DROP IN SALES SINCE NEW BUYER PROTECTION 4TH FEB 2025

[lo.maggi]

Has anyone else noticed lack of sales since the buyer protection update 4th february 2025. I used to sell quite a lot and virtually sold nothing since 4th Feb. Can anyone else relate to this and what can we do?

[valleyrc1]

All you're doing is showing everyone you're upset by something I said.

[mydeafdog]

Poor lamb, thinking what you say is taken seriously. 🤣 TTFN

[valleyrc1]

I'm really sorry that some of you seem to be invested in your negativity, and fiercely defending it, but at no point in the history of these boards has there not been several ongoing topics about slow sales.

 

With a user base of millions, there will inevitably, at any given time, be a fraction of people experiencing poor sales, and people will always desperately look for something to blame it on.

Case in point, currently people are blaming the new buyer protection fee, yet a few months ago people were blaming the "free to sell" change for slow sales...

 
There are always people experiencing slow sales and coming here to post about, always.

 

 

 

[rabwendy]

EBay have also messed up the offers now as if a buyer puts an offer in of £100 the seller receives tho offer £95.25. So eBay is hiding the buyers fee   the buyers offer should be offer plus fees 

[mle_supplies]

And you've probably commented on all of them, saying how wrong they are.

Are you even a seller?

If you are, how are your sales?

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[casablancashaun]

I agree with this

[valleyrc1]

Why would I say they are wrong?

I've literally just told you that there are always people experiencing slow sales at any given time....it's inevitable.

The issue is insisting on knowing the cause when there have been the same amount of people reporting slow sales consistently throughout the years.

There were just as many people reporting poor sales last week, last month, last year ...

The only thing that changes is the current scapegoat.

 

 

 

[mle_supplies]

Not so,
I like everyone else has had selling slumps in the past and it's not brought me here, most people suffer in silence, which means the sales slump is much higher than your silly little percentage.

Also this is just one place to comment. It's the same comment if you look it up on x, Reddit, YouTube. etc pushing the percentage higher. And look how many comments this thread has had. Even taking yours away, it's still way more than normal. So there is a real issue here that eBay needs to address before they do irreparable damage to the UK arm of their business.

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[valleyrc1]

" And look how many comments this thread has had. Even taking yours away, it's still way more than normal."

And look how many comments other threads have had...

In your own words, you haven't come here before, so why are you making unsubstantiated claims about it being "way more than normal" when I've directly provided evidence that that clearly isn't the case?

Ask literally anyone who is a regular here, and they will tell you that there's a constant and consistent amount of noise about slow sales. There are several busy topics about it running simultaneously at any given time. It's just a fact, it's all there to see, and I've even shown you directly...and your response is "nuh uhhh"

I'm sorry that it's not what you want to hear, for some reason, but I've literally provided substance for my point.

These boards are always teaming with topics and posts about slow sales, and those are just the ones ebay hasn't "archived" and put out of public view, yet. Nothing has changed, it's nothing new, nothing is out of the ordinary, nothing above baseline.

[the_book_seekers]

I speak for myself. I know my sales, views and impressions. February had a goodish start, but since ebay has started the BPF roll out it's been like a brick wall. ebay has upset buyers with the BPF, not least because it hasn't been properly explained to them and they see it as a rip off. There is no way it is not going to put damper on sales for business and private sellers. As soon as I saw the announcement my first thought was sales could take a hit from this. 

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I had no sales in December up until the 28th and then Jan and Feb have been good.  Then again i put more stuff on trying to get it on before i leave when SD comes in.  Then i will have no sales!

[valleyrc1]

Ok and what about all the people who came here and said they hit a brick wall in January? December? November?

What about when I hit one last January? I know my sales and views and impressions....

Was that the buyer protection fee, too?

Again, what you're saying isn't any different to what countless people have said before on a daily basis going back as long as these boards have been around.

There are millions of sellers on here, it is statistically impossible for a fraction of those to NOT have an issue with sales at the same time the BPF was rolled out, because there is constantly a fraction of users reporting their sales suddenly died for no reason. But again, correlation does not equal causation.

I don't think people understand the absolute chaos that would be going on here if it had genuinely had a site wide effect on all of the millions of sellers on ebay.

The post counts would be in the dozens of thousands, not a few hundred.

[valleyrc1]

You can opt out of simple delivery, but you can also set your preferred delivery service, for what it's worth.

So if you favored royal mail, you could set that as your default.

[lucy_farmer]

'You can opt out of simple delivery,....'

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not sure how long that's going to last though. ☹️

The CEO of ebay did say a few months ago to a meeting of shareholders, that SD will become mandatory for private sellers 'by the end of Q1 2025'  .. so end of spring this year.

I'm so hoping that the huge stink, kicked up about this, will cause ebay to think twice about the mandatory part..... but I'm not optimistic!

(Big business bosses don't like to be seen as somebody who doesn't see through their promises to the shareholders. Unless, of course, he's ready to change company/job..... ?)

[the_book_seekers]

You're entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. I expected BPF would hit sales, it's happened as expected and is just yet another thing to get through on ebay.

[goodibags]

I can confirm that my sales are down too since Buyer Fees started. I sold an item every day for the first half of Feb and only one since the 14th.

As you suggest it may be a blip but you cannot pretend that the imposition of buyer fees will have had no impact. Even if it's just the weird prices and unfamiliar checkout, or the inability to order a search based on price. My items may have been heavily discounted before the fees started but charging someone a levy simply for using the site is bound to have an impact on sales. Especially on low value items below £10 which will have shot up by around 12% or more overnight.

None of my item watchers has asked me why prices suddenly jumped but even after I have reduced them further they'll know that those items were a lot cheaper before the fees.

[*devils.advocate*]

A couple of things, which I’ve noticed as a buyer, concern the items I put on my Watchlist when trawling through search (which, I think, we all know is broken and makes it difficult to find everything you’re actually looking for in the  first place).

But, firstly, it’s now the number of offers I receive on those items I watch - especially from sellers I’ve “watched” before who didn’t send offers in the past but now do - and I don’t mean that in a bad way.

And secondly, it’s the level of discount which is being applied - which is much higher than before - and, no, the sellers, especially those I follow, haven’t raised their start prices to cover the increased discount offered.

So, and admittedly I may be wrong, I can only assume they have to do this to keep item and cash turnovers going as they’re finding things more difficult than before and maybe “fearful” of the loss in buyer numbers?

As a buyer, it’s great news - but as a seller, it must be a worrying time if the individual’s overall (annual?) sales are dropping and are less than before.

I don't think it's solely down to BPF but that, mixed with the economics of real life, IMHO, will affect sales.

[valleyrc1]

Again, this happens to people continually....I cannot simplify the concept any further.

If there are ALWAYS a group of people saying their sales fell of a cliff at any given time, then it stands to reason that no matter what ebay do or do not do, there will always be a load of people reporting dead sales at the same time correlation does not equal causation....

I've seen people insist the BPF was to blame then their sales went back to normal, just like 99% of people who make posts here saying their sales died in any week, month or year prior to now.

I've seen people insist the BPF was to blame when it hadn't even affected their category yet.

A few months back, some people were blaming the end of fees for their sudden lull in sales.

All I'm saying is that as tempting as it is to pin it to something tangible, statistically the chances of it being a coincidence are overwhelming.

It's human nature to try and find a pattern in things, but when you look at the bigger picture, and consider the fact that there are always, always very busy topics on here about sales suddenly dying up, and that people always insist it's down to this or that, it adds some much needed context.

If the number of people complaining of sales issues is no greater than has been normal, then it's unlikely that a site wide change ebay have made is effecting everyone's sales, because the amount of posts and comments would have increased by a factor of 0000s

The amount of people reporting dead sales this week or last week are no greater than usual. If ebay had not implemented the BPF this month, there would still be countless topics and posts about people seeing sudden drops in sales. There always has been.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I know it is opt out now but if it does become mandatory that is when i will go.  They have said that you can have a preferred delivery but they also put in those maybe, but, if etc type words which means they will do whatever they want anyway!  I am also not going to be told what and how to post my parcels.  Currently i take them to my local post office after having 'guessed' what size and weight they are (usually pretty accurate as well due to the nature of my items).  If i underestimate then i take the blow if i over estimate i do a refund.  I have no intention of messing around weighing, measuring etc etc and relying on my printer not to break down just as i need a label (no smart phone for this sad oldie!)   In other words i am old and stubborn and some things i will not compromise and SD is that something.  Thank you for the advice though and i actually mean that not being sarcastic or nasty.

[wintersdawn1]

Regarding offers from sellers, I have wondered if some of them are generated by ebay and then if the buyer accepts, the seller still gets the original price and ebay pays for the discount.  This would enable ebay get the item sold sooner and take whatever fees are due.