a massive decline in sales on Ebay

[daintreejudi]

Is anyone else experiencing a decline in sales?  I cannot believe how bad it has got, my sales have been reduced by more than half for same time last year, having problems keeping up with relisting fees, only ones making any money is Ebay

[lyndal1838]

Springy, Dave sells books, common old books.  You would not think he would be doing so well but he seems to have the knack of knowing what will sell here in Australia.

So many of the booksellers on ebay are dropshipping from overseas and so often are out of stock when someone actualy buys from them.

[davewil1964]

Out of print Science Fiction and Fantasy seems to work well.

Plus boilermaker thrillers, cheap romances...

Books, pretty much. Real ones, on paper.

[transport-posters]

Almost went a whole week without a single sale until this morning, through both eBay and my website.

Never been this bad before.

[kane1417]

My sales have come to a grinding halt.I had only one $ 20  sale this week and an increase in time wasters sending messages.Most of my messages are now from people who only want part of the listing, for example, a canister lid (not the lid and the base) or only one of a set of 3 ornate metal pot plant holders, when advertised as a bulk buy.Previous week I had 2 sales.This is the worst sales period in my 'seller experience' on e bay !.

[springyzone]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Springy, Dave sells books, common old books.  You would not think he would be doing so well but he seems to have the knack of knowing what will sell here in Australia.

So many of the booksellers on ebay are dropshipping from overseas and so often are out of stock when someone actualy buys from them.

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If they are second hand books, then I am not surprised if Dave does well.

If you are after a particular author or title, sometimes it will be out of print, not in the local library and very hit and miss to look in Op shops. There may not be a good second hand book store in the area either.

So.. ebay would be very convenient. I have certainly bought second hand books on ebay over the years.

I can't remember which sellers, you never know, could even have been dave if he has been selling for years.

I was surprised yesterday though as I looked up one item (not a book) and not one single listing of it was on ebay.

I'm on another messageboard and a man had mentioned gumbo (sassafras root) spice. There are aussie online spice places that sell it but not ebay. There's a market for good aussie based herbs & spices on ebay I think. There are already some, but not a lot.

[shemagicdesignstudio]

I agree .. i cant sell anything on here this year ..My observation is that people are turning to social media to buy and sell .. as a buyer the goods are local and as a seller there are no fees !!  ebay has overpriced its fees and by the time postage is factored and paypal fees ; in its not worth it for us sellers ..when i browse so many items have no bids -tells me the audience has moved on.. ebays gravy train maybe running out. 

[phantomchris1984]

facebook lets you sell now and gumtree which is free. ebay is too expensive. the final value fee is pretty expensive for low cost items.

it should be like 50 cents or something for like $20 items but its like $2. then there is like $1 paypal then postage and it soon comes down to like $14 in your pocket or less from $20 when its free elswhere. now thats excluding the $1.50 insertion fee if you run out of free ones that month.

ebay encorages free postage included in cost but you have to subsidise postage sometime plus they take fee from postage now. loose loose situation.

ebay is done. 😞

[phantomchris1984]

i love old scifi books, may have to check out what your selling.

[*tippy*toes*]

You say like a lot. Plus, the fee on postage has been there for several years now. You make it sound like it's a new thing.

[x3n0m]

Plus, the fee on postage has been there for several years now.

Doesn't make it right .. You make it sound like you like it .. the reason it is there is because our ACCC are a pack of traitorous machiavellian thugs (with the American Chamber of Commerce as their leader in chief) ..