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

[bittyboy101]

Sorry My mistake,  Yes I did sell another item ( a lathe accessory) to a nice gentleman down in Swindon on 03rd October 2024 and since then there have been no more sales for me. 😞

This was my first ever fee free sale where eBay let me keep 100% of my money so I was pleased about that... but a few days ago I received an email from eBay saying that some of my listings are doing badly in the searches and I should use their Promoted Listings in order to increase my sales and gain a better placement in the searches if I would like more regular sales on eBay.

I thought to myself, Yes of course !... I had a feeling that eBay were going to let me sell one item with no fees TO GET A TASTE OF THE GOOD STUFF !... and then supress the rest of my sales afterwards.. so I can get desperate and PAY for their promoted listing service !... Clever stuff eBay !

I just ignored the email and didn't pay to promote anything, hence NO SALES ever since 😞

[theelench]

You're lucky you got a taste!!!

Me, still no sales since May.

I don't expect to get any as I don't sponsor my listings.

I wonder how many of the new private sellers that "Fee Free Selling" is going to attract will stay once the reality of selling on ebay becomes clearer to them?

And what about the conundrum that ebay has to solve?  How to get those sellers to part with enough in promo fees for them to be profitable to ebay, have enough left over to make the effort of selling worthwhile to them and yet have enough in their wallet to buy stuff from other sellers who are adding ebay fees to their prices.

IMO it looks like ebay is going around the block to get back to where it was before it started.

If they'd never screwed-up the search to prioritise promoted listings, pushing listings that would have sold, out of sight in order to get more fees from PL, they would have sold more and taken more in fees.

Now, they'll have to rely on PL to generate the fees but with the same biased search.  Even if every seller, new and old, Sponsors, there's only so many that can be top of the pile and expect to sell, the rest will still be out of sight and unsold at the back of the shelf.

[bittyboy101]

Hi Elench 🙂

So sorry to hear that you haven't had any sales for all this time 😞

Have you tried taking all your stuff down, waiting a couple of days and then relisting them again little by little (5 a day) so that eBay don't flag your listings as spam listings ?

Also make sure you joggle  the keywords around on some of your listings so that eBay does not flag your listings as duplicate listings and hide them in the searches.

Apart from this, if nothing happens after 10-14 days, assume that eBay failed to index them onto their site catalogue and cancel and relist again at a quiet time to hopfully get them past the indexing/processing stage and visible to buyers !

Best of luck - Hope that your sales pickup as eBay's no fun when nothing good happens !   

[sheldonkapoor]

Further to one of my previous posts:

- now we know why there were no promotional listings for Private Sellers

in past weeks.

- "Sell for Free" is now a clear message, so that's now clarified 100%

- oddly, like many who haven't sold much in ages, suddenly sales have sprung to life..

Why.??

Thank you G

[bittyboy101]

---

@sheldonkapoor wrote:

Further to one of my previous posts:

- now we know why there were no promotional listings for Private Sellers

in past weeks.

- "Sell for Free" is now a clear message, so that's now clarified 100%

- oddly, like many who haven't sold much in ages, suddenly sales have sprung to life..

Why.??

Thank you G

---

Could it be the recent TV ads now saying Its fee to sell on eBay ?

Just seen one a moment ago !... My guess if more people sell on eBay coz it's now free, then more people will also be curious to browse eBay and see what stuff is for sale on here ? = more people browsing eBay = More chances of sales happening ?? mmm

[555njp]

The whole promo/sponsored listings thing is driving people away.

I tried to purchase a laptop bag today, scrolled down to item description and it wouldn't load.

Tried another listing, same thing but left it a few seconds and up popped rows and rows of sponsored listings followed by the description I was looking for.

I clicked on a sponsored ad and the same thing happened, took several seconds to load the description because eBay is trying to flood what you are looking at with all the promos....!

I did buy one eventually but I'm sure most people would have just given up and bought elsewhere.

It seems the more crowded the category the more this is happening, absolutely stupid idea and a ridiculous way to run the platform.

[exponential_developments]

Ok one day, dead the next.....no rhyme nor reason......weird.

[auntietootieblue]

Dead, dead and dead!!!

[sheldonkapoor]

"very, very frightening.. " 

[bittyboy101]

Truth has to be faced, eBay's not working well for us anymore since they messed it all up with all these so called updates and uncalled for changes...

Relisted a load of my stuff yesterday... coz they had been sitting on eBay for 8 days with 0 views and guess what ?... just checked them all again tonight and they are still on 0 views except for one listing that's now got 2 views !

Seems they are now very pickey what gets indexed and what doesn't !... Listing and selling on eBay has now become like a raffle draw !  😞 

Give me back the eBay of 2014 any day where sales were steady and regular...

[auntietootieblue]

I list at least 20 new items everyday, yesterday I listed 30 new listings along with sell similar/changing old listings, none of it works.  It must take at least 48hrs for my items to be indexed as this is how long it takes for me to get atleast 1 view some of my items finish with no views.  

My theory as been for a long time that any old accounts like mine don't get any exposure unless I pay for promoted and that still doesn't work.  All these people that keep saying they get loads of sales seem to me to be new private sellers or new accounts.  Its like they don't want any old accounts on here anymore and only want new sellers were they can build them up by letting them have sales so they get shop subscriptions and then bang they are in the same boat as us, no sales.

I also listed on vinted yesterday as I feel my time is better spent on there and views, questions, sales straight away like what ebay used to be.

When I am out and about sourcing stock no one I speak to sells or buys on ebay anymore.  Even the people that are doing exactly the same as me.  They all say vinted.

[bittyboy101]

---

@auntietootieblue wrote:

I list at least 20 new items everyday, yesterday I listed 30 new listings along with sell similar/changing old listings, none of it works.  It must take at least 48hrs for my items to be indexed as this is how long it takes for me to get atleast 1 view some of my items finish with no views.  

My theory as been for a long time that any old accounts like mine don't get any exposure unless I pay for promoted and that still doesn't work.  All these people that keep saying they get loads of sales seem to me to be new private sellers or new accounts.  Its like they don't want any old accounts on here anymore and only want new sellers were they can build them up by letting them have sales so they get shop subscriptions and then bang they are in the same boat as us, no sales.

I also listed on vinted yesterday as I feel my time is better spent on there and views, questions, sales straight away like what ebay used to be.

When I am out and about sourcing stock no one I speak to sells or buys on ebay anymore.  Even the people that are doing exactly the same as me.  They all say vinted.

---

I think you may be right about old accounts getting less exposure...

The only thing was during February 2024 I got lots of sales... I was so happy back then, I actually thought that  they had fixed what was broken inside of eBay  (Cassini !!)... then by the middle of March 2024 things dried up again and my sales went right back to the same old rot of 1 sale every  5 - 6 weeks and that's it.   😞

For that little while in February to the middle of March this year things were working well, I was getting lots of views on all of the 62 items I had up on eBay and they were selling like hot cakes... just like when I first started selling on eBay back in 2007/2008... 🙂

So obviously something somewhere is now not indexing all of my listings within the promised 48 hour period and sometimes my items have sat there on eBay for 7 - 14 days still on 0 views !!!!! when before these same items would have had 15 - 30 views during the first 5 days and many watchers which eventually led to a sale once I dropped the price a little bit if it was too expensive... Of course if I wanted to make quick money I would put something on eBay to do with tools (lathes) and price it moderstly and it would go within a couple of hours... so sometimes eBay used to process my listings promptly and get my items online infront of buyers who would then spot them and buy them after only a couple of views !

Now it's completely dead on eBay (just like this thread says) and I've read that even when people have paid eBay for more visibility/exposure in good faith, they have still said that they have had no views and sales... so it seems rather pointless paying... when eBay now says and advertises on TV that it is now free for private sellers to sell on eBay... 🙄

[theelench]

Sorry, I missed your earlier reply to me.

After spending all Summer doing regular relists as Sell Similar, building my listing numbers and not selling a thing since May, I took all my listings down when I read a couple of private sellers saying that their payments were put on Hold until they gave ebay their NINO.

I'm now only listing one item at a time so ebay won't be able to exert too much leverage to get my number by holding the cash from several sales, if I'm lucky enough to ever get more than one.

So, after all my efforts over the previous six months for nothing, my solitary listing sold on Monday and even more amazing, they sent the payment to my bank on Tuesday ! 🍾 🎆

So surprised that I haven't been down-graded to Infrequent Seller with payments held or the payment Held until I hand over the NINO, I might risk doing another listing this weekend.

[bittyboy101]

---

@theelench wrote:

Sorry, I missed your earlier reply to me.

After spending all Summer doing regular relists as Sell Similar, building my listing numbers and not selling a thing since May, I took all my listings down when I read a couple of private sellers saying that their payments were put on Hold until they gave ebay their NINO.

I'm now only listing one item at a time so ebay won't be able to exert too much leverage to get my number by holding the cash from several sales, if I'm lucky enough to ever get more than one.

So, after all my efforts over the previous six months for nothing, my solitary listing sold on Monday and even more amazing, they sent the payment to my bank on Tuesday ! 🍾 🎆

So surprised that I haven't been down-graded to Infrequent Seller with payments held or the payment Held until I hand over the NINO, I might risk doing another listing this weekend.

---

That's great to hear ! - Well done getting something sold on eBay during this day and age ! 🙂

Yes, If I were you I would hurry up and get something else on eBay before they close your window !

Best of luck 🙂

[jh-middlesex]

Put more listings up then, 100 is nothing, my sales have been great but i have over 1500 listings and put new ones up all the time!

[indi-749]

Hi,

I feel for you.

Its much the same on Google shopping.

Now owned by Amazon. The Feed requirments, delivery info. etc. is all for AMAZON.

I refuse to buy from Amazon, who are unable to deliver, repeatedly.

Google insist on calling to make sure your manning the phones.

Oddly a different set of rules and Google Shopping re-written for Amazon.

Go figure, save your cash Google Shopping is dying...

KR

NC

[homecrafts-shop]

Yes I feel exactly the same

Sales are less than half compared to last year

Ebay wants us to pay for advertising, when we are already paying shop fees, final value fees , and transaction fees ! If yoy don't promote theres no sales

Also they are bieng very cheeky and don't show the organic version of the itmes, only the sponsered one!

I am also thinking of downgrading my listings, and shop and sell just minimal itmes which actually can make money, rest it seems I am working for ebay and Royal Mail.

[theelench]

When did that happen??

I check my items on google shopping regularly and haven't noticed any changes in numbers or format.  Click on an ad. and it takes me to the site they're listed on.  Even found one of my ebay ads. recently although I hadn't paid ebay any fee to show it.  Admittedly I might have just been lucky as I couldn't find it again next time I looked and it was in a niche area, so mine might have only been shown to increase the number of results.

Spell check still broken.  Perhaps they paid all the spare cash to the share-holders and can't afford to fix it??

[theelench]

Back to normal again ☹️

Listed a real rarity @ £95, seven day auction.  The only other one on ebay ATM was £168 + P&P from the US (£35 + ?).

In a week my ad. got a whopping 17 views, 3 Watchers and 0 bids.  Yesterday all three watchers were still hanging around on the unsold listing, probably waiting for a fire-sale offer from me.  (Hard luck on them, that ain't going to happen, if they want it they can pay £110 on the other site.)

Also read an on-going thread about the new ebay wallet, the problems some (Private) sellers are having prizing it open and getting their money released to their banks.

Some are even having the "Let's see how long we can string you along by demanding you re-verify your bank / identity again and I bet there will be further delays when they finally get that done through the USA back office and ebay then demands their NINO.  One seller has already complained to the FCA (good for them). 

Enough is enough, I've taken down my only live listing and will await developments to see if prompt payment becomes a possibility again or if ebay's current payout 'problems' will run into what is bound to become even bigger problems paying out to those who won't give them their NINO.

So I might have listed my final item on ebay 😢

[bittyboy101]

Thanks for the heads up Elench 😉

I've now taken down all my 61 listings too, as I always need the money QUICKLY and if eBay are going to delay it more than they used to, then it becomes a problem for me - a problem I could do without.

I may consider resuming selling on eBay again if they bring back instant payments, as I really don't like waiting days for my money when 10 years ago it used to be INSTANT PAYMENT - via PayPal.