Oh that feeling

[pulseofthedead]

When you sell something cheap and pay fees, only for the item to reappear for sale at 10 times the price you sold it for and the private seller who bought it  pays no fees… 

So yes my fault I sold it cheap but arent private sellers only supposed to be selling their own items, not buying on here and selling it on days later.

[theelench]

Never heard of Worthpoint but will have a look.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[pulseofthedead]

Yes I know she should have a business account, but unless they are really forced to be one, then they are not going to be, so then we back to square one…
Apart from the law which is clearly not enforced on this site, what real incentive if there for privates to become business…absolutely none…scare tactics haven’t really worked or not that I e noticed in the category I mostly sell on

[andha-21]

The one I'm referring to don't get 4 times what the rest do, but if one of the second tier business sellers (still dealing in £thousands per week) gets say £20 for a (set of) model(s) then the one I'm referring to usually gets between £25-£30. Doesn't seem like alot until you look at how many listings they have/make. Hundreds, sometimes thousands and over 90% sells, every single time.

They used to start auctions every Sunday, recently in the last few weeks they seem to have switched to fortnightly listing Thursday and Sunday the same week. They did take a hit on their selling prices after BPF started so I guess they are experimenting.

& on top of the above they have their own site where they deal worldwide and last I looked they sell from Amazon too. They are massive.

With Warhammer models I'd wager selling abroad can be a factor with price increases. Warhammer seem to put the prices up everywhere else and limit supply, especially north America, so prices can skyrocket. But other big dealers selling abroad and still don't get the same type of business. So there's something specific to them in it all.

& that's why I'm almost certain eBay have completely screwed themselves here. Companies like I'm talking about don't actually need eBay to make money and if they see their auctions being driven down here, eventually they will probably stop listing.

But they draw the crowds, they're the whale that everyone wants to see. The little fish get spotted simply by being in their wake.

eBay aren't the big fish, they're just the parasitic remora that hangs on.

[pulseofthedead]

You’re right. EBay are not the big fish they once were and there is more competition but it depends on what you are selling

My line are things that were mostly stopped being made by manufacturers in the 70s except for one company and they no longer make things that an adult collector would like…

Apart From some fairs and auction houses, I cannot buy what I collect from any other site except maybe Etsy and I do not buy from there..,

Just because I dont think that EBay have got this right, and I have been vocal about it from the start I don’t they  are the parasite that is hanging on. They just have become very short sighted.,,,and want to be someone they aren’t….

[pulseofthedead]

It’s a knock on effect across the board. I have friends that are not buying because in their eyes, they don’t see why they have to pay a BGF….on top of their purchase. Not so bad if it’s a low price but if you are bidding high then your final price fee is going to be high…

[pulseofthedead]

From what I can see, many good business sellers  are leaving as well. Having been in one specific category for so long.  You know who has stayed and who has gone and if the good sellers with choice items are gone then so are the buyers…

[pulseofthedead]

I have watched one guy selling on here for many years. He has some amazing things, antiques, miniatures, quirky items and have often been amazed by the prices he has achieved over the years, but I guess he has built up a really good clientele

[theelench]

Again I totally agree with you, the two really good sellers I'm talking about first scaled back on ebay and then left sometime after ebay started 'streamlining' the search results shown to buyers.  I'm sure that part of the streamlining was that buyers were profiled by their buying history.

Back then I would buy mostly low value items, single candlesticks or trinket pots to complete sets or pairs and then began to notice that more often I only saw higher value items when I came across them on the Sold page while researching.  It was also when ebay started favouring cheap but quick selling items over higher value, often slower selling items.

What incentive did they have to continue listing high value rarities if their visibility was restricted?  One went to etsy and was still there last time I looked.  The other I still see on google shopping, still selling under the same name but without the "Ebay" tag.  I presume they have concentrated on their own web-site and found it better value to pay google than ebay for the promotion?  It was at about that time that I just gave up trying to browse on ebay because it became less likely that I would find the 'good' items I was searching for.

So to me it was the better sellers that left as ebay started interfering with visibility.  Something that has only got worse since PL was introduced and culminated in my giving-up at the end of last year.  A year when I only sold 4 of about 50 items listed and only bought 1 item on ebay (a diary in May) but happily bought a couple of items on other sites where I was shown these £100+ items.

As you say it's only by having been interested in the same category for years that I noticed this.  If the same has happened in you area and is happening in @andha-21 's Warhammer niche, is it happening in other collectables niches all over ebay?  With the virtuous circle of businesses trading from and to private sellers / buyers being ruined from both ends by "private" sellers undercutting and ebay restricting the visibility of their items, who can blame them for going elsewhere.

[pulseofthedead]

Some say visibility issues, although I have never and never will promote and I can’t say I have noticed not being visible or I didn’t feel invisible,

So I sell in a category where the buyers are hardcore. You would be amazed at some prices realised for such tiny items. Dollshouse collecting is massive…but they are creating fantasy worlds. Imagine paying £3000 for a teaset in full size, I wouldn’t or couldn’t but they do for a particular maker in miniature

But I imagine the glass collecting world has shrunk…. Maybe very popular in the 70s or 80s but people don’t seem to have “stuff” like they used to. My Mum collects Doulton figurines, mostly lady types. Once incredibly popular. Sadly no longer apart from those of a certain age..Hobbies are big business though….

So do you think it really is down to lack of visibility or just the market dictating…although I guess from your experience, it is down to visibility…

[the-nutwood-collection]

... is it happening in other collectables niches all over ebay?

I think the saved searches that alert collectors have gone haywire.  I collect ephemera related to a Victorian recovery hospital, and my saved search has been running for years and triggered lots of purchases.

Now it's total rubbish - today I'm offered 'The Complete Plywood Handbook'.  Yesterday, it was books titled 'A Cowgirl Finds a Home', 'Zombie Hospital of the Damned' and 'The Handbook of Paediatric Haematology'.

There is absolutely nothing in my search string that would suggest that I am searching for cowgirls (homeless or housed), zombies, or paediatric medicine.

It's hopeless.  It's like this every day.  In the past I've been offered first aid kits, adjustable hospital beds and books on how to build a log cabin (lots of those).  I can't assemble Ikea furniture,  I'm a menace with power tools and have the strength and spatial ability of a goldfish.  Why would I attempt a log cabin?  Also, in my area, it would be easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than getting planning permission for a log cabin.

My guess is that this clutter is all sponsored listings.

[theelench]

I think it's hard to know if "the glass collecting world has shrunk...".   Art Deco goes in and out of fashion but there is a hard core of dedicated collectors.  Admittedly, like your mum, people of that 'certain age' are probably a big part of the hard core and over the last few years they've been hit particularly hard by the freeze in personal tax allowances and rising tax bills.  The uncertainties over the future of pension incomes at a time of high inflation swallowing-up disposable incomes.

But the fact remains that since ebay started messing with the search results shown to buyers my sales have declined on ebay, but increased on ebid.  I've always put this down to it being more intuitive and key-word based, making it easier to find my stuff on there.  Last year 28 sales there, a slight increase of 4 on the previous year and another increase on 2023 with 17 sales.  I must admit that this year it looks like sales will be dire, 3 months into 2025 and only 4.  This time last year I'd already sold 18 items.  So yes, I do think visibility is an issue on ebay, but accept that reduced disposable income and uncertainty about future income is also a factor.

The trend on ebid since the Covid lockdowns has been up but on ebay has been down, so even allowing for demographics, inflation and less disposable income I do think that searching using IS and ebay's increasing insistence that to be seen items must be sponsored has had a detrimental effect on my sales.

[arkwebus]

Regarding business sellers "we" seem to find it possible - even easy - to identify business sellers who are not registered as such but were told by eBay [some while ago] not to draw this to other members' attention in [public] posts.    @pulseofthedead 

[magpiecorner1]

There is a difference between selling something for more than you pay for it and making a profit.

If you have, for instance, shares, unless you have a business dealing in shares, when you sell for more than you pay, it's realising your investment.

Though, of course, the private seller COULD be at the beginning of his business, taking advantage of the £1000 turnover rule, thus not needing to register until 5 October 2027.

Or - he could have bought the item - opened a business, put the item into stock at market value, sold the item at market value, so now he has made a business loss (the cost of selling and perhaps posting).  Now would be the time to allocate car, computer etc to his business, make a bigger loss, and get sideways relief, therefore offsetting his taxes paid on salary, investments or pension.   

Always more than one way to skin a cat.

[pulseofthedead]

Yes they could but having sold 395 items in the last period they clearly have exceeded their selling  limit.

[pulseofthedead]

The thing that I don’t understand is why does EBay make listings invisible. Why do they not want to make money on those sales.

I get when there are many listings of the same item, factors come into play such as ranking etc but why hide items that are often niche or only a few that exist. I guess removal of certain categories didn’t help.

I find with selling vintage dolls, mine do seem to disappear into the void though…

[theelench]

I think, mostly from what I've learned on here over the years, that ebay's algorithm is 'one size fits all'?  As ebay moved away from private sellers and auctions towards the more business oriented BIN listings it also developed a liking for new and quicker selling listings.

In the past a recurring topic on the boards was whether or not ebay had an "On/Off" switch.  I've always been on the fence about that because I've never completely believed that ebay cares whether it gets a fee for selling a new vase or a vintage one. 

But the more vases ebay sells the more fees it earns.  A good business seller will buy a pallet load of new vases with the objective of selling them quickly.  There are simply more fees to be had from that than waiting weeks or months for my one-off vintage vase to find a buyer looking for it.   

So ebay's algorithm was developed to favour quick selling items and new listings and ignored that that is going to dis-advantage slower selling items and items that can never develop any sales history because they are rare and never listed in any great numbers.  IMO ebay isn't deliberately hiding listings, it's just pushing those that sell quicker to the top of the results pages.  It was even said on here that a seller who regularly lists items that didn't sell would be further demoted down the visibility ladder. 

That was happening well before ebay biased the search even further by adding Sponsored listings to the mix.  Hence after listing about 50 items last year and selling only 4, plus my refusal to sponsor one-off rarities, I think my visibility has hit rock bottom on ebay.  But on another site without all the bias in search results positioning, if someone is looking for a vintage vase, types that into the search box they will be shown my vase even if it's been sitting there for ten years, costs £10 or £100 and is the only one on the site, it's as visible as anyone else's. 

Removing the old Collectables categories definitely did not help sales.  Although buyers are unlikely to search by category if there is a category that matches what the buyer types that is an exact match and should lead the straight to any listing with those words in the title.  It does on the other site but ebay seems to deliberately lead buyers away from the obvious words that they may use with filters that don't match some of those words. 

[magpiecorner1]

Is there a selling limit?

[pulseofthedead]

Sorry that’s not quite what I meant…..at my stage in life it’s easy to speak before your brain engages