Bye Ebay

[Anonymous]

I have been selling on ebay for over 11 years. Always had a good seller rating and we are the world's largest producer of speed skates, so we are not a small company. We use ebay to sell off excess skates. Last year, we had shipping issues that were caused by Aust post late deliveries during covid. Ebay banned us from selling. I contacted ebay and said that I have had a great seller score for 11 years, can you help us to fix this problem. The customer service said 'do you expect me to contact senior management for every problem that occurs? They then went on to tell me that we are not welcome to sell on ebay but we are welcome to continue to purchase on ebay. No thanks. By Ebay, we are moving on to Amazon. I know why ebay is dying, it is because of poor customer service and a lack of respect for their sellers. 

[springyzone]

I'm glad your sales are going well.

Yes, this forum isn't necessarily easy to find. I was on ebay for years and never noticed it either. I think most users just pop in to look at what is for sale, they don't necessarily explore all the other bits.

[chameleon54]

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@*sons_and_daughters* wrote:

Always love it when someone has to announce their departure, and also mention they are moving to Amazon. Like ebay would care. Reality is, they don't. No skin of their nose.

As for ebay dying, I'd love to see the proof of that. No one ever seems to be able to show proof that ebay is dying, or sellers are leaving in droves. Funny that.

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While I,m not buying into the " ebay dying " thing, the company is certainly in serious decline and needs to turn the ship around fairly quickly. The proof you ask for is in the companies reports to the stock exchange. ( the only reliable statistics ebay publicly provides )

https:/https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EBAY/financials//finance.yahoo.com/quote/EBAY/financials/ 

If you read these you will see ebays Gross profit has declined each year for the past four years and its EBIT ( earnings before interest and tax ) have declined to a pitiful $667.000 U.S. last year. That's right.... Less than a million dollars in earnings for a global giant. I,m not sure what you understand about economics but that's a pretty scary number and an indication of a company thats teetering on the edge of the abyss. 

Further if you follow quarterly reports they show a company that is struggling to hold onto experienced long term sellers and FALLS in active buyer numbers a common feature.

All up the Company has some major challenges ahead. I have already reduced my reliance on ebay recently as I can see the slow decline in sales continuing as ebay further decays. 

The regular knockers here scoff at sellers such as the OP leaving, but every time an experienced seller with specialist product  leaves ( in this case the largest global seller of a particular type of skate )  that's one less reason for people to shop here and when they buy elsewhere they are less likely to come back here again.

[gutterpunkz05]

Oh Cham,  ,,,,,,If   1 = 1000

667000  =    DOH !!!!     $667M  US   (not bad for the quarter)

[gutterpunkz05]

Latest ebay financials  

eBay Inc. Reports Better Than Expected Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results

Note:  In the table  1  =  $1M  US

[domino-710]

LOL - Simple Maths.

[gutterpunkz05]

I used to actually trust Chams  Economics

[jellybirddesigns]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Ebay said the same thing, we should have changed our shipping time. That's a fair point, we didn't. However, they gave us no chance to resolve the situation. We are banned, and they told us in no uncertain terms to never come back. 

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Everyone knew from 2020 that shipping was delayed. I even stopped my international sales altogether as items were taking around 6 weeks, up from an average of 2 weeks. Defects would have accrued gradually but you would have known at a glance that you had a metric that needed to be fixed. You could have changed that at any time from the very first instance you received a shipping defect, so it was entirely in your hands to rectify the issue right there and then, not ask Ebay to give you a chance to fix it once the damage was done. Either you were particularly stubborn about changing your handling times, or you didn't think Ebay was serious.

Ebay service metrics information can be found here: 

https://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/seller-performance

Specifically the paragraph that indicates the time frames and what happens when accounts fall below standard. Nothing is hidden - it is there for every seller to be informed about and avoid risking their selling abilities.

[gutterpunkz05]

I have found ebay relatively obliging and helpful, regarding just about anything at all covid related.

I highly doubt the  OP is the producer of product, in all likelyhood   "Bont", which they were selling.

I wonder if drop shipping  was involved, as such ebay would be highly unlikely to tolerate late delivery.

Ironic   ........ Speed Skates.........Slow Delivery

[twyngwyn]

eBay Sales, Buyers, Sellers Drop in Q4, But Revenue Grows 5% (ecommercebytes.com)

[chameleon54]

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@gutterpunkz05 wrote:

Oh Cham,  ,,,,,,If   1 = 1000

667000  =    DOH !!!!     $667M  US   (not bad for the quarter)

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OK I admit I,m very tired at the moment. Currently working on a couple of $ 1,000,000 plus deals of my own so have millions on the brain. ( hence why I,m not here much these days ) I,m also selling off around $40,000 worth of stock that would have gone on ebay as I am reducing my exposure to the platform. ( it will all be gone in around a weeks time ) so the brain fog is starting to set in.

The correct figure was $ 667 million EBIT for THE FULL YEAR of 2021 not a quarter. ( just over half a billion dollars U.S ) Compare that to Australia's Commonwealth bank which made Aust. $ 7.2 billion in 2020 ( no figures I could find for 2021 ) and you can see how pitiful eBays financial performance is for a global internet platform during a pandemic.

Your link also shows ebay lost 9% of its active buyers during the year and 8 % of its active sellers. Gross merchandise volumes ( how much stuff was sold ) was also down 10% for the year.

People can bury their heads in the sand and tell themselves ( and others ) everything's fine on ebay, but the only reliable source of figures ( eBay's reports to the stock exchange ) show the company is in serious decline. 

Ebay has got an identity crisis. Is it a giant garage sale ..... not any more. It tried to be a mini me Amazon and that has clearly failed, so now it is trying to target the numpty moron market by being the biggest $2 CHINESE CARP shop in the world. Want proof .... watch their mindless adverts that target hair straightners and noise reducing headphones, all promoted with cheap prices. You dont see Amazon spruking CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP !!! do you.

Ebay has lost direction and doesnt have a clear picture of where its heading or what it is trying to achieve. The result is it is wandering around in the online wilderness and its own figures show both buyers and sellers are leaving the site in droves.