the only safety net.

Interesting information as I have purchased brand new and sealed electronics from different sellers on  eBay over the years, and never had an issue with the warranty card being accepted and authorised.  That being said I have not had to make a claim on such warranty as items still in super working condition.