Sales Completly Died **September 2024**

[theglo-68]

We have over 100 listings however sales are dead for over three months now.

Wondering if this is about time to take our business away to other platforms as we really cannot afford high Promoted Listings fees but still no sales.

NO SALES NO BUSINESS

[the_book_seekers]

 Then we've had manipulated search, promoted listings and managed payments to deal with. The latter doing a lot of damage as buyers liked having a PayPal balance which they tended to spend on the site.

There was talk of a wallet being introduced within managed payments but it never happened with no explanation why. It's one of the biggest mistakes ebay has made. It broke a cycle of selling and buying.

[the_book_seekers]

And ebay has just sent me a message -

Ads that attract. Shops that shine.

Launch eye-catching ads that attract buyers to your eBay shop. Boost brand awareness with a Promoted Shops campaign that showcases your top inventory and coupons.

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Yes, just had the same in my inbox, I do wonder if Ebay is starting to get desperate. 

My hunch is that the UK site is performing very badly.

[555njp]

In readiness for a mass exodus at year end when they ask for NINOs?

Plus those still left to cut and run when HMRC goes after them.

People have left in droves before but have always been replaced. Not as easy to attract new sellers now you have to give a National Insurance No (or UTR) and will be reported to HMRC as soon as you meet either threshold.

Will put off a huge chunk of genuine private sellers from using an online platform to shift their old stuff in future me thinks.

[ett1954]

"Boost brand awareness with a Promoted Shops campaign that showcases your top inventory and coupons."

The same tired old business plan from eBay aimed at business sellers - promote more and give us more of your margin to replace the lost revenue from our ever diminishing buyer base.

Here's an idea eBay: Promote the buying experience to attract more buyers.  Why not a campaign to buyers and potential buyers extolling the virtues of purchasing from the business community on eBay.  Those thousands of small businesses who daily provide satisfaction to tens and tens of thousands of customers supplying everything from the obscure items needed to complete or supplement a collection, the long forgotten items people forgot they 'needed', the affordable jewellery, quality 'preloved' clothes, accessories, right through to the latest new trainers sorry sneakers, fashion items, electricals, and consumables.

After all it is the businesses which provide the sales generating the largest proportion of fees which in turn provide eBay with their revenue.  Without buyers there will be no sellers; and ultimately no eBay.

Are eBay's marketing people so devoid of imagination?

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Great post.

To your final question, yes they appear to be, they also appear to be very out of touch with legitimate small businesses.

[exponential_developments]

I was having a nosey on here, remember Scalextrics, well slot cars as they are known as, anyway, a digital set is sold on here for £329.99 including "free" p+p, on the companies website it is £299.99 including "free" p+p.

THIRTY   QUID   CHEAPER

I'ts becoming the same for so many things i search for, hence why i use Google search, ebay are in dream land with no idea as to how expensive the fee's have made many items on here.

[theelench]

I'll risk boring people and repeat what I said on another thread.

I've searched for three day-to-day shopping items on ebay this year, two small electrical appliances and a diary (In April).

Both appliances I bought cheaper in local supermarkets.

The diary I bought on ebay but only because I couldn't find one locally.  The seller sent me a discount offer and I assume in April they would have been at near cost price to get them out of the warehouse?  But the price I paid excluding p&p was still nearly double what I paid for an identical diary on the High St. in December.

Ebay seems to think it can get away with ever increasing prices on the site without buyers noticing that it's getting more expensive and looking elsewhere. 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Not as easy to attract new sellers now you have to give a National Insurance No (or UTR) and will be reported to HMRC as soon as you meet either threshold.

You do realise, that it's not just Ebay that has had thes things imposed on them?

Even if you sell on the likes of Vinted, you will be reported to HMRC once you reach a threshold.

It is EVERY marketplace, not just Ebay.

And why on earth wouldn't honest sellers be prepared to provide their UTR?  It makes no sense at all.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

It has always been cheaper to buy away from Ebay/Amazon and so on.  Simply because there are no fees for your own website.  Just payment fees etc.

So why on earth are you surprised at this?

The reasons that people use the marketplaces are not necessarily because it's cheaper.

It's a lot to do with security, convenience and choice!  Not necessarily in that order.

[exponential_developments]

Have a day off.

[leadhills_scot]

When managed payments came in I stopped buying on ebay.  Amazon is good for wish lists, my family is spread out all over the UK. However, I do try to source pressies for them from other online shops.

[Anonymous]

We price match between Ebay and Amazon, and yes, some products are cheaper on Ebay, however for what we regularily buy, Amazon is cheaper.

25kg peanuts - £39.99 delivered on Amazon / £58 delivered on Ebay

We buy what we need, not overbuying just to justify the cost of the prime account.

Then there is the football and tv shows included. Prime is excellent.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Great answer.

[exponential_developments]

Thing i see is like the site i looked at, slot cars, it's a large UK site selling RC, kits etc, they accept Paypal, credit cards, bank transfer, debit cards, and old fashioned cheques, so all the payment safeguards are there, along with distance selling laws etc. Massive range, well advertised and long established, sooooo what advantage does ebay have with such generic items.

The internet ain't new anymore.

[the_book_seekers]

Are eBay's marketing people so devoid of imagination?

It would appear so. I've started to get ads in my outlook account and one popped up from ebay. It was a link to a car tyre - not something that would remotely tempt me or in line with my browsing on ebay. ebay has it's fixations with certain categories and demographics and isn't looking at a bigger picture.

[santlache_sales]

You've hit the nail on the head there, people have deserted the platform for quite obvious reasons.

If I shopped in the past the first place I'd look would be eBay, I don't anymore as usually it is more expensive on here as people load their price to cover eBay's fees, or the P&P, which eBay seem to think is always free and not a hefty additinal expense for sellers these days.

Plus them robbing 10% of those who charge P&P fees, makes it even more expensive, although let us be clear about this they are robbing us over these fees as there is no justification whatsoever for charging this, except it being an additional source of revenue for eBay.

It is things like that, plus eBay's total control now and their Big Brother attitude which has totally eroded this platform.

They also never had problems with people selling off the platform in the past when their fees were 3-4%, it simply wasn't a problem that existed, until they started hiking these fees firstly from 3-4% to 10%, a huge rise, and now if I sell overseas they charge me a whopping 17%.

When you look at it like that it's hardly surprising eBay is going down the pan, they have starved the goose that lays it the golden eggs (sellers) through their utter arrogance and greed.

From a company that once gave you total control, it's become a corporate monster and an ugly one at that.

[santlache_sales]

I have found the opposite, Amazon is usually cheaper.

Example, I needed some printer cartidges a couple of weeks ago, I shopped asround and Amazon was over £20 cheaper than PC World and up to £30 cheaper than on eBay, where a lot of dodgy clones were being sold.

Whereas I used to shop on ebay all the time and would pay through my PayPal account from my sales, that is no longer possible and so I rarely ever now buy on here, CD's mainly over the last 3-4 years.

[bojangled]

Just to jump in on the Amazon Prime conversation, there's a great podcast 'Land Of The Giants' Season 1. 
Why you'll never quit Prime, the sales hoop jumping to get the recommended box etc.

Jo

[therenewalworkshopltd]

It's actually 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other.

It depends very much on what the product is etc as much as anything else.

I used to sell a lot of batteries and the like and pricing on Ebay, was just crazy.  So cheap, I have no idea how half of them managed to make a profit.

But the biggest difference, the margins were very small on both sites, but on Amazon, you could happily sell hundreds a day, wereas on ebay, you will be lucky to sell 2/3.  But in the main, I think that is mostly down to the differences in the way they work.  ie. One product, one listing on Amazon.  One product 1000 listings on Ebay.