Downfall in Sales - February 2024

[theglo-68]

Has anything changed recently as we noticed Sales have Dropped once again since Last week.

We have gone down from steady sales of 10-12 to 0 from last week.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[ruby-redsky]

I think the promoted sponsord items turn people away, there were 8 before you reached the real search the other day, i dont think buyers want them shoved in their faces especially if its not what theyre looking for.

[xl_products]

I have sold on eBay for around 20 years I have two id's selling ink cartridges, for years I used to restrict the sales because there were too many! Since December the sales have got lower and lower and I have now had zero sales for two days running. Nothing has changed so it has to be something to do with eBay yet they claim when contacted that everything was healthy on my account plus impressions are supposed to be up!

[bungalowbill*1961]

There's certainly no shortage of money or buyers if you have the right stuff on offer. I watched a big house clearance auction at a local saleroom last week and the bidding, both in the room and online, was insane! Even the staff were surprised by how much people were spending. Maybe it's just that people have lost interest in eBay.

[leopardlass]

 My sales have dropped dramatically despite ebay giving me 100 % off fees for 2 months i have sold 8  items in that time .I sell a mix of items from place mats to wall sconces ,antique pen trays to quirky wood carvings . I  have tried buy it nows , auctions ,sent offers ,i have  tried global shipping as well as just standard shipping and still nothing . I have noticed that there are many many unregistered sellers now even people i know personally,some have taken to selling at local auctions or carboots  ,since the announcement about the HMRC and tax . 

[theelench]

Something that will probably get worse as word ripples out, the weather gets warmer and sellers start to notice the slight increase in fees after 8/4/24.

Obviously businesses registered as private sellers will be taking cover, but so will many genuine private sellers who just don't like the sound of HMRC being told about them selling their unwanted possessions and the possible complications that could bring.

Some will simply ration their listings and sales to less than the 30 items / £1700 value criteria, others will stop selling altogether rather than give ebay their NINO.  At least until they have a clearer idea of how HMRC will use this new information from ebay and how HMRC reacts to those who exceed the newly imposed reporting thresholds.

That isn't likely to become clear until some time next year.  Until then, fewer sellers selling fewer items isn't likely to encourage them to spend more as buyers.

[jordandanielthomas]

I've been selling on eBay for 14 years and for the first time in many many years I've had a number of account issues and glitches which started happening in November. During this time sales have gradually got worse, to the point it's even got me questioning it. 

I've had customers message me saying they can't see my listings and from my side I've had glitches saying I've got nothing listed or haven't sold anything etc. Often I'll get a homepage screen saying it's not you it's us and after 10 minutes it will return (can't do anything until this comes around) These issues also appear on the app along with desktop etc and I really believe it's eBay's updated or new systems etc (waste of time) 

Over the last two months I'm down between 40-50% on sales, so I've been picking up the slack and selling on Facebook with no fees which is nice. 

eBay need to sort it out sooner than later as I know many other sellers having the same problem. What's also more than a coincidence is that on busy days, they are busy and when I have a really quiet day, they do to. It's eBay!! 

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

I used to get quite a few foreign sales and get nothing now.

So my only income is from the UK.

At one time there was almost a constant stream of sales and questions but its pretty much dead now.

[nokolasamson]

One sentence: Cost of Living crisis

2 - 3 years back was doing very nicely. Now my turnover has dropped by around 40% from then on average.

I sell vintage electronics type of stuff and sometimes job lots.

Now it is what people need rather than want. I have had to reduce prices, promotions etc.  just to hit my turnover target. I need to do 3k sales net per month to break even and am struggling to make that at present. Ebay is not what it used to be. Buyers fail to see that you are a business trying to survive.

Like me for a lot of business sellers it is their only full time job therefore only income. If I don't sell enough, I don't eat - simple as that.

Buyers will now purposely seek out bargains and look to price match hence I get a lot of silly offers even though my items are fixed price and reasonable (based on closed and current other listings).

Yes even I suffer from the buyer's motto 'there's a cost of living crisis therefore I can barter my way down and pay less than I want to'!!!

[theelench]

Where I work the company has recently made changes to the way annual holidays are managed and my supervisor needed to buy a 2024 diary to keep track of everyone's  days 'earned',  taken and outstanding balance.  We all looked on the local High Streets with no luck.

He found one on ebay and bought it BIN but was refunded, the reason given was "Problem with address", which put him off trying to buy again on ebay.

As I sell here I volunteered to buy  one on my account, as I've never had any problems with my address when buying or selling.  I found what he was looking for and put it on my Watch List but thought I'd check it was OK before ordering.

By the time I'd been to work that evening, got home ready to order, I'd been sent an offer of a 10% discount.  Reducing the price from £2.99 (including RM 2nd Class postage) to £2.69 including postage.  Three days later it arrived, sent by RM 48.

Presumably this far into the year this is old stock, being sold at near to cost price and hence the discount, to get it out of the warehouse, yet it still cost nearly a pound more than I bought exactly the same diary for last Christmas, on the High St. for less than £2.

Yes there is a cost of living crisis and buyers are looking to save money wherever they can but I don't think ebay is helping its sellers at all.

I bought from a bona fide business, paying full fees, probably also extra Promotion fees and feels constrained by ebay to send by the more expensive(?) RM 48 option.  Yet I read on here that ebay paid out better than expected dividends last quarter.  In part due to high fees, skimming postage costs and demanding PL fees on top.

I'm not surprised that so many sellers of New Goods are seeing falling sales when they can't compete with B&M stores on the high st. due to the costs of selling on ebay.  It's not the first time I've searched for something on ebay, then found the same thing cheaper in Teso, Asda and once or twice even in Sainsbury's.  At a time when everyone is tightening their belts, perhaps it's time for the shareholders to learn to do the same?

[iposters]

Something else we are all missing why Sales are down is due to eBays ridiculous Feedback Policy where they don't remove any feedback. (Even if buyers lie the whole way through all it takes is 1 comment to say Not Happy and it stays) This is creating a wave of Spam Feedback (All Negatives & we are limited to revisions) so Sellers accounts are getting way lower % on Feedback and then buyers will look and go im not buying here. My mum the other week was looking to buy some bits on here and ended up going to Amazon as she said all the Feedback on Accounts on eBay made her nervous. 

The issue for Sellers is that 'Some' Buyers are Liars. They leave Negative Feedback without any Communication and where eBay are not imparital anymore and favor the Buyer, Seller Account ratings are just getting lower and then new buyers will look and go 'Oh I am not buying from there' 

My whole Business is up now for Jan-March (Compared to last year) execpt on eBay. My Page Views are also around 300% Higher on eBay with just over 100 more listings than I had this time last year. 

My Amazon, OnBuy, Website and my Shop are all up now by abnout 7%. eBay is down around 25% Compared to this time last year.

Jan Feb everywhere was down on last year, but Q1 (After a Strong March) I have now ended up higher across all platforms execpt eBay...... 😞 .....Actually since November, my eBay account is getting lower and lower every month......

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

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@1956glyn wrote:

Selling appears to be over rated at the minute 😁

Sell 2 or 3 items and at least one is a non payer.  This is happening a lot to me lately 

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I agree! I'm lucky to sell 3-4 items a month. Not that I'm bothered as I'm only selling off what's left of my personal items now and they sell when and if they sell.  Experimented with both so called 'FREE' p&p and not and the selling amount is approximately the same, so I do a mix and match now:-)

The 'Offer' option along with a stiputated payment method before placing an offer on an item, has indeed been one of the worst moves eBay have made to date, imo:-( This closed door approach doesn't allow for anyone to use Paypal's 3 month payment plan for items or baskets over the value of £100 and  the whole process of the eBay payment system has put people off buying on the site. Amaz*n have now adopted the Paypal 3 month split payment option and that's working a treat for them.

Why is it that eBay always mess up the good things they have or should I say, had?

*Slap...............

Anyway, I've wasted 30 minutes of time on eBay this evening so I'm off to do more productive things. I hear the GB Sewing Bee calling from afar.................😂😂🤣

[1956glyn]

Start selling net curtain lol  

I live in a large City and there is not one shop anymore selling it by the metre 😞  I have to buy online.   Got some the other day with free postage and its a genuine Ebay UK business seller.   It was free postage and after working out their costs etc they are almost giving the net away 😞

I was really happy because the pattern on the net matches my expensive bedroom wallpaper 🙂

[britstainless]

replying to all in 2024, TEMU is taking most sales away from ebay for small consumables etc. i use them myself , free delivery usually within a week from china, and so low prices , nothing wrong with the items, most of the items would have been sold by ebay sellers anyway. there just cutting out the middleman. its affecting me badly also