What are Ebay playing at?

[drifter9867]

20+ year Ebay veteran here, 

I have never seen it this quiet.

Views are up, listing views are up, all overall traffic is up, but people aren't buying! 

Is this due to the mobile phone app not working on older phones? More fees? Disgruntlement? Poor economic outlook or the perfect storm of all these factors? 

I'm doing three times the sales on Etsy with half of the same listings! What is going on? 

[yildizp]

I sell hand stitched cards, they are a low price between 3.00 and 4.50. I have a lot of repeat buyers and this time of year my sales are high. Since the ‘buyer protection’ racket. I’ve had no sales.  My buyers have always been loyal but won’t buy having to pay 1 pound.  They say if I got it they’d pay but going to them they are not prepared too.  So, although I find Etsy more time consuming to use I shall have to go over there. 

[returns_andexdisplay]

Same when you listen to the geniuses in the shipping team who tell you buyers want free postage and free returns. Of course buyer want everything free who would not want free shipping and returns. 

Yet ebay don't want to give business sellers free listings or lower fees when making this suggestion 

[returns_andexdisplay]

Maybe you should register as a business seen as you are one if you want to avoid the buyer protection fee. 

[pillarboxred]

The questions I am asking. I've not tried Etsy but maybe should as this is a zero sum game: the occasional sale is devoured by all the costs.

[krafty-kreations]

I've not tried Etsy but maybe should as this is a zero sum game: the occasional sale is devoured by all the costs.

I like Etsy, I get more sales on there than eBay and with way less listings.

My initial plan was to upgrade here to a featured shop but I am now spending my time adding more to etsy and learning about seo to try and get more website sales.

I find the fees on etsy are a little more expensive for the lower priced like my cards and a little cheaper on the mugs, But that is my category, I have no clue about anything else.

Anything is worth a go, if it doesn't work out, at least you know.

If you do decide to go that route I think there is now an £11.99 charge to set up now but if you know someone who already sells there ask them for the 40 free listing code.

[wyntersemporium]

Been looking at a website for a while but no clue who would be the best provider for it 

[a45heaven]

Views are up, listing views are up, all overall traffic is up

And who may be telling you this ?

Yesterday i noticed that my Views on items ending auctions were going down as the auction ended.

Its not too long ago we had lots of Views on items seconds after they went live, it was reported , then those numbers ceased.

[eyewear247]

@wyntersemporium 

Been looking at a website for a while but no clue who would be the best provider for it 

I recently ordered a wordrpess/ woocommerce website from on eBay from here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293196396155?var=592066285606

I was sceptical for the price they were asking but have been very impressed so far.  The support has been great and although still work in progress (with me being slow with content) I am now adding products it is now coming along very nicely.

Of course getting people to see it will be another issue. 

[a45heaven]

Of course getting people to see it will be another issue.

But the bar is rather low currently for you.

Yes that is a big issue, im fortunate in that collectibles often have separate forums where links to listings can be made -  ebay included , i feel it much more reliable than ebays searches / exposure means, although neither is reliably measurable .

[bravergrace]

---

@a45heaven wrote:

Its not too long ago we had lots of Views on items seconds after they went live, it was reported , then those numbers ceased.

---

That'll be the people who search for newly-ended auctions and send you a message starting "Seeing as how your item didn't sell, I'll be generous and take it off your hands for half the starting price"...

[krafty-kreations]

I use wordpress and woocommerce, it cost me £24 for 3 years and £8.99 a year, you obviously build it yourself, I just used forums and google and youtube videos to teach myself

It is still a work in progress but it has more than made back what I paid in the first year and I can list once and just send it to etsy and eBay which was the main reason I decided to set it up.

[a45heaven]

That'll be the people who search for newly-ended auctions and send you a message starting "Seeing as how your item didn't sell, I'll be generous and take it off your hands for half the starting price"...

Hi - thanks for responding - i didnt think you can see 'VIEWS' once an auction has ended on the actual listing, i was talking about watching my auction end to log the sales values , what i saw was the number of Views go down !!

I cant think of why that would be the case, a View is a View no?

Well in the real world at least;)

[messier44000]

---

@wyntersemporium wrote:

Been looking at a website for a while but no clue who would be the best provider for it 

---

I use EKM.......BUT prices / plans for new customers has gone through the roof.

For existing customers they can stay on the old plans.

Unsure if they are doing start up offers,

I pay more than an Anchor shop on eBay. But includes me getting a website redesigned from 

scratch every 2 years. Finding that many of the lower priced providers website designs look 

very generic.

Gets a personal manager. A team that deals with Google ads for me. They don`t randomly 

advertise products, but follow trends, my best sellers etc and adjust which products they 

want to push accordingly.

Regards item specifics. They give you options to add various things that are actually 

of use to buyers.

Plus all the usual stuff like unlimited listings, 3D secure card payment checkout page, 

no working as designed fantasy delivery estimates.

Oh, yes, they thoroughly beta test all website updates before going live

(unlike one platform that we all know well) 

[the-nutwood-collection]

Take a look at ShopWired.  A good range of templates, online help text second to none, UK-based telephone and email support.   Comprehensive reporting, loads of bolt-on apps (mostly free) and a development partner that will execute bespoke work.

[bravergrace]

I was being flippant, but yes, you can actually see VIEWS once an auction has ended.

I've just checked with one of my auctions that ended (unsold) today.

I can see the number of views on the listing itself, and also in Seller Hub (unsold items page) if I customise the page view.  It's possible that this information doesn't show up immediately.

The number of views obviously shouldn't go down after an auction ends - or while the auction is live - but I have seen it happen occasionally, though I'm not sure why it happens.

[askbsh]

Now ebay have introduced extortionate buyer protection?! What a load of bol**cks! 

It basically means sellers will have to lower their prices to accommodate for this. 

[fashionista27]

I also plan to move to Et sy. What about the listing fees? What are the charges? Is it worth to pre-pay there for my listings to be seen?

[fashionista27]

I also plan to move to Et sy. What about the listing fees? What are the charges? Is it worth to pre-pay on Et sy for my listings to be seen?

[krafty-kreations]

I find the fees slightly higher on the lower priced products and slightly lower on the higher priced products 

There are no shop tiers like here its £0.20p a listing and if you have multiples and one sells it charges you the £0.20p again

I am sure there is also a £11.99 one of charge now to sell on there.

You can only sell vintage or handmade products on there 

Is it worth to pre-pay on Et sy for my listings to be seen?

Never paid them so I can't answer on that

[fashionista27]

do you need to promote there? Do you pay £0.20 upfront for each listing or only when it sells? Is it one time off payment? Is it worth deleting a listing and uploading it again to be at the top of search? What are the fees when you sell something? Et sy looks like a great platform to me. I do sell mostly vintage.