I asked Ebay what new changes have damaged my sales...and they responded...

[movie_models]

I just opened a chat with an Ebay representative and asked them "what changes have recently been made that has seen my sales drop by 95-100% this month?" I received the following response

Jean Su. "We have done nothing to destroy any seller's account. It is up to the buyers to buy items and some items are seasonal. Also, there are many sellers nowadays that the competition is very stiff."

....I then mentioned that the drop in sales happened instantly which is neither seasonal nor due to competition being "very stiff" and the response I received was ...dead silence... It appears that rather than tell the truth o a lie Ebay will just go silent and wait for you to go away. So after years of advertising and telling us all to build our own Ebay business and encouraging us to rely on it for our living this is the response we get when they decide we are no longer of any use. I would have some more to say but i have already received 4 warnings from the Ebay moderation team today for speaking out of line. I guess they will shortly send me another dozen or so.....because i know I have been speaking my mind a lot lately. Shame on me.

[*new2vintage]

POQ

[fourandsixpants]

FIAH

[shepherdsrule]

:O?:|

[fourandsixpants]

http://community.ebay.ca/topic/Seller-Central/Recent-Cyberattacks-Impacting/4000008706

Recent cyberattacks impacting hosting sites - eBay's included?

Apr 22, 2013 02:03 PM posted by rose-dee

The hosting company for my website posted information on a recent 'brute force' cyberattack targeting WordPress.  They noted that the overwhelming numbers of these attacks (using botnets -- what I understand are hijacked computers and IP addresses) in attempting to log into WordPress was seriously affecting the performance of many hosting sites throughout the world.  Here is the link they provided to the report of the attack:

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/strategy/item/32269-major-brute-force-attack/

If you use WordPress this may be a good time to take the advice offered and change/improve your login password.

Apparently this was an enormous bombardment. I'm wondering whether it may also explain some of the recent "glitchiness" and slow recovery on sites like Paypal.  I've noticed that even eBay itself has been very, very slow over the past 2 weeks or so -- could this be related?  I thought it was just my own computer, but perhaps not.

Sigh ... so many passwords to remember, so many new threats...

[barbipat]

Totally agree with you. 

[phantomchris1984]

Definetly something to do with postal rate increases, $6.95 is cheapest prices for a small parcel,and the item might only cost $4 or $5. As a customer im not paying that.

Cheaper to buy overseas where the government can run their postal services better and cheaper like mcdonalds, sell hard and fast in bulk. Aus post just dont understand this. increasing prices reduces business not increase it. thats why mcdonalds sells dirt cheap and they sell a lot in bulk and make billions.

If they had a $3 small parcel option for items under 500g, Aus post business would go gangbusters, and so would all of ours.

Also ebays other site gumtree has been running ads non stop, i believe listings is free and people are proberly shopping there instead.

[revampz]

Hi guys   I use to sell on here but stopped to go on a long holiday.  I have been trying to find a job and as that is pretty hard at the moment as well I thought about returning to selling on EBAY.  I thought I would have a look to see how ebay going and if it was worth it and I came upon this post and so thought I would put my two cents in.  First of all I have asking around re how people are doing online shopping and a couple of people have told me that EBAY is not as popular as it used to be.   A lot of people do not like all the changes.  And personally I think it will be Ebays undoing........constantly changing.   Quite a few people told me they thought that the quality of what was being sold on ebay has deteriated and as my niece said "its turned into a bit of an online $2 shop". 

Ebay was huge at the beginning of the whole online shopping scene, however now there are numerous online shopping options and evey retailer as there own store.  A lot of people who search for the quirky homemade type of stuff are using Etsy, those who are into the secondhand, collectables, vintage etc have LOADS of online options now due to increase of the home seller setting up their own websites and FACEBOOK really has taken off in that area and I personally think will continue to do so.

Personally I think EBAY trying go for the new items only and buy it now over auctions will be its downfall............I don't know if they knew they would be bombarded with so much cheap Asian items.  Overall it has cheapen EBAYs brand.

Hope this doesn't offend and is my opinion only.........

[nonny_muss]

Hi guys   I use to sell on here but stopped to go on a long holiday.  I have been trying to find a job and as that is pretty hard at the moment as well I thought about returning to selling on EBAY.  I thought I would have a look to see how ebay going and if it was worth it and I came upon this post and so thought I would put my two cents in.  First of all I have asking around re how people are doing online shopping and a couple of people have told me that EBAY is not as popular as it used to be.   A lot of people do not like all the changes.  And personally I think it will be Ebays undoing........constantly changing.   Quite a few people told me they thought that the quality of what was being sold on ebay has deteriated and as my niece said "its turned into a bit of an online $2 shop". 

Ebay was huge at the beginning of the whole online shopping scene, however now there are numerous online shopping options and evey retailer as there own store.  A lot of people who search for the quirky homemade type of stuff are using Etsy, those who are into the secondhand, collectables, vintage etc have LOADS of online options now due to increase of the home seller setting up their own websites and FACEBOOK really has taken off in that area and I personally think will continue to do so.

Personally I think EBAY trying go for the new items only and buy it now over auctions will be its downfall............I don't know if they knew they would be bombarded with so much cheap Asian items.  Overall it has cheapen EBAYs brand.

Hope this doesn't offend and is my opinion only.........

revamps, you have just contributed extremely well to the overall picture.  I think your points are spot on.  These points together with the increases in fees (including Australia Post charges) and the evolving online market, plus economic downturn.... there you have it.   

And as for your niece's comment, LOL, sad but true!!   One can still find some pretty awesome stuff here, but it's SO much harder to find, and sometimes exhausting to refine searches to avoid the "$2 shop" counterfeits!!   😉

[ejewellerygallery]

hey I've read a lot of whats been posted on this topic and it seems most people are saying that possibly ebay sales are been driven overseas but if that was true that ebay australia wouldn't be doing there job correctly and they themselves would probably get in trouble from ebay usa 

so I don't think thats the reason were having a tough time could it be this new top rated plus program thats coming out ???

[ggearstore]

Definetly something to do with postal rate increases, $6.95 is cheapest prices for a small parcel,and the item might only cost $4 or $5. As a customer im not paying that.

Those increases definitely did not help local sellers, even some of my heavy items are nearly as cheap to get from the UK now it's crazy. However my sales have decreased by at least 50% this month and i have not yet increased my shipping rates yet, i think most of it is a combination of changes ebay has done. I'm going to have to look at all my listings to see what has happened.