Why is ebay so hard to sell on now

[jmt1981]

I remember when i first started on my first account back in 2005, it was so easy to sell things, it didn't really matter what it was, you could post it on auction and it would sell within a week or two maximum and you'd get quite a few bidders and a reasonable price, i remember when the fraud started in about 2008/09, i had a lot a lot of people buying things and saying they had never had them and you'd have to file a claim with the post office, especially people from mexico and UK buyers, i remember as i sold internationally then, i closed that down when we left the EU because i knew nobody would bid on anything due to the added customs fees, i stopped buying internationally for the same reasons, i remeber you had to start charging more for postage for things to get it tracked and signed for to reduce fraud and genunine lost parcels, everyone seemed to hate that, though i dispute most of them because everything gets a deliever confirmation these days and almost everything gets delivered, touch wood, idk when it started but it must have been in the 2010's 99p auctions became impossible as you'd be lucky to get that for a high value item, you're literally lucky to get 1 bid on an auction these days so i just ask for the price i think its worth now, what ensues is lots of waiting and dead air, then suddenly sometimes out of nowhere you get a bid, everyone says do buy it now only you do that pay fees and nobody ever buys it invariably, so i add nearest offer to my listings, it gives me a chance to check feedback of buyers and avoid the cranks, an example of this recently was some bloke offered me a pound for a £2 jigsaw, then when i checked his feedback he was buying them doing them and trying to return them constantly then opening a case saying they were incomplete and getting to keep them and selling them himself, i get so many clowns like this and i block them, then you get genuine people who offer for things then simply want them for literally nothing at that point it's like why am i even here at all, i had to end one auction for this reason and ebay charged me for it and not like 20p but like £3, when i called up about it the woman basically said it was my fault for cancelling his bid and ending the auction, despite him bidding, retracting it then bidding again, now i hear the government want ebay to report us to hmrc for selling stuff from around the house i don't want anymore, i got the distinct impression on the phone to ebay they didn't really care if you bothered selling as a small person, she was like go to a boot sale, last time i saw that near me was the 90's, ebay is my only way to sell the junk lying around my house or stuff i buy and decide not two use, now a few days ago i got a message from ebay saying we are now having to pay some new fee for everything we sell, it just feels like a huge waste of time, you put all the work in listing things only for it to sit there for months on end, I'm very lucky if i sell 3 things a week, usually nothing to 2 things, i just think everyone just buys off amazon unless its a niche item you can't get on there, ebay is a much smaller pond now, facebook marketplace is a joke in comparison, constant messages from cranky old people who say they'll come get it but never do or just dead air, i won't use it, i still prefer ebay to sell but at some point you have to ask why you even bother, i think you're better off just getting rid of what you have then being very careful what you buy because getting rid of stuff is a nightmare these days unless its a very popular item like a playstation that a lot of people want, i don't know what anyone else thinks probably the opposite based on my few posts on here over the years, almost like its full of ebay employees or something.

[jmt1981]

I've actually tried to sell on vinted since i posted this, I've sold 3 shirts and everything else just sits there, tired of getting email notifications off people favourating stuff that's on there for a pound to be honest, even clothes just sitting there and that's what the place is supposedly for, it's another option at best certainly not a saviour as the sun newspaper seems to have been paid to constantly be rattleing on about along with stories about how the ukraine is supposedly winning the war.

[greencrest-intl]

Personally i think the most blatant change i have noticed (besides the promoted listings scandal), is the fact that where in the past , a typical google search of a product barcode or a search for a specific product part number,   brought up the ebay and amazon products high up on the first page.

Now things have changed and the first page is more of a jumble and has on most occasions no ebay or amazon listings at all! unless the seller has paid for off-site adverts!

So the potential buyer goes directly to ebay  puts the actual barcode etc into ebay search and you get a mashup of similar or completely different items....

Not always but as a general rule this is a clear cost cutting intiative that is wreaking havoc

Can anyone confirm this ? have you tried searching random barcodes that you know exist? where does it come on google search?

[cra2992]

I'm a bit different to many sellers here as I'm clearing out a lot of used, one-off items privately, not selling as a business. I've never sold huge quantities, and haven't sold anything for several years. Having decided to clear out I've come back to ebay as it was suggested it's still the best place to sell what I have (mostly classic vehicles and parts).

I'm finding it a real struggle. I get very few views - less than 15 - on most items, where in the past I'd have expected a lot of interest. The views do convert to watchers, but I suspect they're just out of curiosity as the watchers don't turn into sales despite pricing to sell.

I think there might be a number of reasons for this:

- I'm not sure ebay is set up for what I'm doing any more; I think it's aimed much more at the business sellers and new items market.

- It's likely given current concerns about cost of living etc. that people genuinely aren't buying. Certainly there seems to be a feeling that the market fro projects, and so parts, has dropped.

- Marketplaces are fragmented. There are multiple options for selling; ebay and its direct competitors such as ebid, FB marketplace, groups, etc., Gumtree and the multiple free ads sites, single interest forums, and so on. They're even fragmented internally; Facebook for example often has multiple groups covering very small niches or duplicating.

- Buyers often don't stray outside what they're used to; for example I've seen buyers on FB putting up want ads for items I have for sale on ebay, or even on other areas of FB. It obviously hasn't occurred to them to look for those items elsewhere.

- The ebay system doesn't work well. Search is often a struggle. Items are often swamped with promoted content that ebay thinks is similar. If it is, it's diverting buyers from my item; if it isn't, it's just a distraction.

- When a buyer finds an item they're presented with the headline details then a swamp of promoted and often irrelevant content and other listings that make it difficult to pick out the description. I know I've given up on things because the listing is a jumbled mess; I suspect others do the same.

- The way ebay works for used items, particularly ebay's blocks to exchanging contact information, don't work for my potential market; people are used to seeing something, coming to look at it, then deciding to buy or not, rather than committing first and asking questions after.

I think with the time it takes to list and deal with things, the worries about irrational buyers or ebay decisions, and the poor listing response (views, watchers, sales) I'm not sure ebay is for me any more.

[jimmy1000000]

Yeah selling on eBay is turned into a pretty horrible experience. A listing used to take a couple of minutes now sometimes I just give up walk away from it getting bored since It shouldn't take six clicks navigating multiple dropdowns to set shipping the way you want it etc. They are hemorrhaging money always because they don't have enough buyers on the platform so they really don't care about sellers especially small ones If you don't have one listing with a thousand available they really don't care.  They've lost their competitive edge completely relying on scams to keep them afloat. They think that's the way to do it because corporations complain less just accept the loss as business. So when eBay goes out of their way to defraud the small seller the small seller complains and they consider that a loss in profit for them to deal with the fraud they committed to the small seller. Not the bad buyers but the good sellers complaining about all the scams that eBay now profits from that PayPal wouldn't allow them to just a couple years ago. Once they have a bad idea they run with it and seller hub was one of the worst they've had in a while. Yet they refuse to admit they make mistakes and they are nothing but a rolling ball of perpetual mistakes costing the average seller money and time. 

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

Too many sellers now chasing too few buyers.

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

I used to sell a lot abroad but its almost none existant now since Brexit.

Adding VAT to sales is killing it.

[get_luck_7777-0]

i have the same problem

a buyer got  a card of me for some elsa payed for it received it then heard nothink from the buyer them out of the blue the buyer wanted to send it back as the buyer stated he could not pay for it and i trhinking where is the person to whom he got it for in the first place seem its all to easy to abuse the buyers return system

seems ebay always takes the buyers side

[r.soles_sneakers]

Since around June 2023 my eBay slowed  right down -

from selling 20 items per month consistently then slowly dropping down over the months. Now in 2024 and i sell maybe 1 item a month if that

 there's something going on. no crisis etc 

can't explain what's it is but it's not normal and average seekers are not being informed!

iv given up on here completely 

just not worth it and also the interest is coming from 0 feedback people who never pay, not even communicating either!

Foreign buyers from outside the UK whinging about extra taxes etc and making silly offers.

 It's over on this site trust me

 I'm 100% fb , very fast turnaround and some how i now get nothing.

 how is that possible?

 Is there some new requirement I'm not following or missing?

[jmt1981]

I doubt it's anything you're doing, people don't have the money like they did back in the day, government destroyed the economy, that and there is so many more sellers, for me its the slow burn of clearing what i have and buying nothing new other than what i absolutely need, try vinted i m getting a few extra sales on there since my last post but nothing amazing, i think you have to be on multiple platforms these days, maximize your exposure, you sell a thing here and there, all you can do but the days of selling multiple items a week is over i think.

[daro2096]

It has been this way since 2013 as I far as I can tell.

[bittyboy101]

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@daro2096 wrote:

It has been this way since 2013 as I far as I can tell.

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It started to go down hill since 2021... Since the new seller hub and Item Specifics was introduced...

They (eBay)  expect everyone who sells on here to be an accountant and have the experience of a proper business model...

What they do not realise or understand is NOT everyone has this kind of experience or understands how to fill out lengthy item specifics (which is now a chore)... nor do some people understand what all these bar graphs mean !

I think eBay should make things more easier for the average private seller who has basic knowledge to be able to sell on eBay - A simple straight forward listing approach  would be so nice instead of this mumbo-jumbo mess we have now ! 😞 

[jmt1981]

To be fair it has been pretty bad on here for a long time but you're right about the item specifics, i think that's why vinted is popular, it's simple, anyone can use it and it's quick to list things.

[daro2096]

I try not to bother with the item speciftics but then it complains I haven't filled enough of them in to post the listing.

I don't bother with the seller's hub. I opted out of it.

[1956glyn]

I too am not on the seller hub and opted out.   Saying that i fear it wont be long before Ebay make it compulsory. 

I totally agree Ebay is definitely not user friendly 😞

As to item specifics i put in what i can and then reminded to add more irrelevant ones.....i just tick the do not remind me again box

I agree Ebays generally been awful for sales for the past few years.....but saying that i listed 9 items (all non essentials) recently and sold 5 which has come as a huge surprise to me.  

Yes there is a cost of living crisis but there is definitely money around for the right items.

[tressygirl]

How on earth @1956glyn  have you escaped the Seller Hub?  I thought everyone by now was on it.

If and when you're made to go on it,  truly it's not bad,  ask me,   I have some good tips !

[1956glyn]

I am defo still on the old pages.  They opted me in a couple of times ages ago and i opted out and its stayed that way.

IF and when i am permanently opted in i prob wont bother with Ebay

[tressygirl]

Noooo,   don't give up truly when you get used to it,  you'll forget what it was  ' like before'.

It's a bit different here and there,  but a bit of practise,  and it's like  it's all the norm !

Don't give up,  not for the Seller Hub reason !

[jmt1981]

Almost everthing i try and sell isn't the right items there is money around for.

[theelench]

I looked at it when it was new and you could opt-in and out.

I thought it was way too complicated for me as a private seller only needing the basic sort of live, sold and unsold info.  I found that the (very) old "All Selling" classic view gave me everything I needed and all on one page, due in part because I only ever had a small number of listings.  So I opted-out

Later MP was made compulsory and it was being said on here that the Seller Hub was a requirement once I sold anything as only the Hub would have "Payments" pages.  True enough as, as soon as I sold something I was put back on the Hub and the "Opt-Out" button was disabled, so I've been on it ever since.

It's just one of the things that have put me off using ebay.

[1956glyn]

I continually sell the odd item and so far everything is still good.