No Sales in March 2025 - What happened to our once best selling platform

[theglo-68]

We have noticed a sudden decline in sales and since last week we are on Zero.

Has anyone else noticed this issue and is this related to any new changes by Ebay.

What happened to our once best selling platform.

[whf-southampton]

Promoted listings is a waste of time and money (your money.)

Far better to just refresh your listings every few weeks (using the 'sell similar option) and completely do away with promotions of any kind.

[toycarsuk]

Do you think this is an effective way of having listings appear ? 

[suecaistor]

Well said.  I have had no sales for weeks again and then only two or three.  Ebay needs to get some

clever people on it right now!  I like your idea of saying "Free to buy on Ebay" that's a good slogan I think.

I mean who thinks Buyer Protection changes anything for buyers? I have been selling on ebay for over twenty

years and had built up good customers who knew I was an honest and reliable seller - they have now

melted away as have many repeat buyers.  Ebay needs to do something and quickly to turn this situation around.

[auctiongabble]

Ebay won't do anything and if they do it certainly wont be quick!  It took them months to change a simple delivery / buyer protection charge.  They then made it out like 'oh look we've listerned to what people have said'....

There has been many people raise the same points in weekly chats, everyone noticing decline in sales, ebay money grabbing more in fee increases, buyer protection and now promoted listing change which basically just makes ebay more money.  Ebay won't listern to long time users who know the platform better than their own support team.

[suecaistor]

I sympathise with you.  Since the Buyer Protection came in I have had hardly any sales at all.  I paid the extra to so -call- promote my sales, still none!  Waste of money!  Advised by some ebay lackey to get a business account- I am a small private seller and cannot afford the fees in the hope that things might change.  My friend advised me not to change my account as she had done so and still no sales!  It seems that now ebay don't want small private sellers who used to sell regularly - exquisite and beautiful items.  There's loads of cheap trash from China and India which seems to be the new ebay.  I'm just waiting to clear my stock before 

packing it in after over twenty years.  

[rowl_5655]

Ebay has made it increasingly difficult to purchase items with registered cards being blocked, only allowing purchases with Google Pay, and constantly referring more and more to USA based sellers when searching. 

[punkwroc77]

Same - been selling on Ebay since it started in the UK. For a few years it was my source of income and how I made my living. Had to open new accounts twice, (once due to relationship breakup which closed my business and once when my account was victim to fraud that was serious enough to be a Police matter ),until the account I have now.

Never thought I would say this but my sales on Vinted are beating Ebay 26 to 2 . (26 sales in August on Vinted and only 2 on Ebay).

Used to be if I listed a Biker jacket it would be sold in minutes I have 3 or 4 listed now and not even any interest. A lot of what I have for sale is new and I have it listed at just above postage costs and stillcannot sell. Sale items on peoples watch lists were consistently around 20/30 for the past 12 years but now never more than 6 at any one time. I send offers which are 90% or more off eg I have a new £60 hoodie for £1,£500 boots for £240, and numerous items that are 75% or more below cost price.

What really annoys me is when I list brand new items and get no interest but the business sellers are getting sales of 20 + items a day !!. Why are people paying £25 for shirts when I have the same ones for £5 ?..

Only 2 changes from 2024 A. Buyer Fee.  & B. Simple delivery. Ebay claim that only certain categories are restricted to postage by simple delivery. But they will not say which are and which are not.

That means I cannot sell cheap items by low cost postage eg a £5 item with £2.70 Yodel Delivery. Also means I cannot sent more expensive items by Royal Mail Tracked 24 or special delivery.

In 2024 if a parcel went missing having been sent with Royal Mail I could claim in minutes and get my money back including compensation in about 15 days. Now ?.....well I do not even know what happens and neither do Buyers so they just don't take the risk and buy from a business instead.

That said Vinted have now brought in new rules which seem to be designed to force private sellers off the platform or pay to be business sellers ( In Vinted speak PRO SELLERS).

In my opinion it's all down to greed. Ebay making money from buyer fees and now from charging buyers excess postage costs for a high risk unaccountable company like EVRI.

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

Hi there, puncwroc77. about inflated postage costs with simple delivery is not correct, it actually costs more to a buyer if I book it in with royal mail as an example direct. the cost of a small 1kg parcel with royal mail is Tracked £3.45 on their website for 48 hour tracked no signature.  yet ebay simple delivery for small 1kg parcel is slightly cheaper at £3.38 to the buyer. i think because ebay have got a contract with royal mail for so many parcels a year and pay one price for delivery of those parcels. I know it's a pain, many of us have flagged up that we can't post out large sized parcels, some have even done youtube videos on the subject of not simple delivery I call it. They have only done contracts with tow company's evri who i do not trust and royal mail, who only deal with small to medium parcels. parcelfroce or dpd are only ones I use who deal with larger sized and heavier parcels, but there is no choice for those. i also have posters that can only go in a tube or they will get ruined if i crease & fold them and i've listed them as new unfolded. 

i tried explaining this to ebay and they have no tube option on simple delivery that royal mail offer on their website. they are not listing and impossible company to contact now! i remember many years ago when they had a proper customer servcie e-mail address.

[wgwillia]

Ebay has shot it's self in both feet with simple delivery and buyers protection if it is not broken no need to fix it.

[technthread]

That said Vinted have now brought in new rules which seem to be designed to force private sellers off the platform or pay to be business sellers ( In Vinted speak PRO SELLERS).

- 

Vinted make it very difficult to expand as a Pro seller, non-professional users receive preferential treatment in algorithm. It is explicitly stated in their terms.

It is still free as a Pro seller but I honestly believe they are uncomfortable with us being on there. They want heavily underpriced / unresearched prices which they are unlikely to get from us.

[threadgame]

I absolutely second this. Going Pro on Vinted was the biggest regret in my 18 months of selling on the platform. I'm lucky to do more than a couple of sales per day, if that, as I can go days without a sale. This is a 1000 items store for reference.

Ebay is still the king in my opinion, and as time goes on, people realise more and more how flawed the Vinted platform is for buying / selling, mainly due to scams, lack of support, and poor items.

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[guymafo]

@threadgame I think it is down to the categories that you sell in. I switched my business to V in April, (vintage movie, theatre items) I registered as a Pro straight away, even though as @technthread says the T&C state private sellers items are pushed above Pro, it took off for me. I was waiting for the well documented slide after 3 months but still going strong. 

Having said that I would never sell anything on there over £30. 
I don’t doubt there will be another curve ball in the war of the platforms, ie V start charging for something other than bumps. 
But until eBay offer something to small business sellers in the way of levelling the shop fees, rolling listings over, increasing shop limits, actually giving something then I’ll take my business elsewhere. 
I’d like to list on both platforms but eBay are too expensive for low cost items. 
GM

[threadgame]

Yeah, it's absolutely down to the categories. We only list our clothes and some footwear in there, clothing in particular being extremely oversaturated. Unfortunately I wouldn't sell any of our other categories on there, mainly due to items being higher value / being open to scams.

Despite the higher cost of selling, eBay is the only marketplace where I feel confident that the platform will give the correct resolution if there's an issue with a buyer. Until they actually have a human on hand to make a decision, Vinted is the wild west if a buyer chooses to be dishonest.

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[technthread]

I stay away from selling scam magnet items there but I’ve just sent a £270 bundle order out and had a lot of £70-£90’s over time which are nice when I’m not losing £32 to a shop fee on the 1st and then 15% fees on top. I’m enjoying it as a part timer. Repeat buyers are crucial, they beat the algorithm.

[the_book_seekers]

Despite the higher cost of selling, eBay is the only marketplace where I feel confident that the platform will give the correct resolution if there's an issue with a buyer. Until they actually have a human on hand to make a decision, Vinted is the wild west if a buyer chooses to be dishonest.

ebay's customer services is now AI driven. Speaking to a human being is getting harder and harder. 

[dwhairandbeautystore]

I just did a last ditch attempt at buying a load of new stock and pricing it really competitively to see if new stock would bump up my sales, but it's had the opposite effect if anything!

Unfortunately I'm holding thousands of pounds worth of stock still and have bills to pay but I am gradually winding this down now and will be selling off some of my stock on my private account and some on Vinted.

eBay don't seem to give a damn about the number of 'private' sellers running businesses and avoiding fees so I'm not losing any more money to them, I'm going to do the same.

eBay don't care about their own rules when I'm paying them thousands of pouds in fees so why should the rest of us??