POOR SALES = MORE BUYERS NO LONGER USING EBAY?

[candytan67]

So I managed to find some info on yesterday's eBay 2021 Q4 Results.

It came as no suprise to me - after seeing my own declining site sales last year - that again for the third consecutive quarter that the "Number of Active Ebay Buyers" has fallen down to 147million, an overal yearly decline of nearly 10% . 

2021 Q2 = 156million 

2021 Q3 = 152million

2021 Q4 = 147million

2021 Q1 = 163million.......................2021 Q4 = 147million  (-9.8%)

While I am no fan of eBay and the manner it treats it's sellers - I would not like to see the site fail.

Why do buyers appear to be deserting eBay?

We need the answer fast and eBay need to find a solution even faster to help save our businesses.

Is the current "eBay search" (The Sales Prevention Tool) to blame?...........................or is it something else?

Answers on a postcard please!

[papers-mate-420]

Some people have money as an item i also have for xample i packet of rolling papers sold for about £2.00 postage plus £1.50 meaning £3.50 in total so if the wally brain checked out my shop they could of had 5 packets of the same rolling papers for £5 so not everyone is skint like so i don't drop the price as if they are willing 2 pay 4 one packet for £3.50 then £5 for 5 packets is a bargain already like so not everyone is skint as sum people like to waist money.

[papers-mate-420]

All sellers in China sell cheap rubbish at high prices like.

[jamievardyparty]

In the U.K, Meta Marketplace & car boot sales seem to work. Vinted also. EBay needs to up its game and care more about sellers. I've had a couple of bad experiences amongst all the good ones so we have to remember most of the time it works ok. 

[snafu-33]

To everyone who has not been paid by ebay by witholding your funds write your state finacial dept that ebay has to register. They have to register in every state and file a complaint thru them they should be able to help you call them as i did and they are more then happy to help.
Copy the link below and follow it then select your state everyone needs to make a complaint

eBay Commerce Inc. Licenses; How to File a Complaint about eBay Commerce Inc.’s Payments Services

.https://pages.ebay.com/ebayCommerce/mtl.html

Hope this helps

[goingfishinguk]

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@snafu-33 wrote:

...Hope this helps

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No not really since this is a UK forum.. thanks though. 😊

[cheekychippy210]

“Why do buyers appear to be deserting eBay?”

"It's not all eBay's fault."

Who made all the changes then?

The searches are just useless bringing up unrelated items.

endless sponsored ads in item clicked to view,

endless sponsored ads in watching page.

items marked as despatched when clearly not, giving false hope to buyer.

info that use to easy to view is hidden

constant login issues and being asked to verify.

The platform, in my opinion, is now an unpleasant and unfriendly time consuming customer experience.

if a system works, why change it?

[oilydub]

Last night friend contacted me about a small part for his Ducati.

He had done an Ebay search & the best price for a genuine part was £95.

He then searched via the part number on google & found the exaxt same part advertised on EBAY for £45 by more than one sellers.

He wanted to know why Ebay where not showing these results in search & stated "they (ebay) just want to rip you off & so you pay the highest price".

So now another buyer thinking Ebay is just a con, this search issue really does need to be sorted.

[kadangas]

This is one of a number of causes for concern with eBay.. when you sell at auction you just can't get anywhere close to the going price but when you purchase you have to be very careful not to pay more than retail in some cases. I was watching an Item last month. In the last minute of the auction it went from a sensible used price to higher than retail for new ( if you are able to reclaim the vat) . I purchased the item new from a retailer next day for less and with a warranty. 

[papers-mate-420]

endless sponsored ads in watching page. I don't have this problem as i use ad blockers in my web browser and it sorts it out for me with no more ads as the same with youtube plays perfect if you know what to do as i don't like pointless ads and cookies etc. 

[goingfishinguk]

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@papers-mate-420 wrote:

endless sponsored ads in watching page. I don't have this problem as i use ad blockers in my web browser and it sorts it out for me with no more ads as the same with youtube plays perfect if you know what to do as i don't like pointless ads and cookies etc. 

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It's funny in all my years on the Internet (if you had pop ups on your site in the late 90s you were ridiculed and hated - oh how times have changed and for the worst) I've never ever clicked on an advert that pops up or like wise, never.

I compare it to the double glazing salesman calls.  'Oh darling would you like some new double glazed windows throughout' 'oh that would be great.. we will just wait a week or two until we get one of those calls to order shall we' 'doh.'  In other words if I want something I'll search for it, it's the most efficient way of doing it (well not on eBay anymone) I'm not going to sit on my PC waiting for a relevant advert to pop up so I can click on it... it's stupid.  Do these ads actually work - my advertising dashboards says no?

[cheekychippy210]

I use pc not smart phone so  may be totally different.  Numerous adblockers installed in firefox os but these are not pop up adverts they are sponsored ads taking one to another item being sold within ebay.

[bennotbill]

On some pages I'm seeing the second row of sponsored ads have disappeared - Hurrah!

But its been replaced by a row that compares the specs of similar sponsored items.

That row is about three times wider - Boo!

The "specs" look like they're taken from item specifics. So they'll be accurate then.😀

[papers-mate-420]

Mobile app is different can't get rid of ads but on PC no problems as I know my way around computers as i can fix windows computers most of the time. 

[messier44000]

Put this to the weekly chat team.

But be prepared to get the "search is working as intended" response 

and they will pass on your concerns to the team 

[cheekychippy210]

From experience I have have never had any issues buying on here from China. All goods have been quick to arrive, well packed, and good communication. Bought loads from UK sellers with all but a point of a percentage been trouble free. The issue for me is this platform with the changes, which I feel is daily! To me the interface is unpleasant, complicated and tiresome. Placing an advert is now a long winded chore, seconds on the other platforms I have switched to with no questions about post provider, item specifics or the fear of a false case with money back guarentee. Nor are there any fees. A big gripe is the item marked as sent at seller purchasing a posting label. Pathetic idea and just a wind up.  China has something sounding like "ali" which I now turn to first for my parts, cant fault it. Item posted on day or next with full tracking and email updates. Only once let down by seller and they just returned my money in full next day.

[2065yvonne]

Buyers are deserting because sellers are mis-selling items and ebay would rather protect unscrupulous sellers than the buyers, sellers are 10 to a penny with lots of selling sites popping up and buyers are rare especially with the cost of living crisis, yet when you hit an issue ebay will always protect the seller no matter what,making amazon, fb marketplace,shpock, temu and shein far more appealing ...can't wait to see the back of ebay 

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

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@2065yvonne wrote:

*Buyers are deserting because sellers are mis-selling items and ebay would rather protect unscrupulous sellers than the buyers, sellers are 10 to a penny with lots of selling sites popping up and buyers are rare especially with the cost of living crisis, yet when you hit an issue ebay will always protect the seller no matter what,making amazon, fb marketplace,shpock, temu and shein far more appealing ...can't wait to see the back of ebay 

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* Personally and with many years of online trading experience, I've never known that to be the case. It's usually the other way around, and I wear both shoes: buying and selling.

And so are those same sellers mis-selling on the other sites that you mention, with the exception of Amazon who weeded them out months ago!

Facebook Marketplace is absolutely full of scams / scammers and that reputation remains so. The other sites you have mentioned also have sellers claiming/mis-selling items that are of 'good quality' and they end up being total seconds or well below the standard of quality to be able to get into the UK through the correct Trading Standards & Quality Inspection Routes - speaks for itself really!

[olichris]

Delivery problems maybe ?

If sellers use Evri/Hermes..aka different courier, I tend to use Amazon

Not perfect, but a heck of a lot more reliable

Plenty of other reasons as well I guess, economic climate ?!

[santlache_sales]

Spot on.

In my line, if you just clicked on the main title on eBay, 'Coins', around 10 years ago you would have some the UK's top dealers all advertising their wares and paying a little extra for the added promotion, and the first half page would be top quality items with a several thousand pounds ticket prices.

That's all long gone now, and these people have either left or like me have scaled back and refuse to pay eBay more for what we automatically got a few years ago.

As is clear from the figures shown, buyers and now sellers are deserting the platform, primarily due to  Managed Payments (that lost many), the vast increase in fees and what one only describe as a completely useless search engine, which has been tampered with so much it isn't even a search engine anymore.

Tip for eBay - a 'Search Engine' should bring up items the same or very close to what the person entered, NOT what eBay wants them to see and hiding what they really want.

15-20 years ago this site was brilliant, eBay posted record profits year in year out and sellers did very well too, and yet over the years they have managed to totally ruin it, mainly through their massive hikes in fees and their constant effort to take control, to the point eBay now have total control over every single aspect of a sale. That is bad, very bad and I do not like this one bit - I do not work for eBay

The site now could not be further removed and is unrecognisable to what it was back then, which was very much the 'Golden Era' for eBay and those days are quite clearly long gone.

[superchallenge]

Absolute nonsense. Firstly, if somebody is running a scam on eBay, they're probably running it on at least one of those other sites too. Plus, let's not be acting like FBM isn't usually an absolute cesspool, and to throw Temu and Shein into the list is nothing short of hilarious.

Secondly, if anything, eBay goes out of their way to protect the buyer, not the seller. My most recent return was from a guy who bought an unsuitable item, and admitted he knew it was an unsuitable item. He used the item for two weeks, then opened a return before complaining to eBay that because I don't offer free returns, he would have to pay to send it back...so they automatically charged me for a label. Two weeks later, he finally gets round to putting the item in the post.

I've essentially rented him a product for a month, and it cost me shipping both ways. Tell me again about how the poor buyers are being mugged off, please?