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?

[theelench]

Someone today was kind enough to leave me Kudos for my post #8 from way back in Jan. '24.

It seems strange reading it again a year later.

I ended '24 with just 4 sales on ebay after jumping through the hoops and mucking about doing "Sell Similar" through the year, but still refusing to give in to ebay blackmail by sponsoring one-off items.

Needless to say I didn't bother to re-start after my winter break to avoid Late Delivery Defects, it just didn't seem worth it.

Can't say I'm sorry to be out of it, seeing whats been thrown at private sellers in the last few weeks.  Anyone willing to put up with how ebay is for private sellers now must be desperate indeed.

[moldosgifts]

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@theelench wrote:

Someone today was kind enough to leave me Kudos for my post #8 from way back in Jan. '24.

It seems strange reading it again a year later.

I ended '24 with just 4 sales on ebay after jumping through the hoops and mucking about doing "Sell Similar" through the year, but still refusing to give in to ebay blackmail by sponsoring one-off items.

Needless to say I didn't bother to re-start after my winter break to avoid Late Delivery Defects, it just didn't seem worth it.

Can't say I'm sorry to be out of it, seeing whats been thrown at private sellers in the last few weeks.  Anyone willing to put up with how ebay is for private sellers now must be desperate indeed.

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Desperate seem to be the common them on here for private sellers, selling to pay the the energy bill, put petrol in the car and food on the table. Desperate indeed.

[simplycollectibles2009]

I just had running with ebay ..in regard to them with holding funds.. even in the knowing positive feedback has been left .. holding money in order to make sure buyer are happy is nothing short of a joke ! ..it leaves it open to those unscrupulous individuals ..who claim items are damaged ..when it could of been  the buyers fault ? ie dropped the item or damaged it some way ..then claim it was down to the seller ..small time or private sellers have not got a chance .. I was selling disney key rings for £2.99 .. free p&p then ebay stuck their bogus buyers fee on top .. 84 p .. not sold one since ..in the process of closing account ..eBay seem to have forgot ..if it wasn't for sellers ..ebay wouldn't have become so financially well off ..I would advise anyone who is thinking to set up on eBay to think again ..there are far more less greedy selling platforms

[therenewalworkshopltd]

it leaves it open to those unscrupulous individuals ..who claim items are damaged ..when it could of been  the buyers fault ?

Please do explain how it actually makes any difference in this particular case whether or not the money is held?

Those unscrupulous buyers, will do that anyway and instead of the funds being in your wallet, it will be withdrawn from your bank account instead, if you don't have sufficient funds there already.

That particular issue, has been around since the year dot and whether you are a small private seller, or a business, it makes literally no difference at all.

If you were selling that item for £2.99 and the buyers fee has gone on top, why have you not used some common sense and reduced the price accordingly?  Instead of paying fees directly, they are being charged to the customer.  Or do you think that it should be entirely free to you?

Sell the same think on Vxxnted and exactly the same thing happens.  You set item price at £2.99, they then add on a buyers fee (or whatever they call it), which the buyer pays.  No difference.

What you and all those like you are not willing to concede, is that its actually cheaper for you to sell than it was when you were being charged fees.  You end up with more money in your pocket now comparatively!

And you certainly do far better than those of us who try to make a living selling on here.

[simplycollectibles2009]

once positive feedback has been left ..you should get your money .. why should I readjust my prices and lose
money for eBays benefit ? 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Insults are not required.

Don't be so childish, as you obviously do not understand how things work.

I suggest that you actually read what I wrote, and then answer it.

[onlineflowerseeds]

Wow ebay offer is now at 16,000 via You lend ,

No thanx , 

That would tie me into a job i no longer want to be honest

Ebay is nice money , but i need a job i like , so it no longer feels like a job.

Ebay is such a chore now , paperwork is endless and now with Digital coming in and the business

doing so well it would exceed VAT levels , so next year profits would actually fall even though takings would

be up. , unless i increase my 70 hour a week to 90 and sell even more plus even more hours if i have to register for VAT.  

Filed my tax return already ,  switching back to PAYE and taking life easier now.

The stress here is enough to fill an artery......................

Oh yea , that neg you cant read , the only one i got ,   From a nice person who bought 1kg of seeds , then another 1kg seeds a month later but missed out on the buy 2 get 1 free , so i sent a message" hi you missed out on the buy 2 get 1 free so i have sent you a free one with the one you just bought",   got a neg for it .

No good deed goes unpunished on ebay !

Im not a psychologist , 

im not a horticulturist ,

im not an IT expert ,

im not a therapist ,

Im not a lawyer that can understand your terms and conditions ,

im not someone who can work 70 hours a week anymore

Just an average person who says enough is enough and thank you but no thank you anymore.

Good bye.

[moonspender]

I feel your pain

Ebay has become more and more complex to list and transact on.

More hoops to jump through

Dealing with tax and the paperwork a massive hassle

Paying more in fees ... getting less sales

Ebay more and more failing to understand the needs of business sellers

We could now both do a part time job on minimum wage and earn more, less hours  ... no hassle ... its becoming more and more appealing