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!

[candytan67]

The points you have made do and will apply to recent months on this site and the future.

However in no way do they apply to the historic mess of this site management have made over recent years.   🙄

[the_book_seekers]

Having read reports for the April Retail Sales figures this comment from the Office for National Statistics stood out:

"However, while sales volumes at non-food stores were down in April, online sales rose by 3.7% and the proportion of retail sales online remained substantially higher than pre-pandemic levels, said Heather Bovill of the ONS".

This doesn't seem to be the case for many at ebay. I can only say sales are 100% below pre-pandemic levels. It's things like this that make me wonder what on earth ebay is doing? 

[sam_in_barbate]

eBay has removed the ability to browse freely without control, deciding for us what they believe we want to see & buy. Never in all the years that I have been both buying & selling on eBay have I seen anything like it, it is an unmitigated failure on the part of eBay.

Search for a favorite item via category & (say) manufacturer & type worldwide, you will be shown x 100s of  items, you will also need to double check that they have not slotted your search into just one sub-category (you will need to constantly remember to do this or they will decide which sub category they wish for you to remain).

Remove worldwide visibility & gone will be .com listings, yet often the browsing total figure remains roughly the same or only slightly less, for they will now have replaced .com listings with previously hidden UK or EU listings, then search via UK only even more UK only items will appear.

If I search via my Spanish eBay for "continental" listings I am shown (say) 400 items, switch to EU only & the figure will only be a little lower. Switch to one of my UK eBay's & the figures will be completely different.

Then, if you really want an eye popping experience, search via "cheapest" & eBay will kindly reduce the amount of items by 3/4 or more, showing you items they believe to be "relevant" to you, OH, & if that is not enough, Gof help you if like me you have not been listing sas before, for if a browser on Google finds one of your items they will be taken away FROM your item & taken into .com to view "similar" items, or, as happened to me only last week, get taken to a rivals similar item in the UK...

I listed a precious item in my Spanish eBay yesterday, & tried to call it up via continental listings from my UK registered account, it was not there, I offer worldwide shipping with prices clearly shown, my items was invisible & I was only able to call it up when I clicked on EU only,  & to think that we are paying for this disaster of a site.

[nebs9999]

Try and get to an eBay Business Roadshow (google it) and ask them whats going on.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@bennotbill wrote:

That's it, your name is going on the list.

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Uncle Arthur.....

If anyone wants a laugh, look for the celebrity mastermind with Ian Lavender.

As always the first question is 'what is your name?' ....

Classic.

Seriously things are pretty quiet now. Sales past 7 days on ebay are under 10% of our lowest month in 2019. 

[exp_dir]

You all want to blame eBay, and while I agree they haven't made things easy, I think this really is a general retail problem and not eBay.

That ONS report doesn't say what the online sales were for, and I heard they were still far below normal.  Can't find source, but it was all over the BBC the other day.

People are worried.  They are scaling back spending on everything non-essential.  

I predict it's going to get a lot worse, and we will see 2008-era levels of closures coming.  I suggest anyone struggling now pre-empts this.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@the_book_seekers wrote:

I stopped expecting miracles from ebay about 15 years ago and I'm afraid I can't see it getting any better any time soon. We'll find out soon what the government is going to do about online selling tax and I've just seen an article suggesting Royal Mail may put prices up again. 

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Expect any taxes to be passed on to consumers. 

As usual.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@nigel_paul_wright7557 wrote:

Ebay peaked many years ago then has been in decline since.

As ebay has declined Amazon has grown.

I can only guess Amazon is now trusted more.

Too many horror stories of bad buys on ebay from cheap Chinese tat.

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Plenty of people won't buy on amazon at all.

Cheap chinese tat can be found at many shops, markets, online sites etc.

People buy it. Perhaps because its cheap.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@racingpunk wrote:

We have started to list items on Facebook with postage, not as a business as its not setup for that yet in the UK unlike the USA, with some good results. 

 I wonder if this has/will effect eBay.

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Facebook selling has been around a while. Plenty of sellers use multiple sites to sell rather than focusing on just one. 

[exp_dir]

But Amazon's doing serious reputation (if it has any left) damage with that and they must know it.  Maybe Bezos saw it coming.  Amazon can't have the image of a high tec company that makes Kindles and Alexa devices alongside a market stall of dangerous knockoffs with fake reviews coexist forever.  Fulfilled by only makes it worse, with many not even understanding what Amazon stocks and doesn't.

People know that Amazon customer service is there for them if anything goes wrong, and that they'll get instant refunds/help etc.  Amazon nailed that for the customer.

For eBay people generally think it will be a nightmare to get in touch with anyone (as it's done from buyer to seller and not via sitewide customer service) if there is a problem, which is probably putting buyers off.

Also, Amazon's automated returns pages are just more customer friendly.

The majority of people on these boards complaining (it seems to be only complaints with no solutions, which says everyone has become depressed by their poor sales) don't get it.  Your products are not viable in today's market. This discretionary spending isn't there in 2022.

[sasdrivesuk]

Questions need to be sent in advance so they can choose only the ones that suit them... there won't be public/live Q&A.

[sybil82]

Post is getting too expensive and seller fees are too high.  

[sybil82]

Plus vinted and scpock etc have no seller fees so why pay more

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

"Why do buyers appear to be deserting eBay?"

1/ Poor search experience with multi listings all starting at 99p so you cant compare prices of actual item you want.

2/ Ignorance of ebay MBG, some buyers dont know it exists and so just leave ebay in disgust at the first problem.

3/ Rubbish being sold on ebay. Chinese or otherwise. Clothes size problems with Chinese clothes about 3 sizes too small.

4/ Buyers buying cheapest item then wondering why its rubbish.

5/ Brexit killing foreign trade with extra charges.

6/ Covid put some people out of work.

7/ Inflation and fuel prices. Utility bills about to double on October 1st.

8/ Rows with sellers over items instead of just opening a returns case.

[the_book_seekers]

You can sell for free on vinted but there are fees if the seller chooses to use some of vinted's enchancements to sell their items. Plus the buyer pays a compulsory 5% protection fee on their orders.

[baja_5130]

Anecdotally I don't shop on ebay anymore, I find better prices by going direct to companies websites no doubt due to ebay's high fees.

Plus the listings are saturated by Chinese sellers pretending to be in the UK. I've bought a few times mistakenly of these sellers and you usually get a similarly worded message after about a week

"First of all, please accept our apology for item delaying and you won’t receive the item at the estimated time.
Sincerely, we’ve kept monitoring your item from the day it was shipped. But we find out that your parcel tracking Nuber:###############will be delayed.Owning to the post office's problem.
But your parcel is safe on the way,it can be tracked.would you please wait more for your parcel?if you can't wait,please tell us,and we will do our best to solve the problem.
Sorry again for any inconvenience has been caused to you; please feel free to contact us if there’s anything we can help
Best Regards"

Nearly always the same message from different sellers, and ofcourse the item arrives with some Chinese on the shipping label.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely sick of mostly American sellers even when I click UK only. Also far too many scammers. Far too much Chinese inferior product. And abusive sellers personify. 

Why sales are depleting? 
Simple people have had enough of the above and the sheer awful experience of trying to get their money back. Invariably no remedy. Plus they could have got it for 10% more in the local city. 

Pity, great in principle yet in practice... eBay is a nightmare nearly every purchase.

[elitegiftsltd]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Absolutely sick of mostly American sellers even when I click UK only. Also far too many scammers. Far too much Chinese inferior product. And abusive sellers personify. 

Why sales are depleting? 
Simple people have had enough of the above and the sheer awful experience of trying to get their money back. Invariably no remedy. Plus they could have got it for 10% more in the local city. 

Pity, great in principle yet in practice... eBay is a nightmare nearly every purchase.

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Awful experience?

Open claim. After a few days ask eBay to step in. Money refunded.

Or 

Open claim. Return item using label provided. Money refunded or escalate to eBay and money refunded. Total time spent on the process for each example is a few minutes - and that only when escalating. 

Not sure how much easier it can be made to be. Try it on some business websites and it's both longer and more complicated. 

[sam_in_barbate]

Hi,

I too am sick & tired of having .com items shown as a default, eBay gives us the chance to customise our landing page yet makes sure not to give us the chance to choose (say) only UK, EU or Continental, they also make sure to slip you back into .com visibility when they know you are relaxed & not looking out for it, it is driving me up the wall.

I have also just learned that eBay will happily side on the side of a French seller who states he does not give refunds, even though the item bought (a rare fabulous vintage perfume) was filled with water. FILLED WITH WATER, & eBay France closed the case when he contacted them, French sellers are overall the worst on eBay but had no idea that they held such sway... over 15 years on eBay, & this is the first time that anything like this had happened to me.  I foolishly didn't think to buy with PayPal, it cost a fortune, my fury knows no bounds ...... Just had it up to my eyes with eBay

[sam_in_barbate]

I wish you good luck if ever buying from a crooked French seller, my charmer just had his eBay close a case the day he accepted a return, I have lost a small fortune, & I am spitting mad, this would never have happened if I had paid via Paypal