Sales down on EBAY Australia

[shopafix]

What is going on? I have felt a dramatic drop in sales and interest on ebay.

I can only think of two contributing factors:

1) ebay's compulsory rollout in March 2021 to direct payments for small sellers (like myself) without a store meant an actual INCREASE in fees rather than a decrease in fees. 

2) An recent increase in Australian postage

I have become disheartened. I personally stopped listing many new items after these increases. Simply put, Ebay's cut and postage is currently unrealistic for small fish like myself. 

If others like myself feel the same way then this means that there are less new products listed on ebay ---> this reduces the random clicks through search engines ---> less visitors on ebay and less random sales for bigger sellers with stores too!  

We must remember that Ebay is "one organism" when the weaker parts start to suffer the whole system starts to fail.

On top of that- although it is still early days- I think the wind of change is blowing over Ebay but also Amazon Aus ( a joke IMO) and even Facebook: they are fast becoming a "granny's platform" according to younger generations. Ebay feels to me like it's losing momentum. There is a fine line between treasure hunting and the expectation ebay buyers have nowadays to buy things at unrealistically low prices.  It cannot happen anymore. Something must change, I sincerely hope it does. 

[domino-710]

[repentatleisure1952]

Is it that time of the year again already?

[supermussolinibros*]

yes indeed - it's autumn, the leaves are changing colour, the days are getting shorter, the harvest is being brought in, the election hyperbole is in full swing, and sales are getting huge as people nest for the winter.  How are things with you?

[springyzone]

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@supermussolinibros* wrote:

"How is your marketplace business doing, by the way?"

Completely awesome - thanks for asking - i think i'm heading into my third year away from here, things have never been better  - pickup/postage and it's fantastic!! The growth since i started is HUGE.  A lot of the time i barely get time to scratch myself because as soon as i list there are a mountain of buyers waving money in my face - fighting each other, offering me more money, and as for the tyrekickers, well they get run over - every time.

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I am jealous. Any time I have listed (anywhere) in the past, I have never had a mountain of buyers fighting each other, offering me more money.

The nearest I got to that heady state was a few years back when I advertised some virtually new, matching grey carpet runners  on a buy/sell facebook site. The responses did explode, I had about 27 responses within a very short time but they weren't waving money in my face. The first response, if I recall, was someone interested in the $25 one. 'Will you take $10?' she asked.  Dream on. I didn't say that of course, I just said No, sorry.😀

But you have inspired me. Maybe I will give marketplace a go.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

I'm so with you brother. I listed an item on Marketplace a month or so ago for $35. I ended up getting nearly $200 for it. I can't tell you how stoked I was! People bashing my door down for this item, literally. Wads of cash literally in my face. (note to self, don't put your address on Marketplace!). I had to turn down those that were waving USD, for obvious reasons. I'm now sorting through my shed for more shonky items that people might want to give me money for. This is a goldmine, I'm so glad I took your advice!

[chameleon54]

Just came across this item of interest.

https://https://www.reuters.com/technology/ebay-reports-5-rise-quarterly-revenue-2022-02-23//technol... 

The graph at the bottom of the page ( active buyer  numbers ) makes interesting reading. Especially the first and last entries. Proof for those who want it, that ebay's active buyer numbers are declining to below pre COVID boom levels and sellers are not imagining dramatic falls in sales numbers. Something has to change and change fast if ebay is going to turn the ship around..

[eol-products]

A few people have said their sales have dropped dramatically but that article says only 10% for ebay site wide. So some sellers would have increased their sales to make up for those who dropped more than 10%. Or am I reading it incorrectly. Either way I see more of an issue for those in the share market than the retail market.

[chameleon54]

 " However, gross merchandise volume, the total dollar value of sales on eBay from which the company takes a percentage, fell 10% to $20.7 billion.

Annual active buyers on eBay also declined 9% to 147 million in the quarter, the company said. "

These results are only for the December quarter. They follow on from the September quarter which showed similar falls. All up falls of close to 20% for merchandise sales in a six months ( and projected falls in sales continuing in early 2022 )

Ebay is targeting its advertising program at cheap Chinese carp ( noise reducing headphones etc. ) If we assume this is where the company is seeing growth in sales, that means those of us who sell used items would be experiencing greater falls than the average over the site and reported falls of 30% - 40% would be accurate.

The graph at the bottom of the page shows ebay's active buyer numbers at the start of the pandemic where 174 million. They grew by 13 million at the peak of the pandemic to 187 million, but have since fallen consistently to current figures ( end of December ) of 147 million. This is 27 million less active buyers than when the pandemic began and 40 million ( nearly a quarter ) less than at the pandemic peak.

The fact that ebay has not been able to retain any of the pandemic related increase in buyer numbers and has seen dramatic falls in active users ( both buyers and sellers ) in recent months to well below pre-pandemic levels shows the companies current direction and strategies are clearly not working.

Its unsustainable and risks snowballing out of control in a downward trajectory. As active buyers leave, more sellers leave reducing variety of available stock resulting in more buyers leaving and more sellers leaving etc. etc.

[springyzone]

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@*sons_and_daughters* wrote:

I'm so with you brother. I listed an item on Marketplace a month or so ago for $35. I ended up getting nearly $200 for it. I can't tell you how stoked I was! People bashing my door down for this item, literally. Wads of cash literally in my face. (note to self, don't put your address on Marketplace!). I had to turn down those that were waving USD, for obvious reasons. I'm now sorting through my shed for more shonky items that people might want to give me money for. This is a goldmine, I'm so glad I took your advice!

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I laughed and laughed at your post. Post of the day.

We can only dream on!!

Mind you, a friend did tell me one story about her daughter & son in law. They picked up 2 chairs from hard rubbish a couple of years back but were moving house in Nov and having a clear out. Asked my friend if she wanted the chairs. Nope, a bit too low for my friend's tastes and needed some repair.

So onto marketplace they went- in the collectables section, priced at $200 (for both). Had some responses, obviously from dealers, and sold that night for around $350-$400, forget exactly. So I guess it does happen occasionally, to some lucky people.

I only wish I had that sort of response to any stuff I sell. I've never had a higher offer in my life.

[eol-products]

I feel ebay is aiming more towards regular high end buyers who know the system and avoid any buying issues and involving ebay with disputes. I dont see how ebay can make it harder for you if your items have some value and are limited in supply with no competition from chinese sellers. You just search for the item and unless ebay is hiding your results like they do when there are thousands of results.