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...