eBay has lost its way.

[ady9701]

I don't care what you say , try and defend them. But eBay has  completely lost the plot  . It's all about how they can make more and more  money from us now. Which is ironic as no one seems to be able to sell anything on here anymore for any kind of a profit. In fact if you mention profit people act like you are a master criminal " what do you mean trying to make money ,no no we  can't have that !!! "  All the stuff I put on I watched most of it relist over and over and the items that  I did sell went for either the start bid or slightly over. When I first used eBay you could sell anything no problem with loads of watches and bids . It's absolute garbage now .   eBay has had its day unless they make some drastic changes . Sorry if the truth hurts all you hardened ebayers out there but there you go. Facebook market place from now on .I won't have to wait until someone somewhere decides my parcel has been delivered before I get my cash for a start.

[insidethe93]

Of course every seller must sell in the way they think best.

But as a buyer I like variety on eBay. If I go to a car boot sale it's almost always miscellaneous secondhand items being sold. On eBay in the same shopping session I can buy secondhand and brand new, from private individuals or from businesses. Plus it's easy armchair browsing, especially when it's wet or cold outside.

(I myself prefer small businesses - eBay, any chance of adding an icon on search results to denote this? Occasionally I'll splash out with a large leading craft manufacturer e.g. if they've just manufactured a new product.)

This is another reason why I don't like BPF. It seems to be reducing the enormous range of goods and wide range of buyer budgets eBay's famous for, by driving customers away - buyers and small sellers (and thus affect business who're also buyers).

[trainofthought]

And yet despite that there is plenty of financial news today with headlines such as "eBay Stock Falls Over 10% After Hours Following Q4 Earnings Report" and if you look in greater detail across various stocks/shares websites the future of Q1 (2025/26) for ebay doesn't seem very promising.

Reasons are given to this such as a lack of certainty over US tariffs, inflationary pressures, cost of living crisis, and even reference to recent changes and the introduction of Buyer Protection Fee in the UK which "has a negative impact on take-rate" (take-rate = the fees ebay get from online trading). The forecast is gloomy and must simply be extrapolated from changes in ebay's income in recent weeks following the new changes they introduced. (ebay know their numbers, I'm sure)

Many posts on here repeat the same theme - "lack of trade" - "never known it so quiet" - and whilst there may be outliers doing well who buck the trend there is a general pattern emerging from posters and respondents of a drop in trade and ebay sellers will notice this first, and eventually ebay catch on after presumably waiting to see how things develop. 

On the plus side I believe ebay will do what they need to do to take care of their interests which starts with taking care of our interests. 

The bit I really don't understand is that ebay appear to have acknowledged the economic landscape but still undertook some self-injurious actions such as adding a BPF to prices (you don't sell more if you increase prices, you sell less (Rolex watches aside!)), and hampering the cash flow of sellers (who are also potential buyers) by withholding funds until item delivered, and reducing the number of (free) listings available for private sellers (though I do think 300 is more than enough for private sellers but you don't generate cash by saying "stop selling - that's enough" to a large portion of your user-base). 

Oh....and they really ought to make it better for business sellers who should find it cheaper to list than private, not the other way round. I just don't understand why ebay's costs are configured in a way that deters private sellers from upgrading to a business account.

And that's why many people believe "ebay has lost its way". And now the stockmarkets agree. (But it's easily and quickly reversed so watch this space and carry on).

[speedwell]

I have been on eBay for a good few years so have seen many changes over the years. As a collector of Postcards I would buy lots, take out the ones I wanted and resell the others. It was never to make money but to grow my collection. Now, I am keeping a few select cards and selling the rest as a job lot at a loss.  So pleased to be getting out of it, Ebay has had its day, all good things come to an end eventually. 

[westmoreland_steam]

I don't necessarily agree with the changes eBay are making

I've held a private account for 20+ years and my items for sale have all changed price, which affects buyers' interest as well as decreasing the offers  being made

As a result, I have upgraded to a business account. Now I pay 10.9% to eBay, rather than deal with with ridiculous buyer offers and reduced click through rate, due to my increased pricing  

At least I am able to enrol upon the start up scale up program which helps increase my own knowledge and has had a great improvement on traffic to my pages - I can recommend the program

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

Ebay are a business and a business is  there to make max profit.

However Ebay get it wrong quite often and hence the number of messages on here regarding loss of sales etc.

[andie2503]

I have being selling unwanted items for over 20 years and have always used Royal Mail who will collect my parcels from my home . Due to Illness l have been housebound for a number of years and can not take items to drop off points.  EBay seem determined to ruin the selling experience for private sellers, typical why fix something that isn't broken. 

Their auto help is a complete waste of time and recently l spoke to a customer service agent who was totally useless at helping me sort my enquiry out. Obviously EBay don't want to hear their customer complaints as there is no way you can message them directly. Unfortunately l shall have to stop listing items as l don't want a company telling me how l should post my sales. Their new simple delivery is a complete mess what next will they be telling me what wrapping paper l should be using. 

[andie2503]

As of the 15th April simple delivery will be the only option you will not be able to opt out of simple delivery. 

[suep3456]

Totally agree - changes to fees and forcing you to use the courier they choose. I send a lot of china and eon't use Evri or Yodel as tgey break too much. About to give up selling...

[billy10662012]

you're absolutely right it's gone down hill last few years.its not FREE to sell buyer's protection fee around 74p which i gave back to buyer all this used to be free anyway.u got insurance when you post item you can do refund's your self,if you put item on for a 99p bid ad 74p plus post and now vat its like £4 before anyone bids,and now if you press for promotion when buyers press you get charged and the charge for sending postage label.small private sellers have no chance.ebay go back to old way where you just paid for auction fee when you sold item thats what ebay was a auction site back then they used to charge 7p for extra photos.next they will charge for videos;😠⛔💰💸

[samanthasfortunes]

It is totally finished unless drastic action is taken.

Buyers also abusing the returns system and leaving abusive and libellous feedback and eBay are absolutely not interested.

eBay do not even have a UK head office and do not abide by UK law, at least not the defamation one. 

The buyer's fee is a total scam.

[jonatjonatjonat]

What on earth happens at  1 More London Place, London, United Kingdom, SE1 2AF then?

[j.p.greenwood]

That's an EY (Ernst and Young) nominees address.

[gjalp]

And therein is my problem on my private account. Im looking to clear ‘stuff’ and I generally set things off at 99p, £1.25 at most. I let the market find its price. Most of it is low value and so long as it doesn’t cost me to sell (by this I mean having to put my hand in my pocket to cover the cost of packing and posting), I just want it to go to a new home. Im now barely selling anything and Id rather not dump stuff out but its looking like I will have to. 

[theelench]

So ebay lost its way in February and here we are in June. 

Ebay's still fumbling about tweaking this and that.  Having taken a mile from private sellers, it's trying to understand the uproar and decide which inch or two will cost it least to give back to try to stop the exodus of the buying public.

THAT'S losing your way by becoming so detached from a significant number of your customers that you no longer understand why they've stopped selling here and the buying power they took away with them.

Most of us know that "Free" to Sell" never was free at all and the BPF was only ever about ebay trying to recoup lost FVFs when the expected influx of new sellers didn't materialise to produce growth in sales for fee paying businesses. 

THAT'S losing your way by failing to appreciate just how irrelevant you've become to the UK public and how unpopular you've made yourself with so many of them who have been here before and got their fingers burnt one way or another.

We all read the jargon and Wall St. buzz-word infested announcements full of lies and half-truths designed to conceal more than they told us and the inability to show any real improvements for us behind them.

THAT'S losing your way by not seeing that your cynicism towards us wouldn't result in our increased cynicism about you.

[samanthasfortunes]

Yes, and that's all it is.

[julies829]

I ended all my sales feb 4th after 17 years on EBay. Was so simple when I first started selling and buying. List an item, sell item, get paid and final fee applied. You couldn’t use EBay without PayPal. Now you can’t use PayPal. Don’t send item till you get paid. Now don’t get paid until sent, received and feedback left. Send your parcel with plenty of postage options, now simple delivery only. Buy an item with protection included now pay 75p + 4% for free protection! So I no longer sell my unwanted items, grandkids old toys and no longer purchase. Have kept my account open due to high positive feedback and hopes things may change in the future. Use market place and donate more to charity now but feel as a private seller EBay is not for me anymore.