my sales are dead

[littleladydreamer]

My sales have completely died. I have very few watchers on my items now.

The "simple delivery" announcement made me panic because my partner usually takes my items to the post office for me.

We are not "mobile" people and are quite traditional. So I panicked and bought a label printer second hand. In the meantime took all my listings down until the printer arrived.

I relisted my items, but after two weeks I have only sold two items. The " advanced option' for postage is still there. Yet I felt pushed into selecting simple delivery, unsure if the option I chose: weight, size is correct for all my items. Any postage cost mistake I did in the past I would just pay the extra postage myself. Now what happens if the parcel is over the weight or size selected?

When I search for my items they seem overpriced because of the buyer protection added. Yet when I relisted them I cut the cost.

My watchers and viewers have gone down drastically. 

[tressygirl]

I am a doll and toy collector and can see your items are fairly priced, and also your sold numbers for these types of items ran along the same amount I was selling before I removed my listings,  because I do not own an iPhone,  and certainly not buying one for hundreds,   I can see that there are certain tech issues from time to time with the printing of eBay labels,  so the QR code would be essential to have .

Many are predicting low sales,  then again this forum rarely would receive posts from members saying their sales are great as that needs to answer for issues clearly not there.

Buyer Protection Fees do raise an item's price ending in strange amounts, does this put buyers off? No idea, possibly.

Sellers have always reported low sales, from time to time,  and there truly is never a ' One answer Fits All,  for a reason why this happens. 🤔

@littleladydreamer 

[sianchris]

Your dolls are definitely not over priced, i think its just a bit of a hiatus at the moment with the uncertainty of this whole shambolic mess. I like to make doll clothes & often looking out for new models but i just cant move forward until i know what is going to happen with RM collections, i stopped listing on the 7th April because i was terrified they would change everything over to SD. Im house bound, i dont have a printer & i dont have a posh phone, Royal mail have always called to collect with the postage label. Things have definitely hit a slump since the BPF came in but up until SD i plodded on with just no mad auction wars. I`m just hoping some kind of normality comes back soon, my head is mashed.

[littleladydreamer]

Hi, thank you for your reply. And looking at my items.

We are the same, I have a old phone. I guess I suffer from anxiety!  Or get anxious over 'new ' situations. I sold one item using the ' simple delivery ' method and my anxiety was high. I needed my partner to try and print it for me. Then phoning my son to try and get it printing the correct size. It certainly isn't simple. Now if I do get any sales at all I feel like I need people at hand to help. It is much easier to use a pen to write a label and it's far simpler.

[littleladydreamer]

@sianchris thank you for replying. I feel the same my head is completely mashed. I feel eBay marketplace as become a " ghost town'.

I understand completely being terrified over the simple delivery. How can it be simple if it makes us anxious?

I'm hoping for normality to come back but I am a daydreamer!

[littleladydreamer]

@ sianchris

I've just looked at your past items, what a shame you are no longer listing your beautiful pieces. eBay has lost a very talented seller.

( My nan used to make my dolls clothes, I wish I had this talent)

[sianchris]

@littleladydreamer   Aww thank you so much, i love making them.
Im the same, hate change & panic when its forced on me, i have no one who can help me.
I tried registering with Etsy but cant get passed the passport verification photo cause it just wont take 😕

It doesnt help when ebay talk in riddles either so understanding the process is a no starter for me.
Fingers crossed it all comes out right in the wash for us, Good luck, we`re going to need it x

[wintersdawn1]

Under simple delivery, if ebay's AI gets the postage label wrong i.e. wrong weight, they have an agreement with royal mail that post offices will still accept the parcel with an incorrect postage label on it and ebay will pay the difference.

Until quite recently not all post offices were aware of this and so refused incorrectly labelled simple delivery packages.  Even if they accept it over the counter, there is a chance it will be flagged at some point in royal mail's network and put aside, possibly for a charge to be made to the buyer/recipient.

My items have still not been changed to simple delivery but when they are I will be taking them down as I don't want to be put in a position of taking a package to the post office with an incorrect postage label on it and possibly facing a heated exchange to make them accept it.

[fantailsforme]

As of last Thursday, my postmistress is still not accepting SD.  

[department28]

'Under simple delivery, if ebay's AI gets the postage label wrong i.e. wrong weight, they have an agreement with royal mail that post offices will still accept the parcel with an incorrect postage label on it and ebay will pay the difference.'

Even if this works as it is 'supposed' to, I think many of us feel very uneasy about sending parcels with incorrect weight labels... it just seems like a really unsatisfactory system. No-one wants the extra stress of not knowing if a parcel will get through the postal system ok, whatever assurances Simple Delivery might give...

This situation has already caused a lot of worry, with many not knowing if they are going to be able to continue selling or not, due to the uncertainty of when/if SD is going to 'take over', and what the rules & exclusions are going to be, etc.

eBay does not seem to have given any thought at all to those who don't have, or don't want printers or smartphones. Being able to choose your own postage options makes it possible for anyone to be able to sell, without needing gadgets, or having to ask for extra help from from family & friends. It is very unfair of eBay to introduce a system that could exclude so many!

[unclegeoge100]

If you switch to advanced options which is under the simple delivery, then take the advanced option again you get the option to choose the postage option you want. This means that you can then use Royal Mail. 

Hope this helps! 

[jma2815]

Yes, most people on the forum have been doing that and many still can but it isn’t a solution to the OP’s concerns.

The point is that Advanced Options will be removed for everyone by the end of next week (if ebay are to be believed the 28th is now the date this will happen) and I was completely ‘switched over’ to SD last weekend on the date originally given. 

As a result I have chosen to remove all my listings. 

[wintersdawn1]

I agree with everything you said.  It seems that ebay have put creating 3 new income streams from BPF, delayed pay outs and taking over postage ahead of consideration for anybody else.  Maybe these changes may have been received a little better if they weren't launched so close together, but even then as you say there are those that will no longer be able to sell due to not having a printer/smartphone and relied on having their parcels collected from home where the post person brings the label(s).

Regarding incorrect simple delivery postage labels, I will never send a buyer a package with an incorrect post label on it so will have to give up selling on ebay in case it happens or, as some sellers have done, bought another 'correct' postage label from their selling proceeds but this could lead, in certain cases, to making a loss on the sale.

[sunflowers4me59]

There is a petition on these community boards, title "A petition", have a look at it.

[jma2815]

Its not really a petition though, is it? Its just a thread which ebay will ignore like all the other threads. 

[collectible-coins-medals-tokens]

My sales too have completely died out.

In fact, I hardly get any activity at all lately.

2 months ago at least I was getting watchers that I could send prospective offers to, but in last 30 days it has been tumbleweeds!

I hate the fact that there is nothing we can do to try and fix the problem y'know?

Back in the day we all learned techniques like nuclear reset to give our listings a refresh which usually resulted in new watchers and more offers to send. Often the full reset method resulted in sales, but even that strategy just doesn't seem to work anymore? I just don't know why?

It honestly feels like people are just not buying on Ebay like they used to.

[gorragerritgone]

This is what happens when companies etc mess with the site. They believe they are improving things when they are NOT. I am a member of a website, unrelated to selling, and a few months ago, they changed the whole site to make it more 'user friendly'. Back then, before the changes, there would be 50 to 80 people on line regularly. I received messages daily and there was a great vibe. The changes came and that's where it all went downhill. There are now 5 to 10 people online, messages have dried up and the whole site is a mess. When I logged in this afternoon, there were just 2 people on line. I often wonder what the site owners must think because surely, if they think about it, their new site is NOT working for them anymore and they must regret redesigning it all.

[wintersdawn1]

That's a shame.  In ebay's case the motivation to change things was greed, greed and greed.

They went from a relatively straightforward system to a convoluted, confusing mess all in the name of...

[lucy_farmer]

'it honestly feels like people are just not buying on Ebay like they used to'

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I don't think you're imagining it!

I reckon people are spending a lot less on stuff for many reasons; the cost of living has shot through the roof lately ☹️

But I think ebay in particular has taken more of a targetted hit than other places, thanks to the Social Media frothing furore about the 'new rules', particularly the BPF.

Even though the buyers fees don't affect business sellers, they too are seeing their sales falling away.

If we're honest, a lot of people on Social Media won't even register that business and private sellers are different; they'll just see 'ebay is carp now' and won't read any further. So they go and do their shopping somewhere else. And there's a lot more choice now than there used to be...

[clearingmyshelves2025]

It's something. There's little else we can do en masse.

Unless we all go to Heron Court in Richmond...