Private sellers getting little interest from buyers?

[welshjester]

What's going on with eBay? I have excess stuff - luckily most of it I've gotten rid of over the past couple of years, I still have a bit more to go, mix of used & new items.

I've noticed though that some of my things get 0/low views and then when I check recently sold listings of the same or similar things that I'm trying to sell some people are paying at least £5+ more for the same item (like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226875321642) from business sellers, and I even added an extra item to go with this example.

Anyone know what's going on? Poor visibility for private sellers or something? Last few months has been garbage for trying to sell almost anything, even if lowering the price to silly levels.

[technthread]

It was never really 10% for most private sellers due to the fortnightly fee promos. That became part of the problem, do you remember the grumblings when some sellers stopped getting those offers? Nobody really wanted to pay full fees on anything except the business accounts who have no choice in the matter. 

As useful as auction houses can be, the grass isn’t always greener. You’ll pay well over 20% in fees and may not achieve the prices you expect. 

[technthread]

I think you have to be open to using different platforms. I help family list their own items sometimes, we go through the process - ok that one will do better on eBay list that there. Those ones will sell fast on Vinted put those ones on there, and so on. 

For some items eBay is still the place to list. I like a moan about eBay but I’ve found over time it’s easier to just get on with it and put up with the parts I don’t like if it means getting the best outcome.

[pegr-834437]

If that was the case then Vinted wouldn't be a thing, they have both a bfp and simple delivery, but everyone keeps sayings they are moving there. 

eBay were lazy, instead of clamping down on sellers selling an item for 1p with postage of £9.99 they just changed the commission structure. Instead of clamping down on businesses on private accounts they tried given them free selling for 3 months and tempt them to register correctly. They need to be strict, if you look like a business, act like a business then be a business, its not upto eBay to prove it but the seller. Its better being safe than sorry.

I agree that it should be the same charge across the board, I'd even give private sellers 30 free listings or £1700 then its the same as a business account for fee's that way genuine private sellers can get rid of unwanted items but somebody who sells 100 items or 1000 items a year should be paying the same as a business as they get the exact same service. Simple delivery is better than custom imho, i send things the same way but now have no hassle if it gets lost of damaged in transit, yes please.

[theelench]

I agree with @48484  the rot set in when ebay levied FVF on P&P rather than stop the minority that cheated by selling for pennies with pounds of Postage.

I do remember the grumblings when some sellers stopped getting the FVF Offers.  But they were never extended to all private sellers, some never got them at all, ever.

The same with the famous "up to one thousand free listings every month".  Most private sellers, even with impeccable accounts, were always restricted to far fewer and most never used their full allowance.  Again, mostly it was business sellers who took advantage of the huge listing numbers by gaming the system.  Again ebay couldn't be *rsed to sort out the problem, let it fester and then supposedly tried to solve it by hitting innocent genuine private sellers with the latest restrictions.

The fact is ebay worked best back when I first came here.  Minimal listing fees for all and easy to list.  Massive sales for all and growing Y on Y.  Instant payment for all via paypal.  Ebay did what it used as its advertising slogan at the time "List it - Sell it - Get paid".

The further ebay has moved away from that model the worse it's got.

Ebay should go back to those roots.  Shut at least 50% of the businesses in every category, so that it can put a lot of effort into stopping the rampant criminality that goes with businesses.  That means whether buying, selling, auctioning, faking and VAT and other tax and fee evading.

Then ebay might become attractive to private sellers again.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Ebay should go back to those roots.  Shut at least 50% of the businesses in every category, so that it can put a lot of effort into stopping the rampant criminality that goes with businesses.  That means whether buying, selling, auctioning, faking and VAT and other tax and fee evading.

So what you are actually saying there, is that half of all business sellers are criminal.  Well done, a really well thought out plan that.
Whilst there may be some elements of that kind of thing happening, it is absolutely not half of all sellers.
You really believe that killing half of all business sellers, will get private sellers selling more?
Or do you not think that the less sellers there are on the site, the less buyers there are and consequently, the less sellers too.

[technthread]

I think you might have poked a hornets nest with this.

I’m going to watch the cricket for a bit 😁. Crawley needs a score.

[cobwebcottage]

Nothing new there.

Twist the thread so it comes back to their main objective, to attack the business sellers.

[thepillenwerfer]

I'd say about the same percentage of items I list sell as at any time in the fifteen years that I've been selling.  However, the number of Views and Bids are certainly lower.  Of course fashions change and things that were popular in the past aren't necessarily popular still and some things have become more desirable than formerly.

As a Buyer I haven't noticed an increase in bargains.

There's also something seriously amiss with e-Bay's search.  I can enter the same term when logged in and see different things than when I'm not logged in even after choosing the same order of display.  Sometimes clicking one of the filters to the left of the screen INCREASES the number of matches whereas if I've clicked UK Only or Used only it should reduce the total as foreign listings or ones of new items would be removed.

As for what other people are getting for similar items you need to look at SOLD listings to get a real idea; just because people are asking more doesn't mean they are getting it.  People will pay more to a Business Seller as they've got better legal rights, such as being able to return an item within 14 days simply because they don't like it or have changed their mind.  OK, they are down on the return postage cost but that's likely to be less than the item cost so is a smaller loss than being stuck with something you don't want.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

And on thinking further about this one.

How exactly do you propose that Ebay decide which sellers to get rid of?

There is another business a hundred yards up the road from me selling on here as well.
So we can't have two business' in the same road, so which one of us do Ebay get rid of?

Or do we just get rid of the 50 least profitable to Ebay?

That sounds fair!

All so that you get to sell your few personal belongings on Ebay, the way that it used to be!

Never mind all the livelihoods that your plan will destroy!

[foresterdon]

It's all the things mentioned but other factors as well.

We had a long spell of lovely weather. People are remembering what it's like outdoors having a life, not stuck at a screen all day. Now school holidays are with us. The summer is often flat. This year lots of reasons why it should be flatter than normal.

Without doubt my eBay experience is currently by far the worst it has ever been in over 20 years.

My response to BP and SD has been to pull all my sales not on Custom, partly because I'm cross at the way private sellers have been treated and want to make a pathetic small gesture, partly because this is the summer lull anyway, partly because buyers are offering stupid low prices and I can't be bothered with it.

I'll let eBay stew for a while and see what autumn brings in the lead up to Christmas.

Perhaps we'll have a new General Manager by then, the way eBay is going down.

Perhaps there will be further concessions like the reduction in BP for low price items.

Perhaps I'll wake up and finally see that eBay's time has passed and it has no future.

[edwardian-dreams]

Last year i was abroad for personal reasons so didn’t sell  

the year before that it was very nice 

2025 is dead more or less for me and were half way through 

Earned  around 300 quid lol 

I think covid days have something to do with it too, people realising they actually just don’t need alot of the stuff they like to buy 

I remember when we were allowed to go to the supermarket but everyone would squish in and out trying  not to breathe when passing others and picking up essentials only amongst the thousands of products there

of course the cost of living has been a hammer everywhere 

[kath3735_wxmjn]

the way things are going i can see another lockdown coming just to get people off the streets!  At least then online sales may pick up.....

[edwardian-dreams]

What dyou mean 

[technthread]

I have a repeat buyer on here who must be at about 150 orders now. He buys most of my coins. The ones he doesn’t want tend to go unsold on auction with a few exceptions. I have just listed about a dozen on Vinted and sold 8 to one buyer. It is really weird on here sometimes. I saw a married2reselling video on YouTube this week where they were discussing the same sort of thing, long term unsold items here will fly out on Vinted. 

[gjalp]

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@jckl1957 wrote:

I really don't think those Ebay factors are to blame. 

Year on year my sales have dropped.

Two years ago, I sold about 300 items.

Last year, before BPF, nearly 200.

This year - will be lucky to sell 150.

The impact of the BPF is small - £5 on a £100 is a lot lower than inflation and with SD buyers pay less postage for my items than I would charge.

My two adult children both have a good amount of disposable income but they don't buy the sort of things private sellers have for sale on Ebay.

---

Of my 3 adult children, 1 buys on ebay (car parts mostly), 1 buys on etsy and 1 (the impatient one) buys on Amazon so its a bit of a mixed bag. The etsy buyer likes unique hand made items, the other 2 buy by cheapest price. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

How exactly do you propose that Ebay decide which sellers to get rid of?

Just 50% at random. Do a Thanos and click their fingers.

[sweetcharity.2013]

And that is exactly the same thing.  It would simply be a multi buy discount on Ebay instead!

Multi buy discount only works if the seller offers it! 

There is also nothing stopping you from asking a seller to combine postage and make it cheaper too.

How does a seller advertising FREE shipping combine postage? I can imagine the response to that request! Also doesn't work if immediate payment is required. 

So whatever price your buying at, just because they don't add postage on to it, does not mean that it is cheaper in the first place!

I never said I wanted cheaper, I said I don't like paying extra postage if unnecessary.

As I said I. am. not. stupid & I really don't appreciate being talked down to.

[theelench]

I said nothing of the sort.

IMO Ebay needs to reduce the numbers of businesses to a level where it can effectively weed out or control those intent on cheating their buyers, their suppliers, ebay or the tax authorities.  I certainly didn't suggest that 50% of businesses are here with criminal intent just that perhaps reducing the numbers by half might enable ebay to regain control of the rest.

Should ebay decide to purge the site of its criminal element it won't ask me who should have their accounts closed.  It will probably take its usual "hammer to crack a walnut" approach and as when FVFs on P&P were introduced or the latest restrictions on private sellers (allegedly for buyer protection) there will be collateral damage and some of the innocent will be punished along with the guilty.

After all it's ebay's game and ebay's rules and for the good of the site ebay can do what it likes however it likes ?

[ruby*ryan]

Surely the goal should be for eBay to crack down on all sellers "cheating their buyers, their suppliers, ebay or the tax authorities", be they business, private or 'private'?

Though I'm not sure how eBay could do anything about sellers cheating their suppliers?

[vinylscot]

For some people, it's more important to  have a dig at eBay, and to re-affirm their ongoing outrage (even if they are no longer buying or selling), than it is to actually make sense. They hope to get cheered on by the small coterie of like-minded disrupters who would actually prefer that things do not improve, as that would curtail their whining.

Although I acknowledge that I am taking the bait here, these posters can be ignored. They add nothing, and are merely trying to provoke a response.