EBAY AND 2026 ??

[crn303]

With only a few days of this year left on the eBay site which has been a disaster for its users,  I trust they will have to change things around some time soon in 2026.

Over several previous years, we have experienced up and downs with them, but this past 12 months has at times been a farce.

Yes, we all have ideas and suggestions about what needs to be done to regain our support but let’s wait and see what THEY  do.

Some of those “12 / 15 hours a day keyboard warriors” are adamant eBay won’t change things … if this was your business would you seriously leave things as they currently are ?

[fotherbale]

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@smarts-gaming wrote:

.....For every seller that leaves another will take their place. 

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This is a line that keeps getting parrotted, but I have to say that from the evidence of my own eyes, the number of new listings in most of the searches that I do have plummeted to a fraction of what they were a couple of years ago. 

That does not indicate to me that the sellers who have left are being replaced at the same rate they are leaving, and also suggests that any new sellers aren't selling the same sort of volumes. 

The number of ebay spam messages that I now get trying to encourage me to start selling (I never used to have any at all) also suggests that ebay are perhaps getting more desperate for more people to list stuff for sale.

I have only recently come back to reading these message boards after several months away, and whilst the same voices are still running the same cracked record that the number of new complaints and issues with payments and simple delivery have slowed to a trickle, the appearance to me is that the number of people posting about new issues is at least as great as it was 5 or 6 months ago.  I am not getting any impression whatsoever that anything much is improving.

[gjalp]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

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@smarts-gaming wrote:

 in fact they're already implementing the changes made to UK ebay into USA as we speak. 

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Where do you get that from? The last i heard they had just asked for views on it.

In many respects they would be mad not to get an income stream from delivery in the US and from (at least) small business sellers in the UK. 

As with most things, it comes down to the implementation, which was terrible.

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SD would absolutely not work for this small business especially if made mandatory. Id be gone within the week.

[gatefittingsdirect]

We've not had too bad a year so far, still getting sales even this morning. 

I joined as a personal seller a couple of months ago to sell a handful of personal items, what a s%$&fest I found that with SD, never again .

Business side, we had to withdraw from the Global shipping programme as it suddenly became overly  complicated. We'd probably only ship overseas 2-4 times a month, but generally those sales were quite large orders from buyers who simply couldn't buy our products in their own countries. 

For us the GSP was as easy as any other domestic sale, not anymore sadly so we stopped. 

[theelench]

"...95% of all sales ... will go just fine....  Theses will be dealt with by computer / A.I.

The remaining 5% that are problematical will be 'kicked to the kerb'..."

Sorry for mangling your post to give the gist that I can reply to.

I think that your 95 / 5% might be over-optimistic when it comes to cost cutting / seller culling to increase profit margins.  A few years back Pareto's Principle (80% of business / profits derived from 20% of sellers / buyers) was regularly used to imply that ebay could do well by getting rid of as much as possible of the 'dead wood' that made up the 80% of the sites users.  Usually interpreted to mean private sellers and their 'mountains of tat' that clogged up the site and its search results.  Hindering sales for the 20% that were profitable for ebay.

Times have changed, ebay has made itself increasingly unpopular and unrewarding for private sellers.  Ebay is now concentrating on its Focus Categories.  The CEO (a couple of years ago) was happy that 'low value buyers' had been reduced, replaced by sales to high value buyers who made at least 6 purchases a year of expensive trainers, handbags etc.

With a noticeable reduction in private sellers, perhaps the 80% of 'dead wood' has now moved up the food chain and now includes micro-businesses who are next in line to be squeezed into un-profitability until they take the hint and go elsewhere?

[vinylscot]

As usual, you are being a little disingenuous, to say the least, conflating two entirely separate issues.

You're more than likely correct when you say the the "bottom" 80% of sellers will bear the brunt of any future eBay changes in policy or cost. I'd actually go much further. I believe eBay is only concerned about maybe 2% of their individual sellers (numerically). Any of the other 98% can disappear without making a dent in eBay. The trick is not to lose too many of that 98%, and that's where eBay need to balance their thinking. I don't think there will be any major changes in 2026, as 2025's changes are still taking effect.

Where I think you're clearly wrong (and you have no recent relevant experience to back yourself up), is where you disagree that 95% of sales go fine. The percentage is at least that high, and will remain so. No seller would stick around with a platform giving it problems in one of every twenty sales. If any seller is experiencing so many problems, it's far more likely that they are the problem, not eBay.

[theelench]

"Sigh" 🙄

Then read it again.

[c_of_e84]

As long as my shareholders are happy, I can claim so many active buyers even thoigh some have multiple accounts, my sellers from china are happy and the value of the company is very over inflated I would just leav it alone because it works, after all it has a very safe monopoly as a market place for small business.

[*maetrix*]

Let's see where we are with this thread this time next year.....unless it's been locked / removed.

[uniq7024]

keep on making changes is a sign of stupidity.  look at ebay in the first 25yrs then look at ebay in last 5yrs insane amount of changes .  why fix something thats not broken.

[rugbyguy1960]

I agree.

Everything here is a serious mess. The site does not like the negativity and criticism it has received for the changes it has made, and it hasn't defended it's actions in any way apart from create smokescreens.

I hope that things seriously get better in 2026 but my intelligence tells me it's highly unlikely.

[tracyeynon]

GSP - Never used it, found it too slow in delivery and expensive

I dont know your inventory so it may not be an option/viable but have found arranging my our own international shipping a simple process.

I have always insisted on Tracked/Signed and if the customer wants the inventory they will pay for it, if they quibble for the cheaper services (doesnt happen often) I point out it protects both parties play, usually a quicker service and makes for happier happier customers

I but online at source with a few couriers, RM rarely lets us down,

Hope it helps

FBF

[the-nutwood-collection]

@jonatjonatjonat, it is compulsory to be enrolled in the Offsite Ads program when annual turnover reaches $10,000 - not £10,000. 

It's not just Google advertising.  Depending on what you sell, the ads are placed on a wide range of sites. 

I've found it to be an effective generator of sales, but the problem is that it's hard to build the increased fees into a robust costing model, because you have no idea how many sales will be via the program.