Where have the Buyers gone?

[startrekker1701a]

Where is everyone?  Sales have dropped drastically sine the introduction of this new buyer fee tax and I find this really depressing to be honest.

This site is turning into a digital Graveyard, no actually there's more life in a Graveyard than on Ebay lately.

Sad how everything's gone.

[theelench]

Remember the days, not so many years ago, when the "Death of the High St." was confidently predicted and ebay sellers were doing a roaring trade undercutting their B&M competitors ?

Why was that?  Because they were cheaper than High St. shops with expensive rents, business rates, staff etc.

But now we have the same again.  The tech giants that control on-line selling all with ever higher fees and their hands all held out for the next increase.  The delivery companies jumped on the wagon and all increase their prices every year.  Probably, if looked into, the price of sellotape has rocketed over the past few years as manufacturers rub their hands in glee.

I was shocked recently when I decided to replace the hooks and chains on an old "fly-catcher" lamp shade before selling it.  The last time I did this the hooks / washers /nuts and chains cost me less than £10 in total from a local hardware shop.

This time there is no local hardware shop and seemingly only one supplier of the fittings on-line, an ebay seller (can you really believe that in the whole of the UK there is only one person selling them?).  The cost of the hooks and fittings from this seller was £22.41.    2m of chain from the local wood yard, £3.40  --  Total = £25.81.  

IMO ebay has engineered a perfect storm for itself.  In the same year that HMRC has decided to go after tax dodgers and money launderers and demand NINOs from private sellers with the cost of living crisis continuing, ebay decides to increase postage costs with SD and make it look like prices have increased by making the BPF visible to buyers.  The first time it's ever drawn attention to its fees.

Add to that it's decided to make selling on ebay more inconvenient for private sellers by restricting their delivery options and introducing mandatory payment holds on all their sales proceeds.  Even without ebay's increasing determination to squeeze Sponsorship fees out of private sellers, they're seeing just how expensive it is now to buy on ebay and how off-putting and inconvenient the straight-jacket of the 'ebay experience' really is if they're drawn-in by the "free" to sell adverts.

What surprises me isn't that so many private sellers / buyers have left, but that there are any left at all. 

Having deleted my last listing a couple of days ago after having it moved onto SD with a totally inappropriate non-insured and unsigned-for delivery 'option', ebay certainly won't be my first port of call for anything in the future.

[insidethe93]

That's happened to me, last week was the most recent. I wonder if it's that eBay hasn't updated it yet; am I correct in thinking eBay constantly goes through the site updating so some pages update sooner than others?

Possibly the same issue, maybe because eBay hadn't updated the page yet, but recently I came across an advertised item (sponsored?) which I'd bought enough minutes before, and had been moved by eBay on my account page from Unpaid to Orders, that I was surprised to see it still advertised. I recognised the item, knew who the seller was from the price (which did have BPF on it) and the way it was presented in the photo. So I clicked it and it took me to the page I expected and, thankfully, showed the item with the "SOLD" banner over it and the green banner "You bought this item". I've just realised: I hope the advert wasn't pay-per-click so me clicking the advert didn't charge the seller extra (and you'd expect if an item's sold that charging ceases?)

[j.p.greenwood]

Based on my just posted item on trusting E-Bays numbers, I'd guess he likely will get charged the advertising fee.

[lilwat_91]

Probably eBay, cost of living, quieter months during the summer. 

I find a few items sell near payday.

[*maetrix*]

Anyone got ant sales figures for ebay this year?

Just wondering how far they've fallen?

My sales have dried up since Feb 4th.....as has my spending on here.

[gjalp]

I actually sold something on my private ID today. Im gradually removing any promoted listings and there shouldn’t be many left live. However, on this item, when I viewed order details I got a banner from ebay telling me that they had clicked a promoted listing at some point so there would be a promotion fee. I hadn’t promoted the item the buyer bought 🙄

[*devils.advocate*]

Where have the Buyers gone?

Well, I’m for one still here - and it’s great, far less competition from those seller/buyers who have left (in the huff?).

However, there is still some competition - so buyers are still here - if pricing is right.

But I do get the overall impression that either eBay don’t realise the extent of competition now from the plethora of other (more user-friendly) sites or, if they do realise it, they just do not know how to handle it.

[edwardian-dreams]

Even if you remove the promoted bit in your listing don’t you still get the charge if you sell it within 30 days of originally promoting it.

always been a bit confused about that 

but if you never promoted said item then speak to customer services 

[brock_and_roll]

Hi all,

Perhaps we can give a balanced view of the situation, Been on ebay for over 20 years but also sell via Amazon, Etsy and via our own website.

Overall sales are good this year (low value items) but there is a big discrepancy between the different channels. Ebay is up a bit, Amazon and Website up loads and Etsy down loads. There are some specific reasons for this as we try to drive customers to our website for obvious reasons, however there is no doubt ebay is underpromoting relative to Amazon.

As a customer I still love ebay - bidding for 2nd hand things to get a bargain or frankly to get the best price for new stuff i need - easier to get to the lowest price on ebay by simply scrolling past the promoted items.

However, if I need a new replacement part for my washing machine or similar - like most people I head straight to Prime even if it is not necessarily the cheapest and even if it does not always turn up next day.

At the end of the day both buys and sellers are time pressed, so people are likely to default to the lowest effort method to get what they want assuming a reasonable service.

[theelench]

And ebay still says it's "Free to Sell" ?

[theelench]

I just finally got totally fed-up with everything taking longer and using more of my time to do anything.  With the slow but steady erosion of the T&Cs imposed by ebay to be allowed to use the site at all, until it's become a case of "computer / ebay says yes / no" to almost every aspect of any transactions that occur and it's even ebay's decision as to when it doles out payments.

Having fastened myself into ebay's straight-jacket, there's nothing I can do to sell anything on this now "Free" to Sell site, except agree to pay Sponsorship Fees and wait to see if I've given a high enough bride for ebay to allow the item to sell.

Decently described items, good photos and reasonable researched prices mean nothing without an accompanying brown envelope when the search is so rigged it's next to useless to most buyers.

Yes you have less competition now (my final listing got its usual 6 watchers, all dealers who have spent so much time studying how to filter out the dross in the results to get to my item, but who will never pay full price for anything.  But you'll also be getting rather fewer 'interesting' items to look for IMO.

No I didn't leave "in a huff", more like I just got fed-up with the slow grind of continuing with a pointless exercise that only ever gets worse, never any better.

[thepillenwerfer]

Have you reduced your asking prices by the amount you're saving in Seller Fees?  If so potential Buyers will only be paying about the same as they were under the old system.

[theelench]

I don't have any asking prices.

My last Sold item was just before "Free" to Sell was introduced so I never got involved with any of the madness since.

I've gone, it's just not worth the meager rewards to even bother with all the never ending hassle on ebay any more.

I have no intention of coming back to a site so blatantly  using its past glory to prop up its market share while milking sellers and buyers for everything they can get while providing a non-existent 'sales' platform which is in reality these days only a fee generating site with declining sales. 

[moonlight-rhapsody]

"Where is everyone? Sales have dropped drastically sine the introduction of this new buyer fee tax and I find this really depressing to be honest."

 I was still a regular buyer on ebay even after the introduction of the buyer fee, although the buyer fee did affect me as a seller because it disproportionately affected my low value items, making them more difficult to sell.  Then Simple Delivery came along, which I decided at the start was going to be too much hassle, and nothing I’ve read since has changed that opinion.  So since ebay had made selling more difficult for me through a combination of the BF and SD, I saw no good reason to give them my business as a buyer.  I used to buy several items a month on ebay, but I haven't bought anything on ebay since the end of March.  I’d only buy from ebay now if I can't get what I want elsewhere but so far that hasn't happened.

From what I’ve read over the last couple of months, many other people who don’t want to use SD have also stopped buying, either for the same reason as me or because the money from sales used to fund purchases, so not selling = not buying.

[barterburton]

eBay Is Failing Its Sellers – We Deserve Better

eBay feels like a dying platform, and what’s most frustrating is how sellers are being treated—especially when it comes to getting paid.

We pay to use the platform, we pay final value fees, we handle the logistics—and yet eBay delays our payouts because the buyer chose the cheapest, slowest shipping option. Why are sellers forced to absorb this "wait and see" approach?

When I walk into a shop and make a purchase, the seller doesn’t wait a week to get paid. But on eBay, it can now take 2 to 6 days before funds are released, just because the tracking hasn’t updated or the buyer hasn’t marked the item as received. That’s unacceptable.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about security—it’s about float and passive income.

eBay is holding millions in seller funds across countless transactions. Even short delays generate accumulative interest in eBay’s accounts. That money sits in their system earning income—income that sellers never see—while we wait, unpaid, after fulfilling our end of the deal.

We’ve done our job. We’ve shipped the item. We’ve paid eBay’s 15% (or more) in fees. You’ve taken your cut—now release the funds.

The so-called "seller protections" are thin. The market traffic is down, visibility is terrible, and the overall experience for sellers has declined sharply. You can't keep charging premium fees while reducing service and throttling cash flow.

eBay, it’s time to stop treating your sellers like a free credit facility. If you're going to hold our money, be transparent about how long and why—and more importantly, who’s earning what from the delay.