Is eBay actually dying? Or is it just private sellers that are suffering?

[simplybygone]

Ok I know I only sell a handful of things but I'm getting no views and few watchers. Things were much better a year or so ago. Are auctions falling out of favour?

[1956glyn]

To be honest with all the changes etc i think people are generally falling out of love with Ebay.

I think yes auctions may well be falling out of favour...as we are currently living in a "i want it now society".

I tend to list on auction format because generally i am not sure of the true value of my listings.

[tressygirl]

I think you'll find sellers on the whole if posting re sales,  are reporting low sale figures no matter which format you choose to sell in.

Are people not buying because of the Buyer Protection fee, keeping a tight purse, or is it the hot weather keeping peeps outdoors and less interested in online buying ? 🤔

That's the $64,000 question whatever the reason, sellers are not reporting great sales !

@simplybygone 

[archemily2]

I’m having that problem too. I’ve got about 50 items up atm & I think it’s an algorithm thing.  Not sure how it’s set up bit I saw sales dropping last December. To start with I thought it was just folk had no money but I still expected some window shopping going on. It’s just not happening tho. 

[steri1041]

Maybe these are difficult times.

[tribalgiftsuk]

Business Sellers are also suffering, just take a look at the business seller boards and see. People are reigning in their spending across the board as food prices are still increasing, bills are still rising and the job market is in decline. Its bleak at the moment and unless something that really helps people is put into place by gov.uk things wont be getting better any time soon.

You can blame Ebay, they havent helped themselves for sure but when the general outlook is rocky a lot of retailers and online platforms are struggling.

[1956glyn]

I think folk still have the money......but just being a little more selective 

[tressygirl]

I also think there are far more sellers,  so far more choices. 

I collect a certain vintage doll ( clue in the username! 🤔 ) ,  14 years ago  there would be a choice of maybe 50 or less to choose from today, there are just under a 1000.

Sellers are facing far more competition today, clothing is a better example ,  to see the vast numbers buyers now have to choose from.

[1956glyn]

and from what i can see lately......sellers are asking daft prices for their items.  (jewellery categories)

I am donating more and more to a local charity

[foresterdon]

Desperate sellers are reducing prices to fire sale levels to get some cash, even at a loss. Buyers see this and assume if they wait long enough everyone will have to do the same, so they hold off from purchasing - and so we spiral down. At least, that is what is happening in the Collectables category.

Now it is a coin toss whether eBay UK will see sense and change leadership and policy - or just fade away.

[honeymonster007]

From a casual window shoppers point of view I find a majority of the auction starting prices are to high, they don't tempt you in to make a bid.

[thepillenwerfer]

My success rate at shifting things is about the same as it ever was.  However I agree that auctions seem to be going out of favour as most things sell on the maiden bid or there are maybe a couple more.  The days of things getting loads of bids and the price really going up are long gone.

I found a couple of years ago that it was very difficult to shift Collection Only items no matter what the price was.  It seems that people who are in the market for, say, a second-hand washing machine are looking elsewhere.

[ruby*ryan]

My sales have been OK recently, I only use auction format very, very occasionally (usually without success).

Because I am just getting rid of stuff I no longer want, I can price my items competitively. They have a couple of outings, then off to charity shop, or the car boot we keep saying we will do this year!

I actually realised the other day that I have stopped shouting 'I hate ebay' at the computer many times a day. I'm not sure why, maybe just acceptance that this is the best place for me to get rid of stuff, maybe the fact that I am now using and more or less happy with SD, rather than wondering how it will work for me.

I will never be as fond of ebay as I was  years ago, when I would recommend it to everyone, but currently I seem to have managed to make it work to suit me again - until the next major change, or HMRC deem me to be trading.

(And as I was typing, another 'kerching', so thanks for that!)

[thepillenwerfer]

You and I are Private Sellers as intended so e-Bay works for us.  The trouble is that there are a lot of people who "aren't a business; it's just a hobby" and are trading whatever they may think and it doesn't work for them.  ForesterDon above says "Desperate sellers are reducing prices to fire sale levels to get some cash, even at a loss."  Well, if you're really selling personal possessions you no longer want you wouldn't expect to get more than what you paid for them, though of course some things can go up in value during your ownership of them, and are only hoping to get something back and lose less than if you dumped it.

[1956glyn]

Our view is......we just want a fair price for quality mostly inherited items.    

[boykw123]

I have purchased a lot less from eBay recently as well as shifting my selling to Facebook marketplace.

The changes to simple delivery being mandatory & buyer protection fees on private sellers being added have pretty much finished the platform off for me. If I can find the item elsewhere at a relatively similar price I will go there instead purely out of principle.

[notchrissblood]

The ridiculous changes are having a knock on effect to business sellers too. My business account has been down on sales starting from September last year, which is when eBay started ruining the site. If you annoy both buyers and sellers at the same time, people are going to leave.

[1956glyn]

I dont list much but when i have lately.....instead of the listing showing within 5 mins as usual its been more like 2 days!!   That was also very very frustrating.

I have just listed one thing and its showing immediately.....well to me anyhow 

I am making a conscious effort to list items excluded from simple delivery 🙂

[suelel1968]

Hi, if you take a look at the overview page you will see some stats on sales conversation rates. Mine is currently 1.4% which is Ok, up from 1.1% about a month ago. However, it is down from a high of 2.8% in March which is a terrific score. What happened?

In your case you mentioned December. Around that time Ebay stopped fees altogether, so there was alot more competition. Also, there was previously the incentive to "sell similar" to get the 70 or 80% off fees offer. When they removed this they removed the motivation to carry out this this task. So anyone who didn't continue to relist (sell similar) will have found themselves pushed down the search list to a place where people rarely bother to scroll. There have been occasions when i have searched on my exact title and still couldn't find it. So number one, SELL SIMILAR. I carried on with SS each month for items with no views. And every other month for items with views and conversion rate stayed high.

In Feb we got BPF, which put prices up, i adjusted them down. 

In April, i added postage on without reducing price so that when the big Simple delivery change over happened i wouldn't pick up the higher postage rates expected. And I waited and waited an nothing changed over to SD. Still hasn't. I didn't want to risk Sell similar incase that prompted at change to SD. I didn't want to change prices untill the change over was finished and my Sales conversation rate tumbled. Number 2 don't charge too much! 

In June, I reduced prices back to what they were, did  SS on those items which I know postage was exempt from SD and the sales started to come back. I can't do it for all items as some will convert to SD and become pointless. 

I also started listing more items which are exempt or for which SD prices are appropriate. I think the algorithm liked that to. Sales are going up, views are good. 

So, Sell similar, make sure prices are inline with sold items not those on sale, and I always send small offers to those that "watch". There's a long way to go to 2.8% but I'm a nerd who follows the statistics and i think I am winning in the always difficult summer months. 

Sales are going up, views are good.

[crg_music]

The fact I have to sell something for £12 to get the same as I do £5 elsewhere is a problem and now with every item costing over 20% in fees(inc promoted) its only going to get worse. Less sellers means less buyers for everyone. 

Its been my opinion for years but if you are to continue to charge then go back to the 2005 model. No distinction between sellers, everyone pays to list + sell. No promotion just listing upgrades. Its just not worth listing items under £10 for business sellers now and private sellers seem angry at the postage system.

I just wish Ebay would be more progressive. It felt like some positive steps last year but now I dunno.